Chapter Five: "The Art of Diplomacy"
Not long after Teela returned from Castle Grayskull, she heard the news about Ninjor from her father. Apparently, Evil Lynn was upset at not being 'in the loop' regarding the Horde Prime/Primus situation. Adam hoped to resolve that in the morning.
Teela had hoped to talk to him, but just found that she wasn't up to it. Whatever was on her mind and what the Sorceress had told her . . . it would just have to wait until morning, hopefully before Adam left for Snake Mountain.
She couldn't help but feel that she was overreacting. Teela had hoped she wasn't, but the anger and guilt she felt was strong. She glanced at the clock and noticed that while it wasn't exceedingly late, she was tired. And it was also Addison's bedtime - who, she discovered, woke up as soon as she left.
After wrestling the four-year-old into his pajamas and into his bed for the night, Teela decided to get ready herself. She pulled on her pajamas and lounged around on the couch for a while, and tried to write in her diary. But every time she'd tried to put ink to paper, nothing would happen.
A few minutes of frustrating nothingness later, there was a knock at the door. Not really hoping it was Adam, she called out.
"Who is it?"
"It's Adora. I thought you and I could have some girl time."
A small smile crossed Teela's face and she opened the door. Adora, dressed in a blue nightie, walked in.
"Hi," Teela greeted.
"Hey, got a few minutes. I heard about what happened with Mara and Adam out at the convoy. I thought you might want to talk about it."
Teela shook her head, her ponytail bobbing behind her, the two of them sitting down. "It's stupid, Adora. You'll laugh. I'm just so jealous."
"Oh, trust me, I'm well aware of your jealous streak," Adora replied with a sly smile. It was no secret that Teela often times thought that He-Man and She-Ra were seeing each other, only to be insanely embarrassed about ever thinking that now.
"Part of me feels like it's nothing, but that's such a small part. The big part is split - one side telling me that he's doing this because I had sex with another man while he was gone and the other side is telling me that . . . that he just doesn't love me."
Adora shook her head. "No, no. That's not it at all, and you know it. He loves you, Teela. With all his heart."
Teela hung her head. "I . . . I know that. But I'm just so afraid of losing him again. You don't know what that's like, Adora. You don't."
"I do," Adora replied. "I know EXACTLY what you're talking about."
Teela looked up confused. "What?"
"Etheria. The world I've spent the last eight years protecting has been locked in oil for the past five. All of my friends - the ones that didn't make it - are in stasis. Including Seahawk."
"Seahawk . . ." breathed Teela, remembering the captain that had stolen Adora and She-Ra's heart.
"Maybe I didn't get pregnant, Teela, but at least you had someone there like Addison to keep you together."
"Yeah . . ."
"I miss Seahawk very much, but I know that I'll see him again. Just like I know that Adam loves you and would never do anything to hurt you."
Teela nodded, knowing those words were true. "Okay. Yeah, you're right."
Adora leaned back in her chair. "Damn straight I'm right. Now, if you want to ignore him tonight and make sure he knows you're mad at him - fine by me."
Teela giggled, for the first time all day. "Thanks."
"Well, you're quite welcome."
Teela got up and went to the fridge to fetch some wine. "I heard you went to Phantos today," she said as she poured two glasses.
"Yeah, that was an interesting trip," Adora replied, thanking Teela for the glass and taking a sip. "Elmora seemed at peace, as did her entire kingdom. Nice to know one world in this system is. But she didn't know anything about the missing kingdoms or races."
"Of course."
"I just wish the Sorceress would break her damn vow of silence, you know? It's driving me insane."
Teela nodded. "She's been rather cryptic lately."
"How so?"
"Well, she asked me to come to Castle Grayskull and talk to her. She was telling me I needed to be there for Adam. That something had happened to him while in those caverns that shook his faith. That I knew, but she seemed really concerned for him."
"You know, Adam has been like that these past few weeks. He's had some days that are better than others, but I can't remember the last time he turned into He-Man. I wonder what happened to him," Adora mused. "Speaking of mysterious, Elmora mentioned something that really caught my attention."
"What's that?"
"She mention that ever since He-Man came back, Phantos has been detecting an energy signature coming from somewhere on Eternia. Within that energy signature is the word 'Zodak.'"
Teela shrugged and sipped her wine. "Beats me. If you want to throw in that ship that attacked Adam from orbit, then we'd have one heckuva mystery."
