Skeletor paced back and forth in the throne room, fuming, as always. Since what he considered the betrayal of Evil-Lyn, he had not left the room, grumbling under his breath as he considered what to do now that his second-in-command and her mother were no longer at his disposal.
He fired a few bolts from his havoc staff periodically, snarling so loudly the cries could be heard in every corner of the mountain, as well as the blast upon the poor, defenseless walls.
In one of the larger caverns usually referred to as the dining area, Tri-Klops, Mer-man and Beast-man sat, trying to drown out the screams and concentrate on whatever it is they were eating.
Beast-man growled lowly as a particularly violet outburst surprised him so much he spilled whatever filth he was ingesting over his fur. He slammed his bowl down violently, looking at the other two with a fire in his dull eyes. "He's been like that since Evil-Lyn left! We should be out destroying Eternia, not moping around the Mountain like lost beasts!"
"Well, you're free to go inform him of that, Beast-man," Tri-Klops grumbled beneath his breath, continuing eating. "But unless you want to go around smelling like burnt fur again, I think we'll just let Skeletor alone."
Silence fell over them as Beast-man cleaned the spilled food off of him, and they continued to eat for a long moment in silence. Each tried to ignore the various howls and blasts from the mountain's core, and continued to sustain their bodies.
Another growl escaped from Beast-man as he listened. "You'd almost think he cared about her or something. It didn't take him anywhere this long to start plotting her demise the last time Evil-Lyn betrayed us."
"And how would you know?" Mer-man gurgled, entering the conversation for the first time, his speak interrupted as always by a few loud gurgles. "We were all turned to stone then. Grrruowwlll…. We don't know how long it took him."
Silence emerged from the throne room. It seemed Skeletor had finally calmed down a little. One of Tri-Klops' doom seekers entered into the room, buzzing about before finally moving to its builder's side, showing him a small scene from the throne room. Tri-Klops viewed it and then turned to the others. "He wants us in the throne room."
The two others swallowed their current mouthfuls audibly, a sinking feeling slowly rising in all three stomachs as they pushed away their platters of food, suddenly not hungry anymore. Slowly, each of them rose from their seats and made their way out of the room, more than a little nervous as to what was going to happen.
They entered the great room slowly, noticing Skeletor on the throne with Panthor at his side, and the rest of the minions entering in through other doors, timidly. Skeletor's havoc staff was out of reach, which offered a small sense of relief in all of them, but not much. When everyone had formed a small cluster around the throne, Skeletor began to speak.
"I have arranged temporary truce and organized a meeting with that old fool Man-at-Arms. He will come here at mid-moon, and he and I will discuss various… problems. You will not attack him, understood?" He growled a bit, eye sockets becoming a bit red.
The minions all immediately announced murmurs of approval, each saying something to assure their leader than Man-at-Arm would not be harmed. Skeletor seemed satisfied, and they wondered if that had been all.
"Skeletor…" Tri-Klops began, hesitating. "What do we need the help of the Masters for? We can handle that traitor by ourselves…" he trailed off, making sure he was strategically placed behind Beast-man should Skeletor get angry.
The Overlord of Evil rose from his throne, and a sense of dread filled each of them, though mainly Tri-Klops. Skeletor strode down the steps leading to his throne, and looked down imperiously over the heads of his minions. "We are not fighting against only Evil-Lyn, Tri-Klops," he growled dangerously, eye sockets flashing. "She is not the true traitor, that honor belongs to the Dereskian Queen. It is she who will truly suffer."
A rough gasping sound emerged from the body of minions, silence falling over them in a rush. A dozen thoughts ran through their minds of objections to the idea. Attack the Dereskian Queen? Had Skeletor gone insane?! She was the most powerful individual on the planet! The stories of her chilled the blood of a fully-grown man! To attack her was suicidal!
No one said anything, and they were dismissed to their respective quarters, whispering amongst themselves that surely Skeletor had lost his mind.
………………………….
Not for the first time in recent minutes, Man-at-Arms wondered if this was a wise idea. Simply meandering into Snake Mountain based only on the spoken word of Skeletor that it was not a trap did not settle well with him. He had wanted to bring He-man or at least one of the other Masters, but Skeletor made it plain that he was to come alone or there could be no arrangement. This made Duncan cautious, as he could never really trust the Overlord of Evil. Still, thanks to a series of spying equipment he had sent into Snake Mountain, the Masters knew of Evil-Lyn's betrayal, and knew that Skeletor, like the Masters, did have reason to want the Dereskian Queen gone, and perhaps, for a little while anyway, the Masters could work with him just to get rid of the white-haired woman.
