Author: Amazon Story Title: Adventures in the Rewrite Trade Characters: Xena/Otere, Xena/Cyane, Xena/Anokin Rating: NC-17 Summary: Based on the 'Adventures in the Sin Trade' episodes, Otere seduces a sexy story out of Xena. This rating is for explicit f/f sex and bdsm.
DISCLAIMER: The characters in this story are the property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. This is not for profit and is not intended to infringe anyone's copyright. It's just a bit of fun.
WARNING: Explicit scenes of fem-sex and references of a BDSM nature follow, so if you are under 18 years, or this sort of material is illegal where you live, please give this story a miss.
The story is drawn from the first two episodes of series four, 'Adventures in
the Sin Trade I and II'. It's partly an attempt to take some of the more
suggestive material from these eps and make it more explicit
You can find more stories by Amazon at her site VixenNet
Send feedback to amazon@flashmail.com
Adventures in the Rewrite Trade By Amazon
Xena finished lashing the girl's back with a flourish - running the olive-branch switch over young flesh one last time before standing back at the head of the table to admire the even, pink glow she'd raised.
"This is meant to be good for me, right?" came the plaintive voice of her semi-naked victim.
"Relax," Xena warned before taking hold of the girl's head and twisting it sharply to one side.
"That feels great," Otere responded in her characteristically flat tone, as the bones in her neck were skillfully realigned with a loud crack.
"A little more pressure and you can kill someone with that move," Xena bragged as she climbed up on the table to take a seat beside the young amazon. The warrior hugged her knees to her chest and slowly took a deep breath in and out. The coals were getting hotter, driving sweat to the surface of her skin and causing rivulets of moisture to run down her naked chest and soak into her loin cloth.
Even out of the corner of her eye, Xena couldn't help but notice the suggestive arch of Otere's back as the young amazon lifted herself up from the bench. The girl was making an unmistakable offer to the warrior, a reward for the therapeutic beating. Xena looked away.
"Don't you want me?" Otere asked, puzzled, sitting back on her heels, naked apart from her britches.
"Otere!" Xena warned softly.
"I've seen you looking at me. We all have." She nodded towards the closed door of the sweat-lodge in reference to the rest of her bedraggled tribe of young orphans milling around the camp outside.
Xena turned towards the beautiful elfin creature and tried not to focus on the beads of sweat that trickled over her full, pert breasts. Yes, she'd noticed her alright. Even wrapped in the practical fur uniform of her tribe, Otere was a stunning beauty with pouting lips and eyes of warmest brown. Out of it, she was breathtaking, delicate and lean as a young deer. Under other circumstances Xena would have capitalized on her reputation by now, whispered irresponsible promises and convinced the girl that she was honored to share the bedroll of the great Warrior Princess.
"Otere, you're a beautiful young woman. I know that. But we have a history. You haven't forgiven me for your father's death, and nor should you."
"You're right," Otere looked at the floor and bit her lip. "I haven't. And I never will. I'm not offering you that. My forgiveness." She looked up and fixed Xena with a stare, shameless longing in her deep, brown eyes.
Xena's cheek muscle flashed and she had to tear her eyes away from the girl. "I can't, Otere. Not after everything I've done to you." She sighed heavily, thankful that Otere couldn't see the single tear that escaped onto her cheek and quickly merged with trails of sweat. "I still don't understand why you didn't kill me when you found me in that trance."
"The others wanted to," Otere confirmed bluntly. "You and Borias destroyed our tribe when we were barely more than babies. We may never know the details, but we know it's because of you that we're the last of the amazons in this region. All the others died defending our village from you."
"You don't know the half of it, Otere."
"But there has to be a reason why you're here. My destiny is linked to yours remember? Alti told us both that. If I'd killed you, how can I fulfill that? And anyway," she swallowed, "maybe you're the only one who can stop her now."
"When Alti told me you were destined to take my power, I tried to stab you. Do you remember that? When you were just a child. I remember your smug grin when Borias intervened to save you."
"I haven't forgotten. But even then, I knew you weren't really going to do it. Even as you came towards me with the dagger."
"You're wrong, Otere," Xena sighed again, her heart heavy as a cold rock in her chest. "If Borias hadn't come into the tent at that moment, Artemis-forgive-me, I would've done it. Back then, I did anything that Alti told me to do."
There was silence between the two women as Otere contemplated this new piece of information.
Not looking at the warrior, she asked sharply: "So what changed you, Xena? This girl you're trying to find? Gabrielle?"
"No. No, it was before I met her," Xena began softly. "I'd already decided... decided I couldn't go on like I was. It was a friend of mine, Hercules, who first helped me make that change. When I met Gabrielle, when I fell in love with her, it all made sense. It was like she was my reward. I could only make her happy, keep her loving me, if I stayed on track. Her soul was," she corrected herself, "is so pure that being with her helped me understand why it mattered. After a while... she just changed me so much, I realized I didn't want to go back." The warrior exhaled. It was the longest speech she'd made since she lost Gabrielle all those moons ago.
Otere lay down again and turned onto her back, stretching out on the bench and parting her legs slightly. The only sound in the room was their labored breathing and the gentle hiss of the hot coals. Xena accepted that the girl was set on tormenting her with what she had rejected.
Otere smiled to herself, suddenly deciding to lighten the mood. "So, back then, forgive my curiousity, but did you ever get to fuck Cyane, the great Amazon Queen of legend?"
Shocked, Xena turned sharply towards the amazon and then had to look down immediately at the floor as she got an eyeful of the tight crotch of her leather britches. But she couldn't help herself laughing, as relieved as Otere to see the tension between them broken.
"Well, not exactly..."
From under the pile of bear-skin rugs came the sound of women cursing and moaning in ecstasy, the covers undulating with the movement of the eight-legged monster beneath. As the rugs fell to one side, the flushed face of a naked, dark-haired beauty emerged into the air followed by a statuesque blonde kneeling behind her.
"Oh Xena! Look at you, spread so wide open for me. And so dripping wet too!" Cyane grinned over the warrior's naked back. "Who would have thought? The great Warrior Princess, on her hands and knees, taking a good hard FUCK (this last she shouted in the woman's ear) from an amazon, no less."
"Uhhhh! Oh! OH!!" Xena was so delirious from the pleasure crafted by Cyane's expert hands that she couldn't respond to her taunts. The blonde queen took hold of the warrior's hair and pushed her head towards the floor.
"Beg me for it, Xena. I want to know that you really want me."
"Just keep doing it, Cyane!" Xena called out from the floor.
"Doing what, Xena? Tell me what you want!"
"I want you, Cyane. I want your fist deep inside me, like tha... that, hard... hard, harder, GODS!..FUCK ME! PLEASE!"
"And?"
"Slap me. Please, slap me," Xena almost whispered.
Cyane responded by redoubling the strength and speed of the fucking, punctuating every other thrust with a firm smack of her hand against the writhing warrior's ass.
"Come on, warrior-bitch." Slap! "You're going to cum for me, I can feel it." Slap! "Come on! You're ready. Cum for your amazon lover!"
Xena shrieked and bucked furiously until the sound of gushing fluids announced that her innermost muscles were contracting in climax against the queen's fist.
"Good girl!" One final excited shout of encouragement from the blonde queen, and Xena finally rode out her last orgasm.
Exhausted and whimpering, she remained in position on her knees, her head resting on her arms as she fought to recover her breath. Gathering her senses, she reached a hand between her legs and tugged ineffectually on the part of Cyane's arm that wasn't still buried deep inside her.
"Ok, sweetness, push now, push," Cyane's gentle tone belayed the discomfort she knew she was about to cause.
Xena obediently squeezed her inner muscles and grimaced as Cyane pulled her arm out with a final, triumphant squelch.
"Oww! Shit!"
"There, there, warrior-baby, all over."
Xena slumped forward and lay motionless on her front, but the legendary Amazon Queen hadn't yet finished with her unlikely new lover.
"So, who taught you to take it like an amazon-bitch, hmm? Not Alti, surely?" she teased, pinning the warrior to the floor by lying with her full weight across her back.
The suggestion made Xena's body tighten. It was too close to the truth - that she'd been sent to seduce the Amazon Queen and then to betray her to her shamaness mistress. Her reaction was not lost on Cyane.
"NO!! You didn't let that old bag fuck you?!" Incredulous, the Queen threw back her head and laughed. "Xena!"
"No, not Alti," Xena spat back over her shoulder. "She had an apprentice.."
"Anokin?" the Queen's tone became serious.
"Yes," Xena admitted, annoyed at Cyane's arrogant certainty that only an amazon could have shown her how to submit to another woman.
Cyane sighed heavily and rolled off Xena and onto her back.
"Oh gods, little Anokin. She was a dangerous number that one, even before Alti got her under her spell. I had to throw her out of the tribe in the end, and that witch with her." Cyane shook her head in wonder. "I had so much trouble with the amazons she seduced... The things she got them to do to her! It made them besotted." She turned to Xena with a frown. "So that's what she gets from you now I guess, huh?"
Xena didn't reply. She didn't like the direction this conversation was turning and she wished Anokin's name had never been mentioned.
But Cyane wasn't going to let it go. She leaned up on one elbow and played absentmindedly with the warrior's hair, twisting the ends around her fingers. "Xena, Is that it? Are you the answer to little Anokin's submissive dreams, huh? Does she make you torture her?"
"Leave it, Cyane." Xena realized with a start that her feelings for the girl were still raw. She'd known Anokin for less than a moon when she was killed in the takeover of a village near the amazons' land. It had been twice as long as that now since she'd lost her, but still she felt she would strangle Cyane if she mocked her dead lover. Xena couldn't allow that to happen. It wasn't part of Alti's plan.
"Wow!" Taking Xena's refusal to answer as confirmation, Cyane shook her head and lay back down next to the warrior. "Are you still, er, seeing her?"
"She was killed in battle. Couple of moons ago." Xena fought to keep her voice steady.
"Oh. Sorry. She never was much of a fighter. A great fuck though, if you're into that sort of thing. But so totally out of control... Xena?"
"What?"
"What's the deal with you and Alti?"
"Nothing. It's over. She didn't want me to be involved with Borias any more, so she threatened to make me abort my child. I told her to get her arse out of my camp and I haven't seen her since."
"Why don't I believe you?"
"Why don't you save your breath, Cyane?"
"What for, Xena?" Smiling, the queen brought her face close to her dark-haired lover. Then she squealed in shock as the warrior suddenly slammed her on her back and mounted her with the full strength of her young body.
"Because, Amazon Queen, you're going to need it when I make you scream..."
"Anokin was the girl whose dead body you were holding in your arms," Otere interrupted. "When I first saw you. When you and Borias were destroying my father's village."
"That's right. I was probably not much older then than you are now."
While Xena was telling her story, Otere had moved to lean her lithe, sweaty body against the older woman's powerful frame, resting her head against Xena's shoulder. The warrior sighed inwardly and conceded that the girl would get what she wanted after all. The story of her sexual submission to the legendary queen had them both aroused now. There was nowhere to go but onwards. She drew the girl towards her to lean her back against her chest. Xena wrapped her arms around the small form - so different from the supple strength of her Beloved Gabrielle - and licked salty patches of sweat from Otere's shoulders.
"So," Otere reached for a nearby waterskin and took a mouthful before asking in her matter-of-fact voice, "did you make Cyane scream?"
Xena hesitated. She could hear that sound echoing in her head as clearly as if Cyane were right here in the hut with them. But it was a scream of fury not of ecstasy. A scream of betrayal and agony as Xena skewered her body to the tree with the wooden stake.
"Xena, why?"
With Cyane's last words, Xena realized the woman she'd killed had trusted her and genuinely couldn't conceive why she had been betrayed.
"Because Alti offered me a better deal."
"No. Not from fucking." Xena brusquely answered Otere's question. "She wouldn't let me fuck her."
"Really? She was a top huh?"
"Yes, but that wasn't why. I think she just didn't want to give that to me. Not until I'd proved myself to her."
"Shame." Otere ran her hand thoughtfully over Xena's well-muscled thigh and the warrior shivered at her touch, despite the heat. "How could she resist you?"
"She let me lick her instead. Made me do it for half the night, sucking and lapping at her pussy until my jaw ached."
"Couldn't you make her cum?" Otere asked, astounded that the warrior's many skills could have failed her in the bedroll.
"Every time I got her close to climax she'd pull my mouth away by yanking on my hair. She wanted to make me work."
"Cyane! Hera's tits! Let me get you off, will you?" Scowling with frustration and anger, Xena looked up from between the amazon's thighs.
"No. I want maximum pleasure from you, warrior," the Queen was breathless but resolute. She leaned back against the heap of pillows, her legs spread open, one hand grasping a section of Xena's long, dark tresses. "Consider this a test of your amazon skills."
Furious, Xena suddenly grabbed the woman's wrists and pinned them cruelly behind her back. "Fuck that amazon crap, I want to hear you cum, Cyane!" Forcing the woman's legs further apart with her elbows, the warrior dove once more down towards the triangle of wet, blonde curls. This time she swam straight for her prize - the woman's precious pearl - and sucked hard.
Cyane gave in and bucked against Xena's unrelenting mouth. Several candlemarks of fucking and licking had built up an almost unbearable pressure in Cyane's body. She howled with pleasure as her release was forced from her by her impatient young lover, only relaxing when Xena's mouth was bruised and bleeding.
"Ohhh! Xena," the Amazon Queen panted. "Phew! Yeh! You failed! Ha, ha, ha!" Laughing, the beautiful naked woman pulled away and stretched out on the rugs. Xena wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand and considered punching the queen's lights out, but Cyane's delighted giggle was infectious and she couldn't help joining in. Still laughing, the amazon took the warrior in her arms and kissed her deeply with gratitude and affection.
Xena didn't feel like disclosing the intimacies that followed, so she switched attention to Otere.
"Do you remember her?"
"Only just. I was so young then," she replied. "When Borias left me with the amazons, I remember I started to cry. Someone else was abandoning me. It was the first time I ever recall crying. I didn't do that even when I saw my father killed."
Behind her, unseen, Xena flinched.
"Cyane crouched down in front of me and brushed away my tears with her fingers. She explained that the amazons would take care of me, would love me like a family. She said Borias only wanted what was best for me. I remember thinking how beautiful she was, the deepest, kindest brown eyes. I hardly had any trust left to give by then, but Cyane managed to find it - she took my hand in hers and led me over to some younger amazons, told them to make a weapon for me and find a bed I could call my own."
Xena nuzzled Otere's neck and gently slipped her arms around her waist.
"Mmmm!" Otere closed her eyes and relaxed into Xena's embrace. "I was only a kid then but I knew I wanted something, something I couldn't put a name to. I wanted to touch her and curl up in her strong arms. I guess I wanted the mother I'd never known. She was so beautiful..."
Otere leaned her head back to encourage the progress of Xena's mouth down her neck.
"Cyane had the greatest body, I swear, I have ever seen before or since on goddess or mortal," Xena mumbled between kisses. "I first saw it from the roof of a sweat-lodge just like this one."
"You were spying on her?" Otere half looked round.
"I'd made up my mind to kill her, even before I'd ever set eyes on her," Xena sat up as she focused on her memory. "To Hades with Borias' talk of an alliance with the amazons against the centaurs! Alti wasn't giving me any clues, so I took matters into my own hands and set out for the amazon village.
"I got past their guard-posts easily enough, so I hid in a tree and waited. Then I saw her. I knew instantly it had to be her, from her beauty, her regal demeanor, and the way an amazon girl was trotting meekly along behind her. The legendary Queen Cyane was tall and blonde and barefoot, holding a long gown around her body.
"I watched them go into a hut on the edge of the village then I sneaked around the back and climbed up on the roof. I pulled open a small gap in the thatch and peered through. The hut was a sweat lodge. Her Majesty was getting her massage and I had a perfect view."
"Tell me what you saw, Xena," Otere encouraged, huskily.
"I'd never seen anything like her in my whole life. She was magnificent. Long strong legs, powerful muscled back and arms, and the most gorgeous, curvaceous hips... Just watching her hand-maiden run her switch over that perfect body, I had to press a hand between my legs to calm myself.
"I watched as the girl flayed her mistress with practiced skill. Cyane was writhing under the lash and moaning with approval as it bit into her shoulders and butt. Then she parted her legs and the girl started flicking the switch between her thighs. Right up against her naked pussy. I practically came just watching her."
"Didn't she realize you were there?"
"She did when I fell through the roof and nearly flattened her."
Otere giggled and put her hand over her mouth to quell the unfamiliar reaction. "Xena! You idiot!"
"She leapt out of the way and turned to face me, covering her naked breasts with her hands. I tried to fight her, but she... she stole my clothes."
"She stole your clothes? What, right off your back?"
"Yes. She just pulled them right off me and they just sort of appeared on her. Then she winked at me. Cocky bitch. If I didn't realize it before, I knew then that she carried the touch of Artemis within her."
"What did you do?"
"I panicked. Standing there naked like an idiot before that beautiful creature. I couldn't fight, my groin was throbbing and all sense had left my head. So I grabbed her gown from the chair and high-tailed it out of there."
"I'm sorry.... I shouldn't laugh..." Otere was doubled over, clutching her stomach and convulsing in hysterics.
Xena raised an eyebrow but secretly enjoyed the sound of the young woman's mirth - a sound she hadn't heard for so long now and realized she had missed desperately.
"Did she chase you?"
"Of course. She ran across the tree-tops. I'd never seen anyone do that before. She caught me easily and slammed me on the ground with her boot - my boot - on my back, then she locked her arm around my neck. I didn't know if you was going to strangle me or rape me."
"What happened?"
"Borias rode to the rescue. He'd realized I'd disappeared and so he'd tried to track me. I'd left a false trial that fooled him for a while, but eventually he worked out that I must've gone to the amazon village. He was headed that way when he heard Cyane chasing me through the woods."
"He was your warlord in shining armor?"
"Not exactly. He promised Cyane he'd punish me if she let me go, said he wanted peace with the amazons. She agreed. I didn't realize he was being serious. Idiot! As if I'd let him flog me!"
"So, hang on. How did you get from Cyane nearly killing you, to you being on your hands and knees for her?"
"It was all part of Alti's plan....You see, Alti understood how to harness the power of physical desire for her own ends."
The coals hissed and steamed mercilessly in the corner of the hut as sweat merged into shared rivulets and splashed over muscular bodies. Xena enveloped Otere in her arms, pulling her back tightly against her chest and stretching out her long legs either side of the young warrior. She smiled to herself, savoring the sensation of Otere's slight form cradled in her powerful embrace.
"Somehow Alti knew that to unleash my full strength, my lust for power, she had to show me the true nature of my passion. Somewhere inside me was an insane sexual craving I never dared acknowledge even to myself."
"But why didn't you acknowledge it?" Otere asked. "You're a warrior, anyone would expect you to be a bit rough in the bed-roll. And to take lovers from your own kind," she added.
"I didn't want to be associated with that. I didn't want to be spoken of in the same breath as the Amazons. I was a leader, not part of anyone's tribe. But more than that..." Xena paused, "most of all I didn't want to give in to desire. Desire was something I used at will to manipulate my enemies and my allies. The last thing I wanted was to become crazed with lust and passions I couldn't control. I was too scared. But Alti knew that I had to free those feelings if I was to achieve everything I was capable of."
"How could she know that?"
"I don't know. She was clever. She had me all worked out even before we'd ever met...
"When she was first brought to my tent by my guards... " Xena shook her head in wonder as if she still couldn't quite believe the arrogance of the evil shamaness, "she just ignored Borias and talked to me as if I was the only person who mattered. A good way to ensure my attention. Then she congratulated me on my pregnancy - which came as a shock to him." Xena smiled to herself at the memory of Borias' dumbfounded expression. "I was impressed. No-one but me knew about the unwanted child growing in my belly."
"Having made her entrance, she introduced herself and her pretty companion, Anokin. Her apprentice. Alti pulled the fur coat off the girl and shoved her forward so I could get a good look at her. She was nearly naked before me, just a little skirt and tight, skimpy top. And a leather collar around her neck. I couldn't tear my eyes from that gorgeous little body, even with Borias standing right next to me and fuming.
"Just in case I was in any doubt about what was on offer, Alti started running her hands through the girl's hair. Anokin's eyes never left mine as she ran her tongue over her lips and sneered at me, moaning with pleasure as the older woman fondled her. I'd never seen such a wanton display in my life. And this was clearly meant for my benefit.
"I was intrigued, but at the same time confused by my reaction. Borias had just fucked me. I'd cum and I was supposedly content and satisfied - I would have said as much myself. But I could feel my body quickly becoming aroused by the lewd sight presented to me, even with my lover's semen still running down my thighs. "
Otere wrinkled her nose.
"Alti just kept smiling at me as she stroked Anokin into ecstasy. Borias freaked, he told me to throw them out, that they were 'trouble'. I told him: 'I like trouble.' He soon realized I wasn't going to listen, so he stormed out of the tent."
Xena cupped one hand around Otere's left breast, slowly fondling it and tugging gently on her nipple.
"Tell me what you used to do with Anokin," Otere whispered, her fingers tracing a intricate pattern over the warrior's long thighs. She took Xena's other hand and placed it between her legs. "Stroke me while you tell me."
Xena closed her eyes and firmly squeezed Otere's crotch through her leather britches. "Hey, why don't you slip these off?" she murmured. "You must be getting hot down there."
Otere wasted no time wriggling out of her shorts and discarding them onto the floor and Xena replaced her hand between the girl's legs and stroked the dark curls she found nestled there. Dipping her fingers between the slick, wet folds of Otere's sex, Xena started toying with her, hinting at the pleasures to come.
"Anokin knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted to be beaten, fucked, humiliated, and forced to submit to me, even though it was what she desired most." Xena sighed. "If I didn't give it to her, if I was being too affectionate, she would snarl and scratch at me like a feral cat. She was always in control, even if it didn't seem that way at the time. I'd never come across anyone like her.
"At first I didn't understand her needs at all. When the three of us were alone that first time in my tent, I bade them take a seat. I quickly got dressed while Alti started to explain what she wanted with me, her plans to combine her powers with mine, to make me the greatest conqueror the world had ever seen. I listened, figuring she was probably just a clever crack-pot who spun an entertaining and flattering tale.
"I'd vaguely noticed that Anokin had ignored my offer of a chair, so I assumed she wasn't allowed to sit in the presence of her mistress. But, to my amazement, she just waited until I sat down then she knelt at my feet. Without waiting to be asked, she bowed her head and started licking my boots.
'Hey, get off! What are you doing?' I swiped at her with back of my hand, but she just ducked her head and carried on lapping at the cracked and filthy leather.
'Let her do it, Xena.' I couldn't believe the old hag was ordering me around in my own tent. 'Relax, you might enjoy it.'
"I looked down and watched fascinated as the girl's tongue caressed the contours of my boot. Eventually, I just shook my head in disbelief and turned my attention to Alti and her tales of our future triumphs, our supposed linked destiny.
"I talked a lot with the shamaness over the following days, mostly in my tent. I'd post Dagnine at my door to warn us if Borias was approaching. But Borias mistrusted Alti and he was furious at me for listening to her, so he mostly kept a distance unless I requested his presence.
"I don't know what he would've thought if he'd seen what I was getting to. It was insane. Anokin would be kneeling on the floor, her collar attached to a thin chain that I held between my fingers. I'd stare down at her, silently appraising this pretty little temptress so obediently attending to me. Each night she'd inspect my body for new wounds to kiss. She liked to press the roughness of my callused palm against her small, hard breasts, to feel my battle-hardened skin raking over her nipples. She was insatiable. She'd bite and lick me, darting between my legs like I had ambrosia dripping from my cunt.
"With Alti's encouragement I'd cuff her and chew cruelly on her breasts, clip metal clamps to her nipples and tug on the chain between them. Sometimes I'd decide to pay her no attention at all, so she'd writhe naked on the floor, thrusting her pussy at me, yowling for me to fuck her. I'd take a lash to her. I'd pull her over my lap and fuck her with my hand even while I was still talking to Alti. She'd cum and cum and cum. There was no end to her wanting."
Otere spread her legs wider and Xena pressed two fingers deep into her wet entrance, pulling slowly out then pushing back inside. The girl drew her breath sharply.
"Alti reckoned my... my sexuality was like this huge snake curled up at the base of my spine. She said she could see it, restless and bad-tempered, like it was caught in the mid-day sun. Somehow Anokin's insatiable appetite made that thing uncoil. Gradually over the days and nights it stretched out, climbed up my back and over my head, sliding down my face and my torso," Xena traced her fingers along the path she described it. "It went between my breasts, over my stomach, between my legs and my ass cheeks then back up my spine, until finally it made a complete circle."
"You could feel it then... this snake?" Otere asked between sighs, her eyes closed in bliss.
"Oh yes, I could sense its progress around my body. I could feel my strength growing in pace with my desire until I felt invincible. It gave me power, strength and a reckless courage even I'd never known before."
"Mmmm. I bet Anokin was grateful."
"Sometimes we'd take her out to the woods. Alti would perform some ritual or other to strengthen my neglected sexual powers, and I'd tie Anokin to a tree and flog her until her pretty, soft skin was crossed with red. It was out there one night when they taught me to use a harness. When I first saw it, these leather straps with this absurdly large fake dick sticking out, I laughed and pointblank refused. They persuaded me to at least try it on and it was only then that I truly understood what was expected of me. I swear Alti had put a spell on that damn thing - soon I couldn't get enough of it. I'd use it to fuck Anokin over and over again."
"Lucky girl," Otere hinted, but Xena was lost in her memories of the past.
"The more she submitted to my cruelty, the more I loved her." Xena's sigh was heavy with regret even after all these years. "When she was killed, I plunged into a darkness the likes of which I'd never known. My whole body ached with loss, I couldn't sleep or speak for the yearning and pain."
"Do you think Anokin was in love with you?"
"I don't know. It felt more like she just had needs and she'd chosen me to satisfy them. But there was one time... For once I'd managed to stop her from cumming. I'd kept her on the edge for candlemarks, fucking and beating her until she was so close, then I'd pull back, make her come down again. When I finally freed her from the torment she came like a Bacchae, screaming and thrashing, cum literally pouring from her. Back then I never even knew that was possible.
"When every last spasm had passed through her, she collapsed sobbing into my arms. My heart broke. I gathered her to me and kissed her, murmured sweet nonsense in her ear. She held my hand and whispered my name over and over. I think she was in some kind of shock. Only then was I able to tell her how much I loved her. It felt so good to tell her and stroke her soft skin and hold her so tenderly...
"Alti was unimpressed of course. She sat across the other side of the tent, smoking a pipe stuffed with some evil weed. She raised an eyebrow. 'How touching,' she said archly. I should have realized then that my open affection would result in Anokin's death.
"You think Alti arranged for Anokin to be killed in that battle?" Otere asked, incredulous.
"Looking back now, I think Alti was worried that my love for the girl would weaken my resolve, undermine the relentless craving for power she was trying to seed in me. I think she'd decided Anokin had served her purpose, instead she wanted to acquaint me with the horrors of love and loss, to create an emptiness in me that Cyane could later try to fill.
"But Alti promised you that you could see Anokin again. That's when you first went to the spirit world wasn't it?"
"Yes, that's right. How do you know about that?"
"I was living in your tent remember? After Borias rescued me. I was listening when you and Alti discussed how to do it."
Xena shrugged. "I was in such a state I probably didn't notice or care that you were there."
"I spent a lot of time hiding under the blankets," Otere said in her matter-of-fact tone. "But I was watching when you and Alti dragged that corpse into the tent and started splashing blood around. You were trying to conjure up the door to the spirit world or something. I remember thinking 'Ok, so this is what's normal now'."
They both laughed at the absurdity and tragedy of those times, but Xena secretly gazed with sadness at the brave, young warrior who had seen so much suffering in her short life.
"When we got to the spirit world we found Anokin alright," Xena continued. "But she was furious. She wouldn't let me touch her. Of course, Alti knew damn well that her apprentice couldn't pass on to the Amazon Land of Eternity, that she'd be stuck forever in the barren, pitiless Land of the Dead.
"Where Cyane's spirit is now?"
"Yes. But it was the amazon goddess, Artemis, who kept her there, not Alti. Anokin had been thrown out of her tribe and she'd been pleasuring me while I openly planned the destruction of the whole Amazon nation. The goddess of the Amazons was not about to welcome Anokin to her bosom, and so the girl blamed me for 'poisoning her soul'."
"Maybe she should've thought of that before."
"You should never underestimate the power of lust, Otere."
"I'd never sacrifice my soul just for the sake of some hot pussy. No matter what kind of kink was on offer. That's just plain stupid," Otere pronounced flatly.
"That's easy to say. It's when lust and love gang up on you that you lose your reason."
The girl shifted in Xena's embrace, moaning softly as the warrior renewed the slow probing of her fingers. "So it was just after that when you stalked Cyane in the sweat-lodge, hmm?"
"Yes. Seeing Anokin again and hearing her be so hostile actually helped me recover my senses. I renewed my vows to Alti to fulfill the destiny she promised me. My first task was to defeat the amazons. When Cyane humiliated me so easily, I decided I needed to get to know her, learn some of her fighting skills and find her weaknesses.
"Alti said she agreed with my plan. But in truth, she was already well aware of the Amazon Queen's weakness...
"Cyane had accepted Borias' offer of a treaty, mainly on the strength of her instinctive trust of him," Xena continued with her story. "They got on well, she even spoke some of his native tongue. I was furious and jealous at first, but in time I got over it and started making some diplomatic efforts with her. Eventually we started to bond. She was still wary of me, but I could tell that - like any amazon - she wanted to bed me."
Otere raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.
"I figured it was just a matter of time before she asked me to leave Borias, but when she did it was on the grounds that I was no good for him! He wanted better things and I was holding him back, she said. Cheeky bitch! I was stunned... because I knew that was true. His dream of happy families was going nowhere. I was just using him until I could take over at the head of his army and that was the only reason I was keeping the child. He deserved more."
"So, did you want Cyane?"
