The Seller of Dreams

“Good morning, beautiful.”

Xena waited for a response, then tried again.

“Good morning, beautiful girl. Where’s my girl? Where is she? There she is! Are you awake bright and early this morning? Yes, you are – yes you are!”

This time, she was rewarded with a smile, and soft cooing.

“Are you speaking to Mummy? Are you talking to Mummy, are you?”

She finished changing Eve, then lifted her up and moved over to the window of the tiny motel room. It was still early; there were few people on the streets, and they all seemed to have someplace to go. An elderly gentleman was hobbling away from the general store, newspaper under his arm; a young boy was running after his miniature elephant, its leash dragging behind. The only person carrying a weapon was a police officer, who was patrolling with her large curved sword hanging from her waist. Xena relaxed a little, then sat down on the sagging bed.

“Did you sleep well, huh? No bad dreams like Mummy?”

Eve cooed again, and reached out a tiny hand, wrapping it around Xena’s finger. Her face transformed into a smile again.

“What would I do without you, huh, Evie-girl?” Xena murmured to her daughter, before unfastening her blouse and placing her baby to her breast.

She leant back against the flimsy wall of the motel room, and stroked her baby’s head as she fed. As soon as the feed was over, they’d have to get out of there. Gabrielle had already packed her bag – it was lying beside the door. She’d meet her outside the hospital as they’d planned, and then be off.

They had meant to go the previous day, of course, but that had been before they’d met up with Joxer, and he’d managed to get into a fight, and cut his arm open. Gabrielle had taken him off to the hospital to get stitches, and they’d ended up having to stay the night – the cut had nicked an artery.

So they had been delayed a day, which made Xena uneasy. It had been the same routine, night after night, since Eve had only been a few weeks old. Moving around, staying at different places, all of which were shabby and disreputable, never remaining long enough to be noticed or remembered.

“I didn’t do such a good job of choosing your daddy, did I, Eve?” Xena murmured ruefully, watching the movements outside the window carefully.

She hadn’t even realised she’d fallen pregnant from the one night stand with Haero Fiorotti. They’d taken all precautions, she’d thought, and she’d barely remembered the encounter afterwards, except that she’d had too much to drink, and she’d slept with a man she scarcely knew. When she did find out, Haero was already dead – it had been in all the papers. He’d been dispatched by some rival mafia gang. Which meant she was carrying his heir.

Xena was pretty sure that the Fiorotti family had used magic to track her down. After all, how would they have known about her, otherwise? They found out about her pregnancy almost as soon as did. Of course, whilst she was shocked but excited about the news, they were shocked and horrified. Which is why both the Fiorotti family – and most of the rivals, too – were out looking for her to wipe them all out. Especially Eve.

And they were using magic to follow her, she knew. It was strange – the ordinary people avoided any kind of enchantments, knowing that most spells turned around on their users, latching onto them with sticky fingers, and not letting go . . . but the rich didn’t seem to concern themselves with that.

A blast from the television startled her.

“Can’t sleep? Troubled by nightmares? Try new “Sleep-Good”, clinically proven to alter your dreamscape to fit your specifications. Yes – you’re back in control, when you use “Sleep-Good”!”

The voiceover cut to an image of a man being eaten by lions. After using “Sleep-Good”, he found himself equipped with a large whip and a sword, and made short work of the animals.

“Available at your local Magicist. Use only as directed, and please see your witch if dreams persist . . .”

Xena threw a shoe with deadly accuracy at the control on the television. It snapped off immediately.

“What kind of idiots do they think we are?’ she muttered to herself. “Clinically proven – sure, in a survey run on the back page of Cosmoverse, most likely.”

But the advertisement had brought back the previous night’s dream with absolute clarity. Of course, it wasn’t difficult – she’d had variations on that dream every night, without fail, since she’d found out about the Fiorotti family’s vendetta against her.

She was always lying asleep, when someone burst through the window, or the door, and moved directly over to Eve. She was never able to move in the dreams. She was always frozen, paralysed. And the dreams always ended the same way; with her having to watch some bastard kill Eve again in front of her eyes, without her being able to do a thing about it.

“That’s crazy, isn’t it, Evie-girl? I’ll always be able to take on whoever comes after us. I’ll always be able to protect you. It’s just a stupid dream, that’s it. Nothing else.”

Eve murmured a response, and Xena grinned, and lifted her baby up and over her shoulder, patting her gently.

“Now you’ve had your breakfast, I vote we go and find some for me! Oh – that’s better, isn’t it?” she murmured, as Eve let out a burp. “Here – settle down for the ride, and we’ll be off.”

