Chapter 9



Evil-Lyn sat with the shadow of a boulder drawn about her like a cloak, observing Beastman as he scratched his head and muttered to himself. He wasn't very entertaining to watch, really, but she wanted to keep aware of what his plans were so they wouldn't tangle with hers. And so that she could take advantage of them if the opportunity presented itself. Just now, though, he was clearly preparing to sleep for the night. She tilted her head thoughtfully. Did he, like a dog, feel compelled to turn around three times before he lay down?

Among all the things about the world that she wanted to learn, this didn't even rank in the top ten thousand.



***



There were birds chirping outside. Adam opened his eyes and looked around. His mother lay on the couch under the window, reading. His father and Man-at-Arms weren't there, but there were four guards stationed around the room. Adam genuinely hoped he hadn't snored, or drooled, or any of the other myriad embarrassing things one can do while sleeping. What if he talked in his sleep? No one would believe him if he sounded like he thought he was He-Man in his dreams, but he'd get razzed endlessly about it.

Teela was still snoring lightly, a fact he stored away for later use as ammunition in their ongoing war of wits. He picked up the nearest volume of the diary of Elegius and found that there was a slip of paper tucked inside. "Dear son," it said. Adam wrinkled his brows. "We'll be back soon. The steward came to fetch me because a decision had to be made regarding that border dispute that came up just before you were injured. Keep reading. Duncan and I will quiz you later. Your loving father."

A loud rumbling startled him, and he felt himself flushing. The source was his stomach. He also had other needs that were, while less obvious, considerably more embarrassing. He got one of the guards to carry him into the bathroom, and when he got out, Teela was awake and breakfast had been served.

By lunchtime, his father still hadn't returned. He was taking longer than Adam had expected from the note, but he didn't worry too much. There had been no sound of fighting, no hint of attack. He shied away from hoping they'd stopped, though, for fear of jinxing it.

He and Teela spent much of the morning and the early afternoon studying. There wasn't much else to do, and they were looking forward to discussing it with their fathers when they returned. The two of them had worked out a plan and were checking the facts in the Elegius diaries against Duncan's book and with several of the other histories they had, trying to figure out where they all agreed and where they didn't. Adam's mother watched bemusedly, and gave them advice when their reasoning ran aground.

As the sun dropped lower in the sky, though, Adam started to worry. The guards had been through one shift change already, and as a new quartet came in to relieve the fellows who'd been there since noon, Adam was growing impatient. "Lieutenant," he called. The new man looked up and saluted.

"Yes, your highness?"

"Do you know where my father is?"

He nodded. "The king is in the audience chamber, meeting with petitioners. The recent - situation - has caused - um - well, the king hasn't been out of the audience chamber all day."

"Really? Not even for lunch?" Marlena asked, a dire tone in her voice. The man shook his head. "We'll just see about that." She got up and, touching Adam's shoulder in passing, went out.

Teela raised her eyebrows. "I wouldn't want to be whoever's talking to the king right now," she said with feeling. Adam nodded.

The queen came back, her errant charge in tow. Man-at-Arms trailed behind them, looking superbly amused.

"I've been putting too many things off, Marlena." Randor sat down, looking weary. "Even in this crisis, the kingdom still needs to be run."

"The issue you were discussing with that council of farmers could have waited until later."

"They had an appointment for two days ago, Marlena, it hardly seemed fair -"

"I spoke to your secretary. He's going to do a triage of all your appointments for the next couple of weeks and reschedule anything that isn't of absolutely earth-shaking importance." Randor looked up at her as though astonished by this show of will on the part of his usually quiet little queen. He opened his mouth and she raised an eyebrow at him. He closed it again, wisely, Adam thought. "Now, you two," and she broadened her gaze to include Man-at-Arms. "Your children have been preparing their arguments for you all day, and I think they're on to something. So, you pair are going to go downstairs, get cleaned up and have our dinner sent in, and then you are going to listen to them."

Teela and Adam exchanged glances with one another. She looked as alarmed as he felt. This wasn't in the plan for the evening.

"Mom," he said a little desperately. "We don't -"

"Hush, Adam," she said softly to him. She turned back to the men. "Well, Randor? Duncan?" They both stood firmly to attention. Adam thought Man-at-Arms barely managed to keep from saluting the queen, but they both nodded. "Alright, then. Now go." With a commanding gesture she sent the king and his chief advisor off like a pair of disobedient little boys.

Teela threw a panicked look at Adam, and they set about working hard on getting ready for this unexpected presentation.

