Chapter 17 - Choices

"Thank the Elders," Randor breathed as they loaded Adam, head lolling limply, onto a griffin with Trap Jaw. Duncan looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, but Randor shook his head. "It's Skeletor," he said insistently. "If he didn't kill him outright, we still have a chance to retrieve him. Call the masters back, now! And Marlena." Duncan nodded once and left the room rapidly. Randor continued to watch, adding mental tallies to Trap Jaw's criminal file for every indignity the villain perpetrated on his helpless son.

He watched until the walls of Snake Mountain blocked the reach of the viewer, or so he presumed. Then he set to planning.

When the masters had returned, he had them gather in the council chamber, all but Mekanek, who was still unconscious pending Adam's kiss, and Manny and Teela who were still on their way back. With an arm around Marlena at his side, he brought them all up to date on what had been happening.

As he finished, the room exploded with the masters' anger, and Randor had to bang on the table for silence. "Now is not the time for anger. Now is the time for –"

Orko came flying in through one of the windows, his eyes wide with alarm. "Your highness," he said in a worried voice. "This was outside the castle walls." He proffered a little white box tied up with a purple bow.

Randor took it, a grin quirking his lips. "The familiarity of this is almost comforting." Duncan lunged forward as he opened it.

"Randor!" he exclaimed in frustration. "One of these days, old skull face is going to get smart and put a bomb in one of those."

"Duncan!" Marlena exclaimed. "Don't even say that. Don't give that wretch any ideas!"

Randor unfolded the note that lay inside the box and read it.

Randor –

I am informed that you already know that I have your son, that you, in fact, saw the event. You will no doubt be pleased to know that I am prepared to return him, should you meet my conditions.

Meet me at the edge of that abyss we both know so well. I'd ask you to come alone, but I'm sure those 'masters' of yours never let you go anywhere by yourself. Don't worry, you can bring as many people as you like, just be sure to bring that digging device with you, and I'll bring your son.

I'm certain you can guess the rest.

Skeletor

"Duncan," Randor said. "Get that excavator ready for travel."

"What?"

"Skeletor wants it." He gave Duncan a meaningful look. "Get it ready for travel." Duncan nodded and left. "The rest of you, we're going to meet Skeletor by the abyss he threw me into."

Marlena clutched at him, but didn't speak. He turned to her and put his hand on her cheek. "My dear, we should have Adam back here before nightfall if all goes well."

"See that it does," she said. "I'll have things ready for you both."

"Send for Dorgan," Randor ordered.

Randor took Skeletor at his word. Every master that could be mustered was present, including Teela and Manny, who had returned just before everyone else departed. Teela was furious to learn that Adam had been taken by Skeletor.

As the rescue party landed, Randor jumped out of the wind raider and marched swiftly across to where Skeletor stood with his minions near the edge of the abyss. He knew without looking that his forces would flank him.

Hanging upright in the open air several feet beyond the edge of the cliff were two identical Adams, both dressed in plain white tunics and trousers. Randor stared at the pair of them, uneasily aware that no He-Man stood among the masters, to dive in and save Adam were he to fall. Then he turned and glared at his nemesis.

"You said you were going to return my son, Skeletor."

"I did, and I will, Randor," he said, his nasal voice crackling with amusement. "But I couldn't tell them apart. You're the boy's father. You ought to be able to identify your own son." Randor could hear the growls and complaints of the masters behind him and raised a hand to silence them. He gazed steadily across at the lord of Snake Mountain, waiting for him to enlarge on his point. "All you have to do, my dear Randor, is give me that excavator, and then choose the one you want to take with you. The other one will fall into the abyss, to be heard from no more."

Randor ground his teeth and looked across at the two who hung in the air. Skeletor always had to complicate things, didn't he? "Very well," he said, gesturing for Man-at-Arms to hand over the device. Duncan lifted the covering off it, and he and Man-E-Faces lifted it down from the wind raider. They pushed it across to where Clawful and Whiplash received it.

"Now choose, Randor. Which is the prince and which the imposter? Which shall live and which shall die?" The skull-faced villain threw his head back with cackling laughter. "I'm interested to see which wins out! Love for your son, or vengeance on his tormentor!"

Ignoring Skeletor's mirth, Randor stepped close to the edge of the abyss and scrutinized the faces. He thought that the one on the left was his son, he couldn't have said why, but he was sure. Just to make certain, however, he pulled out the already activated viewer that he had kept an eye on all the way here, just to be sure that Skeletor had started out keeping his end of the bargain. He didn't expect that to last, but one of these two was undeniably Adam.

The view was still from above, and the drop beneath them made Randor take a deep breath. They were so close together that it was hard to tell which. The view had always centered on Adam as he moved around his prison. Randor had paid little attention to that fact, but it occurred to him after the viewer's image had followed the boy to his new location that perhaps the spell of the thing was centered on Adam himself.

