Chapter 2
Adam cowered under his blanket on the stretcher as they carried him through the halls. The king snatched the blanket off him. "Father!" Adam exclaimed in protest.
"I'm not having you carried through the public halls on a covered stretcher! Let's not feed the rumors."
Adam laid back crossly, arms folded on his chest. He glared up at this father. "Could you at least cover up the stupid pajamas?"
"No!" Randor declared gruffly.
They moved on a few feet. Adam could feel his face burning as some of the younger ladies of the court walked by. The giggling that started just after they passed made him go even redder.
"Don't you think we could have moved me at night?"
"No, Adam, I don't think -"
"Randor!"
Adam's father jumped at the angry tone of Marlena's voice.
"Why are you just carrying that blanket, Randor? Adam should be covered up." Firmly, she took the blanket from him and started spreading it over her son. Adam gave his father a triumphant smile.
"You're right, Marlena," Randor said, gesturing for those carrying the stretcher to stop. "I don't know what I was thinking. Be sure and tuck it in tightly, my dear."
Adam's smile faded as his mother tucked him in thoroughly right in front of a crowd of courtiers. He gave his father a dirty look, and said, "Mother, it's fine. I'm fine." She just kept tucking away.
Over her shoulder, he glimpsed Teela walking towards them and writhed internally. Teela's eyebrows rose almost to her hairline and her mouth twitched, but fortunately she managed to keep from laughing. Otherwise Adam might just have risen up off the stretcher and strangled her.
She turned to King Randor and said, "My father asked me to tell you that the Prince's room is ready, your highness."
"Good, thank you, Teela."
"There, sweetheart," his mother said, pulling back. "Are you more comfortable?"
Adam nodded helplessly, and the convoy carried on.
Marlena stayed in his room for a long while, fussing over him, over his bed, over his lunch. . . . He could hear his father outside, giving orders to guards to take positions under his windows.
He managed a faint smile for his mother when she finally left. As soon as the door was shut behind her, he yanked the extra pillows out from behind him and threw them on the floor.
Teela tsked at him and walked over to look down at his reddening face. "Adam, sweetheart," she said, her voice dripping with sugar. "Are you sure you don't need me to tuck you in?"
Adam glared at her. "Gee, Teela. . .no! You really don't have to stay."
"Actually, I really do. The king gave orders that one of the masters was to be with you at all times." She looked at her fingernails and sighed dramatically. "I drew the short straw."
Awhile later, Teela and Adam were bickering amiably over a game of Panther Strike when Man-at-Arms came in with a pile of books. Teela's eyebrows rose and she gave Adam a sympathetic look.
"I thought now might be a good chance for you to catch up on your studies." He began putting the books down on the bedside table. "History, diplomacy, economics. . ." Adam gulped, as, with a flourish, Man-at-Arms added, "Etiquette."
"Wow, Adam, looks like you've got your work cut out for you," Teela said, her eyes dancing.
Her father looked at her with an amused expression that gave Adam hope for some payback. "These are areas you need work on, too, Teela. Since you volunteered to sit with Adam, I thought it might be a good idea for the two of you to work together." Teela just stared back at him, stunned.
Volunteered? Adam gave Teela a sidelong look. "Short straw, huh?" he muttered in an undertone. Man-at-Arms didn't seem to notice, but Teela rewarded him with a sideways glare. Adam grinned. Suddenly he felt marginally better about having to work while he was stuck in bed.
Man-at-Arms stood up straight and favored them both with a serious look. "I'll expect you both to be able to answer some preliminary questions on Dorno's treason, and why he failed, and how his failure led to the Pelian war."
When her father had left and the door was shut behind him, Teela turned and glared at Adam. "This is all your fault! You had to go and break your leg."
Evil-Lyn stalked into the throne room at Snake Mountain, thoroughly out of sorts. That - that warrior girl! That orange-haired, muscle-bound beast of a girl-child was getting on her nerves. She'd temporarily immobilized Man-at-Arms, but the moment that she'd sent the prince flying, that wretch had pounced on her, blocking her every move, and finally sent her staff spinning away.
Then that blundering dolt Trap Jaw had allowed himself to be knocked silly by the bumbling idiot Ram-Man.
Man-at-Arms was back on his feet by then, so, with all three of them focused on her, she'd set off a brilliant flash of light and, snatching up her staff, escaped while they were still blinded.
