Randor hurried down the hallway toward the throne room, passing Teela and She-Ra as he ran. “Anything wrong, your highness?” Teela asked.
Randor kept moving, tossing his head back as he answered. “No, captain, just getting from one meeting to another. Carry on.” He rounded the corner and was gone.
“I suppose cleaning up the mess Hiss made is keeping the King pretty busy right now,” She-Ra said, silently marveling at the speed her father could muster.
“A lot of work to be done, that’s for sure. But between the King, Queen and my father, the repairs and relief efforts are going pretty well.” Teela flipped through the papers in her hand, sorting out where she herself needed to be over the next few days.
“The rebellion and the free kingdoms are doing what they can on Etheria,” She-Ra said, “but I wish I was there to help.”
Teela looked up. “The Sorceress still can’t get a stable dimensional gate up?”
She-Ra shook her head. “She and He-Ro have been trying, but they insist it’s still too dangerous to go through.”
“Well, it’s probably not worth the risk. A couple hours or days shouldn’t make that much difference, should they?” Teela asked.
“Hopefully not,” She-Ra replied. “He-Ro was able to contact Queen Angella at Castle Brightmoon and get an update on how things are going; the Horde is in as bad a shape as everyone else, fortunately. I still hope I can get back there soon, though.”
“Andrea’s feeling the same way; she’s worried about Earth.” Teela said.
She-Ra nodded. “Must be harder on that world than on ours; at least our people know what caused this whole thing.”
“She’s not sure what she’s going to do when she goes back; she said if she told everyone what really was going on, she’d get tossed in a “padded cell.” Whatever that is.” Teela flipped through the last pages in her hands, and picked up her pace. “The transport for the outer provinces should be just about ready. Thanks for volunteering for this.”
She-Ra smiled. “Glad to help. If I can’t get back to Etheria, the least I can do is pitch in here.”
“You may regret it,” Teela cautioned. “The outer regions took a lot of damage from the initial reports we’ve gotten. We may have our hands full when we get there.”
“I doubt it’s much worse than cleaning up after the Horde,” She-Ra noted as the two women headed for the hangars.
“Everything’s loaded,” Fisto said as he closed the ground transport’s cargo bay. “Should be enough supplies to hold the people over until we can get the other vehicles repaired and start some regular deliveries.”
Mekaneck checked off the items on his list. Beside him, Extendar finished packing the personal gear the heroes would be carrying in the cockpit. “Air travel’s still a bit glitchy,” the extendable cyborg said. “Mostly minor stuff, mechanically speaking, but some of the wind patterns are still a little eratic. Should be navigable by tomorrow, according to Duncan.”
“I hope so. There was a lot of damage out there,” Fisto said, his voice trailing off.
“Would have been a lot worse if you and He-Ro hadn’t bamboozled Skeletor,” Mekaneck offered.
Fisto met his friend’s gaze, but said nothing for a moment. “Guess we better get prepped. Teela and She-Ra should be here soon.” He turned and headed for the front of the vehicle.
“Still some misplaced guilt?” Extendar asked quietly.
“Would have thought being instrumental in saving three worlds would have helped, wouldn’t you?” Mekaneck noted.
“Seeing all the damage the breakdown caused isn’t helping,” Extendar said. “Heading out to some of the worst areas may not be the best thing for him.”
Mekaneck shook his head. “Call it therapy; helping with the relief efforts seems to be the way he’s dealing with it. And we sure can’t afford to turn down his kind of help.”
“Big muscles come in handy.”
Mekaneck laughed softly. “Big muscles and a bigger heart.”
“You guys finished back here?” Mekaneck looked up just in time to see Kittrina leap off the top of the transport onto the steel beams overhead. “Fisto’s already up front, and I can smell Teela and She-Ra coming,” she said.
“Patience isn’t a word you’re very fond of, is it?” Mekaneck asked, trying to keep a serious expression on his face, but not succeeding.
“Patience holds things up too much,” the she-cat shot back. “So are we going or what?”
“We’re going, we’re going,” Mekaneck threw up his arms, but he couldn’t hide his grin.
“How long has he been standing there?” Webstor asked, looking warily at Skeletor.
“Almost forty minutes now,” Evil Lynn replied. The Lord of Destruction had been staring up at his stronghold since he had come outside, his arms crossed over his chest. He hadn’t said a word, nor had he moved; he simply stood, his eyes never leaving the remains of the snake’s head that once topped the mountain. His bony features twitched slightly from time to time, but for the most part his face was completely unreadable.
