Tangled Triangles
--The Emperor and his Scorpion
Goldar had now departed for M51 with his Empress, the distressed Rita Repulsa, leaving the Lunar Palace rather quiet, and also rather uneasy in aura… Scorpina had been left with Rita’s treachery heavy on her mind, and her conscience and loyalty just wouldn’t let her leave it to rest. Walking through the many labyrinthine corridors of the Lunar Palace, she eventually found her master, Lord Zedd, and prepared to tell him the truth.
“My lord!” she called after him, rushing down the gloomy corridor.
He slowly halted in his tracks and turned to look at her, following her every movement as she came up to him; “Yes, my dear?” he asked her quietly.
Scorpina stopped and took a single breath, before she said, “May I talk to you?”
Zedd chuckled a little, amused by her rigidly dutiful manner; “You may,” he nodded.
“I’d rather we didn’t talk here… It’s very important,” she insisted as she cautiously looked about the hallways, mistrusting the walls.
Zedd noted the seriousness in her tone, “Fine… then follow me,” he said, leading her through the barracks of the fort until he reached his private quarters.
Scorpina entered the chamber first; she’d never been in here before, and never really had expected to see the inside of the Emperor’s bedroom. It was a dark room, with fearsome dragons carved into the brickwork and a few, unlit torches hung upon the walls. Furniture was scarce, limited to a double bed for Zedd and his wife, a couple of bedside units, some kind of wardrobe and a desk. It all opened onto a small balcony at the room’s extremity, and there was the entrance to an ensuite by the right-hand corner, too.
Zedd closely followed Scorpina in and firmly shut the door behind him. Folding his arms, he stood directly in front her and hissed, “Go on…”
She sighed, looking down, “But first,” she said humbly, “Can I please just say that the Empress is very disturbed, m’lord.” She looked up into his visor pleadingly.
He seemed totally unmoved; “She asked for what she got…” he hissed.
“She’s learnt her lesson!” Scorpina protested loudly, “Don’t harm her anymore!”
Zedd’s hidden lip twitched at her impudence, though he tried not to let her enrage him; “I didn’t harm her.”
“But you did!” she retorted, “More mentally than physically, perhaps, but -”
“She’ll get over it.”
“Get over it?” Scorpina was pouring scorn on him now, her eyes fiery and her tone infused with disgust; “I’m a woman - I can relate. How would you know about how awful it is to be on the receiving end?”
Zedd scoffed, storming to his right before wheeling back round to face her again, “Well, excuse me for being male!” he yelled.
“You abuse your masculinity,” she growled daringly, giving him her stoniest glare.
Zedd replied with a terrible, pitiless laugh, one so bitter it made the female warrior shudder; “Well, I don’t have any femininity to abuse!” he bellowed. He flung his hand into the wall with a forceful ‘smack‘, glaring back at her, challenging her to make another, even more risky move.
Scorpina recognised the suppressed rage boiling beneath Zedd’s skin (not that he had any) and decided it was time to stop this childish bickering. She didn’t say anything.
Zedd saw that he had won this round, even if it was by sheer force alone, and stalked back up to his minion slowly, a sordid aura about his gait.
Scorpina waited for him to stop, but he didn’t - he was almost stepping on her toes before she realised she’d have to start moving. She stepped back, and back again as he kept approaching her, until she felt herself hit the wall with a gentle thud. Then, he stopped, and rose an arm either side of her, planting his hands flat against the blackened brickwork; she was now trapped between the wall and his body…
She swallowed, determined not to lose her nerve.
“If you’re not careful,” he murmured, “I will not hesitate from performing that which I did on Rita upon you…”
They just stared at one another for a while, listening to the other’s breaths.
“I have more to tell you,” Scorpina finally said, her voice emerging as little over a whisper.
“Do tell,” Zedd replied, maintaining his position.
Taking another deep breath, trying not to let claustrophobia take hold, Scorpina suddenly vacillated, “But I’m not sure I should…”
“You asked for this talk,” the Emperor reminded her, “Not I.”
Scorpina looked into Zedd’s red visor hard, then said, lowering her gaze, “Rita did not plot against you alone.”
The warlord lowered his own head a little, his eyes losing focus as he listened.
“She conspired with Count Dregon,” she added softly.
The Emperor went rigid at the mere mention of his archrival’s name; his head jolted to the left as he stared away, chest rising rapidly in fury, a fury concentrated just as much on his own inability to discover this as it was on his ambitious wife and Dregon.
