Eternal Foe
Chapter 18
Mekasha's gaze shot every which way, trying to discern a pattern to the chaotic network of footprints adorning the floor.
"It will do you no good to hide Heir of the Council, sooner or later you will face me!" Mekasha thundered across the courtyard; he was tired, disoriented and hungry and now this thick-witted fool thought to play games.
Rattlor, Tung Lashor and Sssqueeze followed cautiously behind. They too felt identical pangs to their king and like he, would not let that dull their senses. Mekasha raised the Singer and sharply gestured with it.
The thick layer of dust that had carpeted the lair lifted into the air and flew in every direction. Mekasha raised his hand to signal complete silence from his warriors. They stood there for a few seconds when it finally came, the faintest of sneezes, from somewhere north. But it was not completely what he expected to hear, it was a woman who had made the noise. So, the woman from Derren-Ma was also here.
The Snake Men made their way north at a slow pace, determined not to be surprised. Mekasha came to a halt. "They are waiting for us in the Temple." This elicited snarls from the group, that foreigners should invade their most sacred place.
It may have been centuries and many memories may have faded, but the Snake Men knew their home and within minutes they stood at the entrance to their temple. Mekasha entered first, the Crimson Singer held at the ready. The lone figure of the Heir of the Council stood lazily by the Cold Forge, his hands resting on the pommel of his sword.
"Did I spoil your surprise?" Mekasha sneered, "I am more resourceful than you realise."
"I'll bear that in mind." He-Man said, almost disinterestedly.
Mekasha scowled at the hero's insolence. "You will not be so glib when I run the Singer through your body!" Mekasha flicked his eyes left and right. "Where is the wench, do you think she can tip the odds in your favour? She is fodder for my men, they will find her and tear the flesh from their body."
The three Snake Men split off and started searching the rooms at the implied command. ".and that leaves us alone."
Mekasha barely finished the sentence when streaks of lightning burst from his fingertips aimed squarely at He-Man.
Tung Lashor could taste her.then he couldn't. The scent appeared again before disappearing again. He was suddenly apprehensive, only the Vipras had that ability; the guardians of the nesting rooms. Even if the wench had donned the Vipras' armour she needed innate magical ability to work it. Was he trying to hunt what the humans called a 'witch'?"
It was impossible, he had seen her fight at Derren-Ma, she fought like any other mortal. Perhaps he had been lied to about the Vipras' armour, perhaps it would work for any who wore one?
The sound of feet landing on stone caught his attention and her scent returned. Lashor looked around to see her barely a few feet away from him in a crouched position.
"Looking for someone handsome?" the woman said mockingly.
"Pretty girl, nasty tongue. I will feed on your nasty tongue."
The woman grinned, "I'm afraid that's the wrong answer."
She leapt at him with incredible speed, unprepared Tung Lashor stumbled backwards. She had not moved like that at Derren-Ma! He tried to bring his sword up in defence but realised it was all too late as he stared at the blade buried within his chest.
Soon there were no scents, but for the increasingly intrusive coppery tang of his own blood flooding his throat, choking him to death.
He-Man barely had time to react. He instinctively raised the Power Sword before him, catching the lethal blasts on the blade and watched as the sword seemed to absorb them. He smiled at King Hiss.
"It seems I am more resourceful than you credit me for."
Hiss said nothing he only scowled at his foe.
The two enemies circled each other, wary of making the first move. He-Man noticed the faintest flicker of Hiss' eyelid and realised the Snake King was trying another spell.
The ground beneath He-Man's feet became smooth and slippery, he looked down to realise Hiss had iced the soles of his boots. He-Man stumbled with his next step and King Hiss lunged for him.
Teela crept after the Snake Man with the scaly, green skin. She vividly hoped this one would prove just as easy to subdue as the other one. She followed it down a wide corridor when it suddenly spun around lashed its arm out tentacle-like directly towards her!
She side-stepped the attack and noticed the creature's fist had become a snake-head. What in Eternia kind of people lived in ancient times?
Both of its arms now sped towards her. Teela waved her sword wildly hoping to catch one of the disgusting limbs/appendages/conjoined-pets by accident. The arm-snakes flinched but continued to snake their way towards her after only a split-second.
