Gearing Up

A month later, King Micah and Queen Angella had recovered fully from their captivity—physically, at any rate. Their daughter's engagement to Bow was a bit of a surprise, though it wasn't an unpleasant one, as Bow was like a nephew or a son to them. Their rescue and subsequent recovery had ignited the flames of hope in more than a few people. Hordak had put two and two together, however, and figured out that Adora must be behind their rescue, and she was now a much-wanted fugitive with a high price on her head. He had since found out about her marriage to Sea Hawk, thanks to the two thugs at the Laughing Swan Inn, so Sea Hawk was in just as much danger.

It was late October and autumn was in full swing; the months were actually in sync with those back on Earth and on Eternia, as Queen Marlena would have commented. Adora's nineteenth birthday was in two months, on the twenty-second of December, and she found herself realizing that she and her twin brother would in all likelihood spend their birthday apart for the first time. Trying to search the Fright Zone for the gate-maker would be a pretty daunting task with the heightened security and the fact that she was wanted. For all she knew, Hordak might have destroyed it.

Adora was sitting in the map tent, not really feeling well. She'd awakened feeling nauseous and she'd been feeling a bit tired lately. She was trying to concentrate on possible points of attack for the upcoming battle, of which Hordak, as far as anyone knew, was completely unaware.

Sighing, she laid her head down on her hands. She wanted to go home and take Sea Hawk and his crew with her. She wished she knew how long she'd be here. At least Micah and Angella had pretty much taken her under their wing; after all, she too was royalty and she and her husband were regarded as heroes.

"Hey, are you all right?"

Adora looked up, saw Sea Hawk standing at the entrance to the tent. "Just tired and feeling under the weather," she explained.

She felt his hand on her forehead. "You don't seem to be running a fever," he said, his voice sounding thoughtful. A smile tugged at his lips. "Maybe you're pregnant."

Adora sat up straight. It made sense. She quickly counted back the weeks in her mind, realized that her husband might be right. "I-I didn't really expect to get pregnant right away," she said, trying to wrap her head around the idea.

Sea Hawk chuckled. "I would've been surprised if you weren't pregnant by now," he commented. "Why don't we go see the midwife, and find out for sure?" He went over and gently helped her to her feet.

"It's not confirmed yet and you're treating me like I'm fragile," Adora said with a bit of a smile. It was hard to believe…she might be having a child of her own—a grandchild her parents might never know about should she be stranded here for good. A duke or a duchess—on Eternia, grandchildren of the reigning monarch through the female line were dukes and duchesses; through the male line, they were princes and princesses. Should Adora become Queen, her children would be "promoted" to prince or princess.

"I like protecting you. Consider me your knight in shining armor, milady," he said as he put his arm around her shoulders and led her to the building where a midwife had set up her trade.

Adora sat on the examination bed, a bit stunned. Sea Hawk stood nearby, smiling. The midwife, whose name was Janine, had confirmed that Sea Hawk and Adora were indeed expecting a child, and Adora was five weeks along.

"I'm just a bit concerned about Adora's health," Janine commented. "Her treatment at the hands of the Horde—the beatings and starvation. She's healing but it hasn't been that long. I want to keep an eye on you and the baby, Adora, so I'd like to see you in here every two weeks."

"Do you think my body isn't strong enough to carry a child yet?" Adora asked, curious.

"Obviously you had no problems conceiving, it's just that you were malnourished for a while," Janine replied. "But I can tell your husband has been taking good care of you—you don't look too thin and it looks like your bruises have all gone." She smiled. "I think you'll be fine, I just believe in being cautious."

Two weeks later, Sea Hawk and Adora were in the village of Devlan, working on recruiting people for King Micah's army. The two of them were wearing hooded cloaks so that they wouldn't be easily recognized. There were some people who had expressed an interest in joining, and Sea Hawk and Adora had been sent to interview them. The process was dangerous, because one never knew if they might be interviewing Horde spies. Hordak might know of the plan to take Bright Moon, despite the rebels' attempts at keeping things quiet—the rebels were aware of this. Fortunately, the people in question knew the passwords the rebels had come up with, and as a result, the rebels now had several more recruits.

Sea Hawk always kept his photon cutlass with him. The cutlass, which he'd gotten from his late father, was a very handy weapon, and Sea Hawk treasured it. Adora kept a bow and arrows on her, as she'd been trained in archery. Bow had been working with her the past several weeks, helping her to refine her skills.

Adora nibbled on a biscuit as they walked from the house where the meeting had taken place, as she had found that constantly nibbling on something helped keep the nausea at bay. Janine had also told her what herbs were best for that kind of thing, as well as good for the baby.

