Hall Of The Mountain King
By King Tamask and Medusa Moon
Under two disinterested moons,
the intrigues of Planet Eternia's cities thickened
and soured, as merchant cheated peasant and husband cheated wife. The price of
silver rose and fell in the Mystic Mountains, and the last ugly, sandstone
vestiges of alien tyranny crumbled to dust along the Rakash
Sea, but life in the Vine Jungles lumbered along like an old tiger on a worn
trail, ..much as it had for billions of years.
For nearly four years, had he called the mountainous
Though ancient magic had kept sunset from the skies over
his homeland for many thousands of years, the flat, hardened bellies of his Vulnarian brothers kept time flawlessly
..and grumbled, when the smell of exotic spices and roasted meat drew
their daily tasks to an end. Bare feet carried impossibly strong bodies and
weary minds toward the center of their vast country. Men who'd known each other
for centuries sported with their comrades. Quarrels were laid to rest before
the glint of crystalline jars filled with golden ale, and so had it been here
for eons.
While most of Adam's peers, the Vulnarian
warrior initiates, washed in a nearby pond, their fathers, tutors and priests
moved as one toward the fires of the tribal hearth, barely noticing the
smaller, slightly coltish figure slipping between them,
..trying, with great difficulty, not to be noticed.
"Adam!" the old weaponsmith
Kibiri called to him, looking up from his anvil, as
the youth sprinted past his house. "Back from swim already, eh? Where's
that friend of yours, Ogun of Clampesh, ..and the rest of the cubs? Speak up, boy!"
From under a mound of golden hair, Adam looked over his
shoulder to see if any cubs had followed him back into the valley, but saw
none. With little chance of vanishing into the crowd of raven-haired giants
behind him, he would answer the man very carefully. Weaponsmithing
was an exact art, and Master Kibiri was a strict
tutor - all of the cubs knew that nothing less than studied answers would spare
them severe punishment at his hands. "Left them at the
pond, sir. Lord Tamask journeys to Myzargard tomorrow - have to get his tiger packed before
the evening mess. Orders, sir."
Weaponsmaster Kibiri rose from his anvil and strode out to where Adam was
standing. Not the tallest of his tribesmen, he was still a broad, thickly built
man, and his shadow had covered Adam's entire frame before he'd even
approached. The old man's eyes narrowed, studying Adam's face for any hint of
the mischief King Tamask's ward was so renowned for.
"Tamask prays in the House of Ishteuray. Go to your uncle. Make no stops on the way, boy, ..and before you enter, finish wringing the water from
that pelt - it's a disgrace!"
Draped about Adam's waist, the reddish brown devilbeaver pelt, soaked from washing in the pond, dripped
beads of water onto his bare feet. Seemingly unmoved by the old blacksmith's
words, the boy stood stoically before him. "I've a much nobler mission to
accomplish, my friend. Evil forces all over Eternia
seek to conquer us -- not even the legendary wonders of Castle Grayskull are safe! I must go to battle those forces at
King Tamask's side, Master Kibiri!
Can't keep our king waiting for the wringing of a stupid pelt, eh?"
Nostrils flaring, Kibiri
stepped forward, until his breath tossed the flaxen hairs hanging in Adam's
face. He waited for the boy's azure eyes to meet his own, but their owner did
not dare raise them any higher than the hairs on the smith's massive chest.
"Then, I suggest you wring, while you run, boy,
..unless you think a good thrashing'd do a
finer job of drying it! Better run fast, little comedian. My
hammer-hand's itching."
Adam's devilbeaver pelt was
bone-dry long before he reached the gates of the
As Kibiri had told him he
would, he found Tamask in full armor kneeling inside,
amidst a sea of dark red flowers. The lights of the temple's torches flickered
in the orange metal of Tamask's armor and, for a
moment, his master, the reincarnation of a powerful and ancient barbarian king,
seemed made of fire.
A god of fire.
What turned him to his presence at the temple doorway,
Adam had wondered, cowering at Tamask's armored back.
Had it been the smell of his freshly washed devilbeaver
pelt? The river lingering in his wet, golden hair?
When a red-brown arm, thick as a small tree's trunk, signaled him to approach,
Adam joined his master at the altar.
Mighty Tamask did not look at
him. A shiny hood of midnight-black hair hung around his face, as it had
changed from black to violet and back with the passing seasons. He laid
a dozen or so blood-colored flowers in Adam's small hands. The youth had seen
like flowers of a rustier color growing in the surrounding jungles, but never
this hue. Tamask told him they were sacred to the
goddess, and without looking away from the flames before which he kneeled,
gently whispered a command, "Burn them, nephew."
Adam could smell the oil Tamask
had poured on the flowers, which bewitched his senses like nothing before them
had.
"At Bold Vulnar's feet,
sits his daughter, Ishteuray," Tamask whispered, "the only woman to ever rule over
his brothers. When Ishteuray fought Keldor the Conqueror in the Sands of Time, her own blood
fell on the scorched desert, and an oasis of copper-colored flowers rose from
where they battled. She slew the tyrant, but died of her wounds, and Vulnar sent Mighty Teelana to
make Ishteuray immortal."
Adam had heard Tamask's
brothers speak of this garden, the Crown of She-Ra, thriving in a
faraway desert, but resisted the desire to boast of what he knew. That, in this
faraway place, believed to be where the lost
"Aye," Tamask
answered, without looking away from the flames. "Every year, they turn red
for a single day, and a son of this valley brings a portion of them here ..to be burned. When we burn them on this day, the
noble breath of our only fallen sister enters us ..and
strengthens us, when the gods call us to war."
Adam looked up from the flowers in his hands to see his
master's face. When Tamask turned to him, Adam found
he could not hide the dread in his young eyes. "I-is that
..why you're here, milord uncle? Vulnar has
called you to war ..again?"