After dinner, they put their case forth, detailing all the evidence and putting it in as logical a progression as they could. Then they sat back and awaited the reactions of their fathers. The room was silent for a long moment when they were done. Randor looked at Man-at-Arms and he gazed back.

"I've never really thought of it that way," Duncan said at last.

Randor stroked his beard. "No, I must admit, I hadn't either."

Adam and Teela waited for a stronger, clearer reaction, but none was forthcoming.

Finally, Adam said, "Well? Do you agree? Disagree? Think we're going off on an irrelevant tangent? What?"

His father shook his head, his eyes focused on some far distant point. "I'm going to have to take some time to digest this, and look over your evidence. It's just such a new idea." Man-at-Arms just nodded.

"Well, we're not completely done with the analysis yet," Teela said, eagerly. "We started out just going through the books trying to make up a time line, but Adam said that he thought he saw a pattern. I thought he was nuts at first, but once we really started looking at it, it seemed obvious."

Adam found himself the focus of two pairs of eyes. He squirmed under their concerted attention, and tried to think of something to say.

"Adam," his father said slowly. "Adam recognized the pattern?"

Teela nodded. "Well, yeah. I guess he's smarter than he looks." Adam and Teela shared non-smiles, and Adam looked back up at his father, who was still staring at him as though he'd grown a second head.

"Well," said Man-at-Arms, rubbing his hands together. "You two had better continue your analysis. I'd be interested to see how it pans out."

Randor nodded slowly, a smile spreading across his face as he gazed at Adam. "Yes, I would, too. You know, I've got a couple more books that you might find useful in a historical survey like this. I'll have them sent up."

Adam found himself once more confused by how to react to his father's approbation. He was thrilled to have his father so happy with him, but more books? Man-at-Arms would probably tell him that he had to take the good with the bad. He decided to go with the good, for now, and grinned happily up at his father. His mother walked up and kissed her husband on the cheek.

"Now, I think it's time for some rest from military history," she said. "They've been at it all day. Perhaps a game?"

They whiled away the rest of the evening playing poker, with Adam taking three hands out of five. He was delighted to find that his poker face had improved. That feeling only got better when he observed the disgusted looks that Man-At-Arms, who had lost every hand, kept throwing at him.



***



Evil-Lyn had made a discovery. An earth-shattering, mind-boggling discovery. She wasn't sure who she could reasonably share it with, but it was truly stunning.

Beastman actually could think. It just took him all day and part of the night. She'd left his camp around midmorning to set her plan in motion, and had returned midafternoon to find that he hadn't moved much since she'd left. Wrapping herself again in shadow, she sat down against the boulder. There wasn't anything more she could do to further her plan, so she might as well keep an eye on the oaf so she could guarantee he wouldn't get in her way.

He was just sitting, staring into the middle distance. Evil-Lyn pulled out the polished mirror she'd anchored the spell to and gazed into it. Such a small creature, so deadly a venom, and it was one that, by an accident of nature, Beastman couldn't control, which guaranteed that he couldn't seek to take credit for her actions. It might take a few days for her little pet to arrive at the royal palace, but unlike Skeletor or the rest of his crowd, patience was one of her few virtues.



***



The next morning, Teela and Adam dove into their books headfirst and kept working on Adam's hypothesis. By noon, though, Teela's attention was flagging. Adam looked up when the food was brought in for lunch with mild dismay at the interruption. Teela said, "Finally! This day is passing like a state dinner."

Adam looked askance at her. Then he shrugged. "Nah," he drawled. She looked up, tilting an annoyed eyebrow. "Not enough forks."

Teela let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm going to get flabby and weak if I stay in this bed for days on end. I've got to get up!"

For the better part of the afternoon, Teela groused on and on. Adam sympathized at first, but gradually he got more and more irritated by her continual moaning. He wished that, like his mother did after lunch, he could leave the room.

When Dorgan came in about an hour before dinner, Adam said, "Please, Dorgan. Please! Is there some way that you can get Teela up and moving about?"

Dorgan looked at him in mild surprise, and Teela looked annoyed. "What do you mean, Prince Adam?" the healer asked.

"If she doesn't get some exercise soon, I'm gonna go stir crazy."

Dorgan gave him an odd look. "Don't you mean, if you don't get exercise you're going to go stir crazy? Or that she'll go stir -"

"No, I meant what I said. She's driving me nuts!"

"Well, that's gratitude for you!" Teela exclaimed.

"What do you mean, gratitude?" Adam demanded.

