EIGHT

Palace Eternia

4 June 2017

Hissing sounds were the first thing to break through to Adrian Cobretti's fog-filled brain. He remained perfectly still while trying to swim back to the surface of full consciousness. Bright light tried to penetrate stubborn eyelids, though he did not flitch. Wherever he was, Adrian sensed he was slouched in some kind of chair. He maintained a steady rhythmic breathing while taking stock of his hurts. Bruises dotted his body. The worst were centered on his chest and back.

"Hey. I think he'sssssss awake. Hisssssss," Something hissed close by.

"Check," something else hissed back.

Memories began to flood Adrian's mind when a scaly hand grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and began shaking him. "I'm awake," he croaked, mouth and throat dry as the Sahara Desert.

"Sssssssounds a little dry," the snake out sight to Adrian's left replied. "Give him thisssssss."

Another Snake Man colored several shades of green and looking like a bipedal cobra bobbled over bearing a goblet. The creature extended the clawed hand holding the goblet out to Adrian. Adrian cautiously took the goblet amid assurances that it was only water, sniffed it, then it raised to his lips. He didn't get more than a taste when a fist smashed into his left cheek sending the goblet flying.

"HA! So much for Rongar'ssssssss warning about thessssse humans being dangerous," the snake hissed with pleasure. "Reflexes are not very good, either."

Adrian spat blood, but no loose teeth. Musta pulled his punch, he mused. "I've lost my cup. May I have another?"

The snake that had struck him looked amazed. The creature almost couldn't believe what he'd heard. Shaking off his shock, the biped snake took a second goblet from his companion and handed it to Cobra.

Adrian raised it halfway to his lips and paused. "You do that again, and I'll kill you."

The snake was, of course, unconvinced. As Adrian took a sip, the creature once again snapped out a fist that dealt Adrian a punishing blow. Once again the goblet skittered away. Once again Adrian spat blood.

"Two!" the Snake Man declared triumphantly. That triumph turned to shock, concern, and finally outright terror.

Adrian bolted from the simple wooden armchair as if shot from a cannon. The creature stood rooted in place, mesmerized the human's right arm suddenly changing shape. From shoulder to fingertips the right arm turned brackish and became segmented. Twin bone claws snapped out from under the forearm carapace. Before the cobra-like creature could react, Adrian slammed them up under the vulnerable jaw. The tips of the hardened weapons exploded from the top and back of the head killing the Snake Man instantly.

The dead snake's companion backed away in terror. In an instant, hunter had just become hunted. Adrian jerked his arm down dragging the claws out of his victim. The corpse dropped to dead knees and toppled backward as he turned to the only other target in range. Gore dripped from bone shafts as he advanced on the skittish creature.

"Impressive," a voice full of authority and sounding very ancient, replied. "Most impressive."

"My Lord!" the trembling Snake Man gasped. "He…he…"

"Yes. He did so quite effortlessly."

"Well, don't get all mushy over your loss," Adrian growled dangerously.

"He was always arrogant. Not a failing trait in my minions, but it does have its drawbacks at times," King Hiss conceded.

Adrian got his first real look at the leader of the ruthless Snake Men. In his humanoid form, the creature stood over seven feet in height, taller than General Rongar. His body was clothed in armor one would expect of a ruler such as him, colored in two shades of green protecting a physically powerful body. A plain golden helmet framed angular features complete with vertical slits in red eyes.

"Indeed. So what do you want to gab about, snake face?" Adrian replied, glancing at the cowering minion, who couldn't remove his eyes from Adrian's transformed arm.

The leader of the Snake Men cocked his head slightly to one side. "I am King Hiss." He gestured to another warrior who entered what Adrian now saw was the throne room of Palace Eternia. "That is Snake Face."

Adrian remembered seeing pictures of this creature. Small snakes would slither out of its eye sockets, nose, and mouth when it put its particular ability in use. Snake Face had the power of the Medusa. The effect could be temporary or permanent depending on what Snake Face wished.

Adrian shrugged absently, letting his arm return to normal. "Whatever." His gaze continued to take in the surroundings. The room was more open and airy than the pictures he'd seen. No doubt this was due to the assault years ago and subsequent remodeling. The thrones remained at the north end of the chamber atop a dais. Thick timbers more then ten feet up supported the weight of the domed ceiling and stabilized the ring of pillars forming the new outer wall. A red curtain blanketed a twenty-foot area of the east wall that billowed occasionally on the slight breeze blowing in.