"I am here to rededicate myself to Vulnar's daughter, Adam," his master confided,
ignoring the trepidation in the boy's voice, "so that she might dedicate
herself to mine - a strong, willful girl that I left in the care of her mother,
the Duchess of Myzargard."
"Angella
of Myzargard?" Adam asked. "The Warrior Queen? This girl--she's my
..cousin?"
"The disciples of Val-Kun, the Infinitian
fire god, have taken our daughter," Tamask
answered, unable to mask the outrage in his voice. "Two of our tribesmen
have already died trying to reclaim her, ..while I've
prayed here. I am through with praying, nephew. I must face the fire god alone, ..and you will not ask me why. You will ride with
me as far as Myzargard, then, no further."
"Master ..," Young Adam started. Before
claiming his devilbeaver pelt at the age of eight,
he'd slept at the foot of Tamask's bed with a giant
tiger cub. He'd accompanied him on grueling martial campaigns in lands far
beyond the
Mighty Tamask set a heavy hand
upon his adopted son's shoulder. "The Divine Sorceress has decreed that,
upon reaching the Whispering Woods of Myzargard, we
must take separate paths. We will obey the goddess of destiny, Adam."
"No," Adam protested, his upper lip trembling
slightly, as often it did when the boy was angry. "I will go with you, uncle ..to fight at your side, as is my place! I've
earned this honor, ..and no goddess will deny me! You cannot
deny me!"
Seizing Adam's upper arm, Tamask
led Adam away from the altar to a small, marble stool nearby. His already dark
face seemed to grow darker still, even in the dim light of the temple's
torches. "That you think yourself a man at so tender an age is impressive,
boy, ..but to give you leave to do so is to court the
anger of the gods. It is not our way. We will obey Destiny, Adam. The Divine
Sorceress, herself, has charged me with your tutelage and protection, until the undead
Enemy of Man is driven back into his Benighted Lands, and I will honor her command. We
will speak no more of what Heuay has set before us, ..and you will be shown the truth of your place."
The Master of the Brotherhood of Vulnar
sat and brought one broad knee before him. There Adam endured his punishment
under his lord and uncle's hand. For as long as he could stand, Adam gave no
voice to his suffering, ..but Tamask's
hand was firm and wide. When the eighth strike found Adam's backside, Ishteuray's temple echoed with his shameful sobs. Sometime
later, under a sun that would never set, they left the temple in silence, and
nothing more was said of what dread tasks the gods had given them.
Three days later, on the back of a heavily armored giant
tiger, King Tamask and a sullen Adam arrived in
mountainous Myzargard, after much rough riding along
the Vine Coasts of the Rakash Sea ..and down into the treacherous Evergreens, a forest from
which many men had never returned. In a clearing at the edge of the Whispering
Woods, King Tamask greeted his estranged wife, the
warrior queen Angella, and an eighth of her army. As
none of the dark beauty of Vulnar's Valley marked his
traveling companion, the queen was curious about the blond, golden-skinned
youth in his service, and he told her ...
"Some four years ago," Tamask
began, "when last I looked upon your face, I came upon two Beast Men
pursuing an old woman, carrying a boy over her shoulder, through these Evergreen
Forests. After slaying these Infinitian
scum, I found the woman resting against this very tree. As
I drew closer, I saw that she was mine own half-sister, old Miro's first born, and
that her journey had taken a far greater toll on her than first I had thought. Noble
Mira, the poor wretch, dressed in dusty tatters, was dying, ..and with the last broken beats of her heart, my sister begged
me to take the wounded boy at her side. Our brother, Randor, she told me, had named his
heir Adam, after the wild, Vulnarian god of the hunt.
With that, old Mira died, and I laid her to rest at the foot of this tree, as was her
wish. This is Adam - he will dwell here with you and your sisters, until I return!"
At that moment, amidst a flutter of laughter, a bright,
emerald flame burst from the ground before them, so bright that it was painful
to look upon it. As all before it shielded their eyes, it flared outward, until
none were spared its heat. Then, the flame took the shape of an impossibly tall
woman - a good five heads taller than the tallest man any present had ever
seen. In her hands, was a falcon-headed staff of what looked to be purest silver. The reddish brown skull and hide of a giant reptile
- basilisk, dragon or dinosaur - formed her crown and aegis, under which she
was boldly naked ..and bright green from brow to toe.
"Nay, noble Tamask! This journey must the boy
make alone, ..while you remain here!"
Tamask knew Heuay the Green to be a wild and brutal spirit. In skill, a
warrior second only to her sister, Mighty Teelana,
but unmatched in ferocity. A sorceress second to none! The Master of the
Brotherhood of Vulnar took care with her that he took
with no other. "Divine Sorceress, ..it was given
to me in your mountain temple that I should go with my son to the edge of these
Whispering Woods, ..and that, thereafter, we would take
different paths. I have done as you commanded! Do not punish my fealty by
condemning this boy to death in the furnace of the dark gods!"
A bolt of white-green lightning lit the sky and struck
the ground between them. The thunder that followed was louder than any young
Adam had heard before, and the assembled mortals, Tamask
included, stepped back from where Heuay stood.
"Take care, witch-spawned bastard of King
Miro!" Fierce Heauay
roared. "You name false, she who is the goddess of truth
..and of destiny! It was given to you that you and the boy would take
separate paths from these forests! You will remain at Myzargard ..or suffer the
wrath of Heuay!"
With silent dread, Mighty Tamask
unsheathed his blade, a golden broadsword half as long, as he stood high. He
felt his beloved Queen Angella's hand rush to his
upper arm, ..a subtle warning the raven-haired giant
ignored.
"Milord," the winged warrior-queen pleaded
with her enraged husband, "we will find another way. Do not incur the
Divine Sorceress's fury!"