Teela thanked the cobra-armour she wore as twisted and bent her body in a desperate attempt to avoid the Snake Man's attack. One whooshed past her head and seeing an opportunity swung her sword in an upward arc severing the arm in two.
The creature screamed in torment and the remaining shrank back to normal size. Just as abruptly as it had begun, the screaming stopped as Teela plunged her sword deep through its larynx. She held the blade there a moment, waiting for the twitching to stop, making sure the wretched creature was indeed dead.
He-Man had stumbled back as the Crimson Singer caught him across the arm. He scrabbled backwards as Hiss swung his sword down hard. He-Man kicked Hiss hard behind the knee, despite there being no bone to shatter the force of the blow knocked the Snake King from his feet.
Eternia's hero sprung to his feet and scraped the last vestiges of Hiss' trick off his boots. Hiss had also regained his footing in the intervening moment.
The standoff continued.
Rattlor walked into a block near the temple, the warrior woman was standing there waiting, he hissed at the Vipra armour she wore. "You desecrate the memory of those superior to you wench."
"It's snake-skin, it's very comfortable." Teela said dryly.
Rattlor stalked towards her. "Many great people wore armour like that, it became their right for the great deeds they achieved. Yet, you wear it like a toy, you sully a culture you do not understand, you mock and fight people because they are not your kind. So it has been with all humankind."
Teela simply shrugged. "I guess that depends on which history books you read, but as I recall it were you that attacked me first. Your war against humankind matters to me not in the slightest, I am fighting for my survival, something you and your brethren are trying to deprive me of."
Rattlor lunged for the woman. She casually evaded the strike; so it seemed that she could channel the powers of the Vipra as well.
The human woman swung at Rattlor's back. Flattening himself against the floor Rattlor spun and kicked the legs from beneath her. He scrabbled to his, sword in hand and prepared to throw himself into another attack.
The woman waited for him, her sword too at the ready. They sprung at each other their blades screeching as they met mid-air. Both combatants sliced, thrust and parried looking for an opening in the other's defences. With the Vipra Armour assisting her, the woman was able to meet Rattlor blow for blow.
Rattlor kept his strikes low and close to his body, effectively using his sword as a shield in the process. The woman kept her cool, she fought with the same methodical patience he did; he desperately needed something to take her off guard. It quickly occurred to him that he had some anatomical differences to the woman he could use in his favour, but it would require one well timed strike.
Rattlor stepped back from the engagement and came in with a huge diagonal upswing. The woman's sword recoiled back from the violence of the blow. Rattlor, still in the same motion he swung with, spun his entire body around whipping his opponent with his tail sending her crashing into the nearest wall.
Before she had a chance to recover Rattlor ran her through the stomach. Rattlor withdrew his blade and stood poised to deliver a single, decapitating blow. As he swung the sword around the woman looked up at him with a wild glare and then.
Teela sat there shaking a moment; she recognised the onset of shock. She tried to rationalise what had just happened; one moment she had been a sitting duck, waiting for the killing blow to be delivered. She had never been so scared in her life, she had thrown her hand up as a desperate plea for mercy but she had somehow incinerated her assailant. It must have been the armour she thought weakly.
Little good it did her, whatever had just happened drained her of what strength she had remaining. She felt cold, hot, cold.she felt sick.she felt dizzy. She just needed to lie down.a little rest would invigorate her as good as new. Tears fell from her cheeks, she didn't want to die here, cold and alone.
She tried hard to think of her father, of the King and Queen and Adam; all the people that meant anything to her. But darkness was closing in and the thoughts were lost in the fog of lost consciousness and soon there was nothing.
Sparks flew recklessly as the two legendary blades clashed. King Hiss flew back several feet from the force of He-Man's blow. So far he had managed to counter Hiss' tricks but he could not help but wonder for how much longer? He-Man was starting to become frustrated, even in swordplay Hiss had still not yielded.
He just needed to break the Snake King's concentration for a moment, something to make him careless, because he would not gain anything from continuing this frontal assault. He-Man looked around the temple, there had to be something that could give him the advantage.
His eyes fell upon the great stone serpent towards the back of the room. He-Man looked back at the Snake King, he figured it was time to test the strength of Hiss' religious convictions.
