The Bride of Serpos
"Adora... Adora..." a voice called from the darkness.
It took the half-conscious Adora a few moments to realize it was her own name being called out. She opened bleary eyes to be greeted by a warm and familiar face looking down on her with worry. "Bow...?"
"Don't try to move too much," the archer whispered. "You looked pretty out of it when they brought you and Huntara in."
Adora glanced about the dank and gloomy cell where she, Bow and Huntara sat shackled to the wall. The only light came from a grille in the ceiling, occasionally eclipsed by a passing snake trooper.
"Where are we?" She asked.
"Aboard somekinda hover-barge," Bow answered. "I think they're taking us out into the Waste."
"And Flutterina?"
Bow shook his head. "I don't think they caught her yet."
Huntara winced, flexing still stiff limbs. "I take it big bro didn't get with the program?"
Bow said nothing, silence speaking for itself.
"Oh, Bow..." Adora whispered. "I'm so sorry."
The brig door abruptly swung open as Snake Face and Sssqueeze strode into the cell.
"On your feet, arrow boy," Sssqueeze hissed.
"What for?" Bow asked skeptically.
"The Force Captain wants you and your brother... for breakfast." Snake Face chuckled darkly.
"Don't you touch him!" Adora roared, pulling her chains taut.
"Adora, it's okay." Bow raised his manacled wrists for Sssqueeze to unshackled them.
"I'd say 'don't try anything stupid'," she rasped, forked tongue tasting his scent. "But I really hope you try something stupid."
"Guess I'll have to disappoint you," Bow spoke flatly as he was lead out.
The brig door slammed shut, leaving Adora and Huntara alone in the dark.
"Well, at least Flutters got away," Huntara mused.
"Poor Flutterina," Adora sighed. "She must be so scared right now."
[-]
"'Slig, clean the anti-grav coils'. 'Slig, inventory the cargo'," a young snake trooper grumbled to himself, pacing through the ship's hold and double-checking his data-pad. "Who needs ten crates of spoo any-"
Something creaked in a dim corner of the hold.
"Someone there?" Slig cautiously crept along a row of crates with stun baton drawn. He leaped around a corner, only to find more crates of spoo.
Slig sighed in relief, turned and let out a cry of horror. Staring back at him was an exact mirror image of his own face.
"Hey, cutie," Mirror-Slig purred, green nictitating membranes flickering across yellow slitted eyes.
[-]
Bow was ushered into a richly furnished dining room. A panoramic window allowed a breathtaking view of morning moonrise above the rolling red dunes. At the head of a long table, sat Force Captain Rattlor with Mace at his right hand. On the wall behind him, the Sword of Protection hung like a trophy.
"Ah, Bow, my boy! Come in, son, come in!" Rattlor raised a glass of crimson nectar. "I must apologize for the uncouth welcome we gave you last night. Your dear brother was just explaining your tragic situation to me."
"Was he now?" Bow asked icilly, taking a seat opposite Mace.
"Oh yes. Sad to say it's an all too common story," Rattlor drawled. "Bright young man with his whole future ahead of him falls in with the wrong crowd. Next thing you know, they're fillin' his head with all kinds o' odd notions, tryin' to indoctrinate him into their... lifestyle."
"Really?" Bow fixed Mace with a death glare. "Seems to be a lot of that going around."
"Bow, this is not what you think," Mace implored.
"Isn't it?! Because right now, I think my own brother sold me out to the Horde!"
"I was trying to protect you! Those 'friends' of yours are going to get you killed! I don't know who I'm more disappointed in, you or our fathers for allowing this lunacy!"
"Seriously!? You're going to play that card?! You really think our dads would be okay with you helping the Horde conquer Etheria?!"
"Conquer Etheria!? Is that what you think I'm doing? Force Captain Rattlor hired me to oversee the excavation of a tomb complex his troops found in the Waste."
Bow rolled his eyes. "Oh, so the Horde is suddenly into archeology now?"
"The Horde isn't, I am," Rattlor spoke, raising to gaze out the window. "My people were not always scavengers and mercenaries, and this land was not always a waste. Once this was the heart of a mighty serpent empire. My ancestors were sorcerers, alchemists, and scientists. There was no wonder they could not achieve. They even thought they could defy the First Ones."
"The First Ones?" Bow asked, curiosity genuinely piqued.
