Chapter 8



"Good going, Adam, I think she's crying." The prince stared after his mother, his stomach roiling. Cringer rubbed worriedly against his hand, and Adam stroked the green, furry head. Teela sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry; it's not your fault," she said less stridently. "I don't know how I let that witch get her hooks into me."

Adam shook his head. "No, Teela," he said firmly. "It's not your fault. It's not my fault. It's them. Skeletor and his flunkies." His hand on Cringer's head stilled, and whatever Teela saw in his face made her shiver. "One of these days, we may have to take this war to him."

"But not today," Randor said, stopping in the doorway. He scanned the room, nodding in satisfaction when Buzz-Off went past the window again.

"Did you see Mother?" Adam asked, leaning up a bit.

Randor's eyes softened, and he looked at Adam. "She's fine. She said she just needed a moment to herself."

They were silent for a moment, then Adam glanced sideways at Teela. Her cobra staff was near her on the bed. "Father, is Teela here as an invalid or as a guard?"

Teela huffed at the notion of herself as an invalid, but Randor raised his eyebrows. "Well, both, really."

"I am not an invalid," Teela declared, glaring at the king.

"I just noticed that she gets to keep her weapon."

Randor nodded. "True. But she's nowhere near as injured as you are, and she hasn't - yet - shown any signs of trying to overdo." Teela suddenly looked like she was anxiously calculating just how much she could do and still fall short of overdoing. "One certainly hopes," Randor added, "that the captain will remember that her duty includes keeping herself sufficiently healthy to do her job."

A polite knock sounded at the door, and Randor, looking startled, went to get it. Maybe it was one of the slew of visitors he'd been promised when all this started. So far Adam hadn't had any. Except for the Lady Asala who wasn't Lady Asala. Adam rubbed his eyes. His head hurt.

After a moment, his father stepped back and Raon entered the room. Adam sat forward, glad to see him, but before he could speak he saw the grim expression on Raon's face. "Oh, no!" he groaned. "Has something else happened?"

"No, your highness," Raon said. "All is well at this time." He came to parade rest, eyes straight ahead, expressionless. Adam had seen Duncan take that pose when he didn't want to look anyone in the eye. What was wrong? Raon's tension radiated out to fill the room. "I just came off duty, and was told that I could find the king here. I have a request, and my commander told me I had to take it up with the king."

Randor nodded at the soldier and said, "Is there something I can do for you Sergeant Raon?"

Without changing position, Raon said, "I wish to hand in my resignation, your highness. I am not worthy of the trust I bear."

"What?" Adam and Teela exclaimed together. Then Adam went on, "No, Raon, you can't!" The reason Raon had been around so much when they'd all been children was that Raon's father had been one of Captain Randor's troops before he became king. When Randor was crowned, he'd simply stayed on in the guard. He'd retired a few years back, but Adam knew how proud both he and Raon were of the beginning of what they hoped would become a family tradition, serving the kings of Eternia.

"May I ask why, Sergeant Raon, you would consider such a move at a time like this?" Randor asked, one eyebrow raising in a stern expression. Adam wondered why he seemed stern but not surprised.

Raon didn't look away from the imaginary point in the middle of the room that he was staring at. "I put Prince Adam's life in mortal danger by my negligence and inattention."

"I see." Randor put his hand on his chin and looked thoughtful.

The moment went on for longer than Adam could stand. "It's not your fault!" he cried. "I did my best not to let you know we were in trouble."

Three pairs of eyes swiveled around to face him. "You did what?" his father asked slowly. "Again, I ask, 'why?'"

Adam quailed back under the force of all those astonished eyes. "Um. . .Beastman told me he'd kill Teela if I drew attention to myself. She was totally controlled by Evil-Lyn and wouldn't have been able to fight back. She'd have just stood there while he - while he -" Adam found he couldn't go on, couldn't describe the horrors he'd imagined. His father looked sick. Raon, appalled, glanced at Teela.