“She hoped to rid herself of you once you had Earth under your control,” Scorpina continued, “She planned all this with Count Dregon. I wouldn’t have known myself except for the fact that Rita confessed everything to me earlier, before she left… and she confessed in confidence, might I add.” She could feel Zedd’s anger growing as much as if it were a tangible presence in the room, and suddenly she felt afraid; “Zedd…” she said, placing her hand on his chest.
He gasped as she touched him, turning his skull rapidly back to look upon her; he gazed into her deep, brown eyes, trying to figure out what it was that had possessed her to tell him this if she was still so faithful to Rita - was it strict loyalty, or something else?
Staring at her for a moment longer, he then slid his palms off the wall and paced away, running his hand over his brow and placing the other on his hip; “I see you still hold your priorities straight,” was the first thing he could think to say, his tone unusually shaky, “You betrayed her trust for my sake - good girl.”
Scorpina jolted as though she’d just been shot - when he put it like that, she felt ever the more guilty; she lay a hand on her breast whilst the warlord walked heavily to his balcony and grasped the rail hard, as though to steady himself. Rising his head with a sigh, he stared out unto the cosmos, “Dregon…” he cursed.
Scorpina leant back against the cool brickwork again, feeling weird inside, confused and mixed-up; she had done this for Zedd’s sake, as he’d stated, but had it been for the safety of his Empire, or his safety?
“This is dire news,” the Emperor continued, before his temper got the better of him and he flew into a towering rage; “The nerve of that woman! Alone, plotting against me, I could handle, but with him, that son-of-a-bitch…?”
“Please calm down, my lord…” Scorpina implored, really not feeling comfortable being in such a confined space with him when he was so incensed.
“Calm down?” he thundered, his gaze setting itself back upon her, “I’d much rather I’d discovered Rita were conspiring with Zordon than him!” He smacked the balcony rail, the nearest thing to him, breathing ever the more heavily; “Was she planning to kick me off and rule alongside that bastard?” he growled.
Scorpina shrugged, unable to answer that one; “I don’t know…” she admitted.
“To think,” Zedd continued, beginning to retrace his steps back toward her, “To think that she would have given him the key to ruling over all that I’ve worked so damn hard to possess - to think that she would have chosen him to rule over all that had been mine!”
“You don’t know that,” Scorpina disputed, pacing cautiously toward him.
“I can just imagine the victorious, smug grin on his golden visage,” he continued, blatantly ignoring her, “The bastard!” The ink well on Zedd’s desk was the next thing to feel his wrath as he took it up into his hand and flung it against the far wall with a tremendous smash. The ink trickled slowly down the channels in the brickwork, whilst the glass fell to the floor in a million, tiny pieces with a chorus of gentle ‘clinks‘.
The Emperor stared at his destructive handiwork, his clawed fingers tensing into tight fists, his chest rising and falling deeply as he tried to quell his extreme rage. Scorpina stared at his tall, burly form, silhouetted against the hazy starlight - he could never control his most terrible furies; it was a trait he’d inherited from his brutal father. And it was this kind of rage that made her seriously begin to fear for Rita’s safety - if this latest outburst was anything to go by, who knew what Zedd may do to her next, something worse than what he had done already…?
“Zedd…” she whispered, “I think Rita’s learnt her lesson now. She seems so regretful.”
“She should have thought about that before!” he replied, taking a couple of giant, striding steps back up to her; the scorpion warrior backed up warily as the Emperor skidded to a halt in front of her, “It’s the damn principle, Scorpina!” he continued, “I’ve always known of her treachery, plotting against me through this sham of a marriage, but for crying out loud, to bring in Dregon is asking for trouble!”
He turned to leave, unsure of his exact motives, though knowing that they all involved violent vengeance; Scorpina rushed after him and grabbed his arm, “Haven’t you done enough?” she shouted, planting herself in front of him.
He suddenly grabbed her hair behind her and yanked it down; Scorpina cried as her neck was forced to arch back. Zedd then rose a claw beneath her chin, continuing to hold her head back, and waited until she made eye contact with him; “I haven’t done enough by far, not by these new standards,” he seethed, “I punished Rita for her treachery, and threw her own game back in her face, but that was before I had any notion of Dregon’s involvement…”
He slowly released her hair and withdrew his claw, watching the obstinacy burn in the pits of her eyes as she glared at him, small tears of pain remaining in her welled-up lids.
~How can you see
into my eyes like open doors
Leading you down into my core
Where I've become so numb
Without a soul my spirit sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there and lead it back home ~
“Has she been seeing him behind my back?” he asked next.