Rattlor gestured to the opposite wall. There hung a hieroglyphic slab depicting a serpentine figure locked in battle with a sword-wielding warrior woman riding atop a winged dragon.
Bow's eyes widened. "She-Ra?"
Rattlor nodded "When the previous She-Ra slew the last of our Sorcerer-Kings, his subjects built a mighty tomb 'pon the site where he fell, the very tomb your dear brother is excavating on our behalf."
"You see, Bow?" Mace asked. "The Force Captain only wants to reclaim his people's history. This is a purely academic expedition."
"It's true, son. Your elder brother has been nothing if not utterly committed to the ideals of strict pacifism," Rattlor spoke, placing a fist on his heart. "Why, even an old soldier such as myself cannot help but be moved by the strength of his conviction!"
His speech was interrupted by a polite cough as a servant entered with a loaded food cart.
"Ah, breakfast is served," Rattlor drawled, retaking his seat.
The waiter served Bow and Mace with a simple curry before placing a silver sphere in front of Rattlor. He removed the top half to reveal six squealing white rodents futilely trying to scrabble up the slicked inner walls.
Bow repressed a shudder as Rattlor picked up one of the rodents by its tail, dangling the helpless creature above his fanged maw.
"Bon appetite."
[-]
"Hey, you!" Snake Face called at a snake trooper staring over the ship's rails, watching the sand dunes rapidly rolling past below. "Slig, isn't it?"
Slig gave a cheery salute. "Aye-aye, ma'am."
"Report to the brig. The Force Captain wants an escort for our... guests."
Slig smiled mischievously. "I live to serve."
[-]
Adora squinted as she and Huntara were shoved into the blinding moonlight by a squad of snake troopers. Awaiting them on the ship's deck were Bow and Mace, overseen by Snake Face, Sssqueeze and Rattlor. The Sword of Protection hung sheathed at the Force Captain's hip.
"Why, if it isn't li'l Adora?" Rattlor drawled.
"I know you?" Adora asked curtly.
"Oh, I'm not surprised you don't remember me. Last time I saw you, you was only knee-high to a Twiggit. The cutest things, you and li'l Catra always scurrying about the Fright Zone." Rattlor leered. "Why, I coulda just gobbled you both up."
"Sorry, must have repressed the memory." Adora turned to Bow. "You okay?"
"Been better, honestly," Bow droned, eyeing Mace.
Rattlor turned his gaze ahead. "Ah, we have arrived."
Looming over the red horizon was a cyclopean edifice whose polished ebon stones seemed to drink in every drop of light.
"Friends and gentlefolk," Rattlor spoke with hushed awe. "Welcome... to the Black Pyramid!"
[-]
Several moons filled the noon sky as Adora, Bow, and Huntara were 'escorted' off the Bride of Serpos by Rattlor and his cronies. Or rather, herded down the gangplank.
They were led down an ancient procession path lined by countless serpent-headed sphinxes, stone eyes blank and unmoving. To either side of the path, hundreds of chained workers of at least a dozen races toiled under the watchful eyes of armed snake troopers.
"Nothing says 'purely academic' like slave labor," Bow snorted.
"Bow, these people are criminals, thieves and killers of the lowest order," Mace protested. "Think of this like... community service."
"Which reminds me..." Rattlor nodded to a pair of troopers.
"Hey!" Huntara cried as the troopers seized her.
"Take her for processing," Rattlor hissed.
Adora lurched forward. "GET YOUR CLAWS OFF HER!"
"Blondie, it's cool. Won't be my first time in a chain gang," Huntara muttered as she was led away.
Rattlor gestured towards the Pyramid with a facetious grin. "Shall we?"
[-]
The Black Pyramid
In sharp contrast to the scorching desert without, the pyramid's interior was cool and dank, lit only by the green glow of the Horde's portable lamps dancing eerily on the ancient hieroglyphs.
"What does all this mean?" Adora asked.
"Unfortunately, our knowledge of the ancient snakefolk script is... fragmentary," Mace answered. "But we believe these glyphs chronicle events from their last Sorceror-King's reign."
Bow repressed a shudder at a mural depicting a pair of snake priests strapping a human figure to a grim altar. Above, loomed something like a five-headed serpent. "Seems like a fun guy."
The group eventually passed an ornate doorway leading down and guarded by a pair of snake troopers.
"What's down there?" Adora asked.
"The main burial chamber," Mace answered. "Unfortunately, it's not safe to enter yet due to a volcanic gas leak."