"Gods, did I? She was so arrogant and intelligent, yet so sexy and warm at the same time. And she made no effort to conceal that she was kinky as Hades."
"So, Xena, did big daddy punish you?"
"Huh?"
"Big Daddy Borias. Did he flog you like he said he would?" the great Amazon Queen smirked at me as we strode through the woods after our hunt.
"Hah! As if I'd let him. You must think I'm soft..."
"If you were my woman, Xena, I'd see to it that you were punished regularly. By my own hand."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. You're too wild," the blonde queen said in a matter-of-fact tone as if she was discussing the best hunting grounds or migratory patterns of wild game. "Your passions are out of control. You need discipline."
"I just laughed it off, but I didn't rebuke her. When she asked me right then to join her amazon tribe as chief warrior, part of me... well, I was confused. Part of me was smug - she was falling into my trap. Our trap. Trusting me, just like so many of my enemies in the past. Another part of me almost considered it, just for a moment, the idea of living with her as her lover, leading her warriors into battle and letting the tribe bring up my child. It was only a fleeting thought. I didn't answer, so Cyane told me to think about her offer. She was obviously disappointed.
"I didn't realize, but Alti was nearby and somehow listening in to my thoughts - however fleeting."
'You can't join them,' she practically spat in my face, poking her long nails into my back. She ranted and raved, sneering at me, trying to tell me I'd be nothing without her. I didn't buy that, so she switched tactics, taunting me that I could only defeat my enemy, Caesar, with her help.
"That made me stop and think. If she knew how I felt about him then she understood the root of my hatred, how he betrayed and humiliated me."
"Who's Caesar?" Otere asked.
"A dickhead. Total arsehole."
"Oh."
"Rules the Roman Empire."
"Oh."
"You don't even know who the Romans are, do you?"
"Er, no."
"Don't worry, you don't need to know. Anyway, I didn't like the idea that Alti knew about something so personal. It made me feel vulnerable. She knew what she was doing, reminding me of old scores I needed to settle. It was enough to make me reject any cozy ideas of setting up house with Cyane.
"Just then, Cyane herself came across us. She hadn't seen Alti since she'd thrown her out of the tribe. Finding out that I was consorting with the power-crazy witch instantly blew away any naive ideas she had about reforming me. She flew at Alti in a rage and they locked in some kind of spiritual battle. I just stood there powerless while they made each other's eyes bulge with the effort as their souls clashed.
"Who won?"
"Well, unless Alti was faking, and I don't think she was, Cyane defeated her fairly easily but for some reason she didn't finish her off. I was impressed, but she responded to my praise with an ultimatum: 'choose me and choose life, or choose Alti and choose death.' With that she stomped off back to her village.
"I don't think I would've trusted you," Otere offered.
"She shouldn't have. That was such a serious mistake, for her and her entire nation. But Cyane didn't want to give up on me. She really believed she could handle me, win me over.
"It took a little while, but after a few days she let me hang out with her again. One day we were lounging around in her tent when a pretty young amazon was sent to see her. The queen seemed to be expecting the visit."
"So, Penthesila, have you been beaten?"
"Yes, my queen," the trembling girl replied in a small voice, her eyes fixed to the floor.
"And does it hurt like Hades?"
"Yes, my queen."
"Good. Come here!" Cyane slapped her thigh and the girl looked up sharply, probably terrified her queen was going to put her across her knee and spank her sore butt.
"Didn't you hear me, girl? Sit!" Cyane slapped her leg again to indicate that she should sit on her lap. The girl roused herself and stepped shyly forwards, perching gingerly on her queen's leather-clad thigh. She'd obviously taken quite a beating.
"Now, amazon, you know that I love you, don't you? I love all my tribe no matter what they do." Cyane stroked the girl's hair and tilted her chin to force her to look up into her eyes.
"Yes, my queen."
"Are you going to disappoint me again?"
"N-no, my queen." The young amazon's eyes sparkled with unshed tears.
Cyane brought her face close to the girl's. "Don't you ever steal from your own tribe again, Penthesila. Do you hear me? You have everything you need here. We named you after a great amazon warrior for a reason. I want to believe in you."
"I'll never do it again, my queen. I-I promise."
"I know you won't, girl. Because if you do, you'll be leaving this tribe on the end of my boot. Do you understand?"
"Y-yes, my queen."
Cyane looked sternly into the face of the miserable girl for a while as she stroked the hair back from the young face now running with tears. When she decided the girl had suffered enough, she pressed her lips to her cheek and kissed her with such tenderness that the sobbing instantly ceased.
"Now, go! And don't let me see you like this again."
"N-no, my queen." The girl hastened to her feet, bowing and stumbling stiffly out of the tent as quickly as she could.
"She was in some pain, eh?" I jeered.
"Don't think she'll be sitting comfortably for a while."
"So, I'm curious, what do you amazons use to keep your young ones in line?"
"A leather belt. Thwack!" Cyane gleefully mimicked the traditional punishment with a sweep of her arm.
"I'm surprised you don't take care of discipline yourself, Cyane."
"I'm the queen, I have to be above that. My subjects should want to please me. They shouldn't fear me or resent me for punishing them."
"Then why do they get in trouble at all, if they're so keen to earn your approval?"
"They're tough kids, Xena, the young women who come here," Cyane's expression grew serious again. "Some of them have been living in the wild for years before they find us or we find them. Most are thieves, some have escaped from slavery where they've been treated worse than dirt. If we show them love and patience they'll gradually learn to trust again, to live for the tribe and not just themselves. If they stray we have to punish them, but I always make sure they understand it's meant with love. It doesn't happen often."
Despite her noble intentions, it was obvious that Cyane was aroused by the penitent girl. I could see it in her eyes and smell it in the delicious scent that was subtly tickling my nose, even from across the tent. I reported this back to Alti with great mirth, but she already knew all about Cyane.
'Of course she likes it, Xena, you fool!'
"Alti explained to me how Cyane kept the Amazons in line. They were a desperate band of petty thieves really. They all spoke different dialects and it was Cyane who made them learn Greek as a common language. But she knew if she had any hope of holding together a nation of lusty young warriors then it was their desires she had to control.
"So according to the tribe's code of honor, amazons were encouraged to form long-term, stable relationships. That included the Queen herself, who was noted for only taking one lover at a time, even though she had the entire nation worshipping at her feet. If a couple split up and feelings were raw then one party had to leave the village for at least one year. Bitterness and jealousy would not be tolerated or allowed to disrupt the discipline of the tribe. Beatings were only allowed for punishment, not for pleasure, and even Cyane's most esteemed warriors were not permitted to take bedwarmers.
"What's a bedwarmer?" Otere interjected.
"It's a young amazon who has only just started having sex. Cyane's tribe believed younger girls should learn about their bodies from each other. Not like the Greek amazon tribes, who encourage their top fighters to take bedwarmers so they can educate them in the ways of pleasing women."
"I don't see any problem with that. I like older women. Well, I'm sure I would if I ever got to meet any."
"You should travel to Greece some time. I'm sure Gabrielle's tribe would be delighted to meet you. They allow their warriors to pass bedwarmers between them, so the younger women can maximize their learning and prepare themselves for mature relationships. Y'know, rather than crushes."
"Seems sensible. That must save a lot of tears. Younger girls can be very emotional," Otere opined with all the wisdom of a young leader.
"Yeh, yeh, young Greek amazons grow up fast. It's the older ones who end up crying outside their lover's huts at night when some young lovely has rejected them for a new warrior-in-town."
Otere laughed. "Warrior ego! It's the same everywhere!"
"I think Cyane had the right idea. The Greek tribes... I never said this to Gabrielle 'cos it was none of my business... but the Greek amazons are very undisciplined. Fights break out, they're always finding some excuse to have a ceremony so they can get drunk. It's no wonder they're slowly dying out, probably this generation will be the last." Xena sighed. "But you should go to visit them. They're a friendly lot, good for a laugh." She kissed and licked Otere's neck. "And they'd love you, and your friends."
"Xena, would you rub my tits and fuck me while you tell me how Cyane got you in bed?"
The warrior princess obediently fondled Otere's breast and paused only to suck her wet fingers before adding a third to the two already exploring inside the girl's sex.
"Mmmm! Yesss, I like that."
Xena coughed, then took up her story again.
"Alti had a contact in Cyane's tribe. The healer's apprentice used to smuggle supplies to her, various potions, plants and animal parts she could use in her rituals. Alti persuaded this young woman to attack another amazon, to start a vicious fight that would be sure to earn her the most serious punishment. To this day I don't know what favor Alti promised in return. But the apprentice did her job well. When I next went to see Cyane, a scaffold was being erected in the center of their village.
"What's that for?"
Cyane looked uncomfortable. "There was a fight last night. One amazon attacked another, left her half dead in the woods. We still don't really understand what it was about, some rivalry over a girl probably, but the woman isn't telling and her victim is still unconscious.
"Wasn't she concerned about her queen's disapproval?" I taunted.
"She will be after I've finished with her," Cyane retorted sharply, clearly furious that I was witnessing a situation where the queen was not in full control of her subjects.
"Can I watch?"
Cyane turned sharply and regarded me in shocked silence for a while. "Sure, if that's your idea of entertainment. Why not? It starts tonight when the moon reaches the height of those hills."
Cyane was visibly shaken by the outbreak of violence in her supposedly well-ordered tribe. The situation called for drastic action, so she decided she would punish the girl herself to set an example to her peers. But even if she hadn't taken matters into her own hands, Alti had a back-up plan ready. The prisoner had the right to a last request, and the healer's apprentice would ask Cyane to wield the whip instead of her weapons mistress as was amazon custom.
So, later that evening when I arrived to take up Cyane's offer as guest of honor, I wasn't surprised to see the queen stripped to the waist in front of her gathered tribe, warming up with a few cracks of her whip into the cool night air. She was magnificent and she knew it. Her shoulder muscles flexed and released as she coiled and struck. Her amazons sat in awed silence, watching fascinated as their queen worked up a sheen of sweat, her long blonde tresses growing damp with exertion, her breasts firm and proud.
I had to admire the young healer's bravery. She was a pretty thing, strong but quite small. I remember she flinched and pulled slightly against her bindings at the crack of Cyane's practice strokes. Then with a sign from the queen to her second-in-command, the real thing began.
Alti's plan worked perfectly. Cyane had overcome her initial anxiety and was clearly enjoying the chance to demonstrate her authority first-hand. Her accuracy with the whip was flawless as it bit cleanly into her prisoner's back and shoulders. Alti told me later that the amazon had taken enough pain-killing drugs to ensure each lash would feel like a kiss from Artemis' own lips. It wasn't until the next day that she started screaming.
When it was over the girl fell to her knees at the feet of her queen. Suitably remorseful and begging for forgiveness, she was easily able to win her mercy. Cyane was relieved and pleased with herself. She had reestablished her authority and maybe even deepened her tribe's love and respect.
Once the discipline ceremony was done with, the amazons quickly started dismantling the scaffold to destroy any evidence of the challenge to their beloved ruler. The need to blur memories of that night meant Cyane even allowed them to break out the wineskins for once. It struck me then that Alti should have told me about that custom. With the Amazons uncharacteristically helpless with drink, me and Borias could've easily have slaughtered the lot.
With this murderous thought burning behind my eyes, I watched as Cyane finished chatting to her lead warriors and came over to me. Just as Alti predicted, her eyes were shining with lust.
"So, did you enjoy that Xena?"
"You're very skilled with that whip, considering you don't get to use it much."
"Hmm." Cyane looked over to one of her lieutenants. She reached out a hand and the warrior obediently threw her the wineskin she was holding. "Come on, Xena." Grinning, she took my hand and pulled me out of my chair. "Come to my tent."
That was when she got me to submit to her. She dragged me onto her bed as soon as we were inside. She was beside herself with desire. We kissed like it was our last breath for air and she dominated me in a way I'd craved but never allowed before.
Otere eyes flew open in disappointment as Xena abruptly stopped the slow fucking motion of her hand.
"Otere. Otere, I killed her." Xena was suddenly hysterical. She got up on her knees and turned to face the young warrior, shaking her by the shoulders. "I killed her. I killed Cyane with my own hands."
The girl took Xena's hands and gently pulled them from her shoulders. Otere was quiet before saying quietly: "I know, Xena. I guessed that. I hoped it wasn't so, but I knew it must be. She was the greatest fighter the Amazons have ever known. For her to be killed, it couldn't just be some jack-ass mercenary who got lucky."
"I couldn't match her in a straight fight. I had to trick her." Xena hung her head with shame. "She was a better fighter than me."
"Why.. how.. how could you do it Xena? Did you have no feelings for her at all? Was it because she mocked you when she dominated you? Was your ego really that fragile?"
"No, no it wasn't that." Sharp blue eyes misted with tears looked pleadingly into Otere's warm brown ones. "Do you want to know what really made me betray her and side with Alti?"
"Sure. If you want to tell me."
"After we made love that first and only time, when she'd made me cum and I'd returned the favor with my mouth, she took me in her arms. She started quietly murmuring in her own language, which she knew I couldn't understand. But what she didn't want to tell me with words was clearly expressed in the way she touched me. It was in every caress and every kiss and in the way her tongue stroked and slid over mine. It didn't seem to surprise her at all that I couldn't stop sobbing. I'd never cried like that before. She held me in her arms and rocked me like a child until I sobbed myself to sleep.
"I woke up just before dawn. She was sleeping peacefully beside me so I got up and went back to my camp. When I got there I took one of my mercenaries aside. I knew he'd worked for a slaver and had taken many amazon prisoners over the years. I repeated some of Cyane's phrases as well as I could remember without telling him where I'd heard them. He recognized some words. He told me that when two amazons were taken together and later separated to be sold they would cry out to each other a phrase he said still haunted his dreams. "Have courage, my love. Have courage and I will never desert you."
"So you killed her? For that?"
"I don't know why, I...I just couldn't accept it. Someone's love. Not from Borias, not Cyane, not from anyone. I enjoyed rejecting it, being that cruel. Being the one in control while others lost their heads. I had to kill Cyane because otherwise I would have to face her love for me. Gods, why? I don't understand why..."
Suddenly Otere sat up and started thumping her fists against Xena's chest. "Do you know what it was like for us, Xena? Can you even imagine what it was like?" she screamed into the warriors' face.
They silently regarded each other as Otere, with some effort, steadied herself. "I'll tell you a story, Xena." She glared at the older woman, her eyes blazing. "When the amazon warriors rounded up all the children and made us run into the forest, one of them told me I should take charge. I was the oldest of the children who were too young to fight, even though I couldn't have been more than ten years. She said to meet her the next night at the well in the center of the forest. If she didn't come then I was to look after the children as best I could and never return to the village - the village I'd only just started to think of as home.
Otere continued in a shaky, monotone voice, gripping Xena by the hair to make her look into her eyes. "So we ran. I found us shelter and we hunted some food. I waited the next night by the well, but she never came for us. I waited again the next night, and the one after that." Crying freely now, Otere started punching Xena's shoulders again. "Do you have any idea what that's like, Xena? To wait for someone who never comes?"
Xena flinched under the blows but made no attempt to defend herself. Eventually, Otere stopped and fell sobbing into the warrior's arms.
"I'm so sorry, Otere," Xena sniffed. "I know I can never put right what I did. I can't even give you an explanation."
Otere turned and awkwardly tried to gather the warrior who was twice her size into her arms.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Xena. I just lost it there for a moment. Hey! Hush! It was a long time ago, Xena. You're trying to undo it the best you can. I know that, I'm sorry." The amazon sat back on her heels and tried to wipe tears from Xena's cheeks with shaking fingers. "You will defeat Alti and I'll inherit something from you, maybe that pretty smile that turns women's hearts to mush, eh?"
Xena laughed at Otere's touching attempts to comfort her, but the sadness in her eyes broke the young warrior's heart.
"Xena, you've lost your soul-mate and this whole thing with Alti is forcing you to think back to a time you'd rather forget. A time we'd both rather forget. It was so long ago, I shouldn't make you talk about it."
"No, it's ok. I needed to talk. I'm glad I can talk to you and that you remember some of it too. The Gods' know, it was a devastating time for you."
"Xena?"
"Yes?" the warrior princess sniffed again.
"Yakut, she reminds you of Gabrielle doesn't she? I can see it in your eyes."
"Yes. Yes, she does. She's not a fighter, you know? Not like you and me. She's tough but she sees the good in people. Yes, she's a lot like Gabrielle. Whenever Gabrielle suffered, she never turned it against others." Xena wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "Is Yakut your lover?"
"She was, for a long time. But now we're more like... I guess she's kinda like my soul-mate. I think she sees me that way too."
"Look after her, Otere. Not like I did with Gabrielle."
"Here, don't be upset," Otere reached out for the older woman. "I need you now. I need you to take me. I'm dripping wet, remember? Come on, Xena, where's that bad-tempered sexy snake when I want her?"
At the reminder of Otere's needy sex, Xena shook herself and pulled herself together. She lifted the girl and lay her tenderly on the bench on her back. Otere clasped her arms around the warrior's neck, gratefully spreading her legs wide and moaning as Xena took a breast in her mouth and pumped her fingers hard.
"Oh, yes, fuck me, Xena, please. I want you so much..."
The glowing coals surrendered the last of their heat as a single cloud of steam escaped into the air. Outside the moon rose and cast a kindly silver light over the survivors of the northern amazon tribe as its orphaned warriors settled down for the night, huddled against the elements in each other's arms.
THE END
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Author: Amazon Story Title: A First Time for Everything Characters: Xena/Gabrielle, Lila & m Rating: NC-17 Summary: A young Gabrielle reminisces about the loss of her virginity at the hands of the Warrior Princess. This rating is for explicit f/f and m/f sex.
DISCLAIMER: The characters in this story are the property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. This is not for profit and is not intended to infringe anyone's copyright. It's just a bit of fun.
WARNING: Explicit scenes of fem-sex follow, so if you are under 18 years, or this sort of material is illegal where you live, please give this story a miss. This story also contains references to sexual activity between male and female characters.
You can find more stories by Amazon at her site VixenNet
Send feedback to amazon@flashmail.com
A First Time for Everything By Amazon
Chapter One
Gabrielle smiled to herself as she listened to the unfamiliar sound of Xena softly snoring. Like a little puppy, she thought, a low growling followed by an adorable snuffle, repeated at regular intervals on slow deep breaths.
She had never heard Xena snore before, never even seen her asleep. The warrior princess always awoke before Gabrielle and fell asleep after her, and the slightest sound or movement in the night would instantly shake her to wakefulness. On several occasions Gabrielle had rolled over, disturbed by some animal's foraging, to find Xena sitting up in her bedroll across the other side of the fire, sword in hand, eyes and ears alert for any villains unwise enough to intrude on their camp.
One particularly warm starry night, she had woken with a start, with no idea what had drawn her so abruptly from slumber. Her eyes flew open and she saw Xena leaning over her, propped on one elbow, smiling and holding a long blade of grass over Gabrielle's face.
"Wha.. what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Why did I wake up?"
"I was tickling your nose."
"Oh. Why?"
"You were keeping me awake."
Gabrielle's heart started pounding. Had her dreams betrayed her? She had long since come to terms with her desire for her warrior companion, an unstaunchable lust buried deep in her young heart that first shocked her in its torrid detail. But she would rather die than have Xena suspect her of such inappropriate feelings. She should be grateful enough that the great warrior princess had overcome her misgivings and allowed her to join her travels. After all, Gabrielle was just a simple farm-girl with no skills or experience to offer in return, aside from her passable cooking.
After two moons or so of traveling, Gabrielle had learned to keep her wandering thoughts in check during the day. But at night, in her dreams, her most vivid fantasies took control, tormenting her with disturbing visions of naked, writhing bodies and deep, conquering kisses.
"Was... was I talking in my sleep?" Gabrielle asked quickly.
"You were giggling. You often do. You must have very amusing dreams."
"Do I?"
"It's so sweet. I've never heard anyone else do that. You just giggle away to yourself like someone in a tavern just told you a dirty joke."
Gabrielle had blushed at her involuntary indiscretion and with guilt at what she could so easily have revealed. Xena just shook her head and laughed before retreating back to her own bedroll.
That had been just a few nights ago. Back then, Gabrielle had only experienced Xena's body in tantalizing glimpses as she entered a cold lake to bathe, or in the curves suggested by her short, leather slip on the rare occasions when she felt safe enough to discard her armor. Back then, Gabrielle could only imagine what it might be like to be held in the warrior's strong arms, to feel her hot, wet mouth claim her own.
But tonight was different. From now on everything would be different, Gabrielle knew. Tonight the warrior was lying face down next to her, naked under their shared fur with one arm flung over her head, hair still damp with sweat, apparently exhausted and deeply relaxed in sleep.
This fighting woman lying so trusting next to her, could she dare call her a lover? This fearsome, murderous warrior had so tenderly and patiently coaxed Gabrielle to surrender, before sweeping her up into a terrifying ride of passion and lust beyond the village-girl's wildest imaginings. Gabrielle's young body ached with fatigue and need. Every part of her carried the imprint of Xena's touch where by turns she'd been caressed and cajoled, used, stretched and finally, for precious moments, gently lifted and held outside her body.
Gabrielle felt she'd aged ten years this past day. It had all started so brutally, when her most cherished ideals about her companion were cruelly crushed. In her naiveté, she had imagined the great warrior princess as a lonely and noble fighter, burdened by an indescribably tragic past and starving herself of love in recompense for her previous crimes. Lost in fantasy, Gabrielle imagined only she could lift this burden from Xena's shoulders, healing her suffering with patience, understanding and love.
How could she have been so dense? Gabrielle now cursed her stupidity. Of course Xena had many lovers, could pick and chose them at will, abandoning them along the way as her journeying took her where she pleased. What need did she have for an innocent young girl, ignorant of the ways of life, death and sex?
Ever since they left Poteidaia, Gabrielle had willingly dedicated her days and nights to following Xena's every instruction. In her foolishness, she had interpreted Xena's threats to take her back to her village as a playful challenge, believing the taciturn warrior woman truly enjoyed her company, her lively chatter and endless questions.
But today had been different. They'd spent nearly the whole time walking through the hills in silence, Xena striding ahead, leading her horse by the reins. With great difficulty, Gabrielle had uttered not a word, heeding Xena's warning that the area was dangerous, with brigands' hide-outs behind every rock. It was only when the warrior had casually started singing to herself, seemingly having forgotten all about the young woman obediently trailing behind her, that it occurred to Gabrielle that her silence had come as a welcome respite.
"Xena, I thought we had to be quiet?"
"Hmm?" the warrior turned around, frowning.
"You said it was too dangerous here to make any noise."
Xena looked at her blankly. "Oh, oh well, yeh, that was back there." She nodded vaguely back down the path behind them, then coughed and turned back round to take the reins of her horse. "We're safe enough in these parts."
Gabrielle was stunned, the realization suddenly hit her between the eyes: Xena wasn't lonely at all, on the contrary she was clearly wondering how she ever got saddled with this irritating farm-girl. Dejected, Gabrielle brooded in silence for the rest of the day and into evening as they sat around the campfire munching joylessly on an over-cooked rabbit stew.
"Are you alright? You've been very quiet today."
"You told me to be quiet, remember?"
"Well, yes, but that was candlemarks ago. I didn't mean all day."
"Xena."
"What?"
"If you don't want me to travel with you. I mean you'd tell me, wouldn't you? You won't just leave me in the middle of nowhere. You'd take me to a town first, wouldn't you?"
"Gabrielle!" the warrior said softly.
Despite herself Gabrielle shivered as a strange tingling warmth grew in the pit of her stomach. Xena hardly ever said her name, and she'd begun to think she'd forgotten it.
The warrior crossed the campsite and crouched in front of her young companion, her bowl of stew still in her hand. "Gabrielle, of course I like traveling with you. I wasn't sure at first, but... now I like having you with me. I just don't, er, talk as much as you, that's all."
"Wouldn't you rather travel alone if you had the choice? Isn't that how you usually travel?" Gabrielle was determined to pick at the sore until it bled.
"No, not really." Xena frowned. "In the past I always traveled with my army. These days, I usually have a lover or two with me. I've hardly traveled alone at all yet." Her tone betrayed the truth that she had, in fact, been looking forward to some rare and precious solitude before this young girl had insisted on joining her.
Gabrielle felt she would start to cry if the warrior didn't go back to her side of the fire right now.
"Hey!" Puzzled, Xena put her bowl down and awkwardly reached out a hand to rest on Gabrielle's knee. "It's nice to have a pretty face around my campfire for once, instead of some belching, farting piss-head of a soldier."
Gabrielle looked up tearfully, not much reassured by this comparison.
Xena would later confess that she'd had no idea what to do next. She had clearly upset her young companion and anything she said just seemed to deepen the sadness in those pretty, green eyes. So she did the first thing that came into her head. Leaning slowly towards the girl, Xena kissed her softly, full on her mouth.
Gabrielle froze in disbelief as the warrior she idolized pressed her lips against her own. Then she heard an involuntary moan escape her throat as she felt herself slipping over the edge of sanity and into an abyss of new sensations and pleasure...
Gabrielle sighed as she gazed at her warrior-love peacefully stretched out next to her. Xena had turned away in her sleep and Gabrielle wondered if she was trying to distance herself from what she'd done. Their bodies now touched only where their calves rested next to each other. Hardly daring to breathe, Gabrielle inched close enough to feel the heat from the Xena's back against her face and chest, to smell the ripe scent of mingled sex and sweat. It occurred to her that this was what people meant by being in love.
Blinking back sudden tears, Gabrielle let her eyes follow Xena's carelessly draped arm up towards her fingers, still stained with dried blood. Her blood...
"What's the matter?"
The warrior had stopped abruptly just as she prepared to claim the young woman's body.
"You... you're a virgin!"
"Xena, I told you that."
"I thought you meant you hadn't done it with women. I didn't know you hadn't done it ever with anyone."
"Well, I haven't. Is that a problem?" Gabrielle asked quietly.
"Er, no, no, sorry." Xena only half-succeeded in hiding a smirk. "It's just that, well, there's something in our way here and it has to be, er, got rid of, y'know?"
"Oh. Can you do it?"
"I haven't done that before. It might hurt."
"Really? What kind of warlord are you?" Gabrielle retorted sharply. "I would have thought you'd pillaged plenty of virgins in your time."
Xena didn't respond and Gabrielle cursed herself for so carelessly alluding to a past she could barely begin to understand. The life of a warrior, she knew, must be so much more brutal than her innocent mind could conceive.
"Gabrielle, in your village, do you have to be a virgin to get married?" Xena asked solemnly.
"Well, everyone pretends the bride's a virgin."
"But the husband, would he send you back to your family if you weren't, y'know, intact?"
"Oh Xena, let's not worry about that. If I get married it won't be for ages yet, and if someone doesn't want to marry me because of that then I don't want to marry them in the first place."
"OK, if you're sure."
"I'm sure."
Xena steadied herself and Gabrielle felt powerful arm muscles brace.
"Do you know what you're doing?" she whispered.
"It's ok, trust me. I'll make this as painless as possible."
Gabrielle blanched.
"Now, don't tense up on me." Xena pressed her two fingers further into the young farm-girl, testing the resistance of the barrier. "Remember why you want this," she murmured in her deep, seductive voice as she shifted her weight on top of Gabrielle. "Remember how much you want me inside you."
Xena pressed her tongue into Gabrielle's mouth until she felt the young woman's body melt into acquiesce. Then suddenly she pulled her mouth away and ploughed her fingers into the tight channel, twisting and tearing her way through in one cruel thrust.
"Oww! Gods! Fuck!!" Gabrielle gasped.
"Are you ok?" Xena grinned, genuinely concerned but pleased with herself nonetheless. "I've never heard you cuss like that before."
"Oh! Oh, it's fine now, it just hurt when you did it." She slowly relaxed her body and tried to regain control over her breath.
Xena gently pulled out and wiped her bloody fingers against a patch of grass beside them. "It's not the tearing that hurts, it's the strain just before it breaks."
"Am I bleeding a lot?"
"Let's have a look." Xena pulled back the fur bedroll. Two small patches of dark red lay on the young woman's thighs. To Gabrielle's horror, Xena ducked her head and started licking the sticky marks.
"Xena! Don't!" she tried to push her head away but Xena caught her by the wrist.
"My first blood...!"
When Xena looked up red stained her lips, turning her grin into a frighteningly feral look that made Gabrielle think of the child's story about the girl in red who put her trust in a wolf...
Gabrielle sighed. Even if her first love decided to abandon her at the next village, she felt she could survive on her own now. She would cherish the memories of this night, and relive them in her mind whenever her craving shook her from sleep. At the very least, 'My Night of Passion with the Destroyer of Nations' would make an excellent story to launch her career as a bard, she thought, smiling to herself. Gabrielle was sad but not despondent. She resolved to ensure that every sigh, every taste and pleasure of this night would be etched in her mind forever...
Chapter Two
"It's your first time, Gabrielle. I want it to be good for you."
The warrior had certainly delivered on her promise, Gabrielle mused. It had started with a kiss, warm and wet, an unfamiliar and almost disturbing sensation as Xena's tongue invaded her mouth, coaxing her own to respond. The great Warrior Princess knelt at the feet of the farm-girl and pressed one strong hand to the back of Gabrielle's neck, guiding her firmly into the kiss, the other resting on a bare knee, fingers threatening to slip under the hem of the girl's skirt.
Gabrielle struggled to take in what was happening, but she was swept away on rising tides of pleasure, feelings flooding over her in a torrent of sensation. Xena's mouth pushed harder, became more insistent, more demanding. Gabrielle felt like she was drowning. For the first time, she understood the fear instilled in ordinary mortals at the very mention of the Destroyer of Nations.
Suddenly, the warrior broke the kiss and sat back on her heels, an amused twinkle in her eyes. Gabrielle couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her lips at the loss of that delicious contact - and at the sight of those startling azure eyes that betrayed nothing of their owner's dark soul.