He arrived by way of sky sled, his armor facemask raised defensively and his mace in his hand as he dismounted. Skeletor was waiting at the mouth of Snake Mountain, with only the enormous purple cat in his company.
"Ah, Duncan! Old friend. Welcome," came the oddly pitched voice, its owner standing, unarmed, or so it appeared, directly in front of the cave.
Man-at-Arms looks around a bit suspiciously, scanning the area for possible ambushes and finding that the terrain was unsuited for it. "Why have you asked me here, Skeletor?" he asked, deciding to skip the 'pleasantries' so that he could get out of this dangerous place all the sooner.
Skeletor realized he was uncomfortable, and indeed, the Overlord himself did not feel exactly at ease having the king's trusted friend here at his base of operations, but there were few other options. Still, he led to the way to a small outcropping of rock, and sat down upon it, while Duncan seated himself far enough to be out of reach, but close enough to hear him. "I suggest, Duncan, that your Masters and I work together to form a plan against the Dereskian Queen."
Duncan knew that, it had been the sole purpose for his coming, but he also knew that Skeletor was just trying to get negotiations set. "And what makes you think the Masters, and myself, would trust you on blind faith?"
"You would not," the bone-faced leader replied simply, his tone flat. "But this does not mean we cannot work out some way to be of mutual assistance."
The mustachioed man slowly lowered his facemask and steepled his fingers beneath his chin. "What do you propose, Skeletor?" he questioned slowly.
Idly cracking the knuckles of his claw-like hands, Skeletor began to relate his plot. "Unfortunately, the mental defenses of the Dereskian Queen have no equal, so any attack we make against her will have to be purely physical, and perhaps magical. This will be difficult to arrange, as the only power I know of that can rival Lady Moria's is that of the Council of Elders." Skeletor paused for a moment and looked at Duncan slowly, had he eyes, he would have leveled them with Duncan's own. "I do not think your Sorceress will be of much assistance in this matter."
Man-at-Arms looked away and said nothing. It was true, the Sorceress had been acting extremely oddly lately, and it had crossed his mind more than once to alert Randor and He-man and, with them, go to Grayskull and demand an explanation from the winged female. The only thing that had prevented him from doing that thus far was the fact that he feared what the explanation would be. Putting whatever the Sorceress said aside, there was obviously something that the Ancient Dereskian was doing that clouded the redhead's senses. He realized now, that if even Skeletor knew this, something had to be done.
Unaware of his momentary reverie, the Overlord of Evil chuckled a bit. "No…" he said, with what seems almost a cruel grin on his skinless features. "However, He-man is powered by the Elder's might, if even he can defeat that Dereskian."
"She can't be all-powerful," Man-at-Arms said a little glumly. "Surely He-man could defeat her, but she'd need to be either physically or emotionally weakened first…. The problem is that she has no weaknesses."
Skeletor interrupted with an amused laugh. "On the contrary, old friend. The Dereskian Queen has only one flaw in the armor of her power. Fortunately it is a weakness that can be exploited and used to organize her destruction."
Man-at-Arms seemed unsure, looking at the bone-faced spell caster quizzically. "And that weakness would be…?"
The Overlord of Evil could not resist flaunting his knowledge in his enemy's face. "You're surprisingly dense, Duncan. What better weakness to use against the most powerful woman, the most powerful mother in the world, than her only child?"
"Evil-Lyn!" Duncan exclaimed, both amazed he had not thought of this before and at the fact that it was Skeletor suggesting using his former second-in-command. Man-at-Arms quickly deduced that there was a small amount of personal glee in this for Skeletor's sake, as seeing the younger Dereskian in pain would be a wonderful revenge for her having betrayed him.
A small growl slid out of lipless teeth before Skeletor could prevent it, not that he would have anyway. "Precisely," he grumbled, the second part to his sentence more to himself than to Duncan. "What better way to bait a murderess than with a traitor?"
Man-at-Arms lowered his eyes a bit at his old adversary. "And what do you seek to gain from this plot?" he asked with well-founded suspicion.
Sneering in his lipless fashion, the spell caster answered him plainly, outlining his plan. "I will arrange for Evil-Lyn to be lead to you, with my minions chasing after her. You and your Masters will effectively capture her. Once you have Lyn, her mother will instantly know it, and you will not have to seek her out. She will come to you. If you succeed in overcoming her, you may have her. Beat her, kill her, question her, do whatever it is you 'heroes' do with your prisoners. I don't care what you do to that Dereskian Bitch. All I want is her daughter."
