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twenty: boss battle
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As she and Adam cleared the castle's entrance and began running across the drawbridge, swords in their hands, Teela took in the scene and realized that Father had been understating.
Things are happening.
Yeah. Things. Like the end of the world.
Portals were opening on the ground and in the sky - purple, red, and black spirals that popped up just long enough to disgorge an evil warrior or two before disappearing again. She took a quick head count; all of Skeletor's usual crew were on the scene, and all were engaging Masters.
There were currently more bad guys than good guys. Not great.
In the center of the chaos, floating high over the land facing the castle, was Shadow Weaver. Magic didn't crackle around her; it blazed. It roared. She was surrounded by a tempest of dark energy. Lightning and smoke. It was directed at the sky above the castle, where the clouds were slowly beginning to swirl.
Also not great.
Count Marzo and Skeletor were on the ground below her. They were firing bolts of magical energy at any Masters who seemed to be approaching Weaver - but almost mechanically. Perfunctorily.
Evil-Lyn was on the ground, too. Her shoulder was bandaged and her arm was in a sling, so her sneering, gloating laughter was less effective than usual. Certainly her magic blasts were.
There was no sign of Adora.
Okay. So. In that case, first priority: take down Weaver's terrible trio. It would be tricky but still doable, since two were whammied and one was injured. If they could just damage Marzo's amulet or the enchanted doohickey on Skeletor, that might be enough to turn the tide in their favor.
She glanced at Adam, who glanced back. He was thinking the same thing, she could tell.
Three more steps to clear the bridge. Two. One -
Teela got that warning buzz down her spine and grabbed Adam by the back of his shirt, yanking him to a stop with her as a portal bloomed right where the wood of the drawbridge met solid rock. They both nearly lost their footing as a result, but Teela had time to bring Veena's sword up, instinctively, in a high block.
In the same moment, a sword flashed through the portal, followed by the blonde girl wielding it. The blade sliced down into Veena's sword, which held. Teela pushed back with her sword arm and aimed a kick at Adora's midsection.
Adora leapt away easily. She landed lightly. She brought her sword to ready position smoothly.
She moved like a perfect weapon. And that's all she was, because it wasn't her.
Her eyes were empty black.
"Adora," Teela said, swallowing down the fear. "Adora! You have to fight it!"
Adora ignored her. "Prince Adam," she said in a toneless voice. "I am here to kill you."
Adam drew his sword. "Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try."
"I have seen her try," Teela hissed at him from the corner of her mouth. "Remember?"
Adam grinned. Grinned! Was he crazy or stupid? Hard to tell; maybe both. He settled into a stance. "I like my odds."
Adora didn't give them any more time to chat. She lunged forward, aiming for Adam's head. He blocked, but she was ready for his counter and came in with her next strike in the same breath.
Rushing in between them would've been a great way to get her guts spilled all over the scenic cliffs of Castle Grayskull. Instead, Teela waited until Adora was focused on Adam before she launched her own attack - a feint with Veena's sword, a kick to the head behind it.
Adora saw the feint in her peripheral vision and dodged it. She didn't quite get out of the way of the kick and caught Teela's boot mid-back. She grunted, rolled with the blow, and came up on her feet with her sword ready again.
Her face was blank. Her eyes glowed black.
"Don't do this!" Teela said to her. "We're your friends!"
She might've saved her breath; Adora showed no reaction. Just launched into another attack.
Teela's heart sank. She risked a look at the main fight, trying to take in as much detail as possible in a half-second glance. The Masters and evil warriors - still fighting. Shadow Weaver - still floating. The trio - also floating now, and moving away from each other.
Moving into position, she realized. She didn't know how she knew. But she did, down to her bones.
Hordak cannot be defeated while Adora is on his side, the Sorceress had said.
They had to stop her - had to break the spell. But how? The magic sword wasn't offering much in the way of help. It was just being warm and golden in her grip, telling her that she needed to protect Adam. Which she was doing, thank you very much, even though the short range of the weapon was extremely frustrating. Why hadn't Queen Veena carried the Staff of Protection into battle, there was a good question.
Come on, give me something I can use, she thought at it.