From her seat on the fallen tree-trunk, Gabrielle was able for once to look directly into the face of the kneeling warrior. She couldn't help but wonder about the nameless men and women who had been privileged to look into those same eyes, knowing it would be their last vision this side of the Styx. Did their expressions change from fear to wonder, transfixed by that piercing blue framed by the long, dark lashes of a child? Or did they see only the deadly cold stare of a killer?
Xena just regarded the farm-girl thoughtfully, without speaking, as if she had just discovered something unexpected. Something unexpected but good. Gabrielle felt her skin flush under the older woman's scrutiny.
Without shifting her gaze, Xena started unbuckling her armor.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"I'm stripping for you. So you can get a good look at me." Xena smirked at her young companion. "So you don't have to steal one out of the corner of your eye."
Gabrielle adopted what she hoped was an affronted expression.
"Come on, girl. I've seen you trying to sneak an eyeful when I'm getting undressed to bathe. Don't try to deny it now." Suddenly, Gabrielle's hero was down to her leather dress, the ties at her chest straining tightly against her full breasts.
"I-I..." Gabrielle's usually reliable store of words failed her as she tried to protest her innocence. How could her carefully concealed desires have been so visible? Her half-formed words trailed off and Xena ignored her discomfort and started unlacing the leather slip. Gabrielle's mouth hung open at the display before her - the dress was pulled down to the warrior's waist, exposing naked breasts to the night air. She swallowed and watched the firelight turn Xena's skin a burnished copper, tongues of flame licking her dark red nipples.
"Here." Smiling, Xena took one of the girl's hands and placed a soft, warm kiss in the palm. Then she gently pressed it to one breast, urging Gabrielle to explore its fullness. Amazed, Gabrielle watched as her own hand began fondling, grasping and squeezing, even though she hardly knew what she was doing.
"Oh yesss..." With a sigh of satisfaction, Xena closed her eyes and leaned her head back.
Some deeper urge gave the village-girl a rush of courage. Her hands shaking, Gabrielle took a breast in each hand, pressing them together and rubbing her palms against the soft flesh, feeling nipples tighten into hard buds.
"Yesss..." Xena sighed again, her head thrown back, her eyes still tightly closed. Gabrielle marveled at the finely muscled torso, the long neck, the strong jaw-line.
Xena leaned forward again and Gabrielle's head was pushed down towards the warrior's naked chest. A warm voice cut through the cool night. "Here... suck me." Gabrielle heard Xena cry out as her lips closed on the offered teat and suddenly she was crushed to the older woman's bosom.
"Oh, that's right," Xena muttered. "Harder!" The warrior kissed and stroked the village-girls' long blonde hair as if she'd never felt such a lush, silken texture. "Oh, Gabrielle. You've been dreaming about doing this for me, haven't you, sweet girl?"
Gabrielle couldn't hide her eagerness as her nascent passion bloomed. Her answer was a muffled groan. Sucking hard, she tugged at the nipple like a new-born.
"Ohh! Yesss! Good girl!."
Xena suddenly decided the girl should share her nakedness and in one smooth movement she reached her fingers inside Gabrielle's top and ripped the laces, pulling the flimsy garment open and exposing surprisingly large, firm breasts. Her eyes glowed with excitement as she took in the sight.
"Beautiful." With difficulty, the warrior prised Gabrielle's mouth away, so she could bury her face between those luscious breasts. "Oh, your skin.. Your skin, it's so soft..."
Gabrielle cradled Xena's head now nuzzled deep into her bosom and listened to the muffled groans that came from the warrior's throat. She smiled to herself at the very idea that her body could be such a source of pleasure. For years, her well-developed breasts had been nothing but an embarrassment. The local boys had teased her mercilessly while the other girls had playfully grabbed at them, jealous and fascinated at the same time. Now she began to understand, having savored the sweet taste of a grown woman's breasts in her mouth, just how much joy they could give.
"Gods!" a shocking thought broke through Gabrielle's contented reverie. "If anyone from the village could see me now!" Sitting in the open by the camp-fire, offering her naked breasts to the mouth of a renown warlord and murderer of innocents - her mother would die of shame, her father would disown her. And that without even considering that the lover so ardently worshipping her young body was a woman.
It was not exactly a shock that the Warrior Princess would seek pleasure from a young girl. Everyone knew that warrior women often took their own kind as lovers, and parents were well advised to hide their daughters from raiders of any kind. And then there were the Amazons - a fierce tribe of women, if the stories were to be believed, who got up to gods-knew-what in the forests to the south of their land. Gabrielle remembered there had been quite a commotion when a young girl from a neighboring village had run off to join them. Gabrielle's father, never a demonstratively affectionate man, had been in a particularly foul mood for the few days while that scandal dominated village gossip. Nothing his two daughters did seemed to please him and any excited chatter or misdemeanor, however slight, would set him off in a rage.
Gabrielle had listened to the stories and rumors with great interest but without comment. Somehow she couldn't reconcile the love between mythical fighting-women and savages with her own indistinct visions and sensations - the secret passions that woke her nightly and which she tried in vain to calm with a hand pressed firmly between her thighs.
"Come here!"
Xena surfaced from between Gabrielle's breasts to issue an order. Pulling the girl up from her seat she led her over to her bedroll conveniently already laid out by the fire. They sat together and Xena slipped her arms around the smaller woman, folding her in her embrace until Gabrielle was cocooned, wrapped safely in strong arms and legs, Xena's long mane of black hair tumbling over both their shoulders. Xena was everywhere and everywhere was Xena.
Gabrielle flinched as she felt strong white teeth nip at her flesh between kisses trailed down her neck.
"Ohh! That's exquisite!" she breathed. Sensing a moment's hesitation in the warrior's movements, she added quickly: "I mean... it feels great." Smoothing her hands over Xena's muscled shoulders and down her naked back, Gabrielle felt a wet tongue trace a path along her jaw-line.
Then the lesson began in earnest.
Chapter Three
"Hungry?"
Xena lay back on the fur rug and spread her legs open, her dress, boots and britches now abandoned next to the camp-fire.
Gabrielle froze, gripped by nothing less than terror at the sight of the naked warrior sprawled in front of her. In all her nocturnal fantasizing, she'd scarcely dared imagine what her own body might look like from this angle, let alone another woman's. If she'd expected a discreet opening, partly hidden in its tidy nest of curls, she was mistaken. Xena's sex was exposed and open, glistening with wetness, lips swollen and slightly parted. Unmistakably aroused.
The warrior was looking expectantly up at her.
"Xena, I-I haven't done it before."
"Really?" Xena couldn't keep the gleeful tone out of her voice. "Oh! Well, I'll be gentle. Promise. Now come here. I'll show you how I want you to pleasure me. Here." She indicated that Gabrielle should kneel between her outstretched legs. "Now, just lay your head on my belly to start with. Get used to it first."
Gabrielle did as she was told, not really understanding what 'it' was that she was supposed to get used to. She stretched out and rested her cheek against Xena's soft belly, the dark triangle of hairs above her sex tickling her nose. Then a familiar scent suddenly hit her in the face. Gabrielle half sat up in a bid to escape the unbearably strong sensation, but a firm hand pushed her back.
"Steady. Take it slowly."
Gabrielle obediently lay back down, breathing cautiously now, determined to do whatever was demanded of her. This time the delicious scent began to call her, urging her downwards to take a full draught of the sweet nectar she knew must be dripping from the warrior's sex. She would soon get used to this alright. Taking the older woman's advice, she resisted the temptation to follow the trail immediately. Instead she let her lungs take their fill until she felt she could bear to wait no longer.
"Let me?"
Xena removed her hand from Gabrielle's neck and let her wriggle down the blanket. The innocent village-girl took one last look at that fascinating vision before closing her eyes and pressing her mouth and nose between the folds of Xena's sex.
All coherent thought left Gabrielle's mind, as taste, touch and smell overwhelmed her. Acting on instinct alone, she pressed her tongue to Xena's center, lapping and sucking as if her life depended on it. Somewhere above her, she heard a warrior roar and then murmur her name over and over. Gabrielle hardly knew what was expected of her, she just knew she never wanted to stop pleasuring this woman she adored.
"Hades teeth!" Xena's body bucked and tensed and arched upwards, but never escaping the girl's attentive tongue. The warrior called on and then cursed every god in Olympia, including several Gabrielle had never heard of. She swore and blasphemed in languages from lands Gabrielle never knew existed, and promised sexual favors in return that, if Gabrielle had but understood them, she would have dismissed as physically impossible.
Finally, the great Warrior Princess had to admit defeat at the hands of the young farm-girl. "Ohhh! Oh! Oh, stop for a second! Let me get my breath."
Gabrielle reluctantly halted her relentless lapping, amazed that she could have tired Xena out. The warrior smiled down at the flushed, eager face between her legs.
"Ok, now listen. I'm too excited now, I need release. But it's alright, I'll soon be ready again, ok? I promise." Xena gripped Gabrielle by her hair and abruptly pulled her down to resume licking.
Gabrielle had no idea what she meant. "Do you want me to stop?" she tried to lift her head but Xena's tight grip prevented her.
"No, no! Just keep doing what you were doing. It's great," Xena panted. "Gods, you're so good at it. Must have some amazon blood in you, eh? Oh, yesssss..." with that Xena slipped back to indecipherable moans.
It didn't take long. A few more well-placed laps and Gabrielle was surprised by the kiss returned against her mouth by the spasms deep within Xena's body. The warrior half sat up, gripped by tension as waves of release washed over her. A scream echoed into the forest, startling the dozing wildlife and making Gabrielle's ears ring.
Xena lay back on the rug almost sobbing, her legs still spread and knees bent, one arm shielding her face. Gabrielle sat up and looked into the tear-stained face of her beloved, not sure quite what to do. Gazing down in wonder at the naked beauty laid out before her, she rested her small hands on the warrior's long, muscled thighs and placed a kiss on one bended knee. A hand reached up for hers and gripped it tightly.
"That was very good, Gabrielle. I'm very pleased with you," the warrior said breathlessly, without opening her eyes....
Even after giving herself so completely to her young companion, Xena somehow managed to maintain her natural authority and dignity, Gabrielle thought to herself as she watched the still and sleeping form next to her. She wondered what she would have to do to break through that arrogant and distant manner.
Another part of her worried that she had lost more than just her virginity this long night. Was she becoming the kind of girl she so disdained in myth and legend, rescued or abandoned at the whim of the great hero, her only purpose to please her lover? The thought disturbed her, but more so because she knew she would discard any dearly-held principle in a moment if it meant she could lie like this, next to Xena, for the rest of her life.
Idiot girl! There she was again - romantic fantasies worthy of a child. How many times had she lectured other girls in the village about how important it was to be independent, not to rely on anyone for food, shelter or money? Or love. Love was an irrational goal, the evidence was everywhere to be seen. Sex held people enthralled for a year, maybe two then you could see the resentment and loneliness in married eyes. And yet here she was, dreaming of a life dedicated to this cruel and dangerous killer and of being fucked daily like a common whore. Hypocrite!
Xena stirred in her sleep, as if disturbed by the ferocity of Gabrielle's thoughts. The warrior stretched and rolled over, gathering her young lover up in her arms as she did so, making Gabrielle whimper as she was clasped to that warm body in a powerful embrace. Suddenly Xena's eyes were open and the blue orbs made mockery of the darkness of the night.
Sensing a frisson of fear, she pulled Gabrielle under her chin and tenderly stroked her hand through the girl's thick, blonde hair. "Ok?"
"Yes," replied a small voice as Gabrielle reached around Xena's torso and did her best to squeeze the breath from her lover's body.
Xena planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Want some more?"
Gabrielle smiled and dropped one hand to rest between Xena's moist thighs. "Mmmm. This is nice enough. For now."
"'Kay," the warrior's reply was already sleepy again.
"Xena?"
"Hmmm?."
"Can I just keep my hand down here?" Gabrielle daringly pushed her small hand between the warrior's legs, up against that dark, wet place.
Xena's answer was to roll over on her back and let her legs fall open, her eyes now closed as she resumed her charming snore.
Gabrielle could feel that wondrous tightness start again in her belly. Just from touching her companion's naked sex! Checking Xena was asleep, she guiltily brought her hand up to her nose and inhaled the musky-sweet scent deep into her lungs.
Chapter Four
Gabrielle would never know it, but the first thing Xena did every morning was listen for her young companion's breathing. If she concentrated hard enough, if she stilled her own breath to silence, she could just pick out the low regular sound from among the clatter of the awakening forest. Even from her bedroll positioned several horse-lengths away, the warrior could focus in on that sweet rhythm. Closing out all other distractions, she almost believed she could hear the steady pulse of Gabrielle's heartbeat.
It was a natural concern, Xena told herself, an understandable paranoia since that sickening morning a few years ago. She'd awoken after an unusually deep, peaceful sleep to find the elite soldiers of her small raiding party had been slaughtered in the night while they slept - torn and twisted bodies scattered around her camp, steaming like so much dead meat. She knew immediately this was Ares' idea of a joke. Not even the stealthiest footfall of warlord or brigand could have approached them without awakening her. It was the God of War's subtle way to remind her who pulled the strings.
Boredom was the Gods' most persistent foe, and there was no telling when Ares would try that one again - or whether some other deity with an interest in tormenting the warrior princess would get a similar idea. And Xena knew this trusting young woman would be an especially amusing target, once the Gods realized the great Destroyer of Nations was traveling with someone she actually cared for.
Cared for! Xena snorted to herself, as she led her horse along the steep path. What do I know about caring? Everyone I've even thought of that way has ended up dead, mostly by my own hand. The horse snorted back as if in agreement, and Xena smiled despite her dark thoughts and placed a kiss on the mare's muzzle.
Pausing to look out over the rocky ridge to the valley below, Xena wondered for the umpteenth time where they were headed. She had no idea, any more than she knew why the young girl was still obediently following behind day after day, trusting in her companion's unspoken plan. A plan which did not exist. Gabrielle seemed unaware of their aimlessness or untroubled by it.
Overhead, Apollo's chariot arced across the sky and Xena sighed as the heat generated by its spinning wheels pleasantly warmed her back.
"Xena?" Gabrielle broke the silence Xena had enforced some candlemarks ago.
"Hmmm?" the warrior replied without looking round.
"Can we stop and eat something soon?"
"Eat what? There's nothing to hunt now until we get over the other side of this hill. And no fruit trees for half a day after that, probably."
"I'm hungry," Gabrielle informed her.
"Well, you should've thought of that when you had that rabbit in your sights this morning."
"It ducked. I told you," she replied sulkily.
Xena snorted and shook her head. Gabrielle's obvious reluctance to kill had reminded her just how young the girl really was. And yet so disobedient - daring to grant the furry creature another day rather than feed their stomachs. Xena couldn't help but laugh at her protests of innocence.
"Gabrielle! What are you doing?"
"It moved, it did! Just as I let go of the arrow!"
"You angled it upwards, you fool. What's wrong with you, girl? Your practice shots were fine."
Crouching behind Gabrielle and holding her hands steady on the bow, Xena had done her best to give sage shooting advice - even as her senses threatened to overpower all rational thought. The musk of the girl's sex was unmistakable and so alluring, mingled with the softer scent of her sun-warmed hair that tumbled over her shoulders and brushed against Xena's arm. The warrior judged the girl's last menses had finished some four or maybe five days ago. Well, that answered one question at least. It took all of Xena's famed strength of will not to throw Gabrielle on her back and take her right there in the secluded copse.
Gabrielle, Gabrielle. Xena turned the name over in her mind, imagined the form of it shaping her tongue. Was she falling in love with this village girl? Was she losing her fucking mind?
Xena had first feared for her sanity a few nights ago when she'd found herself perched in a tree high above their camp. Straining her eyes in the darkness, she'd looked down, fascinated to see what her young companion would do when she imagined she was alone.
Xena had hoped to convince Gabrielle that she would be gone for at least a candlemark, declaring her mission to hunt nocturnal creatures on the other side of a lake some distance from their camp. Having doubled back from her 'hunt' and sneaked up into the tree, Xena was at first perplexed to see the girl retrieve a parchment from her bag and start frantically scratching away with a quill. She'd no idea the girl could read, or that she carried writing materials. Was she a spy? For whom, for Hera's sake? Xena resolved to take a look at that scroll the next time Gabrielle went for a swim.
The girl continued with her infernal scratching, stretched out on her stomach on the bed-roll, chewing the end of her quill and pausing from time to time to look into the middle distance. This was not proving much of a spectator sport and Xena was ready to slide back down the tree to reemerge clutching the clutch of dead game she'd hidden earlier that day. The girl was so dim she wouldn't even notice that the birds had been killed candlemarks ago. Then just as Xena gathered herself for a silent descent, Gabrielle tossed her quill and scroll to one side and rolled over on the bedroll.
Laying on her back, the girl at first simply looked up at the canopy of stars above her, one arm tucked under her head, a picture of deep contentment. Then Xena noticed the path the other hand was taking. The warrior had to acknowledge this was exactly what she'd hoped for all along. "I just want to know if she'll call out my name," she justified to herself.
In the event, Gabrielle's technique was perfunctory, a few quick and vigorous thrusts ending in a short series of wordless grunts.
"Well, I'm sure we can do better than that," the warrior had thought before cursing herself. "Don't even think it, warrior-slag! That girl has a right to live long enough to marry some village dimwit and bear his dimwit children. She'd run screaming from you anyway, at the first idea of what you're into."
Letting go of her horse as they came to a flatter section of the path, Xena reaffirmed her earlier decision to leave the girl in peace. Yes, she resolved, they would take the north road to Athens. Gabrielle would soon find a boyfriend in one of the many taverns teaming with worthy young Athenians.
And as for herself, well, she could get reacquainted with that Corinthian prostitute who worked the upscale brothel behind the courthouse. It must be nearly a year now since the last shameless episode with her. By the gods, that had been two days and nights of debauchery to cherish! And worth every dinar. Xena cursed her stupidity yet again. How could she even imagine that this sweet village girl...
"Yes, a detour to Athens, that's the solution. Release some tension. Mmm, yes, ni-iice idea."
With that reassuring thought, Xena relaxed and started softly singing an Amphipolian tune to herself.
Chapter Five
In all her secret night-time fantasies Gabrielle could hardly have imagined some of the activities Xena would enjoy. Her fascination with Gabrielle's thick blonde hair, the way she buried her face in it and moaned as she inhaled the fragrance. Her eulogies to the softness of her skin.
And the other thing.
Gabrielle tensed as Xena whispered almost shyly: "There's something I'd like you to do for me."
"Tell me."
Xena had answered by laying down on her front next to Gabrielle and spreading her legs open. "Kneel between my legs and lean over me."
Puzzled, Gabrielle did as she was asked and hovered over the naked warrior. "Like that?"
"Now, just lean forward until... until I can feel your breasts against my back. Oh Gods! Yes! Yes, like that..."
Gabrielle couldn't help smiling to herself at this unlikely proposition. Trying to meet the woman's needs, she let the full weight of her naked breasts rest against Xena's muscled shoulders. To her astonishment, the warrior went wild, writhing with undisguised delight.
"Ohh, yeh. Mmmm! Oh! Now rub them over my back, that's it!"
Gabrielle obediently dragged her breasts down Xena's spine to the small of her back, over the twin hills of her naked buttocks and back up again. Pleasantly amused at the reaction she was causing, she was taken with a mischievous need to test this extraordinary power.
"Does that feel good, warrior?"
"Mmm!" a low moan.
"How does it feel? Tell me why it feels good." Gabrielle kept up the apparently delicious torture.
"Mmm. It's-I- I can, I can feel your nipples, hard, hard against my skin. Getting harder. And the weight of your breasts, so soft, soft but so heavy..."
Gabrielle raised an eyebrow. This was the most expressiveness she'd heard from her companion in all their days traveling together.
"You like that, don't you?"
"Hmm?" the warrior's back stiffened slightly as she suspected she was being mocked.
"You like the feel of a woman's breasts..." Gabrielle timed her words to match the stroking of her hard points against her willing victim. "The way my nipples are brushing against your skin. Brushing all the way along the length of your back." Gabrielle began to gain confidence. Words were her domain and she suddenly realized she could use them to torment the warrior lying so helpless at her mercy.
"Oh yeh." Xena sank once more beneath waves of pleasure. "Love your titties..."
Feeling bolder now, Gabrielle let her breasts slap loudly against Xena's butt.
"Grrr!"
Gabrielle had to concentrate to stop herself giggling. Xena was growling. Leaning on her elbows, she lowered her weight onto the woman beneath her, squashing her firm young breasts against the warrior's muscular frame. Xena endured this torture for a while then quickly turned, lifting Gabrielle bodily and twisting beneath her until she rested on her back.
They kissed with renewed passion and Gabrielle marveled at the sensation of Xena's quickened heartbeat she could clearly feel thumping against her own chest. This was all due to her!
Then she jumped as long fingers slipped inside her britches.
"Hush, hush," Xena murmured trying to calm her. "Gods, you're wet, girl!"
Gabrielle squirmed away from the direct sensation of the warrior's fingers. She'd never been touched like this before. She'd hardly even dared to touch herself inside in that way.
Picking up on her nervousness, Xena decided to take a slower course. "Would you like me to lick you? Like you did for me?"
"Oh, yes!"
"Ok, take your panties off and sit on my face." Gabrielle quickly ripped off her britches. "No, the other way round. That's it."
Facing Xena's feet, Gabrielle straddled Xena's head and closing her eyes to help quell her shyness, she lowered herself slowly onto the warrior's mouth. Suddenly she cried out as she felt strong fingers grip her thighs and a warm, wet tongue start lapping at her sex.
"Oh, gods.. oh..." Gabrielle wriggled in ecstasy, making the warrior grip her tightly to keep her in reach of her tongue. Then she noticed Xena had stretched open her legs to draw attention to something - of course, Gabrielle realized, she could pleasure Xena in the same way, even while her own pussy was receiving such loving treatment.
Soon they were both slurping hungrily and Gabrielle couldn't help a smile as she imagined Aphrodite herself would blush to see such shameless lust.
"OWWW!" Suddenly she was shocked by a sharp slap across her rear. "Wha.. what's the matter?" she looked back over her shoulder in consternation.
"Nothing," Xena grinned. ""You were offering your pretty butt to me, so I thought I'd give it a smack, that's all."
"Oh!"
"Did you like it, hmm?"
"Don't know," Gabrielle frowned. "Not sure. Do it again."
She turned back round and braced herself. "OWW!!" This time there was no mistaking the tingling warmth of pleasure as anticipation gave way to the pain of another stinging blow. Gabrielle couldn't help her hips writhing and bucking to redistribute the heat that suddenly gathered in her lower half. "Ohhh. Oh! I'm still not quite... OWW!"
Xena settled into a regular rhythm and Gabrielle's cries were muffled in Xena's crotch as the girl tried in vain to resume licking her partner. Soon they both collapsed in laughter as the task had obviously become impossible.
"Here." Xena took on a solemn expression as she motioned for Gabrielle to turn around and lay alongside her.
They kissed and rolled together until Xena tentatively resumed the probing of her fingers.
Gabrielle's virgin channel put up only short-lived resistance to Xena's determined thrusts. After the initial pain, the warrior withdrew, concerned not to hurt her young lover any more than necessary.
"I need it now." Gabrielle urged shyly.
Xena sat up and pulled Gabrielle into her arms to sit in her lap. Cradling her in the crock of one arm, the warrior gently pressed her fingers back inside.
"Are you still sore? Does it hurt?"
"Oh, no. No, it feels good. So good." Gabrielle slumped against the warrior's shoulder.
Gradually, agonizingly slowly, the pumping got harder.
"Oh g-gods, Xena! It's s-so g-good, it h-hurts."
"Hush. Just relax. Calm down for a while."
"Don't stop, Xena! Please! I like it."
"I know you do, my sweet, but just take your time. Savor it. I'm not going anywhere 'til you've had your fill."
Gabrielle could not imagine ever having enough of this feeling, but this time she knew exactly what the warrior meant. Eventually this pleasure would build and grip her belly, sending her soaring in ecstasy just as Xena had done earlier. Gabrielle daringly opened her legs wider and was rewarded by a moan from her lover and deeper, more powerful thrusts that almost lifted her off the ground.
"Oh Gods! I didn't know it could feel this good. Oh Hera's tits, it feels good, Xena..." she gripped Xena's arm and without noticing what she was doing, drew blood as she scratched her short nails along the hard bicep.
"Gabrielle, Gabrielle, you're so wet. I want you Gabrielle." The warrior murmured the village girl's name over and over, muttering praise to her body, calling her favorite places by names a sailor might use.
Something about the desperation in Xena's passion, the way her strong hands ran over Gabrielle's body, through her hair, had been almost frightening. But Gabrielle wouldn't give in to fear. Not now, while Xena's fingers thrust into her, twisting and probing, deep inside and stretching her until she thought the warrior would force her whole hand inside.
Oh, gods! Gabrielle couldn't speak but she knew what was coming. When it came, she heard a voice shriek, a voice that she didn't recognize but knew must be her own. She thought it would never stop. "OHH! OHHH! XENNAAA!"
When it was over she stayed like that, cradled naked in the arms of the former Destroyer of Nations, her legs spread open, her thighs glistening wet. Behind her, Xena quietly licked her fingers clean.
Chapter Six
"Let me see those nails. Hmmm, not bad, but they could be better," Xena examined the farm girl's hands with a frown, turning them to catch the light from the dying embers of the camp-fire.
They had been making love for several candlemarks and Gabrielle was both deeply sated and yet eager to give and receive more pleasure, and to learn from her more worldly lover. But she was puzzled that Xena should find something amiss with her nails, of all things. She prided herself on keeping them neat and trim, despite a lifetime spent gathering crops and tending animals in the fields of her village. Had she accidentally scratched her lover, she worried.
"They should be shorter," Xena declared.
"Oh, really? If you think so," Gabrielle replied doubtfully.
Xena took one hand and brought each finger to her lips, skillfully blunting the ends that she deemed needed attention. She smiled and winked up at the girl as she worked her way through one hand then the other, making Gabrielle giggle at the odd sensation of tiny nibbles from strong white teeth.
When she was satisfied with the results, Xena got up, unselfconscious in her nakedness, and strode over to her saddlebag returning with a small sack and what looked like a bottle of oil. She knelt beside Gabrielle on the bedroll and flung the sack on the ground, placing the bottle by the girl's knees.
Seeing her confused look, Xena said in a low, husky voice: "Gabrielle, I want you to fuck me. Ok?"
"Ok," Gabrielle replied in barely more than a whisper.
Without further explanation, Xena stretched out her full naked length on the fur rug and reached out her arms. "Cm'ere."
Gabrielle scooted down to lay at Xena's side, aware suddenly of how small she felt next to this powerful creature, her lover. Tilting her head to meet Xena's lips with her own, she initiated a slow, deep kiss and pressed her tongue into the warrior's hot mouth.
Tongues slid over each other in a complex dance until Gabrielle broke free and eagerly began exploring the rest of Xena's body with her mouth and hands. Moaning with uncontrolled delight, she ran her palms over every sculpted muscle of Xena's torso, tracing the contours of her shoulders, passing down over her breasts and belly, filling her nose with the sweet, musky scent of aroused warrior. Moving further down, she anointed the long thigh muscles with her teeth and tongue, biting and licking until every touch was echoed in her lover's sighs.
Gabrielle noticed that this time, unlike their earlier coupling, she was being allowed to wander freely. Now there was no cajoling, no subtle and not-so-subtle instruction. Xena was waiting for something. Gabrielle could sense it in the change of her breathing, the quicker, shallower breaths that signaled the warrior's growing excitement. She was waiting for the young novice to take the lead and Gabrielle would not let her down. Gathering her courage, she pushed the raven-haired beauty onto her back and mounted her.
"MMmmm!"
"Please." Xena's voice was quiet, almost shy, making the plea sound more like a question.
"Xena, show me how...."
The warrior answered by grabbing the bottle and quickly smothering Gabrielle's right hand in the strangely warm oil before pressing the palm firmly between her legs. The village girl understood and rubbed her wet fingers through the folds of the warrior's heated center.
"Oh! You're ready for it aren't you?" Gabrielle purred daringly.
Xena just gripped the girl's wrist, imploring her to enter.
Tentatively, Gabrielle pressed two fingers into the entrance and was greeted by a flood of heat and silky wetness that made her gasp with pleasure. Sensing her lover's urgency, she withdrew half-way and pushed back in, beginning a slow thrusting motion that came to her instinctively.
"You... can... put... more fingers.... in me," Xena urged between breaths.
"Is that right?" Gabrielle teased her lover with the tender stroking, but still refused her direct request. "You want some more, do you?"
Xena laughed. "Yes please, mistress," she pouted. "I'd like another finger. Please."
Gabrielle smiled down at those startling blue eyes and that wicked grin that made her insides flip every time. Biting her lip, she ploughed three then four fingers into Xena's soaking wet pussy, keeping to her steady, slow beat.
The warrior groaned in gratitude and spread her legs wider. Then she seized Gabrielle's wrist and abruptly stopped her movement. "Clench your fist. Here, like this." Xena showed Gabrielle the exact movement she should make, then screamed as her protégé responded by demonstrating just what she'd learned.
"Ohhh! Yesss!! OH GODS!! Deeper, deeper, that's it. OHHH!"
Gabrielle couldn't believe she had her whole hand buried inside her warrior. She watched fascinated as the woman beneath her - this feared leader and warlord who always kept her emotions under such icy control - writhed in helpless ecstasy, gasping and cursing, her hair slick with sweat. Gabrielle saw her wrist and then part of her forearm disappear ever deeper into that dark, wet netherworld. It frightened her. She wanted to stop, to ask if this was a 'Xena' thing or something else, but maybe this wasn't the best time. She realized she had a responsibility now - to take control of Xena's pleasure. With the slightest change of pace or intensity, she could trigger a matching spasm in her lover's innermost muscles; the slightest pressure could push her towards climax or leave her hanging on the edge, begging for release.
"Oh... sweet... Artemis!... HARDER!!" Xena arched her back, lifting her torso off the ground, her legs bent and spread open, her weight on her hands and feet digging into the earth. "Gods, use your shoulder. Fuck!" Xena could hear herself becoming unintelligible, so she lowered her body back to the ground, gripped Gabrielle's forearm with one hand and simply tugged.
