Chapter One

Adam leaned his elbows on the balcony railing and gazed at the city spread out below him like a twinkling sea full of stars. For an extended diplomatic mission, this one wasn't turning out to be half bad. Bahngir, the Duke of Orsinol had a good sense of humor, and he wasn't nearly as stuffy as the prince had feared he would be. Overall, Adam didn't mind the thought of spending another six days in his grace's company. As for the duke's three daughters, the girls whom the prince had worried would be constantly thrown in his face as potential wives, the girls whose beauty Adam's mother had praised repeatedly…

Mother so set me up. She had to know not one of them was over the age of eight. Adam laughed softly to himself as he enjoyed the play of the starlight on the sea beyond the city. I'll give Mother credit for one thing, the girls are pretty cute. Especially little Bekka. For a five-year-old, she sure is spunky. I bet she and Teela would get along like gangbusters. Wind tugged at his hair, sending his bangs flying and Adam yawned contentedly. He stretched, preparatory to wending his way back to his suite, and turned in place. He paused, however, when he saw that someone was watching him from the shadows of the hallway.

The man was unfamiliar to the prince, but then, so were most of the people in the foreign palace. This fellow wore the customary garb of an Orsinolian subject, the loose, dark trousers and shirt with a heavily embroidered long vest belted tightly around the waist, so Adam knew he must be a local. The man also favored jewel tones in his fabric and lots of metallic thread in his trim, and the prince rapidly pegged him as a courtier trying to look as important as he felt. I know the type of old.

"Fair evening, m'lord," Adam said, nodding politely as the man climbed the shallow steps leading up to the balcony.

"And a fair evening to you, Prince Adam of Eternia," the stranger said, his tones smooth and rich as he moved to stand beside the boy.

As he came out into the soft balcony lights, Adam saw that his coloring was unusually fair for a typical Orsinolian. The man had a narrow face with a high forehead and his pale blonde hair was pulled back in a long tail. His eyes were dark, but in the dim lighting it was impossible to determine their exact color. Maybe descended from one of the northern nobility lines. He might even be one of the Burassian wizards. The prince's interest level immediately grew. They're supposed to be pretty powerful with water-based magics. If I could learn more about how they work, I bet that would make Father happy.

Abruptly, Adam realized that he'd been staring silently at the man for a length of time that would be difficult to pass off as anything other than rudeness. Clearing his throat and embarrassedly rubbing at the back of his neck, he said, "The city is very pretty tonight."

"Hmmm…"

Oh, that's helpful. "I, uh, I like the way the houses look in the starlight. Whatever the roofs are made of sparkles very… uh, nicely." Lame, Adam! Very lame! The stranger smiled suddenly, a quick flashing grin with more than a hint of mockery to it. Adam bristled at the condescension, but he couldn't help but be dazzled by the smile itself.

"Yes, I imagine the city by starlight is lovely the first time one sees it," the man said softly, turning his head and glancing out at the vista laid before them. "I'm afraid I have become somewhat jaded with it myself."

"Oh," said the prince, uncertain how else to reply to that statement. Now what? Can't ask him about his past; that's rude here. Can't ask him where he's from; that's too personal. Adam smiled, rocked back on his heels and blinked hopefully at the stranger. Help me out here, mister!

For several second they regarded each other in mutual silence. Then, at last, the stranger said, "Are you enjoying your stay in Orsinol, Prince Adam?"

"Yes, yes I am. Thank you for asking." Okay. He threw out a line, now it's your turn. "I don't think I had the privilege of being introduced to you before, m'lord. May I ask your name?"

The man turned back to Adam and cocked an eyebrow. "You may ask," he replied drolly. Then, suddenly, he somehow stumbled while standing perfectly still. The prince instinctively reached out to catch the stranger as he teetered on his feet. Adam wound up with the man leaning again him, one arm slipped around his shoulders for support.

"Are you all right?" he asked urgently. "Should I send for someone?"

The man shook his head, but he did not release his hold on the young prince. "No, a brief bout of dizziness. It will pass off in a moment."