"You impress me, for a human," King hiss began. "Leaving your camp was a missssstake. However, you managed to kill seven of my warriors before they subdued you and the Sorceress. While I would normally have you consumed for your actions, I am always in need of good warriors."

Oh, this is rich, Adrian thought. "Are you offering me a job?"

"I can use someone of your skills," King Hiss admitted. "There is a growing rebellion on this planet and your ability to change form could help me toward rooting out the insurgents. Whenever my warriors appear, they disappear to cause trouble somewhere else."

"And if I decide to be a part of your problem instead of your solution?" Adrian inquired politely.

Hiss' features took on a predatory appearance. "Then you will be food for my army."

Adrian appeared to consider the option. "Where is the Sorceress?" he asked abruptly.

Hiss was caught off guard by the question. "Why do you want to know about her?"

"I have a soft spot for birds," Adrian responded. "You want to know my answer to your offer? Show me the Sorceress first."

Hiss considered the request; decided the probable answer was worth the wait, and parted the curtain with a wave of his hand. Suspended between to pillars was the Sorceress of Grayskull. She hung listless supported only by the manacles locked around her wrists. The connecting chains were drawn taunt spreading the woman's arms wide. Someone had also seen fit to replace the black and gray jumpsuit with the costume Adrian had first seen her wearing on Earth.

On closer inspection, Adrian found the reason for her unresponsive condition. Two puncture marks on the right thigh crusted with blood and radiating a spider web of venom tracks outward was the cause. Hiss had bitten her or one of his minions.

Sorceress moaned weakly. Incredible pain was etched on her features mingling with the faint tracks forming as the venom slowly continued destroying her one piece at a time. As if the cellular degeneration hadn't been enough, this appeared a thousand times worse.

Seeing her like this sent a shiver down Adrian's spine, but he recovered quickly. "Your doing?" he asked the towering ruler of the Snake Men.

"Such is the fate of all who challenge the might of the Snake Men," King Hiss rumbled.

Bad blood here. Not a good sign, Adrian thought. "Of course. Her return is a threat to your dominion. Might lead to more rebellious acts," Adrian surmised aloud. "Can't have that." He strode past the Snake Men as he continued to fill in the blanks. "However, have you considered the possible wealth of information you are throwing away? Think of the knowledge about my world and my friends she is privy to."

"True. But, then, there is you."

His pacing caused the sniveling Snake Man who had survived earlier to scurry out of range. "Quite right. However, after seeing what you have done to the Sorceress," Adrian replied, pausing to look Hiss in the eye, "you can go to Hell." He swung away and made for the towering double doors with all the imperiousness of a ruler.

General Rattlor stepped out from behind a pillar, caught up to the arrogant human with three easy strides and clubbed him unconscious. "Shall we feed the massssessss, My Lord?"

King Hiss shook his head. "No. Let's see what we can take from his mind first. Then feast on him."

Rattlor grinned at that. "As you command."

Evergreen Forest

Near Castle Grayskull

4 June 2017

Corporal Frost and several privates emerged from the trees two hours after they left the camp. All wore dismayed looks. Frost in particular looked distressed.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense," Colonel Markson prodded when the ebony man fidgeted. "Out with it."

"We found signs of a struggle. Four dead Snake Men all with double puncture marks to the head."

"Bone claws?" Markson asked, and Frost nodded.

"We also found signs of two bodies being dragged a short distance before we figured they were finally picked up and carried away." Frost sighed heavily.

Several people had told him the Sorceress mentioned needing to see Castle Grayskull. Shortly after she disappeared into the trees, Adrian followed presumably to keep her out of trouble. Little did anyone know trouble waited patiently at the edge of the forest.

Markson thought hard about the possible implications of the pair being tortured by the Snake Men for information. They couldn't gain access to Castle Grayskull, their only real haven, without the Sorceress. Something else nagged at him from the back of his mind. Something he overlooked. Jon sat at the bank of display screens and computers inside the carrier and scrolled through the maps of Eternia. Said maps were current as of two Earth years ago, and Sorceress doubted much had changed in that time after looking them over. According to her, little of this area has changed in the past fifty years, or so.

Jon had no idea how he sat staring at blankly at the screen before the nagging feeling finally hit him. Slowly straightening in his seat, Jon kept his eyes riveted to a spot on the map, lest he lose sight of it and has to search all over again.

"Lieutenant Garber," Colonel Markson called out carefully.

The sounds of boots on the deck coming his direct from somewhere in the rear of the carrier announced the man's approach. "Sir?"

