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The Dereskian Queen	By : LadyMoria Category: +G through L > He-Man Views: 2856 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own He-man, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
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Chapter Seven: The Borderline Grows

“Stand together!” Caerlin shouted to her troops. “And remember what I told you: Ours is a cause worth fighting for. The enemy is on our land, in our homes. We have the advantage, not them. They may beat us in their numbers, but they will never truly defeat us.

“Under the light of Eläni, we fight.” As Caerlin spoke the ancient words of a Dereskian monarch to the people, the soldiers nodded in unison.

“Under the might of Eläni, we will triumph!” The soldiers shouted as one, their voices echoing across the hills.

The Eternian soldiers marched closer, until they were about a hundred yards away from the gates of Elënuial. The leaders of the party stepped forward, and shouted in broken Dereskian, “Will talk wiv yare quenn!”

Caerlin drew one of her swords and walked forward to the midway point, accompanied by the three lead generals of the army. She cut an impressive figure, striding through her ranks of soldiers; head thrown slightly back as she walked with an almost liquid grace. Her moon-colored hair billowed as a small wind picked up, and the light from the near-fading three moons cascaded over her hair and face.

“What would you say to the Queen of the Dereskïgiä?” one of the generals at her side said.

“We come with a message from the Sorceress of Grayskull,” another Eternian said, his accent more understandable.

Caerlin nodded, and, though she hated herself for doing so, answered in Eternian, “What is your message?” Her voice was cold and unmoving, like a lake of ice frozen over in a glacier.

The second person who had spoken, obviously the leader, was thrown aback. “I was not aware you could speak our language. This will makr dir discussion much easier.”

“State your message, or there will be nothing to discuss,” Caerlin’s face betrayed no emotion barring pure hatred. Her eyes were half-lidded, as if she found all of this to be trivial.

The Eternian, a captain by the name of Mindor, eyed the queen with uncertainty. “Are you so eager to kill off your three thousand troops?”

All sll smirk eased its way on Caerlin’s face. “Three thousand? Funny, I was sure I counted ten.” As if previously invisible, another seven thousand men and women were illuminated along the walls of the city, some with bows and arrows, other with javelins and slings, and more with swords.

The other Eternians started as their eyes grew wide with what could only be described as fear. Was it really wise to fight against a people that could make seven thousand soldiers invisible to the eye?

The captain was the only Eternian able to control his shock and suppress it. He cleared his throat, and said, “The message is this: ‘Look well upon your people, for how long shall it be until they have disappeared?’”

Caerlin did her best to suppress a small chuckle, but her frame vibrated from it nevertheless. “My, my. The Sorceress certainly is unoriginal, isn’t she?” She winked at the Eternian troops, and a shudder went through them.

“Is that all, captain?” She spoke his title with almost mockery, her eyes teasing.

The captain closed his eyes and nodded, refusing to let this she-demon get to him. “That is all, unless, of course, you think a surrender would be wise?”

“I accept. Generals, take their weapons,” she said, letting the conversation echo in the minds of her soldiers. The Dereskians hooted with a small amount of laughter, and Caerlin smiled.

The Eternian nodded in a sort of grim respect, and the Queen of the Dereskïgiä bowed, and turned away, her long garment swaying in a small breeze as she did so.

With a yell, one of the Eternian soldiers, a young one with little experience in the ways of war, cast a dagger towards the Queen’s unprotected back.

At the last possible second, Caerlin whirled and caught the knife easily, eyeing it and then the soldier who had thrown it. She watched the ranks of Eternians, and smiled wickedly. She then faced the ‘talking party’ again nod nodded her head in recognition to the captain.

She returned to her lines, stopping at the head of her army to pocket the knife and draw her other sword. She waited as the captain and his party returned to his lines and watched as he placed a plumed helmet upon his head.
rea ready,” Caerlin called to her soldiers, both those present at the lines and those not yet seen. She had to laugh at the stupidity of the Eternians. Did they honestly think that in a population of nearly eight hundred thousand, the army only consisted of ten thousand people?

The downside to keeping the majority of her army hidden was that she could not be sure that they were in their correct places, and could only hope the Ancients would remove their invisibility spell at the correct time. She looked over at the walls of the great dam, and hoped that the rest of her soldiers would be in their positions if or when they were needed.

She chanced one last look behind her toward the great hall, and swore she could see her sister standing at the window. She smiled softly, and then turned as the enemy began to charge.

“Draw your weapons!” she shouted to her soldiers, and the air filled with the sounds of swords leaving their sheaths and arrows being fitted to their bows. “Archers!” she called, “Nár!”

The night air quickly became heavy with arrows and slingstones as the archers refilled their bows or slings and fired again. The entire front rank of the Eternian soldiers dropped. But there were many more soldiers to take their place. Caerlin realized now that even if her entire population were fighting, they would have still been outnumbered. It didn’t matter, she told herself. Theirs was a cause worth fighting for, and that was enough. Then thinking became impossible as the flanks of Eternians reached the Borderline.

