Chapter 11



Dorgan tossed the covers aside and, with a precision at odds with his desperate air, began to carefully break through the surface of the cast. "Blast it," Dorgan muttered. He turned to the audience behind him, and Adam noticed for the first time that the room was almost full. Guards stood nearby, a pair of Avions he didn't recognize stood near the windows. "Someone get me a serrated knife!" Dorgan ordered. No one moved. "NOW!" he thundered.

Four guards ran out of the room immediately. Dorgan turned back and started trying to pry the cast open again. Seconds later, he was handed a wicked-looking knife that he applied to the cast and began to saw, once again with more care than his agitation suggested he was capable of. A thought struck Adam, and he looked up at his father's face.

"Father, Cringer! Did it bite Cringer?"

"Not now, Adam!" Randor said hurriedly.

"But, Father, he - someone's got to check!"

Teela slid off her bed to the floor. "Don't worry, Adam, I'll look him over," she said.

Adam's breath was coming in sharp gasps, and he felt drops of sweat trickling down his face and his back. His gut was queasy. He tried desperately to remember what the symptoms of insurname poisoning were, but nothing came to mind. Memory loss? Was that a symptom?

The cast came off, and Adam tried to see his leg, but the wrappings covering it were in the way.

Dorgan put the knife aside and began to unwrap the bandages with haste. "Cut it off, man!" Randor barked.

"I don't dare. There is venom soaking them, but I see no blood. If I were to nick his skin while trying to check him. . ." The healer's voice trailed off.

"Right," Randor muttered. "Sorry."

Finally, the wrappings fell away. Dorgan examined his leg with care and heaved a great sigh of relief. "No bite."

"No bite?" Randor breathed.

"No punctures, no wounds, no blood, no swelling. Get me a wet cloth, so I can wipe away the venom on his leg. And you, young lady, keep that cat down on the floor. One scratch could kill the prince."

Adam heard Cringer whimper, and Teela, sounding pathetic, said, "Oh, Cringer, it's okay. He's okay. Just stay down here with me."

A quavery voice came from the doorway. "What on Eternia is going on here?" his mother demanded, gazing into the room with wide eyes. Adam thought how chaotic it must look to her.

"Adam didn't get bitten," Randor exclaimed quickly.

"Bitten?" Her eyes widened still further, and then rolled back into her head. Duncan took two long strides and caught her before she fell to the ground. He gave Randor a disgusted look.

"This, from the man famous the world over for his diplomacy." He lifted Adam's mother into his arms, carried her to the couch and began chafing her wrists.

Adam finally found his voice again. "How's Cringer?" he asked. "Dorgan, take a look at Cringer."

"Let me get the venom off you, boy. Teela, do you see any swellings, any lumps?"

"No, Dorgan, I think he's fine. He saved Adam's life." Did Teela actually sound weepy? Adam looked at her and saw that tears were streaming down her face.

"Teela?" Man-at-Arms said from across the room, still working on reviving the queen. His attention was so split, though, that he didn't notice when the queen came to. She, seeing that Teela was crying, leapt up and ran to her, knocking Man-at-Arms off his knees onto his behind.

Dorgan had still been looking his leg over. He looked up abruptly, face gone pale. "The snake was in the bed with him?" he asked. Randor nodded.

Teela squeaked as Marlena clutched her. "It was in the bed?" she asked.

"We have to get him stripped. The bite would go numb instantly, he might have been struck somewhere else and not noticed."

Adam snatched at the covers, trying to pull them back over himself. "What?" he exclaimed. "I'm fine. I noticed the first one!"

"Dorgan's right, you can't be sure that was the first bite," his father said, pulling the sheet out of his grasp. Dorgan began sawing at the other cast, and his father started pulling up on Adam's shirt. He clutched at it, glancing at the crowd in the room.

Man-at-Arms stood up and spoke to the gathered throng. "Please clear the room." Everyone filed out, leaving the family plus Dorgan.