"Your Highness, we are ready!" cried one of Angella's soldiers, as forty-nine behind her drew their
weapons. With a wave of her hand, the ruler of Myzargard
bade them stand down, and stand down they did.
"This is my husband's fight," their stoic
mistress answered, "and by his strength alone, were we made warriors, ..and was our widowed land made free! Let the gods
do their worst."
"Aye, woman!" Tamask agreed, assuming a defensive position. "I've
lost one child to the will of the gods, Heuay the
Green! I'll not yield another!"
The jade-skinned Sorceress raised her staff, and from
it, a bolt of lightning ripped through Mighty Tamask's
left shoulder. A hand's breadth from his heart, it forced him backwards and to
the ground. "You will obey Destiny, Master of the Brotherhood of Vulnar!"
Mighty Tamask unsteadily rose
to his feet, and as he brought his golden broadsword before him, a bright burst
of green filled the sky, ..and the Master of the
Brotherhood of Vulnar was sent down upon his back.
Setting himself upon his knees, he struggled to push himself up from the
ground, when another burst of emerald heat struck his side and sent him down
onto his face and belly. "No, Most Fierce One.
For the life of this boy, ..I ..defy you."
In wide-eyed horror, Adam rushed to his king's side as Tamask labored to stand, but was restrained by Queen Angella. "No, Adam! Tamask's
chosen this! We will honor his will."
Fierce Heuay looked on in
masked astonishment, as Tamask's broad hands
flattened against the soil beneath him. Dark bronze muscles swelled behind
them, and once more did she find her servant rising to make war with her. The
green goddess raised her mystic staff to meet Tamask's
defiance, and before it had unleashed the last and worst of Heuay's
wrath, the Vulnarian's faithful giant tiger threw
himself upon his master's back. Electricity crackled over the beast's armored
hide, and though the cat howled his torment, he would not be moved.
"Enough, Sorceress!" cried Adam, wrestling
against Lady Myzargard's unbreakable hold on him.
"I'll journey where you command! I'll yield to you, ..but bear witness, you and all the high gods, that Tamask, Master of the Brotherhood of Vulnar,
did not!"
In a gesture unseen before by mortal eyes, the Sorceress
bowed her crowned head respectfully. "Heed me, Adam of the Vines, ..if you would prove thyself worthy of your master's
devotion to you. In a shadow, on the road to Val-Kun's
mountain, will you find the strength and knowledge you will need to defeat him. You will find arms. Go in peace, .."
Get thee now, boy, to the furnace of the gods ... Go-ooo
"Sisters, attend your Lord Tamask!"
the Queen of Myzargard called to her lieutenants, as Heuay's pale green flame faded. Five heavily armored women,
as uncommonly tall, as they were comely, stepped forward from Angella's party and bore Mighy Tamask upon their shoulders. "Take him to Castle Brightmoon. Bring healers from every quarter of our country
- hurry!"
"Wait!" cried Adam, running after Angella's warriors. They halted their march
..and lowered Tamask into the wet grasses
below, where the boy, stone-faced with determination, kneeled at his master's
side. Though his loins still burned from thrashing, Adam picked up the broad
hand that had so dutifully punished him ..and held it
to his tear-stained cheek. "Uncle Tamask. Brother.
I'll not fail you - I swear it. Your daughter lives, and I will bring her home ..to you!"
With a groan that bespoke agony unfathomable, Tamask guided Adam's hand to what remained of the ancient
scroll pin hooked to his belt. Destroyed in his brief battle with Heuay, what remained of it was a blackened log.
Though the secret location of Val-Kun's
forge was now lost to the ages, Adam had not the heart to worry his master with
the truth. He unhooked the scroll from Tamask's belt,
kissed his king's hand and stood up from where he lay. "I will find her,
Mighty Tamask. Endure."
Queen Angella embraced Adam,
who stood a head shorter than she, as her army carried King Tamask
away. "Eons ago, Morning Star, the dragon of Oblivion, cursed your lord that he
would be the death of his own children. That, Adam, and that alone, is why he will
never name you heir to his throne. He loves you, as a son, and is more proud
of you than you know."
"I've heard my brothers speak of this curse, ..in whispers," confessed Adam shyly. "Many
times, in Heuay's temple, have I sworn that I will
never claim his throne, even in the shadow of his death.
Though nothing would honor me more than to be named his heir, I know that my
rightful place is at Eternos, with my father and mother,
and I've made my peace with that. Thank you for your counsel, good queen."
"I beg you take care, Prince of Eternos,
and do not let your anger with Fierce Heuay
blind you to the task at hand! In the shadow she spoke of, you will find a
guide to Val-Kun's forge, ..and
there will you find and liberate our Glimevere. Go in
peace, Adam."
A weary figure stood at the edge of the jungle that had,
until this day, always been his home.
Solemnly, the son of the Brotherhood of Vulnar' greatest warrior and king, waved his farewell to
the winged warriors of Myzargard ..and to the uncle he left in their care. He might
have preferred to stay at King Tamask's side, but he
had a noble mission to accomplish, and with the simple blessings of Tamask's immortal wife, Adam of the Brotherhood of Vulnar mounted his king's armored cat and rode.
Dawn painted the ancient
"What do you know of this girl, good cat?"
Adam asked the great beast, as they approached the pond. The youth had been far
too busy sulking to ask Tamask much of anything.
"What is her name?"
"Glimevere,
say your brothers," answered the tiger with caution that was most
uncharacteristic of him. "She was betrothed, at birth, to the son of the
Hunter King, Bowulf, ..but the boy befell a tragic fate. It's said she is as
courageous as her mother, the Lady Angella. What else
do want to know?"
"Tell me everything!" Adam demanded, "and quit bouncing me so much! My bum's on fire!"
"Lord Tamask thrashed you
pretty good, eh?" Battle Cat snickered, slowing his pace along a rocky
hillside.
