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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
- 7
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Chapter Eight: The Borderline Fades
Part One

The morning dawned upon the battlefield in a dank hour. The early morning mist rose above the ground, still wet with blood. The day of mourning commenced as Caerlin and her sister appeared from their chambers in the town hall.

Caerlin was once again dressed in her battle gear, looking every inch the warrior queen. At her side, Moria was dressed in a garment exactly similar to her sister’s, except whereas Caerlin’s clothing was black as midnight, Moria’s was the pure and spotless white of a dove’s wings. She also wore the light mail beneath her clothing as was customary. They descended down the steps together, hand in hand, until they reached the bottom.

They looked out over the still-smoking pyres of the dead, and their hearts sunk as one. So many had died, and so many more were wounded. In her arms, Caerlin held the journal of recording. She would write in this journal the names of all who had died, as well as their parent’s names and who their survivors were.

The twins walked from pyre to pyre, consulting with the families of the deceased. There was little sadness among the families, for the Dereskians considered death to be simply another life. Since the spirits of those passed went into the remaining Dereskians as well as their energy, Death was merely thought of as the passing of the body.

There were occasions, of course, when the spirit and energy were not permitted to enter into the population, such as when a Dereskian took his or her own life. But these were rare occurrences.

The mourning period of the dead was traditionally intended to last until moonrise, and so it would today, Caerlin and her sister decided.

The day passed by quickly, and by the time the sun was at the midway point in the sky, Moria and Caerlin’s work was nearly completed.

It was around noon when everything changed. The guards at the gates to the doors shouted a warning, telling the people to flee back into the caves.

The twins raced to the city gates as the rest of the Dereskïgiä ran back into safety. Once they had arrived at the top of the city walls, Caerlin instantly identified the problem.

The Eternians had decided not to wait for another day and had been given orders to lay siege to the city. A massive catapult had been constructed beyond the view of the scouts, and, after completion, had been wheeled to the gates. Caerlin had taken one look at the catapult and her eyes widened.

“Get away from the walls!” she ordered her gatemen. To Moria, she said, “Come, we must summon the Ancients!”

The two ran down the walls and back into the hall, entering the chambers of the Ancients and telling them emergency action was needed. The Council instantly linked hands and formed a barrier, just in time to deflect the first of the catapult ammunition.

“Queen Caerlin,” said the eldest of the Ancients. “Why did you summon the Council for this catapult? Surely your sister and yourself can deflect blows from so crude a weapon?”

Before Caerlin had a chance to respond, the force field the Ancients had erected shook under the impact of another blow. A resounding chorus of gasps filled the chamber.

“That is why, Council member Desëto.” Caerlin said as they refortified the field. “That is no ordinary catapult the Eternians have built. It has a very powerful Magic at its core, which is fueling the machine and adapting it to the strength of any shield we produce.”

“How did you know what it would do when you saw it, my lady?” Another member asked as the field was shaken and then increased again.

Caerlin was silent for the moment it took them to refortify the shield. “I’ve seen it before,” she said after a time. “Or at least, I’ve seen the plans for it. It was an idea of my… ‘sadly’ deceased foster mother.” Another missile thundered into the force field, this time almost crumbling it.

“At this rate, we’ll run out of energy before long,” Desëto commented, almost frightened.

Caerlin said nothing as they strengthened the field once more. She seemed to be deliberating for a long while, and two or three more missiles thundered into the field before she spoke again.

“We have no choice but to send out the army. We must fetch the generals.” Her voice had a defeated tone to it, as if she had nearly given up hope.

One of the elder female Ancients exclaimed, “We can’t fight! It’s the day of mourning! To fight during the mourning period is-”

“Degrading of the memories of the dead. Yes, we know that, Lady Aleckli,” interrupted Moria. “But if you have another solution, I’m sure we’d all be welcome to suggestions.” Moria’s eyes grew cold and hard, and she glared at Aleckli, almost daring her to make a suggestion.

Aleckli dropped her eyes. As if on cue, a missile from the catapult collided with the force field… and broke through. A moment of panic went through the room as the missile exploded on the ground, leaving a hole of scorched earth where there was once a building of purest white marble.

Desëto nodded as they used what remained of their strength to heighten the power of the shield to its fullest. “Caerlin is right,” he said. “We have no choice but to send out the army.” The other Ancients, tired from the energy they were giving the shield, dropped their eyes and stared into the floor. They began to send a message to the generals through their minds.

“Wait,” Caerlin said suddenly. The Ancients stopped their transmissions to look at their queen. Caerlin’s eyes had lit up, and a wide grin filled her face. “Don’t send out the army,” she said. “There’s another way.”

“What way?” the others asked in almost unison.

As another missile bounced harmlessly off the recently powered-up shield, Caerlin’s voice came out clear and calm. “Order the generals to open the dam. Flood the battlefield.” Her face showed no emotion, even though the plan she had just suggested would kill the entire Eternian army or most of it. “We must hurry,” she continued, “The last blast measured the force behind the field. And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have very little energy left to give it.”

The other Ancients nodded, and sent a message to the Generals. *Flood the dam. Drown them*, they said.