Adam glanced at his father and hissed, "Can't Mom leave, too? And take Teela?"

"Oh, yes, of course, dear," his mother said. "Come along, Teela. We can guard the entrance." Teela obtained her crutches and they went outside the room.

Adam lay back pathetically as his father, Man-at-Arms and Dorgan removed every last stitch from his body. His father gazed worriedly down at him, as Dorgan carefully examined every square inch of the top half of him.

"Randor, lift him up."

His father slid his hands gently under Adam's shoulders, murmuring, "Adam, I'm sorry, I know this is going to hurt, but it has to be done." Adam closed his eyes and grit his teeth. He was determined not to cry out. His father was upset enough. He couldn't help it, though when his legs were lifted and examined.

When they were done, they lay him gently back down again. Dorgan began speaking with his father, but Adam didn't really hear what they were saying. He had visions going through his mind of what would have happened had the snake actually bitten him. The list of symptoms had flooded into his head as they examined him. Convulsions - boy would those have hurt with broken bones - tongue turning black. His mother would have cried. Teela was already crying. The Sorceress - what would they all have done about He-Man? Would they have told them the truth? How would Skeletor have reacted to the knowledge that He-Man was killed by a poisonous snake? Where had the snake come from? Were there more of them?

He sat again, abruptly. "Dad!" The pain shot through him and he began breathing in gasps. His father and Dorgan forced him to lie back. "Dad, more? Snakes? Could there be more?"

"By the Elders, he's right! There could be more of them. Beastman could have sent a slew of them! Duncan, start a search. Search everywhere!"

"Search carefully!" Adam burst out. "But not Cringer!"

"What?" his father asked, looking startled.

"Don't let Cringer search!" Adam pleaded.

"Yes, son, of course. Everywhere, starting with here!" He gulped, leaned down and slid his arms under Adam. "Get ready, both of you."

"What are you doing, Randor?" Dorgan demanded, watching the king in obvious alarm.

"What if there are more in the bed?"

"We'd have seen -"

"Under the mattress?"

Dorgan paled again, and gave the king a sharp nod. Randor lifted Adam carefully and held him while Dorgan and Duncan shook the mattress out and looked under the bed. Then they helped Randor lay his son back on the bed. Tears of pain were running down Adam's face now, and he didn't care.

He started shaking uncontrollably. "It's too much," he muttered. "Just too much."

"He's shocky." Dorgan grabbed a blanket and flipped it over him. "Where's that cat? Maybe he can help keep him warm while I go fetch the supplies to rebuild the casts."

Randor coaxed Cringer up onto the bed while Duncan tore the room apart, searching for snakes. Then Man-at-Arms opened the door and called, "Get Manny in here."

"It's all right, Cringer, just don't touch his legs," Randor murmured, petting the trembling tiger's back.

Cringer curled up next to Adam's torso, and Adam buried his hands and face in the great cat's fur, not wanting Manny to see him crying. Randor sat down on the other side of the bed and stroked Adam's hair. It felt good.

He listened while they made plans to search the entire castle. Then Dorgan came back, supplies in hand. Adam's legs were screaming from all the movement, and he said, "Dorgan, can you give me something to knock me out?"

The healer shook his head sympathetically. "Adam, you're in shock, I can't."

"Don't worry, son, I'll stay with you," his father said. Adam glanced gratefully up at him, sniffling.

"Yes, Randor, you are staying. Because when I'm done with Adam, I'm going to take a look at your knee. I noticed you're limping. What happened?"

His hand never stopped on Adam's hair, but Randor groaned. "I don't really want to talk about it, Dorgan."

"Tough."



***



Evil-Lyn ground her teeth. She'd been watching, delightedly, as her little beetle had crept up the frame of the prince's bed. It was on the covers, inching up toward the boy's hand when, out of nowhere, a snake darted forward and snapped it up, swallowing it in one gulp. It had taken all her considerable will power to keep from sending a fatal bolt of energy at the back of Beastman's head. Dolt though he was, Skeletor would be more than a little peeved if she damaged him too severely.

