Chapter Four
Nothing ever changed in the Fright Zone. The same robot troopers guarded the corridors; the same voices screamed for mercy, their pleas barely audible to the auburn-haired woman and golden-haired little girl who routinely wandered the halls several stories above them.
It had been seven years since Queen Marlena first walked down the ebony corridors, cradling and comforting the infant girl in her arms even as both were marched into captivity. Now, that same girl traveled beside Marlena, holding her hand and humming contentedly to herself. Adora's hair was pulled back with a red ribbon, and she wore a red dress and black slippers. The little girl was definitely the more colorful of the two; Marlena's outfit consisted of a black tunic, black leggings that were cut off at the ankles, and the same thin slippers that her daughter wore. The only bright part of her attire was the strip of emerald cloth that held her hair back from her thin, pale face. Adora loved that ribbon, and would often entreat Marlena to switch with her.
"Christmas colors," Marlena had laughed on one occasion.
Adora had not understood, and Marlena could not explain it to her. There were so many things Marlena could not explain to Adora, so many truths she could not reveal, so many lies she had to tell. The worst lie- and the building block for years of deception- involved Adora's parentage.
At nine months, the child had uttered her first word: Mommy. Marlena was thrilled. Hordak was outraged. The girl who was to be his protégé could not have any ties to her former life. The obvious solution was to kill Marlena, yet Hordak knew that the obvious solution was not always the best one. Shadow Weaver was right, no one else was capable of caring for Adora… least of all Shadow Weaver herself. The witch was often impatient and ill tempered, and had proven herself a danger to Adora when she'd taken the screaming infant from her cradle and shaken her vigorously. She had done this as a lesson to Marlena on 'how to make little brats be quiet.' The Eternian queen had snatched Adora away before lashing out at the enchantress.
"Do not ever touch my child again!" Marlena had hissed, enraged.
Shadow Weaver was punished for her actions, which could have left Adora with severe brain damage, and Hordak had gone back to being wholly uninvolved in the child's care… until the day she said her first word. That day, he ranted and snorted and raved before issuing edicts: Marlena would teach Adora to refer to her in non-familial terms; Adora was never to know that Marlena was her mother; Adora was to be told only that her parents were dead; Marlena was not to provide Adora with any clues about her parentage or answer any questions that the child might have about her family. Hordak then did two things to ensure that his commands were followed. First, he threatened Adora with physical harm; he might be loath to kill the child, he said, but a few slaps and blows would not prevent Adora from being able to serve him. Secondly, he had monitoring devices installed in the cell, ensuring that Marlena was never truly alone with her daughter.
Marlena's heart wrenched when she was forced to put Hordak's commands into action, when she had to repeatedly correct how Adora addressed her ("Not Mommy. Marlena."), or tell the five year old that her parents had died immediately after she was born, or refuse to answer the increasing number of questions Adora had about her family ("What were their names?" "What were they like?" "Did they love me?"). Last week, while drifting off to sleep, the child had broken Marlena's heart yet again.
"Lena," Adora mumbled. The child had never been able to pronounce Marlena's name- something about the 'r' and the 'l' sound running together- and had instead made the last two syllables into a new moniker for the woman she knew only as her caregiver.
"Yes, Adora?"
"Could we sometimes pretend that you're my mother?"
"I don't think that would be a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Because it wouldn't be true," Marlena choked on the words.
"I know," Adora mumbled, her eyes closing, "That's why it's pretend."
Marlena sat on the edge of her daughter's cot long after the child fell asleep, pretending that the last seven years had never happened… that Hordak and Skeletor had never even entered the nursery that day… that she would awaken tomorrow not in this black cell that was only slightly larger than the last, but in her husband's arms; and she would watch the sun rise while Randor told her, in that calm, soothing way of his, that it had all been a nightmare brought on by the stress of war and childbirth…
Now, as she and Adora stepped into their cell, Marlena thought that she might not have to pretend for much longer. After five years of exploring the Fright Zone (on the auspices of providing Adora with much-needed exercise), and seven years of learning as much as possible about her captors, Marlena had formed an escape plan, one that depended upon two things: Hordak's miserly nature, and the solid gold rings dangling from a second green ribbon around Marlena's neck.
Three weeks ago, Marlena was walking Adora back from her lessons with a Horde tutor when she heard three human male voices. They were several corridors away, but they were so loud and angry that Marlena could make out every word.
"…Ridiculous. How are we supposed to live on what he pays us?"
"I've a mind to go up to him and…"
"You don't want to be doing that. Cerdic did, and he got sent to Lord Hordak himself, and we all know what happens when he has to settle wage disputes…"
"Is that what happened to Cerdic? Ancients, I heard him screaming for a week in the infirmary…"
The voices faded then, but it did not matter. Marlena had heard all she needed to hear. The next day, while she and Adora were on their daily walk, the queen watched discreetly for anyone who could be the unfortunate Cerdic. It had not been hard to find him, given that he was the only one of the humans who passed her who limped and grimaced in apparent pain; of course, it also helped that one of his comrades referred to him by name. Marlena had managed a glimpse into his eyes, and silently rejoiced at the bitterness there. She was certain that Cerdic could be bribed into helping her and Adora escape.