"You know?!" Adam grumbled, rubbing his backside.
"Wh-who
else ..?"
"A few neighboring villages," the giant tiger
added. "Nothing uttered or whimpered in the
"Why has Lord Tamask
never thrashed you?" Adam asked. "You track mud into temples ..and steal fish. You hump in the open, where all
can see!"
"Aye, boy," the giant tiger chuckled,
"but I am a beast! It is my place to do such things! Too often, you
forget yours, Adam, ..and so your way is hard. Do you
know why Heuay the Green and Mighty Teelana share the Dunamyr
Crown?"
Adam did not answer quickly. He had learned, while
watching the men of his tribe argue this matter or that, that those, who spoke
too quickly, were often made to look foolish by others. "The Dunamyr Crown is heavy ..with
wisdom, of course. Even such as the gods must share the weight of such a thing, ..methinks."
"The war between Vulnar's
brothers and the dragons was long and bloody," the giant tiger began.
"Mighty Teelana cast her spear before the
dragons and drove them back into the sky! To honor her service to our nation,
the brothers adorned her in the copper-scaled hide and skulls of the
many-headed desert dragon, Dunamyr, who was slain in
the fight. Upon Mighty Teelana's head, two skulls
were set one atop the other."
"The Dunamyr
Crown!" Adam guessed. "In her hand was another head and neck,
which makes her Rod of Order."
"Aye, stripling," Tamask's
cat nodded, "but that one maiden could bear the divine weight of Dunamyr's skulls so freely as Teelana did, insulted the Lord of Dragons! Dragons give
much to the world of man, Granamyr told the sisters,
and man should not think their deaths so easy to bear! Understanding that
dragons had a respected place in the world, Fierce Heuay
offered to bear one of the skulls upon her own head ..to
show all that the loss of one dragon was too great even for a goddess to
endure. The honored dragons left mankind in peace."
"Ha! But for how long?" Adam scowled. "I
don't trust dragons. Neither do most of my brothers, ..and
Granamyr is sneakiest of them all!"
"It is Granamyr's place
to be sneaky ..and terrible," the tiger said,
"just as it is your place to think on when next he will strike. Even Heuay and the rest must respect that. If you would be so
respected, Adam, you must learn yours."
"Alright, cat! Alright!"
Adam squealed, as he was bounced up from the saddle and back down onto his
punished loins. "How can I think on all you've said, if you keep bouncing
me so hard, eh? Must you run so fast?!"
"You'll thank me later," snickered Battle Cat,
"when we reach that pond fulla' fish up ahead!
I'll eat, ..and a cool swim might take the shine off
your bottom!"
"Let's ride!" grunted Adam.
And ride, they did.
The outside world was no mystery to the Brotherhood of Vulnar, and even the youngest boys amongst them had heard
the fantastic tales about the mysteries beyond their Vine Jungle nation. Legend
says the immortal warriors of Vulnar's Valley were
the first to trudge these craggy cliffs and quake-torn valleys. Now, King Tamask's adopted son forded these same hills and streams
alone.
Young Adam's homeland was already in the distant mists,
when he heard a cry for help. As they neared the pond, a woman's shrill screams
were heard through the brush along the hillside. Battle Cat roared and ripped
forward down the dusty trail, while Adam ignored the smarting in his own
haunches. A familiar scent inflamed Adam's senses and those of his tiger, as
well. He'd smelled it many times before in the Vine Jungles surrounding Vulnar's Valley ..and danger had
always followed. His homeland was already in the distant mists, when he heard
the cry for help. "Devilbeaver!
Faster, friend! Faster!"
Before Tamask's
great cat came to stop, Adam, dagger in hand, sprung from his mount and onto
his shaggy foe. Pale green from head to toe, the dazed and naked, young
woman it had backed against a tree collapsed to her knees, covered her face and
sobbed.
The boy was lucky - more from surprise than overwhelming
force or skill, the devilbeaver was tumbled from his
prospective prey and into the pond. He'd first hunted the largest and fiercest
of them, the purple-backs native to the Vine Jungle, when he was barely
seven summers old. The devilbeaver's forest cousin
was much smaller, and the young Vulnarian made short
work of it. The water around them was quickly made red with the beast's blood.
A lifeless, sodden hulk, the dead devilbeaver
sank into the murk of the pond.
"I am called Zilora,"
the trembling beauty answered, as she dressed. Even when her priestly costume
was entirely affixed, there was little covering her - a brown, boarhide and bone collar, hung just below bare breasts, and
a heavy belt of thin, leaf-shaped gold plates draped about her naked hips.
"I am a priestess to Fierce Heuay ..and was fresh from my bath, when the creature attacked
me. I-I don't understand -- even my most potent magic hardly fazed it! You have
my thanks, stranger, ..and whatever favor lying within
my power to grant thee."
In his travels with Lord Tamask,
Adam had learned that those few priestesses of Heuay,
who dwelled in the Evergreens, ate of a rare tree there, the sweet fruit of
which turned their skin pale green over a time. Never before, had the youth
encountered one of them so young and lovely as Zilora, ..and he felt the breath as though ripped from his chest.
"I-I am Adam of the Brotherhood of Vulnar, ..son of King Tamask! Fierce Heuay sends me on this mission, in my king's stead, to the
Furnace of Val-Kun, ..but his map was lost in battle
with - it's a long story."
"Come, then," Zilora
commanded, brushing past Adam toward her house. "The only maps that show
the way to this place are back in your valley, but I have in my keeping
scrolls, which tell of it, ..and I know divinations
that might force such secrets from the lips of the gods. I also have a salve
for disobedient backsides."
Adam nervously pulled his devilbeaver
pelt tightly over his punished bottom, as if to shield it from Zilora's powers, ..then, very
sheepishly raised his eyes to hers. He marveled that not a scratch or bruise
from the devilbeaver's claws and teeth marred her
jade flesh. "How did you know?"