"Speaking of, Mace, ol' boy. I need to run a quick safety inspection. Why don't you take over the grand tour?" Rattlor drawled. "Under Snake Face and Sssqueeze's... supervision, of course."
Snake Face's hand rested meaningfully on the hilt of her folding sword.
Bow rolled his eyes. "Of course."
"So..." Mace clapped his hands together cheerily. "Who wants to see some canopic jars?"
[-]
Rattlor descended alone down the guarded passage, dark granite giving way to shimmering crystal as he entered the central crypt. The chamber was dominated by a gleaming crystal sarcophagus, currently under assault by a portable Horde laser cannon.
The beam eventually flickered and died. The purple-scaled snake tech manning the cannon wiped a layer of carbonized dust from the sarcophagus, revealing only untouched crystal beneath.
"Report," Rattlor rasped.
"We've gone through at least fifteen power cells, and we haven't even made a scratch," the tech sighed, stroking the crystal sarcophagus. "It's not even warm."
"And the occupant?"
"Hard to make out readings through... whatever this stuff is," the tech answered, consulting her pad. "But whatever's in there, it's still alive."
Rattlor unsheathed She-Ra's sword, inserting it into a slot in the chamber's center.
"Error: Administrator not recognized," an unseen voice intoned.
"Typical." Rattlor's yellow eyes narrowed. "Time for Plan B."
[-]
Huntara paused, laying down the sack of heavy stones she'd been carrying over her shoulder. The searing moonlight beating heavy on her brow.
"No slacking!" The snake trooper overseeing the workgang activated a remote, sending a jolt through the shock-collar locked tight about Huntara's neck. The former desert bandit winced, falling to one knee.
"Heh-heh," a hairy troll chuckled, pushing a cart. "Not so mighty now, eh, Huntara?"
"Could say the same about you, Grox," Huntara sniped back. "How's throwing in with the Horde working for you?"
"Well... uh... You're duAAAGHH!" Grox growled as her own collar charged.
"No bantering," the trooper snarled, before a klaxon rang low across the camp. "Lunchtime, softskins!"
Huntara lined up with the other slaves, receiving a tin bowl of what was allegedly stew but looked more like off-color water. She sat in the relative shade of a half crumbled wall.
"Psst... Huntara, don't turn around."
Huntara's ears perked at the unseen yet familiar voice. "Flutters?"
"I stowed away on the barge," Flutterina's voice whispered. "Where's Adora and Bow."
"In the pyramid with the rest of the VIPs."
"If I get those collars off, could you stir up a small revolt?"
"Well sure, half the folks in here owe me at least one favor but how-"
"Ooh, I'll think of something. Just wait for my signal."
"Signal?"
"Believe me..." Flutterina purred. "You'll know it when you see it."
"Whoa, easy there, kid. Don't do anything..." Huntara glanced over her shoulder only to see nothing but more crumbling ruins behind her. "Stupid?"
[-]
Mace held up a long needle-like instrument ending in a small hook. "And we believe this was used to extract the brain during the embalming process!"
Adora winced. "I really did not need to know that."
Rattlor entered, a grim expression on his face.
"Ah, Force Captain, glad you could catch up," Mace said warmly. "I was just going to show my brother and his friend the-"
Rattlor nodded to Snake Face and Sssqueeze, before the snake women seized Adora and Bow.
"Bow!?" Mace lunged forward, only for Rattlor's claws to clamp around his jaw.
"You can't imagine how long I've wanted to shut your mouth... 'ol' boy'." Rattlor's turned to his minions. "Take 'em all to the Crystal Crypt."
[-]
In a rickety watchtower, a lone snake trooper sat manning a control panel. From his vantage point, he could oversee the entire work camp. Which is why he was surprised when a broad shadow fell over him.
The trooper spun in his chair, only to find the fanged visage of Force Captain Rattlor glaring down at him.
"Force Captain, sir," the trooper blurted, standing to attention.
"Soldier, I'm gonna need you to deactivate every shock-collar in the camp," Rattlor drawled.
"But... sir. If we do that we won't be able to control the prisoners. They might riot."
"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!?" Rattlor roared. "YOU THINK I'M SOMEKINDA IDIOT, BOY!?"
"No, sir!"
