Chapter 2

Teela's wrists were sore and deep red as she carried on working to set herself free, forcing the thought of the pain out her mind, she tried focusing again on the task at hand.

She had to escape, not only to stop her father and He-Man from falling into Skeletor's trap but to also to prove she was not a damsel in distress. She hated how Adam had made fun of her, using this earth term he had learnt from his mother, the last time she had to be rescued. She hated the idea she was not independent, that once again she have to sit and wait to be rescued.

She took comfort in the knowledge that she had done her duty and prevented the Royal family from being captured.

A small grin appeared on her face as she thought back to when she was regaining consciousness and the image of Skeletor blasting his minions, with his havoc staff, as they ran for cover in the upper chamber of the mountain. She was grateful at least that he prized her as a prisoner or she could have faced similar treatment, or worse.

Looking around the dark stone room, she realised that between loosing consciousness and being trapped in this dark dingy prison cell she had no idea what the time was, nor how long it had been since the fight in the throne room.

After what felt like days of fighting the chains, Teela could feel her strength escaping her, her body ached and was screaming at her it needed to rest. She promised she would have a short rest once she escaped. Trying not to succumb to the desire of sleep, Teela thought of all of her friends back at the palace, trying to find the energy to carry on.

As she drifted to sleep with arms still sore and shackled she could have sworn she felt a familiar presence faintly sweep over her. All she could think was how strange to be dreaming at this sort of time... her mother.

Duncan was restless, he had been worrying about Adam since they left Grayskull, he had been pushing himself during the last assault and the quick stop at Grayskull hadn't replenished his strength as normal. After they had made their way on foot for a few hours Duncan knew they would need to rest, what he didn't expect was He-Man's stubbornness; it took him nearly another hour to talk some sense into the younger warrior.

Another worry popped into his head; Teela and Adam have been close friend since they were able to talk, what if it was becoming more than friends?

That was too much for him to handle right now; he decided he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

He refocused on the Skeletor's latest plan, there was more to it than the planned kidnapping of the Royal Family. Skeletor's minions had been keeping all of the masters busy for the last few weeks. Skeletor's ultimate goal was the power of the elders, which meant Grayskull. So either Skeletor was going to ransom Randor into helping him take over Grayskull or he was going to offer to trade them with the Sorceress. Thinking over Skeletor's previous actions he knew it was most likely the latter. The Sorceress would trade for the safety of any innocent but luckily for the good Skeletor only thought the powerful were worth trading.

Giving up on trying to sleep he rolled away from his place beside the fire, stepping over to their supplies he decided to keep himself busy and check them for the umpteenth time.

Worrying thoughts of Teela in Skeletor's dungeon flooded his mind, he could feel his anger building up, his knuckles turned white as he clenched the rope he was checking. He had raised Teela, she was his daughter and was proud of her.

He couldn't help but feel he had let her down, flashback to when he was first handed Teela and the promise he had made to her mother. "I'm sorry Sorceress, I have also failed you." He whispered to the sky. He continued to stare into the sky, it took him a while to notice dawn was breaking. Not that the sunlight made an impact on the dark dreary landscape before him. "Looked better in the dark." he muttered.

A distant sound broke his concentration, he suddenly realised he hadn't slept, but he knew he could not sleep until he took Teela back to the safety of the palace.

The sound drew nearer and as it did he recognised it as the cry of Zoar. As the magnificent falcon came into sight, He-Man appeared at his side. Glancing at the warrior he noticed he looked a little better, the lad still looked tired, he just hoped he had enough strength for their assault on Snake Mountain.

They waited patiently as the Falcon to start circling and talking to them telepathically, instead the bird swooped down and transformed into the Sorceress. Both men were shocked by her actions, no more than Duncan, something must be wrong for her to do this or was she also not thinking straight. Studying her features she was showing a lot of fear, before he could say anything.

"Sorceress I didn't think you could take this form outside Grayskull". There was a slight hint of bitterness in his voice.

"I can for a limited time keep this form but my powers are greatly weakened."

He-Man nodded to her indicating this answer would suffice, for now.

She ignored He-Man and spoke as if only Duncan was there with her. "The reason I am here is after you left I tried to see if there was a way of penetrating the cloak over Snake Mountain." Pausing she looked both men in the eye.