So, all the time that she'd assumed he was thinking and plotting, he'd been summoning that little viper. She'd have to be careful not to underestimate the dunderhead in the future.

But now she had to come up with yet a third plan. Unless Beastman succeeded, perish the thought. She continued to watch the little drama play out. It got quite amusing for a time, especially after the snake had been killed by that flea-bitten mongrel. She tuned out at about the time they were undressing the little wimp. Now, if it had been Randor, that might have been a different story. Or perhaps that interesting Man-at-Arms fellow. But a scrawny, sniveling sixteen-year-old? Please! She had her standards.

Beastman growled when the snake was killed. It was obvious he could sense the serpent's death. Then he settled down again, an irate gleam in his eye, staring once more into the middle distance. Evil-Lyn wondered what he had planned this time. Curious, and needing to re-think her own strategy, she sat back to see what was coming.



***



Adam didn't wake until nearly noon the next day. And when he woke, he wished he hadn't. He had cried. In front of his father, and Man-at-Arms, and Dorgan. At least Teela hadn't been there.

He opened his eyes slowly. Shadows danced across the ceiling in time with a gentle breeze he could hear outside. Cringer was purring beside him, twitching every so often as he caught butterflies or something in his dreams. His mother sat reading in her armchair. Evidently her embroidery project was done, or she'd tired of it. The bookcase was again standing beside his bed, the books replaced. It appeared that someone had returned Elegius' diaries to their chest, and that, too, sat on the shelves. He glanced to his other side. Teela was not in bed, but her covers were rumpled.

"Adam, I'm glad to see you're awake." Marlena set the book aside and came over to the bed, sitting beside Cringer. "You okay?" she asked, leaning across the cat to put her hand on Adam's arm.

Adam shrugged. "Where's Teela?" he asked.

"The masters are meeting with your father," she said, squeezing his arm, then sitting back. "Everyone's here except He-Man."

Adam sighed and shifted listlessly, staring down at this hands on the covers. "What are they meeting about?"

Her lips twisted wryly. "What do you think?" she asked. "Your father has decided, and about time, I think, to give Skeletor something to think about besides coming after you."

Adam looked sharply over at her. "What do you mean?"

"He and most of the masters are going -"

"No!" Adam exclaimed. "Father can't go!" His mother looked startled. "Teela hit him in the knee. He was limping last night. He can't go!"

"Your father has to go," Marlena said. "He has to make it clear to Skeletor that we will not tolerate this nonsense!"

"Couldn't someone else make it clear?" Adam asked desperately. "Like Man-E-Faces or Ram-Man? Or Man-at-Arms? He's really good at making things clear."

"Yes, he is, but that's not the point. This has to come from the king himself."

"But if he told Man-at-Arms what to say? Or sent him a note. In a box! With a purple ribbon!" Adam thought furiously, trying to come up with other options. At that moment, the door opened. Randor held the door open as Teela swung herself in on her crutches and went to sit on her bed where her father got her foot arranged on pillows. Servants followed them in carrying lunch trays.

"Man-at-Arms!" Adam cried. "You can't let him! He can't go to Snake Mountain!"

They all four stared at him. After a moment, Duncan said, "What do you mean, Adam?"

"Father!" Adam exclaimed. "He can't go to Snake Mountain. He was hurt last night." Man-at-Arms' eyebrows wrinkled, and Adam could see that he didn't quite get what he was talking about. "Remember, last night? Dorgan said he was limping."

"It was nothing, Adam," Randor said. "Truly. It had passed off before I went to bed."

"Teela hit you really hard! You fell down. I can't believe that you're really well enough to attack Skeletor. Old people don't heal that fast!"

Randor looked a bit taken aback. "Adam, really, I'm fine. And I will not let Skeletor get away with this."

