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seventeen: diplomatic, part deux
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When you were faced with certain doom, Teela had always believed, the best option was to meet it head-on.
Which was why she didn't argue when Father ordered her to sit beside him in the Wind Raider. Or when he likewise sent Adora to the back seat while Adam was dispatched to ride with Mekaneck and Ram-Man.
Or when he flew in silence until they had left the palace well behind.
In fact, by the time he said, "Visions," Teela was more than ready for the fight.
"Only two," she said immediately. She held up a hand to ward off any disagreements. "And I know what you're thinking, Father, but this time it's not a trap. The visions didn't start until I was on Etheria. Queen Veena showed me -"
Father cut her off, demanding, "Queen Veena?"
"King Grayskull's wife," Teela said.
"And the first Sorceress," Father said. "I know of her. But how do you know it was her?"
Aha! One small mystery solved. That's why Veena had reminded her of the Sorceress so strongly. Wings must come with the job.
"Grayskull called her by name, in my first vision. And Adam said she was the queen when I told him," she said - belatedly realizing it was going to win her no points with her father that Adam had been better informed, however briefly. "How did he know about her?"
"No doubt it was part of his royal studies. Family history. He's a direct descendent of King Grayskull."
Teela had been schooled alongside the crown prince for most of her childhood, and she didn't remember any history lessons about King Grayskull or his spooky old castle. But maybe that had been covered after she'd gone off to the Academy.
"That's why the Council of Elders chose Randor to be king," Adora said from the backseat, showing off her Horde knowledge. "He has the bloodright."
Father acknowledged that with a grunt. "The Council never elaborated on their choice, but yes, that's what many suspected."
Teela glanced over her shoulder at Adora, who gave her a conspiratorial wink. Teela smiled back even though she knew it was hopeless. Steering Father off-topic never worked, but she appreciated the effort.
"Now tell me about these visions. I want exact details," Father ordered.
Nope. Never worked.
Teela gave him the exact details, beginning with the first vision of Grayskull and Veena outside the castle and the fog that had so suddenly become Adam's palace bedroom - although she found herself curiously reluctant to mention the part about his reflection. Maybe because Adora was right there. Kind of awkward.
At any event, she skipped over it, then felt like an idiot for doing so. A little guilty, too. She retold the second dream scrupulously as a result, including the part where Veena had mentioned "all the children of Grayskull."
The whole thing had made Father narrow his eyes and furrow his brow, but the last bit earned a swift head turn and a sharp, "All the children? You're certain that's what she said?"
Teela folded her arms over her chest, feeling defensive despite herself. "So did the guardian of the Crystal Castle."
"Hmm," Father said. He lapsed into silence again.
Teela yawned, then checked to see if Adora had noticed. She hadn't; the other girl had gotten as comfortable as you could in the back of a Wind Raider, and was either asleep or doing a great job of faking it. Most soldiers could fall asleep on command, regardless of circumstances; you had to get your rest when and where you could, with battle on the horizon. And surely Adora was as tired as she was.
She looked at Father. Still silent.
Well. No one needed to give her an engraved invitation. She wedged herself into the least uncomfortable position she could find, shut her eyes, and mentally crossed her fingers.
Maybe now that she was back on Eternia, Veena would leave her alone.
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Teela came awake slowly. The first thing she thought was, Thank the Elders, no visions. The second thing was, Who is Father talking to?
Because she could hear the familiar rumble of his voice, talking to someone, although most of the words were inaudible. Either he was some distance away from her now-really-uncomfortable spot in the (landed) Wind Raider, or he was keeping his volume down. Or both.
She opened her eyes took in the scene. Sand dunes, bruised purple sky, faint smell of sulfur in every breath: definitely the Dark Hemisphere. Mek and Rammie had landed their Raider nearby, and they were talking to Adora. Telling her how to operate the controls, it looked like. Turning the other way showed Father and Adam, standing atop a nearby dune and having an un-fun conversation, to judge by their body language.
Probably Father was lecturing Adam about not getting kidnapped by Skeletor - again.
She'd like to hear that. In the meantime… Teela was still wedged in the same position, and she needed to stretch her muscles out if she wanted to be any use in a fight. But before she could sit up, the wind shifted and a fragment of conversation came clearly to her:
"...too much like the telepathy," Father said. "You may need to keep your distance this time as well."
She froze. What?
"Come on," came the response. Flippant. "What's the worst that could happen? She finds out?"
Adam had never visited her when she'd been laid up in bed, recovering from her injuries. All the Masters in residence had dropped by, most of them several times a day, Father less than that, but then he was a busy man and she hadn't expected it.
She had, however, been looking forward to spending some time with Adam, maybe playing cards or other games as they had when they were younger and got sick. But he'd never even stuck his head in the door.
Hurt feelings had calcified into resentment long before the Sorceress' blood transfusion had worn off.
And now -
Was Father the one who'd told Adam not to visit her?
Confusion and anger zipped along her nerves and made her pulse quicken.
"This isn't a situation you can take lightly, Adam," Father said sternly.
"I'm not," Adam said, with such sudden, cold seriousness that Teela nearly sat up anyway. "Why can't she know? She -"
He cut off mid-sentence, or rather, Father cut him off. There was no more talking, and Teela knew her eavesdropping opportunity was over.
She feigned waking up with a big, theatrical stretch and yawn, then hopped down onto the loose sand. Father and Adam turned to face her as she climbed the dune.
Father raised an eyebrow and said, "Any visions this time?"
"Nope," Teela said, and forced a smile. Get a grip, she told herself, trying to stuff the anger back into its box. For one thing, maybe she'd been imagining the conversation. Or she'd misheard. There could be a hundred innocent ways to explain it. All of them made more sense than her father telling her best friend to stay away from her when she was injured.