Teela bristled. "You should have done anything you could to let Raon know what was going on!" she burst out. "You shouldn't have been thinking about protecting me. It's my job to protect you!"

"I couldn't get you killed!" Adam blurted. "If Beastman had - had - I'd never have forgiven myself! Besides, what could I have said to your dad?" Teela just glared at him, and Adam glared back.

Randor cleared his throat, reminding them that they weren't alone in the room. "I see. I think I understand your reaction, Adam." Teela looked irritable at that. "Now, Sergeant, I'm afraid I cannot accept your resignation." Raon made to argue, but Randor raised a hand. "No, Sergeant. Your argument appears to be that you should have guessed what was going on. Perhaps so. That lies in the area of judgment. I have always had good reports of you. Your superiors think well of you, of your skills and abilities and your good judgment." He put a hand on Raon's shoulder. "It's all right, young man. We all make mistakes. The trick is in learning from them. Do you understand?"

Raon nodded. "Yes, sire, I think so."

"Good. Now, you said you were off duty?" Raon nodded again. "Then go back to your barracks and get some rest. And stop beating yourself up about this. During this crisis, I need all of you at your peak."

Raon saluted, turned on his heel and left the room. Before he went, he paused a little, and looked back at Adam over his shoulder. Adam smiled and gave him a wave. Then he left, shutting the door behind him. There was silence for a moment. Randor stared after the soldier, apparently lost in thought. Teela glared at Adam and took a deep breath.

"Now, Adam," his father said unexpectedly, turning back from the door. "I have to agree with Teela." Teela closed her mouth and gave a sharp, surprised nod, pleased to be vindicated.

"What?" Adam cried. "I can't - I couldn't -"

Randor raised a hand, cutting him off in mid-sentence. "This is something it took me awhile to realize when I became king, and it's something you will have to come to understand." He walked over and knelt by Adam's bedside. Worried eyes met Adam's recalcitrant ones. "You are not just Adam, my son and Teela's friend. You are the crown prince of Eternia, the only prince of Eternia. Your life is not your own, and never has been." Adam blinked, a little shocked. "You have a duty, a responsibility to survive. Teela's job is to help you do that. You mustn't make that more difficult by trying to protect her."

"Right!" Teela declared. "You -"

"Teela, don't rub it in. It's neither an easy nor a pleasant realization that you may have to let good, dear friends die so that you can survive."

Teela fell silent, her eyes wide. After a moment, she said, "I hadn't thought about it like that."

"It was your father who brought that point home to me, some years back, but that's a long story, and neither here nor there at the moment." Randor fell silent again, obviously remembering that time. Adam wasn't sure who he could ask about it. Duncan probably wouldn't tell him, and it didn't look like his father wanted to talk about it. Maybe his mother would know.

For now, though he had to change the subject. Things were being too stressful, and he didn't want to think about what his father had just said.

"Um," he said. His father looked down at him, attention pulled back to the present. "We were wondering if you'd help us study up for our test on the Pelian war."

Randor eyes lit up and he nodded. "Of course, Adam. Once I've had a chance to evaluate the new defenses we've put on the palace walls." He reached down to pat Adam's knee, but thought better of it, though not before Adam tried to jerk his leg out of the way. Adam grunted in pain, and his father, clearing his throat, looked embarrassed.

"You really shouldn't do that," Teela said irritably.

"Thank you, Teela," said father and son together, though Adam's voice was louder, and heavier on the sarcasm. Teela sat back, looking slightly cowed by the united front of royal displeasure.

"What on earth did Teela do to merit this level of annoyance?" Marlena asked as she reentered the room.

Randor started and looked guilty. "Oh, it was nothing, dear. I just - it was nothing." Marlena continued to look askance at him, and Randor reddened. Adam watched in astonishment. He hadn't really known that his father could blush. "Well, I'd best be going out to check on the new system."