"Let me do it, Xena! I know what you want."
Persuaded by the conviction in Gabrielle's voice, the warrior let go. She arched her body backwards again, her head nearly touching the ground, then cursed and screamed as she felt the novice begin pounding her fist in vigorous, relentless thrusts.
"OHH! GODS! YESSS! LIKE THAT! Oh, yes. You know what I like, don't you? OHH GODS!! Fuck me, please!! Gabrielle, fuck me!"
Gabrielle could hear herself grunting, as surely as if she was receiving every thrust inside her own body. She could feel Xena's muscles pulling back, making more space to fill with her fist and arm. Gabrielle plunged deeper until she felt powerful contractions beginning deep inside her lover. Scared that her fingers would be broken, she quickly tucked her thumb into her palm.
At first Xena was eerily quiet, her entire body clenched with tension, arched and rigid. Then without warning she sat up, screaming and bucking violently, gripping her attentive young lover by the hair and sinking her teeth into her shoulder.
"OHH! FUUUCK! AAH, AHH, AAAHHH!" with a final shriek, Xena rode out the last wave of climax as her body gave itself up to the bliss of exhaustion.
The two lovers slumped to the blanket and into each other's arms.
"Wow! Wow, that was amazing. Xena I could feel everything, I felt it when you came, when you were getting closer, everything..." Gabrielle babbled in excitement.
"I need you out, baby. Now." Xena's eyes were closed, one arm shielding her face.
"Huh? Oh," suddenly Gabrielle realized she was outstaying her welcome. "Oh, I..how do I...?"
"I'll push, and just slip out as fast as you can, ok?" Xena mumbled, her eyes still closed. Without waiting for an answer, Xena squeezed her inner muscles and tugged on Gabrielle's arm as the girl hastily withdrew her fist.
"OW!! Shit!"
"Sorry, did I.. did I hurt you?"
"No, no, it's fine," Xena exhaled as if she'd been underwater for a candlemark. "It always hurts a bit when you come out. You did good, Gabrielle," the warrior sighed. "Very good. I need water. We both do."
Gabrielle quickly fetched the skin and passed it to her lover. "Hey, Xena, are you crying? Hey, what are these tears for? Have I hurt you?"
Xena collapsed back on the fur, breathless and exhausted. "No, no... It's fine, my love. It's a good thing... Really... Don't worry."
Gabrielle frowned in consternation. Sensing that Xena would not offer any further explanation, she ducked her head and started kissing the salty tears from the older woman's cheeks.
"What are you doing?" Xena laughed, her eyes still closed.
"I don't like to see you upset..."
"I'm not upset, soft girl." Xena laughed again and pulled the young blonde on top of her and into a warm embrace.
A half a candlemark later and gentle kisses had started to become urgent again.
"Xena?"
"Hmm?"
"I think I'm getting, um, y'know, excited again."
"Mmm, s'that right? Insatiable little minx you are."
"Are you too tired?"
"Tired!?" Xena laughed then threw the little blonde on her back to illustrate her point.
"Want some more, Little Minx? Want to be fucked again?"
"Yes."
"Yes, what?"
"Yes, great Warrior Princess, I want to be fucked." Gabrielle half-swallowed the last word, still shy of using what her mother would call 'crude language'.
Xena looked down at the young novice, curiosity and amusement in her clear, blue eyes. Then she seemed to make a silent decision. She pulled herself off her lover and reached over for the sack, forgotten until now, lying beside them in the grass.
Chapter Seven
Gabrielle tried to peer around the warrior to see just what she was doing, but Xena modestly turned her back while she adjusted the leather straps around her waist. Slowly realization dawned, but Gabrielle's mouth still dropped open when Xena finally turned back to face her.
The warrior's appendage was frighteningly large, not overly long perhaps, but easily making up for that in girth. Xena sat with one leg bent, the other tucked under her, a posture that only served to emphasize her nakedness and the big black cock strapped to her body. Pointing upwards and reaching well beyond the warrior's belly-button, it curved slightly in Gabrielle's direction.
The village girl had heard enough amazon 'strap-on' jokes to identify the thing sticking out from Xena's crotch. Until now, she'd doubted that such a thing really existed, but there was no denying that one was now pointed directly and rather menacingly towards her.
"Will you let me?" Xena had noticed Gabrielle's doubtful expression and cobalt eyes bored into hers. "Just for me? I like it."
"Xena, I-I mean," Gabrielle swallowed, "I liked what you did with your hands..."
"I know, love. I can be good with this too. You'll like it, I promise."
Gabrielle didn't quite know where to look. Having heard all the jokes, she had no desire to become one herself.
"Here," Xena reached out one hand and Gabrielle shyly moved to kneel beside her lover. Sheepishly, Xena placed the now half-empty bottle in the girl's hand and motioned her to anoint her cock with the oil. Gabrielle swallowed again, opened the bottle and poured some of the warm fluid into her palm.
Something about her queasy discomfort made Gabrielle think back to an earlier episode in her life. It was a night a year or so ago, one that she would be happy to leave half-forgotten. But at the same time she knew it had been the catalyst that allowed her to imagine a life away from home. That night had given her the courage to follow this warrior into the darkness and to claim a place beside her at her campfire in the wilderness.
It was the Harvest Festival, the one night of the year when hard-working villagers of Poteidaia allowed themselves a celebration. Having successfully brought in the crops, the farmers and growers could safely toast their good fortune. Their animals would be fed well this year and there would be enough left over to sell to neighboring villages, enough to see them comfortably through the rainy winter season.
Poteidaians had little fear of famine - hot weather was predictable most summers and water from the nearby spring was abundant. But the difference between a good and a bad harvest was slim. A poor crop would mean smaller, sicklier animals and less income for vital supplies, the villagers themselves relying on hens, goats, vegetables and fruit for their basic diet.
This year's harvest - the last Gabrielle would help collect as it turned out - was healthy. The villagers sang their grateful praises to the appropriate gods and raised their mugs to Dionysus, before downing their wine and beginning the dances that would last well into the night.
It was a fascinating spectacle for the younger villagers, the sight of their parents and relatives trying to dance while uncharacteristically helpless with drink. But the festival also let the youngsters create their own entertainment: by stealing a couple of flagons of wine and dragging them to the safety of the barn at the top of the furthest field. Hidden from prying adult eyes, here the young men and women of the village could take their first swigs of alcohol and parade their bravado for the enjoyment of the opposite sex.
Gabrielle had previously been considered too proper, and her sister Lila too young, to be invited to the barn by the older boys. But this year - mainly due to Lila's connivance though unbeknown to Gabrielle - they found themselves sitting on a hay-bale passing a mug of wine around the small, intimate group of three girls and two boys.
Gabrielle was confident that their parents would not find out. She'd last seen their mother and father attempting a drunken reel back in the village. Anyway, they trusted Gabrielle to be sensible and all they were doing was enjoying a drink with a few friends.
But as the night drew on the boys' jokes and stories grew more ribald and crude, and Gabrielle would have felt uncomfortable if it wasn't for the pleasant warmth of the wine in her belly that colored her cheeks and put a sparkle in her laugh. To this day, she still could not be certain how it had come about, but one minute they were laughing at some adult's expense, the next one of the boys had his fly undone and was exposing himself to the assembled gathering.
The boy was a short but over-baring youth who Gabrielle generally had little time for. But before she even had time to look away, she was horrified to see her sister Lila get down on her knees between the boy's feet. Paralyzed with shock, she watched as her sister started administering to him in a manner Gabrielle would associate with a common prostitute. She opened her mouth to tell Lila to get to her feet at once, when suddenly the other girl was right there beside her performing the same service on the other boy.
Gabrielle sat in open-mouthed disbelief, which was only compounded when the first boy looked over Lila's shoulder, grinned lasciviously at Gabrielle and winked.
"Lila! What in Zeus' name do you think you're doing?" Gabrielle found her voice. Her sister turned round and grinned, her features slack with drink.
"Oh, put a sock in it, Gabrielle! Why don't you loosen up and have a good time?"
The very idea that Lila considered 'that' to be a good time only added to Gabrielle's confusion. All she could do was turn her head and look at the barn wall while the other girls used their hands and mouths to complete what they had started.
Walking back to the village in the gathering dusk not long after, Gabrielle couldn't even speak to her sister. And she couldn't help but notice that the 'party' seemed to be over just as soon as the girls finished their task.
"Oh come on, Gabrielle!" said Lila, finally exasperated by the silence. "Don't be such a prude!"
"I'm not a prude!"
"Are so!"
"Lila that was disgusting! How can you possibly say you enjoyed that?"
"Gods, Gabrielle! You spend too much time with your head in your scrolls. You'll have to do it some time if you want Perdicus to marry you."
Gabrielle blushed at the mention of her childhood sweetheart. "I'm not.. I mean, he won't, he wouldn't..."
"'Course he will expect you to, stupid. You can't get married unless you agree to do that for your husband," Lila sighed and shook her head theatrically. "Everyone knows that."
Lila was smug and pleased with herself, partly for winning approval from the boy but partly, it seemed, for having got the better of her older sister. Gabrielle was well aware that Lila suffered in the comparison with her smarter, prettier sibling. Their parents both favored Gabrielle with praise and encouragement and seemed to have much lower expectations of Lila. Now the younger sister had stumbled on something she could do better and she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to score points.
"The boys are always asking why you're so snotty all the time. They think it's because you're still a virgin. If you're not careful, you'll end up an old maid," Lila poked Gabrielle in the back. "Boys don't like scroll-worms," she finished triumphantly.
"Well maybe that's because a girl who can read makes them feel stupid."
"There you go again, you see. You're such a snob. It's Dad's fault, he encourages you with those dusty old scrolls. Perhaps he doesn't want you to ever leave and get married."
"Well, you'd better have a wash before Dad sees you."
"Huh? Why?"
Gabrielle indicated with raised eyebrow and a vague wave of her hand that the boy had left something in Lila's hair.
"Urg!" suddenly losing her superior air, Lila rushed off towards the nearest horse-trough.
Gabrielle sniggered to herself as she climbed the gate into their yard. Nonetheless, she was shaken by the events of the evening, and by the hint that perhaps Lila had already lost her virginity to some local clod. Perhaps Lila was right, she was a snob.
"Gabrielle, is that you? Where in Hades' name have you been? Where's your sister?" She was met at the doorstep by her father, swaying slightly in the doorway and peering out into the darkness.
"She's just coming. She's, er, just gone to get a drink from the well."
"You didn't answer me. Where have you both been?" her father repeated sternly.
"Oh, we just went for a walk with some friends," Gabrielle replied, naming one of the boys and their other girlfriend.
Clearly, he was only partly reassured. "Perdicus was looking for you," he said in an accusing tone.
"Oh," said Gabrielle. She was shocked to realize she hadn't even thought about her future husband all night, except in response to Lila's teasing.
Interpreting his daughter's blush as young love's bloom, Gabrielle's father smiled and let her pass into the house, turning his attention to the younger daughter now approaching.
"Lila! Whatever have you been doing, girl? Your hair's all wet!"
Gabrielle didn't wait to hear Lila's excuse but scampered to the back room she shared with her sister and quickly undressed for bed.
Pulling the covers around her shoulders, Gabrielle did her best impression of being fast asleep. But her mind was racing. She realized that the feelings she harbored that so disturbed her - unfocussed passions but nonetheless powerful and often obscene - were common and nothing to feel ashamed of. Except, except... if Lila felt something similar, it was for the boys in the village. Not-for-other-women. Gabrielle made herself face the truth.
Rolling over, she comforted herself with a story she'd heard once from a traveling bard. It was a complicated tale and she hadn't understood much of it, but one part had stood out. It was something about how there used to be three sexes among mortals, male, female and 'androgynous', each having four arms, four legs, two sets of genitals and one head with two faces. Then one day the mortals had angered the gods and Zeus' punishment was to split these beings into two, each with half the number of limbs and organs. Our experience of love and sex, the storyteller said, was the desire to be whole again, to recreate the single being from two males, two females or male and female. Gabrielle for the first time felt able to acknowledge that her soul had most probably been forged from the second kind.
All of which was no help to her now, faced as she was with one very horny warrior and her extra limb. Gabrielle continued to spread the oily lotion over Xena's member, running her palm thoughtfully over the hard but pliant shape, over its warm, undulating curves and smooth surface.
"It feels strange. Kinda hard and soft at the same time. What's it made of?" she asked casually.
"Nothing from this world. I was given it by a love goddess."
Gabrielle raised an eyebrow, but decided not to pursue that line of questioning.
Xena watched as the girl ran her wet hand up and down the length of her tool a few times then stopped and looked up expectantly at her lover.
"Keep doing it, love," the warrior whispered, encouraging Gabrielle to resume the stroking motion.
"But you can't feel it."
"I'm watching. It's hot. Really."
"Oh. Ok."
Xena was perplexed. She was used to her favorite weapon being lavishly praised and worshipped by her female lovers. Gabrielle only eyed it with suspicion. Maybe it was to be expected. Let the village girl experience what it can do first.
Xena kissed Gabrielle tenderly on the top of her head. "Lie down, my sweet."
She obediently lay back on the fur blanket and Xena went to lay on top of her young lover. But something in Gabrielle's expression made her hesitate.
"Gabrielle, did someone... did someone try to do something to you once? Something you didn't like?"
"No," Gabrielle frowned. "I guess, I dunno, I guess I just like pussy that's all." They both laughed at the crude declaration from such a sweet young mouth.
"And this is in the way?"
"Maybe," Gabrielle replied thoughtfully, toying with the wet member. "I guess I just don't think of it as part of you."
"Here, let me show you how it's part of me."
With that, the warrior lowered herself onto Gabrielle's prone form and shifted her weight until her cock was positioned at the girl's entrance. She groaned as she gently eased in her full length and began a slow bump and grind motion with her hips.
"Ohh, yeh!!"
"Mmmm! It's nice," Gabrielle agreed.
"Nice?"
"Mmm. It's just a bit uncomfortable that's all. Perhaps if you don't go all the way in?"
Xena frowned. This wasn't going to plan. "Here, try wrapping your legs round my waist. Cross your feet behind me, that's right."
The warrior restarted her thrusting and grinding move and Gabrielle suddenly cried out in surprise. "Oh Gods!! That's it. Zeus-on-a-bicycle*, that's the right spot. OH FUCK!"
Relieved, Xena grinned her wolfish grin and began working her cock deeper inside Gabrielle's tight channel.
"Just there? Just there, baby?"
Gabrielle could only answer with a moan, pulling the warrior deeper with her legs wrapped tightly around Xena's buttocks.
Soon, they settled into a fierce and constant rhythm, Xena shouting each time she penetrated the girl, Gabrielle now clawing at the warrior's back and screaming in delirious joy with each thrust.
"Oh, gods! Harder, Xena, harder! Fuck me into the ground!"
Xena was muttering in a language she knew Gabrielle didn't understand, punctuated by guttural cries as she pounded into the girl beneath her.
"Xena. Xena? Xena!"
"Uhh! Uhh! Yeh?"
"I'd like to know what you're saying."
The warrior paused, mid-thrust.
"I'm, er, just saying how good it feels to be inside you," she lowered her voice a few tones, "to be fucking you."
"I'd like to hear that," Gabrielle breathed, and Xena thought she would fall into those pretty green eyes.
"'kay," the warrior said doubtfully. "I'm saying... I'm saying how good it feels to have my cock inside you," Xena murmured in her softest seductive voice into Gabrielle's ear, "to pull out and - uhh! - push it back in. All the way up inside you."
Gabrielle arched her back to meet each thrust from her warrior.
"Gods, you're such a beautiful girl," Xena kissed and licked where Gabrielle's neck met her shoulders without missing a beat. "Gods, I swear I'm gonna cum from fucking you."
"Faster, do it fast and hard, please!"
Xena did not hesitate to oblige and worked even harder to deliver her demanding young lover to the Elysian fields.
Gabrielle could only scream her lover's name, as words and sanity escaped her...
When she came to her senses, Gabrielle found she was lying face down on the fur. Then a strange sensation disturbed her, fingers were probing between her buttocks while another hand roughly held them apart. Xena's breath rushed like a river in her ear.
Gabrielle suddenly realized where her lover was headed.
"Xena, no! Please don't!"
"Ok, Ok, some other time maybe," the fingers retreated and the husky voice reassured her. "It's ok, let's go to sleep now."
Gabrielle felt strong, warm arms enfold her body. If she worried that Xena might make another attempt at her most intimate place, her fear was soothed by her suggestion that they would have "other times" together. Gabrielle wanted desperately to find a place for herself in this warrior-woman's passionate heart. Deeply satisfied, but still far too excited to sleep, she snaked her arms around Xena's neck.
*pardon the anachronism
Chapter Eight
It must be nearly dawn, Gabrielle realized as she saw the first pale halo at the horizon signaling the approach of Apollo's chariot. It had been barely a candlemark since they'd stopped. That meant they must have been doing it - that - for at least, she paused to make her calculation, seven candlemarks. Sweet Artemis! She wondered for the umpteenth time how much of the night's wonder was due to Xena's 'many skills', and how much was just a natural part of love-making with anyone. She smiled at the thought that perhaps, from now on, she would always expect too much of her lovers.
Too excited to sleep, Gabrielle had run over and over in her mind every twist and turn of her willing submission to the Warrior Princess. She reveled in each detail as she accounted for every ache and tenderness in her body. She was frankly shocked by her own shameless behavior, but if the warrior was worried that she had a sex maniac in her bed the idea didn't seem to be keeping her awake. She'd fallen asleep almost immediately after her last climax, waking only briefly to pull the heavy fur rugs over both of them and to gather her fidgety young companion into a vice-like embrace.
Even that was a new and wonderful experience for Gabrielle and while the warrior's steely grip prevented her from moving much, it did nothing to quieten her thoughts. She could feel Xena spooned tightly against her, the softness of her breasts pressed against her back, the patch of coarse hairs tickling maddeningly against her bottom. Xena had flung an arm around Gabrielle's waist, seizing one wrist in a fierce but protective hold even in her sleep. Gabrielle hadn't noticed before, but Xena's hands were almost twice the size of her own and feeling her wrist caged in such long, strong fingers was strangely comforting. It also brought the heady scent of sex, seeped into the warrior's skin, close enough to make Gabrielle's nostrils twitch.
She sighed as she felt the first small waves of doziness sweep over her. Wriggling one last time, she focused on the alternating sensations of the cool morning mist and Xena's warm breath against her exposed shoulders. At last, with a small involuntary sigh, she surrendered, exhausted, into the waiting arms of Morpheus.
Xena awoke with a start, stirred by the hooves of Apollo's horses approaching from the east. It was much later than she would usually wake, but as she struggled to collect herself she was immediately assailed by a second sensation - a sudden, familiar urgency between her legs. The girl in her arms had finally fallen asleep, Xena realized. She considered waking her but decided instead to be merciful. Let her sleep, for Aphrodite's sake. Plenty enough time for more of that later.
Slowly and carefully, the warrior reached one hand down under the blankets and cupped her sex. Burying her face in the golden tresses of the sleeping girl, she inhaled the sweet scent of her latest young lover and skillfully teased herself. Years of living cheek-by-jowl with her soldiers had forced the Warrior Princess to learn the art of achieving a quiet and discreet climax and it wasn't long before the warm surge of release pulsed through her.
Oh, yes, that was good. She savored the afterglow of her own love-making, but of course she knew it would do nothing to calm her lust. Xena's body soon ached with renewed need as she let her thoughts drift to memories of the previous night. She longed to run her hands again over Gabrielle's soft flesh, to capture her sweet mouth in a deep, conquering kiss, to take a firm breast in her mouth and suckle like a new-born. And, yes, to coax another surrender from the young virgin and hear her voice cry out in surprise and ecstasy. Well, virgin no more, Xena reminded herself with a self-satisfied smirk. And quite a little vixen as it turned out. You never can tell.
By the Gods, she needed to fuck. Right now. The pressure of mounting desire was almost painful and her body demanded release. Another crafty feel and another climax, harder this time and preceded by a flood of cum that gushed over the warrior-woman's thighs. She couldn't help herself from crying out, quietly but unintentionally right into Gabrielle's ear. The girl was a good sleeper it seemed.
Relatively satisfied now, Xena contemplated getting up to hunt for breakfast. But the warmth of the girl's body pressed against her soon scotched that idea and she decided instead to let Morpheus steal more of her day. Feeling herself slipping away, she nuzzled against Gabrielle's back and said a silent prayer. To any god that might still nurture a soft spot for Ares' bastard daughter, please let this girl come to no harm. Please protect her from my enemies and when I'm done with her, let her find happiness with someone who will cherish and provide for her.
Gabrielle wasn't sure why she'd woken, but the first thing she noticed was a raging thirst in her throat. She remembered Xena encouraging her to take plenty of water in the breaks between their bouts of passion. "Wet pussy, dry mouth," she'd urged with a sparkle of amusement in those cool blue eyes.
Gabrielle lifted her head and caught sight of their waterskin discarded few feet from their bed, but then realized she couldn't move. A few experimental wriggles and she knew she was pinned face-down in the bedroll by a very heavy and soundly sleeping warrior.
The waterskin was a good horse's length away, and despite her attempts to struggle out from underneath Xena's body, Gabrielle could not quite reach it. She was loath to wake her as she knew she'd be annoyed at sleeping so late. And if Xena were to decide that last night was just a bit of fun, something to be quickly forgotten, Gabrielle had no desire to rush towards that conclusion.
"Xena? Xena?" she whimpered quietly.
With a grumble, the warrior stirred in her sleep, and Gabrielle quickly took advantage, slipping out from under her and stretching one arm nearly far enough to hook one finger under the strap of the waterskin.
"Mmmmm, Gabrielle.."
Then just as Gabrielle thought she had it, a powerful arm reached out, curled around her waist and dragged her back under the blankets into an firm embrace. Gabrielle couldn't help giggling at her predicament, despite her frustration and thirst. Well, there was nothing for it. Turning over and nuzzling into soft, warm warrior-breasts, she closed her eyes and drifted off once more.
Chapter Nine
"It didn't suffer."
Gabrielle dropped the dead rabbit on the grass beside the warrior and unhitched the bow and quiver from her shoulders.
"Oh, good. Well done." Xena continued to fan and blow the campfire back to life. Somehow she knew she shouldn't joke about her young companion's childlike reluctance to kill. Of course, if Gabrielle had only asked before stomping off on her hunting mission, Xena would've suggested there might be more appetizing game birds if she looked. Best not to mention that now.
"I'll skin it if you'll cook it," Gabrielle said tersely.
"Sure."
Xena decided to get out of the young hunter's way while she cleaned her kill. Still wearing just her shift, the warrior took her sword and a flint stone and seated herself in the fork of a nearby fallen tree before beginning the familiar sharpening ritual.
Xena watched as Gabrielle efficiently skinned the rabbit. The girl had been in an odd mood ever since she'd woken up. She'd got up from their shared bed almost immediately, announcing her intention to hunt and asking - no ordering - Xena to light the fire to cook breakfast on her return.
She shrugged. So maybe in the cold light of day, the young village girl was appalled by their wild night of passion. She'd certainly taken a lot for her first time - though by Zeus' beard she'd been enthusiastic enough. Maybe she was doubting the wisdom of making any kind of sacrifice to the ruthless Warrior Princess, after all, her virginity was probably pledged to some farmer's boy.
No. Xena resolved not to be so easily discouraged. They'd started making love early in the evening and had slept 'til nearly midday. Obviously, Gabrielle was hungry. She had the appetite of a centurion and would naturally wake up grumpy and taciturn after so many hours without food. Satisfied with her explanation, Xena smiled to herself and let her eyes roam lazily over the pleasing curves of her companion.
Aphrodite be praised! Xena made a mental note to make a suitable offering to the Goddess of Love next time she passed her temple. What had she done to deserve this pretty thing in her bedroll? Well, more than pretty. Beautiful. Stunning green eyes that held you entranced and left you searching for words. And a kind of an 'inner' beauty. A glow or something. Hades' teeth, warrior, is love turning you into a poet or a fool?
"I'll get some water, shall I?" she called over to Gabrielle.
"Yes, that would be helpful."
Xena whistled an Amphipolian tune as she strolled down to the river. Suddenly she felt so overwhelmed by cheerfulness she wanted to do a backward flip. So she did, just for the Tartarus of it.
What was it about this girl? She already knew the answer. Xena had only ever been afflicted with this madness once before, years ago. The young apprentice of an evil shamaness... But Gabrielle couldn't be more different from that girl. All they had in common, apart from their sex, was perhaps their age. Xena shook her head to dislodge an unwelcome vision on the water as she dipped her waterskin. The middle of a battle, flames lighting up the dark night, the Destroyer cradling her dead young lover in her arms.
For years, Xena believed she could never feel so intensely again. These days, she couldn't think of love without thinking first of how she would outwit and defeat it.
And what about Gabrielle? There was her to consider too, remember.
There were certainly benefits to traveling with the Warrior Princess. Free board and lodging, cowering respect and free drink at every tavern. Any companion of the former tyrant could expect a warm and generous welcome, cooled by an undercurrent of fear. But the advantages paled beside the dangers. A blade in the back without warning, or more likely a drawn out kidnap and torture. Xena had so many enemies, she could hardly be expected to recognize them all by sight or smell.
Yes, the best thing would be to take Gabrielle to live with her own kind. The amazons would be delighted with such a pretty and spirited young girl, and she'd enjoy the special care and attention of like-minded women. Of course, Xena could hardly expect a positive reception herself, so she'd have to drop Gabrielle somewhere near the border. The warrior frowned as she retraced her steps back to camp. She'd have to find a way to explain that - some story that wouldn't prompt Gabrielle to ask irritating and intrusive questions.
Back at the campfire, the rabbit was quickly cooked and Xena was relieved, despite herself, to see the girl's sunny nature gradually return.
"Mmmm! So where are we traveling today?" Gabrielle asked brightly, licking juice from her fingers.
Xena finished chewing on a grizzly lump of meat before replying: "We need to go back the way we've come."
"Back the way we've..?" Shocked, Gabrielle looked across the fire her lover. "Whatever for?"
"We should travel to the Amazons' Land. I thought we'd go to Athens, but I've changed my mind."
"Oh, Xena!" suddenly the girl scrambled to her feet and without warning landed practically in the warrior's lap. "I'd love to go to Athens. I've never been. Can we? Please?" Gabrielle pleaded. "We could go to the Academy, see some plays? We could always go to the amazons' village afterwards, couldn't we?"
Xena frowned, reminded again that Gabrielle had barely the faintest notion about the woman who'd shared her bedroll. How could she even imagine the great Warrior Princess squashed into a theater seat alongside the common herd?
"Plays, eh? You like stories?"
"Er, oh, yeh," Gabrielle blushed. "I try to write sometimes. Just little stories, y'know. But I have so much to learn. I need to see the masters' works performed...Socrates, Aristophanes, Sophocles. You see, you can't really feel what a play is all about until you've watched the actors bring it to life..."
So that's what the scroll was for, thought Xena, not listening to Gabrielle as she launched off on one of her prattling monologues. The little village girl wants to be a bard, of all things.
Seeing Xena's blank expression, Gabrielle fretted that she had already made up her mind.
"Please, Xena. Let's go to Athens." She chewed her lip before adding softly, "What about if I... if I let you do things? You know, maybe something you wanted to do last night but I said I didn't want to..."
Xena snorted at the girl's crude attempts to manipulate her and Gabrielle could only watch as the warrior angrily got to her feet and started packing up their camp.
"Or perhaps I've done everything now? Haven't you got anything left to show me?"
Xena picked up her armor and shot a glare at the girl that would've turned a more sensitive mortal to stone.
"Oh, it's that look. Ok, forget I mentioned it." Gabrielle turned away and continued eating, making no effort to prepare to leave.
Gods! The girl's impudence was astounding. Xena stormed around the camp, gathering her clothes, armor, furs and weapons, infuriated that she couldn't seem to find her britches. She was sure they were... Oh, hang on. Xena smirked when she realized her underwear was likely in the bag belonging to a certain wannabe-bard. Inwardly, she laughed to herself - maybe even at herself.
Stupid warrior! Who are you to take offense at a girl trying to use her wiles to get her own way? Like you've never tried that yourself.
Meanwhile, Gabrielle had turned her back and was helping herself to more food, as if she couldn't care less if Xena got on her horse and galloped off to the horizon. Xena shook her head and dropped the bedroll back onto the grass. Silently, she crossed the camp and crouched on her heels behind the girl.
"You know, you still have a lot to learn, Little Bard," Xena purred in what she knew to be deep, seductive tones.
Gabrielle blushed at the reference to her secret ambition.
Lifting the straps of her leather skirt out of the way, Xena moved slowly forward until her sex was pressed up against the small of the girl's naked back.
Gabrielle giggled as she felt the warrior's wet center against the sun-warmed skin between her hastily-repaired bra top and the top of her skirt.
Xena closed her eyes and moaned softly at the contact. A vision suddenly appeared in her mind, a memory from the previous night of Gabrielle calmly tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear as she bent to press her delicious lips to...
"Well, this is something new," Gabrielle murmured shyly.
"Listen well, girl," Xena breathed as she placed a line of soft kisses along Gabrielle's shoulders and neck. "I'm going to make love to you right now....slowly...I will take as long as I like... And you, my sweet... will enjoy the journey just as much... as the destination."
Xena started working her strong fingers through thick, blonde hair, pressing and massaging the points on Gabrielle's scalp that she knew would give the most pleasure.
Gabrielle opened her mouth to speak and then let her jaw fall slack.
"Feel that, hmm? Little Bard, do you feel that?"
"I feel... I feel...Oh!! Mmmm! What are y-you d-doing...?"
Xena just smiled to herself as she recognized the first real signs of the sensual woman emerging from the child. "Hush, now. Husssshh!"
