CONQUERING THE CONQUEROR

pt.69

The river roared as both Xena and Draco iIndefinitely fought for their lives while being roughly tossed around the raging rapids after the two had gone over the side of the cliff they had been fighting on just moments ago. Xena gasped for air as she breached the water's surface, and she fought to keep herself from being pulled back under while seeing Draco several feet away trying to do the same. But with it being spring and the snow in the area melting, the river was at a far higher water level, which in turn had made it far more choppy and unruly than it typically would have been any other time of year, and the Conqueror was pulled back under. As water forced its way into her lungs, the current brought her back up far enough for Xena to propel her head back above the water, and she gasped and coughed as she tried to catch her breath before she was inevitably  dragged back under as she continued to be carried downstream. This pattern continued as Xena made multiple attempts to fight to stay upright but quickly found that with the river being as volatile as it was, attempting to stabilize herself in any sort of way would be impossible as she was again pushed beneath the current, and she tried her best to hold her breath until the current would hopefully bring her back to the surface soon. However, after being carried for what was an unknown distance, the Conqueror realized that she would need to resurface soon, as she started to feel her lungs beginning to burn and her body's instincts to breathe trying to take over. Despite Xena having already mentally prepared herself to die, her body acted on its own as her natural survival instincts took over and left the Conqueror desperately trying to swim up to the surface. After swimming as hard as she could for what felt like an eternity, Xena saw something large beneath the water ahead and swam to put herself in its path. Then, allowing the current to bring her right to it, Xena reached out and grabbed onto what was a large rock that laid in the middle of the river. Then, holding on as tightly as she could, the Conqueror pulled herself up enough, so her head was finally able to breach the river's surface and gasped loudly as she was finally able to breathe once again. Coughing up a bit of water as she let her head rest against the rock for a moment, Xena could feel the effects of her fight with Draco on her weary body, that was certainly made worse by the very rough trip down river as she shivered slightly from the early spring coldness of the water. After a moment, Xena raised her head and attempted to pull herself out of the water. But as the rock was far too slick and smooth due to it being in the river, her efforts to climb to safety were in vain as the Conqueror was unable to get enough traction and repeatedly slipped back down after making any of the slightest progress. Then finally after multiple attempts to climb out of the chilling waters, Xena knew that there was no escaping her fate and decided that if this was to be how her life ended then she would be okay with that, as she knew that she had escaped death far too many times than one person should already. As so accepting that Draco had already suffered the same fate that she was about to, Xena felt that she could rest easy knowing that Gabrielle, her sister and everyone else would now be safe from the warlord now that he was gone. Because even with his power, Xena knew that like her, Draco wouldn't have been able to get himself out of the river, let alone survive the jagged rocks that Xena knew lay not much further downstream. And so, closing her eyes, Xena let go of the rock and prepared herself to be swept away. But just as she began to be carried off, Xena felt her wrist being grabbed, and she opened her eyes as she was pulled back to the rock.

?
You always were something, you know that?

Hearing the voice that she immediately recognized, Xena scowled as she looked up to see Ares crouched on the rock she had been holding on to.

ARES
I honestly never expected you'd pull something like this in order to win over Draco. And I gotta say, Xena, I'm impressed.

XENA
(Irritated tone) Spare me your flattery, Ares. What are you doing here? Wait let me guess, you've come to finish me off yourself since your boy Draco failed.