"Get rid of both of them at the same time…" Duncan said softly to himself, hand under his chin as he considered. "I'll need to discuss this with the other Masters before we can decide anything."
Skeletor nodded and waved his hand dismissively. "Do. But understand, Duncan, that this is the only way to get to Lady Moria, and it is the only hope there is of getting rid of both of them and ceasing whatever hold they have over the people of this planet, including your Sorceress."
Duncan looked away at the mention of the Guardian of Grayskull. That problem had to be dealt with next. He said nothing and rose to prepare to go, and Skeletor did the same, turning away from him.
"Oh, and Duncan," Skeletor added as an afterthought, still turned away from the mustachioed man. "A word of friendly advice. Should you and the Masters decide to enact this plan… I would not suggest bringing Teela along."
Skeletor departed and went inside his mountain, leaving his old enemy staring after him as he digested those last words. He shook his head to clear it, and boarded his sky sled to race off towards Eternos. He had to have a word with the Masters and King Randor.
………………
From her meditation atop of her bed in her chambers, Moria Vadorian sat up suddenly, eyes wide as she was struck with a vision she had being Seeing all too often recently, knowing as she always did that despite how terrible the images, there was nothing she could do to stop the vision until it was finished. It began as it always did, in a series of flashes from scene to scene, no matter what Moria did to try to stop them.
Flash: Evil-Lyn, tied spread-eagled standing up to a series of metal beams, gagged and head lowered in defeat.
Flash: A shadowed figure, Man-at-Arm or He-man or Skeletor, it always changed between those three, raising a sword and preparing to pierce her child's chest.
Flash: Moria arriving on the scene just in time to watch her daughter be stabbed through the chest with the sword and an anguished cry rising from both her and her child as the blow had missed her heart.
Flash: A strangled, echoing scream running through her bones as Moria flew at the Man-at-Arms/He-man/Skeletor, knowing she is too late to save her daughter.
Flash: Taking her dying child in her arms, tears flowing down her face as Lyn slowly died in her grasp, apologizing in her last breath.
Flash: Moria letting out a howl of loss as she held her daughter's bloodstained body.
Flash: Seeing the man with the sword coming up behind her and raising his weapon to strike her in the back.
Flash: The Sorceress in her flacon form screeching and arriving on the scene, defending the anguished mother.
Flash: The man stabbing the falcon as Teelina took the blow meant for Moria.
Flash: looking down at the bloodstained bodies of the only other Dereskians in existence.
Flash: Moria's eyes burning a bright red in sheer hatred as she formed her own swords and decapitated the man in one movement.
Flash: looking down at bloodstained hands and broken bodies of the two women and realizing for the first time that she is now truly and utterly alone.
Flash: Moria raising her own sword and aiming it at her stomach, whispering an apology as blood-red tears slid down her face, letting herself fall, impaled on her own sword.
The vision ended then, as it always did, leaving the Dereskian Queen panting and sweaty as she shuddered at every breath.
She closed her amethyst eyes and let the threatening tears fall, hugging her knees to chest and rocking back and forth like a frightened child.
It would not happen, she told herself again and again, moving back and forth as small droplets of red tears fell over her blankets. She would not let it happen. Moria inhaled slowly, gasping a bit as the last images finally receded from her mind.
She tried, as always, not to dwell on the images, but her mind was betraying her, analyzing her own death, the deaths of her child and Teelina too painful even for her brain to consider.
Killing herself was a desperate move on her own part in the vision. On the one hand, it was one of the two ways Moria could actually die, and she knew that. The idea of ending her own life had passed through her mind on more than one occasion, though she had not entertained such thoughts since giving birth to her child. If the events in her vision remained unaltered, and her child took her last breath in her arms, followed by the Sorceress' dying as well, the Ancient Dereskian knew there would no longer be a point to living, unless it were for revenge. She had done that before, though, and having the only thing keeping her going being the need to see Eternians die was not a way she wanted to live again. It was entirely possible, therefore, that her future in the vision to come true.
The white haired woman shook her head, clearing it of such thoughts as she rose slowly from her bed and moved to look aimlessly at one of her bookshelves, trailing her fingers over the Ancient volumes. The events that would lead to her vision had already been set in place, had since she first saw the vision, and she knew that. What did not know, but vehemently hoped, was whether it was not too late to alter those events.
It did not cross her mind to think that if she succeeded in altering the shadows of the future, would the future created by her actions be any better than the one she had Seen?