“Is he going to do that all day?” the spidery henchman wondered.
Evil Lynn shot him a look. “Do you want to go and ask him?”
Webstor shook his head briskly and headed back inside the mountain. An hour before, Skeletor had been a ranting taskmaster, blaming Hiss, He-Man, Fisto, He-Ro, and everyone else he could think of for costing him his chance at ultimate power as he pushed his lackeys relentlessly in the clean-up efforts. Snake Mountain had taken considerable damage below its apex, but the snake’s head was, for all intents and purposes, gone, with only a small portion of the lower jaw left.
“He-Man and Hiss will pay for the destruction they caused here,” Evil Lynn offered hesitantly as she came up beside her master.
Skeletor didn’t turn his eyes from the mountain. “I could care less about this miserable pile of stone, Evil Lynn.”
She arched an eyebrow. “But the way you’ve been staring at the place…”
He cut her off sharply. “I can still feel it. Still see traces of it.”
“Traces of what?” she asked.
“The power, fool!” He turned suddenly, startling her, his hollow eyes blazing brightly. “The power I almost had! The echoes are still up there, taunting me, mocking me!” He turned back to his vigil, ignoring her again. She thought it best to let him brood alone, so she turned to leave. She was almost to the entrance when he spoke again. “I have a question for you, Evil Lynn.”
She stopped, and suppressed a small shudder. There was something in his tone she didn’t like. “Yes, Skeletor?”
“Snake Face and Pythona evidently found their way inside before through one of the entrances I thought were a secret even from Hiss. But Hiss was out here, battling both you and the heroes. He must have gotten past you, eh, witch?”
Evil Lynn tried desperately to keep her voice steady. “Yes, he did.” She wasn’t sure what to add, so she left her answer at that.
“And when we found you in the catacombs, you’d been frozen by Snake Face. I assume you were pursuing Hiss at the time?”
“Yes, Skeletor. I saw him enter, and went after him as soon as I could. His lackeys surprised me.” She was sure her voice had cracked slightly, and hoped Skeletor hadn’t noticed.
“As I thought,” he said, his tone flat. Deliberately so, Evil Lynn thought, making it impossible to tell if he believed her or not. He said no more, so she turned and walked briskly into the mountain, releasing the breath she’d been holding once out of Skeletor’s earshot. Her short lived alliance with the snake king was a mistake she would long regret, especially if the dark lord were to find out. Whatever justifications she had considered at the time would hardly protect her from Skeletor’s fury after the way things had turned out. She was sure he suspected something, but so long as he didn’t press the matter, she felt she was safe. Or rather, she hoped she was safe.
Skeletor watched her from the corner of his eye as she hurried into the great fortress. He’d caught every nuance of her responses, and knew his initial instincts were right. Beast Man and Spikor had been noticeably evasive when he had questioned them about Hiss’ entry into Snake Mountain, especially when he brought up Evil Lynn. They were far too intimidated by the witch to easily betray her; had he pushed the issue, he was certain he could have extracted the truth from them eventually, but felt no need to do so. Whatever her machinations might have been, they mattered little; Hiss would doubtless have found his way in with or without her assistance. Still, if she had helped Hiss, it would have been her boldest defiance of the dark lord’s authority to date, a sign he might have to deal with her sooner than he had thought.
But that was a concern for later; now, he was hard pressed to focus on anything but the godhood he had lost…
“Hey, furbag, help me with this!” Two Bad shouted, trying to heft a large section of the fallen ceiling inside the throne room.
“Hold on, you two headed twit!” the fuzzy henchman replied. He finished clearing the debris around Skeletor’s damaged throne. He scurried over and looked at the huge slab. “You’re grabbing it from the wrong end, you dolt!” Beast Man went to the other end of the large chunk of stone, and propped his arm behind it, pushing it forward. “Steady it so it doesn’t fall over!” he said. Two Bad complied, and together they slowly moved the debris over against a nearby pile of rubble.
“Not bad, fuzzball,” the right head of Two Bad said.
“You didn’t have any leverage, you idiot,” BeastMan replied with a grunt of disgust.
Both of Two Bad’s heads cocked to opposite sides in surprise; the villain didn’t think Beast Man even knew the word “leverage,” much less had the brains to use it correctly.
