Chapter Six

"Dark Dealings"

Bow and Castaspella rushed down the corridor, the sounds of war going on outside the walls. Madame Razz and Broom were right behind them. They rushed into the throne room, and saw that Queen Angella had pulled out her sword.

"Where are they?" she questioned immediately, dreading the answer.

Bow pulled out an arrow. "Everywhere," he responded grimly.

"They've taken most of the Castle, and the lands around it have been occupied. 10,000 soldiers, mother!"

Angella lifted up her sword. "It was nice having the Castle around while it lasted. Madame Razz, here's hoping your spells work today."

The throne room doors tore from their hinges, and Rattlor leapt in. Arrows and energy blasts shot towards him, but he dodged each one. Rattlor snarled and slammed his head against Bow's chest, knocking him across the room. His tail then swung about and smashed into Castaspella. His hands sprung out, snapping away Madame Razz and Broom.

He then lunged towards Queen Angella, who barely had time to figure out what just happened. But as soon as Rattlor reached her, a commanding voice resonated throughout the room.

"RATTLOR! STOP!"

Rattlor dropped just short of the Queen, landing perfectly on his feet. He turned around and found King Hiss standing in the doorway.

"My apologies, my king."

"Apologies are meaningless in war, Rattlor. You know that," King Hiss spoke. He then turned to Queen Angella. "Queen Angella, my name is King Hiss."

Angella's wings snapped out wide and full, and she braced herself for a confrontation. "Brightmoon shall never fall to you! Etheria will never - "

King Hiss waved his hand up. "I have no interest in taking control of Etheria, Queen Angella. My business is with Hordak."

Angella stepped back. "What are you talking about?"

"Your kingdom is quite well-placed. It would be very easy for my Snake Men to launch an attack from here against Doom Tower and the Fright Zone."

"What's your point, Hiss?"

"I propose a deal, Angella. You allow to camp here for a little while without any trouble. Peacefully. You share some strategic information about the Horde with us. We attack Doom Tower and the Fright Zone, therefore defeating both our common."

"And if I refuse this deal?"

Hiss laughed. "If you refuse? Well, you must realize by now that I have overrun your kingdom, instructing my men not to harm any of your people. If you turn down this offer, I will occupy Brightmoon - not camp, occupy - and . . . well, I will rescind my orders to the Snake Men."

Angella gasped, then grunted in shame. "Damn you."

Hiss's lips upturned in a sinister grin. "Just think, Queen Angella . . . 'The Enemy of my enemy is my friend.'"

"I am well aware of that, Hiss," Angella said. "But remember this and remember this well - we are not friends. And when this is over, it is you we shall be fighting next."

King Hiss said nothing, but bowed and smiled simply.

***

Hordak walked along the coast and frowned inwardly. The destruction he had wrought to the Golden Isles had reminded him of his early days on Etheria. Ahhhh, there was nothing like the first time you crush your peoples spirits and capture them for later slave labor . . .

But the operations here on Eternia would have to wait. Etheria was a concern. The Horde Troopers were almost ready to be marched back to the portal and to Doom Tower. With the news of King Hiss taking over Brightmoon, the Fright Zone was obviously his next choice.

"You're making a mistake."

Hordak spun around and saw Skeletor standing there, staring at him. His first reaction was kill-shot, but quickly realized it was futile. This was transmitted hologram.

"Skeletor. What do you want?"

"You're making a mistake, Hordak. King Hiss is expecting you to take your forces to back Doom Tower. It's there he'll push you further and further back."

"What do you mean?"

"King Hiss is after you, Hordak. You. He'll attack Doom Tower, but I know for a fact you have the manpower to deflect his attacks. He's not concerned for Etheria. It's Eternia he wants. Attack Eternia and he'll HAVE to divert his forces back here."

"And that'll allow me to uproot his army AND the Great Rebellion from Brightmoon."

"Exactly."

Hordak sneered. "Why are you telling me this, Skeletor? What do you have to gain from giving me this information?"

"I was thrown out of Snake Mountain, Hordak. I'm not part of this. In fact, I'm content to just sit at the sidelines and watch as my two greatest rivals - you and Hiss - destroy each other while two of my greatest enemies - He-Man and She-Ra - get stuck in the middle. Bare in mind, Hordak, I'm only telling you this because it is my best interest."

Hordak smiled broadly. "That's something I respected in you, Skeletor. It's your ability to plot and plan for yourself."

Skeletor returned the smile. "It's why I betrayed you, Hordak. Happy hunting."

The hologram faded away and Hordak pressed a button his wrist. "Grizzlor, cancel the evacuation. Prepare a strike force of 800 Troopers to head to the Vine Jungle on my command."

***

She-Ra and the rest of the Heroic Warriors prepared themselves to leave. As per King Randor's orders, they were to move to the Central Tower. Emissaries would soon be arriving from the other kingdoms to meet and plan the next maneuvers to put an end to the Snake Men/Horde War.

"She-Ra, I must speak with you and He-Man," the Sorceress said then with urgency. She-Ra nodded and she and He-Man joined the Sorceress in a private room.