Faint golden sparkles gathered at the edges of her vision. She ducked a strike and came up between Adora's sword and Adam's arm, which the girl was evidently trying to separate from his body. Their swords locked.
The golden sparkles got stronger. When she blinked, she could see a dark nimbus around Adora's head. A thin smoky line led back towards the evil sorceress.
Of course. Weaver couldn't direct Skeletor, Count Marzo, and Adora all at the same time, while simultaneously opening a massive portal to another dimension and rebuffing the Masters' attacks. She had Adora under control - but was giving her as much autonomy as possible to carry out her mission.
Maybe that nice long leash could be cut.
"You're stronger than Shadow Weaver!" Teela tried again. "Fight her!"
No go. Instead, Adora kept fighting them.
One of the things Father had insisted she learn was how to face more than one person in combat. It wasn't hard, if you could control the space. The key was maneuvering your opponents into positions where only one could attack you at a time - making them get in line, more or less. If they knew what they were doing, they would maneuver you into a position where all of them could attack at once. Less desirable.
Teela had liked the drills where she got to knock down multiple attackers. She'd also enjoyed the drills where she and Adam had been the attackers, set upon some hapless Academy cadet or guardsman who needed smartening up.
Definitely more fun than the dance lessons. Although it was kind of a dance, she thought, watching him now. They moved around Adora, keeping her between them whenever possible, one of them launching an attack while she was still engaged with the other.
Strike from Adam. Block and counterstrike from Adora, who had to break off pressing the attack because she needed to dodge the downstroke from Teela's sword. Which she did, just in time to block another strike. And repeat, with variations.
Part of controlling the space in this fight was keeping them away from the cliff edge; Adora was trying to put her back to it so they couldn't engage her from that direction.
The abyss was supposedly bottomless, although Teela knew that there was a entrance to Castle Grayskull in the subterranean caverns that underlaid much of the region - Skeletor had attacked it once and almost gotten inside. But magic was weird, so who was to say it wasn't bottomless?
Either way, the sheer drop of the cliffs became more of a slope as you moved away from the castle. Eventually they were fighting in a field of craggy boulders. It was far enough from the main fight that Teela hoped Weaver's hold on Adora might be weakened further… but a quick golden-sparkles squint told her the tether was still in place.
Speaking of the main fight - time for another check-in.
Beast Man's nasty blue wyvern batted a Wind Raider out of the sky and made a pass at the castle. The creature let out a blast of electric fire, to no effect; just in time, a shimmering blueish-white forcefield spread over it and well down the sides.
Then again, maybe the forcefield had nothing to do with the wyvern, because Weaver's magic had now put the skies over Castle Grayskull into full boil. Three figures were just under the madly swirling clouds, glowing with their own magic and safely cocooned within more of Shadow Weaver's black smoke.
Despondos! came the chant, more felt than heard. Despondos!
"No!" Adam said, breaking off his attack to look, pale and horrified, at the clouds. "They can't -"
Teela made a desperate lunge that barely stopped Adora from slicing through his unguarded midsection. "Focus!" she snapped at him.
Despondos!
And the portal opened.
It was like a tornado, like a god's finger reaching down and stirring the earth. It veered away from the castle - still shining under its protective dome - and struck the ground not far from Weaver. And suddenly the fight was swarming with Horde Troopers. Metal armor, red bat-wing insignias, blasters in hand.
Well, great. Because the bad guys didn't have a numerical advantage already.
But there was no sign of Hordak. Teela tightened her grip on the sword. It pulsed with warmth, and she suddenly understood that it was going to take considerably more power to drag him through the portal. After all, King Grayskull had specifically exiled Hordak; the Troopers were just collateral. And a magician's dying spell was their most powerful.
So they still had some time. Probably not smart to waste any more of it on this dumb fight, though.
Adora cartwheeled clear of Teela's parry, putting enough distance between them that Teela felt safe trying to have a nonverbal strategy session with Adam.
A nod in Adora's direction, a jerked chin in Weaver's, a mouthed cut it, a lift of her magic sword.
A glance between all three of those things, a furrowed brow, a sharp nod.