Beast Man caught the odd look, and allowed himself a small smile. Duncan had made a sarcastic crack about the villain showing a few brains after so many years, but things had been far too chaotic to pay the idea much heed. But as things returned to normal, Beast Man had noticed something: his head was clearer. The primal instincts he relied on so heavily were sharper, and the seemingly perpetual fog he had lived in for so long had lifted. He had never been much of a thinker, but doing so required much less effort these past few days. And he was beginning to think he wasn’t the only one of Skeletor’s henchmen experiencing this; Spikor and Two Bad were as brainless as ever, but he’d noticed some changes in Triklops. There was nothing obvious; he hadn’t started spouting ancient wisdom or scientific formulas, but there was something different, the same kind of awareness the furry villain himself was feeling, that seemed now to have been missing in all of them for so long. Beast Man had no idea what was happening, but he had concluded it had to have something to do with the breakdown (the very fact he was able to make a conclusion of that sort proved something had been fundamentally altered here). Whatever the reason, he found the clarity in his head both refreshing - and inspiring. Evil Lynn and Ninjor had long had their own agendas apart from Skeletor’s wishes; though he had no desire to betray his master, Beast Man was pondering new possibilities for himself.
He chuckled lightly to himself. Beast Man, pondering. Who would have thought?
“You know, one thing has been bothering me a little,” Teela said.
“And what might that be?” She-Ra asked as the two women entered the hangar.
“We figured out why we didn’t see any Snake Men on Earth or Etheria, but while Skeletor’s goons showed up on Earth, you didn’t see any of his people on your world. I’m just wondering why.” Teela rubbed her chin in a near perfect imitation of her father.
She-Ra nodded. “I wondered about that myself, but I wasn’t complaining. We had enough to deal with without any of Skeletor’s lackeys joining in.”
“Good point,” Teela said.
“Still,” She-Ra continued, “you do have to wonder if old bone head just couldn’t send anyone, or if something went wrong with a dimensional gate.”
“Skeletor was pretty lucky with the gates he opened to Earth; maybe he ran out of luck with Etheria.”
“How long have we been here?” Strongarm asked, staring out over the water.
“Too long,” Icer hissed, trying desperately to stay in the small patch of shade cast by the trees behind him. The tropical island was small, and the foliage was sparse. The heat wasn’t extreme, thanks mostly to the thick cloud cover that was only now starting to break, but far more than Icer was used to. He’d lost track of time since Skeletor’s portal had dropped them here, far, he assumed, from their intended target of the Whispering Woods. They had waited for another gate to open, but after a few hours had to assume Skeletor either couldn’t bring them back, or, more likely, wasn’t bothering to.
“Hey, wait a minute! I see a boat!” Strongarm pointed excitedly at the sky.
Icer glared at him. “Um, a boat would be in the water. You’re pointing up.”
“Look, you over grown ice cube, I know where I’m pointing, and there is a big ship up there.” He pointed more emphatically.
Icer squinted, and his jaw dropped as he, too, spotted a great sailing ship flying through the clouds. “What kind of crazy world did Skeletor send us to?”
Strongarm ran to the edge of the water, waving his mechanical right arm. “Hey, down here!” he bellowed. The ship kept sailing along for a moment, then slowed and turned toward the island. “I think they spotted us!” he said, jumping up and down.
“I hope that’s a good thing,” Icer offered as he studied the approaching craft. “Is it just me, or does that look like some kind of pirate ship?”
“So what if it is? That means they’re our kind of people.”
Icer gave him a look. “That’s not very reassuring,” he snarled.
“If they give us trouble, we take over their ship. Stop worrying. You’re the one who’s griping about the heat. Trust me.” Strongarm watched as a small floating dinghy was lowered from the boat and headed down. It landed without a sound a few hundred yards away on the beach. Five men disembarked, one a tall, muscular fellow with red hair and a confident swagger, obviously the leader. He was followed by a short, rotund man in a bandana; the three others stayed in the dinghy. Their manner of dress confirmed Icer’s speculation: they were, indeed, pirates. Strongarm approached the two men as Icer followed at a distance.
“Greetings, my friends,” Strongarm said, holding his arms out wide. “We’ve been stranded on this island for quite some time now, and would be most grateful for your help. Our master would reward you handsomely for our safe return.” Icer rolled his eyes, wondering what tired cliché would roll out his companion’s mouth next. He had no idea the tin plated idiot would pour it on this thick.