"You all right? You look a bit depressed," Sea Hawk noted as he held her hand.

"My birthday is in a couple of months, I'm expecting a baby, and I'm no closer to getting home," Adora sighed.

"You have me, and then our baby, as your family right now," Sea Hawk said as he squeezed her hand a little. "You're not alone, sweetheart."

Adora nodded even as she felt tears sting her eyes. "You're right, Hawk," she said. In fact, had it not been for Sea Hawk, there was a very real possibility that she would have been recaptured by the Horde. Right now she could have been a toy for Hordak's lackeys.

"One of these days we'll try to get in there and see if he has that gate-maker," Sea Hawk told her. He looked around, making sure there was no one nearby, then said quietly, "Maybe once Bright Moon is taken back from the Horde, we'd have more of a chance."

They continued to walk along through the village. Sea Hawk took Adora's hand and held it as they walked along. "Hard to believe you're going to have my baby," he said.

"Is that so?" snarled a low voice behind them.

Sea Hawk and Adora turned, saw a Hordesman standing there. Adora's eyes widened—she recognized this Hordesman as General Woods, the one to whom she had been promised by Hordak!

"I thought I recognized you," Woods grinned as he stared at Adora with his cold, gray eyes.

"Leave her alone," Sea Hawk said as his hand went to his photon cutlass.

"I don't think so, pirate," Woods said. "So you're the upstart who took my woman, eh?" He shouted seemingly over their shoulders. "Get them!"

Adora glanced over her shoulder long enough to see two Hordesmen coming from behind a house. They'd been ambushed! One grabbed her while the other one kneed her in her abdomen, and Woods started after Sea Hawk, who now had his cutlass out and ready to go.

Adora had been trained in self-defense on Eternia. Even though she was in pain from the blow, she managed to lift her legs—the first Hordesman had her from behind—and deal a blow to the second one. All around her were sounds from the fight. She knew that Sea Hawk was dealing with Woods at the moment.

She suddenly felt something strike her on her head, and everything went black.

When Adora came to, she found herself in familiar surroundings—she was in the infirmary tent in Whispering Woods, lying down on one of the beds. Sea Hawk was sitting at her bedside, looking troubled. "Hawk," she murmured. "What happened?"

"We were ambushed in Devlan, remember?" he asked quietly. "Three Hordesmen jumped us. One of them knocked you out, you've been out for a few hours." He took a deep breath. "Adora—you had a miscarriage."

This last bit of news hit her almost as hard as the Hordesman had hit her. She had lost the baby. Their baby. Tears came to her eyes.

"Janine said you'll be okay…you're still able to have children…I took care of those Hordesmen," Sea Hawk continued. "They'll bother us no more."

Adora knew exactly what he meant, and also knew that it was self-defense. She realized that it would mean more trouble, since Hordak did not take too kindly to his men losing fights, or losing men. Trying to recruit would be even more risky.

"How are you feeling?" Sea Hawk asked as he gently took her hand.

"I-I don't know," Adora replied. Her head ached a little and there seemed to be some cramping pain in her lower abdomen. She put a hand to her head, felt a bandage there. She was still trying to come to terms with the news she'd just been given, that there would be no baby.

"Just rest," Sea Hawk advised as he gently kissed the back of her hand. "You have a slight concussion, you'll be fine."

Nearly two months later, it was Adora's nineteenth birthday. She woke up that morning, feeling both excited that it was her birthday, and sad because of her circumstances. It looked like the rebels would never have enough people to take back Bright Moon, and Adora had all but given up on getting home to Eternia.

"Happy birthday, my lovely," Sea Hawk said as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. He lay beside her, propped up on one elbow, and gazed into her eyes. "You don't look any older. Maybe prettier."

Adora had to smile at that. As time went on, she was more and more glad that she'd married Sea Hawk the same day they'd met. He had his faults, same as anyone, but even a blind person could see that he cared deeply for her. He was very protective of her, even more so since her miscarriage, but she really didn't mind, as it made her feel safe.

They got up and got dressed, then went to have breakfast.

Sea Hawk and Adora were in their building a little later, spending some time together on the couch, when there was a knock at the door. "Remind me to put up a Do Not Disturb sign at some point," Sea Hawk sighed as he got up and went to answer it.

He opened the door, and Bow was standing in the doorway. "Adora, it appears we have a very unexpected birthday surprise for you," the archer said as he peered into the living room.

"What kind of surprise?" Adora asked, her curiosity aroused, as she got up.

Bow led Sea Hawk and Adora to the building where they usually had their meetings, and Adora's eyes widened when she saw who was in there.

"Mother! Father! Adam!" she shrieked as she rushed into the arms of her parents and twin brother.