The wind whipped up and shifted the garments of the one on the right, and Randor knew. Tucking the viewer away, he spoke to Skeletor over his shoulder. "Give me the one on the left."

Skeletor grinned at him, and Randor whipped his head around just in time to see both of their eyes open as they started to fall. Simultaneous screams ripped from their throats as they dropped from view. "Sorry, your time is up!" Skeletor cried, and Randor threw himself at the bone-faced menace, seizing the staff and attempting to wrest it from Skeletor's grip.

At that same moment all three of the flying masters took off and dove into the abyss. Pandemonium broke loose as the fight began. Evil-Lyn fired several shots from her staff, trying to knock the fliers out of the sky, but Man-at-Arms knocked her flat with one blast from his hand cannon.

Skeletor gave an almighty heave and shoved Randor away. Raising a hand in the air, Skeletor commanded, "Summon the steeds! We have what we came for."

Duncan gestured that the masters allow the retreat, and Randor watched them go, then rushed back to the edge to look down. As he reached the precipice, two clumps of people shot skyward. Sy-Klone was firmly restraining the one he'd caught, but Stratos and Buzz-Off were merely supporting Adam. Randor dashed across to Adam's side and pulled him into a fierce embrace. He didn't plan on letting him go again until he was twenty.

Adam caught a glimpse of his father's horrified face as he plummeted downward. Was this the abyss he'd saved his father from as He-Man? He screamed; he couldn't help it. This was like every nightmare he'd had about that day. Except that the imposter was falling beside him, clutching at the air and screaming his lungs out.

If he had to die like this, at least that rotten jerk would die with him.

Three blurs shot past them both and came back up to meet them. Adam found himself in the firm and welcome grasp of Stratos and Buzz-Off. Unfortunately, Sy-Klone had also caught the imposter.

"Prince Adam, are you all right?" Buzz-Off said.

"I'm fine," Adam said weakly. "Boy am I glad to see you guys!"

"We're glad to see you as well, my prince," Stratos said. "You were sorely missed."

"But I thought nobody knew I was gone!"

"The imposter isn't much of an actor." They slowed and stopped, and Buzz-Off held him while Stratos flew up to peer over the edge.

"Why are we stopping?" Adam asked, as the Andrenid hovered.

"The fight isn't over, and we don't want to take you into harm's way." Sy-Klone, too, had stopped, holding the imposter suspended in the eye of a whirlwind.

"Is Teela okay?"

"Yes, she's fighting on the surface," Buzz Off said. Adam looked up and gulped, wishing he had his sword and could be the defender of Eternia. It felt pathetic to be hiding down here.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked to take his mind off that thought.

"Your scent. The imposter evidently did not duplicate your scent."

"You can recognize me by my body odor?" Adam demanded incredulously.

"So can Cringer. You've got a very worried tiger waiting for you back home."

"Come on up!" Stratos cried. Buzz-Off began winging his way upward and Stratos came down to help him. When they reached the surface and Adam was once more on solid ground, he found that his legs wouldn't support him. They held him upright until he was pulled off his feet into a tight hug by his father.

Adam had never been so happy to see anyone in his life. "Father!" he exclaimed, then felt an odd rushing in his head as the pain of his injuries came back to his awareness suddenly and with a vengeance.

His vision blackened and he felt himself start to go limp. His father swung him up into his arms like a baby. "Adam, are you all right?"

He looked up into his father's worried eyes. "I'll be okay. You can put me down now. I think I can stand up." They started moving toward one of the wind raiders. "Father? You can put me down."

"No, Adam." Adam opened his mouth to protest, but the set of his father's jaw told him the futility of it. Giving up, he rested his head on his father's shoulder. It wasn't, after all, so bad.

"Isn't it sweet!" an obnoxiously familiar voice called out contemptuously. "The honorable king of Eternia and his pathetic son."

His father's grip tightened, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. He didn't, however, respond to the gibe. Angry retorts came from all around them aimed at the imposter.

"Teela, no!" called Duncan. Adam peered over his father's shoulder to see what was happening and saw Man-at-Arms restraining Teela, still in those awful pajamas, from pummeling the doppelganger. He wished, briefly, that it wouldn't be wrong to let her beat him to a bloody pulp.

"Throw him back over the edge!" called Ram-Man.

Stratos placed an arresting hand on his large friend's shoulder. "Unfortunately, that would be wrong. We must not sink to his level."

Suddenly, there was a flash of energy, and Sy-Klone cried out in surprise. Randor whirled. The masters converged in a mass between them and the imposter. "What happened?"

"He changed!" Sy-Klone exclaimed. "Into a ferret!"

"After him!" Stratos cried, taking off, jet packs firing. Manny changed into Man-E-Monster and charged.