With a loud cry He-Man ran for the statue and plunged the Power Sword deep into the stone. The giant Serpent began to crack all over.
"Nooo! You fool! You idiot! What have you done?!" Hiss rushed the human warrior in a berserk fury, the Crimson Singer held high above his head.
He-Man loosed his grip on the Power Sword and spun about to catch Hiss on the wrist before he could deliver his blow. He-Man brought his arms down flipping the Serpent King over his shoulder slamming him hard into the bare concrete floor.
The Crimson Singer fell from Hiss' hands. He-Man wasted no time in picking the blade up and taking it to the Cold Forge. There he plunged it into the Forge point first. Instead of steel meeting stone the blade slid in easily, when it was embedded about halfway down the blade He-Man gave the grip a sharp tug shattering both sword and forge in one motion.
"You may have destroyed my weapon, my source of power, but I will take yours in turn and your life in compensation!" He-Man turned around to see Hiss standing there with the Power Sword in his hands.
"Did you think we would die so easily, my men and I are all that remain of our kind. Would you defy the natural order by murdering us all?" Hiss spat.
He-Man shook his head. "So caught up in yourself you are. Did you ever stop to think for one moment the fate of your people during your incarceration? That perhaps they fled fearing the persecution you promised them from the humans? Of course not, as far as you were concerned if there was no King Hiss then there were no Snake People."
"The remainder of your people fled to distant lands establishing new lives for themselves, a new society.under new rulers." He-Man clenched a fist. "Thus, your reign as king.is over."
He slammed his fist into the ground. The ground trembled beneath the might of He-Man's blow, the Stone Snake shook as the tremors rattled the already fragile rock. Large pieces came loose falling to the ground below, where King Hiss stood.
The Snake King screamed as man-sized boulders crushed him beneath their weight.
He-Man waited for the tremors to subsist before he started clearing the rubble. He effortlessly heaved the enormous chunks aside until he reached the prone body of King Hiss. He-Man listened for breathing but could detect none, nor could he find a pulse. He dug around some more before he located the Power Sword.
"This belongs to me thank you very much." He said casually before walking away, leaving the corpse of King Mekasha were it lay.
Chapter 18
Mekasha's gaze shot every which way, trying to discern a pattern to the chaotic network of footprints adorning the floor.
"It will do you no good to hide Heir of the Council, sooner or later you will face me!" Mekasha thundered across the courtyard; he was tired, disoriented and hungry and now this thick-witted fool thought to play games.
Rattlor, Tung Lashor and Sssqueeze followed cautiously behind. They too felt identical pangs to their king and like he, would not let that dull their senses. Mekasha raised the Singer and sharply gestured with it.
The thick layer of dust that had carpeted the lair lifted into the air and flew in every direction. Mekasha raised his hand to signal complete silence from his warriors. They stood there for a few seconds when it finally came, the faintest of sneezes, from somewhere north. But it was not completely what he expected to hear, it was a woman who had made the noise. So, the woman from Derren-Ma was also here.
The Snake Men made their way north at a slow pace, determined not to be surprised. Mekasha came to a halt. "They are waiting for us in the Temple." This elicited snarls from the group, that foreigners should invade their most sacred place.
It may have been centuries and many memories may have faded, but the Snake Men knew their home and within minutes they stood at the entrance to their temple. Mekasha entered first, the Crimson Singer held at the ready. The lone figure of the Heir of the Council stood lazily by the Cold Forge, his hands resting on the pommel of his sword.
"Did I spoil your surprise?" Mekasha sneered, "I am more resourceful than you realise."
"I'll bear that in mind." He-Man said, almost disinterestedly.
Mekasha scowled at the hero's insolence. "You will not be so glib when I run the Singer through your body!" Mekasha flicked his eyes left and right. "Where is the wench, do you think she can tip the odds in your favour? She is fodder for my men, they will find her and tear the flesh from their body."
The three Snake Men split off and started searching the rooms at the implied command. ".and that leaves us alone."
Mekasha barely finished the sentence when streaks of lightning burst from his fingertips aimed squarely at He-Man.
Tung Lashor could taste her.then he couldn't. The scent appeared again before disappearing again. He was suddenly apprehensive, only the Vipras had that ability; the guardians of the nesting rooms. Even if the wench had donned the Vipras' armour she needed innate magical ability to work it. Was he trying to hunt what the humans called a 'witch'?"