Teela blinked and looked stricken. "You're right, I'm sorry, Adam. I wasn't any help this last -"

"Dorgan, please! Get her up and out of here before I go stark, raving bonkers!"

Teela gave an offended snort, then turned a hopeful eye on the healer. Dorgan just looked amused. Adam didn't care how much he amused him or offended her, he just wanted a little peace.

"I'll arrange for Captain Teela to have some physical therapy tomorrow. In the morning. Will that do, your highness?"

Adam sighed. "I think so."

"Good." Dorgan leaned over him. "Perhaps now I can perform my examination uninterrupted, young man." Adam lay back and let Dorgan look him over, trying not to feel like a beef steak of questionable quality. Eventually, Dorgan sat back and gave him a moderately pleased look. "You're healing far better than we had any reason to hope."

Adam smiled in relief. "Does that mean I'll get out of bed sooner?"

"Don't jump ahead, boy! All it means is that I see no complications, you have no infections and your fever isn't overly high. Let's just say, this means you might not have to spend any extra time in bed."

"Oh." Adam's relief deflated. "But I'm okay?" he asked.

"Don't worry, boy, you're going to be fine."

Dorgan did a quick check of Teela, pronounced her quite ready for physical therapy the next day and left. Teela looked at Adam and said, "You want me 'up and out of here?' your highness?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "You've been grumping all day about wanting up. I thought you'd be pleased if I could arrange it."

"I'm supposed to stay with you. For physical therapy, I'd have to go to the infirmary."

"I'm sure Father and Man-at-Arms will want you to get back in shape as soon as possible so you can protect me more fully. They'll undoubtedly give the 'short straw' to someone else for a little while."

Teela gave him an irritated glare, but didn't say anything.

Their parents came in a few moments later and they all ate a quiet dinner together. Randor asked about their progress, but Adam said, "We're not ready to report, yet, Father. We need some more research time, I think."

"You're doing extremely well at this, my boy," Randor said after a moment. "I've been thinking about it off and on all day, and I must say, it's an extremely recondite piece of thinking."

Adam looked up at his father, unsure. "I think I'd like that compliment better if I knew what recondite meant."

Randor tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "I'll send up a dictionary in the morning. But don't worry, I'll write the word down tonight."

Adam huffed resignedly. "Thanks, Dad."



***



"NO!!!! Adam!!!!!"

Adam sat up, and let out a cry as his legs protested the sudden movement. "What? What?" he demanded, still muzzy from sleep.

Something yowled, and then a heavy weight landed across Adam's legs. He cried out again as the mass jarred him. It was a person, he could feel hands plucking at the bed. "Man-at-Arms!" he hollered.

There was a loud scrabbling sound as Cringer flung himself under Adam's bed. Something - or someone, in the dark it was impossible to tell - dragged the weight off his legs. Adam struggled to maintain his position on the bed against the pull. He heard the meaty smack of a punch, and then the two figures fell to the floor, grappling.

Another weight hit his bed, this time missing his legs, and he felt a hand feeling around for him. He reached out and grabbed it, and its owner let out a small cry of pain at the strength of his grip. "Teela?" he whispered.

"Yes!" she hissed back. "Are you all right?"

"So far! Have you got your staff?"

"Yeah." Adam lay back, breathing hard. He hoped his father and mother were all right, and he wondered who was rolling around with the intruder on the floor. The door opened, letting in a little light, largely shielded by the guards trying to crowd in. It wasn't enough to illuminate the figures wrestling on the floor any more clearly as they rolled in and out of shadows.

Buzz Off and Stratos came winging in through adjacent windows and dashed across the room to the struggle. They dragged both of the combatants up off the floor and held them fast. One of the guards found the power at that moment and flooded the room with light.

Adam goggled. Stratos had a firm grip on - Man-at-Arms? Buzz Off hovered, holding the king, his feet dangling a foot of the floor. The Andrenid's eyes widened and he let go. Randor landed, knees bent and looked up at his assailant. "Buzz Off?" he murmured.

"Who did I punch?" Man-at-Arms demanded. "Stratos, let go."

Adam realized what had happened in a rush of comprehension and put a pillow over his face. "Teela, go back to bed. I'm perfectly safe."

"I'm not so sure," Teela demurred. Adam groaned into the pillow.

"I do not understand," the Avion said, releasing Man-at-Arms. "You were - it was -"

Randor looked around the room urgently. "Where is Adam's assailant? I was tussling with Adam's assailant!" Adam groaned again. Why was this happening to him?

