Trapped

Epilogue: The Lonely Kingdom

The world went on with its war between the Horde and the Rebellion – small skirmishes here and there, dash and runs and with the Whispering Woods protecting Bright Moon, the center of Rebellion-operations. Sometimes the Rebellion gained ground. Sometimes the Horde gained it back. Nothing much had changed except for the rumors of She-Ra's heroic deeds.

The small kingdom of Dryl, however, had practically disappeared from the map. Everyone knew that it still existed, but they had trouble finding it. Every traveler attempting to enter would take the roads that had once led to the borders of the kingdom only to find themselves in a shifting landscape. Rockslides were common, but just as easily, caravans, emissaries and various other missionaries would find themselves simply lost in mountains that suddenly became labyrinths, pathways suddenly blocked by landscape features that were not there before and the horizons blending into the sky. They'd be forced to turn around and go back the way they'd come or risk being lost forever.

It was said that the nation of Dryl was now surrounded by a powerful illusion-fence, much like the Kingdom of Halfmoon. This was the explanation that made the most sense for why people couldn't find it. Not even Halfmoon's caravans, filled with illusion-specialist mages could find an inroad.

It was obvious that its ruler did not want to be bothered.

There was no further contact with either the Rebellion or the Horde from Entrapta or any of her servants or government officials. As the months and even years wended on, nobody saw so much as a stray-robot exit the craggy mountains where everyone knew Dryl was hidden.

She watched the rain from a high tower window and studied the patterns of the lightning streaking across the sky. Entrapta wondered about ways she could harness and use it – not that she hadn't tried such experiments before, but she knew that she had to be careful if she wanted to tap into that much of nature's energy. The frying of circuits was not an option. The frying of bones even less so.

A robot-servant brought her a tiny cake which she ate casually, not taking her eyes off the world outside the window. It was open, letting the storm-breeze in. The rain was cold, but not icy. The lights of Dryl's main city shined in the distance in the dim late-afternoon storm-light, beyond the gaps in the hills, well beyond the lonesome castle in the mining-district.

None of the flying-drones came back with any news of sightings of either Horde or Rebellion activities beyond the borders. The latest upgrade to the fence-system must have been working especially well.

The soft scuff of a boot hit the stone-tiled floor. Entrapta whipped around, startled, expecting to come face-to-face with one of her servants. After all, her waiter-bot had forgotten to bring up the cola she'd requested.

"Hey, what?" she yelped. "She-Ra, what brings you here?" She brought her hair up defensively.

"I was having a ride on Swifty and saw… well, a hole in the sky about a half-mile north of here. When the sky is suddenly two different colors, that's just weird. We checked it out and wound up here. I thought I'd drop in."

"Illusion Fence Experiment Log, Day 324" Entrapta said into a recorder, seeming to ignore her uninvited guest for the time being, "There seems to be a glitch in the northerly fence. Must have it inspected and repaired as soon as possible."

She turned back to She-Ra. "Sooo," she said, penting a pair of hair-tendrils, "You're in your abnormally tall form right now, Adora… I don't suppose even that explains how you got to the highest tower of Castle Dryl. You ought to be lost in the labyrinth… or in one of the water cisterns, or in a cage. Is Glimmer with you?" She pulled out the recorder again. "Note to self: Do a run of the gauntlet again, check efficacy of the traps."

"No, Glimmer isn't with me. I'm here alone. And, I'm afraid I broke a few things. I'm sure it's nothing you can't fix." Adora powered down and rubbed the back of her neck.

"It should be clear that I don't want company."

"We're…worried about you, Entrapta," Adora cautiously said. "All of us."

"I hope you aren't trying to recruit me again. I'm done with the war."

"We could really use you."

There was that word again – use. Adora covered her mouth when she saw Entrapta wince a little.

"I mean, we miss you." Adora quickly recovered.

"I'm happy here. It's like it was before," Entrapta explained. "Not so complicated. I've got my super-helpful robots and inventions and projects I'm working on." She bounced on her hair. "Ooh, and we've been finding so much new, neat stuff in the mine! I theorize that there's an entire First Ones city down there… if only we can find the doorway beyond the rock!"

"Well, you know," Adora said sheepishly, "We haven't seen you since… that battle in Plumeria. We haven't even heard from you in months!"

"Oh, I know, I know," Entrapta said, ambulating on her hair in the form of a seat over to Adora. "But no one needs to worry about me, I'm fine! I figured out how the Halfmoon fence works… it took a little quick-rigging, and, well, the Horde stays out of Dryl because they can't even find it! The other kingdoms don't bother me either! No worries about getting into another war or losing my head because I can do Runestone hacks! All because of the fence and other things I've got going on with landscape modulation. Neat, huh?"

"Yeah… neat."

"I leave everyone alone and they leave me alone. They have to, now. And no one fights over me or my work. I think it works out."

The two young women stood still and watched the rain for several minutes. It fell harder.

"Everyone…" Adora began slowly, "They're okay. Glimmer and her mother are communicating better. Sea Hawk has taken to piracy – well, raiding Horde ships to commandeer supplies for the Rebellion. The Whispering Woods is stronger than ever. Plumeria's had a surplus-harvest that they're sharing with Bright Moon so the villages and the army won't go hungry. Thaymor's completely rebuilt. The alliance with the Magicats is going well. The Kingdom of Snows, well… Frosta's fully on our side now – she's joined the Princess Alliance. Bow's been experimenting with bomb-arrows – he blew up the west garrison wall last week, you should have been there, it was hilarious. I think Queen Angella shed a few feathers when she yelled at him."

"Longer fuses," Entrapta suggested. "So they don't explode before you want them to. Maybe a timer."

"You don't have to come back if you don't want to."

"Good."

"Aren't you lonely here?"

"I always have been. Like I said, I'm fine."

"I'm not going to try to bring you back to the Rebellion or the Alliance," Adora said. "But I do… want to be your friend."

Entrapta turned and regarded her with a quizzical gaze.

"And I don't want to drop in uninvited. Is it okay if I just… hang out every once in a while?"

"Where is your horse?" Entrapta asked. "I don't suppose he enjoys this weather."

"Your stable-man robot directed him to the stable. I didn't know you had robot-horses. That's pretty cool."

"A robot-unicorn, too. I built them all when was studying the bio-mechanics of equines. Emily usually hangs out in the stable. I pretty much let her and the babies have the run of the castle."

"Swifty is a little… unnerved, but he'll be fine," Adora said with a smile.

"Tiny cupcake?" Entrapta asked as she clapped her hands and the waiter-robot wheeled off.

Adora found a place to sit. "I'm here now, if you just want to talk."

Entrapta smiled and out came the recorder. "Update to Log: Rethink repairing the glitch in the northern sky-fence. Engineer super-secret doorway for She-Ra and her steed. I want to keep the kingdom hidden, but She-Ra is allowed to visit at any time."

Adora just smiled.

Entrapta smoothly smiled back. "Perhaps if it's on my terms… I can give the friendship experiment another shot."

END.