The Generals led a portion of their soldiers to the walls of the dam to open it. As they neared the top, a few Eternian spies saw them and notified their superiors. A few well-placed arrows, and the force at the dam was no more. The Ancients had forgotten there was still an army outside the gates.

Before they could realize what happened, the last ammunition the Eternians had for the catapult was fired. Its target was the safe caves. The missile collided with the force field, and the Ancients put all of the energy they had into making the shield more powerful. For an instant, the black, deadly sphere was deflected. But, an operative of the machine realized what was happening and turned up the setting of power for the missile.

With a seismic boom, the sphere broke through the barricade preventing it from its target. However, the force stopping it had thrown it slightly off course, and it collided instead with the base of the town hall.

The Ancients, drained of all energy, were thrown back against the wall with the impact. The building had lost its foundations, and, though Dereskian architecture was the strongest on the entire planet, no building can stand if its foundation is lost. The town hall crumbled and caved in on itself.

The doors to the city were devoid of people, as the guards had fled when the machine had first appeared. The Eternian army rushed into the city, and met with the complete force of the Dereskian army, which had been ordered to stand just beyond the gate after the first impact.

This was not the small, pathetic force the Eternians had fought with the day before. Even though it was a day for mourning, the entire fighting force of over five hundred thousand had appeared for the final battle. There was one small problem. The three main generals had gone with the group that opened the dam, and their queen was nowhere in sight. They had no leaders. There was no one to lead them, and no one to tell them what to do or how to do it. The way of war is simple enough, you merely kill anyone whom you do not know or who is not on your side; however, exact orders and plans are needed. One does not win a war out of sheer force of will.

The leaderless fighters of the Dereskïgiä did what they could. They fought for hours, and in no time at all, the scattered cries of wounded men and women filled the air. People were slashing and cutting at each other right and left, and blood filled the once treasured clean pristine streets.

In time, dark and heavy clouds came into the sky, blotting out the sun and sending the battlefield into utter darkness. It was as if the gods, both Eternian and Dereskian, could no longer stand to look down upon the sheer carnage. Nevertheless, nothing stopped. The cries still filled the air, and the sounds of swords clashing thundered in the streets of Elënuial. The world did not stop, the battle did not cease, and the blood continued to flow.

The full front of the battle lasted about ten hours. In seemed, for a while, that the battle, the war, was going in the Dereskians’ favor. But, without a strategy, the Dereskïgiä was doomed. The sheer numbers of the Eternian warriors became too great. The remaining Dereskians fought as hard as they could, but it was in vain. They were outnumbered badly. They cut and slashed as many of the enemy as came within view. But with every Eternian that was cut down, another took his or her place. And soon, the Dereskian army was tiring. Their numbers began to dwindle, slowly at first, and then faster and faster.

The Eternians, perhaps sensing that victory was near, increased their energy and killed even those lying upon the ground, wounded and bleeding. They took no prisoners, slaying all those who were already too weak to continue fighting. In time, there was nothing left. The once-great army of the Dereskian people, shining and glorious, had faltered. The screams in the air became fainter, and faded out completely.

The shining city of Elënuial, so bright and new, was broken into bits of rubble, glass, and chunks of marble. Where there had once been grass as green as emeralds there was now only scorched earth and broken shards of glass.

The Eternian army had won. From the battlefield, the victorious army had no time for celebration. They knew that not all of the population had been fit to fight in the war, but they also knew that there was nowhere else in the country that they would be. The Eternians immediately began tearcearch to find the missing Dereskïgiä.

A young soldier came upon the hidden entrance to the safe caves quite by accident, but once he had, it was reported immediately to his superiors. Soon, Eternian soldiers flooded the caves as the Ancients would have flooded them with water. Inside the caves, the remaining members of the Dereskïgiä hid, shaking in fear and confusion. They heard the footsteps of the soldiers and called upon Eläni to help them. But the creator of their world, it seemed, had turned a deaf ear.

It did not take long for the Eternians, tired as they were, to wipe out the cowering populace, who were all too old or young to provide much of a fight. After the massacre was over, the ‘victors’ were sent to sweep across the city, checking the buildings for signs of life. If they were any found, the soldiers were ordered to end them.

Captain Mindor and his teams searched within the rubble of the Town Hall, and came upon the fallen forms of the Ancients. Mindor recognized the face, bloodied and scratched as it was, of the Queen Caerlin. Her eyes were closed, and her clothes were gray with ash and dust. He checked her pulse, and found it was weak but faint. He looked around nearby, having been told that another who looked like her would be found not far away. He moved a pile of loose rock, and found beneath it the crumbled form of a young woman. She, too, was alive, though very badly wounded.

Against his better judgment, Mindor took the live occupants of that room, men and women alike, to his medical tent, and gave his hospital staff strict orders to heal them, and, above all, keep them alive.

Behind him, the city of Elënuial burned as his army finished setting fire to the white buildings. This was a magic fire, or so he had been told. One that would burn marble as surely as normal fire did wood. The fire blazed, and a cheer went up from the Eternian hordes.

The soldiers returned to their encampments, which were beyond view of the city, but still within Dereskian lands. They looted the towns and villages and burnt them when they were finished.
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- 9
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The Dereskian Queen