Without breaking her stride, the green woman cast a
smiling glance over her shoulder, as she returned to her hut. "I am a sorceress,
my young friend! Come!"
"Wait!" Adam squealed, following Zilora inside. A congress of dead candles there flickered
to life, and Adam flinched. Beyond the meager mud and rock opening of the
sorceress's hut, he saw that a great hall, carved out of solid grayish green
rock, lay within! And from that grand atrium, impossibly long staircases snaked
in every imaginable direction, ..surely to other halls
Adam imagined to be even grander and stranger than this one! He struggled to
mask the amazement on his young face, but could not. "If truly you are a sorceress,
good lady, ..do you know why Fierce Heuay has chosen me to take King Tamask's
place on this mission?"
"It is your time, Adam," answered the
sorceress cryptically, guiding Adam to a small nest of pillows in the darkness.
"Your strength! Your courage! These mark you as
the legendary hero, who is to inherit the treasure I have guarded all my life,
a weapon forged centuries before the Great Wars by Eternia's
ancients, ..and though you enter this place a boy, you
shall leave a man!"
Much time passed, while Battle Cat waited.
The boy did not emerge from the sorceress's hut for many
hours. When finally he did, he carried a large, silvery sword at his side, and
the smug conceit of a conqueror shone from his young face. "We go south,
good cat, ..to the
"Showed you the way, did she?" The giant tiger
huffed knowingly, as young Adam climbed upon his back. Something sounding very
much like amusement purred under the beast's words, but his young master did
not seem to care or notice.
"Aye, friend -- many wonderful ways!"
the lanky youth sighed ecstatically, gathering the reins in his hands.
"S'bout damn time!" Battle Cat laughed, carrying his young
master back onto the stony path. "What of that weapon she gave you - the
sword?"
Adam held the silvery broadsword out from his chest, as
he had seen his tribesmen do, and swung it through the air. "It's very,
very old -- more than that, she wouldn't say. It'll do, ..at
least, until I get my hands on a proper battleaxe."
"Aye," Battle Cat grunted, wondering if more
was afoot on the road to
"That won't be necessary, good cat," a large,
gray man replied, sitting in a tree. "The
"I've heard of you," Adam mused, recalling the
history of Eternia's sky-dwelling races. That the Lady Glimevere's plight was so
widely known surprised him, but he knew Stratos of Avion to be famous - a hero even to his youthful companions
at home. "When the Enemy of Man called you to
join his priesthood, you refused! Many of the aerial states feared Skeletor's reprisals and attacked Avion,
but a few came to Avion's defense. A war between the
aerial states raged for seven years, afterwards!"
"And was finally ended by-yyy ..?" the goggled bird-man quizzed Adam, carelessly
plucking a fruit from overhead and biting into it. "Swiftly
boy! The Maid Glimevere is waiting
..to be barbecued!"
In the mirrored lenses of Stratos's
eye-gear, Adam saw twin reflections of the skinny boy still smarting from Tamask's discipline. Where the he-man Zilora made of him had gone, he
did not know. His reply echoed with the shameful stench of awkwardness.
"Uh-hh -- your marriage to Princess Delora of Daedalos, ..of course! For this reason, the skies of Eternia remain free, and the power over them divided
equally between the aerial states! I know the history of the classical aerial
civilizations much better than the modern ones!"
"Well," Stratos
interrupted, leaping from the tree branch to the ground, "if Val-Kun can
be bored to death, Heuay the Green has chosen
her champion well! Do you think you are ready, ..boy?"
"Boy?!" growled King Tamask's tiger, indignantly. "Master Adam's
surely seen more in his fourteen years than many civilized men of your Avion have in the entire of their adult lives! He is Fierce
Heuay's champion, and the Sorceress Zilora is his lover!"
"She is?" wide-eyed Adam exclaimed in
surprise. Then, he straightened his back and affected as much "Of-of
course, she is, ..and I've known her every which way!
I think."
"Don't get cocky," muttered Battle Cat to the
boy on his back, before returning his attention to the bird-man. "At Tamask's side, young Adam's slain monsters from the bowels
of the world! Turned back the Priest-kings of Infinitias
from enslaving poor and defenseless tribes in the deserts and forests ..and seen wonders that defied reason! If such
experience isn't sufficient to impress Stratos of Avion -- if truly, you're him -- so be it!"
"I am a Vulnarian,
sir!" Adam proudly huffed, folding his arms over his narrow, hairless
chest. Good Tamask seemed fifty feet tall, when he
did this, but he would settle for a fifth of that. "I'm not afraid
of Val-Kun ..or you!"
"Well met, Lord Adam!" Battle Cat growled,
staring down the winged warrior. "This stuffed man-pheasant insults you
too freely! I wonder what he tastes like raw."
The gray-skinned man laughed heartily and extended his
hand. "Perhaps, you are ready, boy! Now, then -- off we go!"
A dozen or more whooping cries shook the trees, and the
boy turned to find a host of Stratos's gray-skinned
comrades springing from the treetops in every direction! How so many had
concealed themselves from his and his tiger's detection, he could not fathom.
Lifted into the air under one of the Avenger of Avion's
thickly muscled arms, he saw that Stratos's men
followed closely behind him, carrying Tamask's giant
tiger in a net! "What makes you think I need your help, bird-man?"
"Look down, pup," Stratos
laughed imperiously.
When Adam looked down, his eyes stretched wide in
terror. The land below passed beneath them at a maddening speed, and nothing
below, but the trees, could be readily identified. Startled, he drew in a sharp
breath that he prayed did not sound too much like the half-cry that it was and
fastened his small arms over his winged ally's. "By the
gods!"
