CHAPTER 8: THE ATTACK
Midnight at the Royal Palace.
Adam stood in his bedroom staring out of the window replaying the events of the day in his head. He felt such compassion for Erin wanted to help her, but he didn't know how. He also wanted to know why Teela was so edgy around her. If she was jealous, she had no reason to be. Nothing would ever come between their friendship and while at times he wanted more than that from her, he knew it would never be possible because she had a great destiny ahead of her at Grayskull. The Sorceress told him years ago, that as much as it pained him, he could not get in the way of that, there was too much riding on her future.
And then there was this stranger, Erin. He didn't know what to do with the weird feelings he had around her. He wasn't used to them, and he didn't know what lay in store for her. Hopefully the Sorceress would shed some light to this predicament in the morning. Until then, he wondered how to get her smile and the sound of her laugh out of his head. He wished they would've had more time to talk before the incident in the workshop. She made him laugh, and more than that, she made him feel like himself, a feeling he hadn't had in years, not since he became He-Man anyway.
He was certain of one thing, he dreaded the day she would go back to Earth and hoped it wouldn't be too soon.
He sighed and opened the window. Cringer snored lightly on the floor by his bed. He decided to get some sleep. The palace was silent.
But not for long.
The first blast hit the courtyard and sent guards flying. The sound of the blast was so deafening that Erin sat straight up and screamed. Jerry was barking rabidly. Erin ran to the window and saw two more explosions. The fires lit up the sky around the courtyards.
"Let's get out of here!" Jerry barked.
Erin had had enough of being scared about what was going on around here. She ripped the Queen's dress off and grabbed some training clothes that the Queen had given here. She buttoned the green slacks, pulled the orange tank top over her head, and tied her hiking boots. Her hair flew wildly around her face and she flung open the door to the hallway where all kinds of chaos was taking place.
"Let's find Adam," she yelled at Jerry. "We need to help if we can."
The dog barked and ran out of the room. Erin followed him to a room down the hall. It was so noisy that she could hear Adam yelling on the other side of the locked door, but couldn't hear what.
"I've got to help him," she yelled looking for anyone in the hall to help her with the door. The lights were flickering on and off and there was a lot of noise but no one in sight. She jumped back and with all that she had, she ran right at the door like a linebacker.
She crashed through to a room full of light, it was almost blinding, but she could see Adam's back. She reached out to him as the light consumed him. She squinted as she put her arm up.
"I HAVE THE POWER!!!" Adam yelled and light started to fade.
But it wasn't Adam. Erin's jaw dropped. It was the man who had helped her earlier in the woods.
He-Man.
He spun around and gasped when he saw the crumpled woman on the floor staring at him.
"Adam," she gasped softly and smiled. "Wow."
He-Man grabbed her hand and helped her up. He looked worried, really worried.
"I'll explain it later," he said in a shushed voice. "But around everyone else, call me He-Man, no one else knows. Can I trust you?"
Erin was still in awe and just nodded.
"Okay, let's go," he pulled her out of the room into the hallway. "We've got to get you to safety."
Erin yanked her arm back.
"Not a chance, I want to help," she yelled defiantly.
He-Man knew there was no changing her mind and there was no time to try to change it. "Fine," he yelled back. "But stay close, I.we can't risk losing you."
Erin blushed but ran behind the huge warrior down the hall and out into the courtyard.
Guards were everywhere fighting off Skeletor's robots. Teela was a hundred feet away giving Whiplash a run for his money. Man-At-Arms was in a fierce fight with Tri-Clops. Stratos was in the air chasing Merman in the Collector.
Without thinking about it, He-Man went running into the middle of the battle. Erin started to follow but was cornered by Panthor.
The purple beast inched closer and closer, saliva dripping off of his yellow teeth. Erin reached from her tranqualizer gun but then realized she had left it in her room.
The cat jumped, but was knocked to the side by a dark flash. Jerry stood in front of Erin growling fiercely. He and Panthor circled each other for a second then jumped into a full fledged fight.
"Jerry, no!" Erin cried as she grabbed stun gun from a broken robot nearby. She aimed at the fight but couldn't get a clear shot of the beast that was attacking her best friend.
"Jerry, back!" she yelled and the dog bolted the other way. She fired the gun and Panthor let out a great roar before falling to the ground, out cold.
"What were you waiting for?" Jerry barked as he trotted up to Erin.
She looked around. He-man had just given Whiplash the beating of a lifetime and he and Teela were running to help Man-At-Arms. Erin smiled slyly to herself as she headed towards the fight herself.
"Uh, oh," Jerry snapped. "Someone's got it bad."
Erin shot him a nasty look. "I do not, I was just having a little fun. Is that so.."
A scream came from above. Erin stopped and turned around.
On the second floor balcony of the palace, Beast-Man had a knife to Queen Marlena's throat. She struggled in the arms of the huge creature, but looked like she was in great pain.
Next to him, Evil-Lyn and Trap Jaw were firing their weapons at guards trying to stop them.
