Chapter 15 The Unexpected
Adam glared up at the ceiling. "That maniacal jerk! What is he trying to do?"
Teela shrugged. "Let me get a look at your neck."
Struggling to his feet, he went and sat on the bed. "I'm fine, Teela, leave me alone."
"You're bleeding," Teela said reasonably, picking up a bandage and walking over. "Let me stop the blood and then –"
He snatched the bandage out of her hand. "Teela, I don't want to be fussed over right now. I just want – I want –" Realizing what was coming, he flung himself face-down into a pillow to hide the tears that started flowing down his face. Teela stood silently beside the bed for a moment, then, without speaking, she climbed onto the bed behind him and cuddled up close. He wanted to be alone; he was afraid that having someone he cared about this close would break him down. But he could not bring himself to object to her comforting presence.
He wept silently for a long while. When he realized that Teela was getting the back of his neck wet, and that it wasn't her hair tickling him, he turned. "Not you, too?" he exclaimed. "We really are going to die."
She punched him lightly in the shoulder, glaring at him. "No, we're not. My father said so."
Adam sighed. "And you can't argue with Man-at-Arms," he muttered, turning back over. "He's dangerous."
Teela was silent for a moment as they cuddled. Then she spoke in even, pleased tones. "Yes," she said. "He is."
If they had to be stuck in this horrible situation, Randor was glad to see that they could offer one another some comfort, he reflected. Duncan stopped working periodically to take a look at them. Lunch was delivered around noon, and he saw that Teela and Adam's lunch materialized at almost the same time. They got up to eat, and then settled down at the table to continue their research.
Randor expected that they would have quite a number of new theories to present when they returned, and he looked forward to hearing them. He wished he could hear them now. After he finished eating, he found himself yawning. Duncan walked over and said, "It's time for your nap, your highness."
"Thank you, mama," Randor groused, but he lay out on the cot and fell asleep.
They were deep in a discussion of the famines that followed the first year of the Pelian war, when Adam suddenly fell silent.
"No, really, Adam," she said. "I think that the –" She paused and sighed. "You aren't listening to me are you?"
Adam had slumped against the chair back and was looking off at the wall without really seeing it. "What do you suppose he was going to do to my hand?"
"I think it would better not to think about that," Teela said uncomfortably.
"He must have told my dad something specific, made some specific threat." Adam shuddered and started rubbing his hand, trying to rub away the feeling of the blade on his skin. "It was really creepy the way he was running the blade back and forth on my skin."
"No kidding." Teela shifted in her chair, obviously not wanting to talk about this, but Adam just couldn't let it go.
"Was he going to cut it off?" he asked, sickened by the image of a stump where his hand should be. "I wouldn't have bled to death, necessarily. He could have cauterized it no problem."
"Adam!" Teela exclaimed. "Stop it. Don't dwell on it."
"What if Dad annoys him again? Is he going to come back and really do it?"
"Maybe, I don't know! I don't want to think about it." She stood up and started pacing. "I can't believe the king begged him. I mean, he actually used the word 'beg.'"
Adam nodded, sick at his stomach. "If I could just turn –" he cut himself off abruptly, realizing what he'd been about to say. "Um. . .turn the tables on that idiot." He looked down at the table. He'd been trying to ignore the headache that had been growing. He picked up a book, a novel this time, and got up. "I'm going to lie down. Teela, would you read to me?"
Teela looked worried. She took the book and helped him over to the bed. "I just want to lie down, Teela, I don't need help." She kept a hand on his arm, though, and tucked him in. "You've been watching my mother too much," he muttered.
She'd barely gotten three sentences into the book before he fell asleep.
By the next morning, Randor was feeling a great deal better. Dorgan was still giving him shots every few hours, but he no longer felt like a produce cart had crashed into him and then dumped its contents on his back.
Adam had evidently persuaded Teela to help him do some small exercises to strengthen his legs, and when they weren't using them, they packed up the books and papers in the trunk, obviously taking Man-at-Arms advice to be ready to leave very much to heart.
Randor watched Duncan fashion the drill bits out of the elpinar and wished he could come up with a better plan. They needed to hear from Manny's team that they had found the underwater prison.