So tightly that Stratos
wriggled slightly away to slacken the boy's grip. "Which god might that
be? Nanoc, Jondar
or Adam the Hunter -- you Vulnarians have so
many! It was Heuay's own sister, Mighty Teelana, who sent me to your aid."
Mighty Teelana was regarded by
all of Eternia as the friend and champion of man. A
proud, if slightly surprised grin, spoiled Adam's face. To his relief, Stratos could not see it. "Of course, Mighty Teelana sent you! If she favors me, as she does Lord Tamask, I must be a great warrior indeed! Is that not proof
that I am ready, Stratos -- that the gods are with
me?!"
Stratos did not answer, and
silently, they approached a nest of large rocks jutting up from the sea like
daggers' tips.
At their center was a massive rock, remarkable only for
its ugliness, set slightly apart from the ones nearby. As if some horror had
driven the others to push themselves as far away from the mythical mountain
there as the sea they shared would permit.
The sword, the gift from Zilora
tethered to the leather cord around his waist, brought Adam none of the peace
Queen Angella of Myzargard
had wished him. "Faster, Stratos!
I am ready!"
Stratos felt Adam's arms
tighten, once more, around his own.
He'd studied the boy enough to know it had been an
involuntary gesture. He could feel the young Vulnarian's
heart pounding ..and smelled the terror in him - a
young warrior's fear. This time, the winged man did not wriggle free, and the
awkward courage of Tamask's wayward son brought him
nearly to tears. "Your gods are with you, Lord Adam. You are
ready."
From the charcoal clouds over
Armed with photon-pistol, sword, halberd, spear and
mace, they plummeted toward the rocky mound in two great columns, cutting,
ripping and smashing through a throng of orc guards
as they as they went. Shrieking the battle-cries of their storm-tossed
homeland, the soldiers of Avion swept into the large
cavern-mouth that served as the mountain lair's entrance and devastated the
guards therein. Back to back! Side by side, they ran the enemy through with a
furor that sent the orcs hurling themselves over Val-Kun's ramparts, preferring death on the rocks below to
battle.
Springing from a net, King Tamask's
giant tiger shredded the shields and breastplates of his master's enemies. Beheading a few with the swipe of a claw. Disemboweling
others with a savage bite. The golden-haired boy at his side proved
equally feral, swinging his blade into Val-Kun's orc hordes as they swarmed to their mountain's defense.
Upon finding one of the younger Avions,
a youth of some sixteen years, surrounded by the enemy, Adam rushed to his aid.
The cadet battered aside four advancing orcs with his
spear, Adam spied a big brute, clad in spiked, metal armor, rushing down
between them. In one blow, he cleaved the snarling monster's weapon in half,
and it hurled past the young warrior's face. Even as another orc charged the winged youth's unprotected back, a large
black halberd clutched in its fist, Adam's eyes stretched wide with helpless
outrage. "Avion! Behind you!"
Startled, the gray-skinned youth turned to face Adam,
just as the devil's jagged weapon ripped into his chest.
"Delocles!"
Stratos called to him, turned in the air by the boy's
death-cry.
His face was a tableau of mythic rage, as he plummeted
toward the boy's fleeing killer, ..even under the
visor he wore. In mid-flight and with one, brawny arm, Stratos
drew the orc guard to his chest, broke the devil's
neck and cast him into the sea.
Only last night, encamped on a nearby island, Stratos's men were merrily celebrating news of the child in
their queen's belly. Now, as the big, gray-skinned men bowed their proud,
helmeted heads in sorrow, Adam knelt next to their grieving commander, as Stratos prayed over their fallen comrade. "I tried to
save him, General Stratos."
"Take this feather from brave Delocles's
harness, Lord Adam," Stratos muttered, cradling
the dead youth in one of his arms, as he closed Adam's fist around a silvery
feather. "Shed no tears at his passing, for he'd sworn to give his life in
defense of Eternia's skies and land, when he
was little more than your age. Now, go. Honor my son's courage in battle ..with your own."
Adam nodded respectfully, and the crowd of Avionese fighting men parted to admit him entrance into the
shadowy cavern-mouth behind them, where Battle Cat waited beside an iron grate.
"You are my most courageous friend, good Cat."
"I would lend you this armor," the tiger
groaned, lowering his weary head, "even these claws, if the gods permitted
it. In Val-Kun's eyes, you'll be an insect. Nothing. Remember that it is his place to think you
so, ..and when he shows least concern for you, strike
- and strike boldly!"
Young Adam stretched his arms affectionately around the
giant tiger's armored head. "Farewell, Cringer."
"I had thought that none, but good Tamask, know me by that name," the cat snorted,
with mild surprise. "May the Star of Lions guide and inspire you, Lord Adam, ..until we meet again."
The journey into the bowels of
A red glow painted the ceiling of the cavern, which
expanded upwards into a great cone the full height of which even Adam's
jungle-trained eyes could not fathom. In his mind's eye, he'd imagined Tamask's daughter a comely creature, with the wings and
charms of an angel. More maiden, than maid. His
heart sank, even as he cut through her cage's lock with a swing of his blade. "Gods. You're ..a
child."
"I am not a child!" Lady Glimevere
huffed indignantly, folding her arms across her underdeveloped chest. The
poorly concealed disdain in her savior's voice did not escape her ire.
"And I have not been rotting away in this pit, hoping to be saved by one
as short and foul-smelling as you! Who are you, anyway,
..and where is my father?!"
Adam stopped to look at her, ..this
child. The exotic perfumes of Zilora's embrace - the
warmth of her flesh against his own - bewitched him still. Her soft love-cries
still echoed in his ears. In their wake, the unfinished charms of Tamask's daughter, a coltish thing with lavender hair like her
father's, could not hope to compare. "I am named Adam, for the Vulnarian god of the hunt! I swore on Mighty Tamask's hand that I would bring you home. Now, out of the
cage, Glimmer, ..and quickly, before Val-Kun's underlings come around!"