"Are you sure?" How will I explain it if this guy gets sick? What if he falls? Maybe I should send for someone anyway... but that might embarrass him. Blast! What do I do? Where is Man-At-Arms when I need him?

"I'm certain, your highness," the stranger replied. He shifted and more of his weight landed abruptly across Adam's shoulders. "IF you can just steady me for a minute or two…"

"Of course," Adam replied automatically. "Can I get you a chair?"

The man laughed, his body shaking against the prince's side. "No, thank you. That will not be necessary."

Adam scowled. Not necessary. Pffft. He's not the one holding up someone nearly two feet taller than him. "Aren't you at least going to tell me your name?" the prince grumbled. "I mean, seeing as we've become so close…"

The stranger laughed again, but before he could answer, a voice spoke in appalled tones behind them. "What in Eternia is going on here?" Man-At-Arms demanded. "Prince Adam, what are you do – " Duncan broke off in mid-word as Adam twisted around so that he and his burden were facing the his mentor.

"Man-At-Arms, I can explain. You see, I – "

"You!" Duncan cried, his eyes going very wide as he marched up onto the balcony. "What are you doing here?"

Adam blinked, uncertain what Duncan meant. Before he could ask, however, the stranger straightened by his side. "Why, good evening, Duncan," the man said, his voice dripping with scorn. "It's been a long time." His arm slipped from around the prince's back, leaving a hand cupping one of the boy's shoulders in a companionable manner.

"Get away from him," Man-At-Arms barked, his eyes flashing in the starlight. "Now!"

"Really, Duncan, there's no need to be uncivilized about this," the stranger drawled. "Adam and I were just chatting. In fact," he said cheerfully, "I should congratulate you on what a fine boy you've helped to raise. He's polite, intelligent – if somewhat limited in his vocabulary – and he does not lack for compassion. All in all, I'd say there's little room for improvement. You've all gotten yourselves a fine Prince of Eternia."

"Ummm," Adam said, starting to pull away, but the stranger's hand on his shoulder tightened decisively. "Hey!" the prince complained. "What's the idea?"

The stranger did not reply, for, at that moment, Man-At-Arms activated his hand-cannon and pointed it at the man's chest. "I – said – get – away – from – him – right – NOW!" Duncan shouted the last word, his voice echoing down around the balcony and down the long hallway beyond.

Adam flinched at the yell, then stood numbly, waiting to see what would happen next. He'd never looked down the barrel of Man-At-Arm's hand-cannon before, but he already knew he didn't like the experience. What is going on here?

For a moment, the stand off continued in utter silence. Then, without warning, the stranger released his hold on Adam's shoulder, stepped behind the prince and… vanished in a swirl of light. As he slipped away, the prince heard his parting words quite distinctly. "Until we meet again, Adam. You will be in my thoughts."

Crossing the distance between them at a trot, Duncan turned the prince in a rapid circle. "Are you all right, your highness? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Adam's mind was whirling, spinning as madly as the lights into which the stranger had dissolved. "What was that all about?" he asked, staring with bafflement into Duncan's pale face.

Adam stretched and yawned as the city of Eternos came into view, his father's palace towering over it. Man-At-Arms, who had piloted the windraider for the whole of their return journey from Orsinol, glanced into the backseat where the prince was stretched out. "Have a nice nap?" he asked.

Adam mumbled an affirmative and shrugged. He yawned again, rubbed his face, then climbed bonelessly over the partition to join his mentor in the front compartment. Slouching in his seat, he watched Man-At-Arms out of the corner of his eyes.

"Something to say, your highness?" Duncan asked, his voice disgustingly cheerful for the hour following dawn.

"Yeah," the prince grumbled. "I still don't understand why we had to leave so suddenly. I mean, even if my father did send for us, why did we have to leave in the middle of the night? Couldn't we have waited until morning?"

"Why wait?" Duncan replied, countering a question with a question as he so often did.