“What would you care?” Scorpina rejoined, now too upset to be bothered herself.
Zedd rose both his hands about her throat and framed her head with them, arching her chin up to face him with his thumbs; “I want to know, my little scorpion,” he purred, gently massaging her neck, “I want to know what Rita planned to do with my Empire once I was gone, what she and Dregon had exactly plotted - I want you to find out more.”
His hands slid down from her neck, across her shoulders, and down her arms, until he took both her hands in his and looked down on her intensely; Scorpina vacillated, glancing away and brushing his hold off her, “I don’t know…” she murmured, walking away and clutching herself tightly with her arms, “I’ve done enough damage already…”
Zedd came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders; “Please,” he murmured, rubbing them.
~Call my name
and save me from the dark
Bid my blood to run
Before I come undone
Save me from the nothing I've become~
“I can’t betray her trust anymore,” Scorpina dissented, involuntarily placing a hand up onto his, rubbing his raw flesh in return; “She’s my friend.”
~Now that I know
what I'm without
You can't just leave me
Breathe into me and make me real
Bring me to life~
Zedd spun her about to face him, “I’m your friend,” he insisted. They stared again at each other before Zedd steadily lowered his head to hers and - his metallic grille meeting her lips - they kissed.
~Frozen inside
without your touch
Without your love darling
Only you are the life among the dead~
When they finally parted, Scorpina looked back at Zedd hard, swallowing down her further pangs of guilt, “You said friend,” she whispered, one hand dancing about over the curves of his muscular chest, “Not lover…”
“Which would you prefer?” he offered seductively.
The bubble burst. Drawing her to him again, Zedd held her against his body, and embraced her. Scorpina didn’t answer his question - she didn’t feel the need to; she just closed her eyes and gave in to temptation…
~All this time I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me
I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems
Got to open my eyes to everything
Without a thought without a voice without a soul
Don't let me die here
There must be something more
Bring me to life~ [1]
* * * *
The saying was true that fate made strange bedfellows. Scorpina had no idea what time it was when she awoke, nor did she care - she felt so good. She’d never realised quite how much she had yearned for her master, for the feel of him, the smell of him, the touch of him, everything about him… It was strange that a man so deformed could be so attractive, but, then again, when had appearance been an issue?
She blinked in the eternally hazy glow of the cosmos that shone in through the half-closed curtains of the balcony, and drew herself closer to her bedfellow - her Emperor.
He seemed to stir a little as he felt her hand slide over his abdomen and her head cushion itself on his chest. His own hand rose to her bare shoulder and rubbed it gently; “How are we this morning?” he murmured.
“Fine,” she whispered, running her hand up and down his muscular stomach.
“You seem at ease,” he noted, “I haven’t sensed you so laid back for a long time, if you excuse the pun…”
She smiled, “Well I… I never realised -” she murmured, drifting off.
“What?” he pushed.
She angled her head up to look at him, “I never realised how much I loved you…”
He stared at her, and nodded steadily, “I’ve always loved you,” he replied, “I’ve just never had the chance to show you.”
She climbed up and lay on top of his body, looking down into his visor, “I’m glad you did.”
He lay his head back, staring at the ceiling and chuckling under his breath, “Don’t get me all excited again,” he said, “Or I’ll never get up and the others will get suspicious.”
She lay her head flat on his breast, “Let them get suspicious…” she murmured.
Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. Scorpina and Zedd rose their heads a little and looked toward it, hearing Finster’s finicky voice shout from the other side; “Lord Zedd! Lord Zedd! Come quickly!”
Zedd pushed himself up whilst Scorpina slid off his body and sat by his side, hands clinging lightly to his arm.
“What is it Finster?” the warlord loudly replied.
“Urgent news! It’s Goldar, your highness… he’s sent us an urgent message, but… well, I‘m not sure when he sent it, but… oh, just please come quickly!”
Scorpina felt her heart drop - Finster sounded desperate, which was most unlike him; it wasn’t until Zedd started shaking her by the shoulder, however, that she realised she’d fallen into a numb daze; “Scorpina…” the Emperor whispered, “You still awake?”
“Oh no…” she gasped, eyes darting onto him.
“Hey…don’t jump to conclusions…” he reassured her.
“Don’t tell me that!”
Zedd put his hand gently to her lips, reminding her that she wasn’t supposed to be there and should quieten down.