She slipped the baby pouch around her, and slid Eve inside, before grabbing their bags and heading for the door.

The television startled her again.

“ . . . clinically proven to alter your dreamscape . . .”

She kicked at it as she walked past.

“Stupid shoddy motels,” she muttered. “We’re asking for a room without a television tonight – that’s for sure!”

It was always Xena’s greatest fear that someone might steal Argo, but Gabrielle refused to allow her to bring it into the room with them. Even Xena admitted that it might be difficult bringing it up the stairs.

She slid Eve into the sidecar, before running her hand over the smooth leather seat in her ritual good-morning to her motorbike. Gabrielle always laughed at her, but she was sure that Argo had saved their lives more than once. The one time she hadn’t been able to fix the bike herself, she’d mourned the whole week it was at the repairers. It hadn’t let her down since, though.

“All ok, Evie? Don’t worry – we don’t have to come back here again . . .” She kicked life into the bike and they roared off through the street, the noise echoing through the quiet of the morning.

Xena loved the streets at this time. The tiny shops were just beginning to open, and only a few people were out – which made it a lot easier to keep watch. She could race along, knowing that she had to share the road with only a few other riders.

She slowed down through the intersection, noticing an open bakery, and slid into a parking space beside the store. The scents of fresh bread and cake wafted out, and she deliberated a moment before buying a dozen hot rolls.

“Gabrielle will have forgotten breakfast, I bet,” she told Eve. “We may as well stock up . . .”

Her voice faltered a moment. She hadn’t noticed, but right by the bakery was a Magicist. She hardly ever went into such places – she preferred to make her own medicines rather than buy them ready-made.

This Magicist had a display in the front window, though, that caught her eye in spite of herself. A pyramid of pink “Sleep-Good” boxes, topped by a man killing a lion.

“We may as well stock up . . . on some nappies, Eve,” Xena finished, moving casually towards the store. “Maybe they’ll be on special.”

She strode inside with Eve on her hip and located the baby aisle. Grabbing a packet of nappies, she walked over to the counter.

“What a darling baby!”

Xena jumped, and turned around. An elderly gentleman – obviously the shopkeeper – was arranging the display at the front of the store. He straightened up and held out a hand to Eve.

“She’s just delightful!” he went on. “You’re a very lucky woman.”

“I know,” Xena replied uneasily. “Uh – I’d like to purchase these –“

“Of course, of course.” The man made his slow way up to the counter. “And a packet of Sleep-Good. Here, I’ll wrap it all up for you.”

“Oh, but I –“ Xena began, then stopped. “Thanks, that’ll be all, I think.”

“Thank you.”

Xena stuffed the packet of Sleep-Good in her bag, amongst her underwear, hastily. If Gabrielle found it, she’d never live it down. Anyway, she’d never told her friend about the nightmares . . .

As Xena roared away from the store, she thought about a few other things she hadn’t shared with her friend.

She’d never mentioned exactly who had tipped them off regarding the Fiorotti’s vendetta against them. It hadn’t really come up, and – it would be difficult to explain. After all, why would Haero’s brother – one of the Fiorotti family – warn her, instead of simply wiping her out? It didn’t make sense.

Not that much about Ares seemed to make sense, of course. One day, he’d be inventing some idea to gain lots of money and bring down all his enemies – and then the next day, he would have forgotten all about it in order to attend an international boxing match. He would set up a complicated scheme so that some law he wanted passed at parliament would not be contested – and then, he’d forget about attending himself, and spend the day practising fencing with some young hopeful.

Xena tried to forget that that young hopeful had been herself, once – and that Ares had not only been her mentor at swordplay, but also at deceit and subterfuge. Of course, she’d been his best student, because she was better at it than he was now. She was almost sure of it.

Except that he managed to find her when no one else could find her. Ares, however, had no compunction about using magic. He didn’t even seem to mind when the spells backfired on him and all his plans fell to pieces. It was as though he was far more interested in the journey than the destination. He liked what he did, and he didn’t care where it led him.

There was no reason for her to keep it a secret from Gabrielle, of course. She’d met him, she knew that Ares was part of Xena’s past. It wasn’t as though she was keeping it quiet, anyway, Xena argued to herself. She just hadn’t happened to mention it.

Mostly because, when he had come to her, telling her that the Fiorotti family wanted to kill them in case Eve could be used against them someday, he’d also mentioned something else.

Of course, he only said it to confuse her. He only said it because it was part of his ruse, and he would’ve forgotten it the very next day, like he forgot everything.

There’s no way he could have really meant that he loved her.

Gabrielle was looking extremely impatient, Xena noticed uneasily.