Colonel Markson placed a finger to a spot on what the map listed as the Fertile Planes. "This is where we're going. Let's get the camp broken down and get out of here before King Hiss decides to send a proper welcoming party.

Lieutenant Garber squinted at the display for a few moments, whirled about and began shouting orders. Within thirty minutes, all the gear was packed up and the area policed for any evidence of their presence. Jake Rockwell drove the War Machine in the lead heading for the location Colonel Markson picked out.

The trip took over three hours to get out of the Evergreen Forest, and another four getting to the caverns shown on the map southwest of Palace Eternia. If it hadn't been for the fact they knew they were on an alien world, the Earthers would have sworn they were traveling through the American Midwest. Several small farming villages were spotted at a distance with optical scanners. Colonel Markson made sure it stayed that way.

Jake found an entrance big enough to allow five carriers to pass through side by side. The vehicles slowed to a stop fifty meters inside. Alpha and Charlie platoons scrambled down the aft ramp, Alpha to the carrier's right while Charlie went left. Both platoons broke up into squads and spread out deeper into the cavern.

Colonel Markson led the way with Jake, Sonya, and Brad flanking him. Reports from the other squads filtered in quietly over the tactical net. There was lots of empty space, hiding places, nooks and crannies for motion sensors, and plenty of fighting room. Once the area was secured out to a radius of one hundred meters, the vehicles were advanced further into the caverns. Shoulder lights provided illumination when they were in far enough where light from outside could not reach.

Motion sensors, cameras, and audio probes were strategically placed as they went to give as much early warning as possible. Eventually, after another three tense hours of slow searching, the group halted less than a kilometer from Palace Eternia. An opening less than half the size of the one they entered hours before lay roughly two hundred meters to the north and west of their position.

"I don't like this, sir," Lieutenant Garber replied nervously. "It's too quiet."

"I know," Colonel Markson answered. "We may have been spotted. Then again, maybe not."

"Good strategy, Colonel," Jake replied. "Sneaking in on them while they search for us out there."

"Hiss would think us insane to attack his seat of power directly or otherwise," Frost added.

"Hiss only thinks of us as food," Sonya said. She had been grumpy ever since the Sorceress and Adrian disappeared.

Markson set up a watch detail, ordered motion detectors and other sensors placed, and put together a volunteer team to scout deeper into the caverns to find a way into the palace the Snake Men hopefully knew nothing about. He hated the time it was taking to get into position and set up, but it was necessary. He had no idea what to expect inside the palace. Nor how many of the enemy lurked within. As Frost's scouting party disappeared into the inky darkness, Colonel Markson wondered if he would see any of them alive again.

Palace Eternia

4 June 2017

Adrian felt like his head had been ripped apart an itty, bitty piece at a time and then put back together again. Only it hadn't been pieced together quite right. His soul had been laid bare before his interrogators. Something called a…a… Adrian couldn't seem to remember what they called the machine he'd been strapped into. At the moment he could barely remember he was of a species called Human.

"You'll want to lie there a while longer before trying to get up," a voice spoke quietly from somewhere off to his right.

Adrian felt all right despite the torture he had endured. Heedless of the advice, Adrian attempted to rise. He didn't even clear his shoulder blades from the hard stone surface upon which he lay. Lightning bolts of pain lanced through his brain in such a rapid fire as to seem like one perpetual strike. He collapsed quicker than he tried getting up.

The voice chuckled dryly. "Men. Always thinking they are so tough. So brave. So afraid to let their feelings show. So afraid to show weakness."

"Now you're getting nasty," Adrian croaked. "You always insult people you meet for the first time?"

The voice chuckled again this time right next to his ear. "Depends on the person," the voice Adrian now could identify as female replied in a husky tone.

Adrian cracked open his eyes, now that the pain had abated to an annoying throb. The light in the chamber he figured had to be a dungeon cell was not as intense as he first feared, but it wasn't dim either. A face swam into view before him. A youthful female face on the verge of becoming a woman framed with long, brown hair, sculpted with high cheekbones, and set with a firm sensuous mouth, and clear green eyes stared back at him. There was an unmistakable hint of amusement reflected in those eyes.

"Nice to see you. Do you have a name? Or was that overlooked at your birth?"

"Adrian," he replied. Grimacing against the pain, Adrian once again attempted to sit up. This time he would not stop until he was upright. Amazingly, his cellmate helped in the endeavor. Once up right with his back to the cold stone, and his vision clearing again, Adrian could see the girl before him was barely clad in what appeared to be brick red metal covering all the right places. He could also see that despite the youthful appearance, the girl was no girl. She was a woman; lean muscled, and possessed a figure men would kill to be close to. Her smile was like a ray of sunshine in their dismal surroundings.