The red haired man stroked his short beard as he looked the two strangers over. “A handsome reward, eh? Sounds tempting. Just who is this “master” of yours?”
Strongarm stopped, and swept his arm around. “A most powerful wizard from another world. You may have heard his name,” He paused for effect. “Skeletor.”
The tall pirate turned to his stout companion with an eyebrow raised. “Oh, we’ve heard of Skeletor, alright.”
“Aye, captain, that we have,” the shorter replied.
“Good, good,” Strongarm said. “Then you will take us with you?”
“Oh, yes, we most certainly will,” the red haired pirate said, a wicked smile on his face. “Allow me to introduce myself: they call me the Sea Hawk, and you can both consider yourselves prisoners of the Great Rebellion.” He pulled what seemed to be the handle of a sword from his belt and flipped a small switch. A blade of glowing energy appeared. “If you’ll follow us?” He turned to his companion. “Swen, show our guests to our finest brig when we get aboard, will you?”
Swen couldn’t help but grin at Sea Hawk. “Aye, aye, Captain.” He started to turn, then stopped, glancing back at his leader. “Would that be the one with or without the rats, Captain?” His grin widened.
Icer came up to Strongarm, his eyes shooting daggers at his fellow henchman. “I hate you,” he said flatly.
"Rammy, we need to clear some of this out," Ror said, stepping back to take another look at the main generator. The great Eternian dam had taken considerable damage, and this section had been hit especially hard.
"Okay, stand back!" Ram Man warned, crouching down and aiming himself at the rubble piled around the machinery.
Ror waved his arms frantically. "No! Rammy, not that way!"
Ram Man looked up, no easy task with his cumbersome helmet. "Oh, okay. You mean the hard way." He ambled over and began shoving large chunks of concrete aside with surprising ease. He glanced up at the large hole in the cieling. "We didn't make that one, right?"
Ror chuckled. "Nope, for once a roof came down without our help." He joined in and began hefting the debris to one side.
One of the technicians came over to the pair. “Clamp Champ, right?” she asked, locking eyes with Ror.
Ror forced a smile at the name he was seemingly stuck with forever. “Yes. What can I do for you?”
The woman returned his smile. “You’re doing a lot for us right now. A couple of our people tried to clear out some of this, and nearly gave themselves hernias. But I was wondering when Man-at-Arms might be coming out here to oversee the repairs on the generator and such. He was the guy who designed all of this, and we could really use his help.”
“It may be a few days, I’m afraid,” Ror said apologetically. “Duncan’s swamped right now. I know the dam is a priority, but it’s a couple of rungs down on the list right now, with some of the other problems he’s dealing with.”
She looked disappointed, but remained cordial. “I understand. I know he and everyone else has a lot to deal with right now. At least I know we’re on the list.”
“Maybe Clamp and I can take a look at the stuff when we get done here,” Ram Man offered.
Ror grimaced. “Actually, Rammy, I think that’s the last thing they need. Electrical technicians we’re not.”
“Kickin’ it a couple of times won’t help, huh?” Ram Man asked, pointing to the generator..
Ror arched his eyebrow, not sure whether his friend was joking or not. “Don’t think so.”
“Thanks anyway. We’ll keep plugging away at the systems we can deal with, and wait for Man-At-Arms to tackle the big things.” She smiled again, and headed back toward a row of control panels against the far wall.
“Man-at-Arms is really busy these days, huh?” Rammy said, obviously trying to keep the conversation going.
Ram Man been more talkative than usual lately, and seemed to be spending less time by himself. Ror couldn’t help but wonder if the events of the past few days were responsible, as he himself was feeling the need to be with his fellow warriors a bit more now. Never appreciate what you have more than when you almost lose it, he thought. “Hard not to be when you’re the point man for putting a whole world back together.” Ror slid a large chunk of ceiling insulation aside, and a thoughtful look crossed his face. “Can’t think of anyone else I’d want to see in the job.”
“Yeah, me neither.” Rammy moved the last large chunk of debris off the generator, and stared at the machine, rubbing his chin. “You sure kickin’ it won’t help?” he said with a smile.
Greystar looked out the prince’s window into the courtyard. Frosta was talking to one of the guards as he trotted off toward a large transport being loaded with provisions and medical supplies. She seemed agitated as she waved her arms back toward the palace.