"I DO NOT EXPECT A YOUNG GRUNT LIKE YOU TO UNDERSTAND THE INTRICATE WORKINGS OF A FINELY HONED MILITARY MIND SUCH AS MYSELF! I EXPECT YOU TO DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD! AM I UNDERSTOOD, BOY!?"
"Yes, sir!"
"THEN WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE, GAPING LIKE A SLACKJAWED UNILOPE, BOY!?"
"Yes, sir!" The trooper spun on his heels, working his consol. "All shock collars deactivated, sir!"
"You've done your people proud, son," Rattlor said, resting a hand on the trooper's shoulder...
Before tossing him bodily from the tower.
[-]
Huntara watched the flailing snake trooper fall from the watchtower, landing in a latrine.
"Works for me." She shrugged, jumping the nearest trooper. "EVERYBODY RIOT!"
[-]
Double Trouble, still wearing Rattlor's shape, watched as anarchy rippled out from Huntara to engulf the entire camp. Their borrowed lips curled in smug satisfaction. "And... scene."
[-]
The Crystal Crypt
Snake Face roughly tossed Adora down upon the smooth gleaming surface. The young rebel staggered to her knees, taking in the crystalline chamber.
"This... this is a First One shrine?"
"This is a prison," Rattlor hissed. "Built to hold Etheria's rightful ruler... 'til today."
Adora eyed her sword, still inserted in the center of the chamber. "My sword... is a key?"
"One you are going to unlock, my dear," Rattlor drawled.
"Yeah... no," Adora snorted.
Rattlor nodded to Snake Face who immediately drew her folding sword, pressing the blade to Bow's throat.
"BOW!?" Mace screamed, Sssqueeze's python-like arms restraining him.
"Quiet, livestock!" Rattlor snarled, turning on Adora. "Open the sarcophagus... or we bleed him dry."
"Adora, don't help them!" Bow yelled.
"I'm sorry, Bow," Adora sighed, taking hold of her sword's hilt.
"Administrator detected."
A holographic image shimmered into existence before Adora, bearing the regalia of She-Ra.
"I am Mara, She-Ra of Etheria," the specter intoned. "By decree of the Council of Elders, for crimes against sapient life across the known galaxy, King Hssss of Sarcedon is hereby sentenced to eternal stasis lock. Attempting to release the condemned without proper containment protocols could have devastating consequences. Do you wish to proceed?"
Adora glanced back over her shoulder, Snake Face's blade still at Bow's throat. "Yes."
The holo-Mara shimmered out of existence as the Sword of Protection's blade morphed into a key-like configuration, sinking into the floor. No sooner had it done so than a pair of snake troopers roughly yanked Adora back.
"There, I did what you wanted," Adora said. "Now let Bow and his brother go!"
"Odd..." Rattlor mused, a single claw tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I can't seem to recollect saying anything 'bout letting any y'all go?"
"Why you..." Adora sneered.
"Hush, child," Rattlor said. "You'll miss the show."
The crystal sarcophagus' lid unfolded like a blooming flower, filling the chamber with a chill all-concealing mist that allowed only the vaguest sense of some... thing writhing within.
"Behold, Children of Serpos..." Rattlor intoned reverently. "Our Once and Future King!"
A seemingly human figure stepped out of the mist, clad in ornate jade armor. His skin was a lustrous gold, his hair white as snow-spun silk, and eyes like glittering emeralds set in a serene angelic face.
"King Hssss, Your Majesty." Rattlor fell to his knees, the assembled snakefolk following suite. "How may we serve you?"
"How long?" Hssss spoke, his voice low and melodious.
"It has been over a thousand years since you were unjustly imprisoned, sire," Rattlor answered. "Your ancient enemies are long extinct and the Princesses of Etheria are locked in war with the invader, Hordak."
Hssss tilted his head. "Invader?"
"A simpering degenerate who surrounds himself with children, sire," Rattlor sneered. "You'll have no trouble seizing his empire for your own."
"Wait, you guys are trying to overthrow Hordak!?" Adora gasped. "Why didn't you just say that from the start?!"
Hssss' jade eyes never left Rattlor's. "Who gave this ape permission to speak in our presence?"
"Excuse me?" Adora snapped.
"Silence it."
Snake Face yanked back Adora's ponytail, brandishing her blade. "Ooh, a royal decree!"
"ADORA!?" Bow screamed before a trooper stunned him.
"Wait," Hsss spoke imperiously, examining the Sword of Protection before turning his gaze on Adora. His jade eyes blazed crimson. "She-Ra?"
