The Blood of Eternia

Chapter Five

Only a few short kilometres away, the Attak Trak carrying the royal family, flanked by a grand aerial and ground force, rolled along the great terrain of Eternia en route to an audience with The Sorceress.

True to her word, Teela had kept silent on recent developments pertaining to The Sorceress, all she could try to do was quell Randor's disappointment at the thought of his son having seemingly, and soullessly, abandoned their family in their hour of greatest need.

"How fares the Queen?" she asked as Randor tenderly clasped his right hand on hers, his face wrought with a pain far too naked to conceal with just the facade of strength.

"I fear she may only have moments left to us" he replied.

"You must have faith your highness" Teela nudged.

"What of Adam? Have you heard anything from him?" an agitated Randor asked.

"Not as yet, but I know his character, he will have gone to Grayskull ahead of us if need be"

"His place is here, with us" Randor insisted.

The King looked away; Teela knew it was out of shame and heartbreak. For Adam, the walls were well and truly closing in.

Was this what it was like to keep the secrets of He-Man guarded for so long? Teela thought.

What wrenched at her heart the most, was that she somehow knew this was not the only secret of Grayskull that he kept locked away, and she also knew it had something to do with her.

She could forgive him of course, everything he did was for the greater good of his family and his people, it was a trait she admired and loved about him.

She finally understood where she needed to be, all she had to be was patient and, in time, he would let her in.

"Here your highness let me check your temperature" Orko offered, producing from his sleeves a small thermostat, which then grew to gargantuan size and shot straight out the side of the Trak's hull.

Marlena laughed, Orko blushed and patched up the hole with his magic.

"Can this clown of the court ever pull the right trick out of his hat?"

"The Queen seems to find it amusing" Teela observed.

"If only I could laugh in the face of my fears" Randor replied, falling prey again to his own anguish.

As the advancing procession approached the land where Grayskull stood, Duncan, leading the charge, called for an immediate halt as he found a seemingly frail and near lifeless body laying face down on the soil.

He landed his Sky Sled and dashed over to the body, but no sooner did he try to lift the helpless peasant boy to his feet did he swiftly disintegrate in Duncan's arms, manifesting into a massive plume of dust that swept over the entire area.

Watching on a nearby hill, mounted upon Skeletor's faithful cat Panthor, Evil-Lyn gave the signal to attack.

***

Adam and Skeletor found themselves in the transporter room of the Starship Eternia, Darius and Hydron were left somewhat bewildered by the fact they had taken on not one but two passengers for their trouble.

"Here, place this crystal in the centre of the transference module, quickly" Skeletor instructed, handing the crystal to Hydron, he carried it over to the primary energy prism from which the power of Grayskull was being transferred along the veil to the storage chambers Primus.