Before any of the other masters could follow, Duncan stepped forward and yelled. "Wait, some of you must stay to guard the prince and the king! Sy-Klone, you go with them. The rest of you, return to the palace with us."

Randor placed Adam carefully into the back seat of the wind raider and climbed in hastily to sit beside him. Adam thumped his head back down on his father's shoulder, a jumble of furious emotions coursing through him. Randor put his arm around him and rested his cheek against the top of Adam's head. Teela and Duncan jumped into the front seat and they took off with a roar of engines. Buzz-Off flew beside them all the way home.

When they landed, Dorgan and several medics hustled him out of the wind raider and onto a stretcher. They carried him rapidly into an exam room in the infirmary, his mother close beside him all the way. They stripped him bare and examined every square inch of his body, removing the bandage on his arm. The bandage on his chest was still missing. It all felt disgustingly familiar.

His mother could not be persuaded to leave this time, which caused him unending embarrassment as she fussed over his wounds. Once the medics had determined the extent of his injuries, Dorgan ordered a bath for him. After a bit of argument, Adam managed to get his mother to leave while he bathed, but there was no throwing his father and Dorgan out, especially since the old healer insisted on bathing him himself.

They got him bandaged and dressed in a comfortable pair of old pajamas and put him to bed. Adam groaned as his mother started plumping pillows.

"Marlena," Randor said gently. "I think he has enough pillows."

"Oh," his mother said, gazing down at him. "What about blankets? Does he need more blankets?"

"Mother, I'm fine. Just sit down and stay with me." Her eyes filled up with tears and she sank into the chair by his bed, reaching out and taking his hand. Adam wrinkled his brows. "Mom, it's okay, really. I'm fine." He looked up helplessly at his father for advice, but his father had a hand on the end of his bed and looked like he really needed the support. "Father, what's wrong?"

His face was gray with exhaustion, and he shook his head. "I'm fine, Adam. I –"

"All right, Randor, it's time for your exam," Dorgan said, coming in and taking the king by the arm. Medic Jonis took his other arm, and they hustled him out. Startlingly, he didn't object.

"What's going on?" Adam asked, turning to his mother, who was gazing worriedly after her husband. After a moment of watching her face, Adam flipped the covers off of himself and started to get out of bed.

"Adam, no!" she cried, and pushed him back, tucking him back in. Her eyes kept straying to the door way, however.

"Mother, what happened to him?" She didn't answer, just bit her lip and looked concerned. "Mother!" She sat resolutely on the side of the bed and wouldn't let him up. "Mother, I can tell you want to follow them. If you let me up, we can go together." Her eyes focused on his face, and she softened.

"You're a good boy, Adam," she said, and kissed him on the forehead. Then she turned and called, "Duncan?" Man-at-Arms stepped immediately through the door and stood ready for his queen's command. "Is Teela well?"

"Yes, the medics have finished examining her. She's entirely well."

"Good." The queen sighed. "Will you stay with Adam? I want to go to Randor."

"Mother!" Adam exclaimed, feeling betrayed.

"Adam, stay here with Man-at-Arms. He'll tell you what's happened to your father." She stood and went out, leaving Duncan gazing down in consternation at his royal charge.

Adam flipped back the covers and started to get up. "Adam," Duncan said in a pained voice. "Don't make me put you back to bed."

Glaring, Adam subsided and twitched the blankets back into place. "Are you actually going to tell me what happened to my father?" Duncan looked distinctly uncomfortable. "What, did he order you not to?"

"No," Duncan said slowly, reluctantly. "No, he didn't."

"Well, then tell me."

"The thing is, if he'd thought of it, he would."

"Duncan!" Adam growled. "Tell me." A thought occurred to him. "Wait, where's my sword?"

Duncan reached down and pulled it out from under the bed. Adam sighed and muscles he hadn't even known were tense relaxed. Duncan stashed it away again, and then looked into Adam's eyes. "Will you promise not to get out of bed if I do tell you?"

"Duncan, what happened?"

"Promise first. I'll make sure they put him in here with you at least at first. In fact, I doubt they'll be able to keep him out."

Just at that moment, there was a commotion in the main room of the infirmary, and a green blur shot through the door and landed on the bed, causing it to slide slightly sideways. "Cringer!" Adam cried, and started rubbing the cat who was licking his face and rubbing him enthusiastically. Duncan sat back and watched indulgently. After a few moments, when Cringer had calmed down and was just purring happily against his side, Adam turned back to his mentor, gazing into his eyes, willing him to impart the information he was holding back. Duncan sighed, and said, "Your father suffered many of the same injuries you yourself did."

"What do you mean?" Adam demanded.

"Just what I said. He wasn't attacked by a great cat, but -"

"What? Are you saying that little ferret burned my father, too? But Dad kept saying everyone here was all right!"