The furrowed brow and nod gave Teela an intense feeling of déjà vu, but she'd work on that when they weren't under attack by a perfect killer.
On the next exchange, she blocked a strike and slipped diagonally past Adora. Waited until she was busy trying to murder Adam again. Thought, You can do this! at the magic sword. Slashed it up and through the smoky line of the tether.
To absolutely no effect.
Okay. Try again. Return stroke, downward.
Nope.
Adam must have seen her expression - disgust, dismay, rage, all of the above - because he also made a face. Teela rejoined the fight and he slipped out, giving the air behind Adora's head a few slashes of his own. It was well-intentioned but ultimately useless, because it wasn't like Adam had a magic sword. He couldn't even see what he was swinging at.
Time for Plan… what were they on? Plan C? Plan D, for "desperation"?
Teela hadn't gotten past that thought when the ground shook, making everyone pause to keep their footing, and a tsunami of greenery rolled out of the forest. It promptly crashed down over the Troopers.
Moss Man had amazing timing.
Adora's timing wasn't too bad either. While Teela was gawking, she spun into a kick aimed at Teela's head, sword following close behind. Teela didn't have a good angle for a block, so she danced backwards -
- and tripped right over a rock. Elders! Her luck was so obnoxious sometimes.
This was definitely the moment when Adora was going to close in for the kill. Except she wasn't.
Teela scrambled to her feet again, getting a fresh grip on the sword - and trying not to look like a total slack-jawed idiot as Adam single-handedly took on Hordak's ultimate weapon.
And held his own.
It was a fast, ugly exchange of blows. But he made it look like a dance.
Déjà vu. She knew that fighting style. She knew it. The answer was right there, right on the edge of her awareness...
Adora hit the ground, rolled, and came up with a handful of grit that she flung into Adam's face.
Adam shut his eyes and averted his face, sputtering as he inhaled dust. Adora lunged forward, sword braced, intending to skewer Adam.
Teela would have jumped over it, but that wasn't really Adam's style. Quick as a thought, he dropped to the ground, boom, tailbone-first. Not the most graceful move - but a deceptively clumsy one. Because now he was in a crouch, and just as quickly, he planted his left hand in the dirt, used his left leg for momentum, and swung his right leg up in a round kick that was meant for the side of Adora's skull.
She jerked back at the last possible second. Adam's booted foot smacked into her sword arm's wrist instead.
Teela knew the move; Father had taught it to them both. It was a very fun kick to do. Less so to receive.
Adora gave a reflexive gasp of pain and her sword went sailing away through the air. It clanged against a couple of boulders and ricocheted itself right into the abyss.
The momentum of the kick had carried Adam back to his feet. "Knew you'd fall for that!" he exclaimed, smug.
Teela, on the other hand, had assumed the worse-case scenario and was already coming in from Adora's left. As she closed, the other girl leapt backward, arching over Teela's strike. It was total rip-off of Teela's style, but it was an elegant and economic move, darn her, and it allowed one of Adora's booted feet to catch Adam under the jaw as she flipped.
It knocked him back. It knocked him down. His sword fell from his hand as he collapsed against the rocks.
Unconscious.
"Adam!" Teela cried. No answer.
Elders! Let him only be unconscious.
Adora was behind her now, and as much as Teela wanted to see to Adam, she had to focus on the fight or both of them would be out of luck. Heart in her throat, she whirled to face the other girl, dodging a vicious, slashing axe kick.
She wasn't afraid for Adam. She was furious.
The Sword of Protection sang in her hands as she attacked Adora. It seemed weightless now, glowing gold, pulling itself through the air. Alive. Seeking.
Adora!
That hadn't been out loud.
Gold sparkles choked her vision. Maybe that was why she didn't see the punch coming. It caught her in the solar plexus, with a lightning-fast follow-up to her face.
Um. Hard to breathe.
Adora grabbed her sword arm and pivoted, throwing Teela over her hip. Teela slammed into the dirt spine-first, knocking her breath out all over again.
She didn't mean to. It just happened: her fingers opened, and she let go of the sword.
It thudded to the ground just out of Teela's reach, rotating slightly, sending up a small puff of dust as it slid.