She was not looking forward to explaining this failure to -
A nasal voice broke into her thoughts. "Evil-Lyn!" The lord of Snake Mountain leaned forward, gazing down at her. She froze, looking uneasily up at the faceless figure atop his throne. Strange, his eyes weren't glowing red. In fact, he appeared to be grinning. "Congratulations!" he said jovially.
Evil-Lyn raised a wary eyebrow. He was at his most dangerous when cheery like this. What is he on about? she wondered.
"You killed Prince Adam," he cackled. "I've already sent his father my most sincere condolences!"
"He's dead?" Evil-Lyn asked incredulously, pleasure lighting her face, all wariness banished. How marvelous! The useless boy was dead. That would serve the carrot-topped harpy right.
"Tri-Klops! Show us the prince's body!" commanded Skeletor. He gave Evil- Lyn a toothy grin, which she returned. "Does Randor have him laying in state, do you suppose?"
Evil-Lyn looked eagerly as the Doomseeker's image clarified. Having Skeletor happy with her would make a nice change.
The view appeared to be a bedroom in the royal palace. The orange-haired creature sat reading beside the bed where Prince Adam lay. Evil-Lyn's eyes narrowed, pleasure gone. There was no still figure in stiff royal robes, no pale mother weeping over her boy, no Randor looking stricken and stern. Instead, Prince Adam had a cast on one leg and a book lay open on his lap. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he turned aside from the book to jot something down.
She looked up at Skeletor, one eyebrow raised ironically. "They appear to be studying. He certainly doesn't look dead." She glanced back at the doomseeker's image where Prince Adam sighed and turned a page. "Just dead bored. Do you suppose your informant heard wrong?"
Skeletor's eyes began to glow - not at her, Evil-Lyn was pleased to note. "Beastman, would you care to explain this?"
The fuzzy red oaf reared back in dismay. "It's what those two morons who ambushed me said," he huffed defensively. "Man-E-Faces and Mekanek!" Evil-Lyn started in amazement. Beastman was calling them morons?!
She tried unsuccessfully to keep from laughing aloud. "Furface told you?" she exclaimed. "And you believed him?" Beastman growled at her but she ignored his irritation.
Tri-Klops cleared his throat. "Hey, we might want to listen to this."
They all turned back just in time to hear Teela speak.
"So, Adam, what's got your dad so worked up?"
The prince looked up from his book, a pained expression on his face. "He got a condolence note from Skeletor." The girl's eyes widened and she snickered. The prince shrugged.
Evil-Lyn spared a glance for Skeletor. The red glow of his eyes was now coin-sized. She was glad that Beastman had so neatly deflected his displeasure to himself. She'd have to thank him later. The milk-faced prince went on, then, so she couldn't take the time to revel in Beastman's discomfiture.
"Well, he's taking it for a threat to kill me." Evil-Lyn raised a brow. She hadn't thought Randor capable of such creative thought. How amusing.
"Oh, he probably just heard one of Lady Asala's rumors," Teela said dismissively.
Skeletor gestured Tri-Klops to quiet the image. "How very interesting," Skeletor drawled. "Well, we can't disappoint the good king, now can we?"
"What do you mean, Skeletor?" asked Clawful. Evil-Lyn rolled her eyes at his stupidity. "I thought we liked to disappoint him?" the crustacian added.
There was a flash of light from Skeletor's ram-headed staff as he answered Clawful's idiocy in his usual manner. Then he leaned forward. "I would like to invite you all to use what limited brains you have to come up with some way to meet Randor's expectations of me." The others stared up at Skeletor in bafflement. He sighed deeply and explained it for the benefit of the dunderheads. "Whichever of you manages to eliminate the prince will be substantially rewarded."
There was a muttering at that, as each of them glanced covertly at the others. Evil-Lyn remained calm, gazing up at Skeletor. This seemed to have been a tactical error, for it seemed to draw the bony one's attention to her.
"Beastman, Evil-Lyn, perhaps you two ought to team up," Skeletor said, gazing ironically down at her. "Between your ill-timed announcement, Beastman, and your bungling, Evil-Lyn, you both have quite a lot to make up for."
Stung, Evil-Lyn threw her shoulders back. "I wasn't trying to destroy the Prince!" she exclaimed.
"Well, why not?" Skeletor demanded. The others all started laughing, even Beastman. Aware of having acted the fool, she glared around at all of them. One day they would all pay for every jot of humiliation she'd suffered in this room.
"Very well," Evil-Lyn said imperiously. "Beastman, come along, if you're quite done trying to cough up hair balls." His jaws snapped shut and he lunged at her. "I've got a plan," she said quietly to him as he came into range. "Do you?"