She pulled up outside the large circular hospital building – apparently circles helped the magic work better – and proffered the hot rolls hastily.

“I brought you breakfast.”

“Thanks,” Gabrielle muttered, sliding on the bike behind Xena. “Let’s go already, ok?”

“How’s Joxer?”

“As annoying as usual.”

“I meant –“

“They sewed him up. He’s fine. And no, he didn’t want to travel with us – a friend came over to see how he was. He’s staying with her.”

“Oh.”

Xena sped off onto the main road out of the city. The tall buildings gave way to smaller structures, tiny homes, shops. The road became broader, and wound around a large lake before leading into a thick forest.

“Where are we headed?” Gabrielle shouted in her ear.

“There’s a town a few miles from here – it had a decent pub, from what I remember. Better than those city motels, anyway. Maybe we can get a meal or something.” Xena yelled back, knowing Gabrielle probably only heard “town” “pub” and “meal” – the sailent points.

Gabrielle nodded, and looked around at the monkeys hanging hopefully from the overhanging trees.

“Do you want these buns?” she called out.

Xena shook her head, grinning. Gabrielle loved seeing the monkeys grab at the bread rolls. They were good catchers, too, managing to get every bun while hanging from the trees by their tails. She saw one monkey shove a bit of bread into its baby’s mouth, and felt her breasts ache suddenly. She hoped the town wasn’t far off.

“Look!”

The town could be seen in a valley directly below. It looked tiny and picturesque, with a small river running through it.

“How lovely!”

Xena rode carefully down the steep road into the town, and headed straight for the pub. Eve began whimpering just as they parked in front of the building.

“Great timing, kiddo,” she murmured, scooping her daughter up. “I think it’s time we all had something to drink . . .”

Afterwards they agreed it was the best pub they’d ever visited. The food and drink was good, plentiful, and cheap – and the atmosphere was quiet and pleasant. Xena settled Eve at her breast without getting even a single glare or glance, while Gabrielle deliberated over the menu.

“It says they have rooms here, Xena. We could stay tonight . . .”

“It’s a little close to the city,” Xena hesitated. Then she took a closer look at her friend. Gabrielle’s eyes were dark with exhaustion. “But maybe that’s not such a bad idea. And it can’t be any worse than the motels we’ve been frequenting.”

“Right. Will I ask?”

“Go ahead.”

They had rooms to spare. They took two adjoining – Xena insisted, knowing that Eve would wake at least once in the night, and that Gabrielle needed an unbroken sleep.

Eve went down easily after her feed. Xena enjoyed a long hot shower, while Gabrielle watched over her daughter, then wished her friend a good night. Sorting through her clothes for the next day, she came across the small pink box.

The grammar on the box annoyed her as much as anything. And – of course it wouldn’t work. Those quack remedies never did. The hot shower and the pleasant food would be far more likely to make a difference.

But she swallowed two of the tablets anyway before slipping into bed.

Gabrielle tapped on the door a moment later, and then poked her head into the room.

“Good night, Xena –“

She hesitated, as though she was about to add something else; but then she simply smiled, and returned to her own room.

“Night, Gabrielle,” Xena murmured back. She rolled over, realising that she was even more tired than she had expected. It wouldn’t take a moment before she was asleep...

Except there was someone else in the room.

“Ares!”

Xena sat up indignantly, and leapt out of bed, facing him. “What the hell are you doing here!“

She stared suspiciously at the man standing in the centre of the room. He, of course, was fully dressed in the dark leathers he preferred – while she realised she was wearing nothing apart from her slip. He gave her a grin, and held his hands up.

“Look, I just wanted to warn you, that’s all. They know where you are –“

Suddenly, the door crashed open, and an armed man ran in, shouting “everyone down on the ground! now!”

Xena had never been one for obeying instructions. She leapt back, pushing Eve’s cot behind the cover of the large wardrobe, then moved to take on the intruder.

But it was over before she got there. The man was on the ground, his neck askew, and Ares was wiping his hands with distaste on one of the pub’s complimentary towels.

“You – you saved Eve,” Xena said with disbelief.

“No, you moved her to safety. I just lent a hand.”

Xena stared at him, offering no resistance as he stepped closer and enclosed her hands in his own.

“But if your family finds out – you’re a dead man!”

Ares simply looked at her. “You still don't get it. I would sooner die in your arms than live without you in mine . . .”

He moved closer, his mouth lightly brushing her own, his arm drawing her nearer, his free hand lost in the tangle of her hair. She hesitated only a moment before kissing him back, sliding her own arms around him and pulling him closer, closer . . .

“Oh!”

