Night Of The Sorceress
Second of three stories in The Bitter Rose Trilogy, by Medusa Moon
"Hurry!"
the man cried from the belly of
The darkness
echoed with the desperate screams of the wretched Vaths.
Nearly three thousand strong, the black-robed warriors hurried the women,
children and frail elders out of their nomadic out of the violently shaking
caverns. Fissures opened in the ancient rock beneath them, swallowing men and
orphaning children, as the last of their tribe crawled onto a large and jagged
rock
"We're
all clear, sir," one of the Vath headmen called
to him, "Now, get out from there! Even you can't hold that up for
ever."
But he
could, truthfully.
The long
dead Ancients of a mysterious fortress deep in the Evergreen Forests endowed
this golden giant with strength enough to shake the planet, should it be
required of him, and the wisdom to know when such a thing was needed. Yes, He-Man
could hold the great rock on his shoulders, many hundred times his weight and
size, for quite a while.
The
ancient network of caverns crumbling apart around and under him was beyond his
power, however. Though the Vaths shuffled over the
rock bridging one cluster of caverns to the other, not one of them, healer,
soldier or witch, knew for certain that what tunnels lay ahead were steadier
than those they had just escaped. Amidst the man-sized, falling rocks and
shrieks of terror, their saviors, a warrior-woman from royal Eternos and her legendary golden companion, put their
desperately hatched escape plan into motion.
"Now, Teela!" He-Man called to the flame-haired woman circling over the Vaths on her jet-sled. "Weld this fragment I'm holding
to the cavern wall!"
Fragment,
he called it?
Captain
Teela had seen castles as big. Uncertainly, her hand went to her laser rifle,
as the rag-clad Vaths scurried across the massive
rock on He-Man's back. "If something goes wrong, you'll be crushed! Are
you sure?"
"No!"
he growled back, annoyed. He was not a man, who was used to having his orders
second-guessed. "But it's the only chance we have at staving off a
collapse and getting out of here alive! To hell with me, woman! Do it!"
The
mechanical shriek of Captain Teela's weapon was
followed by a flash of sky-colored light, its glow bathing the wretched Vaths in ghostly blue. A bright cord of energy struck the
edge of the rock-its heat turning the metals within to molten sludge. Captain
Teela fired again, and another cord melted the edge of the cavern wall.
In a
rippling mound of glowing, liquid metal, the great rock on He-Man's shoulders
and the cavern wall were wed. Repeating the effort for the other end of the
rock, Captain Teela sped to the side of Eternia's
champion. "The Vaths are moving outside, and the
welding's done! Let's go!"
The Royal
Guardsmen hurried the Vaths outside and into the
snow. Carrying Eternia's barbarian champion with her,
their beautiful captain followed,..just
as
In less
than a month, natural disasters of every kind had laid waste to Eternia.
Tornadoes
ravaged the Fertile Plains, as well as the
Seers from
every corner of Eternia were called to Eternos, and each told Randor the
same thing. All mystical signs pointed to Castle Grayskull.
"It's
Lady Grayskull," the eldest of the black-robed Vath
headmen told He-Man, walking alongside Battle Cat on foot. "She gone mad,
priests say. Gonna' kill us all 'fore she's
through!"
"Not
if we kills 'er first!" a fellow headman
growled, through gritted, yellow teeth, before turning to He-Man. "You
show us where the witch sleeps, friend He-Man, and we'll take care of 'er ourselves,..before
Grayskull sends us another earthquake!"
It had
never sat well with He-Man how quick people were to condemn Grayskull and its
guardians, whenever any misfortunes befell Eternia,
but he heard it too often to be much offended by it. He ignored it. "I
haven't seen or spoken with the Sorceress in many weeks,..but, His Majesty, King Randor,
has these matters well in hand."
"Move
along now, sir," a young guardsman interrupted, with a hand on the Vath's shoulder. He was tall, but barely old enough to
shave, and the grumbling warriors followed him back into the thick of the large
caravan moving down the road. "Move along, all of you."
"Guess
you can't blame them for turning on us," Teela sobbed, astride her
jet-sled. Flying low, she led her warriors along a worn, but rocky, mountain
trail to lower land. A single wisp of red hair hung before her proud face,..behind which pale, emerald
eyes secretly wept. "Where in hell are these poor souls supposed to live now?"