The moment passed as quickly as it came.

"My name is Anyssa."

A tormented howl snapped Adrian's attention to the locked cell door.

"They call it a mind sifter. That's why you feel like you do. It ripped images and memories from your mind," Anyssa explained grimly. "It is very effective."

Adrian struggled to his feet. He leaned on the cold gray stone until his equilibrium stabilized, then took a few tentative steps toward the door. Anyssa remained crouched in place.

The cell door was formidable. Eternian steel, or something close to it. A small barred window was set near the top at about eye level to the average human. Adrian could not see much beyond except inky darkness and the sounds of men and women screaming as the mind sifter ripped their brains apart. He rapped his knuckles on the barrier several times. A very sturdy door. Adrian wagered his Alien form, even that of the CHUD or syngenor could easily rip the door from its hinges. Now was not the time, however.

"It'll take more than your puny male muscles to get through that," Anyssa observed from behind.

Adrian knowing grin was hidden from her. "Oh, you'd be surprised at what this particular male can do."
Anyssa cocked her head to one side, incredulous. "Care to share? We appear to have plenty of time."

Turning away from the door, Adrian replied, "Oh, no. I want it to be a surprise."

Anyssa's face lit up with false amusement. "Oh, I like surprises."

Adrian chose a stop along the opposite wall and sat down. He was trying to keep his distance from this rather forward female without looking like he was trying to keep his distance. Mentally, he assembled a rough estimate of when a rescue party was likely to arrive. A tough job since he didn't know what time it was, or how long he'd been away.

Absently, Adrian rubbed the medallion hanging from his neck. It began to glow dully in the half-light. Anyssa inquired about the nature of the thing, since she had heard the snakes grumbling about receiving electric shocks when they tried to remove it, but Adrian refused to elaborate, so she let the matter drop.

Tormented screams from down the corridor broke the silence that fell between them.

General Rattlor reviewed the recordings ripped from Adrian Cobretti's brain for the third time. King Hiss and Evil-Lyn had already seen them hours ago and could not reach a conclusion. Images of times long past flashed across the screen. Though the sound was turned off, the occasional rumblings from the gathered snake warriors broke the silence, and the odd painful moan from the Sorceress as King Hiss' venom continued to slowly destroy her from within.

"Now he showed promise," Rattlor mused, seeing the historical images from Earth's World War II of Adolph Hitler. Images continued to scroll through different time periods. Rattlor came to the conclusion this human had an interest in certain periods in his planet's history.

"This Sun Tzu must have been a great warrior to be so revered by them," a snake man commented.

Rattlor grunted. The part in the recordings scrolled by that would have detailed the formation of the Guardian Force the images grew fuzzy and indistinct. Despite the power used in wrenching the information from Adrian's mind, something interfered with the mind sifter. And there was that blasted medallion both he and the Sorceress wore which issued potent electric shocks when someone tried to remove them.

Growing tired of this pointless endeavor, Rattlor took the gathered warriors on an inspection of all the guard stations.

Minutes after the group left, a shadow detached itself from the inky blackness around the throne room entrance. The shadow crept cautiously along the wall, pausing periodically to wait out the passing of the roving snake patrols.

Sorceress moaned from the pain she continued to endure. King Hiss' venom coursed through her veins like a lava flow. Her eyelids cracked just enough to allow her pain-wracked brain to see indistinct shadows in the flickering light thrown off by the torches mounted in sconces on every third pillar.

The shadow grew more distinct as it approached the chained woman. Torches on the pillars she hung between threw off enough light to see the veins standing out on the Sorceress' face and bare legs. The lone figure quietly approached the dying woman one tentative step at a time. As it closed on the prisoner, the form resolved into a slim woman in her mid twenties.

The woman stood there on the edge of the pool of yellow light waiting for the other to notice. It took an agonizing few minutes in which the she contemplated saying something, but decided to wait. Finally sensing she wasn't alone, the Sorceress shifted her head from its resting place on her right bicep. It felt to her like it was filled with lead, but she managed somehow to raise it and squint at the shadowed woman standing before her.

Teela stepped out of the darkness once she was sure she had the Sorceress' attention. She had left the snake armor behind in her quarters, and now wore the white, short-skirted outfit she was normally seen in.

"Teela," Sorceress whispered through dry and cracked lips.

"Hello, mother."