His eyes narrowed and he followed her out of the throne room without further comment.
Adam was very tired of being in bed. Two days he'd been stuck his room with Teela. Occasionally someone like Mekanek or Sy-Klone would come in to spell her, but Adam sighed in relief when she left to go to the bathroom towards noon, actually leaving him alone for five minutes. Cringer was outside, getting some air.
He was checking through the accuracy of the family tree they'd created to help them with the history of the Pelian Wars when the sound of laser fire crackled through the air. Was Man-at-Arms testing a new weapon? Screams echoed up from the palace courtyard. That and the sounds of running footsteps and the masters yelling convinced him otherwise.
Without giving it much real thought, Adam struggled to his feet, hissing at the pain he caused himself. Teela was just in the bathroom. It wouldn't do for her to come out in the middle of the transformation. Using his sheathed sword as an unorthodox crutch, he hopped over into his closet. Drawing the sword, he cried, "By the Power of Grayskull!" The mystical energies swirled around him, filling and altering him. He felt a brief pain as the cast on his leg exploded, and then the power welled up in him. "I have the Power!" he proclaimed.
Just as he stepped out of the closet, Teela burst into the room. She took in the empty, disheveled bed and He-Man's presence near the closet with one glance. "Where's Adam?" she nearly shrieked, her face a mask of panic. He- Man opened his mouth, unsure of what to say. The panic in her face abruptly gave way to her usual air of competence. "Okay, you've checked his closet. We've got to find him!" she declared, turning to run out of the room.
He-Man vaulted the bed and followed her out, belatedly realizing that his leg was no longer injured and wondering how he would have explained it had that not been the case.
As he caught up with Teela at the first intersection in the hallways, she turned back to face him. "That way," she ordered him peremptorily, and pelted off down the other hall herself.
He-Man followed her instructions since the hall she pointed to led to the courtyard and thus to the battle. He emerged into the sunlight about three feet from where Man-at-Arms was struggling with a one-eyed robot. He picked the metal-jawed menace up by its neck and flung it into a reflecting pool where it jolted and sparked most satisfactorily.
Man-at-Arms stared at him, his gaze going quickly to his left leg and then back up to his eyes. He-Man shrugged, and they turned to face the melee together.
Out of the corner of his mouth, though, Man-at-Arms said, "What were you planning to do if your leg was still damaged?"
He-Man shrugged, and then was quickly engaged by two more robots. With little effort he flung them aside and scanned the courtyard. Tri-Klops stood near one of the outer walls, holding a large, complicated box that appeared to control the legion of robots he'd flooded the palace with. The masters were scattered, fighting individual robots, and members of the court were fleeing for cover. The king ran out from another building of the palace complex and began harrying the robots who were trying to prevent the non-combatants from escaping.
Two more robots came at He-Man, and he slammed them together, reducing them to sizzling circuits. He began slicing his way through the horde of metal monsters toward their controller. Tri-Klops appeared to be focused on an image from one of his Doomseekers of the halls of the palace - and Teela running through it, fruitlessly searching for Adam.
Sympathy for Teela's desperation gave way to a surge of rage, He-Man brought his sword down through the center of Tri-Klops' control box, then grabbed him by the throat. There was a loud crashing of metal all around him as the swarm of robots fell, disabled.
Two of the masters arrived at his elbow and took Tri-Klops from him.
Randor came forward, breathing heavily and sheathed his sword. "Take him away!" he commanded glaring at Tri-Klops. "Thank you, He-Man," he said, turning to the champion. Deep inside, Adam wished that his father would look at the real him that way. "Father!" Teela's voice came from one of the doorways into the courtyard. "King Randor! Adam's disappeared!"
"What?" the king exclaimed. He took off running toward the captain of the guard.
Man-at-Arms appeared at He-Man's side and gave him a not-so-subtle nudge. "I'll look for him this way!" He-Man declared and ran off toward the palace. All of the masters joined in, together with much of the palace guard. He-Man kept trying to get to Prince Adam's room, but the plethora of searchers defeated his attempts. Finally, in desperation, he found himself an unoccupied corner and, lifting his sword, changed back.
There was a sickening wrench in his leg as Prince Adam's injury returned. He was standing with half his weight on the mangled leg, and he felt the bones grate and shift position. He screamed and fell to the ground, the sword clattering just out of his reach. He strained for it, briefly, then darkness overcame him.
Tuned up 02/02/09 with help from Delora2047