Chapter Text
Choices and Consequences
Prologue
Xena watched from the bushes as the young women were being herded away from their village toward the river. Chains linked iron collars around each of their necks. Heavily armed men, a dozen at least, walked on either side of them, cursing the ones who didn't move fast enough. And striking those who stumbled.
'. . . Six, eight, ten.' She counted silently as the last one passed. She knew they would be taken by boat to the sea, and then loaded on a large ship heading to one of the many slave markets, probably never to be seen again by their families. As they disappeared from sight, Xena cautiously emerged from her hiding place. Shaking her head sadly, she mounted her horse and headed in the opposite direction, away from the river.
'Wish I could have helped them,' she thought to herself. 'But if I'm going to try to turn my life around, the last thing I need is more enemies. Not much I could have done without my weapons, anyway.' Weapons she had buried only moments ago.
"Besides," she said out loud, "In these hard times, at least they'll be fed and have a roof over their heads. So what if they have to work a little harder, once they learn the rules they won't be whipped. Well, not too much. Good slaves are a valuable commodity. A few of them were very pretty, they'll end up as harem favorites, or at the very least, as household servants. No hard labor for them."
But as hard as she tried to convince herself they were better off, she couldn't shake the feeling that she should have done -- something!
Suddenly, Xena whipped her horse into a fast gallop, as if trying to run away from it. Before she realized it, she was riding into a small village. It was obvious there had been a battle of some kind recently. Dead and wounded men were still lying in the street, some being tended to by old women, and by the few men who weren't too badly hurt.
As she dismounted to see if she could help, one of the men came up to her. "Did you see them? The young women of our village? They were taken away by Draco's men. Did you see?"
"I saw them. They're taking them to the river. There's probably a boat waiting to take them to one of the slave markets."
Hearing this, several of the women began to wail and cry out loud, lamenting the fate of their daughters or sisters.
"If we can get enough men together, can you lead us to them?" Another man said.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea. I know Draco, and I know the kind if men that follow him. If you try to attack them, they may kill the girls for spite. I know you don't want THAT."
"But we can't just do nothing!" A third man said angrily. "These are our daughters! What kind of men would we be if we just let them be taken to be sold into slavery?"
"Alive, that's what kind! From what I can see, you don't have anywhere near enough men to attack them. You are all too hurt or too old, and you are not warriors. If you want to risk the lives of your daughters and commit suicide at the same time, that's up to you. But don't expect me to lead you to your deaths. I've seen enough bloodshed and killing for three lifetimes."
There were a few feeble protests, but they all knew Xena was right. Most of all the young, strong men in the village were either already dead, or dying, or so badly wounded they would never raise a sword again.
After one last look around, saddened by the carnage, Xena mounted her horse to leave. There was nothing for her here. As she rode out of town, she heard some old man crying out to one of the gods, she didn't know which one, it didn't matter. She had never put much faith in them anyway.
"Why? Why have you let this happen to us? Have we offended you somehow? What will happen to our town without our daughters? After we are dead there will be no grandchildren to take our places! Our village with wither and die!" The old man cried to the heavens.
As Xena traveled farther from the small town, his wailings and pleadings faded away. But one thing stuck in her mind. Some time, during his laments, the old man had cried out the name of the village -- "Poteidaia."