“Wonder what the problem is?” he muttered.
“Problem?” Duncan asked as he entered the room with Adam. They had stepped out moments before; Man-at-Arms had received a message from the aforementioned transport about some engine problems, and rather than burden his already taxed repair crews with another job, he went to check it himself with the prince in tow.
“Frosta. She seems a bit stressed about something,” Greystar said. He looked back at the pair and noticed Duncan was soaking wet. “Um, not that I’m prying, but is there a particular reason you’re dripping on the carpet?”
Duncan frowned. “We ran into Orko out in the courtyard. He just got back from the outer villages by the Evergreen Forest, and was telling us everything was getting back to normal.” His frown deepened. “Unfortunately, Orko’s magic is back to normal as well.”
Greystar suppressed a laugh. “Should I ask what happened?”
Adam shook his head. “I’d advise against it.”
Duncan shot Adam a look, more one of resignation than anger. “Frosta’s looking stressed?” he asked.
“Stressed?” Weldon said, “looks like she’s about to bop that guard.” He was balanced precariously on the balcony, but seemed quite at ease.
Adam blushed. “Ah, she’s been asking everyone she can find if they know where He-Man is.”
Weldon caught the reddening of the prince’s face, as well as the uncomfortable tone in his voice. “Am I getting the feeling He-Man doesn’t want to be found at the moment?”
“He’d prefer that, yes,” Adam replied. Weldon opened his mouth, but the prince cut him off. “Long story.”
“And a dandy one, I’d wager,” Weldon grinned. “I definitely need to get the sordid details sometime, kid.”
“Sometime,” Adam said, and quickly changed the subject. “So, He-Ro, you said you had a little time before you left. I’m hoping the “leaving” part means the palace and not Eternia.”
Greystar turned. “Just the palace. I need to get out there and see what I can do to help clean up Hiss’s mess.” He paused for a moment, looking back out at the balcony and the sky beyond, noting how clear it looked, with only a few dark clouds to remind him of the blackened skies that had so recently covered the planet.
Andrea and Man-E-Faces headed for the attack track as Grayskull’s jawbridge closed behind them. The pair had stopped by the castle on the way to Thenore, where they were set to drop off a large load of building supplies. A royal engineer was already there with a crew of construction workers and guardsmen, all working to clear up the damage left by the breakdown. It would probably be another day before they were ready to start any rebuilding, but supplies were being transported as the opportunity arose. The number of working vehicles around Eternia was growing each day, but many were still under repair. The palace’s fleet was up to almost 75%, but the demand was great enough to strain what was available if all the vehicles were operating.
“Better head on out,” Andrea said, her voice a bit distant.
“Sorry there’s no way home yet,” Man-E said. “Shouldn’t be too much longer before the dimensional gates are stable enough to use.”
“Guess I made us waste time coming by here,” she sighed.
Man-E smiled. “Not really. Gives me something to report back to Duncan on; he’ll want to know how reality’s sliding back into place.” He paused for a moment and cocked his head to the side inside his helmet. “You’re that anxious to get back there?”
She looked at him, a wistful expression on her face. “It’s my world; I want to know what happened, if everything’s alright.”
He nodded. “I can understand that, but, well, it just seems your world wasn’t exactly…kind…to you in the past.”
She glanced over at the castle. “You can say that again. But it’s the only world I’ve got.”
Man-E cleared his throat. “What about the world you’re on right now?”
Andrea met his eyes. “You mean stay here on Eternia? Not go back to Earth?”
He took a breath. “Have you considered it? I know Eternia’s a lot different than Earth, but there’s a lot here that I doubt Earth could match. Magic. Mystery. Adventure.” He paused again. “Friends.”
Andrea smiled, but spoke with a tinge of sorrow. “Used to have a lot of friends back home. Not many these days, though.”
“You’ve got plenty of friends here,” he continued. “Not to mention the fact that you’re considered a heroine by most of the kingdom right now. People all over are talking about the woman who stood up to Hiss.”
“In other words, nobody here thinks I’m crazy,” she laughed. “That does sound pretty attractive.” She looked around them, taking in the view. “The whole thing sounds good. But I have to go back.”
Man-E’s face fell noticeably. “I understand,” he said half-heartedly.