Adora lunged for it.
So did Teela. She'd won the race to the blaster back on Etheria; history was on her side. And all she had to do was heave herself over a few inches. Even gasping for air as she was, that was totally doable.
Her hand landed on the large, shifting jewel.
Adora's fingers closed around the sword's grip at the same moment.
There was a great rush of light and sound and –
A room in Castle Grayskull. A bedroom. Night outside. Tapestries on the walls, rich furniture. A woman is lying in the bed, feverish and moaning, face creased in pain. A younger woman is sitting at her bedside, obviously some sort of caregiver. Her dress is plain and sensible, as is her headscarf.
"Darkness," the woman on the bed whispers, shivering despite the fire blazing in the hearth and the blankets piled atop her bed. A wing twitches fretfully. Veena.
"Shh, Your Majesty," the caregiver says. She wrings out a wet cloth and gently wipes Veena's forehead. "You need to rest."
Veena closes her eyes – then opens them again as a baby cries.
There's a bassinet in the corner.
Veena tries to rise, but the caregiver presses her back down. "No, milady, save your strength. I'll see to the little ones."
"No," Veena says. Her voice is weak; sweat is beading her brow. "I must…"
But the rest trails off into silence. She's unconscious, maybe.
The caregiver crosses the room to the bassinet. Inside are two tiny babies, each snugly swaddled. One is serenely asleep. The other is red-faced and angry.
"There, there, Princess," the caregiver croons, lifting the crying baby to her shoulder. "You're all right. Everything's fine. See? Your mother will be well soon, and your father will be home again by dawn. Won't he be sad to have missed your arrival!"
The caregiver joggles the baby princess, pats her small back, to no avail: she wails louder than ever.
The caregiver casts a worried glance at Veena, then at the other baby. Both look troubled in their sleep. "Come, dear heart," she murmurs to the princess. "Maybe a walk will settle you, hmm?"
They walk out of the bedroom, the caregiver humming a lullaby.
On the bed, Veena's eyes flutter. "Darkness," she repeats, barely audible.
But there's no way for the caregiver to hear. She takes the baby, still fretting loudly, through the quiet, shadowed corridors of the castle, wandering aimlessly, it seems, until they are at the drawbridge.
It's open, but there are no guards. There's no one anywhere. The world is holding its breath.
"Look, Princess," the caregiver says, tucking the blanket more securely around the fussing baby. "Look how beautiful the stars –"
She freezes. Halts. Her eyes go unfocused, then black.
A low, rumbling chuckle fills the air.
Hordak steps from the shadows. "Excellent timing," he says to the caregiver. His mouth slides open in a fanged smile. "Though disappointing. I was hoping to challenge the mighty sorceress herself."
The caregiver says nothing. Does nothing. Stares blankly ahead.
Hordak touches the tip of one clawed finger to the baby's soft chin. She screws up her face more tightly and wails, high and thin. He laughs. "Perhaps I will get my wish yet."
The caregiver says nothing. Does nothing.
"Follow me," Hordak commands in a snarl, his amusement gone. The caregiver steps forward; his black cape swirls around her, and they all three disappear.
Blinding light.
Teela was abruptly back in reality, but she felt strangely apart from her body – as though she was floating above it, watching events unfold instead of properly participating.
Her body was standing now, as was Adora. They were facing each other over the Sword of Protection, which was floating in midair, point down.
"Adora," she heard herself say. It was not her voice. And the hand that reached out to lay gently against Adora's cheek was not Teela's hand. It belonged to someone much older, much more powerful, who spoke in a soft voice that echoed mightily, whose presence overlaid Teela's body with glowing gold magic, with the shimmering ghosts of wings. "My daughter."
Adora shook her head, blinking rapidly, expression bewildered. Her eyes were blue again – the same bright blue as Adam's.
"I never stopped searching for you," Veena said, that soft voice humming with a grief so intense it would bring most anyone to their knees. "But Hordak hid you too well. Indeed, it was years before I even suspected he was behind it. Oh, my dear one. I wish I was truly with you now."
Adora took a small, hiccuping breath. "M-mother?" she whispered.