Apollo's' chariot was well into the third quadrant of the sky before Xena began increasing the intensity of the cycle, slowly and deliberately bringing the girl toward climax.
"Ohh! Oh, thatssssooo... oh!..." Gabrielle's words turned to gasps of surprise as a rush of pleasure seized her and seemed to lift her up and out of the warrior's embrace...
Xena wrapped the limp girl in her arms and gently pulled her to the ground. Gabrielle struggled to speak, demanding to know what mysterious spell the warrior had cast with her fingers.
"Hush, my love. Rest now."
"Ok," she agreed, her eyes already closing. "Xena?"
"Hush. It's ok, love. Athens, tomorrow, alright...?"
THE END!
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Author: Amazon Story Title: Gabrielle's Fantasy Characters: Xena/Gabrielle, Gabrielle/Ephiny, Xena/Ephiny, Xena/Gabrielle/Ephiny, Xena/Callisto Rating: NC-17 Summary: Gabrielle daydreams about an Amazon orgy with her favorite warriors, while remembering a guilty secret from her past. Gabrielle gets just what she wishes, including a good hiding, warrior-style! This rating is for explicit f/f, f/f/f sex, and bdsm.
DISCLAIMERS: The characters in this story are the property of MCA/Universal and Ren Pics. This story is not for profit and is not intended to infringe anyone's copyright. It's just a bit of fun.
WARNING: Explicit scenes of fem-sex, kink and rude words...if this is illegal where you live, or you are under 18, please give this story a miss.
You can find more work by Amazon at her site VixenNet
Send feedback to amazon@flashmail.com
Gabrielle's Fantasy by Amazon
Gabrielle knew she should be concentrating on her surroundings as she trudged along the dirt track, gazing up at her warrior-love riding ahead astride her powerful warhorse. She should keep her senses alert, listen out for sudden movements of birds or animals, look ahead for potential ambush sites like sharp corners, cliffs, or overhanging branches. If she'd only been gifted with the Warrior's highly sensitive nose, she'd have to flare her nostrils for any whiff of smelly warlords too.
But it was a pleasant sunny afternoon and they were only half a day away from the relative safety of Amazon land. The land Gabrielle ruled as Amazon Queen. This idea still seemed strange to her, a frightening though flattering responsibility. But for now, Gabrielle was enjoying the steady pace of the journey and was content to rely on her Princess for early warnings of trouble.
She let her mind drift. Rooting around in the part of her memory where she kept half-finished and unwritten stories, she found what she was looking for: 'The Amazon Queen's Birthday'.
This was a favorite tale for Gabrielle, one she enjoyed going over and over in her mind, embellishing, adding and removing scenes, tinkering with the dialog and actions of her cast. It was a story she could never commit to paper or perform, she'd decided. It was too personal and it was guaranteed to offend the real-life characters it playfully caricatured. Not that Gabrielle set out to present her friends in a bad light. She just couldn't help seeing through all those tough-girl pretensions to the less flattering motivations that warrior women prefer to keep hidden. If she wanted to use this knowledge for the purposes of her own enjoyment that was her business, she reasoned. What touchy warriors don't know can't hurt them.
"Gabrielle, what are you smirking at?"
"Hey?" Gabrielle started. "Oh nothing, just enjoying the quiet."
The Warrior was unconvinced but chose not to ask about the guilty flush that rose to her lover's face. "Just stay alert will you? Don't trail along with your head in the clouds. I can't look out for you as well, you know?"
"OK, OK. We nearly there yet?"
"Couple of candlemarks. We'd get there quicker if you'd stop dawdling. Why don't you come up here?"
"Oh what's the hurry? I'm quite happy dawdling."
Xena sighed and pressed her horse onward.
After pausing to make sure the warrior had quite finished her familiar lecture, Gabrielle slipped happily back into her reverie.
The Amazon Queen's official birthday - a day of celebration when the tribe's top warriors demonstrate their fighting skills for their esteemed ruler and present her with gifts to show their deepest respect and devotion. In Gabrielle's experience (one birthday so far some six moons ago) the fighting demonstrations were the most enjoyable part of the whole day, even better than the sumptuous meal and drinking that carried on late into the night. No, the displays were a veritable feast of athletic woman-flesh, flexing and thrusting, wrestling and stretching, warrior sweat tricking down straining legs, arms and backs. And all for her approval.
However, the gift-giving that followed was less engaging, she felt, the gifts having symbolic value rather than being anything a young queen might actually wish for - if she were ever asked. The fresh carcass of a wolf or some other dangerous predator tracked and killed by the warrior; a bull wrestled to the ground in front of the queen; a clutch of the warrior's favorite but worn-out weapons - doubtless a heart-wrenching sacrifice for the devout Amazon but of questionable use to Gabrielle.
She didn't want to appear ungrateful - another reason why this particular creative work would never go public - but she liked to speculate what she might demand from her favorite Amazons if she was permitted to decide for herself. And of course, for the purposes of dramatic impact and her own artistic satisfaction, Xena would also be required to take part in the ritual giving, despite her ambivalent feelings - at best - towards the Amazon Nation.
"I want you both to come to my hut tonight and make love to me. All night," declared the Queen from the imperial height of her queenly throne.
Ephiny and Xena didn't look at each other but froze in open-mouthed horror looking up at their ruler in disbelief.
Xena broke the spell first, in her husky, warm voice. "Now just hang on a moment, Gabrielle..."
The Queen dismissed her with an impatient wave of her hand. "I want a hot bath to start with, then a deep tissue, all-over body massage with warm, aromatic oils. Then I want you both to show me the best, the very best, of your sexy skills. I want orgasm after orgasm, climax building on climax. I want toys, I want role-play..." Queen Gabrielle clasped her hands to her chest and paused to steady her breath.
"I think you and Xena need to talk about this first, Gabrielle," Ephiny quickly interjected. The Amazon Regent was faultlessly diplomatic these days about anything that could be considered Xena's territory. Whether discussing battle tactics, hunting techniques, or women, Ephiny was careful not to provoke the warrior's infamous temper. And well she might. Xena had often threatened to "break that short-ass Amazon's neck" in the early days when the two warrior women first became acquainted.
Gabrielle had warmed immediately to Ephiny's generous and gentle spirit, even though they met at the most difficult time of Gabrielle's young life - the apparent death, later reversed, of her adored idol, Xena. So she was perplexed and upset when the newly-vibrant Xena continually baited her new friend almost as soon as the two had been introduced. And the Amazon Regent was no better behaved. If the two women were within sight of each other anywhere in the Amazon village it would seem to the casual bystander that they were unaware or uninterested in each other's presence. But Gabrielle learned to read the danger signs. A twitching cheek muscle, a tightly clenched jaw, then without warning, fisticuffs would break out. Blood and threats then furniture would fly, along with any unfortunate Amazons caught standing too close.
"Outside, you Amphipolian slag!"
"Don't make me laugh, you Amazon midget. I'll snap your neck with one hand."
"Xena stop it!" Gabrielle would try to intercede as the other Amazons jeered them on while judiciously backing away.
"Let her get on with it, Gabrielle. I'm not afraid to deal with her." Ephiny's bluster was obviously for the benefit of her tribe. The diminutive Regent was clearly terrified that the warrior would be let loose to tear her apart. As the Amazons' second-in-command, Ephiny had to be seen to respond to threats with unshakable courage - even it meant sacrificing herself in a pointless brawl with a moody stranger. Gabrielle could see the slight pallor in Ephiny's cheeks and knew she was relying on her queen to call Xena off.
"Pack it in both of you. I'm queen here and I won't have you two fighting, do you hear me?"
Honors conveniently even, the two warriors backed away from each other, still growling promises of the dire harm that would follow if only they didn't have such high respect for Gabrielle's wishes.
"What is it with those two?" Gabrielle asked later with exasperation and anger in her voice.
Her military commander Eponin replied: "Have you ever seen two stallions with a group of mares, my queen?"
"No, I haven't. There's only ever one stallion with a group of mares."
"Well, that's because he's had to chase off interlopers," Eponin explained patiently. "This Amazon tribe is under Ephiny's control. She owns us, in a way. Then Xena comes along, all six foot of muscle and..." Eponin looks wistful and trails off before remembering who she was talking to. "Anyway, the younger Amazons, with respect my queen, they all fawn after Xena and would love to join her in her bedroll at night. It undermines Ephiny's command. She has to respond."
"Well, it's got to stop and I'm going to stop it," declared the queen.
A quiet but firm word with her Warrior would be the first step towards calming the situation, she decided.
"Oh, alright, but you know she always starts it," insisted Xena, kneeling restlessly at her lover's feet.
"No she doesn't, Xena, you know exactly what you're doing. You know you provoke her by swaggering about. You don't have to prove anything and you're a guest on her territory. And besides," Gabrielle added softly, lifting Xena's chin so she could no longer avoid direct eye contact, "I'd like it if you'd at least pretend to get on."
"OK. For you." Xena kissed the top of Gabrielle's head briskly, got to her feet and walked out of the Queen's hut to join some besotted young Amazons for more weapons practice. Gabrielle sighed at her retreating back, but she knew the promise she'd won from the Warrior did not come easily. And thank Artemis Xena still had no idea that her Amazon rival had shared Gabrielle's bed even before she'd seduced her herself...
It wasn't sex, strictly speaking, of course. But there was no way Xena would ever understand or care about that. If she even suspected that Ephiny had made a move on her - and Gabrielle was sure she did not - the Amazon would immediately become Xena's Enemy Number One. Gabrielle knew it and Ephiny knew it. So when her turn came to kneel at her Queen's feet, the golden-haired Regent blurted out the question almost straight away.
"My queen, forgive me for even asking, but I, I mean, Xena doesn't know, does she? That we, that I.."
"Do you think you would still be breathing if she did?"
"I suppose not."
"I don't think there's any need to mention it. It was before Xena and I got together and she loves to think she was my first. I don't see any need to cause trouble."
"And, anyway, we didn't do very much," agreed Ephiny eagerly, "I mean.." she frowned.
"What we did was good, Ephiny," Gabrielle repeated the chin-lifting technique she'd earlier used on Xena. "I loved what you did to me. It wasn't inappropriate at all. You saved me from despair and I'll always be grateful to you for that."
Ephiny bowed her head. "Thank you, my queen."
Gabrielle reached down and took the Amazon's hand, pressing it to her lips. Ephiny looked up and, not for the first time, Gabrielle saw the sadness in those kind, hazel eyes.
When the Amazon had left, Gabrielle couldn't stop her thoughts returning against her will to that painful time. Her warrior, the beautiful, tall, mysterious woman she'd somehow convinced to take her on never-ending travels and adventures, lay dead. Gabrielle had been no more than a village girl then, love-sick as a puppy and too young to even recognize her feelings as the first signs of a blooming passion. Everything had been so new, so exciting. She adored her taciturn companion more and more each day, never realizing that her incessant questioning and girlish chatter was driving the warrior to distraction. Then it had all gone wrong so fast. She could not even invoke the memory of that particular agony, only that she'd accepted responsibility for fulfilling Xena's dying wish - to take her body back to Amphipolis to be buried next to her younger brother.
She'd arrived at the Amazon village in a state bordering on complete breakdown. With as much strength as she could muster she'd explained to the Amazons that she was taking the great Warrior Princess to her last resting place. Ephiny, who had troubles enough herself, showed her nothing but kindness, especially considering Xena had killed many Amazons in cold blood in her earlier days as a ruthless warlord.
Later that night Gabrielle lay in the Amazon hut with Xena's casket on the ground next to the bed. She lay awake, eyes wide-open but unseeing, unable to think, sleep or feel. She felt numbness and cold all the way from the ends of her fingers to the depth of her soul. She hoped she could draw on the last of her courage for the journey to Amphipolis. She knew when she got there she would find the quickest way - whether by rope or blade - to join her love in the cold earth. Life held no more meaning, all that kept her going was her dream of joining Xena in Tartarus.
Sometime in the middle of the night - time also came and went without attracting much of Gabrielle's notice - she heard soft footsteps enter the hut. Not quiet enough to frighten her, but quiet enough to suggest stealth.
"Gabrielle?" The voice of her Amazon host. In her madness, Gabrielle had imagined her warrior come to gather her in her powerful arms and take her to their new underworld home. Instead she felt the covers pulled partly back and small, soft hands touch her shoulders, then an arm slowly sliding around her waist.
"Don't be frightened. I want to help you. We Amazons know all there is to know about the pain of losing a loved one." Ephiny reached out her hand to stroke Gabrielle's cheek and found it soaked with hot tears. "Come, turn around to me."
In a daze, Gabrielle slowly turned over, uncaring whether her visitor was Artemis herself or Hades come to steal her last breath. The naked Amazon gently pressed the back of Gabrielle's head, pushing her face down towards her chest. "Take me in your mouth, my child. It is the Amazon way to give comfort. Suckle at my breast and it will ease your suffering."
Gabrielle took the offered nipple and sucked cautiously. The Amazon sighed with relief or pleasure and bade her "do it a little harder." She did as she was told and soon settled to a regular pulsing motion. She did not know how long she lay cradled in the woman's arms, but gradually, with agonizing slowness, feeling and warmth began to return to Gabrielle's body. The Amazon made no demands but simply stroked her brow and made soothing noises as a woman might to her suckling baby.
In time, Gabrielle was able to gather some of her former sanity. She continued to suck at the stranger's breast, aware now of the woman's slow, deep breathing in her ear. The nights she'd spent dreaming of such tender moments with Xena! Visions she'd hardly allowed herself to picture, pleasures her young, untutored heart could scarcely imagine. Formless sensations of writhing bodies, enveloped in softness, framed by hard, hungry kisses... And now here she was, experiencing the beginnings of these forbidden feelings with a stranger. Her love dead and cold beside them.
Ephiny must have sensed Gabrielle's sudden confusion. "Hush, my sweet. You need strength, don't fret." Gabrielle felt warm lips press against her cheek. She looked up from the soft bosom where she'd been nestled and met the woman's mouth with her own. Instinctively she took the Amazon's tongue and welcomed it. The woman might not know it, but this was Gabrielle's first intimate act with one of her own kind. While her conscious mind still screamed in silent agony, fragmented by grief, her body acted to satisfy its desperate need for comfort.
They lay for candlemarks pressed against each other, touching gently and exchanging long, deep kisses. Gradually Gabrielle became aware that she was whimpering, though she had no idea why. The older Amazon held her more tightly and pushed her hand firmly between Gabrielle's legs. She tried to pull away from the uncomfortable feeling of fingers brushing a very sensitive, intimate place, but Ephiny just gripped her tighter. Then she felt waves of almost unbearable sensation starting in her belly. A tingly, searing heat flowed out to her toes and fingers, up her spine and her neck, to the very tip of her nose. She shook violently for what seemed like a whole candlemark then fell to sobbing against the woman's shoulder.
"Good girl, that's right, let it go now." Ephiny murmured sweet encouragement against Gabrielle's neck until her crying subsided and she finally rested exhausted against the Amazon's chest. She lay drifting in and out of a shallow sleep until she became aware that Ephiny was reaching between her own legs. "It's OK, go back to sleep." Ephiny lifted her and rolled her gently onto the bed beside her. When Gabrielle lay still, she replaced her hand in its former position. Gabrielle listened while the Amazon sighed and then moaned softly. She could feel Ephiny's arm moving in a regular rhythm and was curious to know what ritual her hand was performing beneath the covers. Before she could gather her courage to investigate, she heard Ephiny's breathing take up a new beat, hard and quick, matched by a vigorous stroking movement of her hand.
Gabrielle listened intently to the cries of ecstasy from deep within Ephiny's throat as she brought herself to climax. She'd never heard a sound like it and she resolved to hold that memory in her head forever. Forever. With a start, Gabrielle realized she'd thought of the future for the first time since Xena's death.
"You alright, Bri?" Xena looked back at the bard, a genuinely concerned expression on her face.
"Huh? Oh! Yes, yes, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something sad, that's all." Gabrielle reassured her quickly.
"Why were you doing that?"
"Oh, it's for this story I'm working on. It's got a sad scene."
"Why do you want to make up sad stuff? Life is sad enough. Don't people want excitement, adventure, sex, a bit of a laugh?"
"Oh yes, it's got all that too." Gabrielle always brightened when the warrior asked her about her work. "But it needs the tragedy too, all life's colors, you know."
"I worry about you."
"I know you do. There's no need really. It's just the creative process."
"Alright. Gods, I'm glad I'm a simple fighting woman.." Xena laughed and turned back around, urging her horse onward once more.
"How did that happen?" Gabrielle wondered to herself. "One moment I'm building up to a sexy orgy scene the next I'm reliving that dreadful time.." Still, she knew her feelings for Ephiny would always be linked with that suffering she would never be able to forget. A tragedy and a blessing for Ephiny - having shared her pain and helped her in her darkest hours, she would always have a place, scarred and forever raw, in Gabrielle's heart.
Despite herself, Gabrielle smiled as she allowed herself to imagine the torrents of Amphipolian fury if Xena ever found out.
"She did what!!? When you were so vulnerable?" Xena illustrated her disgust with a string of unspeakable curses. "I'll rip her to shreds. I'll flay her alive in front of her precious Amazon bitches..I'll.."
"Xena, Xena, don't! Please! You don't understand, it wasn't like that.." Gabrielle tried to calm her livid lover and realized her mistake too late.
"Oh really? What was it like then? 'Oh well, guess old Xena's dead then, I'll just have to make do with this short one..'" the warrior paced back and forth, out of control and frightening in a way Gabrielle had never witnessed before.
"Xena, stop it! You know how devastated I was."
"Oh yeh, devastated! Oh, Ephiny, Ephiny, I'm so upset, please fuck me."
"Xen.."
"Well, Xena, y'know she was OK, but she's a corpse in bed.."
"Stop!"
"Just lays there and expects me to do all the work.."
"This isn't fair and you know it!"
"Gods," Xena suddenly turned to face Gabrielle. "I was there in the room wasn't I? You didn't let her take you over-my-dead-body, did you?"
Gabrielle pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips, unwilling to look at her furious lover until the stream of sarcasm ceased.
"Not over the casket?"
Gabrielle looked up in disbelief, realizing Xena was serious. They locked eyes for a few seconds before Xena looked away. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "I didn't mean that."
They both stood in silence for what seemed a long while. Then Xena turned and swung up onto her horse. "I'm going away. I need to think."
"OK, don't take too long. Promise?"
"Maybe."
Gabrielle shuddered at the very idea of ever losing her Beloved, whether by the hands of the Gods or because of an all-too-mortal indiscretion. Then she mentally shook herself out of her melancholy and returned to more pleasant thoughts. "I love you Xena," she mouthed silently to her lover's back.
"Now where was I..?"
The Amazons were settling into a night of drinking themselves silly, so Gabrielle quietly made her excuses and walked to her hut. Nodding to the young Amazon on guard at her door, she ducked through the curtained entrance. Straightening up, she realized her room had been prepared by the tribe juniors according to her instructions, but even so the sight made her gasp with delight.
A multitude of candles lit her queen-sized bed which had been hung with sheer red and orange curtains of a material some Amazon must surely have stolen from a passing eastern merchant. A small fire glowed in the grate and a hot-tub steamed invitingly before it. Aromatic oils warmed in dishes over the candle flames, wafting scents of forest and fern around the room. The effect was of a high-class bordello fit for an Amazon monarch, Gabrielle mused.
Her attention was drawn to the table by the bed, illuminated by a single large candle and laden with the offerings she'd requested from her suitors. She ran her fingers over the objects displayed for her, lingering over their texture and promise. Xena's whip lay coiled and flaccid, ready to unfurl at the first command of its mistress's hand. Next to it lay Xena's phallus. Gabrielle noted with a small swell of pride that it was slightly larger and thicker than Ephiny's, although either would surely deliver her to the Elysian Fields if used with skill and care.
Overall, the Amazon's sex-weapons were more varied than Xena's traveling pack, which was restricted to the basics out of necessity. Ephiny embellished her collection with the tools of her trade as tribe disciplinarian. Gabrielle lingered with approval, and with more than a slight shiver in her groin, over the riding crop, the thick leather strap, the viciously thin rod, and..well..what looked like a necklace of large black beads. Whatever. She would likely find out at some point during the night... The last item was familiar to her but not yet to that intimate part of her body where it was designed to fit. She reprimanded herself for her self-centeredness - of course the small, stunted phallus could find an equally snug place inside either of her warrior-playmates.
Lost in wishful thinking, Gabrielle idly fingered Ephiny's strap and allowed herself a small fantasy.
"A fantasy within a fantasy!" marveled Gabrielle as she trotted along behind Argo. "What a shame the critics will never get the chance to review this.."
As the queen ran her palm over the stiff leather she wondered what it must be like to be a young junior Amazon waiting patiently to be reprimanded by the Regent for some misdemeanor. She sat on the edge of the bed and imagined being pulled over Ephiny's lap, held down by small but strong hands..
"Keep still, Amazon, or you'll be taking your punishment in front of your peers," Ephiny threatened. "Now, I'm going to teach you not to smoke henbane behind the sweat lodge."
Gabrielle nearly gasped out loud as she could almost feel the Regent's strap brought down sharply across her exposed rear. Oops! Perhaps she had, she thought, as Xena turned around yet again to check on her companion. Something about Gabrielle's expression made the warrior smirk and she said nothing, just turned around again and rubbed Argo's neck affectionately.
The queen put the strap back on the table and inspected Ephiny's phallus instead. The design was identical to Xena's - a heavy wooden cock, lovingly shaped from a fig-tree branch and covered with a soft leather sheath. The sheath was tightly bound with minute, careful stitching before being turned inside out and stretched over the wood. Both sheaths looked new, she noted. Gabrielle was sure the last time she'd guided a wildly flailing Xena into her channel, the leather cock she'd grabbed had a lighter hue.
Gabrielle was startled out of her day-dreaming by a small cough from outside. She quickly put the phallus back on the table. "Yes, who is it?"
The gangly young Amazon guard stepped through the curtained door into the room. "The Amazon Regent Ephiny and Xena of Amphipolis to see you, my queen," the girl announced with studied formality.
"Thank you. Let them in, and you can go join your friends at the party now."
The girl nodded. "Thank you, my queen."
The curtain flapped as the girl ducked out through the door and the two women entered. Gabrielle swiftly arranged herself stretched out on the huge bed in what she hoped was a casually regal manner. Then for the second time that night she nearly gasped aloud.
Her Chosen Ones had also followed her instructions to the letter. Naked except for the loin cloths the tribe donned for ceremonial dances, the tall, dark warrior and the small, lean Amazon stood silently before her, solemn and slightly sheepish, awaiting her approval.
Gabrielle was shocked that her proud fighters had been willing to walk across the village and past the drunken Amazons in such a state of half-dress. But then, she reasoned, she hadn't allowed for Warrior Ego. They looked magnificent and they knew it.
Unable to trust her voice, Gabrielle gestured for the women to step toward the flicking orange tongues of candle-light.
Ephiny stood in front, the flames licking over her smooth, pale skin. Golden curls tumbled over her shoulders, a soft counterpoint to her wiry, almost dainty body. Gabrielle noticed the intricate tattoo on her hip - the deer symbol of Artemis the Hunter - and saw that it was echoed in the outline of the small, metal charm tied around her neck. Below, firm round breasts and hard, dark-red nipples pointed accusingly at Gabrielle. Yes, she remembered the feel of those buds hardening in her virgin mouth. Like Xena said, you never forget your first time. Finally, the Queen let her eyes roam down her Regent's long, slender legs before looking up again to meet gentle hazel-green.
Gabrielle let her unhurried gaze shift next onto the sacred form of her lover. Statuesque, carved in muscle, from long limbs to sculpted jaw and cheekbones, the sight was breathtaking even as it was familiar. Xena was tall and powerful yet equally - effortlessly - as graceful as the Amazon. The loin cloth hung loosely over her lean thighs, her breasts stood out proudly, large and full, her skin glowed darkly in the firelight framed by Ephiny's whiteness. Xena had tied her hair for the occasion in the style Gabrielle favored, a section of her dark tresses bound into a pony tail. Her 'evil warlord look', they called it. Another nice touch - she'd tied a thin leather thong just above her left bicep.
It was as if the two rivals had rehearsed their precise posture and bearing beforehand, so perfect was the vision presented to their Queen.
What did I do to deserve this? Gabrielle wondered. Whatever it was, it must've been in a previous life, she mused silently, answering her own unheard question.
"Turn around, please."
For the blink of an owl's eye, Xena and Ephiny hesitated, as if considering whether to obey or not. Then both seemed to inwardly shrug. Without looking at each other they turned and Gabrielle had to stifle a giggle with a hand over her mouth - two more perfect bottoms it would be impossible to find in all Olympia! Thongs passed between muscular buttocks leaving nothing to the Queen's over-heating imagination. Taking her time, she dwelt on each hemisphere at her leisure, letting her gaze stroke back and forth and imagining her tongue tracing the same course. Looking up at last she let her eyes rest awhile on powerful backs and shoulders.
"You can turn around now." Gabrielle could almost hear the relieved sighs as they relaxed, freed from her scrutiny.
"So," she looked from one impassive face to the other, "we'll start with my bath then."
Ephiny immediately went over to the steaming tub by the fire and tested the water with her hand.
"Is it hot enough?" asked Gabrielle walking towards her.
"I would judge so, my queen."
My queen, my queen... Gabrielle vowed to make Ephiny sing out that irritating phrase before dawn broke over the ceremonial hangovers of her Amazon tribe.
She took the Regent's offer of an outstretched hand and allowed her to undo the wrap of orange material that served as her dress. In an gesture all the more touching for being out of character, Xena carefully gathered up the cloth from the floor and neatly folded it on the chair beside the bed.
Taking Ephiny's arm, Gabrielle stepped into the tub and lowered herself into the water. She lay back, sighing as the heat and scented oils enveloped her.Then she closed her eyes and smiled to herself.
"Scrub me."
Gabrielle heard the sound of warriors scrabbling for soap and flannels then became aware that they kneeling either side of the tub. Without another word, her subjects started rubbing wet cloths along the Queen's proffered arms and shoulders.
"Hmmm... nii-iice"
From outside the sound of drumming began, a driving beat, soft and deep, rhythm overlapping rhythm...
"S**t!" Gabrielle cursed as she only just managed to avoid stepping into a large deposit dumped unceremoniously in the road by Argo who had hardly bothered to even slow her stride.
"You really are lost in a day-dream aren't you?" Xena laughed from the safety of Argo's back.
"She didn't give any warning! I wasn't ready."
"No, you're not ready for anything are you? Come on," insisted Xena without waiting for an answer. "Get up here now, missy." The bard acknowledged to herself that she was now feeling a little hot and bothered, and in dire need of the touch of her lover - even if several hands high in the saddle.
She took Xena's arm and swung up in front.
"There, that's better. Now I know where you are and we can get a move on."
Gabrielle nearly swooned as Xena pressed her face into her neck by way of welcome. Leaning back into the warrior's chest, she closed her eyes as she felt a strong arm slip around her waist.
The Queen felt thoroughly clean and pleased with herself. It was all working out very well so far, she agreed. She looked up at her lover, who had not yet spoken a word - and caught a twinkle in an azure eye. Rewarding her with a warm smile, she settled back in the water again. She closed her eyes once more.
"Now I want you both to do something for me." Gabrielle paused and inwardly steadied herself. "I want you to take the heated oils and anoint each other's bodies with them. You know," she added quickly without opening her eyes, "like young heroes in Sparta." She dared to peer through her lashes and saw that Xena's twinkle had been replaced with a cold stare.
Xena held her young lover's gaze just long enough to see worry creep across her features, then silently she got up and dipped her fingers into a dish of warm oil. "Come over here, Ephiny."
"What are you smiling at?"
"What? Oh nothing. Just happy."
"Funny little bard you are."
"Shh... Just enjoy the sun. It's not like you to be so chatty."
"Chatty?" Xena laughed and shook her head bemused.
Gabrielle leaned back in the tub and swallowed hard. Briefly, she wondered if she'd overdone it this time. Well, too late now...
Ephiny and Xena stood before her, running their greasy hands over and over their greasy, half-naked bodies. Strong fingers grasped and squeezed well-toned muscle, upper torsos leaning against each other for support. Gabrielle thought she heard Ephiny sigh as she rested her head against Xena's shoulder. The Amazon had hold of one of Xena's thighs and was being meticulous in ensuring every part of it was covered with oil. At the same time Xena was running her hands across Ephiny's back, massaging her vigorously and nuzzling - yes, nuzzling - the smaller woman's neck.
Gabrielle realized she needed to exhale. She felt the pulsing between her legs become insistent and slipped a hand beneath the water. Stroking herself slowly, she studied the scene and listened to the exquisite sound of naked warrior-bodies sliding slickly together.
"Ahem," after some time she coughed nervously. "I am here, you know?"
The women looked at her with hooded eyes and dopey expressions.
"I think I need to get out of my bath now, or I'll be a prune."
The next thing she knew she was swooped up in Xena's arms and carried over to the royal bed. Gabrielle couldn't stop the broad grin that spread over her face as she was lowered onto the fur covers and taken into the slippery embrace of her Amazon Regent.
Gabrielle giggled as she squirmed happily between the two oily bodies. Her warriors smothered their Queen in kisses and the subtle smell of pine oil could not overcome the unmistakable scent of aroused woman-flesh that emanated from each of them. Down her neck, over her chest then, boldly, Ephiny pressed her lips to Gabrielle's.
"Are you at a sexy bit in this story then?"
"Mmm? What makes you ask that?"
"I have many skills."
"Oh, your precious over-sensitive nose!"
"I can't help it."
"I'll stick eucalyptus leaves up your nostrils one of these days! It's not fair. It's like you're reading my mind."
"Aren't I in it then?"
"What?"
"Your story."
"Oh yes, you're in it alright."
"So why can't you tell me about it and let me enjoy it too?"
"It's not written yet. I want to get it right. It takes time, y'know?"
"OK, OK." Xena sighed deeply making strands of Gabrielle's blonde hair billow with her exhaled breath.
Now, where was I?