As Randor went toward the door, Adam found himself really wishing that his father wouldn't go out again. He hadn't liked it when his mother had left the room, and, now that she had settled back down beside the bed, he'd just like to have both of them in sight for awhile. A good, long while. He grimaced. Unhinged paranoia appeared to be contagious. Before his father could leave, he said, "Who was in charge of instituting the changes, Father?"

"Duncan."

"Well, then they've gotta be fine. You could just stay," he wheedled.

Randor opened his mouth, but something in Adam's expression must have hit a nerve. "Alright, son, I'll stay." He took off his cloak and hung in on a hook by the door, pulled a chair up between their beds, and leaned forward. The king fondled Cringer's head and said, "Now, what books are you using?"

Adam picked up the book Man-at-Arms had given them as their central reference on the conflict. "Here, Father, this -"

"This?" Randor exclaimed. "No wonder you two were so far off in your evaluations the other day. This book barely acknowledges the contributions of - it totally disregards - I have better books in my office." He stood up again. "I'll just go and get them."

Adam glanced over at his mother in supplication. "Randor, for heaven's sake, you're a king. Send someone." Adam's eyes widened, taken slightly aback, but he heard Teela stifle a laugh. Randor looked down at Marlena, and some kind of unspoken communication seemed to pass between them, for he nodded and, stepping to the door he called a servant.

Then he returned to the chair and picked up the book Man-at-Arms had given them. "Where did you get this book? Teela, did you find it in the library?"

Teela shook her head wordlessly, looking as though she didn't want to answer that question. Adam shrugged, and said, "Man-at-Arms gave it to us. He said it was a fairly definitive work on the subject."

"Definitive?" Randor demanded incredulously. "Definitive? Drivel! I knew Duncan and I had different opinions about Berevor, but . . . definitive?" Randor shook his head. "Well, I can see that I'm going to have to ascertain just how far off base this book has taken the two of you." He was quizzing them on the events that lead up to the first serious battle when the servant returned with a small chest. The king thanked him and placed the chest on the table between the two beds. Adam and Teela looked on curiously.

"These are the diaries of Elegius."

"General Elegius?" Adam asked in awed surprise.

"None other."

"Wow," Teela murmured, watching as Randor opened the chest and extracted three volumes.

"I believe. . ." he flipped gently through the books. . . "yes, these chronicle the first years of the Pelian war." He handed each of them one of the tattered manuscripts. "You'll have to skim a bit occasionally - there is a fair amount about his personal life in these. But it gives you a really good feeling for what those days were actually like."

Adam and Teela started reading eagerly, though it was tough going. "He sure had bad handwriting," Teela commented after awhile. "I hope he had a secretary for writing orders."

"I imagine his commanders got used to puzzling it out," Randor said.

"Hey, Teela, according to Elegius, . . ."

It took awhile for Adam to realize that he was actually enjoying his studies. Of course, part of that might have been Elegius' slightly sardonic take on the world around him. And the surprising discovery that his father was actually interesting to listen to on the subject.

Randor took the books away when their lunch trays came, and they discussed what they'd read while they ate. When they'd finished eating and their hands were clean, they swapped books and kept reading until Adam's eyes gave out. The medications were still making his eyes sensitive to light. He finally had to lay back and rest for awhile. Cringer put his head on his chest. He listened to his father and Teela discuss aspects of some of the smaller skirmishes. He and his mother added observations periodically, but Teela and Randor did most of the talking. Adam found it pleasant, but he felt that something was missing.

When Man-at-Arms came in at dinner time, he realized what it was. He wanted all his closest family and friends nearby, in sight. "Where's Orko?" he asked suddenly.

"Still working on that spell," Man-at-Arms said. "He told the infirmarian that he might not move for awhile because he was going into a trance to 'evaluate the pernicious enchantment.' At least he's not turning them into flowerpots or mice or something." He gave them a dry look. "In the meantime, the medics are keeping the two women alive with nutrient replacements."