"NO!!!!!!" both He-Man and Erin yelled at the same time.
Evil-Lyn looked down and chuckled. She knew there was know way she would get the stranger to leave the palace on her own and she had too much power to be controlled. This was the only way, and she was having so much fun with it.
"It works this way, we're taking the Queen," she hissed. "The stranger will turn herself over to Skeletor with no interference from He-Man or the Defenders or else Panthor will get to feast on the Queen's internal organs for dinner. You have 24 hours."
With that the four on the balcony disappeared in a flash of light, as did Panthor, Whiplash, Tri-Clops and Mer-Man.
Erin looked helplessly at He-Man, Man-At-Arms and Teela.
"This is all my fault," she said as the others approached her. "If I had never come here, this wouldn't be happening."
"Well, if you say so," Teela snottily replied. The Man-At-Arms nudged her. She recanted. "I'm sorry, this isn't your fault, Skeletor has tried this type of stunt before."
Man-At-Arms jumped in.
"Yes, but the stakes are much higher this time," he reasoned. "We can't turn Erin over to Skeletor. To do so would be catastrophic,"
"But if we don't, the Queen dies," Stratos concluded.
He-Man was distraught, and Erin knew why.
"I can't let Marlena.the queen.suffer in my place," Erin told the group. "I won't let anything happen to her. I have to go. Can someone tell me how I can get there?"
Now it was He-Man's turn.
"I can't let that happen," he growled sounding a little like Jerry as he grabbed her arm. "Skeletor would torture you to the point that you would beg for death. Then he will use your power to destroy us all."
Erin was kind of disappointed that his reasoning wasn't more personal, but in a way, she was glad for it. She pulled away from his grip and for the first time, looked the heroic warrior right in the eyes.
"I don't even know how to use this so called power," she replied coolly. "Besides, according to Man-At-Arms, this Skeletor-guy can't hurt me, only someone immortal can. It would seem to me that if he were immortal, he wouldn't be having his underlings do the dirty work. He would just come and take care of business himself."
She started to walk towards the forest. "So someone can either tell me where I'm going, or I could waste precious time getting lost."
Man-At-Arms stopped her. "Wait," he said. "Let's go to Grayskull and consult the Sorceress first. We need to know a little more about what we are dealing with."
Erin started to protest but saw the same pleading look on He-Man's face that she had seen on Adam's face when Jerry sniffed his hand in the garden.
"Fine, give me ten minutes to gather some things and we'll go," Erin caved.
She turned and walked past some debris back into the palace. Jerry trotted behind her.
Midnight at the Royal Palace.
Adam stood in his bedroom staring out of the window replaying the events of the day in his head. He felt such compassion for Erin wanted to help her, but he didn't know how. He also wanted to know why Teela was so edgy around her. If she was jealous, she had no reason to be. Nothing would ever come between their friendship and while at times he wanted more than that from her, he knew it would never be possible because she had a great destiny ahead of her at Grayskull. The Sorceress told him years ago, that as much as it pained him, he could not get in the way of that, there was too much riding on her future.
And then there was this stranger, Erin. He didn't know what to do with the weird feelings he had around her. He wasn't used to them, and he didn't know what lay in store for her. Hopefully the Sorceress would shed some light to this predicament in the morning. Until then, he wondered how to get her smile and the sound of her laugh out of his head. He wished they would've had more time to talk before the incident in the workshop. She made him laugh, and more than that, she made him feel like himself, a feeling he hadn't had in years, not since he became He-Man anyway.
He was certain of one thing, he dreaded the day she would go back to Earth and hoped it wouldn't be too soon.
He sighed and opened the window. Cringer snored lightly on the floor by his bed. He decided to get some sleep. The palace was silent.
But not for long.
The first blast hit the courtyard and sent guards flying. The sound of the blast was so deafening that Erin sat straight up and screamed. Jerry was barking rabidly. Erin ran to the window and saw two more explosions. The fires lit up the sky around the courtyards.
"Let's get out of here!" Jerry barked.
Erin had had enough of being scared about what was going on around here. She ripped the Queen's dress off and grabbed some training clothes that the Queen had given here. She buttoned the green slacks, pulled the orange tank top over her head, and tied her hiking boots. Her hair flew wildly around her face and she flung open the door to the hallway where all kinds of chaos was taking place.
"Let's find Adam," she yelled at Jerry. "We need to help if we can."
The dog barked and ran out of the room. Erin followed him to a room down the hall. It was so noisy that she could hear Adam yelling on the other side of the locked door, but couldn't hear what.
"I've got to help him," she yelled looking for anyone in the hall to help her with the door. The lights were flickering on and off and there was a lot of noise but no one in sight. She jumped back and with all that she had, she ran right at the door like a linebacker.
She crashed through to a room full of light, it was almost blinding, but she could see Adam's back. She reached out to him as the light consumed him. She squinted as she put her arm up.
"I HAVE THE POWER!!!" Adam yelled and light started to fade.