Foolish Zilora...
A coarse, deep voice thundered from the darkness
surrounding them.
"Did she give you that sword to put in my
belly?" laughed Val-Kun from the shadows. "Cut off my head, perhaps?
Did she think I would, at mere sight of it, give you Tamask
and Queen Angella's precious daughter
..and beg for my life--a life in this stinking, rotting hole?"
In the light of the torches, Mighty Val-Kun took shape,
and the youth's very blood trembled. Sweet, little Glimevere,
clinging to his arm, drew closer to and slightly behind him, such that he felt
her quickening breath upon his back. "You are Val-Kun, son of Koas, ..weaponsmith of the dark gods of
Standing before Adam, Val-Kun was a man of great height
and beauty, ..with a skin like golden metal and
dressed in a silken, white tunic. Beneath his strange skin, an artful array of
muscles rippled and, upon his head, grew a wild crown of black locks draping
over his shoulders and forehead. "I had so hoped your gods would send
Mighty Tamask to destroy me. He is a hero, whose
exploits are the pillars of legend! I had not expected the gods to send one so small and insignificant as you."
"Me either!" little Glimmer grumbled, looking
Adam over disapprovingly.
Under his pale blonde hair, a darkness
pervaded the lad-something that had always perplexed and unnerved the big,
broad fighting men of Vulnar's Valley, all many
centuries older than he. Now, in one arm, Adam held the sword Zilora'd given him menacingly before his narrow chest.
"I won't seem so small with this axe at your throat, evil one. Let
us go ..or suffer the fate of your fellow dark
gods!"
"Before Evil-Lyn chained me to this forge, I was
the strongest and most beautiful of Koas's dark
progeny!" Val-Kun boasted, lowering himself onto a rocky throne. The
immortal groaned, and a large, long-handled smith's hammer of dull, black metal
took shape in his right hand. "I strode across the Shadow Lands, and the
mountains of Etheria rose to court my favor. I am a
god of fire and light, ..and I have not seen a sunrise
in five million years. Now, Evil-Lyn's rival, Heuay,
rules the fire in men's hearts! Once you have slain Heuay,
and the cosmic secrets she protects, hidden within Castle Grayskull, are mine, ..I will rule the world of men,
again!"
Pushing young Lady Glimevere
behind him, Adam looked on in horror as Val-Kun, with one blow, smashed his
large, black hammer against the ground with sufficient force to crack open the
rock beneath their feet. The cavern floor and walls shook, and he felt Glimevere's hand slip from his arm-then, saw her
tumble into a dark crevice in the cavern floor! Kneeling over it, he cried out
to Tamask's daughter. "Glimevere? Glimevere?! Demon, what have you done?!"
"Glimevere lives, boy,..for now!" laughed mad
Val-Kun, hurling his ash-encrusted weapon for Lord Adam's head, as the young Vulnarian tumbled backward, ..barely
escaping death. "But, there's very little air down in those catacombs! No
telling how long she'll last! You will cut out Fierce Heuay's
heart and bring it to me, ..or you will never see Glimevere again!"
"Damn you, devil," the youth snarled, leaping
from the hammer-swing's path and easing into an attack stance. Something of
youth and hope bled away from Adam's young cheeks, when Glimevere's
hand had slipped from his. Though he gave no sound to it, shame sparkled in the
sky blue of his disbelieving eyes, and beyond it, ..wild
rage flashed. "What makes you think I'll raise arms against the goddess of
destiny for you? When I'm done with you, the
Bathed in the crimson glow of his forge, Val-Kun
grunted, and a sound like thunder rumbled from where his hammer struck the
cavern wall. There was a deafening crack ..followed by
another ..and still another, ..until
a cloud of dust and jagged rocks rained onto his teenaged foe's bare back and
head. "The
Young sinews, toned as much by play as warfare, bulged
and sprung, hurling Adam free of the monster's attack! Breathless-his lungs
burning, he struggled to hold onto the silver blade clutched in his fist.
"You're mad, ancient one! I won't betray Fierce Heuay
for you or Evil-Lyn ..or even all the secrets of
damned Grayskull! Even if it would save Glimevere, I won't do it!"
"Do you feel that, little Vulnarian?"
Val-Kun smashed his hammer against the cavern wall again, sending another storm
of rocks upon his crouching enemy's back. "It is death at your
young throat! Death ..in a dark, filthy hole, where no
one will ever know or care how you died! Forgotten by all,
..like me! Forsake my son, your King Tamask!
Drive your god-killing sword into wild Heuay's heart, ..and I will make you a god!"
The blackened weapon cracked against the cavern's side,
again...
But, the angry fire god's tongue had dealt a far
greater blow! In the orange glow of Val-Kun's forge,
a hurricane of jagged missiles filled the air, and Adam tumbled over the rock
beneath onto his back! He lay there, too paralyzed with disbelief to move--the
breath smashed from him by the shock of Val-Kun's
words. "Liar! Lord Tamask's
mother was the most beautiful of the She-Ra, the guardian priestesses of
the Crystal Castle! A great light flashed from the caverns beneath the castle
and lay with her for one moon, and Lord Tamask was born
of that union! You're not his father. You lie!"
A bright, purple blaze engulfed the golden fire god, and
from his outstretched hands, waves of searing blue heat rushed forth like a
tide, warping the cavern walls around them. "I was the power that
erupted from the Crystal Caverns of Garychon to lie
with noble Simeyria! I was the god of Etheria, before the spark that calls itself 'Light Hope'
turned my disciples against me, ..and I will never be
extinguished! It is your king, who lies to you, young Adam! You will
never be Tamask's true son ..or a Vulnarian!
You are nothing!"
Adam's back struck the ground first, as he dived under
the fiery barrage!