Though she saw the man several times after that, Marlena was never able to get him alone. Either Adora was with her, or he was with other guards. Instead of panicking, Marlena used the time to further develop her plan. She knew that Hordak was not in complete control of whatever planet they were on, but she did not know anything else about this world. She had never been outside the halls of the Fright Zone, had never even looked out a window in the last seven years. Hordak forbade it. Still, Marlena was certain that there would be people willing to help them, or at least a place for them to hide. She did not know how she and Adora would get back to Eternia, but that did not matter. The important thing was that they would be safe from Hordak until someone from Eternia found them; and, once they were out of Hordak's reach, Marlena could tell Adora the truth about her family.
Marlena was quiet as she walked with Adora to the washroom down the hall. As both captives washed their faces and brushed their teeth, Marlena continued her silent plotting. Twice this week, while walking Adora to her lessons, she had found the man named Cerdic alone, leaning against the wall, shoving some sort of black fruit into his mouth and muttering to himself. He was there the same time every morning, and tomorrow Marlena planned to take Adora to her lessons early so that she could catch Cerdic on her way back, alone.
Back in their cell, Marlena and Adora changed into the thin white shifts that served as nightgowns. Adora pulled the ribbon out of her hair and let it fall to the cold marble floor before climbing onto her cot. Unlike the cell where they had spent their first year of captivity, this cell had two cots, arranged in an "L" shape in the far left corner of the room and covered with two black blankets each.
"Goodnight, Lena." Adora mumbled sleepily.
"Goodnight, Adora," Marlena pulled the blankets over the girl's thin shoulders and stroked a strand of hair away from her face, "Sleep well."
She stood and watched Adora fall asleep until the lights went out, then climbed onto her own cot and slid under the blankets. She rested her head on the thin pillow- another improvement over the last cell-, slipped the two gold rings out from under her shift, and rubbed her thumb across the Eternian crest etched into the larger of the rings. As she fell asleep, Marlena imagined that the ring grew warmer from the hope and prayers she rubbed into it.
She was awakened several hours later by a light shining in her eyes. She shielded her eyes with one arm before opening them. The cell door was open, and the light in Marlena's eyes was from the hallway. She sat up and looked toward Adora's cot; the child was not there. Marlena was not concerned. Adora usually got up during the night to use the toilet in the washroom; she would be back in a few minutes.
Marlena was just about to lie back down when a child's scream pierced the night. The woman leapt off the cot and ran out into the corridor, heart pounding in her ears. There was only one child in the Fright Zone…
"Adora!"
After yelling her daughter's name, Marlena stood very still and listened. The silence seemed to stretch on forever, and she was about to call out again when she heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. A second later, Adora rounded the corner and hurled herself at Marlena, screaming and crying and clinging to the woman's waist. Marlena knelt down, wrapped her arms around Adora, and gently pulled the child's head to her shoulder, rocking back and forth and murmuring soothingly even as the metal grating cut into her knees.
Adora was still screaming when a second set of footsteps reverberated through the halls. Marlena looked up to see Hordak and Shadow Weaver approaching them, flanked by four robot troopers and a man Marlena recognized as Hordak's chief physician. Adora heard them, too, and began screaming even louder than before.
"THEY HURT THAT MAN!" she shrieked into Marlena's shoulder, "THEY HURT HIM, LENA! HE'S BLEEDING! WE HAVE TO HELP HIM! HE'S BLEEDING!"
"We knew this day would come, my lord," Shadow Weaver rasped, "It is time to cast the spell, to put her completely under your control."
Marlena lifted Adora into her arms, stood, and began backing away, knowing even as she did so that escape was impossible. The troopers surrounded them in an instant and commenced pulling Adora away from Marlena. The child continued shrieking and clinging, her fingers burrowing into her mother's back as she tried desperately to hold on. While two troopers continued to pull at Adora, the other two tried to loosen Marlena's grip by pulling her fingers back, causing the woman to scream in pain and rage.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!"
"There is an easier way to do this," the oily voice of the physician said.
He held up a syringe and showed it to Marlena before grabbing her left forearm and jabbing the needle into the bend of her elbow.
"Time to sleep," the physician hissed.
"NO!"
A second after the drug entered her bloodstream, Marlena's arms went numb and dropped uselessly to her sides, allowing the troopers to pull Adora away. The screaming girl was carried away by two of the troopers, following Hordak and Shadow Weaver. Marlena tried to run after them, but her knees buckled and she fell to the ground. Darkness was crashing over her like waves on a beach, and she was only vaguely aware of being lifted up and carried back into the cell, where she was dropped onto her cot. She tried to scream, but could barely move her lips. A last wave washed over her, and Marlena drowned in the darkness…
She dreamt that she was trapped in a small, dark place. Her husband's voice echoed above her, but she could not understand what he was saying, and knew that he could not hear her screams…
Her first thought upon awakening was that she was being watched. Her second thought was of Adora. The world tilted wildly as she sat straight up and looked toward the door, toward her watchers: Hordak, Shadow Weaver… and her daughter, dressed now in a black body suit with a red bat across the chest, and black boots.
"You're awake," Adora said cheerfully, "I wondered when you would be. Guess what, Lena? I start training today, and one day I'll be a soldier for Horde Prime."
The child continued talking about what an honor it was to serve the Horde, but all Marlena could hear was Shadow Weaver's raspy voice in her head… "it is time to cast the spell…"
The trio left soon after. Marlena waited until their footsteps faded completely away; then, she fell to her knees and started screaming.