She sat up, and then looked around, horrified. Eve was still there, sleeping peacefully in her cot beside the bed. It hadn’t moved an inch.

“A dream. That’s all, a dream . . .”

“Xena?”

She jumped, as the door swung open and Gabrielle made her way into the room.

“Did you have a bad dream? I heard you yell –“

Please don’t let her have heard a name. Please . . .

“You’ve been having nightmares, haven’t you?”

“Night – nightmares. Yeah. I guess I’m worried about Eve . . .” She looked at Gabrielle’s anxious face, and gestured to her. “Come here, it’s cold.”

She waited while Gabrielle settled beside her, drawing the blanket around her.

“I didn’t sleep too well myself,” Gabrielle admitted.

“I was wondering last night if you had something you needed to talk about,” Xena said softly.

“We had – a bit of a falling out, yesterday,” Gabrielle began. “I mean – Joxer and I. He said no strings, Xena, but there’s only one thing he wants to hear, and I can’t say it to him, I can’t!”

“It’s so complicated, isn’t it,” Xena murmured.

“Yeah.” Then she sighed. “But we left on pretty bad terms, and – I feel ashamed. He was hurt badly, and I had no sympathy for him, and – Xena, I want to go back and say I’m sorry.”

“Well –“

“It’s just that – if anything happened – not that it will, or anything, but if it did – I’d hate for the last thing he remembered of me to be those lousy words I said . . .”

“Hey!” Xena wrapped an arm around her friend. “Nothing bad is going to happen to us, ok? But the longer you leave it between you two, the harder it’ll get. Go back, and fix it all up. Do you want to borrow Argo?”

“No – even a small town like this will have a bike rental place; I’ve never seen a place that doesn’t. I know if I even laid a scratch on Argo that’d be the end of our friendship . . .”

Xena laughed. “You’ve got it all worked out, haven’t you?”

“You’ll be ok?”

“I’ll be fine. But don’t stay too long. We need to hit the road soon.”

Gabrielle nodded, and returned to her room. Xena lay back, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Those stupid pills! Didn’t mention any side-effects, did they? Oh, sure she’d felt in control in her dream, and for once it was the baddie that was dead on the floor instead of her daughter. But –

She wiped her mouth, and then found herself biting on her own finger. Man, it had been a long time since she’d been kissed like that. If she ever had . . . the way his lips had moved down her throat, and then to her –

Xena sat up in a hurry and took a deep breath. Those pills were obviously long lasting, because she could remember every moment of the dream. First he’d brushed his lips so lightly over hers, and then his mouth had opened, and touched just the tip of his tongue against hers, and then –

She got out of bed and moved over to the bathroom. It had to stop. She grabbed at her toothbrush and started scrubbing at her mouth furiously. She eyed her face cautiously in the mirror. She looked very flushed – her lips even looked a little swollen –

“It was a dream. That’s all. A dream,” she repeated, her mouth filled with toothpaste. She was going to write to the manufacturers. Imposing that kind of imagery on a person’s mind was dangerous. There was no way she would have had such a clear and explicit dream, if she hadn’t been under the influence of medication! That was all it was. She might as well have dreamt about Joxer.

Thinking about Joxer made her desire plummet immediately, and she relaxed. That was the secret. Think about poor Joxer, and his hurt arm, and how Gabrielle was going to visit Joxer. Joxer. The name seemed quite final in her mouth, quite unlike – well, unlike the name Ares, which was like a breath and ended with her tongue sliding over her teeth . . .

. . . and ending up in his mouth, tasting him, her lips moving over his, until he began to plant small kisses over her face, the base of her throat, holding her as he pressed his lips against her breasts, moving lower . . .

Xena expelled a breath and opened her eyes. She realised she was gripping the sink for dear life, and it was beginning to groan under the pressure. She stood up.

“Just a dream. That was all. It means nothing. Think of Joxer . . . think of Joxer . . .”

It briefly occurred to her that there should be no reason whatsoever that thinking of Ares as opposed to Joxer should be sending her so wild, but she rejected the idea. It was the medication, it was her stupidity for trying a product entitled Sleep-Good. That was all.

She started to Eve’s wail with something like relief, and moved over to her baby.

“Oh, Eve! It’s all right – it’s all right . . .”

It was a nice town, but kind of boring.

Xena felt restless. She couldn’t move on until Gabrielle returned – but the idea of spending a day inside the pub room made her feel claustrophobic. She wandered around up the single main street – and back down it again. She looked hopefully in the river for some fish, but it had been fished out ages before, she could tell. She wondered whether she should have accompanied Gabrielle back into the city, but knew that would have been a bad idea.