"Dagarmel is nearby," answered He-Man, astride his
heavily armored, green and gold giant tiger. "There's enough fertile land
there to sustain them for awhile. Until we can find out why Grayskull is
causing these disasters and how to stop them, none of us are truly safe."
The
helpless state she often found herself in, when confronted with things of a
mystical nature, frustrated Captain Teela, at least as much as they confounded
her. While she respected magic and those, who practiced it, she did not regard
them as apart from humankind and charged them with the responsibility of using
their arcane knowledge to benefit the world. That the Sorceress, not heard from
by any for many weeks, continued to allow Eternia to
be ravaged by deadly catastrophes enraged her. "And where is the
Sorceress?! She expect us to sit and wait for the next
tornado or earthquake to finish us off? Doesn't she know what King Randor and my father are planning?"
The large
man on his cat lowered his head slightly, enough that his golden hair concealed
the shame on his face. "They're well beyond planning, now. Randor has made his decision. It's only a matter of time,
before we are called back to the Plains to witness it."
In
He-Man's heart, he felt he had failed them all-his friend, the Sorceress
Teelana, who would no longer admit him to Castle Grayskull..and who Teela did not
know was her own mother, as well as the people of Eternia,
who desperately relied on the Sorceress's comfort and counsel.
More than
any, he felt he had failed the brave captain and lover, who was
rarely far from his side. The trouble at Grayskull was beginning to take its
toll on him, and in ways that he could not share with any. Especially,
Teela.
"It's
your father." He-Man looked away, but not quickly enough to hide the look
of shock on his face. "He's flying back to Eternos..with Tri-Klops and the
other knights of Skeletor's court. Skeletor himself will join them later. The weapon's finished."
"Oh,..no," Captain Teela groaned, looking up from the wound she was binding. "Our orders?"
"You're
to return to Eternos with the Royal Guard,"
He-Man answered grimly. "I've been assigned a more treacherous
mission."
Teela
Agrippa had loved this beautiful, golden man and knew, better than any, his
moods and expressions. "It's Evil-Lyn,..isn't
it?"
"She
and Skeletor will be traveling separately, as
always," He-Man replied. "Among his weapons, she..or it is his most valuable. Should Skeletor betray the accord, as surely he will, I am to keep
Skeletor and Evil-Lyn separated, until the dark one's
threat is ended."
"Insurance?" Captain Teela asked, half-surprised. "Doesn't Randor
know that, if Skeletor finds a way to seize Grayskull's power, when the castle walls fall, he won't
need Evil-Lyn anymore? Ancients! We don't even know what Evil-Lyn truly
is-she'll be as much a threat to Eternia as her
master is."
He-Man had
no answer for the lovely, red-haired Captain of the Guard..and stared out over the
From the
briny
The accord
between Lord Skeletor and King Randor
was strained at best, but the threat of Castle Grayskull’s
recent malevolence had forced the monarchs to combine their resources of
manpower and technology to insure their collective survival. While Skeletor, fearing capture or other treachery at Randor’s hands, was camped in the Opal Hills outside the
royal city, he sent his most fearsome knights – Beast Man, Tri-Klops, Trap Jaw and Mer-Man –
into Eternos to finalize the terms of their shaky
alliance.
"And
this is the weapon that will destroy Grayskull?"
"It
will," Tri-Klops answered King Randor, directing the monarch’s attention to the large,
silvery cannon protruding from a rocky, mountain peak. "It is a very
powerful cosmic energy converter. Man-At-Arms and I have worked for many weeks
to locate Grayskull's most vulnerable points -- areas
that have received more bombardment than the rest."
"Areas
Skeletor has attacked the most," the king's
Man-At-Arms interrupted with a resentful snarl, "in his life-long campaign
to invade Grayskull."
"Once
the cannon has locked onto these coordinates,"
Beast Man grinned, "Grayskull should crack like a giant egg! Ahahahahahaaa!"
"An
oyster shell!" the reptilian-scaled Mer-Man
chimed in through thick, rubbery lips.
"You
A look
from King Randor silenced him.