She turned back to him. “No, I don’t think you do, Manny. Staying here would solve most of my own problems, but…” Her voice trailed off. “I’d be running away, Manny. I’d be turning my back on everything and giving up. Just like before. And look what that led to.”
Man-E frowned. “Are you trying to say you’re somehow responsible for what Hiss did?”
“Maybe,” she replied. “I don’t know. I just know I gave up trying to get people to believe the truth the first time, maybe if I hadn’t backed down, Hiss wouldn’t have had such an easy time setting up shop on Earth.”
Man-E shook his had slowly. “Andrea, you can’t blame yourself for that any more than Fisto should have blamed himself for what happened at the temple. You had no idea Hiss was on Earth, what he was going to do. There may be some people who can tell the future, but I don’t think either you or I are among them. All we can do is take what we know and try to do our best with that.”
“You’re right, Manny. And what I know is that my people deserve to know the truth about what happened, and why their planet was almost torn apart. That’s why I have to go back. I have to get the story out; even if most people don’t believe me, I’ve got to try to set things right.” She slumped back in the seat of the trak.
“I do understand that, Andrea,” Man-E said quietly. “I once knew a very sullen, bitter fellow who felt the same way about ‘setting things right’; of course, he had a lot to genuinely feel guilty about. He hadn’t been the nicest guy.”
“What happened to him?” she asked.
“Somebody gave him a chance to change, to make things right.”
She smiled. “And he became, oh, let me guess, a heroic warrior and an actor all rolled up in one?”
Man-E blushed slightly. “He did alright for himself.” He smiled back at her. “Your people need to know the truth. If anyone can convince them, it’s you.”
“I hope,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “They sure didn’t listen the first time, but I’ve still got to give it a shot.” The wistful look returned. “And after I do, I may just consider a change of address.”
Man-E’s face lit up. “I hope you seriously consider it. There are a lot of people who’d like to see you stay here.” He paused yet again, deliberating on whether he should leave it at that. “Me among them,” he said at last, deciding to press on.
Andrea said nothing, but her smile widened as she gazed out the front windshield. Man-E noticed, and his own grin grew as well.
“Okay, so the one thing I wanna know is, how did you figure out who this mug really was?” Weldon asked Duncan as they walked across the palace courtyard, pointing at Greystar.
“I’m curious about that myself,” Adam admitted. “I was honestly shocked when he transformed back at Snake Mountain.”
Duncan stroked his chin. “It was a matter of adding up the clues. The fact that Grayskull let him in without any problems was the first hint; the castle obviously knew him, and knew him well. He mentioned he was a wizard. And he had so much information on Hiss and the stones, but didn’t seem to know a lot about more recent developments on Eternia. That told me he probably hadn’t been around Eternia much in recent years. But I think the thing that finally solidified my suspicions was the way he spoke whenever he talked about Hiss. There was a real venom in his voice; it was obvious the two of them had a history, a strong one. Hiss hasn’t been back for that long, and if I was right about Greystar not having been around Eternia much lately, then there was only one way that level of animosity could have built up…”
“…and that was if Greystar had been around the first time Hiss plagued Eternia,” Adam finished the thought. “So we had a wizard Grayskull knew who had been around in Pre-Eternian times.”
“Not many people fill that bill,” Duncan smiled, obviously getting great enjoyment out of explaining his deductions. “So the conclusion was fairly obvious, once you had all the pieces.”
“Oh, yes, I don’t know how I could have missed anything so obvious,” Adam said in an exaggerated tone, a wide grin on his face.
“You learn to pick up on things after a while, lad,” Duncan said. “It comes with experience.”
“Maybe, but it’s still a pretty impressive piece of deductive reasoning,” Greystar commented. “I had a feeling from the start that you were catching on; I was glad you were keeping those suspicions to yourself.”
“It was an effective secret weapon, I will admit. The look on Hiss’s face was absolutely priceless when you transformed,” Duncan noted. “You had him completely fooled, especially with that disguise.”
“Couldn’t count on magic to keep my face hidden, and I couldn’t take the chance on him recognizing me as Grey, unlikely as that may have been.”
“Grey? Not Greystar?” Adam asked.
“Added the ‘star’ a while after I knew Hiss,” Greystar explained.
“You said it was unlikely he would have recognized you as Grey?” Duncan wondered.