Veena smiled, warm and strong, and took Adora's hands in her own, clasping them around the hilt of the sword, whose jewel shifted from palest pink to crimson. "Though you were taken from us long ago, through your veins flows the blood and the power of Eternia's greatest champions. You must take up this sword and put right what Hordak has sought to destroy. You must protect all that he endangers. It is your sacred duty. For the honor of Grayskull, Adora!"
Teela slammed back into herself, her knees abruptly buckling. She dropped to the ground, looking up at Adora, wondering what had just happened - and what was coming next.
"For… for the honor… of Grayskull," Adora said softly, wonderingly, looking at the sword in her hand. Then her expression hardened, and her eyes snapped to the vortex. She took a breath and thrust the sword skyward, high over her head. Defiant. Blazing. "For the honor of Grayskull!"
Lightning crashed down, instantaneous and blinding, deafening in its roar. Somehow Teela knew the blue-white color was Grayskull's magic – and yet, there were golden streaks mixed in as well. Veena's magic.
The gold swirled around Adora, who was barely visible as an outline in the center of the light, and exploded outward with a thunderclap as the blue-white magic faded.
"I AM SHE-RA!"
The light disappeared. Standing in Adora's place was a woman warrior, powerfully built, in armor. White and gold: the colors of Castle Grayskull. On her torso was the flame-flower design from her mother's sword, and the golden crown swept back into wings that framed her face. Her hair hung down in two thick plaits, and her red cloak was trimmed with fur, just like her father's.
Teela stared.
Adora – She-Ra – swung around for a moment, just long enough to meet Teela's eyes. "I've got Shadow Weaver. Go help the Masters," she ordered. Her voice was different; Adora's voice, only more.
With that, she turned back, plaits and cape swinging, gold armor shining, sword blazing with its own internal light, and was charging off before Teela could say a word.
The last of Veena's power must have left her, because Teela's hands were shaking, and she was having a hard time catching her breath.
She looked at She-Ra. She looked at the castle. She looked at Adam, unconscious. She looked at his sword, lying in the dust, out of his reach.
She saw it now. She saw all of it.
There had been two children born to Veena and Grayskull. Twins. A girl and a boy. One of them had been stolen away by darkness. One of them had lived, and, untold years later, the Elders had chosen that prince's descendent to sit on the throne of Eternia.
And a new prince had received Grayskull's sword. Which was lying in the dust, out of his reach.
Someone had to go get that sword. Someone had to put it in Adam's hands.
Teela made a noise that might've been a sob or a laugh. Lucky me, she thought wildly.
Somehow she got her feet under her, and staggered over to where Adam had fetched up against the rocks. His eyes were closed, his face slack, but his breathing was even.
"Adam," she said, dropping to her knees beside him, shaking his shoulder.
He groaned. His eyes fluttered, but he didn't move.
"Adam! Get up! We need -" she squeezed her eyes shut and pushed the words out – "we need He-Man."
Another groan. This time he tried to sit up; she had to help him. He rubbed his eyes and squinted at her, confused. "Teela?"
She grabbed his sword – Elders, it was heavy! – and pressed it into his hands. "Hurry up and say – whatever it is you say to transform. Adora can't do this on her own."
He jerked back, jolted fully awake, eyes widening as he caught on. "You – oh man – Teela, I couldn't – Wait a minute, Adora?"
She drew on reserves she didn't know she had and hauled him to his feet, letting him take his own weight only when he was leaning against the rocks for support. "Yeah. Her name is She-Ra right now."
There was bitterness in her words, which came as a surprise to her.
It made Adam wince. Guilt was suddenly tightening the lines of his face. "I promise I'll explain."
Teela was already backpedaling away from him, not wanting to be anywhere near those mystical lightning bolts when they hit. "First stop the bad guys, okay?"
He looked up at Shadow Weaver. "At least she's too busy for more mind-control," he muttered. Then he took a breath and pushed off the rocks, swinging his sword around in a great arc before ending in approximately the same position as Adora. "By the power of Grayskull!"
Lightning. It roared in her ears. Dazzled her eyes.
"I HAVE THE POWER!"