For the fire god's small, savage foe, there was nowhere
to run! Diving at his giant enemy's exposed chest, young Adam felt the ground
leave his feet in a swift, cool rush - the ancient heat of the forge in his
hair! Then, just as quickly, he bounded over the giant's shoulder, leaving a
hot gash ripped into Val-Kun's golden face! Then,
back to the ground, ..like a cat, onto his
feet! In battle against men, the youth had enjoyed an advantage. In this, his
first war with a god, his Vulnarian martial
skills were barely keeping him alive, ..even as Val-Kun's words cut far deeper wounds. "I'm Vulnarian enough that I'll never kneel to you, ..and neither will my king! Or my brothers! Let Glimevere go, or by Teelana's
holy rod, I'll see what a god looks like on the inside!"
Val-Kun's golden beauty glowed
molten red! Then, iron gray!
It cracked apart and fell away from his body and to the
ground in large, ashen plates! A terrible being of blazing, crackling heat rose
before him, growing more brilliant with every second, ..until
no more shadows painted the walls of the cavern! "So, you wish to see
behind the masks of the gods, boy?! Then, look upon Val-Kun now, as did your
brothers, long eons ago, ..blazing with the
magnificence of ten-thousand suns! Such is the power of Grayskull, ..and it will be MINE! You will slay the Divine Sorceress,
Heuay, in my name, or I'll send your king's daughter
back to him as ashes scattered on the wind! You will kneel to me, as
will all Eternia, ..or I will burn this mountain,
and Glimevere with it, into the Endless Void! Choose,
boy!"
The golden-haired boy of sixteen summers stepped
forward. In blazing heat no mortal flesh could endure, only his scorched pelt
and boots fell away from him, leaving him naked, but for the gleaming weapon in
his hand ..and the arcane magic inside it. With his
own disbelieving eyes had Adam watched the sleek, silver serpent,
slither out of the young enchantress's throat and onto the ground-then, in a
bright burst of emerald fire, shape itself into the
blade he now held! He knew the silvery weapon was mysteriously, impossibly alive
with power-that in its eerie glow, no deception could stand!
Not even a god's.
Young Adam trembled before the blinding sun that was
Val-Kun's true face and, in one hand, poised
the enchanted weapon to strike. The muscles in that arm quivered. He choked
down his shameful tears ..and the certainty of his own
death. "God of lies! I'm a Vulnarian!
Burn this mound into the
And Adam hurled the sword, agleam with the power of the
stars, into Val-Kun's heart!
A flash of fiery energy erupted from the brilliance,
ripping open a jagged hole in Esivisu's side, and all
that remained of the titan, a giant ball of white flame, plummeted into the
Purple light exploded from the shadowy crevice in the
ground, where Princess Glimevere had disappeared, and
she climbed unsteadily to her feet. Around her, the air crackled with violet
sparks of electricity, until a dull purple glow enveloped her from head to
foot--then, mysteriously faded. In a cloud of pitch dust, she struggled to
stand. "Are we still alive? Val-Kun--is he ...?"
When Zilora had told Adam that
Heauy the Green had murdered her pregnant mother
before her eyes, Adam had not believed her. Though wrathful Heuay
was, the story of the Sorceress's part in Zilora's weird origin too horrible and incredible to
believe. Zilora had told him of how her mother, a
virgin of ancient Etheria, had been seduced by
Val-Kun and made pregnant with a burning stone. Then, driven out by the Elders
of Etheria, she had wandered the world, until falling
into the raging
But Adam had just slain a god.
"Val-Kun is gone," groaned the wild-eyed boy,
stretching out his arm to the fiery nest of rocks below, attempting to will the
mysterious blade Zilora had given him back into his
hand. Adam drew her close, and the tears he'd held back in battle washed down
his cheeks into her lavender hair. He would not tell poor Glimevere
that she was the granddaughter of the demon he'd just destroyed. He could not
gather the breath in his burning lungs to tell her, and so, he held her.
"The god-slaying blade Zilora called Excalibur
is gone, ..and the feather Lord Stratos
gave me from brave Delocles's harness--it, too, is
lost!"
In the cavern, their faces lit by a few dying embers and
shaken by the horrific blast, young Lord Adam and his King Tamask's
daughter huddled together, navigating an uncertain path out of Val-Kun's lair. When Glimevere looked
upon her young champion, she found nothing covering him, but the ash and filth
of the ruined forge ..and said nothing of her grief. "Your pelt, cousin?"
"Lost in the fight," Adam mumbled, turning
from her. Naked and painted in black ash, Adam pressed his forearms against a
wall, buried his face between them ..and wept. Amongst
the Brotherhood of Vulnar, Ishteuray's
temple is the only place a warrior might shed tears and retain his honor, but
Adam no longer cared to hide his grief. His narrow shoulders, covered in soot
and aching for the firm reassurance of King Tamask's
hands, shook, as he sobbed. "When I thought you were dead,
I--nothing mattered anymore. Nothing. Val-Kun is your
...he's dead ...just want to go home."
"I'm told that, when I was born, I was betrothed ..to a prince," Glimevere
recalled, tearing off a broad strip of pale, blue fabric from her gown with the
sharp edge of a jagged rock. "His name was Grislor, , ..but, he was lost in a
war. Not dead. Just ..lost. My mother tells me that I
must be betrothed to another, ..but I have refused
this. You see, I think he is somewhere out there, ..in
the forests or the mountains, ..enduring. For me. So, I must endure for him, ..don't
you think, cousin?"
Lady Glimevere's words - the
blind courage of them - haunted Adam, as he felt her behind him, tying a
portion of her gown about his narrow waist. He brushed the golden mane from his
eyes and looked off into the light of the cavern's mouth. "We must
endure, Lady Glimevere. I think it's all the gods ask
of us. That we endure."
(Based on "He-Man And The Power Sword" by Donald F. Glut)