Adora smirked. "Why... scared?"
"Release her," Hssss commanded. "We will attend to this one... ourselves."
The Sorceror-King's upper torso began to contort and distend, human-like skin peeling away to reveal five golden-scaled serpent heads sprouting from a body that remained humanoid only from the waist down.
"We have slumbered for over a millennium, She-Ra," Hssss' five heads rasped in unison. "And we are very very... hungry."
All five heads coiled back to strike, before a shovel went flying directly into the central serpent's maw.
"FOR THE REBELLION!" Flutterina crowed, leading Huntara, Grox and a mob of revolting slaves armed with looted weapons. The remaining snake warriors frantically leaped into action, finding themselves outnumbered and on the defensive.
Adora took advantage of the confusion, nabbing her sword and raising it high. "For the honor of Grayskull!"
"No..." Hssss gasped, ten eyes wide in horror at the sight of his ancient enemy reborn.
"How about we try that again?" She-Ra smirked, giving her sword a twirl.
"Bow!" Flutterina cried, tossing the archer his quiver and namesake weapon as she flew overhead.
"Thanks," Bow hollered, taking aim at Rattlor and firing. The flying arrow's head burst into a bright red fist before socking the reptilian Force Captain across his fanged jaw. "BOOM! Boxing Glove Arrow!"
Sssqueeze attempted to jump Flutterina, only for the rebel scout to somehow slip through the snake woman's nigh-inescapable grip. Flutterina followed up by delivering a flying roundhouse to the ophidian's scaled face.
"I'm not getting paid nearly enough for this," Snake Face muttered before turning to leave, only to feel her muscles lock in place as something pricked her arm.
"Saved one just for you, hun," Huntara smirked, holding one of Snake Face's own throwing-stars.
Meanwhile, She-Ra dodged another of Hssss' striking heads. Her sword morphed into a shield as she rammed the snake king against his sarcophagus.
"ENOUGH!" Hssss roared, unleashing a wave of dark eldritch energy that sent every combatant, rebel and snake alike, hurling across the chamber.
Bow slammed directly into a crystal pillar, dazed but still clinging to consciousness. Before he could pick himself upright, four gold-scaled serpents coiled about his limbs, dragging him towards Hssss' slavering central maw.
"BOW!?" She-Ra screamed from across the chamber, still struggling to her feet.
"If we cannot devour She-Ra, then we shall feast upon her co-"
Something flashed across Hssss' throat. His central head gapped frozen like a stone gargoyle, before falling to the floor.
"What... what have you..." the remaining four serpent heads muttered softly before falling limp, releasing Bow.
Behind Hssss' crumpled form stood Mace, eyes wide and shaking hands clutching an ancient curved blade slick with green-black ichor. He let the sword clatter to the ground before collapsing to his knees.
"I-I couldn't let him..." Mace stammered.
"It's okay, Mace... it's okay..." Bow whispered, kneeling to embrace his brother.
[-]
The last three moons of the evening hung low over the Black Pyramid as former slaves escorted a chained and muzzled Rattlor onto the Bride of Serpos, followed by his remaining forces.
"I should have listened to you from the start, Bow." Mace sat, clutching a warm mug of tea. "I thought the Horde could be reasoned with."
"It's okay, Mace," Bow replied, squeezing his elder sibling's shoulder. "I know you were just trying to do the right thing."
"You're not the first person the Horde's tricked." Adora exchanged a look with Huntara. "Believe me."
"Well, at least the Waste is finally free again." Huntara ruffled Flutterina's hair. "Thanks to Flutters here."
"What can I say?" Flutterina smiled. "I live to serve."
Before the rebels could bask any further in their victory, a panicked Grox came stumbling out of the pyramid's main entrance. "Where is it!?"
"Whoa, easy there, Grox," Huntara answered. "Where's what?"
"I just got back from the Crytal Crypt," the troll panted. "Hssss' body... it's gone!?"
[-]
Subtheria
Deep beneath the Crimson Waste, in tunnels so deep only one living being on Etheria retained any knowledge of them, King Hssss' four-headed form slithered on his belly. The stump where his fifth head once rested had already healed over.
"Poor short-sighted She-Ra," the four heads hissed in unison. "Did you never think to ask why your predecessor chose to imprison us for all eternity?"
Two new heads burst forth from the healed stump, slavering with newborn hunger. "She could not kill us."
The End?