He-Man lowered his sword. He glanced at her, then turned away and leapt towards the battle. One mighty bound. Sword flashing.
Teela wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.
Stupid. Looking directly at the light like that. No wonder her eyes had teared up.
She stood there for a moment, breathing hard. Everything seemed muted, even the thunder from the portal. Everything seemed disconnected, like Veena had overtaken her body again.
It was too much. She couldn't.
She had to.
She wiped her eyes again, expanded her staff, and set off at a run to help the other Masters.
Even with He-Man and She-Ra wading through the Horde forces, batting them aside a dozen at a time like toy soldiers, there were just so many bad guys that the Masters were still busy. Ram-Man was grappling with Whiplash and Clawful; Stratos was taking shots at the portal trio with Buzz-Off; Moss Man was sending foliage at Beast Man and his wyvern; Roboto was dueling Webstor; Uncle Fisto and Mekaneck were battling a small armada of doomseekers and Tri-Klops; Sy-Klone had his hands full with what were obviously three of Hordak's lieutenants. And on it went, everywhere she looked.
Orko was in the fight, too, flitting around Shadow Weaver and apparently casting any spell that came to mind at the Horde sorceress. He was doing as much damage as a gnat could do to a dragon - and in fact Weaver was paying him exactly as much attention as a dragon would a gnat - but Teela admired the effort.
She looked for a spot to jump in and happened to see that Father needed some help; Troopers were attacking him in waves. It was as good a place as any.
Teela brought her staff down on a Trooper's helmet and kicked him aside, making an opening. She fought her way to Father, and they formed up, back-to-back.
"Teela!" Father said. He sounded pleased, not worried. "Is Adam all right?"
It hit her then, with all the force of Adora's earlier punches: he knew.
Father had known that Adam was He-Man the whole time.
The muffled, disconnected feeling meant she could have that revelation and still keep fighting. So she did. She even managed to say, "Adam is fine."
She-Ra and He-Man had moved on from the Troopers. He-Man was squaring off with Hordak's many-legged lieutenant, who could shoot rays of some kind from his bugged-out eyes. She-Ra grabbed the shaggy-furred, snarly lieutenant by the scruff of his neck and leapt high into the air with a ferocious battle yell, throwing him at the wyvern. The lieutenant knocked Beast Man from the saddle of his wyvern; both of them slammed into the ground while the wyvern writhed around and screeched.
"Who is that?" Father asked.
"Her name is She-Ra," Teela said. She looked over her shoulder; the white and gold armor practically glowed.
"She-Ra," Father repeated. One eyebrow was up. "An ally of He-Man?"
Teela smacked the snake end of her staff into an unfortunate Trooper's face; the man staggered back and collapsed. "Looks like."
Father dealt with a few Troopers himself, and when they'd cleared a breathing space, he said, "What happened with Adora?"
"Oh, Princess Adora, daughter of King Grayskull?" Teela couldn't meet his eyes. She needed the disconnect. It was very important that she stay there, in the muted, untethered world where she didn't have to acknowledge the pain roiling inside her chest.
She-Ra grabbed the wyvern's tail while He-Man punched it in its head, and then the two of them threw the unconscious creature into the forest.
Father said nothing. It was hard to judge his expression under the face shield.
The words pressed against her lips until she had to say them: "I guess it runs in her family."
More inscrutable silence. And then he said, "You understand this is an important secret."
Mistake.
She snapped back into her body. Fury hotter than dragonfire burned beneath her ribcage. "What I understand is you've all been lying to me!"
He put out a hand as though he meant to rest it on her shoulder. "Teela -"
"No!" she yelled. Well, maybe it was more of a shriek. Her voice sounded a little shrill and a little hysterical even to her own ears. But what was she supposed to feel? To do? The world was ending. It was crumbling around her with every second.
Father dropped his hand and waited.
She sucked in a painful breath and then another and she was fine, she could handle this - she was a soldier, she was a captain of the Royal Guard –
- took an oath and everything -
- make a great Queen –
And she somehow pulled herself together and looked her father in the eyes and said, in a passably normal voice, "I won't tell anyone."
He didn't look happy, but he nodded.
