Sorry that it took so long to get this out. As you can probably guess, it's been busy and other stories grabbed my attention. Hopefully, this chapter will make up for it…or maybe you'll hate me for it, haha. Let's see…

The Sacrifice Chapter 4

Adam could no longer stand. He could no longer even kneel on his knees. It was either fall face forward onto the glass in front of him or sit down and lean against the back glass of the booth. He chose the latter.

He could hardly keep his eyes open, but he wanted to because he knew Adora was coming to save him. He could almost feel her approach, but he was beginning to believe she was too late. There was no way he could walk out of there under his own steam, and how in the world would he regain his willpower to move? How would he even be able to lift the Sword of Power if he even got back to the rebel camp somehow?

Something told him this was Hordak's plan all along: get Adora to the Fright Zone to protect Adam and then keep them both. It was what Skeletor would have done, and Hordak was his teacher.

Feeling that sleep was about to overtake him, he tried to fight it by shaking his head frantically, but it didn't work. He felt his eyes closing and soon he was unaware of what was going on around him.

=)=)=)

Adam walked down the corridor slowly as he left the throne room. He was feeling awful that he had not only managed to upset his father, he had made his parents fight with one another. "Good job, Adam," he told himself; "Let's see what else you can mess up today!"

That's when he remembered Teela's desire to meet in the courtyard this afternoon to spar. He closed his eyes and sighed. That wasn't something he wanted to do at all. It wasn't that he was concerned that the Captain of the Guard would hurt him—far from it, actually—but he was tired of pretending to be less skilled than he really was and he simply didn't want to do it. Of course, he couldn't tell Teela that, so he didn't have much choice of what he could do: he had to avoid her for the rest of the day somehow. He knew it would make her mad, but he also knew she would forget about her challenge in light of him being a coward. He supposed his reputation was good for something every once in a while.

He managed to stay away from Teela for the rest of the day by staying in the library and reading court cases his father had wanted him to research earlier in the week. Unfortunately, when he had finally gone to his bedroom before nightfall and changed into his sleeping attire, several sharp knocks were heard on his door. Already knowing who it was, he sighed. He flopped down on the bed and prepared to be reamed out for his failure to show up in the courtyard today. "Come in," he called out after momentarily wondering if he should pretend he wasn't there, but he knew she would walk in if he didn't say something, so he decided he might as well get it over with.

As suspected, Teela burst into the room. She took one look at Adam, relaxing on his bed, and asked snappishly, "And, where have you been all day?"

In response, he immediately brought his hand up to squeeze the bridge of his nose and groaned. "Teela, you do realize I'm the Prince of Eternia and have things to do, right?" He knew he was being a bit snippy at her, but he had enough to worry about without her getting onto him.

"Yes, I do know that, but you seem to forget that I'm your bodyguard and I know your schedule since it's ran by me," she stated, matter-of-factly. "You didn't have anything special today, so you had plenty of opportunity to show up in the courtyard for our meeting."

Adam sat up and frowned at her. "Actually, I was doing something, Teela. I was reading those court cases father had given me a few days ago. I had been putting them off and today was the perfect day to catch back up. I got so absorbed in it that I lost track of time."

"Oh, but I'm sure you managed to eat," she replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, the librarian did run to the kitchen to get me something light," he explained in bewilderment. "Seriously, Teela, I was busy today."

She stared at the prince for a bit and finally relented. "Okay, if you say so, Adam. If you say you were busy and you weren't really hiding from me, I'll accept that. But you know what you can do, though, to make your absence up to me?"

"What's that?"

She grinned almost sadistically. "You can prove it by getting up right now, putting back on your clothes, and meeting me in the gym now. I can turn on the lights and…"

"Teela, I'm tired and…"

She smirked at him and said, "Oh, Adam, you didn't even have a combat lesson today. All you did was read. Besides, you know as well as I that this shouldn't last long."

He glared at that comment and Teela laughed at his expression. "I'll see you in the gymnasium in five minutes." She walked out of the room and shut the door firmly.

Adam jumped from the bed and decided that he would show up. And, for once, he was determined to give Teela a harder time than he normally did so that it would last longer than she expected. Besides, it would be a way to relieve the stress of the day. He walked over to his closet to retrieve his clothes when he suddenly heard a knock at the door.