"No, you weren't!" Man-at-Arms exclaimed. "I dragged someone off Adam's legs. Who was it?"

Buzz Off's wings whined agitatedly. "But," he paused for a second, " you were fighting with the king."

"You see, Teela," he said from under his pillow. "Go back to bed. I was never in any danger."

"What?" Randor said. "No, I -" His voice faltered.

A new voice cried out in alarm. "Someone tried to smother the prince!"

Adam flipped his arms, the pillow gripped in his hands, down to his lap and sat up slightly. "The prince is trying to smother the prince." Everyone was staring at him. He thumped his head back down on the mattress. "And he's still trying to!" He brought the pillow back over his face.

At this point, his mother spoke up. "Thank you, Lieutenant. I think we have everything under control here." There was an odd note in her voice that Adam had difficulty identifying. It didn't sound like alarm, or annoyance. There was the sound of moving feet, and then the door closed. "Now, let me see if I understand this. I was awakened by you, Randor, calling out Adam's name in wild alarm."

"Me too," Teela chimed in from next to Adam's elbow.

"Then, my dear, did you run over to Adam's bed?"

There was no sound for a moment, so Adam pulled the pillow off his face again just in time to see his father nodding, brows wrinkled, looking embarrassed. Then he spoke in a very quiet voice. "I tripped over Cringer and fell onto the bed."

The queen took a deep breath, and Adam, outraged, began to suspect what she was controlling. "Alright, then you, Duncan, ran to Adam's bed and dragged what you took for an attacker off him?" Man-at-Arms nodded, but didn't speak. "So, the two of you fought on the floor, each of you thinking that you were struggling with Adam's attacker."

He was right. He was right! His mother was really trying not to laugh. His supposition was confirmed when she lost the battle. Peals of laughter rang out through the room, and Adam fell back against the bed again and covered his face with the pillow once more.

"It's not funny!" he protested as loudly as he could. "Mother! It's really not funny."

Despite the muffling effect, she apparently heard him, because she walked over and pulled the pillow out of his hands. She was still smiling, but she'd stopped actually laughing. "I'm sorry, Adam. I think it's as much relief that it turns out to be as simple as this as genuine amusement." Adam just nodded resignedly. She gave him back the pillow and he stuffed it under his head, feeling very sullen.

His mother turned to Buzz Off and Stratos. "Since we have that settled, I think that you two had better return to your patrols," she said. "I think that we can count on Randor and Duncan not to attack one another any more tonight."

Stratos nodded formally and took off. Buzz Off looked at the two humans, and, shaking his head, followed his compatriot. Adam wondered if they were going to discuss the bizarre behavior of the wingless ones as soon as they were out of earshot. And what they'd say if they did. Then he decided that he really didn't want to know.

Marlena took a deep breath and sighed. Walking over, she took her husband's hand and guided him back to the couch where she'd been sleeping. "Now, Randor, it's just family. Why did you think Adam was being attacked?"

Adam's father sank down onto the edge of the sofa next to his wife and buried his face in his hands, wincing slightly when his hand encountered the developing bruise on his cheekbone.

"I don't really want to say, Marlena." His voice was muffled and very quiet. Adam had to strain to hear him.

"I think I can guess, my dear, but perhaps you'd better tell us. I'd rather not have anyone thinking it was a spell or something that told you to - to - well, to attack your son."

Randor's head came up like a shot and he stared at her, apparently dumbfounded. "A spell? No! No, I wasn't trying to attack Adam. I - I had a dream."

Adam eyes widened and he gazed at his father in shock. "You had a bad dream?" he asked incredulously. His father nodded, turning a brilliant shade of scarlet. Man-at-Arms rocked backward and forward on his heels, looking rather like he wished he could fall into the floor so he didn't have to witness this.

"So, everything's all right?" Teela asked. Adam glanced up at her face, and saw that she was having difficulty keeping her expression under control. The corner of her mouth kept tilting up slightly. He resisted the impulse to bury his head under his pillow again.

"How 'bout you go back to your own bed," he muttered irritably. She gave him an amused look, and shoved herself up to a one-footed stance. Man-at-Arms muffled an oath and stepped forward to pick her up and put her to bed.

Adam's father gulped, and said, "Yes, everything is fine. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to alarm every -"

The door burst open and they all jumped. Cringer had just been coming out from under the bed, and at this sudden sound, he darted back into hiding.

"We found him, your highness!" Raon exclaimed as he came into the room.