The fight raged on. He-Man and She-Ra were starting to take an appreciable toll on the Horde forces; the tide of bad guys was slowing to a trickle, and the Masters were doing more one-on-one fights instead of the one-on-twenty of a few minutes before.
But the portal was still open, and no one was even coming close to Shadow Weaver, not even Orko, who, Elders bless him, was doggedly casting spells.
He-Man punched the witch's sphere of black smoke and was zapped by dark magical lightning with enough oomph to knock him backwards. She-Ra delivered a spinning downward slash with her sword that got the same result – and Weaver's full attention. The Horde sorceress began flinging magic at them in earnest, and the two were forced to duck and dodge.
Hordak's remaining lieutenant was big and covered with clammy-looking pale green skin. He had suckers for hands and feet, which were very useful for grabbing onto He-Man's back and shoulders when he charged and jumped on him. He-Man reeled under his weight and whatever the sucker-hands were doing – poison? energy draining? – and She-Ra broke off engaging Weaver to go help.
Meanwhile, in the skies, the trio was ramping up again.
Despondos! came the chant. The portal boiled and bubbled; a low-level tremor began running through the ground. Teela felt it through the soles of her boots as pebbles danced and jittered across the soil.
"Not good," Father said tersely. He opened his communicator and said, "Stratos! Buzz-Off! Both of you, target Evil-Lyn!"
"On it!" Stratos replied. Above, they changed course abruptly, converging on the trio's weak link.
Despondos!
One more chant and it was all over. But then –
Orko cast yet another spell - Elders only knew what it was supposed to be, but what came out of his hat was an enormous custard pie and a mechanical hand that threw it straight at Shadow Weaver. She was an evil sorceress of astonishing power and ability, but, perhaps understandably, she had never foreseen the need to prepare a magical defense against a Trollan's giant pie, and it passed through the sizzling chaos of her forcefield and smacked directly into her hooded face.
Mass plus velocity plus absolute surprise. With a strangled cry, Weaver was knocked out of the air and made an undignified, custard-covered landing on her butt, magic dissolving as her focus broke.
Father barked a laugh.
Not far away, Mekaneck shouted, "All right, Orko!"
Orko just floated in place, hands over his mouth, eyes huge, clearly stunned by his own victory.
There was an angry rumble from the portal, and Teela quit watching Orko to swing her attention skyward.
Stratos and Buzz-Off had followed orders, and with Shadow Weaver down for the count, the forcefield protecting the trio of magicians was gone. Evil-Lyn was doing her best to fend them off, but her injury was hampering her. Count Marzo and Skeletor were back to making perfunctory attempts.
Buzz-Off got the shot. Evil-Lyn fell out of the sky, arcing towards what Teela hoped was a very hard impact with the ground on the far side of the abyss.
The portal wavered. Angrier rumbles.
"One down," Father said. Into his communicator, he ordered, "Get Skeletor now!"
Masters swarmed the sky. It seemed inevitable now. One of them would get Skeletor; Marzo alone wouldn't be able to hold the portal; it would collapse with Hordak still trapped on the other side. They would win. Eternia would be safe.
Teela opened her mouth to say as much, and pain stabbed into her temples. She cried out and clutched at her head as the voice of the Crystal Castle's guardian seared across her memory, twinned with Veena's: IT WILL TAKE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GRAYSKULL.
Teela blinked hard, trying to focus on the battle, which was tricky because the world kept wobbling around. "All the children," she mumbled.
"Teela!" Her father's hands were on her shoulders, bracing her. "What is it? Are you hurt?"
The pain was fading as quickly as it'd come, but she was past caring about it now; there were bigger problems. "It's not going to work," she told him. "We're going to lose!"
He looked up at the portal.
She didn't, not at first. She looked at Shadow Weaver, who wasn't summoning a devastating attack in these last moments before her plan fell apart. The sorceress was standing motionless, focused inward.
Focused on her thralls.
Count Marzo and Skeletor turned as one, both firing massive bolts of magical energy down towards the Masters. Specifically, towards He-Man and She-Ra, still on the ground, who also moved in unison, bringing their swords up and crossing them in a bright flare a half-second before the bolts hit.
Teela shouted, "NO!"