It was impossible, he had seen her fight at Derren-Ma, she fought like any other mortal. Perhaps he had been lied to about the Vipras' armour, perhaps it would work for any who wore one?
The sound of feet landing on stone caught his attention and her scent returned. Lashor looked around to see her barely a few feet away from him in a crouched position.
"Looking for someone handsome?" the woman said mockingly.
"Pretty girl, nasty tongue. I will feed on your nasty tongue."
The woman grinned, "I'm afraid that's the wrong answer."
She leapt at him with incredible speed, unprepared Tung Lashor stumbled backwards. She had not moved like that at Derren-Ma! He tried to bring his sword up in defence but realised it was all too late as he stared at the blade buried within his chest.
Soon there were no scents, but for the increasingly intrusive coppery tang of his own blood flooding his throat, choking him to death.
He-Man barely had time to react. He instinctively raised the Power Sword before him, catching the lethal blasts on the blade and watched as the sword seemed to absorb them. He smiled at King Hiss.
"It seems I am more resourceful than you credit me for."
Hiss said nothing he only scowled at his foe.
The two enemies circled each other, wary of making the first move. He-Man noticed the faintest flicker of Hiss' eyelid and realised the Snake King was trying another spell.
The ground beneath He-Man's feet became smooth and slippery, he looked down to realise Hiss had iced the soles of his boots. He-Man stumbled with his next step and King Hiss lunged for him.
Teela crept after the Snake Man with the scaly, green skin. She vividly hoped this one would prove just as easy to subdue as the other one. She followed it down a wide corridor when it suddenly spun around lashed its arm out tentacle-like directly towards her!
She side-stepped the attack and noticed the creature's fist had become a snake-head. What in Eternia kind of people lived in ancient times?
Both of its arms now sped towards her. Teela waved her sword wildly hoping to catch one of the disgusting limbs/appendages/conjoined-pets by accident. The arm-snakes flinched but continued to snake their way towards her after only a split-second.
Teela thanked the cobra-armour she wore as twisted and bent her body in a desperate attempt to avoid the Snake Man's attack. One whooshed past her head and seeing an opportunity swung her sword in an upward arc severing the arm in two.
The creature screamed in torment and the remaining shrank back to normal size. Just as abruptly as it had begun, the screaming stopped as Teela plunged her sword deep through its larynx. She held the blade there a moment, waiting for the twitching to stop, making sure the wretched creature was indeed dead.
He-Man had stumbled back as the Crimson Singer caught him across the arm. He scrabbled backwards as Hiss swung his sword down hard. He-Man kicked Hiss hard behind the knee, despite there being no bone to shatter the force of the blow knocked the Snake King from his feet.
Eternia's hero sprung to his feet and scraped the last vestiges of Hiss' trick off his boots. Hiss had also regained his footing in the intervening moment.
The standoff continued.
Rattlor walked into a block near the temple, the warrior woman was standing there waiting, he hissed at the Vipra armour she wore. "You desecrate the memory of those superior to you wench."
"It's snake-skin, it's very comfortable." Teela said dryly.
Rattlor stalked towards her. "Many great people wore armour like that, it became their right for the great deeds they achieved. Yet, you wear it like a toy, you sully a culture you do not understand, you mock and fight people because they are not your kind. So it has been with all humankind."
Teela simply shrugged. "I guess that depends on which history books you read, but as I recall it were you that attacked me first. Your war against humankind matters to me not in the slightest, I am fighting for my survival, something you and your brethren are trying to deprive me of."
Rattlor lunged for the woman. She casually evaded the strike; so it seemed that she could channel the powers of the Vipra as well.
The human woman swung at Rattlor's back. Flattening himself against the floor Rattlor spun and kicked the legs from beneath her. He scrabbled to his, sword in hand and prepared to throw himself into another attack.
The woman waited for him, her sword too at the ready. They sprung at each other their blades screeching as they met mid-air. Both combatants sliced, thrust and parried looking for an opening in the other's defences. With the Vipra Armour assisting her, the woman was able to meet Rattlor blow for blow.