His hatred
for the warriors of
"Where
is your master, this..Lord Skeletor?" Randor inquired,
as if barely interested. Deliberately, he did not direct the query at any of Skeletor's knights in particular and, in fact, knew exactly
where Skeletor was-that the demon looked on from a
nearby hillside. It was a ploy to give the evil warriors in the demon's service
the impression that they were no threat to his kingdom or himself-a false
impression.
"His
Darkness watches from the mountains," Tri-Klops
answered suspiciously. "He will enter Eternos,
when our work here is done."
The king
and Sir Duncan exchanged a suspicious glance.
"And
what work is that, Tri-Klops?" The old king
turned to the three-eyed monster-the facade of his disinterest, gone.
The grotesque,
blue eye at the center of his helmet darkened, and Tri-Klops
grinned. "You will know soon enough, human. Now, where is He-Man?"
It was
once said that Prince Lyneus of Endromeda
was the most beautiful mortal in the world. At birth, he was betrothed to wed
Princess Adora of Eternos,
a union that would have brought illimitable power to an already well respected
and noble house,..but Endromeda's patron goddess, Evi,
grew jealous. She demanded the youth be taken to her temple and sacrificed.
When Lyneus's mother refused, Evi
took what she wanted.
Her
conquest of the beautiful prince was horrific.
The angry
goddess possessed his body-her magic reshaping it beyond recognition. When Evi's vengeance was complete, the proud queen hung herself,
and Prince Lyneus, after a long and painful recovery,
walked Eternia again.
As a woman. The beautiful and bloodthirsty sorceress, Evil-Lyn.
At her
Lord Skeletor's request, the demon-witch accompanied
a legion of his fiercest warriors into the
"How
did you find me?" the pale and alluring witch inquired, with a smile.
"Was it my perfume, He-Man?"
"I
hunt with the senses of the beasts," the barbarian warrior replied,
relaxing on an ornate, wooden stool. "The Ancients of Grayskull are generous..to those who serve the
light."
"Really?"
the black and purple clad sorceress leered, sarcastically. With a cautious
glance in Stinkor and Two-Bad's
direction, she signaled them to leave..and
led He-Man to her bed. "I was under the impression the Ancients had all
gone mad. Is that not why we are here,..awaiting
cursed Grayskull's destruction?"
Inflamed
by Evil-Lyn's magic, He-Man drew her into his arms and kissed her, and, with a
feral growl, the demon-witch lured him deeper into the mound of pillows beneath
them. Then, looking up from where a shadow fell upon them, He-Man gasped at who
looked on from the tent's opening. "Teela? Teela!"
Captain
Teela ran out out of the camp. She was mere seconds
from her jet-sled, when she heard He-Man calling out to her.
"Look
at me, Teela!" He-Man roared, pursuing her past Evil-Lyn's guards and out
into the snow. More begging, than demanding, he ensnared her in his arms and
held her too firmly to permit her escape. "You know I'd never betray you
with her--with-with that! The chaos at Grayskull has afflicted me somehow! I've
got to get inside Castle Grayskull, Teela. It's the only way to save us
all."
"Take
my jet-sled, He-Man," Teela said, as He-Man climbed onto her flying
machine. "I'll convince my father and King Randor
to delay the attack on Grayskull. Hurry!"
With one,
thickly muscled arm, He-Man drew Captain Teela to him and kissed her. "I
love you Teela."
The breath
crushed from her, Teela Agrippa could barely stand, when the jet-sled's engines
roared and, in a burst of blue light, He-Man sped into the clouds toward Castle
Grayskull.
On a
Battle-ram, He-man raced over Castle Grayskull's
ancient jaw-bridge and into the fortress's upper corridors.
On his
harness, Sir Duncan had secured a small, palm-sized detonator. Though he was
the most powerful man in the universe, the tiny, silver device seemed the
heaviest thing he had ever carried. He did not allow himself to dwell too much
on its purpose. He would not hold out for false hope that his plan might
succeed, and should they fail, he knew what would have to be done.
In her bedchamber, upon a throne at the back of the room,
sat Teelana, the Sorceress of Grayskull.
"You know what's happening, don't you, He-Man?"
"I
think I do,..yes,"
He-Man answered. "I came to help..in
any way I can."
"Has
anyone been killed?" Teelana inquired dreadfully. Shamefully.