Adam scowled as he watched Eternos zoom by beneath them. If I could get rid of just one of Man-At-Arms' annoying habits, this would be the one. He never gives me a straight answer about anything. The prince folded his arms on the side of the windraider and rested his chin on his crossed forearms. They were traveling far too fast for any of the city's morning odors to reach his nose, but just thinking about all the fresh-baked bread down there made Adam's stomach growl with hunger. It did not improve his mood. "It feels like we ran away," he complained. "Things were going so well, and now Duke Bahngir is going to be angry with us for ducking out on him!"

Sighing, Duncan set the autopilot and turned to face his charge. "Adam, we did not 'duck out' as you put it. I informed the duke's secretary that we'd received an urgent summons to return to Eternia at once. Bahngir is a reasonable man; I'm sure he'll understand why we left so hastily."

"But – " Adam began, only to be forestalled by Duncan's continuing monologue.

"As for the rest of it, yes, things were going well." Willing to take whatever praise he could get, even if it wasn't from his own father, Adam sat back in his seat and looked hopefully at his mentor. Man-At-Arms smiled sympathetically and reached out to place a hand on the prince's shoulder. "I know how important it was to you that you make a success of this mission, Adam. I promise you, King Randor will know how much effort you put into the new trade agreements."

"But they're not even half finished!" Adam protested. "If we'd stayed just one more day I could at least have – oh, what's the use?" Folding his arms across his chest, the prince slumped in his seat, refusing to look at the older man.

"Adam, surely you don't think your father will blame you for this? He sent for us, after all."

"If Dad's summons is so urgent, why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Your highness, I already told you that I'm not at liberty to discuss – "

He's 'your highnessing' me. He's lying about something, he doesn't trust me or he doesn't think it's worth his time to tell me. I just wish I had a clue what was going on. "Whatever," Adam interrupted sullenly. "Obviously, it has nothing to do with He-Man or you would've told be by now. So forget it."

Man-At-Arms sighed slowly. He sounded decidedly put upon, but the prince refused to feel guilty. This is all crazy. Nothing makes any sense. I just know it has something to do with that man. Adam blew absently at a strand of hair that kept falling into his eyes. And what did he mean, I'd be in his thoughts. I mean, if I was a girl I know how I'd take that, but I'm not a girl. Exasperated on too many levels, Adam reached up and yanked the wayward hair out at the root. Ouch.

"You shouldn't do that," Man-At-Arms noted wryly. Adam glared at him, but didn't deign to reply. Minutes later, they were landing in the royal family's private hangar. Fed up and foul-tempered, the prince hopped out before the vehicle had completely touched down. Before he could storm off, however, he found himself pulled into a clutching embrace.

"Dad?" he squeaked, his voice muffled by his father's fur cloak. Abruptly, fear seized at his heart and he pulled determinedly away. I need to see his face. I'll know, if I can just see his face. "What happened?" he demanded. "Is Mother all right? Did Cringer get hurt, or – "

The king blinked, looking perplexed for a moment, then shook his head quickly. "No! No, of course not, Son," he said, his voice suspiciously gruff as he allowed the boy to pull away. "Don't be ridiculous. Everything is fine. There's nothing for you to worry about."

The prince stared at his father, dumbfounded. Startlingly, the king began to squirm slightly under the force of his gaze. "Nothing's wrong?" Adam said slowly, "Nothing is wrong?"

Randor cleared his throat. "No, Adam."

"Then why," the prince shouted, his voice rising with each word, "Did you call us home in the middle of the night?!"

The king's brows dipped down dangerously, his eyes flashing. "Don't take that tone with me, young man. I had my reasons, and they are not yours to judge!"

"Fine!" Leaving his cases for the servants to deal with, something he normally never did, Adam darted away, out of the hangar and into the depths of the palace gardens. Adults are utterly insane!

Paying very little attention to those he passed in the halls and hedgerows, the prince dashed for his favorite climbing tree. If he was lucky, he could be up it and well hidden before his father recovered sufficiently to send anyone in search of him. He turned a corner and spied the base of the tree, a great, bushy old willow, in the distance. He sprinted straight for it and was halfway up the trunk and into the lower boughs before he realized that his tree was already occupied.