The Queen gladly took the Amazon's tongue and caressed it with her own. Sliding over each other, they settled to a gentle rhythm as Ephiny pressed into Gabrielle's mouth in a lewd suggestion of what she intended to do elsewhere.
For the time being Xena seemed content enough to let her erstwhile enemy seize her young lover's mouth. She busied herself, running her tongue in an agonizingly sensual path across Gabrielle's tightly-muscled stomach until she decided it was time to reassert her authority. Gently nudging Ephiny out of her way, Xena claimed the Queen's mouth with a conquering thrust.
"Mmmm-hh," Gabrielle groaned in delirium. Without pause for complaint, Ephiny switched her attention to the breast that wasn't obscured by Xena's writhing body.
"Mmmmmhhhh!" Gabrielle wallowed happily, as she slipped over her head into a warm lake of sensation.
Time passed, unheeded...
"Time for your massage, my queen." From somewhere far away, Gabrielle could hear Ephiny's soft voice.
"Oh yes..." said Gabrielle groggily, pulling her mouth away from Xena's breast while her hand continued to fondle one of Ephiny's. "My massage... Ow!! That hurt!"
Xena slapped her hard on the butt. "Lie down on your front, your majesty!"
"Mmmm!" sighed Gabrielle as she acquiesced. "Do that again."
Xena held back for a heartbeat - then attacked.
"Ow!! Ohhhhh! That's so good!" Gabrielle moaned, her eyes clenched shut, her body writhing of its own accord. "More. Please?"
"Time enough for that later, my queen," Ephiny whispered, planting a soft kiss on Gabrielle's shoulder to seal her implied promise.
Strong hands flowed over Gabrielle's body. Fluid movements that carried the warmth of her skin into the very marrow of her bones. She sighed as she felt another palm sweep across her back, while strong fingers kneaded her calves and backs of her thighs.
She wondered at the apparent co-operation between Xena and Ephiny, now kneeling either side of her on the bed. Without speaking they seemed to have divided her body between them, marking out exclusive areas, sharing others. At one point some territorial unpleasantness broke out, but it was quickly resolved without Gabrielle's intervention. Just a bit of growling when a stray hand roamed over an invisible border.
The warriors flipped her over and started again at her feet. Moving instinctively together, they rubbed her ankles and shins, each taking their time over a thigh, then ignoring her throbbing sex and passing directly on to her abdomen. From time to time one or other would pause to drink from her lips, slipping a warm tongue inside but always withdrawing before Gabrielle could get her fill.
From outside came the rhythm of pulsing drums in the night, punctuated by girlish cries of pleasure. The other amazons were now turning to each other for comfort. The celebratory mood would have mellowed as the wine-skins ran dry and the old stories reached their close. Hands would reach out for a chosen lover, mouths and tongues would explore new tastes and sensations. Bacchus himself would blush to see such abandon, the remains of the meal swept to the floor as young bodies claimed a place on the table to take their pleasure.
It was getting hot.
"Do we have any wine?" Gabrielle asked.
Xena stretched over to retrieve a wine-skin from where it hung around the bed-post. She pulled out the stopper and sniffed. "Kaltakka. That's better for you. You don't want to get dehydrated."
They each took a swig of water from the skin while the two warrior-women silently regarded the naked young queen lying on the bed between them.
Gazing up at her beautiful companions, Gabrielle couldn't help a writhe of pleasure. She cautiously spread her legs slightly open.
"Look at her. What a minx!" Ephiny smiled down at Gabrielle.
"Like a little blonde cat on heat," Xena agreed.
"You know, there's something else I'd like you two to do for me." Gabrielle ventured quietly.
Xena raised a quizzical eyebrow.
"I'd like to watch you kiss. A proper kiss, with tongues and everything...."
Gabrielle lay back on the bed and looked up at the muscular movement of Xena's throat as the warrior pushed her tongue into Ephiny's mouth in regular thrusts. The Amazon took this onslaught eagerly, gripping Xena by the hair and pulling her hard. As the women battled, kneeing above her, Gabrielle watched the tightening of Xena's stomach muscles as she instinctively pushed her hips against the smaller woman. That body that was so lethal on the battlefield was aching to penetrate flesh, she knew - not to kill but to satisfy a bloodlust nonetheless. Gabrielle could read the signs when her lover was in need.
"Can I touch you?"
"Hmm? What?"
"Whatever you've got going on in your head is driving me crazy, Gabrielle." Xena pouted in that way that said she wanted something and wasn't sure if she'd be allowed it. "I just need to touch you." She ran an experimental hand up Gabrielle's thigh, just under her skirt.
"Oh, Ok," Gabrielle was surprised at the huskiness of her voice when she spoke. "Just promise me you won't make me cum, Ok? I need to be inspired, do you understand?"
"Yeh, fine, OK." Reaching around her small companion, Xena pushed her hand further up Gabrielle's skirt and lightly brushed her fingers against her britches. "Just like that. Is that alright?"
"Hmmm. Lovely," said Gabrielle, shifting her position in the saddle, pulling her feet up to rest on Argo's neck. "Yes, just stroke my pussy with your fingertips. Don't.. mmmm, that's good... don't go inside my panties tho', promise?"
"Yeh, 'kay," Xena breathed softly. She closed her eyes, bathing in the sweet scent of Gabrielle's sex and giving Argo a reassuring pat with her free hand, trusting the mare to carry them on towards the Amazon village.
"Ok, that's enough."
On her command Xena and Ephiny broke their kiss, breathing hard and gazing into each other's eyes with surprised but undisguised desire.They leaned back on their heels and regarded each other as if for the first time, their expressions betraying their confusion and passion.
The golden-haired warrior recovered herself first, turning to Gabrielle with a smile. "So what would you like to play now, miss?"
"Ehm, dunno. How about 'Naughty Amazon Girl, Angry Regent'?" the queen suggested nervously, half sitting up on the bed.
"Ok," the Regent's eyes twinkled. She thought for a second. "So, Amazon, why have you been sent to see me?"
"Oh, I-I, er," Gabrielle's creative skills failed her as she quickly tried to think of a crime that would suit the punishment she hoped for.
"I caught her masturbating when she should've been on night-watch," Xena intervened, reclining back on one elbow behind Gabrielle. "She was at her post in the tree on the south side alright. But when I got closer I could see she was rubbing herself, sitting astride a branch."
Gabrielle gave Xena a look, but was given no opportunity to suggest a more dignified alternative.
"Really? So, you'd put the safety of your tribe at risk while you pleasured yourself, would you?" said Ephiny, working hard to hide a smirk.
"No, I-I, I mean," Gabrielle started to stutter out a defense.
"Stand up, girl." Ephiny voice was suddenly harsh and Gabrielle rose quickly to obey her.
Ephiny got off the bed, pulled out a chair into the center of the room and sat down. "Well, what have you got to say for yourself?"
Gabrielle couldn't help her eyes feasting on the Amazon Regent, naked except for her britches, the warriors' loin cloths having long been ripped off and abandoned. She roused herself to answer. "I, I wasn't doing it for very long. I just got turned on, I mean aroused.. I didn't mean to, it just happened. I thought I'd better, um, climax quickly so that I could concentrate on my watch."
"She's lying," Xena interjected flatly. "I watched her for nearly a candlemark while she wriggled about on that branch. She was enjoying herself."
Gabrielle rolled her eyes.
"Well, Amazon?" Ephiny was clearly enjoying the way this interrogation was preceding.
"I'm sorry, Ephiny." the queen bowed her head in contrition. "I shouldn't have been masturbating on my watch. I was thinking of myself instead of protecting my tribe." Her voice trailed off.
"So, what should we do with you?"
"I should be punished," said Gabrielle quietly, still looking at her feet.
"Right then," Ephiny suddenly leapt up from her chair. "Come over here." She gestured for Gabrielle to come over and stand next to her at the table.
Ephiny rested her arm over Gabrielle's shoulders as they both regarded the collection of toys donated earlier by the warriors. "What should it be, Gabrielle? Hmm?" She picked up Xena's coiled whip and the queen shook her head vigorously. "No?" What then? You choose your punishment." The Regent leaned over the penitent girl and pushed her closer to the table.
Gabrielle's face was flushed pink now. She pointed with a shaking finger at the leather strap. She knew it belonged to Ephiny and guessed it was the implement she used to keep younger members of her tribe in line.
Ephiny picked up the strap and tested it with a loud swipe against the palm of her own hand. Gabrielle jumped.
"Well, as Xena caught you I think she should take some pleasure in your punishment." She turned to the warrior on the bed. "Would you like to hold her while I beat her, Xena?" Ephiny gestured to the chair with a nod of her head.
Xena didn't need asking twice. She went over to the center of the room and sat straight-backed, her legs apart and her feet flat on the floor.
"Go and lay across her lap, Amazon." Ephiny was warming to her role by the moment and Gabrielle was becoming more than a little afraid.
Xena just grinned and slapped her thigh by way of invitation. "Come along, little girl. We haven't got all night."
Feeling her legs trembling beneath her, Gabrielle walked unsteadily to where her lover sat waiting. She stood beside her looking down at Xena's beautiful, strong thighs. But, when it came to that moment she was unable to prostrate herself. Xena pressed her hand into her lower back and pushed her forward.
"That's better," the warrior murmured as she forced Gabrielle's head down towards the floor and rubbed her palm gently over the naked rear conveniently upended in front of her. "This is going to hurt you much more than it hurts me."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Gabrielle, puzzled.
"It's a Britannia thing, don't worry about it."
"Oh." From her upside-down vantage-point Gabrielle watched as Ephiny's bare feet approached her from behind. She was acutely embarrassed, well aware of the view she presented to her Amazon deputy.
"How many do you think, Xena?"
"Hmm? Oh, let's say ten to start with."
"Right," Ephiny stood over the helpless queen. She was clearly enjoying herself immensely, Gabrielle would never have guessed. "Now Amazon I want to hear you count each stroke, do you understand me?"
"Yes," Gabrielle replied miserably.
"Yes what?"
"Yes, Mistress."
"Good."
Gabrielle braced herself as Ephiny raised her arm and Xena grasped her legs and shoulders.
Thwack!!
"OWW!! GODS!! Aphrodite!!"
"Hold, Amazon! Steady." Xena put her arm between Ephiny and Gabrielle's vulnerable backside. "That's our safe-word."
"You use 'Aphrodite' as your safe-word?" Ephiny laughed, incredulous. "Gods, I hope the Goddess of Love sees the funny side of that."
"Was that too hard, baby?" Xena asked tenderly.
"Oh, yes. Please, not quite that hard. Not yet."
"Ok Eff? Not so hard."
"Ok, sorry. Guess I'm getting too enthusiastic. I haven't had the opportunity to give a girl a good hiding in moons."
Thwack!
"Ohhhh, gods. One!!"
Thwack!
"Ohh! Two!!"
Gabrielle's rear-end hurt bad already and she knew her skin would be red, but she craved each blow more and more as the merciless Amazon Regent took advantage of her voluntary predicament. She gripped Xena's calf and pressed her lips briefly against her shin.
Thwack! Thwack Thwack!
"Five!"
Now she couldn't help herself from writhing around on Xena's lap, her hips bucking with unrestrained pleasure.
"Hold her still, Xena. I can't hit her if she's flailing around like that."
Xena grasped her more firmly and Gabrielle screamed in ecstasy as the sixth stroke landed across both cheeks.
"Ahhh! Six! Gods, harder Ephiny, please!!"
"What was that, Amazon?"
"Oh, mistress, please. I'm a bad girl. I deserve your punishment. Please thrash me!"
Thwack!!
"Ohhhh!! Seven!!"
Gabrielle felt Xena reach underneath her leg to brush against her aching clit. She spread her legs wider to give her easier access and almost screamed with pleasure and frustration as the warrior found her target. "Oh rub my clit please Xena! Make me cum, I'm so close, please! I'll do it again later, I promise."
THWACK!!! Ephiny was using almost her full strength now as Gabrielle thrust her naked backside towards her to meet each stroke.
"EIGHT!!!" Gabrielle shrieked.
"You bad girl!" Ephiny was out of breath. "I'll teach you to play with your pussy on night-watch!"
THWACK!!!
"Ohhh! Ohh! OHHHHHHH!" Gabrielle's hips bucked almost comically as the combination of Xena's rubbing and the sting of the leather strap drove her to ecstasy. She screamed and sank her teeth into Xena's leg as wave after wave washed over her.
"Ohh, it's coming again! Oh Gods! Beat me again Ephin..."
"THWACK!!"
"OHHHH! Ohh, Oh... oh yeh... oh gods yes... that's enough... Oh!" Gabrielle bucked a few more times then hung completely limp and sated over her lover's knees.
"Oh gods, Xena, I need to cum now! Put a finger inside me."
"Now hang on, you'll just tell me off if I do that."
"No, no I won't, I promise. It's my fault. Just do it, please!"
"Alright, but don't complain later if you don't get your story finished." Xena slipped her fingers under Gabrielle's soaking wet britches and rubbed between her slick folds. "Mmm, so wet..."
"Yeh, I'm a bad girl, aren't I?"
"Huh? Yeh, if you say so, Gabrielle. Bad girl!"
The bard leaned back against the warrior and pressed her face against her lover's neck. She inhaled the precious scent that was Xena and braced her feet against Argo's back. If the horse snorted her annoyance then the two lovers were much too engrossed to hear.
"Bad girl, Gabrielle. Bad slut. Your cunt is so dripping wet. I'm going to make you cum all over my hand." Xena murmured. She rubbed hard over Gabrielle's clit, sliding her fingers back and forth, taking wetness from her opening and lubricating the sensitive bud.
"Aaaowwhhh! OH, OH, OHHH!" Gabrielle arched her back, lifting herself out of the saddle and giving Xena full access to her pussy. The warrior reached under her, rubbing harder, interspersing her strokes with sharp slaps of her palm then slipping her fingers inside.
"Oh, yeh that's it. Oh, fuck me! Please!" Gabrielle arched her body higher, reaching behind to grip Xena by her hair.
"Like that? Bad girl! Bad girl! Bad girl!" Xena fucked her demanding little bard until she heard her cry out and felt her body shudder.
Gabrielle finally rested and Xena eased her back down into the saddle and into her arms.
"You ok?"
"Oh yeah! Gods, that was good!" Gabrielle could scarcely catch her breath. "Do you need..?"
"No, it's ok. I'll demand my reward when we get to the Amazons' place." Xena enveloped her Blonde Beloved in a big hug. "Why don't we just pass the time with this story of yours?"
"Don't nag, darling, please. I'll let you hear it one day. Promise..."
"Oh, that was intense. Gods, my butt hurts!" Gabrielle muttered, still hanging limply over her warrior's lap
"Let's get you over to the bed and get some ointment on you." Xena pulled the wobbly queen upright to stand on her feet. "Steady. Are you alright?"
"Yeh, phew, the blood's rushing to my head," she looked over her shoulder at her reddened buttocks, "from my ass by the look of it."
"I've got some ointment here," said Ephiny going over to the table. "Have I really hurt you? That was quite a beating."
"Oh, I asked for it. In fact.." Gabrielle frowned and put both hands on Xena's shoulders to prevent her lover from getting up out of the chair. "Hmm, yep, I'm gonna cum again."
"Oh, gods! What do you want me to do?" Xena looked up imploringly into her lover's face.
"Just put two fingers in me and rub my clit with your thumb."
Xena quickly obeyed. "Like that?"
"Uhmmmm, yes, that's it," she leaned her weight against Xena's shoulders. "Now kinda pull downwards with your fingers against the front of..Oh, yes, like that."
Xena watched her young queen's face intently as she did her best to follow her instructions. "See, I know where your special places are, don't I?" she smiled.
"Ohhh, yesss. Yes! Yes! YES!" Gabrielle threw her head back and tightened her grip around Xena's neck as she rocked herself back and forward on the warrior's long fingers. "Now! Really quick and hard!"
Xena grabbed Gabrielle round the waist with one hand and pumped three fingers as quickly as she could into her lover's hungry pussy. Simultaneously, she put her head down and flicked her tongue over the young blonde's clit.
"Ohhh! OHHH! I'm coming!! OHHHHHH! OHHHHHH!" Gabrielle's body rocked, tensed and then slumped onto Xena's back.
"Oh, that's it," she sighed. "All over now..."
Xena gently lifted her and sat up. She took her woman in her arms, tenderly stroking her face and kissing her hair. "Not for the night, I hope..."
"No, no, I just need to lie down for a bit," Gabrielle assured her in a small, dazed voice.
"Oh, I've heard that before. Next thing you know she's snoring in the arms of Morpheus," Xena grinned over at Ephiny who was standing by the bed opening a jar of ointment.
"This'll wake her up."
"Stings a bit, does it?"
"Just a little."
Gabrielle curled up against the bank of soft pillows her warriors had fluffed up for her. Her butt was still stinging from the vigorous application of the ointment, but she'd been given no choice except to agree that it was for her own good.
"Please keep still, my queen. This will stop the bruises forming," Ephiny had insisted as she rubbed her palm over Gabrielle's small, writhing posterior.
"Ow! By the gods, it's burning."
"It'll sting for a few minutes, my queen, but honestly it's better than not being able to sit down tomorrow."
"Or the next day," Xena added helpfully.
Gabrielle had wriggled and whimpered as the women massaged the warm lotion into her sore behind. She knew they were right. Warriors were nearly always right about most things, she thought ruefully.
Finally released from the torment, she leaned back against the pillows and luxuriated in a warm glow of satisfaction, the stinging sensation in her rear now fading to a not unpleasant tingling. Ephiny had beaten the Amazon Queen severely, as if she were just a lowly young miscreant sent to her for correction. And Gabrielle's response had hardly befitted a monarch. Although it had seemed of no consequence at the time, she was now acutely aware that her cries of ecstasy, and the cruel slap of leather, would have reached the keen ears of her subjects partying just outside her hut.
Still, she would hardly be the first amazon to crave Ephiny's harsh reproach. The Regent had earlier confided in Gabrielle about her concerns for tribe discipline - the younger girls were becoming so creative in finding ways to qualify for a beating, it was harder than ever to get them to behave.
Smiling to herself at this thought, Gabrielle settled back and watched her two half-naked warriors turn again to each other.
Both women were now dangerously aroused. For candlemarks they had responded to every whim of their demanding queen - massaging and fondling her, kissing each other for her delectation. Finally they'd held her down and strapped her, finishing with a swift and brutal fuck as Xena obeyed Gabrielle's command to bring her queen screaming to climax again.
Ephiny, in particular, was close to losing control, Gabrielle noticed. The small amazon was kneeling on the bed, her arms wrapped around Xena's neck, rubbing her lithe, firm little body against her larger rival. She seemed almost girlish in her attempts to get the warrior's attention. She breathed in Xena's ear, then bit down on a lobe, sucking and pulling until the great Warrior Princess whimpered in response.
Sensing a victory of sorts, Xena pressed the golden-haired fighter down onto the bed to lie at Gabrielle's feet. She gently pushed Ephiny's legs apart then lowered her full weight onto her body. Ephiny immediately raised her legs and crossed her feet behind the warrior's back. Even knowing Xena would never agree to satisfy her so soon, she couldn't help bucking her center against her rival, pulling her in tighter with her legs.
Xena thrust and ground her hips a few times to meet the writhing woman beneath her, fighting to keep control and moaning with the effort. Then she reached up and pulled the amazon's hands from around her neck.
Ephiny groaned in frustration. "Wait, wait, my little amazon minx," Xena murmured. Gabrielle flinched, waiting for the Regent to rail against such condescension. But instead Ephiny obediently let go and, to Gabrielle's astonishment, almost batted her eyelids at the retreating warrior. They had obviously reached some kind of understanding.
"Get her ready for me, Gabrielle," Xena tossed the off-hand order over her shoulder as she strode across the room to the table laden with implements of pleasure.
Eagerly, Gabrielle got up on her knees and crawled over to take up her station between Ephiny's legs. Xena knew all about her bard's insatiable appetite - if her mouth wasn't full of food, it was pussy, she would tease. Gabrielle silently thanked her warrior for thinking of her pleasure at a time when her own needs must be so urgent.
She looked down at Ephiny and watched the Regent's chest rise and fall in fast, shallow breaths. Gabrielle locked her gaze on the amazon's gentle eyes and tugged on her britches. Slowly and deliberately she pulled them down, forcing Ephiny to lift her legs and bring her feet together. Removing them with a flourish, Gabrielle flung the garment carelessly over her shoulder. The debonair effect was somewhat lost when she heard "thanks" from Xena and realized she'd inadvertently hit the warrior in the face. But the hungry look in Ephiny's eyes never faltered, so Gabrielle simply ducked her head down to being attending to her needy Regent.
In truth, as they all knew, Ephiny was sopping wet already.
Gabrielle feasted greedily, lapping between folds and savoring a new deep and musky scent. Ephiny groaned, closing her eyes as Gabrielle's hands found her nipples and pulled. She lay back and pressed her hand to the back of Gabrielle's head then bucked her hips as a tongue swept dangerously close to her clit.
The Queen pulled away. "Slow, amazon. You're to be fucked by the Warrior Princess before you cum, understand?"
"Yes, yes, my queen. I understand," Ephiny replied between breaths.
"Get her in position, Gabrielle."
"Up on your knees, Regent."
Ephiny hesitated for a second, then with a faint sigh, she got up and turned around on all fours. Gabrielle pressed the warrior's head down to rest between her hands on the bed.
"Xena?"
"Hmm?"
"Remind me again why that special position you like is called The Amazon Prayer."
Xena gave an embarrassed laugh and shrugged. "C'mon, Gabrielle. You know why."
"Yeh, but I like to hear you tell that joke." She slyly dug her warrior in the ribs.
Xena sighed, then in a high-pitch whiny voice she mimicked the distinctive burr of Gabrielle's tribe: "Oh, by Artemis! Take me now! Oh Artemis! Oh fuck me, please..."
Gabrielle playfully smacked her lover on the arm, but couldn't help laughing. "You are so rude."
From across the room, Xena smirked as she strapped on her leather harness and eyed up her prize.
"Have I got her wet enough for you, Xena?" Gabrielle asked innocently, as she ran her fingers along the dripping folds of Ephiny's entrance.
"Oh, yes, looks like you've done a very good job, Gabrielle," came Xena's husky reply.
"Good. Now get over here so I can watch you fuck her."
Xena strode quickly towards the bed, her large appendage sticking out slightly ridiculously in front of her and bobbing with each step. She took up Gabrielle's position, kneeling behind Ephiny who moaned loudly when she leant down to give the Regent another licking.
"Take it easy, Xena. She's very close." Gabrielle warned.
Xena obviously agreed and lifted her head, ignoring Ephiny's wail of disappointment. "Now, let's see what you're capable of amazon." Without ceremony, Xena pushed two fingers into the Regent's open pussy. Ephiny groaned with relief and raised her head. Xena pushed her back down again.
"Oh, gods, stop fucking about, Xena! Just stick it in me."
"Now, now," the warrior growled. "Be ni-ice. You'll get what you want soon enough. I want to know how deep you are first."
"I can take a centaur, warrior, so I'm sure I won't have any trouble with you," Ephiny spat back, causing Xena to raise an eyebrow.
Even so, Gabrielle saw Ephiny bite into the fur rug covering the bed as Xena finally relented and pushed her full length into her. The queen watched fascinated as her lover, with a roar of triumph, took possession of the amazon's body.
Xena's greater height suited their position perfectly as she lay over Ephiny, braced on her hands and knees. She held her own body almost perfectly still while her hips alone thrust hard, forcing the smaller woman to rock back and forth on the bed, writhing to meet each stroke.
There were many occasions when Gabrielle had been on the receiving end of Xena's passion in this way, kneeling, compliant in the same posture. And there were times when the warrior had seemed locked in her own rhythm, her need to penetrate overpowering her concern for her lover's pleasure. "Hey, hey." Gabrielle would reach round and slap Xena's thigh until she got her attention. "Hey, I'm here too remember?"
"Huh? Oh sorry."
"Slow down, you're not digging a hole."
"Sorry, sorry, baby..." the warrior would seem to shake herself out of a trance, then she'd relax and settle to a gentler beat, slowly grinding and rolling her hips in that motion she knew her lover adored.
Xena was certainly fucking Ephiny hard, thought Gabrielle, but on this occasion she seemed well aware of what she was doing. The sight was fascinating in its depravity.
"You are a beast, Xena."
"Gabrielle, I'm just... Uh!... Uh!...doing what you're always saying I should do," Xena replied without letting up the onslaught. Y'know... Uh!..Uh!... 'discover your inner dog'."
"Your inner child, Xena, your inner child..." Gabrielle shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, right, whatever."
"Hey, what are you giggling to yourself about?"
"Oh, y'know, just appreciating my own jokes."
Xena snorted. "Oh, it's a comedy as well is it, this story? I can't wait to hear it, you know, when you get around to finishing the bloody thing..."
"Sshh!" Gabrielle patted her lover's knee.
Gabrielle watched in fascination as Ephiny was dragged face-down back and forth across the bed, willingly impaled on Xena's cock. The Amazon Regent made no effort to conceal her true desires, her legs splayed open behind her as Xena held her hips aloft and pounded mercilessly.
"Oh!... Xena!... Screw me... Uh!... Please!... Harder!"
Xena knelt behind her prey, her eyes hooded, her teeth barred, her long black mane of hair slick with sweat. Gabrielle recognized this animalistic stage in her warrior's arousal - Xena was beyond words, her natural language reduced to a limited repertoire of grunts and groans as she thrust into her grateful victim.
Gabrielle had heard Xena's guttural poetry many times, but this was the first time she'd been able to observe her lover's features as she gave in to feral desire. She marveled at the primitive impulses that drove her, possessed her, made her the terrifying and magnificent warrior and lover that her bard adored. The warrior's face was contorted as if in pain as she drove relentlessly onwards towards the release that would never come, or at least not for her, not like this. The Elysian Fields would first welcome Ephiny who was yowling now with pleasure and need. Gabrielle reached a hand out towards her Regent and it was immediately gripped in a tight fist.
Then, without warning, Ephiny braced her feet against the bed and straightened her legs, forcing Xena to scramble to her feet and stand upright over her. Xena quickly regained her balance and leaned into the woman to meet the butt pushed up towards her. A few short, perfunctory thrusts, the sharp sound of Xena's muscled stomach slapping against Ephiny's buttocks, then a tremor in Ephiny's legs became a uncontrolled shudder. She screamed again and again then roared, a fearless Amazon warrior in full battle-cry.
"Need it now." A husky whisper interrupted Gabrielle's complex choreography.
"Huh? What, darling?"
"Need it. Need some bard."
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "You've just had some bard, darling."
"Need more. More bard. Now. Please?"
The last entreaty was so mournful - as if the great warrior princess truly expected to be refused or scolded - that Gabrielle felt her heart melt.
"Are you saying you can't wait until we get to the Amazon village?"
"I was just thinking that... well, they'll all want to talk the girl-talk. Catch up on the gossip and all that. It'll be dawn before we get any time alone."
"Yes. I suppose you're right. By then they'll be drunk and they'll want to show you their latest fighting techniques...."
"I need it now," interjected Xena, a little more boldly.
"Alright, darling. You've made that very clear. Well, you've got the reins."
Xena grinned with relief and quickly coaxed Argo off the road and into the woods.
With her faultless talent for finding discreet clearings, Xena soon found suitable spot. She slid from Argo's back and held out her arms to her bard-love. Once safely on the ground, Gabrielle took her lover's hand.
"Come here."
Bemused, Xena followed as she allowed Gabrielle to lead her through the leafy dell.
"Gabrielle, where are we going?"
"Hush, my love."
Gabrielle led her woman deeper into the wood until she found what she was looking for - a large redwood tree that would suit her purposes wonderfully. She stopped and pushed the warrior backwards against the trunk. Xena for her part made great play of being pushed around by her diminutive lover.
"Uhrrmph!"
"Now, this has to come off." Gabrielle briskly started unhooking Xena's armor.
"Hang on, I thought I was going to get some..."
"No, no, my love. I'm gonna give you a good licking instead. When I'm quite ready. Now help me get this armor off." Gabrielle's hands were shaking and Xena took them between her own and held them still for a few steadying moments. Gazing into each other's eyes with longing, they silently agreed to drop their play-acting for now. Xena bowed her head and leaned towards her lover. Their lips met and Gabrielle eagerly took her tongue in her mouth. The warrior gathered the smaller woman in her arms and held her tightly as they kissed and grappled with each other like drowning women gasping for air.
When they finally broke apart, Gabrielle quickly regained her forceful demeanor. She stripped Xena of her upper armor and started on unlacing the slip beneath. But again her shaking hands made the task impossible. Gabrielle whimpered in frustration as her fingers struggled to loosen the ties holding the garment closed over Xena's bosom.
"Here, here, let me." Xena gently pulled the bard's hands away and swiftly undid the ties. Gabrielle whimpered again as the warrior slid her hand into her cleavage and pulled out one breast. "Here, suck on me," Xena whispered.
Gabrielle greedily accepted the invitation and brought her mouth to the offered nipple.
"Oh, yessss." Xena sighed and smiled down at the contented look on Gabrielle's face. The young woman's eyes were closed, her mouth pumping and sucking loudly. "Good girrrl," Xena purred. "Suck me. That's right. That feels so good."
"Mmmph!" Gabrielle nuzzled her face into Xena's soft bosom.
Xena reached again into her short leather dress and pulled out the other breast. Gripping her lover tightly by her long, blonde locks the warrior princess attempted to dislodge the limpet clamped to her chest. "Hey, hey, c'mon baby, suck the other one for me now."
With some persistence she managed to persuade Gabrielle to release her hold and suckle from the other nipple. Xena groaned at the first touch of warm, wet lips and then from a deep pulling sensation as the hungry mouth started feeding again.
Xena let herself be carried on rolling waves of pleasure as she slowly exhaled and contemplated her situation - half naked in the woods, her breasts hanging exposed out of her dress, her young blonde lover suckling and moaning in her arms. She closed her eyes and imagined being discovered in such a compromising position by her enemies - by Ephiny, who if not an out-and-out enemy was at least a rival, by that kooky bitch Najara, by Ares, by Callisto... hmm, Callisto.