Too late.
She saw it in slow motion. The bolts reflected back towards the two thralled magicians, magnified by Grayskull's power. Count Marzo and Skeletor moved - smoothly, gracefully - out of the way. The reflected magic struck the collapsing portal instead.
The whole world cracked. Noise and wind. Deafening. Blinding.
Somehow Teela kept one eye half-open. Somehow she saw the ghostly shape of Hordak surround Skeletor. Somehow, over the screaming wind, she heard the low, snarled laughter of a man long denied his victory, but victorious all the same.
Then everything went dark.
.
.
.
Warmth brought her awake again - soft, golden warmth, like morning sunshine. Teela opened her eyes and saw She-Ra crouching over her, one hand pressed to Teela's forehead.
"Welcome back," She-Ra said, smiling at her. She withdrew her hand and the lovely golden feeling faded.
Teela sat up, taking stock. All her limbs were still attached, and she was still at Castle Grayskull. Things could be worse. She squinted at her friend. "Healing magic?"
She-Ra frowned at her hand, flexing her fingers. "Apparently."
Despite the muscles and the fancy headgear, it was a very Adora reaction. Teela couldn't find a laugh, but she did manage to huff in amusement. She allowed She-Ra to pull her to her feet, secretly grateful for the effortless strength that held her until the world stabilized again. "My father?"
"He's fine, don't worry." She-Ra looked over her shoulder; Teela followed her gaze and saw He-Man helping some of the Masters. Father was sitting with his back against the wreckage of a Wind Raider, looking exhausted but uninjured. And not so exhausted that he wasn't able to give orders to He-Man and the Masters who were up and moving.
Teela swallowed down a lot of feelings. "What about Hordak?"
She-Ra grimaced. "He possessed Skeletor, and then they all disappeared."
"Back to Snake Mountain," Teela said. She had no way of knowing if that was correct, but she knew it anyway. Defeat settled across her shoulders, so heavy that it almost made her sit back down again. She murmured, "We lost."
"No," She-Ra said swiftly. Firmly. She wore Veena's sword at her hip, and her hand tightened around the hilt. "No. I'm here, and I'm… awake. That means there's still hope."
Teela looked at her. Adora was in there, if you knew to see it. And while She-Ra was resolute, shining, strong, Adora had just had her life tossed upside down - again. "Are you okay?" she asked.
She-Ra gave her a lopsided smile and said, softly, "Thank you, my friend."
Teela felt a little better. At least something had gone right today.
She-Ra glanced over her shoulder again, then called, "He-Man! I have Teela. Did you find Prince Adam?"
"Not yet," he replied, walking towards them. He tried to make eye contact with Teela, who wasn't having it.
There were limits. She'd hit all of them today.
Father started to say something, but Teela surprised herself by beating him to it: "I left Adam and Adora over there," she said, pointing.
"Thank you, Captain," She-Ra said, winking. She gave Teela an Etherian salute and gestured for He-Man to follow her. Both of them jogged off in the direction Teela had indicated.
Teela stayed where she was for a long time, as the other Masters picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, as her father came to stand silently behind her, as the shimmer of Grayskull's magic faded from his namesake castle, as the sun slid down towards the horizon.
Eventually, two small figures came trudging up the hill, their fair hair glinting in the last of the day's light. One of them waved; the other shouted hello.
Teela turned and walked away.
.
.
.
Note: So I'm sure you're like, "Whaaaaat Adora's not Veena and Grayskull's kid! How dare you!" Which is fair. But I've always disliked the plot device of a long-lost secret twin sister! for a variety of reasons that I shall not go into here (although, if you really want to be on the receiving end of that diatribe, lemme know). In the end, if you're looking at what her origin absolutely requires, it's that Adora is 1) a descendent of Grayskull, and 2) kidnapped and raised by the Horde. Having a bad guy who can access a dimension that exists outside of space and time makes 500 years meaningless, ergo - in this story, Adora is Adam's great-great-whatever-aunt, not his sister. Sorry/not sorry.
Anyway! One more chapter! And if you think the wait for this chapter was bad, just know that I got the idea for this story in 2003! Wheee!