Duncan looked up suddenly, his eyes taking on a distant expression. Then he dropped his tools and rushed madly to the desk, yanked a drawer open and fumbled a map up onto the surface. Snatching up a pen, he drew a rough shape on it in the middle of the Sea of Rakash. Then he stood, gazing down at the map for a moment, seeming lost in thought. Then his eyes sharpened their focus again and he looked at Randor. He must have seen a mildly alarmed expression in the king's face, for he said, "The Sorceress contacted me telepathically. Evidently there was a moment yesterday when she got a firmer feeling for where Adam was."
Randor crossed the space between his seat and the desk in two long strides. "This is a narrowing down of the region of the search."
"Yes!" Duncan exclaimed triumphantly. Then his eyes widened. "My god, I hope the imposter isn't eavesdropping!"
Randor stared at Duncan in horror. He grabbed a pen and a sheet of blank paper. How do we get this info to Manny?
Duncan read the message, and took the pen. Leave that to me. He sat down at the console and began typing quickly. After a few moments, he sat back and pressed one button. "That should take care of it."
Randor sat down, feeling suddenly drained. "Well, good."
The door suddenly opened and slammed back against the wall. The imposter ran in, heading straight for Randor. He was afraid for a moment that the weasel had been listening and was coming to wreak some havoc on them, but then the terror in the man's eyes registered in Randor's mind. Grabbing the king, he shielded himself behind him.
"What the – !" Randor exclaimed.
"What do you think you're doing?" Duncan demanded.
"Even your son isn't that much of a coward," Evil-Lyn drawled from the doorway, and Randor's eyes widened as he saw her. Her voice was a blend of amused contempt and irritation. "Where have you mislaid the boy this time?"
Man-at-Arms stepped across in front of Randor. "What do you want, witch?"
"Oh, don't worry, I've no interest your king or the fake prince, and only the mildest interest in the real prince." She smiled lazily, looking the engineer up and down. "Now you, on the other hand. . ."
"You stay away from him!" The declaration sounded in unison from two throats.
She raised an elegant eyebrow. "My, my, aren't we protective?" Her eyes met Randor's. "Of whom, though, I wonder . . ." Randor met her curious look with a glare, not responding.
"What do you want?" Duncan demanded again, taking a step toward her. She raised her staff and sent a levin bolt at him. Ordinarily, Duncan would have dodged easily, but he stood his ground to prevent the king from taking the blow. He was thrown backward. Randor dodged sideways and seized up one of Duncan's tools to use as a weapon. The imposter, however, was not quick enough, and Duncan landed on top of him, knocking him to the ground.
Evil-Lyn had already begun her theft, sweeping the filings and twisted scraps of elpinar into a nearby box, she scooped up both the drill bits that Man-at-Arms had created. "Hoping to see a great deal more of you, Duncan darling!" she called over her shoulder as she ran back out. Randor followed her but she had vanished into the population of the palace. He searched for a few moments, alerted the guard to the intruder, and then returned to the lab.
How would the imposter take this? It had taken days to find the elpinar in the first place. Another delay wasn't going to please him.
Duncan lay unconscious on the floor. The imposter knelt over him, slapping him, trying to get him to wake up. "You've got to stop her!" he yelled.
Randor strode over and knelt down on Duncan's other side. "Stop it," he said. "It's too late already, and that's not the way to treat an unconscious man in any case."
Dorgan walked in with a lunch tray a moment later to find the imposter sitting back in annoyance and Randor checking Duncan's eyes.
"What have you done now?" he demanded of the imposter, setting down the tray and hurrying to Duncan's side.
"It wasn't him, this time," Randor said. "It was Evil-Lyn. She stole the elpinar."
"And you let her get away," the imposter complained.
Randor groaned let his face fall into his hands. "I'm not exactly at my peak."
"Yes, and whose fault is that?" Dorgan demanded, glaring at the imposter, who turned and raised an eyebrow at Randor.
Randor got the message. "Mine," Randor said. "If I'd been more sensible to start out with, I wouldn't be in such bad shape." Dorgan's jaw dropped. He opened his mouth to make what looked to be an angry rebuttal, but Randor gave him a steely glare and the healer pursed his lips.