Xena allowed herself to muse on the forbidden fantasy that she'd battled against, unsuccessfully, for nearly a moon now. It had sprung, unbidden, one night as she lay spread out on her back on her bedroll, her legs stretched wide open, Gabrielle fucking her fiercely with her whole hand. Just as the warrior had started her rapid ascent to climax, she'd seen her blonde nemesis standing over them both, laughing, mocking Xena for her submission to the young bard. The very idea had been enough to drive Xena to ecstasy and only her warrior-training and strength of will had stopped her shrieking Callisto's name instead of Gabrielle's.
Now she was too excited to fight it. She wanted to relive this fantasy again, but this time to keep it under her control. She closed her eyes and opened them again, willing herself to see the luscious figure of her arch enemy leaning against the opposite tree, languid and dangerous.
"Xeeeeenahh! You slut. Look at you, with your breasts hanging out like a common whore. You like having them sucked, don't you? You like what your blonde bitch does for you."
"Oh, yes, yes!" Xena moaned out loud in response to her imaginary adversary.
"Mmmm, you're really turning me on, Xeennah." The warrior could now clearly see her enemy, leaning back against the tree and reaching under her short leather skirt. "Yes, you're right, I'm not wearing any panties. I never do." Callisto rolled her head back and closed her eyes. She had clearly just pushed her fingers into her pussy. "Oh, Xena, yes," she breathed. "Let me hear you beg the Irritating Blonde to suck you harder..."
"Gabrielle, please, suck me harder.." The blonde bard replied with a closed-mouth moan and obediently switched breasts again and started sucking and chewing on the wine-colored nipple.
"Ohhh!" Callisto was now fucking herself vigorously, one leg bent forwards, her foot braced flat against the tree, her whole body jerking with each self-administered thrust.
Xena moaned in frustration as Gabrielle suddenly pulled away from her rigid teat. "Shh, my love! I said I would give you a good licking..."
The young blonde lowered herself slowly to her knees, marking her progress with gentle kisses to her lover's hands. Lifting the leather strips of the short skirt, she pressed her face against warm britches and savored the woman-scent that enveloped her. Xena responded by grinding her hips in a slow, undulating movement.
With one hand reaching behind, Gabrielle took hold of Xena's britches, tugging them at the same time from the front with her teeth. With agonizing slowness, she pulled them down to Xena's feet, where the warrior was able to step daintily out of them.
"Hook one leg over my shoulder," the Amazon Queen commanded.
Xena obeyed and couldn't help looking over to see her enemy's reaction. Callisto jeered in a voice only the warrior could hear. "Xeeenaa. Oh, yes, lift your leg so I can see your snatch. Gods, I wish it could be me kneeling there and tasting you instead of your little bitch!"
Xena was jerked out of her daydream by a wicked tongue that whipped expertly around her opening. "Ahhh! Gabrielle, that's so good."
Gabrielle had her mouth full and could only reply with the lewd slurping and lapping noises she knew her lover adored.
Xena could feel her cum flooding over her young love's face. Her hips started bucking and she knew she could not contain the climax that had been building in her for candlemarks.
Gabrielle knew it too and did not attempt to slow her lover's progress. Instead she thrust three fingers into Xena's soaking wet cunt and fucked her hard and fast, while letting her thumb take up the task of tormenting the warrior's clit.
"Ahh! Ohh! Uh!" Callisto rubbed herself furiously and threw her head back as she came.
Xena finally allowed herself release.
Her scream startled birds into flight for miles around. It sent small animals scurrying for their underground homes and caused larger ones to stop in their tracks, cocking their ears to the roar of an unfamiliar creature.
Gabrielle, pleased with herself, grinned up at her warrior-love, gathering her into her arms as Xena's legs failed her and she slid down against the tree to the ground. They sat for some time, arms and legs entwined around each other, waiting for their breathing to return to normal.
"I love these private times we have together," Gabrielle leaned contentedly against her lover's shoulder.
"Yeh, just me and you. No-one else to bother us."
"No-one trying to kill us, or compete with you..."
"Or steal you from me..."
"Y'know sometimes I wish we could run away somewhere where no-one could find us."
They contemplated this in silence for a while. Then both of them started laughing uncontrollably.
"Nah.."
"You're right..!"
"We'd just get bored!"
THE END
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Author: Amazon Story Title: The Initiation Characters: Xena/Gabrielle, Gabrielle/Amarice, Xena/Gabrielle/Amarice, Ephiny/Amarice Rating: NC-17 Summary: After Xena and Gabrielle have reluctantly agreed to let the young amazon Amarice travel with them, they find a good use for her. This rating is for explicit f/f and f/f/f sex, and moderate D/s.
DISCLAIMER: The characters in this story are the property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. This story is not for profit and is not intended to infringe anyone's copyright. It's just a bit of fun.
WARNING: This story contains rude words and explicit scenes of consensual and kinky sex between adult women, wouldn't ya know?
The action is set somewhere between the Season 4 episodes 'End Game' and 'Ides of March,' after Xena and Gabrielle have reluctantly agreed to let the young amazon, Amarice, travel with them. It also assumes that Gabrielle is still technically the Queen of the Amazons.
You can find more stories by Amazon at her site VixenNet
Send feedback to amazon@flashmail.com
The Initiation By Amazon
Amarice strode back toward camp, pleased with herself and with the three fat rabbits she'd caught for lunch. Xena had challenged her to go on the morning hunt on her own for a change. Amarice assumed this meant the warrior wanted some rutting time with Gabrielle and had said as much.
"Amarice, I don't rut with the Queen of the Amazons," Xena insisted, adding quietly, "We make love."
The younger girl snorted, but just stopped herself from saying, "Well, it sure looked like rutting to me." Xena's moods were unpredictable and Amarice didn't want to risk her anger if she knew she'd been observed in a private moment with her lover.
Amarice hadn't meant to spy on them. She'd offered to take the overnight watch and the tree she'd picked to sit in just happened to give her a clear view of the campsite and the two older women locked in embrace by the fire. She'd watched attentively, awestruck by her queen's flexibility and stamina. Gabrielle's legs were wrapped around the warrior's neck for what seemed like most of the night, while Xena mercilessly plunged her hand into her lover. The memory made Amarice feel pleasantly tingly as she walked through the woods, a nice complement to the heat of the morning sun against her back.
She approached camp cautiously, but it was deserted and she felt vaguely disappointed that there was no-one to praise her for her catch. Not sure what to do with herself, she hung the dead rabbits from a branch, then she turned toward the sound of splashing and giggling from the nearby lake. Of course. They'd gone for an after-fuck swim.
"Hey, Amarice, why don't you come in?" Gabrielle called out from the water as she spotted the girl walking down the path leading to the small lake.
The two women were washing each other's naked bodies with rags and oils and clearly enjoying the sensation of the cooling water in the summer heat. Amarice felt strangely embarrassed to be openly witnessing such an intimate scene.
"Nah, it's okay. Hey, I got us rabbits for lunch."
"Amarice, when did you last have a wash?" her queen persisted.
"Dunno, don't remember. Why?" replied Amarice as she sat down on a rock near the two women.
"Because, darling, I don't like my subjects to smell like a legionnaire's jock-strap, that's why."
Xena burst out laughing. "How would you know what a legionnaire's jock..." she was cut off by Gabrielle who turned to splash a wave of water over her.
Amarice was unnerved by Gabrielle's invitation. Since they'd been traveling together she'd carefully avoided taking her clothes off in front of the older women. Not normally a prude, she felt somehow it wasn't right to be naked before her queen and the warrior who had so recently become her teacher and sparring partner.
"C'mon it's lovely and warm," Xena added her husky voice to Gabrielle's entreaties, laughing at the girl's sudden shyness.
"Looks cold to me," retorted Amarice sharply. Xena followed the girl's gaze down to her breasts and hard, red nipples before giving her an old-fashioned look.
"Look, if you don't get in here, I'm going to tell Xena to catch you and throw you in," threatened Gabrielle, laughing.
Amarice sighed in mock resignation. "Oh, alright."
She was relieved when Xena and Gabrielle swam away towards the center of the lake and she undressed swiftly, adding her armor and underwear to the incongruous pile of orange robes, armor and leather by the rocks. Determined to reassert her dignity, she dove into the lake making a satisfying splash and sending out waves in all directions.
"Cm'ere, little one." When she surfaced Xena was waiting with a small bottle of oil in one hand, a pumice stone and rag in the other. Amarice swam over to her and submitted to a thorough scrubbing at the hands of the warrior princess.
"That's a good girl. Gabrielle likes her subjects to be nice and clean behind the ears."
Xena was rubbing her shoulders and neck so hard that Amarice had to keep closing her eyes as the warrior briskly scraped all traces of dead skin cells from her body. Meanwhile, she was vaguely aware that Gabrielle had climbed out of the lake onto a sunny ledge between the rocks.
When Xena finally relented and Amarice was able to open her eyes properly she kept her gaze downwards, not wanting to catch sight of her queen naked. But just as she turned to follow Xena's powerful swimming strokes safely out to the other side of the lake, Gabrielle called out.
"Amarice!" It was that same sharp, disapproving tone she used when she was reprimanding Amarice or Xena for some act of playful exuberance.
"Yes, my queen," Amarice replied, keeping her eyes down.
"Come over here." The note of command in Gabrielle's voice made Amarice immediately look up and the sight shocked her into obedience. The beautiful blonde amazon lay stretched out naked on their bearskin rugs, now ignoring the girl and drying herself with the fabric of her discarded dress.
Slowly, Amarice walked through the water towards her, concentrating on where she placed her feet on the rocky ground beneath the surface. With a start she realized the lake was much shallower at the edge where Gabrielle lay, so she abruptly stopped at the point where the water lapped around her waist.
"Come over here," Gabrielle repeated more sternly.
Amarice hated to displease her queen and so moved reluctantly towards her, aware that Xena had swum back and was now somewhere directly behind her. The water barely reached mid-thigh as she approached the sunny ledge, and Amarice inwardly cursed as she realized the warrior was getting a clear view of her naked rear.
Gabrielle smiled up at her, almost playfully. She said nothing and Amarice waited, feeling awkward and unsure of what was expected of her. Then Gabrielle pulled back the furs and unwrapped her naked body. To Amarice's astonishment she deliberately parted her legs, showing the young girl a tidy mass of wet, blonde curls and a hint of pink flesh behind them.
"Pleasure me."
Amarice's mouth fell open. "Wh-what?"
"You heard me, girl. I want you to lick me."
Amarice swallowed, her mouth and throat suddenly parched and dry. Gabrielle stretched out her hand and Amarice nervously took it.
"Oh, well, whatever," she had to think quickly. "Xena's right here, so they must have planned this. Just have to grin and bear it I guess." Amarice crouched down in the water and licked her lips in preparation, her gaze fixed on her queen's pink slit.
Then Gabrielle reached over and lifted her chin with her hand. "Stand up." Confused, Amarice stood up again. "Now stand over me and bend down."
Amarice froze. They were taking the piss. To satisfy Gabrielle's request she would have to give Xena a clear and obscene view of her sex and behind as she bent over. No way.
"Are you going to disobey me, Amarice?" the cold threat in Gabrielle's voice was unmistakable.
"Can't I get out of the water? I'm getting chilly."
Gabrielle was not convinced. The sun was still hot and the water just pleasantly cool. "Just do what you're told."
Amarice closed her eyes and steadied her breath. She opened them again and looked down at the damp curls between the Amazon Queen's legs. With a sigh of resignation, she bent over, carefully keeping her legs clamped tight together, sure she could feel azure eyes burning shamelessly into her flesh from behind.
Gabrielle parted her legs further as Amarice lowered her mouth to begin licking. The girl pressed her lips slowly but firmly against the moist hairs. At first, all she could taste was the last drops of water from the lake where Gabrielle hadn't finished drying herself. Then, gently pushing her tongue between the blonde's fleshy lips, she was suddenly overwhelmed by musky-wet sensations.
"Mmmm," Gabrielle lay back and stretched out on the furs. She moaned, closing her eyes and running her hand through the young amazon's hair. "Oh yes," she breathed softly.
Despite her humiliating position, Amarice felt pleasure coursing through her body, driven from the pulsing center between her legs. She rested her weight on her hands and filled her nose and mouth with the sweet essence of her queen, lapping at her with firmer, more confident strokes.
"Mmmm, good girrrll," Gabrielle purred. "Now, don't go inside me," she warned. "That's Xena's place."
Amarice stiffened at her sudden demotion from lover to play-thing. Feeling slighted, she abruptly took Gabrielle's clitoris in her mouth and sucked hard.
"Ohh, ohhh, not yet! Gods! Ohh, no, stop! Just keeping licking me," Gabrielle grabbed the girl's hair and then relaxed again. "That's better, slow strong strokes. Oh yes, baby, like that. Ohh, I like that..." She was obviously a 'talker', thought Amarice. Bet Miss Strong-and-Silent Warrior Princess doesn't like that much.
With that thought, Amarice tensed again as she heard Xena stand up and stride through the water towards her. Suddenly, Amarice felt strong hands seize her hips. "Oh Gods, what now?" she thought, as she felt Xena's damp bush press up against her backside.
Without warning, Amarice felt her back arch in a reflex action all of its own as her body sought out the source of a new, unexpected pleasure. Xena was pushing her pubic bone hard against Amarice's butt-hole and she couldn't contain the need to push back.
Amarice gasped and had to brace herself against the ledge with her hands as the Warrior Princess bent over her slight body and pressed harder. Xena's body enveloped her and she felt hot breath in her ear and firm breasts rubbing against her back. So many sensations! And all the while Gabrielle lay back and gripped Amarice by her hair, pulling her head into her crotch, urging her to "Lick harder!" and "Rub my clit with your tongue!" Amarice felt swamped by competing pleasures.
Above all, she wanted to please her queen, so she tried to shut out of her mind whatever Xena was doing to her helpless body. At least she didn't feel exposed and watched now. But she still smarted from Gabrielle's warning and her rebellious amazon nature demanded she fight back. Gabrielle moaned loudly with surprise and pleasure as Amarice rudely thrust her tongue into the forbidden hole. The girl didn't wait to be reprimanded. She thrust in as deep as she could, then withdrew and rubbed Gabrielle's clit with the thick cum that coated her tongue.
The Amazon Queen had obviously decided on a rebellion of her own as she made no attempt to stop the girl from trespassing inside her.
"Hey, outta there." Xena growled, suddenly realizing what was going on. Over the girl's shoulder she could clearly see the young amazon's tongue thrusting in and out of her lover's pussy. "Out!" Neither Amarice nor Gabrielle took any notice, so she stood up, raised her hand and slapped the girl hard across her rear.
"Ahhh! Ow!" Amarice was so overwhelmed with the sharp shock and pain from the blow that she nearly passed out into Gabrielle's lap. Xena didn't wait for an apology or a plea for forgiveness. She just brought her hand down hard again across the girl's conveniently positioned butt.
Amarice now couldn't deny the unbearable waves of pleasure and excitement she felt as Xena relentlessly continued to spank her. But her amazon pride burned as hot as her sore butt - she wouldn't give in to this undignified desire.
With difficulty she pulled her mouth away from Gabrielle's demanding pussy. "Oh Xena, Xena, punish me, you big, tough bitch. You know you want to," she mocked the warrior over her shoulder.
"Hey, hey, stop that, d'you hear?" Gabrielle sat up. Alarmed by the girl's resentful tone, she took her face in her hands and looked up a Xena. "Stop it both of you!" Gabrielle was struggling for breath and was in no mood to have her pleasure interrupted by fighting. She pulled the girl's face close to her own. "Now you just get down there, Amarice, and make me cum. Just stroke my clit and fucking get me off. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, my queen."
"And Xena, stop beating her. I need her to concentrate on making me cum."
"Yes, mistress," muttered Xena in a subdued tone.
"Right, good." Reassured, Gabrielle lay back once more and gestured to Amarice to resume administering to her wet and swollen pussy. "Slowly, ok? Don't do it any harder until I start to cum.. Ohhh, yes, good girl," she sighed.
Amarice began licking again, but this time she had no intention of obeying the instructions from her purring queen. She had a special talent she wanted to demonstrate, just for her. Ignoring the distracting sensation of Xena's fingertips now lightly brushing across her cunt lips, Amarice pressed her tongue against the writhing blonde's clit.
"Slow; slow remember? Slow and hard now.. oh..yes, yeesss.."
Amarice had other plans. Without warning she fluttered the very tip of her tongue across her queen's most sensitive spot. Back and forth with the speed and lightness of a humming-bird's wings, she flicked her tongue, moving her head to match Gabrielle's writhing as the queen tried to escape the intense sensation.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!..." Gabrielle's voice got louder and higher in pitch. Her hips started to buck, but still Amarice wouldn't let her escape the lashing of her tongue. Finally, Gabrielle's cries turned to half-sobs caught in her throat. She stretched her legs wider apart somewhere over Amarice's head and came in a cacophony of screams and convulsions.
Gabrielle squinted up at her girl-lover through hooded eye-lids, sweeping her sweat-soaked bangs from her forehead before raising a hand to shield her face from the bright afternoon sun.
"Mmmm, that was very good," the queen's chest rose and fell with a deep, contented sigh. "Yes, very good. I'm very pleased with you, amazon."
"Th-thank you, my queen," Amarice responded with difficulty. The young woman remained obediently in position, leaning over Gabrielle and presenting her naked sex to the dark warrior behind who she could not see but could most certainly feel.
Gabrielle smirked. "What's she doing to you?"
"She's teasing me, my queen."
"Uh-huh. And how is she doing that?"
Amarice hesitated. "She's, she's brushing her finger tips over my, my.."
"Over your pussy, baby?" Gabrielle murmured in a low, soothing voice. She reached up and slowly ran one hand over Amarice's small breasts which hung above her like ripe fruit ready for picking, firm and full. "Mmm, such perfect handfuls..."
Amarice didn't reply but wondered how much longer she would have to endure this humiliation. Xena made not a sound, just continued with the maddening stroking against Amarice's exposed entrance.
"She's toying with you isn't she?"
"Yes." Amarice pouted.
"What do you...." Gabrielle paused, turning the girl's face and forcing her to look into clear green eyes that sparkled with amusement. "What do you want her to do, Amarice?"
"I want her to fuck me," Amarice heard herself say in a quiet, sulky voice.
"What? Louder, girl!"
"I said I want her to fuck me!"
"Well then, tell her what you want. Xena is your slave until I tell her otherwise," the little blonde queen pronounced.
Amarice took a deep breath. The combination of Gabrielle kneading her breasts now with both hands while Xena played a tune on her nether lips, was driving her insane.
"Xena, I want you to put your fingers in me, damn you to Hades!"
She heard a sloshing of water as the Warrior Princess adjusted her stance in the knee-deep water. "Ohhh! Owww! Ow!!" Suddenly, Amarice felt Xena's long fingers surge into her, almost lifting her off her feet. She braced her legs against the onslaught and pushed back with her hands against the ledge.
"Ow?" Xena froze, concern and doubt in her voice.
"Ohh... no... not... ow... just... owww." Amarice could no longer make sense come out of her mouth as she rocked back and forth over her prostrate queen, skewering herself on Xena's fingers. Reassured, Xena matched the girl's rhythm, thrusting in and out and grunting with the effort.
Amarice was content to let the warrior princess take control. She hung her head and let her long red hair tumble across the naked body of her beloved Gabrielle who lay stretched out beneath her. She took in the fullness of her queen's large breasts, the pale pink nipples that darkened as they hardened. Lowering her head further, she pulled one soft mound into her eager young mouth.
As she sucked and chewed, Amarice watched the flexing, sturdy thighs of her assailant behind her, framed between her open legs. Feeling Xena's feet clip impatiently against her ankles under the water, she obediently spread her legs wider apart and was rewarded with a growl of pleasure. Then panic rose in Amarice's throat as she felt fingers sliding and twisting even deeper into her.
"Oh gods! Oh Zeus! You're going to fist me, aren't you? Oh gods."
"Don't hurt her, Xena!" the queen warned.
"It's alright, Amarice can take it. Can't you, amazon?" Xena called out, daring her to agree.
"I-I don't know."
"Have you done it before, darling?" Gabrielle asked softly.
"Ephiny did me, but-but"
"Yeh, well Ephiny was a lot smaller. Be careful Xena."
If the older women were surprised by Amarice's admission of a physical intimacy with the Amazon Regent, they chose not to show it just then. All three held their separate, cherished memories of their friend - the latest but doubtless not the last amazon to fall victim to a Roman's sword. Words would not bring Ephiny back, and fighting women were disinclined to talk when silence could express their feelings with greater eloquence.
Xena spat unceremoniously on the hand that was still probing in and out of Amarice. "I swear before Ares, she can take it..."
"Don't bring him into it," Gabrielle snapped. "You don't have to, Amarice, you know that."
"Please. It's ok. Let me try."
"OK then, but your safe word is 'Aphrodite', you understand? If you want to stop.."
"Oh, don't bring her into it..." Xena echoed Gabrielle's protest. The Amazon Queen ignored her.
"What was that about?" Amarice briefly wondered before an army of new sensations invaded her thoughts.
For a few heart-pounding moments Amarice thought the warrior was going to tear her apart. At first she screamed in outrage at the intrusion, then the pain was replaced with an overwhelming feeling of fullness - that familiar sensation that Ephiny had patiently and lovingly taught her to enjoy.
"Ok, Ok. Slowly now. Hush." Xena, having claimed her entrance, spoke tenderly to the young amazon in her low, husky voice.
Amarice whimpered. White light flashed before her eyes. She felt as if her whole body was turning inside out as she stretched wide to take the conquering warrior's slow, deep strokes.
"Tell her what you need, Amarice." From somewhere outside herself the amazon heard Gabrielle's soft, girlish tone.
"Ohhh, ohhh." It was some time before she could collect herself enough to form words. "Just, just stay still for a second. Just hold it still, Xena. Oh gods..."
Slowly and carefully, Amarice writhed on the warrior's fist, feeling her way, testing the extent of her movement. All the while she felt her whole body pulsating and a flood of sweat breaking through the surface of her skin. Gradually other senses returned. She could hear Xena breathing hard, could feel the warrior's hot breath on her naked back. "Oh, Xena this feels so good.." she slurred.
"You feel great, Amarice. You're so tight and wet..." The warrior drawled, but Amarice could sense the restraint in her voice, a sign, she was sure, of an inner battle Xena was waging within herself.
"You want to do it hard don't you, Xena? I can tell."
"She'll do just what you ask her. Won't you Xena?" Gabrielle interjected, hearing the fear in the girl's voice.
"It's ok, Amarice. I want you to enjoy this," Xena murmured, trailing a line of tender kisses along the Amarice's sun-warmed back. "You're being such a good girl... such a good girl for me..."
It was the gentle touch of Xena's lips against her skin, contrasted with the cruel invasion of her flesh and her own complete surrender, that made Amarice feel suddenly, unbearably, vulnerable. Confused and disorientated, she cried out and without warning, fierce, hot tears poured from her eyes as weeks of pent-up up grief banked up and overflowed. "Ephiny, Ephiny...I-I"
Gabrielle felt her own heart break as she gripped the girl, now sobbing hard against her shoulder. "Do you need to stop, darling? You can stop if you want."
"No. No! Ohh! Oh, Xena, don't stop!," Amarice pleaded between sobs, her body taking up the rhythm again with renewed energy for this demanding dance. "I'm gonna cum. I'm gonna cum right now! Hard... do it harder please, I can take it."
Xena instinctively understood her need. She jerked her arm in a violent expression of penetration, but in reality hardly moved inside the girl who screamed and bucked in response to the slightest pressure. It was not long before the young amazon roared. Her climax took possession of her body, lifting her higher and higher towards the sun before releasing her to fall gently back to earth.
"Arrgh!" Amarice snarled as Xena abruptly withdrew.
"Hush, baby. Hush." Gabrielle drew the crumpled form into her chest as the girl was finally allowed to slip out of the water and take her place on the ledge next to her queen. Xena sloshed to the water's edge and joined them, pressing her hot, sweaty body against Amarice's back. Without words, they wrapped their arms around each other until the girl's sobs had stilled. They kissed and nuzzled for a while, then lay silent as the afternoon sun passed overhead and Morpheus claimed them one by one into the realm of sleep.
"She's all legs that girl." Gabrielle smiled fondly after Amarice's gangly form as the young amazon strode off into the forest on another hunting mission. The girl was certainly making herself useful about the place - in one way or another - Gabrielle thought to herself. The Amazon Queen sighed with pleasure at the memory of the debauched activities of the previous day, and particularly at the expert tongue-lashing she'd received courtesy of Amarice's young mouth.
Maybe they could do that again sometime, she thought. Take a couple of days out from traveling and book a comfortable room in a discreet tavern, somewhere safe where Xena wouldn't have to be constantly on guard against mercenaries after Caesar's reward. Maybe if she could persuade the warrior to delay her mission to Rome by a few days...
But she knew she was just day-dreaming. Sighing again, Gabrielle perched herself gracefully on a tree-stump, dropped a leather gauntlet in her lap and began the familiar task of repairing battle-tears in her lover's clothing.
At first the warrior didn't comment, concentrating instead on the relentless scraping of metal against metal as she sharpened her sword. Then, in a slightly accusing tone and without looking up from her task, she asked softly: "Do you want her?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you want her? You seemed to enjoy her yesterday."
"Yes, I did enjoy it. So did you, I thought?"
"Yeh, I did. But if you've got a thing for her, don't let me stand in your way."
Gabrielle turned sharply to face her lover who kept her eyes resolutely fixed on her sword. "Hey!" Getting no response, she repeated in a softer voice: "Hey, hey, is my little warrior-baby jealous?"
No reply, except the scrape, scrape, scrape of flint against blade.
"Xena, look at me!"
Unable to disobey a direct command, the warrior looked up and silently regarded the little blonde queen who was now glaring at her in annoyance. She swallowed. "Yes, well, maybe warrior-baby is a bit jealous," she muttered, returning her attention to her weapon.
Gabrielle exhaled wearily and got to her feet. Dropping her sewing to the ground, she strode over to her lover's seat on the fallen tree trunk and knelt between splayed muscular legs. She gazed up at the beautiful, statuesque form towering over her, reached under Xena's skirt and, without ceremony, viciously seized her crotch.
"This is mine, Xena! Remember? Mine! Do you understand? "
"Yes, Gabrielle." Xena had dropped her precious sword and was looking directly at Gabrielle with perhaps even a touch of fear in her eyes.
"I don't need any other pussy except this one. And this one is mine, and mine alone."
"Yes, Gabrielle."
"If we invite another pussy to join us, it's a matter for both of us. I thought you understood that."
"I do, Gabrielle, I'm sorry." The warrior bowed her head in contrition.
"Good. You should be."
Xena grinned sheepishly at the assertive blonde queen. "I'm sorry," she repeated, grateful once again for Gabrielle's understanding. The young bard knew her warrior so well. She knew when she needed reassurance and she knew just how to give it. Xena would miss that. Taking hold of the Amazon Queen by the ears, the warrior planted a disrespectful but affectionate kiss on the top of her head.
"Listen, I'm going to leave for Rome tonight. I want you and Amarice to go and find Eli. Travel with him for a while until I come back for you. Gabrielle, I don't know when I'll next see you..."
"I know, I know, my love. Let's not talk about it, or I'll only try to talk you out of going."
Xena wiped a tear from Gabrielle's lashes with her finger. "C'mon, while we've got the place to ourselves..." Taking her lover by the hand, Xena led her over to their shared bedroll. Within a candlemark, the forest was reverberating with the sounds of two women dedicating their love to pleasuring each other's bodies.
"Well, don't let me interrupt you, Xena. I mean, I know you've got a lot of preparation to do before you go off to sort Caesar out." Amarice's youthful sarcasm was as biting and insensitive as ever at the sight of the two women asleep in their bedroll in the middle of the afternoon.
Xena didn't respond but rolled over to face away from the young amazon.
"Did you catch anything?" Gabrielle nuzzled against Xena's warm back and yawned, trying to show interest in their companion's hunting trip.
"Nah. I'm bored with chasing rabbits. I gonna build a trap and leave it in the field. I found a herd of deer in the forest instead so I want to go after them this evening."
"Ok, darling," Gabrielle mumbled as afternoon-drowsiness threatened to overwhelm her again.
Amarice retrieved her trap-building tools from her saddlebag and stomped off into the forest again.
"Xena?" Gabrielle's voice took on a more concerned tone.
"Hmmm?" the warrior replied without opening her eyes.
"I'm worried about Amarice."
"Why?" Xena asked flatly.
"You know, I think she was really close to Ephiny. Did you notice yesterday? She's got her mark tattooed on her ankle."
"Yeh. I saw that," the warrior's reply was guarded. Gabrielle carried the same mark on her hip - evidence of a brief but intense affair with the Amazon Regent and an unwelcome reminder to Xena every time she gazed on her lover's naked body. She wanted to say that perhaps Ephiny was more profligate with her mark than she'd led her lovers to believe. But she held her tongue.
"I know they can't have been together for more than a moon," Gabrielle continued, "but I think it's really shaken her and the worst thing is I think she feels partly responsible."
"It was a battle like any other, Gabrielle. Ephiny made her own decisions. She wouldn't take unnecessary risks unless she knew there was no other option."
"I know that, but I'm just saying that I don't think that helps how Amarice feels."
Xena sighed. "I know. You're right. But if she's going to be a warrior she's got to be able to cope with losing people she cares about. And she's got to learn to walk away from her mistakes."
"Xena, maybe you can explain that to her. She respects you as a fighter much more than me. You could help her get over it. Would you talk to her?"
"Gabrielle, you know it doesn't work like that with fighting women. Not even with your own Amazons. Some things are best left unsaid."
"I don't think she should have to deal with this on her own."