"I don't think he wanted to worry you." Adam thumped his head against the pillow. All those times he could have strangled the creep, and he hadn't. "Adam, there was nothing you could do. It wouldn't have helped for you to know."

Adam just ignored him. He needed to concentrate hard on getting better, so that he would be able to hunt that weasel down and destroy him. He wondered when Dorgan would let him go back to physical therapy.

Two medics entered the room, carrying a stretcher on which lay Mekanek. Adam's eyes widened and he stared at the master who lay unconscious. "What happened?"

"Oh," Man-at-Arms said in an irritated tone. "The imposter decided to take his cue from Evil-Lyn. Mekanek won't wake until -"

Adam stared at his mentor in shock, then looked at Mekanek. "Okay," he moaned. "Bring him over." He sat up and, embarrassed, deposited a kiss on the master's cheek.

Mekanek sat up sharply, narrowly missing bumping heads with Adam. Seeing the prince's face, he threw himself backwards shrieking and fell right off the stretcher. The medics scrambled out of the way as he landed on the floor.

Duncan stood in surprise, and Adam leaned over the edge of the bed. "Mek? Are you all right?"

"Adam?" the master said apprehensively. "Is that you?" Adam just stared at him, alarmed by this show of fear.

Man-at-Arms put out a hand and pulled Mekanek to his feet. "It's Adam, all right. The imposter has fled."

Mekanek looked down at his prince intently. "Did he hurt you because I found out? I mean –" He turned to Man-at-Arms. "How long was I out, Duncan?"

"No more than a few days." He sighed. "An intense few days, admittedly."

"So he didn't burn Adam's face," Mekanek said in a relieved tone, looking down at Adam.

"My face? No, I didn't even know you'd found out. How?"

"I overheard him talking to himself about how getting rid of Teela would do you a favor, and I figured that you'd either lost your mind or that wasn't you."

"He threatened to kill Teela?" Adam asked, horror struck. "He got away! Where is she?" Duncan's eyes were wide. He went to the door and issued some orders. "Duncan!" Adam exclaimed. "Go find her!"

"The queen ordered me to stay with you, Adam. I can't leave."

Mekanek nodded in understanding. "I'll go find her, Man-at-Arms," he said reassuringly and left swiftly.

Adam looked up at Duncan who sat down again, looking worried. "He never touched her," he said, half to himself.

"Not really," Adam said.

Duncan seized instantly on the lack of certainty. "Not really? What do you mean?"

"He just – one time, he was going to put his hands on her shoulders, and –" Duncan's eyes widened in alarm. "Anyway, I knocked her out of the way, he grabbed me and she grabbed him." Duncan was staring at him. "Nothing happened, anyway, he just – wait, I don't know that nothing happened! He knocked me out."

"Oh!" Duncan let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, that time. He just left. Nothing happened to her."

"What do you mean? How do you know?"

"Ummm. . . ." Duncan looked suddenly very uncomfortable. "We were watching."

"Watching?" Adam gulped. "The imposter told Skeletor that Father could see us in the Vine Jungle, but I thought he was lying."

"No, it was true. We were both watching."

"How long were you watching?"

Randor walked into the room supported by Dorgan and looking worn out. "Adam, you should be sleeping, not quizzing Man-at-Arms."

"What about you?" he asked. "You look ready to fall over."

"You should both be sleeping," Dorgan said testily. "But I've given up on having either of you two follow my orders."

"Adam has never disobeyed your orders," Randor protested. "And we've had this discussion."

"Father, at least lie down," Adam said. "Where are his injuries, Dorgan?"

"Never mind that, Adam," his father said as Dorgan walked him over to the second bed. Marlena was close behind him and tucked him in as he lay down.

Teela walked in, followed by Mekanek. She was dressed in her usual garb, and raised an eyebrow at Adam. "You okay?" she asked gruffly.

"Yeah," he said. "You?"

"I'm fine. We got all the stuff out of the room. I even –" she brought something out from behind her back with a flourish "– brought you this." Adam was expecting the picture of Cringer. He blinked when he saw the board with the doorknob on it. They'd painted it very carefully, a brilliant gold and red, with the word EXIT on it in tiny letters. Adam took it, not sure what to think. She shrugged. "Now you always have a way out," she said.

He looked in her eyes and saw there an acknowledgment that this meant something to her, this remnant of their prison. He smiled suddenly, and the line between her eyes smoothed out. "Thanks, Teela," he said in a careless tone, knowing that neither of them wanted to share this emotion with anyone else. She shrugged and gave him a grateful grin.

"That's very nice, Teela," his mother said, looking perplexedly at the painted chunk of wood. Teela shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of all the adults in the room, for once not pleased to be the center of attention.

Adam decided that she'd had enough embarrassment lately, and now was clearly not the time to pursue the questions he wanted to ask his father. "So," he said loudly, drawing everyone's attention. "Does anyone know where I could find a chocolate sundae?