Rattlor kept his strikes low and close to his body, effectively using his sword as a shield in the process. The woman kept her cool, she fought with the same methodical patience he did; he desperately needed something to take her off guard. It quickly occurred to him that he had some anatomical differences to the woman he could use in his favour, but it would require one well timed strike.
Rattlor stepped back from the engagement and came in with a huge diagonal upswing. The woman's sword recoiled back from the violence of the blow. Rattlor, still in the same motion he swung with, spun his entire body around whipping his opponent with his tail sending her crashing into the nearest wall.
Before she had a chance to recover Rattlor ran her through the stomach. Rattlor withdrew his blade and stood poised to deliver a single, decapitating blow. As he swung the sword around the woman looked up at him with a wild glare and then.
Teela sat there shaking a moment; she recognised the onset of shock. She tried to rationalise what had just happened; one moment she had been a sitting duck, waiting for the killing blow to be delivered. She had never been so scared in her life, she had thrown her hand up as a desperate plea for mercy but she had somehow incinerated her assailant. It must have been the armour she thought weakly.
Little good it did her, whatever had just happened drained her of what strength she had remaining. She felt cold, hot, cold.she felt sick.she felt dizzy. She just needed to lie down.a little rest would invigorate her as good as new. Tears fell from her cheeks, she didn't want to die here, cold and alone.
She tried hard to think of her father, of the King and Queen and Adam; all the people that meant anything to her. But darkness was closing in and the thoughts were lost in the fog of lost consciousness and soon there was nothing.
Sparks flew recklessly as the two legendary blades clashed. King Hiss flew back several feet from the force of He-Man's blow. So far he had managed to counter Hiss' tricks but he could not help but wonder for how much longer? He-Man was starting to become frustrated, even in swordplay Hiss had still not yielded.
He just needed to break the Snake King's concentration for a moment, something to make him careless, because he would not gain anything from continuing this frontal assault. He-Man looked around the temple, there had to be something that could give him the advantage.
His eyes fell upon the great stone serpent towards the back of the room. He-Man looked back at the Snake King, he figured it was time to test the strength of Hiss' religious convictions.
With a loud cry He-Man ran for the statue and plunged the Power Sword deep into the stone. The giant Serpent began to crack all over.
"Nooo! You fool! You idiot! What have you done?!" Hiss rushed the human warrior in a berserk fury, the Crimson Singer held high above his head.
He-Man loosed his grip on the Power Sword and spun about to catch Hiss on the wrist before he could deliver his blow. He-Man brought his arms down flipping the Serpent King over his shoulder slamming him hard into the bare concrete floor.
The Crimson Singer fell from Hiss' hands. He-Man wasted no time in picking the blade up and taking it to the Cold Forge. There he plunged it into the Forge point first. Instead of steel meeting stone the blade slid in easily, when it was embedded about halfway down the blade He-Man gave the grip a sharp tug shattering both sword and forge in one motion.
"You may have destroyed my weapon, my source of power, but I will take yours in turn and your life in compensation!" He-Man turned around to see Hiss standing there with the Power Sword in his hands.
"Did you think we would die so easily, my men and I are all that remain of our kind. Would you defy the natural order by murdering us all?" Hiss spat.
He-Man shook his head. "So caught up in yourself you are. Did you ever stop to think for one moment the fate of your people during your incarceration? That perhaps they fled fearing the persecution you promised them from the humans? Of course not, as far as you were concerned if there was no King Hiss then there were no Snake People."
"The remainder of your people fled to distant lands establishing new lives for themselves, a new society.under new rulers." He-Man clenched a fist. "Thus, your reign as king.is over."
He slammed his fist into the ground. The ground trembled beneath the might of He-Man's blow, the Stone Snake shook as the tremors rattled the already fragile rock. Large pieces came loose falling to the ground below, where King Hiss stood.
The Snake King screamed as man-sized boulders crushed him beneath their weight.
He-Man waited for the tremors to subsist before he started clearing the rubble. He effortlessly heaved the enormous chunks aside until he reached the prone body of King Hiss. He-Man listened for breathing but could detect none, nor could he find a pulse. He dug around some more before he located the Power Sword.
"This belongs to me thank you very much." He said casually before walking away, leaving the corpse of King Mekasha were it lay.