Adora shook her head. "No, I think we'd better just concentrate on Horde Prime. He should be here in two days. Heh. On my birthday."
"Really? Oh gosh, I completely forgot!"
Adora laughed. "So did I!"
Late the next morning, in the throne room of Snake Mountain, King Adam stood side-by-side with Man-At-Arms, Sy-Klone and Mekaneck.
"We had a deal, Evil Lynn," Adam spoke loudly. All around him, the Evil Warriors chuckled.
"We did," Evil Lynn agreed, sitting upon her throne.
"Then why did you send a spy?" questioned Adam.
"Because when ships begin to land all around the location of a place that is quite important to Eternia, then I begin to get a little more than suspicious," Evil Lynn replied, standing up. "Our peace treaty may not say anything about sharing of information, but it does speak of openness. I felt in the spirit of that openness, which was not occurring, I should look into what was happening."
"Horde Prime is coming," Adam said clearly. "His son Zed overthrew Horde World, throwing the whole empire into chaos. Worlds are being abandoned, Admirals are going rogue and Horde Prime and everyone that is still loyal to him is heading here, to Eternia."
Evil Lynn breathed in. "Do you know why?"
"He's in search for 'the ultimate power," Adam answered. "Now, to what that ultimate power is, we don't know . . ."
"Hordak," Evil Lynn returned. "Horde Prime is after Hordak."
"Why?"
"Hordak has been alive for 1,500 years. In that time, he's obtained a lot of knowledge. What you don't know is that some 800 years ago, Hordak devised of an ultimate spell that could destroy an entire planet. It creates an incredible amount of power. Unfortunately, Hordak made Shadow Weaver put mental blocks in his mind to keep the spell from ever being discovered. Hordak never wanted to use it, and saw it as too much of an 'out' for him."
"And now Horde Prime wants that spell?"
"Exactly. From what I know, Horde Prime is dying. But he's determined not to die with any enemies left. He wants to destroy every world that has come against him."
Adam tensed at that. There were countless worlds out there that had fought hard against the Horde, including Eternia and Etheria.
"Join with us, Evil Lynn. Help us fight Horde Prime off."
Evil Lynn grinned and leaned back in her throne. "No, King Adam. You have all the allies you need. We have faith in you . . . for better or for worse."
Orko barely nodded when Ram-Man told him that Adam and the others had returned. All he had cared about were the reinforcements arriving. These ships would be carrying aliens from Horde-captured worlds that sought to stand against Horde Prime one last time. That was including Trolla.
Adam joined him a top the hill as the Orko watched the campsite below Eternos. "Any word on the convoy yet?" he asked.
"It's supposed to be here by now," Orko said nervously, his fingers folding and unfolding.
"There!" shouted Adam, pointing to the sky. A dozen large ships dropped down from orbit and landed in the fields. Orko sped down the hill, and Adam grinned a bit at his excitement and anxiousness.
One of the first ships that landed opened a large hatch on its side and Hydron immediately met with the people inside - members of a race Adam wasn't aware of. And then . . . out floated some Trollian mages, including the Crimson Council, Prankster, Snoob, Squange, and the High Muck-Much. They followed by none other than Dree-Ell, Yonkers and Montok. Orko's cries of joy could be heard all throughout the region.
Adam went down to talk to Hydron and hopefully be introduced to these new aliens - when he spotted some aliens he DID know.
"Hey Adam!" shouted Rokkon, emerging from one of the ships with Stonedar.
Adam was awestruck, but then hardened. He stomped over to Rokkon and immediately pushed him to the ground.
"HOW DARE YOU SET FOOT ON THIS PLANET AGAIN!?" shouted Adam.
"Whoa, Adam, calm down!" yelped Hydron.
Rokkon stood back up. "Yeah, hey, you don't understand - "
"DON'T UNDERSTAND!? DON'T UNDERSTAND!?!" Adam charged towards Rokkon, only to be held back by Hydron.
"Stand down, Adam!" shouted Hydron, holding Adam back.
Rokkon lifted his hand to calm Hydron. "No, no. Hydron, I think Adam and I need to have a chat, don't you agree, Adam?"
Adam pulled away from Hydron and stepped forward. "Definitely."