"What is it, Sorceress?" asked He-Man.

"King Hiss took a legion of 10,000 to Etheria," Sorceress replied. "He has taken Brightmoon, forcing Queen Angella to allow the Snake Men to camp there."

"No," muttered She-Ra. "We must free them."

The Sorceress shook her head. "Their alliance specifically states that Hiss will not harm any of Angella's people. King Hiss is a man of word."

"We need to stay here, She-Ra," He-Man said.

"But . . . He-Man, we need to free them."

"Soon enough, She-Ra. But 10,000 warriors is too much. Don't worry we'll take care of that when the time comes."

"And just when will that time come, He-Man? When!? Eternos has fallen! Brightmoon has been taken!"

The Sorceress interjected. "And Hordak is the next target, She-Ra. It's a peaceful occupation, lasting only as long as it takes for Doom Tower to fall. His forces will leave after that."

"And how can I trust that, Sorceress?" She-Ra countered.

"You'll just have to!" He-Man argued.

"Damn it! I'm not going to put up with - "

"CHILDREN!" The two looked around and found Man-At-Arms standing at the doorway.

"This isn't the way to end this war. We need to get to Central Tower and plot out our next move. She-Ra, Eternos takes priority. Not because of your parents or our people or even Teela - but because it's more important.

"Let's face facts: now that Eternos has fallen, the rest of Eternia is open to attack. Nothing is protected with Eternos gone. We have to meet with the other kingdoms and figure out what to do next and fast. Does that mean we're not worried about Brightmoon? No, it doesn't. But historically, Hiss is willing to keep his word. He's not worried about mass destruction and he doesn't want Etheria. He's just camping out at Brightmoon so that he has a better chance at taking down Hordak's headquarters.

"Our best bet right now," Man-At-Arms continued, "is to get some sort of reconnaissance going on at Brightmoon. A spy. Someone to let us know exactly what is going on over there. That way we can keep a concise view on Etheria while we deal with Eternos. Agreed?"

She-Ra nodded resigningly. "Agreed. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just letting my feelings get the best of me . . ."

Man-At-Arms smiled warmly. "Don't worry about it. Trust me, I'm just dying to get in there and get my little girl out of there. For all I know, she could be . . ."

"Duncan," Sorceress cut in. "She's safe."

He looked over at her, a bit surprised. "How can you be so sure?"

"I just am . . ."

***

The fog seemed to lift around Teela, but she a sudden cold overcome her. For a moment - just for a moment - she felt lost. Why was she pregnant? Why was naked? Why did she have wings? And then things grew warm again and the questions faded immediately.

The jungle was far behind her, as were the ruins. Now Teela walking across a hilly area, wading through long, green grass. She still felt drawn forward, knowing that where she needed to be was ahead. The fog had returned, settling low and along the grass. Teela enjoyed it looking at it and kept walking. The sky was bright blue with large puffy clouds, indicating that it was morning.

After walking down another hill, Teela came face to face with a strange sight. A tall pillar, at the top of which was a fire. She suddenly knew she needed to get up there. Teela smiled as her wings unfolded. They felt much stronger than they had when she started out.

They flapped on her mental command and Teela hovered for a moment, her naked, pregnant body now airborne. She flew to the top of the pillar, and found a large a man, covered in armor standing in the middle of a ring of fire.

"Life within, life without," said the armored man.

Teela didn't quite understand, but nodded anyways. The man reached down and pulled something out of the fire. It was a dark and long. A torch, with a fire blazing at the top. He handed it to Teela.

"This will help you."

Teela smiled. "Thank you."

Holding up the torch, Teela flew back down to the hill and began her walk forward once more.

***

Along the northern coast of the Dark Hemisphere, Evil Lynn stared out upon the sea and thought of Skeletor's gambit. It would be risky, this little plan of his, and would be hard to pull off. But Evil Lynn found herself trusting Skeletor's judgement - for once.

His new ally - this one-handed Kloboid named Karg - was making good on his deal. This may just work. Maybe . . .

"Thoughts, Evil Lynn?" questioned Tri-Klops from behind.

"His plan. I'm curious. Does he believe that Hordak will channel the power of the Elders to banish the Snake Men army?"

"Yes, he does."

"Do you agree?"

"I do."

Evil Lynn nodded. "If that happens, then such power would force the Great Eye of the Universe to open. Grayskull's power would be up for grabs."

"That's correct."

"And you think that he can do that? You believe that Skeletor can get into Grayskull before the Eye opens two days later at moonrise?"

"Yes. Don't you?"

"I'm not sure, Tri-Klops. Just how does Skeletor plan on getting into Grayskull this time? Knocking?"

Tri-Klops grinned. "There's a rumor, Evil Lynn, of a silly little scientist. It seems he's created a new kind of teleportation device. Something about the harmonics of the universe. Mythological science stuff."

"Does it work."

"We don't know for sure yet, but rumors indicates it."

"What's this device called?"

"The Cosmic Key."