"Oh, gods! I-if I've killed anyone--if anyone has
died because of my-my.."
"No one
has died, today," answered
He-Man, "but we have to end this, before any more life is lost. There's
still time. Let me help."
"I
caused this chaos," Teelana replied, burying her face in her hands.
"A careful balance between human and divine influence is all that keeps
Grayskull bound to Eternia's protection. It is a
balance that I alone must maintain -- a balance shattered, when I helped the
nature god, Hyacles, expell
Fero and the other war gods from Eternia,
imprisoning them in the Underworld forever! To purge myself of the rage that
battle awakened in me, I sought to subdue my human frailties with an ancient spell,..but something went wrong.
The painful loneliness of life in this tomb now drives me slowly mad!"
"You
shattered that balance to save me," He-Man stopped her. "You are human,
Sorceress. Mortal. The Ancients have gifted you with
great knowledge and power, but you have needs like anyone else's. Have you
forgotten what kind of rituals were practiced here
before Grayskull was built?"
"The
fertility cult of the wild goddess, Ani-Ma,"
answered the Sorceress, as if from a haze. "Her devotees honored her with
wild rites they believed kept their people strong. I know what you're thinking,
He-Man. That I'm..possessed
by some magic conjured here, millennia ago,..but I am not. That I am not to blame for the horror
ravaging this world,..but I
am! I am!"
"The
orgies of Ani-Ma allowed humankind to embrace the
divine forces of creation," He-Man replied, kneeling before the Sorceress.
"You are somewhere in between man and god, but the war against darkness
forces you to deny your humanity,..something
you can no longer afford to do. Embrace your humanity now,..or Eternia will be
destroyed."
"I am
not a fool, He-Man," the Sorceress wept, "I know that you would never
allow that. Your power must ever serve Eternia..and the Ancients, who protect her. If I must
embrace my mortality one final time to save mankind, so be it. Rise, champion..and drive the Sword of
Power through my heart."
"I'm
not going to kill you!" He-Man protested. "There is a spell you
placed in my keeping that would make you sleep for fifty moons,..but I will not use it! Not when a more
peaceful solution is within our reach."
The Sorceress hung her head and wept. "Yes. I must end
this myself,..for you. For Teela. For all of Eternia.
Leave me, Adam."
He-Man gripped the Sorceress's knees in his hands. His blue eyes wide like an angry child's. "No. There's
more to being mortal, than mortality! There's life, Teelana! Joy! Let me show
you joy, as men know it!"
Silently. Intently, he
kissed her-his wild, golden hair dancing over her face.
Outside Grayskull's walls and all
over Eternia, dark clouds parted, and the golden Sun
was seen for the first time in many days,..before
quietly disappearing behind the
"Teela will know what we've
done."
"Yes," Teelana answered, as He-Man pulled her
closer to him. "That of my power, which lies dormant in her, will show her
the truth,..and she will
understand. She is strong, He-Man,..and
she loves you very much."
He-Man brushed the hair, as fiery red as Teela's, from the Sorceress's face. "I won't leave
your side, until I know you are safe, Teelana,..even
from yourself."
The Sorceress smiled, combing her fingers through He-Man's
golden hair. "Thank you, He-Man. What you risked to give me back my
humanity is more precious than any power in my keeping. Now, go, my friend,..and good journey. There
is still great evil beyond these walls that you must fight. Go now."
The balance of humanity and divinity restored to Grayskull,
He-Man kissed her. Softly at first, then fiercely.
A reminder of the passion they'd shared.
A promise that it would be Teelana's, whenever she needed it.
High atop Grayskull's blue-green
ramparts, He-Man activated the remote detonator his friend Man-At-Arms had
given him. Far across the plains, a violent flash of white filled the evening
sky, and the cosmic energy weapon that might have destroyed Grayskull was no
more. Though the day's labors weighed heavily on him, and he almost dreaded
changing back into Prince Adam, his heart sang with promise of holding the
beautiful Teela Agrippa in his arms once more. The scent of her skin teased his
nostrils – the fiery luster of her red hair flickered in his soul, and he
cried.
Alone on Captain Teela’s jet-sled, Grayskull’s champion streaked into the skies over the vast