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 <g> as well as adding some unapologetic embellishments. The action is set in the sweat lodge in AITST II when Xena is with the young amazon, Otere.

You can find more stories by Amazon at her site VixenNet

Send feedback to amazon@flashmail.com

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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