Callisto saw
one warrior with the regal bearing of a leader. That warrior was
astride a black gelding, giving orders to her brigands. The young
blonde decided that killing the raider leader was her best course of
action. Seeing where her target was slowly heading towards, Callisto
raced ahead and climbed onto the roof of a house. She waited as the
woman warrior rode closer...
The Warrior Princess was having a hard time controlling her men.
There was too much noise and confusion. The fires had not been put out,
and it seemed as if there were even more of them. The raven-haired
commander was so busy shouting orders that she didn't see the girl on
the roof until it was too late...
Callisto hurled herself at the brigand leader. The impact drove
both of them to the ground, where by some chance her quarry's head hit
a rock and she was knocked unconscious. As the blonde avenger raised
her knife to kill her helpless foe, one of the raiders knocked her
unconscious with the flat of his blade...
The commander was woken up a few minutes later by one of her
lieutenants. She was still groggy and needed more time to get her
bearings. When she finally looked around she saw the whole town in
flames. Screams rent the night as people burned inside their homes. The
smell of burning flesh staggered her. She asked her lieutenant what had
gone wrong...
|
The girl
slowly woke up, her hands and ankles tied together. Nearby she saw the
raven-haired brigand leader still alive, grilling one of her
subordinates. Callisto saw the fires consuming Cirra, could see her
home wrapped in flames. The screams of the townspeople were joined by
her screams as she called out to her mother and Maya...
Everything had turned out wrong. Just a few minutes of her
absence had cost the whole town, which now burned uncontrollably. The
commander watched with sorrow, the screams and wailings of the victims
tearing at her heart. She turned to the child who had attacked her and
silently asked for forgiveness before she turned to order a
withdrawal...
Callisto saw the raider leader turn to look at her. The flames
cast eerie shadows on her tormentor's face and the young girl couldn't
really see the other's expression of guilt. Then Xena turned away and
left the blonde to her endless nightmares...
|