Thinking that it must be Teela or Cringer since he wasn't expecting anyone else, he walked over to the door and swung it open. Adam came face to face with members of the Horde. He didn't know who they were, but he knew that emblem across their chest anywhere. Before he could yell or even move, a man shot him with a freeze-ray.

=)=)=)

Adora stood before the Fright Zone and pounded on the door. Almost immediately a Horde Trooper opened it. Before he could say anything, Adora stated, "I'm here to see Hordak—he's expecting me."

"Right this way," the robot replied and led her to the throne room. He stood beside her and simply stared up at the throne. Currently, the chair was not there, so she knew it was time for the theatrics to start in an attempt to intimidate her. Did Hordak forget that she knew those tricks? Rolling her eyes slowly, they heard machines under the throne steps move and the trooper announced, "Hordak comes."

Adora watched unimpressed as the tall chair rose above her. When it stopped rising, it turned itself around to reveal Hordak looking down at her.

"Adora," he said, rolling the "o" like he used to do when he was pleased with something she had done. She was supposed that he was pleased with her right now…for showing up. "So nice to see you again," he greeted.

She nodded once and said, "I'm here for one reason and one reason only: to save my brother. Now, release him."

Hordak laughed amusedly and said, "All in good time. First, I wanted to ask you a few questions."

She didn't like the sound of that. When Hordak started interrogating, it meant he had something up his sleeves, so to speak. She folded her arms and said, "You forget that I know you, Hordak. What do you want and what do you have planned?"

Ignoring her questions, Hordak simply asked his. "I am curious, Adora, why you and the Rebels insisted on celebrating today? Yes, it is the one time you and your friends have taken back a kingdom that the Horde had conquered, but I wouldn't be proud of doing it only once…and you must have known it would get my attention."

Because Hordak had her brother and she knew he could hurt him if he so wished at any second, she answered honestly. "I had no involvement in planning the festival and I certainly didn't want it to be advertised, but I can hardly control them if they want to do something."

Hordak stood and said, "Yes, common people are so…unwise and disobedient, aren't they? That's why they need people like the Horde to lead them."

She glared at him and said, "No one needs the Horde's leadership. They do better on their own."

"Would they really? Tell me, Adora, when I sent you that message cube, did you tell anyone else of its contents?"

She shook her head. "No, but my friend, Bow, was with me."

Hordak asked laughingly, "And, did you tell him to stay away from the Fright Zone and to not help you?"

Adora froze. Why was he asking her that? She squeezed her eyes shut firmly and thought, "No, Bow, you wouldn't have! I specifically told you not to come! You heard what Hordak said!"

"Well?" Hordak called out, shaking her from her thoughts.

"Yes, I did," she answered.

"And, you are supposedly their leader." He punched a button on his chair and said, "I would like to congratulate you, Adora, on your fine leadership and ability to control your men. As you can see, they obey quite well." He pointed behind her.

She whirled around and cried out. "Bow, what are you doing here? I told you stay away!"

Hordak laughed and stated coldly, "I told you what would happen if I saw anyone but you show up."

She turned back to Hordak frantically as he punched yet another button on his chair. Fearing that it possibly controlled what was happening to Adam, she cried, "Please, Hordak, don't hurt my brother! I told Bow not to come! Please, I'll do anything!"

That caught Hordak's attention. He raised an eyebrow. "Anything?" he questioned with a smile as he rubbed his chin.

"Anything," she agreed hurriedly.

At that moment, Bow cried out, "No, Adora, don't do it!"

She turned back towards him temporarily and snapped, "I don't want to hear from you! You've done enough!" She turned back to Hordak and reiterated, "I'll do anything if you don't hurt Adam."

Hordak punched the same button that he did the last time on his chair and replied, "Agreed. Come, let's go see your brother." He descended the throne steps and as they walked out the room, he sneered at Bow and said to the Troopers holding him captive, "I got who I want. Throw him back where you got him."

Instantly, the guards pulled him from the room as Hordak laughed and led the way to the Plunder Room.

=)=)=)

I hope you enjoyed it. I didn't get a chance to proofread it tonight, so forgive any glaring mistakes you see.