Adam and Teela exchanged a look. Once when a particularly nasty strain of the flu went around Eternos, they'd both had to drink the stuff Dorgan called "nutrient replacement." Everyone else just called it glop.

"So do you know how long it's going to take?" Adam asked. "I mean, how long is Orko going to be floating in a trance in the infirmary?"

"Oddly, that's just what the infirmarian asked me today," Duncan said. "Unfortunately, there's no way to tell, and Orko didn't say."

Adam wished that Orko was there, but with everyone else present and accounted for, he could relax more readily. After dinner, the discussion took up again. Adam listened to his father and Man-at-Arms argue their points. Teela kept trying to add her voice to one or the other side, but, once they'd really gotten going, they didn't really seem to notice when she spoke.

Finally, she fell back against her pillows, looking frustrated. Adam caught her eye and shrugged. In an undertone, he said, "Just enjoy the show. I mean, it's really different when I actually know what they're talking about."

"Adam, you shouldn't be sarcastic about your father and Man-at-Arms," his mother said to him quietly.

Adam shook his head. "It's not sarcasm, Mother. Their arguments are amazing. Listen to them! They're so specific and - and - and eloquent. Very much to the point. It's good training."

"Good training?"

"Well, it beats throwing rude names and meaningless insults back and forth, like Teela and I do most of the time." Teela snorted in derision, but his mother nodded thoughtfully.

Randor suddenly raised his voice. "You're a fool if you think Berevor's contribution was minimal. Without his influence, the Turanians would not have come in when they did. Elegius -"

"Nonsense," snapped Duncan. "Elegius had a hero complex about Berevor - and he didn't like having to work with Kepral. Who could blame him? But you - you have a complex about Elegius. You just take everything he says at face value, and I simply don't think his evaluations of Berevor are reliable."

Marlena nodded ironically. "I'm not sure that meaningful insults are any better," she remarked wryly. "Boys!" she called. Randor and Duncan looked up in surprise. "I think it's time for the children to get some sleep, so if the two of you are determined to stay here tonight, you'd better find some other way to occupy your time."

"Children?" protested Adam. "Sure, I'll sleep, but I'm not a child."

"I'm not at all sleepy, your highness!" Teela exclaimed.

"That's enough. You two," she snapped at her husband and his friend. "Get your cots made up."

Randor's confusion was comical. "But, my dear, I thought, when you made a bed on the couch -" He gestured toward the piece of furniture under the window where blankets and pillows were laid out neatly.

"That's for me."

Randor blinked. "Oh."

The men busied themselves with cots, and Adam watched, bemused. Then, suddenly he wasn't quite so amused. One blast of energy and the entire royal family and the leaders of the defenders of Eternia would be dead. Once the thought had occurred to him, it was impossible to banish, but he didn't want to say anything that might alarm his parents.

"Adam?" Teela asked, leaning towards him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, but she didn't wait for his response.

"Father!" she called. "Your highnesses! I think Adam's in pain."

"No!" Adam exclaimed in alarm as his parents and Man-at-Arms crowded around his bed. Cringer rubbed his hand and looked up into his eyes with concern. "I'm not. I'm okay! Whatever they're giving me now is working just fine." He leaned past his mother and glared at Teela. "I'll get you for this!"

"What is it, then?" his father asked.

Marlena nodded. "Yes, Adam, you had a very pained expression on your face just now."

"It's nothing. I just thought of something, and it's nothing."

His parents looked worriedly down at him, and Man-at-Arms leaned down and put a hand on his shoulder. "Now, Adam, you really must tell us if something is bothering you."

"It's nothing, really." Adam felt his voice breaking. "I was just thinking."

"Oh, well, if that's all, then, I'm sorry to have gotten everybody so . . . worked . . . up." All three adults turned and glared at her, and her voice died away as she finished her sentence.

"Teela," her father said sternly. "This is no time for levity."