But it wasn't Adam. Erin's jaw dropped. It was the man who had helped her earlier in the woods.
He-Man.
He spun around and gasped when he saw the crumpled woman on the floor staring at him.
"Adam," she gasped softly and smiled. "Wow."
He-Man grabbed her hand and helped her up. He looked worried, really worried.
"I'll explain it later," he said in a shushed voice. "But around everyone else, call me He-Man, no one else knows. Can I trust you?"
Erin was still in awe and just nodded.
"Okay, let's go," he pulled her out of the room into the hallway. "We've got to get you to safety."
Erin yanked her arm back.
"Not a chance, I want to help," she yelled defiantly.
He-Man knew there was no changing her mind and there was no time to try to change it. "Fine," he yelled back. "But stay close, I.we can't risk losing you."
Erin blushed but ran behind the huge warrior down the hall and out into the courtyard.
Guards were everywhere fighting off Skeletor's robots. Teela was a hundred feet away giving Whiplash a run for his money. Man-At-Arms was in a fierce fight with Tri-Clops. Stratos was in the air chasing Merman in the Collector.
Without thinking about it, He-Man went running into the middle of the battle. Erin started to follow but was cornered by Panthor.
The purple beast inched closer and closer, saliva dripping off of his yellow teeth. Erin reached from her tranqualizer gun but then realized she had left it in her room.
The cat jumped, but was knocked to the side by a dark flash. Jerry stood in front of Erin growling fiercely. He and Panthor circled each other for a second then jumped into a full fledged fight.
"Jerry, no!" Erin cried as she grabbed stun gun from a broken robot nearby. She aimed at the fight but couldn't get a clear shot of the beast that was attacking her best friend.
"Jerry, back!" she yelled and the dog bolted the other way. She fired the gun and Panthor let out a great roar before falling to the ground, out cold.
"What were you waiting for?" Jerry barked as he trotted up to Erin.
She looked around. He-man had just given Whiplash the beating of a lifetime and he and Teela were running to help Man-At-Arms. Erin smiled slyly to herself as she headed towards the fight herself.
"Uh, oh," Jerry snapped. "Someone's got it bad."
Erin shot him a nasty look. "I do not, I was just having a little fun. Is that so.."
A scream came from above. Erin stopped and turned around.
On the second floor balcony of the palace, Beast-Man had a knife to Queen Marlena's throat. She struggled in the arms of the huge creature, but looked like she was in great pain.
Next to him, Evil-Lyn and Trap Jaw were firing their weapons at guards trying to stop them.
"NO!!!!!!" both He-Man and Erin yelled at the same time.
Evil-Lyn looked down and chuckled. She knew there was know way she would get the stranger to leave the palace on her own and she had too much power to be controlled. This was the only way, and she was having so much fun with it.
"It works this way, we're taking the Queen," she hissed. "The stranger will turn herself over to Skeletor with no interference from He-Man or the Defenders or else Panthor will get to feast on the Queen's internal organs for dinner. You have 24 hours."
With that the four on the balcony disappeared in a flash of light, as did Panthor, Whiplash, Tri-Clops and Mer-Man.
Erin looked helplessly at He-Man, Man-At-Arms and Teela.
"This is all my fault," she said as the others approached her. "If I had never come here, this wouldn't be happening."
"Well, if you say so," Teela snottily replied. The Man-At-Arms nudged her. She recanted. "I'm sorry, this isn't your fault, Skeletor has tried this type of stunt before."
Man-At-Arms jumped in.
"Yes, but the stakes are much higher this time," he reasoned. "We can't turn Erin over to Skeletor. To do so would be catastrophic,"
"But if we don't, the Queen dies," Stratos concluded.
He-Man was distraught, and Erin knew why.
"I can't let Marlena.the queen.suffer in my place," Erin told the group. "I won't let anything happen to her. I have to go. Can someone tell me how I can get there?"
Now it was He-Man's turn.
"I can't let that happen," he growled sounding a little like Jerry as he grabbed her arm. "Skeletor would torture you to the point that you would beg for death. Then he will use your power to destroy us all."
Erin was kind of disappointed that his reasoning wasn't more personal, but in a way, she was glad for it. She pulled away from his grip and for the first time, looked the heroic warrior right in the eyes.
"I don't even know how to use this so called power," she replied coolly. "Besides, according to Man-At-Arms, this Skeletor-guy can't hurt me, only someone immortal can. It would seem to me that if he were immortal, he wouldn't be having his underlings do the dirty work. He would just come and take care of business himself."
She started to walk towards the forest. "So someone can either tell me where I'm going, or I could waste precious time getting lost."
Man-At-Arms stopped her. "Wait," he said. "Let's go to Grayskull and consult the Sorceress first. We need to know a little more about what we are dealing with."
Erin started to protest but saw the same pleading look on He-Man's face that she had seen on Adam's face when Jerry sniffed his hand in the garden.
"Fine, give me ten minutes to gather some things and we'll go," Erin caved.
She turned and walked past some debris back into the palace. Jerry trotted behind her.