Xena sighed. "Look, she's an amazon yeh? So if she was with her own tribe and she'd lost a lover, the tribe leader would take her to bed for a night, isn't that right? Isn't that what Ephiny did for you when you thought I'd..."
"When you had died.." Gabrielle interjected. She'd had to defend herself on this point several times before.
"Whatever. But perhaps that would help."
"If I took her to bed?"
"Yes. You're her queen. She has the right to be comforted."
"Yes. Yes, you're right," Gabrielle agreed thoughtfully. "That's a good idea. Xena?"
"Hmmm?"
"You'll have to explain to her, y'know, that it's alright with you."
"Ok."
"Xena?"
"Yes?"
"I'd rather you didn't leave tonight. Can't it wait til the morning? So I can see you before you go."
"Dawn." The warrior rolled over and took her bard in her arms.
"Thanks."
Xena found Amarice by the side of the nearby lake, putting the finishing touches to a small, intricate construction of wood and twine.
"Can I test it?"
"Sure," Amarice replied without looking up at the warrior.
Xena reached up to take a lime from an overhead branch and dropped it into the trap. With a loud snap two fierce spikes speared the fruit, sending juice spurting upwards and nearly hitting Xena in the eye.
"That's a pretty good design." The warrior crouched beside Amarice and picked up the trap to examine its workings more closely.
"Ephiny taught me how to make it."
Xena winced. Well, there was the in-road she needed to broach the subject of Amarice's dead lover.
"I was going to put it by the rabbit holes in that field over there and then go for a swim. No point trying all day to get one with an arrow."
"Amarice, you never just leave a trap," Xena corrected her sternly. "You have to watch it. Otherwise you might trap a sick animal and you'd never know until you'd eaten it. Or you could attract wolves if you leave a carcass hanging around too long." She frowned. "Or you could injure an animal and cause unnecessary suffering. You should only rely on a trap if you're wounded or too sick to hunt and only then if you can hide somewhere to watch it. I'm surprised Ephiny didn't tell you that."
"Hmmm, well, let me think." Amarice pretended to be trying to remember. "Oh yeh, she said something about needing to set a trap so that we could spend all day in her bedroll while she screwed my brains out. Yeh, I'm sure it was something like that."
Xena sighed. Point taken. "You carry her mark. She must've really cared about you."
Amarice picked up the trap and inspected her work, turning it over in her hands. "Yes. I think she did." She paused before asking: "Gabrielle has the same mark, doesn't she?"
"Yes. They had a thing a couple of years ago." Xena steeled herself. Why did this kind of conversation always seem so difficult? Fighting and killing always seemed so much easier than talking. "Listen Amarice, Gabrielle is your queen and... well she's asked me to tell you that, as an amazon, you have the right to spend the night with her. She'd like to try to comfort you in the traditional way. I mean," Xena's words were tumbling of their own accord now, "not like yesterday. That was different. I mean..."
"I know what you're saying, Xena."
For a while both warriors sat in silence looking out at the lake.
"But how would you feel about that? I don't want to cause any friction."
"No, no. It's fine, Amarice. I mean, it was my suggestion, anyway." Xena glanced quickly over at the young amazon and caught sight of a tear hanging from the girl's lashes until a grubby hand angrily rubbed it away. "Hey..." Awkwardly, Xena put an arm around Amarice's shoulders.
"I'm okay," the amazon responded unconvincingly in a small voice.
Xena was no longer prepared to honor Amarice's attempts at bravery and she pulled the girl into a hug. "I know, I know it's so hard, Amarice. It doesn't get any easier. If you want to be a fighting woman you have cope with loss. Find a place inside yourself to put your suffering. Never let it affect your judgment."
Slowly Amarice snaked her arms around the warrior's neck. They stayed like that for a while, as Xena whispered soothing sounds and stroked the amazon's hair.
"Xena?" Amarice sniffed.
"Hmmm?"
"Would you join us in bed? I'd feel better if you were there too."
"No. It's an Amazon thing between you and your queen. I'll come by later, just before dawn, ok?"
"Promise?"
"Yeh, I promise."
Silence had fallen like the darkness around the campsite as the three women munched on a decidedly tasty meal of venison preceded by rabbit kebab.
"That was great," Xena pronounced with genuine gratitude as she finished the last of the meat with a satisfied lick of her fingers. "Maybe we should let Amarice hang out with us a bit longer, if she's gonna cook meals as good as that."
"Yeh, maybe we should," Gabrielle agreed. "Depends if she does the washing-up as well, though."
"You wish!" Amarice snapped, but she welcomed the friendly baiting. It helped defuse the tension that had built up between them through the evening. Xena's imminent departure hung over them like a cloud and Amarice wondered if tonight was really the best night to oust the warrior from her marital bed. Perhaps she should offer to postpone her appointment with Gabrielle's comforting bosom until after Xena returned from Rome. That was the other, unspoken worry. What if Xena never came back? Then who would be comforting who?
If Xena felt awkward, she didn't show it as she stood up and gathered her weapons.
"You'll come back before dawn, won't you?" Gabrielle said quickly. "You won't just take off to Rome without telling me?"
"Hush, my love." Xena planted a kiss on her lover's cheek. "I'll see you later."
With that she strode off into the woods, her footsteps somehow silent even in her sturdy leather boots.
"Come!"
Gabrielle smiled and held out a hand to Amarice, leading her over to kneel on the bedroll she shared with Xena.
"Can I undress you?"
"Of course, my queen."
Feeling a warmth in her belly at the girl's unquestioning obedience, Gabrielle started unbuckling the various weapons and armor that adorned Amarice's lean, slender body. How she loved to undress a warrior and reveal the succulent woman beneath! Amarice kept her eyes ahead while Gabrielle first freed her breasts from her top then began to pull her tight shorts down over her thighs.
Gabrielle tried and failed to remove the garment in a way that was sensual rather than sexual, but she couldn't help sneaking a quick glance between the girl's legs as Amarice sat back to slip her shorts over her feet. With a supreme effort of will, the Amazon queen quelled her desire to place her lips against the dark triangle of curls that was revealed. Instead, she swiftly removed her own clothes and lay back on the fur. She took the younger woman in her arms and they kissed, chastely, in welcome.
"You know you don't have to be a warrior tonight? Just be a girl ok? Feel whatever you need to feel."
"Yeh ok," Amarice mumbled against her queen's shoulder as the two women were bathed in the musky scent of sex and sweat that had long impregnated itself into Gabrielle's bedroll.
"It doesn't have to be about sex, if that's not what you want. I'll just hold you if you want to talk about Ephiny."
"It's ok. I had a cry with Xena this afternoon. That helped a lot. I needed to do that."
"Oh, that's good." Gabrielle was both pleased and surprised that her Beloved had helped Amarice open up and express her feelings.
"I would like to talk to you about Ephiny, though 'Specially as you were her lover too. There's so much about her that I - I don't really know. And I'd like to talk about, y'know, how I feel about her. Is that ok?"
"Of course, darling."
"Thanks."
"So, tell me how you met her."
"Oh well, she just arrived one day out of the blue to talk to our chief. Ephiny believed the Romans were building up to an attack to wipe out the whole Amazon Nation and she wanted all the tribes to be prepared. 'Course that came a bit sooner than she'd thought," Amarice swallowed. "Anyway, she was a visiting dignitary so we put on a display of fighting techniques for her. I was one of the performers and she didn't take her eyes off me all night."
"I'll bet."
"She asked our chief if she could take me with her, back to her village. Ephiny said I was the best of the younger fighters and she wanted me to teach some of my techniques to her Amazons."
Gabrielle didn't comment but suspected Ephiny's motives may have been more personal. "So you were happy to go with her?"
"Yeh, of course. No-one actually asked me, but it was a great opportunity and I knew she wanted to fuck me, so I couldn't wait to be alone with her."
Gabrielle began slowly fondling the amazon girl's firm breasts under the covers. "How did she seduce you?" she asked huskily.
"The first night we were traveling, she built a fire and laid out her bedroll. She lay down and patted the space next to her where I should lie. I couldn't believe how gorgeous she was," Amarice smiled at the memory. "Her long blonde curls tumbling over her shoulders, kind hazel eyes that seem to have a smile of their own. I lay next to her and we kissed for the longest time, then she started telling me the kind of thing she was into."
"What did she tell you?"
"She wanted me to be her, y'know, 'naughty girl'," Amarice looked up shyly at her queen. "I was a bit shocked. I told her I didn't do that, I was always the top. She told me I should submit sometimes or I wouldn't understand how to give a submissive woman what she needed. But she said I should only ever give it up to someone who was superior to me in the tribe hierarchy. So, like, Ephiny used to submit for the queen before you. What was her name? Val, Va.."
"Velasca?" Gabrielle was truly stunned. "Ephiny let that bitch dominate her?"
"Well, yeh. Not often. But she'd spent a couple of days tied up in the queen's hut, getting flogged and fucked senseless."
Gabrielle's mouth hung open.
"I shouldn't have told you that, huh?"
"What? No, it's ok. I'm just a bit surprised that's all. Velasca was a nasty piece of work."
"Do you think she'd mind? I mean, if Ephiny could hear us talking about her like this?"
"I don't know. How would you feel if two of your ex-girlfriends lay in bed and discussed what a great lover you were?"
Amarice grinned. "OK, I guess."
They moved together into a tighter embrace and Gabrielle pressed her lips against Amarice's, kissing her softly, and resisting the temptation to force her tongue into the girl's mouth. Eventually she pulled away and struggled to keep her breath steady. "Tell me what Ephiny asked you to do."
"She... she started by making me strip for her. She lay back on her bed-roll, still fully clothed in her leathers. I remember the way the firelight caught her eyes and she looked at me with such a wild, feral desire. She sang an amazon love song under her breath and made me do a slow, sensual dance for her as I removed my clothes.
"When I was naked, she made me lie down at her feet and open my legs." Amarice swallowed. "She-she made me hold myself open while she just stared at my sex. Just stared at it and smiled, running her tongue over her lips. I was shocked. No-one in my tribe would ever suggest such a..." she searched for the right word, "lewd thing."
"Yes, my lot are a bit lewd," Gabrielle acknowledged ruefully.
"She started complimenting my body, saying how much I turned her on, how much she longed to take me. But first, first she said I was too proud and I had to submit to her completely if I wanted to get fucked. So she, she..." Amarice paused for a deep kiss from Gabrielle's mouth, her long red hair falling over both of them. She broke the kiss to continue in a quiet voice that was almost a whisper: "She tapped her thigh and told me to lie across her lap."
"What did you do?"
"I shook my head and started backing away. She threatened that I would get it worse if I made her chase me." Amarice laughed. "I don't know now if I ran because I was scared or because I wanted to be punished. Either way she caught me and dragged me over to a tree stump, where she sat down and pulled me over her knee."
"Did you like it?" Gabrielle breathed.
"At first I hated it. I was furious. I couldn't believe that this great woman warrior I'd tried so hard to impress was treating me like a child. Humiliating me. But she wasn't going to let me up so I just took it. After a while I realized she was really getting into it. She wasn't going to stop and the slaps were getting harder."
The two women pressed their thighs together and Amarice's queen ducked her head to nibble the girl's neck.
"Ohhhh! Gods, that's good. So - mmmmhh! - did Ephiny ever do that to you, my queen?"
"Spank me? No, we weren't, I mean, we only slept together twice. I was very young and I was in mourning for Xena 'cos I thought she was dead. I mean, she was doing a very good impression of being dead. Ephiny was very tender and considerate. She didn't try any kinky stuff at all really."
Amarice looked at Gabrielle as if reconsidering the wisdom of divulging her secrets.
"It was a shame in some ways," Gabrielle hastily continued. "I mean, I was beside myself with joy when Xena came back to me. But in another life, I would've liked to get to know Ephiny's wild and feral side."
"Would you?"
"Oh yes!" They kissed again and Gabrielle slipped her fingers between the girls legs and began stroking the slick wetness of her sex.
"Does Xena spank you?"
"We do pretty much anything," Gabrielle replied quietly, avoiding the question.
"She's pretty dominant, huh?"
"Oh, Xena can switch when the mood takes her."
Amarice raised an eyebrow. That didn't fit her treasured image of the Great Warrior Princess.
"But mostly she's pretty dominant, yes," Gabrielle added.
"I can't believe I took Xena's fist yesterday. Her hands are so large."
"Are you sore, baby?" Gabrielle rubbed a soothing palm between Amarice's legs."
"No, I'm fine. I don't understand how though."
"Xena has many skills."
"Did Ephiny hurt you, y'know, the first time?" Gabrielle asked in a soft voice. It was late now, but the summer night air was still warm and the two women reveled in the shared heat of their bodies, entwined in each other's limbs under the fur blanket.
"No, not at all," Amarice replied, pausing to leave a trial of kisses along her Queen's neck. "She did it very slowly and she used - mmmmm! - plenty of oil. And, well - mmmmf - she made sure I was, y'know, pretty turned on before she tried it."
"I was clueless the first time I tried fisting with Xena. She had to show me what to do." Gabrielle laughed at the memory of that night so long ago when she'd been made to feel so young and naive. "I thought my whole arm was going to disappear! I mean, she's so tall... Xena can't do it to me though. I'm too small and her hands are too large. It's a shame, I know she likes it."
Amarice leaned up on one elbow and regarded her Queen with concern. "Do you feel you're missing out on something?"
"Oh Gods no! Xena is a goddess in the bed-roll. I couldn't wish for anything better. It's just that I know she loves fisting and I'd love to let her if I could."
"Ephiny wouldn't let me do it to her at first. The first night she wouldn't even let me fuck her."
"Oh, warriors! They're so precious," Gabrielle snorted. "They'll have you on your knees screaming for it with your butt in the air, and they won't so much as open their legs in return!"
Amarice giggled. "Xena's not like that though?"
"Oh no. She's a big slut really."
The young amazon lay down again and nuzzled against her Queen's shoulder as she felt warm hands began moving slowly under the covers, stroking her thighs, caressing her hips and belly and then brushing against her nipples. Writhing with a delight she couldn't contain, Amarice dared to pull back the fur, exposing her chest to an appreciative gaze. Gabrielle brought her mouth to one offered breast and, closing her eyes, began to suck.
Heat suddenly coursed through Amarice's body. Watching her beloved Queen suckling hungrily, she noticed how the pale moon lit her beautiful, gentle features now softened with pleasure. How she wished this night could go on forever! With a shaking hand, the young amazon began stroking through cropped strawberry-blonde hair and not for the first time, she found herself wishing she could somehow earn a place for herself in the older woman's heart.
Amarice felt so proud and honored to be sharing Gabrielle's bedroll like this, especially as the great Warrior Princess had been temporarily evicted to make room for her. She hoped against all reason that this wouldn't be the first and last night she'd spend in her arms. At the same time she understood that Gabrielle's true concern was not her own pleasure, but to comfort a young member of her tribe in a time of grief.
Ephiny's death had shocked and saddened all three women, leaving each with their personal memories and regrets. Amarice could only imagine what might have been. The days and nights she'd spent traveling with the Amazon Regent had given Amarice her first taste of love, a love spiced by a ravenous desire that neither woman could satisfy for much longer than a candlemark. A love that surprised both women in its sudden intensity.
Traveling now with Xena and Gabrielle, Amarice was grateful for their underplayed concern and their subtle ways of looking out for her. But every day, in every look and touch that passed between the lovers, Amarice could see what she could have shared with Ephiny, if only... 'If only' was all she had left.
Shaken from her thoughts, Amarice gasped as Gabrielle shifted position and began lavishing attention on the other breast. "Ohhh, that's so good.." she sighed as the blonde's tongue swept over her nipple and warm lips closed over it once more. "Ohhh! Gods, I think I'm gonna cum just from getting my tits sucked!"
Gabrielle looked up and grinned. "Slow down, darling. We've got plenty of time."
Amarice could only moan and grip the blonde woman's hair, pushing her back down to resume the wonderful torture of biting and tugging. The Amazon Queen gladly obeyed her young subject and bit down on a hardened teat.
"OW! God's! Please, my queen. I am... I'm gonna cum..." Amarice began writhing and bucking her hips as an urgency suddenly gathered between her legs.
"Oh baby, you're so horny aren't you?" Gabrielle purred.
"Yes, my queen!" Amarice replied with difficulty between gritted teeth.
"Hush, baby, hush now." Gabrielle gathered her young lover into her arms and tried to calm her, her tone suddenly serious. "Amarice?"
"Yes, my queen?"
"I want to make love to you, darling. Is that ok?"
"Oh yes!" Amarice rolled over onto her back. "Yes please, my queen."
Gabrielle lifted herself up to lie on top of the young amazon, pushing one leg between the girl's thighs and pressing firmly against her center.
"Mmmm. Nice and wet..."
"My queen, I..."
"Amarice, we're naked in bed and I'm about to fuck your lovely young body until you climax. So, you can call me Gabrielle, ok?"
"Sorry. Gabrielle..."
"Unless it does something for you..."
"We-ell, actually..." Amarice confessed quietly.
"Oh, alright then," Gabrielle laughed, secretly pleased that she could indulge her own fantasy of Amazon Queen and adoring tribesgirl.
"My queen, I just wanted to say that..." Amarice swallowed, "that I'm so turned on now... Please my queen," she tugged gently on Gabrielle's ear lobe with her teeth before continuing in barely a whisper, "I just need to be fucked."
"Do you now?"
"Yes, please," Amarice turned her face shyly against Gabrielle's shoulder. "I need it hard."
Gabrielle drew in her breath sharply before adopting her most imperious tone.
"So spread your legs, girl!" With the command, Gabrielle pulled the blanket away completely, exposing their naked bodies to the night - and to any nosy god who might be invisibly spying on them.
You never knew with the gods, Amarice thought to herself. Boredom was their birthright, a consequence of their immortality and omnipotence. An evening spent watching mortals coupling and trying pitifully to ensure their own immortality was a pleasureable enough distraction for the Olympians. Not that Gabrielle or her tribesgirl had much interest in the next generation. Feeling a delicious frisson of fear run up her spine and then down her belly to her center, Amarice closed her eyes and opened her legs.
"Wider!"
Obediently, she stretched further for her Queen.
"Mmm, that's nice." Gabrielle began stroking Amarice's exposed sex with her fingers. "Nice... wet... open..." she breathed each word in her young lover's ear with each caress. "...juicy...wet... pussy... Ready for me. Just how I like it."
Amarice was whimpering now, her eyes still closed and her hands running along the rippling muscles of Gabrielle's well-toned back, shoulders and arms. She gasped again as she was penetrated, first with two fingers, then three.
"Ohhhh! GODS!!"
"Good girl. Take it now. Take it. Good bitch!"
Amarice could no longer find words, so she simply screamed in a feral expression of bliss. Her Queen settled into a relentless, pounding rhythm, purring encouragement and praise in her lover's ear all the while, her hand now twisting with each thrust.
When Gabrielle's fist entered her, only the initial pain kept Amarice from blacking out. Gripping her queen with a ferocity that would leave bleeding scratch marks on her shoulders, the young amazon cried out in ecstasy as waves of climax almost instantly swept over her.
Slowly, a breath at a time, Amarice returned to consciousness and sanity. She winced as Gabrielle withdrew, then she felt herself gathered once more into her Queen's embrace and then the warmth of the heavy fur blanket pulled back over their naked bodies. Amarice sighed deeply then was shocked to realize she was silently crying against Gabrielle's chest. Clutched against the soothing bosom, it was beyond Amarice's strength to stop the racking sobs that now escaped her throat.
Gabrielle murmured wordless comforts to her tribesgirl, unperturbed by the wet tears dripping onto her breasts and encouraging her to suckle if it helped. Amarice gladly seized a nipple in her mouth, acting more from instinct than desire, her body thoroughly exhausted from pleasure and sensation. She made a valiant attempt to begin stroking Gabrielle's muscled thigh, but was soon told to desist.
"Amarice, I want to do the right thing for you. I'd feel I'd done my job better if you didn't... if I just held you for the rest of the night. Do you understand?"
"Yes, my queen," Amarice sniffed. She knew she wouldn't sleep now, despite the tender head-stroking that Gabrielle began as the girl's tears ebbed. But she acknowledged that some of the despair and guilt she'd felt since Ephiny's death had left her this night. Some kind of inner strength had taken root and she felt almost strangely content. Nestling against her Queen's bosom, she took the wet nipple in her mouth again and sucked gently in a regular, absentminded way.
The rhythm soothed both of them and Gabrielle was soon fast asleep, her breathing slow and deep. Amarice continued to suckle, feeling renewed stirrings of lust between her legs despite her tiredness. For half a candlemark or so, she wallowed in a comforting fog of pleasure and warmth until gradually she became aware of an unsettling but unmistakable feeling.
They were being watched.
Peering cautiously over the edge of the blanket, Amarice looked up to meet not god or goddess but the sapphire-blue eyes of a dark-haired warrior crouched on her heels at the end of the bedroll.
A smile, then a deep, husky voice came out of the black night: "Well, what a pretty sight this is, hmmm?"
"Xena?" Gabrielle was awake at the first sound of her lover's voice, struggling to sit up in bed and blinking her sleepy eyes in the moonlight. "Is that you, baby?"
Amarice watched as the two older women grinned at each other like newly-weds, drunk on love and kissing as if they hadn't seen each other for a moon rather than just half the night. Suddenly, Amarice felt squarely in their way and she wanted desperately to excuse herself and retreat back to her own bedroll. But Xena was leaning over her and there was no way to get up without making the women break their kiss.
At last they parted, and Gabrielle stroked her warrior's wet hair back from her face.
"Been for a swim, my love?"
"I had to try and cool off. I could hear you two from right across the other side of the lake."
"Hey, we weren't that loud!" Gabrielle protested. "Were we?"
Xena just laughed.
"Hey, er, I'll just go back to bed now," Amarice interjected pulling the fur blanket off her body. "Thanks, Gabrielle, I..."
"Hang on there," Xena laid a restraining hand on Amarice's shoulder. "I was just starting to enjoy myself."
Gabrielle grinned at her warrior. "Were you watching us, you bad girl?"
"Only just now. Amarice was busy suckling while you were asleep. It was a beautiful sight to behold."
"Oh yes, she's very good at that, suckling," Gabrielle teased. The two women had fallen back into their familiar habit of making fun of the young amazon. Gabrielle lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I think she's got a thing about that."
Xena snorted. "Well, let's see if it's a breast thing or a bard thing."
Amarice's eyes widened as the warrior loosened the ties of her slip and pulled the short dress down to her waist, exposing her surprisingly large, firm breasts to the amazon girl.
"Here, Amarice. Think you could do the same for me, huh?"
Amarice's throat suddenly felt dry and she swallowed in panic. She was still very shy of the Warrior Princess, even in such intimate circumstances and despite the debauched threesome they'd enjoyed the previous afternoon. But more than feeling shy, she was frankly afraid of her. It wasn't Xena's former reputation for brutality and malice. It wasn't even her fighting skills that meant she could dispatch a small amazon like Amarice in any number of ways without even breaking a sweat. It was something about the brooding air that surrounded her, a dangerous combination of heat and desire that threatened combust into mayhem at any moment.
Afraid or not, Amarice wanted desperately to be just like her. Or if that could never happen, then she would at least win the approval of the great Warrior Princess. She leaned forward nervously and took the dark, wine-colored nipple between her lips, pulling gently. It was already stiff and although the lake must have been freezing, Xena's skin was hot, pulsing with unnatural energy.
"Mmmm! Good girl," Xena said so quietly that Amarice could only just hear. The amazon tugged at the teat, pulling more of the older woman's breast into her mouth. Gabrielle leaned over towards them and started caressing Xena's neck with her mouth, running her hand at the same time through Amarice's hair, encouraging the girl to please her warrior-love.
"Oh, yeh. That's so good!" The double dose of oral adoration made Xena moan with delight.
Neither woman could tell who had won this praise, but it seemed likely it was both of them, so they dutifully continued sucking, licking and kissing. Overwhelmed by their attention, Xena lay back on the rug and quickly wriggled out of her clothes, rolling onto her back and groaning.
Soon the warrior was laughing uncontrollably as both women lavished affection on her with their mouths, Amarice moving from one breast to the other, Gabrielle covering every inch of her lover's body with kisses and laps of her tongue.
"Ohhh! This is too good. I can't cope!"
"Too much for you, eh warrior?" Gabrielle paused to laugh at the helpless form writhing on the rug. Xena couldn't even collect herself enough to reply, so Gabrielle turned to Amarice. "Hey, why don't you do that clever thing you do with your tongue, Amarice?"
Amarice looked up blankly, then remembered that she'd given her queen a thorough tongue-lashing just the day before. The amazon's dexterity - the way she could flick the very tip of her tongue back and forth as fast as a grasshopper moves its legs - had clearly made an impression. Amarice could not disobey a direct order from her queen, so despite her nervousness she moved to take up position between Xena's sprawled legs.
Something like fear gripped her heart as she peered between the warrior's strong thighs. The dark curls surrounding Xena's sex were already wet with arousal, the sweet musk so tempting to Amarice's young nose. Pushing back the hairs with her fingers, she licked her lips in anticipation before tossing her long red hair over her shoulder and pressing her mouth to that sacred place.
"Oh, by the Gods!!"
Xena arched her back, but her moans of pleasure were strangely muffled. Amarice glanced up to see Gabrielle slowly lowering herself onto her lover's face.
"Ohhhh!" Even if Amarice couldn't hear the warrior's eager slurping, Gabrielle's cries made it obvious that Xena was feasting hungrily at her sex. "Oh, sweet Artemis!! Yesss! Oh! Ohhh, by the gods!! Eat me, Xena!"
Amarice turned her attention back to performing the same task for the warrior. Without losing the delicious contact, she peeked through the triangle of dark hairs and watched the slow, sensual writhing of Gabrielle's hips over her lover's mouth.
"Ohh! Mmmm! Ahhh!"
Soon the Amazon Queen's moans were punctuated by the regular beat of Xena's hand slapping against her butt.
"Ohh! Ow! Harder! Oww!!"
Gabrielle was already close to reaching her climax. She leaned forward, carefully keeping her sex hovering directly over Xena's lips. "Let me watch what you're doing," she breathed, pulling back Amarice's curtain of long hair. "Oh, that's beautiful! That's it, girl. Lick her. Lick Xena's pussy!"
Amarice felt like she was drowning in the warrior's juices. Xena's cum covered her nose and mouth, intoxicating her more and more each time she dipped her tongue for another taste. Above her, Amarice heard Gabrielle's cries change in tenor from ecstasy to frustration and she knew Xena had frozen, distracted by the intensity of feeling between her legs. Amarice paused and Xena relaxed again, resuming the greedy sucking and slurping noises.
Gabrielle peered in fascination as the girl's tongue and mouth went back to work, sucking and lapping at the wet folds. Then her hips bucked and kicked as Xena's loving attention finally took her over the edge.
"Ahhh! Ahh! OHHH! OHHH! Xena! Please!! NOW!! AHHHHH!" With a final shriek, Gabrielle's body shuddered as waves of release swept over her. "Oh, oh gods, oh gods..." At last she relaxed and slumped onto the grass beside the other two women, using the last of her strength to issue a command.
"Finish her, Amarice."
Amarice didn't need asking twice. This was what she'd been waiting for. Pushing Xena's thighs further apart with her arms, she shifted position so her tongue was directly over the warrior's clit. Then closing her eyes to better concentrate, she began the rapid flicking motion that was guaranteed to carry any lover to the Elysian Fields.
"Ahhhh! Wh-what the f-fuck are you d-doing to me? Ahhhh! Ohhhh!"
Xena's response was no less vocal than Gabrielle's as she came with a violent spasm of clenching and shaking.
"Oh you clever bitch!! Gorgeous little amazon bitch, you are!" Xena was laughing now, delirious with pleasure as she pulled Amarice into a bear hug and rolled with her on the fur.
Amarice giggled as the strong arms nearly squeezed the breath out of her lean body. "Did I please you, mistress?" she asked in an exaggerated parody of the soft rural accent of Gabrielle's tribe.
"Oh yes, my sweet, you pleased me," Xena's expression grew solemn and almost kind as she stroked Amarice's hair back from her face and looked directly into her eyes.
Amarice smiled, embarrassed at the unexpected intimacy between them. But Gabrielle didn't seem to mind. Still slightly out of breath, the Amazon Queen gazed approvingly at the scene between taking thirsty mouthfuls from their waterskin.
"I want to get you off, Amarice," the warrior growled.
"Lay on your back," Amarice heard herself say in a tone that demanded obedience.
Xena sprawled back on the rug and Amarice quickly straddled one conveniently positioned thigh. Lowering herself into Xena's arms, she rubbed her sex against the twitching muscle in vigorous thrusts, moaning and then shrieking as warm cum oozed over the warrior's leg.
The three women lay in comfortable repose in each other's arms until the sun peeked at them over the horizon. Xena would soon leave for Rome and Gabrielle's sadness and fear grew almost palpable as she tightened her grip on her lover.
Amarice knew it was time for her to give the women some time alone, so she disentangled herself from their embrace and sat up.
"I'll get your horse ready, Xena."
Xena nodded in appreciation of the gesture. It was not lost on the warrior that according to Amazon tradition, only the most revered fighters would have their horses prepared by younger members of the tribe. With her offer, Amarice said she accepted Xena as her superior, an honor she'd previously seemed reluctant to bestow.
Amarice quickly gathered the warrior's weapons and supplies and saddled the golden palomino ready for the long journey. She patted the horse's muzzle and tried to shrug off the despondent air that had settled on her shoulders.
"Amarice." Suddenly Xena was dressed and behind her, making Amarice start out her melancholy. "Amarice, I want you to take care of Gabrielle while I'm gone."
For some reason, Amarice felt a sudden rush of irritation at her queen's philosophy of non-violence that meant she refused to defend herself.
"As her bodyguard?" she asked curtly.
"As her friend," Xena corrected her in a stern voice.
Amarice nodded and understood, ashamed of her outburst.
Then with a friendly slap on the amazon's shoulder, Xena hoisted herself up into the saddle and without looking back, headed west towards the sea.
THE END (probably)
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