Rokkon and Adam walked away from the crowd, snow kicking up around them. Once they were a reasonable distance from the campsite and Eternos, Rokkon stopped and turned to Adam.
"I suppose you heard then," Rokkon assumed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"About you spying on us for Zodak? Yes."
Rokkon went limp, and allowed his large rocky arms to hang from his sides. "We weren't exactly spying, only sending reports to him whenever something occurred that fell into certain parameters of his interests - "
Adam threw his head back. "Right. I see that's a big difference. You betrayed us!"
Rokkon pointed right at Adam. "No! We never betrayed you! You wanna know why we were doing this? We were doing it because Zodak swore to us that the Horde would be defeated on our homeworld! Zodak helped save us for this little task! We only asked us to send him up-dates on matters that considered the overall balance of power here! We OWED him!"
Adam grew angry, but kept it in check. "Tell me something then . . . where were you when Hordak came back?"
"We were captured, but Hordak didn't want anything to do with us. He beamed us and the Meteorbs into deep space where we eventually found my homeworld/. By the time we reached it, word had spread about the crumbling of the Horde's empire and we joined in the fighting, remembering what had happened to us."
Rokkon sighed heavily. "We didn't fully understand the amount of manipulation done on Eternia. But we didn't do any of that, we were just fulfilling a job - and helping you. No matter what happened, we owed you as well for your companionship. We served you loyally, despite whatever else happened."
Adam shook his head. "Yeah, well, this is one companion you've lost. When this is all over, I want you off my planet. And do me a favor while you're here - don't tell anyone else about Zodak. So far, I'm the only one who knows."
Rokkon nodded and looked to his left, seeing members of the Heroic Warriors making their way over. Adam walked off and Rokkon was soon in the presence of friends again. But after Adam's word, he felt a self-conscious sting at those words.
Adora from the balcony as she observed Dree-Ell and Orko floating across the courtyard, holding hands. A strong sense of maturity in their lives - in their relationship - had seemed to come across them. War, Adora imagined, had changed the nature of their relationship. They were just so happy to see each other, nothing else seemed to matter.
She then giggled when Montok and Yuckers started chucking snowballs at the couple, resulting in an immediate return fire. It was nice to see such wonderful things in this terrible time.
"Queen Adora," said an aide then. "Your brother and the delegates are in the Meeting Room, awaiting your arrival."
Adora let the smile fade and nodded to the aide. She walked up the stairs and entered into the Meeting Room, the large camp outside visible through the window-paneled walls. Adam beckoned her to a chair.
"I'll make this as brief as possible," he said up-front. "We're facing a massive emergency. Horde Prime is on his way to Eternos and considering the current state of affairs, we're looking at trouble. I'll be honest - we're what's keeping this world together in these post-war months. I'm asking you to join with us against Horde Prime and his soldiers. If you don't, then we could be in for some serious danger."
Johanna was the first to speak. "I can have soldiers from North Eternos here by sundown."
Stephan nodded. "West Eternos will give aide by that same time. The soldiers of Eternos will stand united."
"We do not have much to offer," Rana of Targa said.
"But we'll send word to Targa to assemble hunters and strongmen to help in this conflict," Raya said, finishing her sister's proposal.
"My royal guard will be more than happy to help Eternos if the danger is that grand," Valena of Ahberron gave in.
"Arcadia supports this battle. You have our help," Queen Sumara stated clearly.
"The Golden Isles will be more than willing to help out in this crisis," Counselor Ari offered.
"Then let the kingdoms of Men stand together," Moriana said with a strong smile.
"And let Avion stand with you," Stratos added. "I will have five legions of warriors here by midnight."
"With Insectoids right behind," Buzz-Off followed up.
"I will send word to the Lizard Caverns," Lizard-Man said smally. "I'll attempt to gather arms there for protection in this fight."
The others turned to Batros, Lodar and Icer. Batros grunted and straighten. "A contingent of Bats are on stand-by. I'll have them take a flying position for the . . . good of all Eternia."
Adam nodded and smiled.
Icer spoke next. "I will be here, only because the poles are in danger."
Lodar shifted uncomfortably in his chair, then resigned at last. "We will be here with a army of Kobloids."
The others chimed, each one offering at least some support in the war efforts.
Adora turned to Adam. "With the exception of Snake Mountain - all Eternia has united under you with full faith that will win it."
Adam smiled wide. "Knowing that makes me feel like we can.