"What were you thinking, Adam?"

"Nothing, really, it's not important," Adam said desperately. Man-at-Arms glanced at him and raised an inquiring eyebrow, as if to ask if it were something about He-Man. Adam shook his head and let it drop back onto his pillow. They weren't going to give up. Moving his fingers in little whorls in Cringer's fur, he said, "I was just thinking that having us all sleeping in the same room like this was kind of dangerous. You know, putting all the targets in one place." Cringer's head shot up, and he looked distinctly nervous. Adam reached out his hand and tried to comfort him as best he could, but though he got Cringer to put his head down again, the cat's eyes were enormous.

"Oh." His father straightened up again. "I see. Well, Adam, it does make it easier to guard us if we're all together."

"Yeah," said Adam tiredly. "But it also makes it easier to aim." Randor's brow raised, but he didn't say anything.

Man-at-Arms sighed. "I'm sure we've exhausted them quite as much as they've exhausted us. After all, there are more of us than there are of them, and we've seen them all in the last week."

"Yeah, all except Skeletor," Adam said, not thinking, not prepared for the galvanic effect it had on all three of the adults and his cat. Randor put his arms around Marlena, and Man-at-Arms walked swiftly to the window and peered out. Cringer tensed up again, then jumped down and ran under the bed.

Teela, however, propped herself up on her elbows. "Yeah, you're right," she said thoughtfully. "I wonder what old bone-brain is planning? Maybe that's why he's been throwing all the others at our defenses, to weaken us."

"Well, but, it hasn't done that," Adam said. "We've doubled or tripled our guards, from what you've all said."

"No one said he was the brightest star in the firmament," Teela said with a wry tone. "It just didn't work out the way he expected."

"Quiet, Teela." Randor spoke softly, but with enough force that Teela bit her lip, and Adam gazed apprehensively up at his father, not sure what to expect. "You mustn't underestimate Skeletor. I don't know where we'd be now if not for He-Man."

Marlena nodded fervently, and Adam flopped his head back again. "Well, he's not likely to show up right now," he muttered.

"I know," Randor said. Adam looked up at him stunned. He knew? How did he know? What did he know? He wasn't acting like he knew his son was -! "Man-at-Arms told us about the trouble on the South Continent. We have to remember that He-Man can't always focus all his attention on us."

Marlena nodded. "And just be grateful when he does."

Randor's eyes were on an imagined, faraway view. Adam wondered what he was thinking. "I'm sure he has other responsibilities. More than we can guess, I would imagine."

Adam wasn't sure how to react to this. He shot a glare at Man-at-Arms for not telling him where "he" was, but this still left him trying to decide whether to be pleased by this admiration for He-Man or what. He sighed. "Anyway, that's all I was thinking."

Man-at-Arms was murmuring into his comlink. When he looked up, Randor raised an eyebrow at him and he nodded. "I thought I'd better suggest this potential problem to Stratos and Buzz-Off, so they could be alert to the possibility."

Randor nodded. "Do you think we ought to make another round of the castle walls?" he asked.

Adam pulled his covers up over his head and moaned. He wished Skeletor had his injuries, and was surrounded by a pack of sneaky, bony relatives ganging up on him protectively - now that was a horrible image. Skeletor with family. He suppressed the shudder this caused so that no one would pounce on him to ask him where he was hurt, what he was thinking about or if he needed any more drugs.

Marlena convinced Randor to stay, and the men finished getting their cots in order. A guard came in to report that all was well, and the adults settled down on the other side of the room. Despite her claims that she was not at all tired, Teela fell asleep almost as soon as the room quieted. Adam just lay there, staring at the ceiling. With his legs propped up like they were, he couldn't shift much to get into a more comfortable position. He was stuck flat on his back and he couldn't subdue his thoughts. Ideas, worries and frustrations just kept whirling around in his mind, never stopping long enough for him to get any coherent thinking done. He resigned himself to lying there awake all night.