"Unfortunately I couldn't penetrate the cloak and worse Evil-Lyn picked up on me during my attempt. She tried to invade my thoughts." Her gaze had shifted to the ground, she didn't want them to see how upset she was over this last admission. Both men were shocked and as they gathered their thoughts she waved them into silence before they had a chance to bombard her with questions.

"Do not concern yourselves, she learnt nothing of the secrets of Grayskull. Of that I can be certain." The strong voice was being to falter. "I fear though she may know a rescue attempt will be made soon."

"Why didn't you tell us this as Zoar or telepathically from Grayskull?" He-Man was angry, not at the Sorceress but at the situation. Their whole plan relied on surprise, they might have to abandon this attempt and wait for backup. Looking at Man-At-Arms for some reassurance, he was taken aback by the way Man-At-Arms was looking at the Sorceress… Guilty. He-Man realised there was more to this conversation but he knew these two are the best secret keepers in all of Eternia.

"Evil-Lyn is close enough to your location to pick up on any telepathic communication, if she was scanning the area around Snake Mountain. I could not afford to take another risk of alerting her."

Duncan finally broke his silence "What is it you're not telling us?"

The Sorceress was genuinely shocked by this question, she had been trying so hard to mask her emotions. Whether it was her being transparent or Duncan knowing her so well made no difference now. Turning to the confused He-Man she said "Please leave us."

He knew there was no point in arguing, so he simply nodded "I'll go on ahead and scout the area for signs of traps."

As He-Man picked up his pack and walked past Duncan gave an indifference nod, his gaze had never shifted from her face.

When He-Man was out of sight, the Sorceresses defences gave way and she collapsed into a heap, tears streamed down her face. Duncan had not seen her cry since the day she handed Teela to him.

Duncan crouched down beside her and gently hugged her. Funny he thought this is how he comforts Teela when she is upset. He tried to find something to help comfort her. "Teela has got out of tighter scrapes than this before. She's her mother's daughter."

Slowly pulling out of his arms, she wiped away the tears and looked up to meet his eyes "I don't deserve to be her mother. When Evil-Lyn tried to evade my mind I was focused completely on Teela and I'm scared of what she could have learnt."

A gasp escaped Duncan, he knew this was becoming a far more dangerous situation. "What can we do?"

The Sorceress appeared back in control "We have to get her out of there fast and hope Evil-Lyn hasn't picked up on anything."

"It won't be easy between Evil-Lyn and Skeletor's trap. I hate to say it but we may have to wait for other masters to provide back up."

"No we do not have the time. I will distract Evil-Lyn, I can fly to the other side of Snake Mountain and attack her shield."

"But then you will be a great distance away from Grayskull when you attack. Won't you be weakened? Wouldn't this confirm Evil-Lyn's suspicions? I think you should go back to Grayskull and try from there."

"NO. I will not delay Teela's rescue." He could see she was angry, here arms were shaking and her wings were spread.

Duncan could see she was going to be hard to reason with, how could she not understand that he loved Teela as his own child and desperately wanted her back but he wasn't going to let the Sorceress put all in danger. How stubborn like Teela she was, he knew how to get through to Teela when she was like this and he hoped it would work on her. "What about your duty to protect Grayskull. If you jeopardise it now for her, what has the past several years been for?"

He could see he had made an impact, she seemed about to crumble back to the ground "How dare you …" It was barely above a whisper. The pain was clear in her eyes.

"I am sorry but I need you to see sense. It is import that we all put our feelings for Teela aside to rescue her."

"You are right Duncan. It has been getting harder since…Wait did you say all of our feels. Are you saying...?" One eyebrow was raised and a look of shock registered on her face.

"I think we should leave this discussion for the time being."

She turned her attention away from him and towards Snake Mountain. She wished she could touch Teela's mind as she had always done in the past when she knew her child was in danger. Pushing those thoughts back into the box, just to lock away for a short time.

"I understand your concern Duncan but there is not enough time for me to go back to Grayskull or for you to wait for the other masters. I will only attack to draw their attention away without revealing my identity then return to Grayskull."

He still hated the idea but it was to best option to them considering what had happened. "Very well but I want your word you will head straight to Grayskull after the diversion, I don't want to have to worry about you as well."

"You have my word."