"Very good, Randor," the imposter said. "I had begun to despair of you ever achieving a proper attitude. Now, what are we going to do about the elpinar?"
"We never called Sy-Klone back," Duncan said, sitting up slowly. He'd come to while no one was paying him much attention. "He may yet return with some."
"We could attack Snake Mountain and retrieve mine," the imposter suggested.
"'We?'" Duncan asked, brows raising.
Randor shook his head. "The palace is already insufficiently guarded. I'm not sending anyone to Snake Mountain just now."
"What about He-Man? You should send for him."
Duncan shook his head. "I've tried, to get him to help look for the ingredients, but I can't reach him."
"You probably don't want He-Man showing up in any case," Randor said, his eyes narrowing. "He seems fairly fond of Adam, and I don't think he'd approve of you." The imposter glared at them all. "Besides, I don't think we want to invite further attention from Skeletor just now. By the way, how did Evil-Lyn know you weren't Adam?"
The imposter's eyes widened. "What?" he quavered.
"Didn't you hear her? She said you were more of a coward than Adam."
The imposter turned a dark, brick red and said, "Never mind that. She's not likely to broadcast it unless she sees some benefit to herself." He turned to go. "I'll give you another week, seeing as you have to fetch new ingredients."
"Thank you," Randor said. "That's most generous."
When the imposter reached the door, he turned back. "You, Man-at-Arms, walk me back to my room. It's not like there's anything keeping you here right now," he added in a disgusted tone. Duncan shared an annoyed glance with Randor, but followed the weasel out.
When they were gone, Dorgan turned to Randor. "What's gotten into you?" he demanded. "Seeing you toady to that half-baked moron –" Randor picked up a pad of paper and began writing, irritated by the necessity.
He came close yesterday to cutting Adam's fingers off. Dorgan blanched as he read over the king's shoulder. I decided – Adam matters more than my pride. Dorgan nodded. We're keeping him happy – for now.
When Duncan returned, he said, "Let's go to your study, Randor. I can't bear the sight of that thing." Before they left, though, Duncan put out a call to Sy-Klone to reiterate the need for the elpinar.
They went to Randor's study where they settled to eat their lunch. Dorgan looked in on them periodically, to make sure that Randor wasn't overdoing. They spent the rest of the afternoon watching their children read, discuss and bicker over the journals of Elegius.
Randor was sitting in his study the next morning, watching Adam and Teela eating breakfast. He'd spent more time watching them in the last few days than he'd spent during the course of their lives, he'd begun to think. And yet he couldn't tear his eyes away.
Suddenly, they both jumped up and ran to one of the walls. Teela placed an ear against it, and they both looked excited. Could it be? The rescue party? Adam ran over and started placing things hastily in the chest. Randor jumped up, to go call Duncan. Then he stopped so abruptly that he fell back into his chair. A portal had opened right behind Adam. Both Teela and Adam, in their different locations, had their backs to the center of the room.
He cried out a warning, but of course they could not hear him.
Adam threw Cringer's picture and the potted plant into the trunk and turned to see if there was anything else they needed to take with them. He came face to face with the imposter.
Letting out a cry of alarm, he tried to jump backward, but the chest was in his way and he lost his balance. Before he could fall, the imposter seized the front of his pajamas and threw him face first to the floor, dazing him.
"What are you doing?" Teela demanded.
He grabbed Adam's hair and jerked him back to his knees, placing one hand across his eyes. "You will do exactly as I say, girl, or your prince will lose his looks and his sight in one blow." The hand across Adam's face was already warmer than human normal. Adam wanted to fight back against the villain, but the dizziness caused by the blow to his head had only worsened when the imposter had covered his eyes.
"What do you want me to do?" Teela asked, her voice sharp with alarm.
Adam could hear him speaking, and felt the movement of his gesture, and wondered what he was doing. There was a loud, resounding crash, and the imposter shoved him forward abruptly. He landed face first on what felt like a dirt floor. The imposter landed with his legs on either side of him, then placed a foot firmly in the center of his back. "Your father is an excellent actor, boy, but he's just lost you a hand."
Panic surged through Adam, and he scrabbled against the hard ground, finding no purchase.