"Teela," he exclaimed, his heart pounding from the shock of seeing her, sitting there in the crook of one enormous limb, sitting in his spot. "What are you doing up here?"

"Shhhh," she hissed frantically, waving her hands at him and scowling fit to frighten the dead. "If she heard you, I swear I'll – "

"If who heard me?" Adam hissed back at her. "Why are you in my spot? You never come up here anymore."

She glared at him. "I'm hiding, you idiot, obviously."

The prince sneered at her, in no mood to be mocked by someone who used to be his closest friend. "I thought hiding was only suitable for cowards like me?" he challenged. "Have you suddenly lost your nerve, Captain?"

"You wish," Teela snapped, leaning toward him, her sun-dappled face a study in annoyance. "If you must know, I'm up here trying to avoid Amberli.

"Who?" Adam asked, most of his ire draining away in favor of genuine bafflement. "Isn't she a – "

"Courtier," Teela finished for him, her tone suggesting that a courtier was one step above a slug – one very shallow step that is.

The prince grinned at the familiar old disdain, thankfully not directed at him. "I was going to say, 'Isn't she a kid?' I mean, she's twelve or something, right?"

The captain groaned, her shoulders drooping until she was all but folded in half. "Thirteen. She's thirteen."

"So what's the problem?" While he waited for her answer, Adam shifted to the next bough above his, one that's angle would make talking with Teela decidedly easier. Not to mention that it will be harder for her to kick me up here. Boy is she in a snit.
"Do you remember when I went to that fair with Captain Coneli?"

"Yeah," Adam said as he swung into position just above and to her left. "I told you it was a mistake."

His friend growled, her teeth looking oddly bright in the half-shadow of the leaves. "How kind of you to point that out now." The prince shrugged. Teela snorted and continued her explanation. "Well, after that one outing, which he brought Amberli, his sister, along for, she decided that I was her new best friend."

"So?"

"SO!" Adam shushed her and she grudgingly lowered her voice. "So, she follows me everywhere lately. I guess she's decided that she wants to be a guard, 'just like you, Teela.' Coneli is ticked off because he thinks I put her up to it, and – if you can believe this! – he thinks I'm trying to steal her respect from him to get back at him because he never asked me out again! She's making me insane," Teela snapped. "Coneli is about one more wisecrack away from getting his attitude adjusted by yours truly, for which we would both get in trouble since we're supposed to set a good example for the junior officers, and I can't seem to convince the kid to go bug someone else!"
Adam stared at a point over her head while he digested that information. When he was sure the tirade was finished, he said, "Is she really that bad?"

"Yes," Teela said adamantly. "She asks the same question over and over again, and half of the questions she does ask are so infuriating I want to shove her out a window."

"Like what?" the prince asked, beginning to enjoy himself as Teela's tale unfolded. Who knew that Teela could act like a normal person anymore. Maybe some things don't change after all.

"Like whether pretty girls are allowed to be guards – apparently, I'm not pretty enough for her to be certain," she noted in abject disgust. "Like whether she could have her uniforms custom tailored because of her sensitive skin. Like whether being a female guard is a good way to meet a rich, noble, handsome husband. Like – "

"Okay! Okay, I get the idea," Adam said, grinning from ear to ear. "You're right. She's a complete pain and you are perfectly entitled to hide in my tree. In fact, feel free to make use of it whenever Operation Amberli strikes."

Amused in spite of her mood, Teela snickered and smiled back at him. "Thank you, your highness. Your gift is both magnanimous and greatly appreciated." Teela pulled a stray leaf out of her pony tail and began to twirl it absently between her fingers as she regarded him with something like her old affability.

"So, what's your story," she asked after Adam heaved his third, less than subtle sigh.

"My father, the king, has gone utterly, totally, barkingly mad," he said matter-of-factly.

Teela blinked, then dropped the leaf as one side of her mouth quirked up in a barely suppressed grin. She was clearly controlling laughter; he could hear it in her voice when she spoke again. "That's really not a very nice thing to say about your own – "

"So has yours," the prince added resolutely.

"Oh," Teela said, her eyes widening. "That sounds serious then."