The blond woman's chest was still heaving slightly from the exertion of the fight just lost. Perspiration dripped from her forehead and long hair, a rivulet running down into her cleavage. Even manacled in defeat she stood tall, her eyes pained, yet defiant. Her thighs were still taut and strong, her arms at the ready, even though her wrists were bound by chains. Her fingers deftly searched the manacles for a weakness, as her mind searched people for a weakness that she could exploit.

The raven-haired woman also had a sheen of perspiration over her body, the musky scent of battle and the exhilaration of release. She walked down the line of prisoners, a shorter golden-haired woman by her side.

"I'm glad you spared Calisto," said the blond companion.

"It was the right thing to do," replied Xena, as they passed the end of the line of captives, ignoring the vanquished Calisto.

Calisto overheard and a smile returned to her face. "The right thing to do ... that's what they think."

Xena and Gabrielle moved quickly ahead of the slow-moving line of captives, returning to Delphi where they planned to spend a few days for Calisto's trial before moving on.

As the column of Calisto's small band passed through the middle of the forest, she completed her defeat of the crude manacles. Waiting for the moment one of the village guards was at her side, she sprang, without her usual attack cry. Smashing the guard in the face with the manacles and her fists, he collapsed unconscious, but not before she had taken the sword from his scabbard. She used it to quickly cut the leather bonds of one of her warriors, just as a second villager was alerted and came running. He was met by a sword for which he was no match, and he fell dead. A second sword captured and another Calisto warrior freed, another inexperienced Delphian fallen. The rout had begun. Calisto's warriors were freed in minutes and their former captors lay dead, wounded or unconscious. Melas, who had thirsted so much for Calisto's blood, lay face down with a lump on his head. He slept until villagers found him hours later. Calisto's band moved into the forest, returned to their old encampment, gathered weapons and supplies and then appeared to vanish into thin air.

There were no more raids by Calisto and her warriors for weeks. No attempt to further malign Xena's name with slaughter. While Xena was concerned when she heard of Calisto's escape, two weeks of searching produced no clues to the whereabouts of her nemesis.

Gabrielle was haggling with the vegetable monger in the village square when she felt a bite at her neck. As her vision blurred and knees buckled, she saw the horse-drawn cart approach. That was the last thing she saw until she awoke many hours later, tied to the rack.

The rack had been built specifically for its purpose, of strong, but relatively flexible branches. The rack was mounted on six posts at the four corners and two more at the midpoints of the sides, about one foot off the ground. Carefully lashed into a lattice, the branches were covered with fabric or moss to soften them. Large openings were provided at strategic points for the subject's breasts and the area from his/her hips down to the mid-thigh. Gabrielle lay face down and naked on the rack, her arms and ankles tied to the four corner posts.

As she regained consciousness, Gabrielle drank from the cup placed at her lips before she had time to think of anything except that she was thirsty. The drink tasted of mint and herbs and she drank much of it as her head cleared. She thought better of it only when it was too late. The first things she saw and felt were the hand holding her hair, lifting her head and pouring the potion into her mouth, the beautiful, gleeful face of Calisto inches to her side, and the tall, muscular naked male warrior standing at the head of the rack, slowly stroking his hard member as he poured olive oil onto it. The hard shaft glistened in the light of the large, warm camp fire and even in her dazed state, Gabrielle blushed slightly at the sight of the erect cock.

"Well, well, here we are again, aren't we, little one?"

"This doesn't change anything, Calisto. Xena will just find you again and kick your ass all the way back to Delphi for trial."

"Maybe, maybe, maybe. And perhaps this time we will approach things in another way. Perhaps this time you will tell us who is close to Xena, whose death would wound her as she has wounded me."

"I would never tell you anything, you crazy bitch!"

"Oh, but I think you will my irritating little friend. Before, we fought Xena as warriors on the battlefield. That time will come again, but before it does, we will defeat Xena with the magic of the black arts and the gods. The potion that has quenched your thirst will also satisfy my need for knowledge about Xena's weaknesses and her plans. You are smarter and stronger than I thought, little slit, but the potion will force you to choose between your need to be silent about Xena and other needs that you refuse yourself all too much. I know those needs have been aching in your heart and your loins. After a time, those needs will bring you to think that telling me about Xena would not be so horrible, compared to satisfying your other ... urges. To defeat the potion you will have to refuse those needs, and ripe little woman, I do not think you can do that at all. Once you submit to your hunger, you will submit to me."

Calisto looked up and nodded to someone Gabrielle couldn't see. She heard the sound of someone sliding across the ground beneath the rack, and then she felt a mouth kissing the insides of her thighs. She saw naked warriors who had been standing nearby slide under the rack and then she felt their mouths on her breasts. Other unseen hands gently rubbed and stroked her back, ass and thighs. The potion was beginning to make her feel euphoric and the tongues and hands were something she had not felt in a long time.

She felt anger at being captured, some humiliation at her exposure, but she also felt a rising warmth in her body, a warmth that was hard to deny. She thought about kissing Iolaus those many months ago, and how she could feel his hardness rub against her as they held each other for those moments before he left. She thought of the longing that burned many nights and the desire she had repressed to grind herself against Xena's strong thighs under the stars. The two mouths sucking on her nipples and the other now licking her love petals were beckoning her toward a release she had only been satisfying with her hand, beneath a blanket at night, muffling her cries so that Xena would not hear. Xena's stoic lifestyle and work ethic never seemed to leave room for pleasures Gabrielle needed. She had steeled herself to deny those needs, but they were always there.

Gabrielle feared that her release would lead to betrayal, and she tried to gather her thoughts, even as she felt a fourth warrior grab and spread the cheeks of her ass and begin flicking his tongue across her tiny puckered anus. She fought for control, trying to gather her anger. She tried distraction, concentrating on recalling the names of the contestants at the first Olympic Games that Hercules' had organized to provide an outlet for aggressive warlords.