She raised her swords and sank them into the first of the soldiers. She removed them and went on to another soldier. The screams of the wounded quickly replaced the whizzing of arrows, and blood, dripping black in the moonlight, fell to the ground in great splatters.

Caerlin fought like one possessed, killing any Eternian she could get within reach of her swords. At times she fought more than one opponent, using both arms to deflect blows and both swords cut into the skin of her enemies. The Eternians wore light armor, as they had been forced to do because of the terrain. Climbing mountains in full armor was not something easily done. Their armor was weak just below the neck and at the sides below the ribs. But even the places most heavily guarded were not safe from Caerlin’s swords.

Her weapons were fearsome things she had forged herself in her youth, when she had been so interested in all manner of weaponry. They had been forged out of a metal that was many metals combined. It was stronger than any other such as iron, steel, or brass, but it was light enough to be carried easily for long periods of time. It cut through the loose plate and mail armor of the Eternians like a warmed knife through softened butter.

Caerlin’s own armor was cast of an alloy of this same metal, lighter and more easily wearable than the metal in its raw state. And it fit beneath her cloak-like garment well, so that it appeared she wore nothing beneath her black outer layer.

She became consumed with the raw lust of battle, cutting and slashing anyone who came near, having to bring herself in check when she was beside a soldier of her own army. The Eternians backed away from her, turning to fight other, less-mad Dereskians. But the power of the Queen was felt throughout the lines, and the fighting Dereskïgiä saw her ferocity and were heartened. Their own ferociousness increased, and they fought like a people possessed. Even the wounded Dereskians fought like mad beasts, ripping and tearing their enemies apart, sometimes with their bare hands.

The battle raged on, and before long the Dereskïgiä had cut through several lines of hundreds of Eternians. They had lost about two hundred by the time the moons sank in the sky. Once the light of the Red Moon had dissipated, the people of the Dereskïgiä became somewhat disheartened. If the light of Eläni was not with them, how could they hope to succeed? As the ranks slowly faltered, Caerlin slowly became aware of the problem, and of its source. She finished cutting through a particularly tough opponent, and let her mind flood into those of her soldiers. *Do not be disheartened*, she told them. *Eläni has not left us, and she never will leave us. She has merely gone to watch her people from another viewpoint.*

The voice of their queen echoing in the soldiers’ minds, many of them turned to look at Caerlin as they fought. An odd sort of light seemed to be emitted from their queen, and it appeared almost as if she had sprouted wings from the base of her shoulder blades, one the spotless wing of a bird, and the other the midnight black of a bat. It seemed almost as if a choir of sweet music filled the air around her. She cut down at her enemies with little emotion betrayed upon her face, and it was noted that, although there were countless stains of blood upon the ground, within the circle of her light, there was nothing upon their Queen.

It was if Eläni herself had joined the battle, and the sight of their queen once again filled the Dereskïgiä with renewed hope. The soldiers felt a great sense of peace when they looked at her, and they felt their strength return to them. They cut and slashed, pushed and shoved, and more and more cries of the wounded filled the air.

The battle lasted on for hours. The dawn became midday, and then sunset. Both armies were tiring. Caerlin was dripping with perspiration, as were all the others. As the moons rose into the sky, their light seemed to blend, and fell upon the Dereskians in an amethyst hue, akin to the color of the Queen’s eyes.

A truce for the night and the next day was called, and agreed upon. The wounded or dead of the Dereskïgiä were taken inside the city walls, and the remaining soldiers followed suit. The gates were barred and locked, with a guard of a thousand patrolling the top. These were soldiers that had not fought in the battle, and so were not tired. They had slept for much of this day, under the queen’s order, and would fight in the battle of the day after next.

Caerlin crossed into the city at the back of her army, and the doors were shut behind her. That night, the pyres of the dead lighted the town square and could be seen for miles. Caerlin went into the hospital and looked at the wounded. When she entered, those that could sit up did so, and great smiles came upon the faces of the soldiers.

She traveled from person to person, talking to each of the wounded and smiling at them. It seemed to them as if a great angel had appeared to appease their misery, and they felt better. Caerlin herself had been fortunate enough to only receive a few scratches here and there. She spoke to a young woman, alleviating the pain of her broken arm by setting it properly and stopping the bleeding. She learned that the young woman’s name was Loonithi, and that she had a husband and two young children. Loonithi asked Caerlin if she had anyone she cared about, and the Queen of the Dereskïgiä smiled and answered in the affirmative.

As she finished with the woman, she felt a soft hand upon her shoulder, and turned slowly around to look into the most beautiful pair of eyes she had ever seen.

“Moria.”

Her sister said nothing, merely smiled her soft, secret smile and led her sister away from the hospital.

That night, the pyres of the dead lit the night, and the three moons shown down upon the glowing city of Elënuial. Caerlin slept, cradled in her sister’s arms, knowing that the night after next, the battle would continue after the mourning period for the deceased ended.

The Borderline would run red with the blood of both sides and be washed away completely.
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- 8
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The Dereskian Queen