Father smiled back; Adam made an attempt, but the scowl he was already wearing kind of undermined it.
She looked out across the desolate landscape, where the dunes gave way to lava fields and crumbling, rocky outcrops. In the far distance you could make out the tall spire shape of Snake Mountain - perpetually spitting a river of fire against the perpetually dark sky.
"I'll be with Ram-Man and Mekaneck for the final approach," Father told her. "They'll drop me in a concealed position and retreat to their own while the three of you land at the front door, so to speak."
Teela nodded, and they all made their way back down the dune. Everyone split up as planned, and the three teens waited in their Wind Raider for a few minutes to give the others a head start.
Adora was silent as usual, Adam was still brooding, and Teela was trying not to think about a lot of things.
So it was a fun few minutes.
Finally Adam heaved a big sigh, powered up the Wind Raider, and said, determinedly chipper, "All right, let's go invite Skeletor to the party."
"I see why he'd say yes," Teela said as they flew, "but I'm having a hard time picturing the Masters actually working with Skeletor." She'd taken the backseat this time, so she had to lean forward to be heard over the wind.
"You're working with me," Adora said.
"Yeah, but you're on our side now. And you never called yourself 'The Overlord of Evil'," Adam pointed out, rolling his eyes.
" 'Horde Force Captain' isn't much better," Adora said. Arms crossed. Jaw tight.
Teela tapped her on the shoulder. "How about 'Captain of the Eternian Royal Guard'?"
Adora turned around and stared, incredulous.
"You could pass all the tests easily," Teela said, finding herself more and more pleased with the idea as she talked. Right now she was the only female captain; it would be nice to have a girl her own age in the same rank. Not to mention the damage they could do to the bad guys as a team. "With a royal sponsor, you could take them right away."
"Yeah!" Adam said. He seemed pleased too; the last of the brooding look had left him, and he grinned at Adora - a real, true grin. "I mean, I'd sponsor you just for kicking Teela's butt."
Teela cuffed the back of his head. Lightly. He was piloting, after all. Over his indignant "Ow!" she said, "She did not kick my butt. I won that fight."
Adora scoffed. "I let you."
"We can have a rematch any time, you know," Teela said.
The two girls grinned at each other, and then the Raider was setting down on the flat, rock-strewn ground in front of Snake Mountain.
There were many ways into the mountain, but this was the most direct approach, and it was undoubtedly being monitored by one of Tri-Klops' doomseekers or even a minion on guard duty.
Teela, Adam, and Adora jumped down from the Wind Raider and stood around, trying to look casual and non-threatening. Teela's fingers itched for her staff, but she resisted the urge. This was a diplomatic trip. Waving weapons around was definitely not diplomatic.
A shadow darkened one of the lava-lit tunnels at the base of the mountain. After a tense second, the dark shape resolved into the staff and headpiece of Evil-Lyn, who strode forward until she was halfway between the three of them and the mountain.
Teela exchanged a quick, uneasy glance with Adam. Evil-Lyn was not on Skeletor's team. Unless she was playing both sides? Continuing to feign allegiance to Bonehead while secretly working for Hordak?
Oh, no, that would be hugely out of character for the witch. Just absolutely impossible.
Teela was really looking forward to Skeletor blasting Evil-Lyn with his Havoc Staff.
"Well, well," Evil-Lyn drawled, her voice rich with mocking as always. "Aren't you brats out past your bedtime? And all alone? Tsk, tsk. Don't you know how dangerous Snake Mountain can be?"
Her eyes slid over Teela and Adora, and her gaze narrowed, but she didn't say anything to them. Teela glared right back at her. I'm not afraid of you, she wanted to tell her, along with, You tried to get rid of me and failed, so who's the dummy now?
Adam drew himself up straight and put some royalty into his voice: "Let us pass, Evil-Lyn. We've come to speak with Skeletor."
"Have you," Evil-Lyn said, smirking. "My. This sounds terribly important." She turned and cupped a hand to her mouth, calling, "Oh, Skeletor -! You have visitors!"
Teela didn't need to be the smartest person on Eternia to know that nothing good was going to happen next. Evil-Lyn's tone was all wrong. The whole thing was all wrong.
She got that same uneasy ripple down her spine that she had right before Skydancer Mountain had dropped away beneath her feet. Except this time it was much worse.
Her snake staff was in her hands and expanded before Skeletor emerged from the tunnel. Before he walked forward to stand not in front of Evil-Lyn, not beside her, but just behind her. Before it became obvious that someone had affixed a complicated metal artifact to the bone-and-leather crosspiece over his chest. Before the glowing, magical symbols on the metal could be recognized as like those on Horde manacles.
Before he lifted his hooded skull and showed them eyes that blazed black, not red.
"We're too late!" Adora exclaimed in alarm, spinning around, blaster in hand, looking for something. Someone.
Like the shadowy figure who appeared on the ridge behind them, green arms outstretched, her red-and-black robes billowing in the hot desert wind.
Or maybe Count Marzo, standing behind Shadow Weaver, magic crackling around his hands.
Or maybe Skeletor's warriors, who emerged from the rocks to make a ragged circle around them. Beast Man, Tri-Klops, Trap Jaw, Two Bad, Stinkor, Whiplash, Clawful…
Adam drew his sword. He and Teela fell naturally into a back-to-back formation, leaving room for Adora, who took her place in the triad just as naturally. Weapons out. Weapons ready.
This was not good. Assuming Adam didn't flake out, the three of them could probably defend against the warriors long enough to escape - but not against the four magicians, each one of whom had gone toe-to-toe with He-Man and walked away.
Evil-Lyn threw back her head and began to laugh.