"I'm forced to agree," Duncan said. "If we don't take decisive steps now, we'll look weak. We'd be practically inviting Skeletor to keep on with this kind of thing."

Adam stared at his mentor in shock. He'd been certain that, of all people, Man-at-Arms would agree with him. After all, that time in Subternia, he'd spent half the trip trying to convince the king to return to the palace for safety's sake

"It's time for us all to eat lunch," Marlena said, firmly. "There's no point in discussing this now."

"Quite right, my dear," Randor agreed. Adam flopped back on the bed. He was having no success. The only times he'd ever seen his father fight Skeletor, he hadn't come off the winner, but he wasn't about to say that to him now. ** Maybe later - if I'm really desperate. **

"You could at least wait for He-Man to come back," Adam suggested desperately.

Randor shook his head resolutely. "No. From what Duncan says, it's going to take weeks for him to return, and I'm not willing to wait that long. I'm sorry, Adam, but this is how it has to be."

Faced with three stubbornly determined adults, Adam sank back, dejected. He didn't eat much lunch, though his mother kept pushing him to. He fell back on his old strategy of giving bits of his food to Cringer to hide how little he was eating from his mother, a ploy made easier by their sharing the same surface.

Adam looked up from sneaking Cringer a bit of cheese. There was an odd, angry sort of thrumming, as of the sound of many wings. An Andrenid zoomed in through the window. "Your highness! Man-at-Arms! We're being swarmed!"

Strange, scaly, blue-green creatures zipped in through the open windows. Man-at-Arms and Randor ran to close the sashes, but the one window Adam's father managed to shut was shattered when three of the creatures dived through it. They were about eight inches high, and looked like a madman's idea of a fairy. Their eyes were pits of dark green shadow, their nostrils were mere slits, and their mouths were full of tiny, razor-sharp teeth. They had spiked, bat-like wings and two legs that ended in clawed hands.

"What are they?" the queen cried. They buzzed around her, snatching at her hair and her clothes, some of them actually landing on her. She tried to bat them away, but there were too many of them.

"Medesmas!" The Andrenid had his wings pulled in tightly against his body. "Mostly they're quiet and shy, but they're a menace when they swarm."

The creatures whirled around, attacking everyone in the room. Everyone, that is, except Adam, who watched in horrified amazement.

Cringer, beset, dove under the bed. Randor waded through the onslaught and seized Marlena around the waist. Opening the door, he shoved her through and slammed it behind her. Teela, after her staff was snatched from her hands by about a dozen of them, tried with limited success to catch them out of the air and immobilize them.

Out the window, Adam could see that the Andrenids, Avions and even the sky sleds were being grounded by the invasion.

"Adam!" his father yelled, and Adam's attention was drawn back into the room. "Adam, are you all right? Get yourself under cover!"

"They're not attacking me!" Adam picked up the nearest thing to hand, a book, and started swinging at the creatures, but none of them were within his reach.

Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by them as a flock of them dropped down onto him from above. "Aack!" A huge mass of them seized him by the clothes, the hair, the skin, whatever they could reach. The ones around him didn't seem bent on harrying him so much as lifting. Slowly, he found himself rising off the bed. He struggled to no avail. There was no one to strike at, and they had him fairly well immobilized by his own weight

They got him about two feet off the bed and had started toward the window before he managed to scream. "Father!!! Man-at-Arms! Help!"

He heard his father's furious cries, but could see nothing past his body as they took him out of the room through the window. Adam twisted his head to look down. His stomach turned over abruptly and he wished he hadn't. He hadn't gotten this good a look at the drop from the west wall since his birthday when he'd nearly fallen. This time, however, Stratos would not likely be there to save him. He could see that the creatures were badgering anyone in the palace grounds that they could find. Suddenly, he caught

sight of Stratos, flying upward rapidly. A cloud of the things surrounded him and dragged him back down. Adam's heart plummeted with the Avion.