“Well, unlike some people,” Weldon injected, nodding to Adam, “Grey was only ‘somebody’ in one of his identities.”
Greystar shot Weldon a look. “Never have to worry about my ego getting out of control with him around.”
“What are friends for?” Weldon grinned.
Greystar laughed softly. “He’s right; I was one of Eldor’s students in my secret identity, but he had so many over the years, I doubted Hiss would have even remembered my name, much less my face. Still, there was no reason to take the risk with so much at stake.”
“A wise choice,” Duncan agreed. “The element of surprise is a strong ally.”
“Speaking of surprises, it must have been tough having to deal with some of the ones you ran into. From what you’ve said, you had to change plans right in the middle of everything,” Adam said. “How did you keep so calm about all of that?”
“You learn to deal with things like that; I usually tend to ‘go with the flow,’ as they say on Earth,” Greystar explained.
“Standard operating with him. Used to drive Eldor nuts,” Weldon injected. “He’d want to follow a carefully laid out plan, and this guy always wanted to wing it.”
Greystar grimaced. “I like to stay flexible.”
Weldon shook his head. “The seat of my pants is worn out from flying by it so much, pal,” he said with a wink.
Greystar glared at his diminutive companion. “And it usually works playing it that way, doesn’t it?”
The Thenurian frowned. “I hate it when he’s right,” he grumbled.
Adam couldn’t suppress a chuckle, and glanced at Duncan. “This conversation starting to sound familiar?”
Duncan smiled. “Very much so.”
“You and Teela had one just last week, if I recall,” Adam said.
Duncan arched an eyebrow at Adam. “I wasn’t referring to Teela, lad,” he said with a wry smile.
“Oh,” the prince said flatly, and quickly changed the subject. “So where are you two headed?”
“We’ll probably swing by Blackmore and check on Celise’s people, then go to Torin. After that, we’ll contact you and see where else we’re needed.” Greystar paused and glanced up at the sky; he seemed to be making a habit of that lately. After all they’d faced the past few days, he found great comfort in gazing at something other than thick, black clouds.
“I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear He-Ro is coming,” Adam said.
Greystar looked down, but didn’t turn to face the prince. “Just tell them help is coming; I know it’s going to get around since I pretty well blew any chance of a ‘secret identity’ for now, but I’d rather keep it low key, if you don’t mind.”
Adam looked puzzled. “I just thought the people would feel better knowing, well, that a legend like you was coming to help.”
“Remember what I told you about legends, Adam? They get blown out of proportion in the telling. He-Ro’s a legend; I’m just a man, and most of the time, the man falls far short of the myth.” Greystar’s voice was distant.
“Most of the time, maybe,” Duncan said carefully, “but every so often, you find a man who does live up to his legend.”
Greystar turned, and set his eyes solidly on Adam. “Yes, every so often, you do, don’t you?” Adam smiled sheepishly. The wizard extended his hand, and he and Adam grasped arms. “Eternia’s been in good hands, my friends, and for that, I’m grateful.”
“There’s so many questions I want to ask you,” Adam said. “Everything I am is because of what you left behind here. I…”
“I’ll explain everything later, I promise,” Greystar interrupted.
“That sounds oddly familiar,” Adam said with a lopsided smile.
Greystar chuckled. “Once we get Eternia back on it’s feet, I’ll tell you the whole story in as much nauseating detail as you want. My word as a wizard.”
“And I’ll bet that’s quite a tale,” Duncan said.
“Yes,” Greystar said, a strange note of sadness in his voice. “I guess it is. But later. We’ve got a planet to put back together right now.” He and Weldon strode over to the waiting wind raider and climbed in. “All set?” the wizard asked his friend as the raider began to rise.
“You sure you know how to fly this thing-a-ma-jig?” the Thenurian asked, glancing over the side at the quickly receding ground.
“I’ll figure it out,” Greystar said with a huge grin.
“Skytree save my small shattered body,” Weldon sighed.
Greystar laughed heartily, and waved down at Adam and Duncan. “Good journey!” he cried out over the engine’s whine.
“Good journey,” they called back, almost in unison, as the raider passed over the palace walls. Adam turned to his mentor. “Why do I get the feeling that, even with the crisis over, things are going to be…interesting…for a long time to come?”
“And when, if I may ask, have things ever been dull on Eternia?” Duncan said jokingly. The prince shrugged and shook his head as the two walked back to the palace.
The End