It didn’t help that it turned out to be market day and the quiet place ended up being filled with strangers. Every time she turned around there was someone different looking at her – usually to wave or coo at her gorgeous baby – or even to look her up and down. Though one of the benefits, Xena discovered, of having a young baby was that she was unlikely to be approached by the kind of losers who had tried to chat her up as an unattached woman.

Finally she walked right out of the valley and made her way into the forest. As soon as she sat down, Eve began to fuss; and Xena settled her at her breast, and looked around at the peaceful woodland. It was far better than being in the city.

A twig snapped.

Another benefit, she thought carefully to herself as she buttoned her blouse, was that she could hear certain sounds more clearly in the forest.

Placing Eve in her wrap on the soft ground at her feet, she swung around, and flung one of her throwing daggers with deadly accuracy at the man running towards her.

He fell back with a shout, but Xena soon realised he wasn’t alone. Another two men came running up. She grabbed another dagger from her boot –

- but then one of the men was on the ground.

“I warned you that the Fiorotti family knew where you were!” Ares shouted with exasperation. “Why didn’t you leave at first light?”

Xena discovered that she was beginning to tremble with absolute fury. Her grip around her throwing dagger tightened.

“Are you telling me . . .” she began in a voice that shook with anger, “are you saying that you were actually in that dream I had?”

Ares opened his mouth, then closed it at the look on Xena’s face.

“Look, I –“

“I knew you dabbled in magic, but I never thought you’d sink that low . . .” Xena went on – and then wished she hadn’t added that last phrase. It brought an instant memory of the man before her on his knees. “Playing with my mind like that!”

“I – I knew you were having nightmares. I thought that – you needed to stay in control of them. The rest was just – I mean, I didn’t plan it how it turned out –“ he stammered.

Xena pressed Eve closely to her. “I don’t know why you bothered. You think I’m going to believe that you’re sincere? This is just a new way to get back in your family’s good books – although why they think Eve is a threat, I don’t know –“

“If she’d been my daughter, not Haero’s, you wouldn’t be in this mess!” Ares retorted furiously – and then caught himself.

“Oh. Oh, I see,” Xena said slowly. “It’s simple jealousy. You wanted me – but it was Haero who scored. And Ares can’t cope with losing – so he’s going to try and get me anyway, try to pretend he’s the father after all? Forget it.”

There was a dead silence between them.

“You won’t be asking me to forget it when they’ve got you, when they’ve got your baby, will you? You won’t be telling me to get lost then –“ Ares replied angrily, then dashed something to the ground. He turned and began to walk out of the forest.

Then he stopped. “I did warn you. Don’t forget that –“

Then he was gone.

Xena found herself breathing hard. She was so angry she realised she was shaking. Eve gave out a whimper.

“Shhh. Shhh, baby, it’s all right . . .it’s all right . . .”

It wasn’t all right, though. They knew where she was. She had to get Argo, and find Gabrielle.

She slipped Eve into her pouch and made her way back cautiously to the pub, hoping against hope that Gabrielle had already returned. But there was no sign of her. She threw all her belongings into her bag, and then shoved a few notes into the publican’s hand, before settling Eve into the sidecar.

Someone was running towards them. She laid a hand on the sword hanging at her side, but then she realised it was the publican.

“Hey – hey, you forgot something!”

He handed her the box of Sleep-Good.

“You left it on the side table . . .”

Xena pushed the box back at the man. “Throw it in the bin. They shouldn’t be selling stuff like this . . .”

It wasn’t until she was well on her way out of the town that she realised that they probably weren’t selling the spell at all. He’d invented it for her, probably taken on the shape of the shopkeeper for her benefit. Her benefit – huh.

“Controlling my dreams? Forget it. Ares in my dream is worse than a nightmare . . .”

And all the way to town she tried to believe it.

“Why are men so stupid, Xena? Tell me that.”

She’d met Gabrielle feeding the monkeys on the road towards the city. They’d taken a back road, bypassed the small valley filled with people, and made their way to the port where they’d taken the first boat heading east. It was making Gabrielle feel very melancholy.

“It’s one of life’s eternal mysteries, Gabrielle,” Xena sighed. “When they want you to love them –“

“And it’s just so out of the question!”

“Exactly.”

The boat creaked and groaned.

“I guess we’d best go to sleep,” Gabrielle said doubtfully, hanging on to the side of her hammock. “Good night, Xena. Sweet dreams . . .”

“Good night, Gabrielle,” Xena murmured. She didn’t want sweet dreams. She didn’t want to dream at all. She didn’t. She didn’t . . .

...h.o.m.e...
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