She blushed a little, remembering herself the illicit predicament that she was in, then lowered the tone of her voice; “Can’t you feel that something bad’s happened?”
The Emperor sighed - Scorpina knew him too well, and was too astute herself to be fooled.
“You can,” she nodded.
He turned to her, “Look, I’ll go after Finster now… you follow in a few minutes, all right?”
“But what if -?”
He hushed her again, “We don’t know anything until we see this message…”
“Lord Zedd?” Finster continued from outside.
Zedd growled irritably, “All right, I’ll be right there!” he yelled.
Scorpina shook her head, a terrible feeling in her stomach; she felt really sick.
Zedd sighed at her panic-stricken manner and ran his hand back over her brow, clearing her disarrayed, ebony hair from out of her eyes, “If something’s happened, there’s nothing you can do to change it,” he whispered, “You can’t turn back time.”
She looked at him wide-eyed - that summed the entire night up.
He suddenly kissed her on the forehead and slid out of bed, “Gather your clothes and get dressed - use the bathroom over there if you want - I’ll see you in a minute.”
After a moment, she reluctantly nodded, and the Emperor swiftly arranged himself then left.
* * * *
The quality of the transmission was poor. Zedd stood just behind Finster as a holographic screen formed before them in the Chamber of Command, and Goldar’s image became shakily visible; “I’m not sure when you’ll receive this message,” the Titanian warrior’s voice fizzled through; he could be seen running, the sound of laser fire echoing in the haze behind him as he held his comm’ in front of him, “But I pray that you receive it in time.”
Goldar stumbled, the hologram dispelling before returning once more; the warrior had fallen, but quickly spreading his wings, forced himself onto his feet, then rushed on, glancing behind every few seconds; “It’s a trap! Count Dregon has been in on this with Rita all along - your highness! Please say that you know about this ploy!”
The Emperor inhaled deeply, looking down at the floor for a second - he hadn’t known about this until last night… and he’d let his own desires distract him from doing anything about it.
Scorpina now came up behind Zedd, eyes fixed on the unclear image of her boyfriend as he ran for his life; Goldar could be seen diving once more as some kind of aircraft soared overhead, firing its laser beams upon the ground.
“The Count has realised that I aim to warn you, though where Vile stands on all this, I don‘t know… we never had time to reach him…” Goldar choked as dust clouds rose all around him, “Dregon won’t rest until I’m dead…” He careered to the right, another torrent of laser fire tunnelling into the earth beside him. “He knows you are weak!” he then went on, “Please, save yourself! Your Empire is at stake! ARGGHHH!!”
“Goldar!” Scorpina cried - he had been struck.
The warrior was now on his knees, the transmission fading; he could just be seen holding his arm, the golden armour now cracked with blood seeping from the fissure; “Save yourself,” he repeated again; he swallowed, realising his fate, “Tell Scorpina I love her, and that I’m sorry for our differences as of late… we won’t have chance to rectify them now but… I always loved her, and never meant to hurt her. I wish we could have spent more time together… Please, take care of her, my lord…”
Tears were running down Scorpina’s visage now; Finster pretended not to notice as Lord Zedd slipped his hand onto her shoulder and held her into him affectionately.
More laser fire rained down upon Goldar, and the transmission fizzled into grey before returning for a brief and final moment, “Long may you live, my Emperor - I hope that the Dragon protects you and that my message has not been in vain… Farewell.”
The Titanian warrior’s red eyes drew shut as a final volley hailed down over him and the transmission fell dead, fizzling out to an empty black.
Finster sighed, turning to his master; the Emperor just stared ahead whilst he rubbed Scorpina’s shoulder, seeming to be deep in thought.
“What now, my lord?” Finster asked.
Scorpina dropped to her knees and broke down into a fit of tears whilst Zedd turned his head toward the Clayobian monster maker and said; “We await the Count’s arrival…”
“But my lord!” Finster exclaimed.
“Enough!” Zedd snapped, “I will not run from him…”
“Goldar has died warning you!” the goat-faced minion continued, “Please, don’t let his death be in vain!”
Zedd was about to retaliate when he picked up on a faint, rumbling noise, emitting from the walls behind him; he turned warily, looking to the brickwork of the chamber. The foundations began to tremble steadily and his senses clicked; “Move!” he yelled, pulling Scorpina up to her feet and diving for the far end of the room.
With a tremendous crash, the wall behind them shattered, sending torrents of stone and dust all across the Chamber of Command. Finster looked up through the haze as the cloud slowly settled - the infamous Spidership was hovering right outside their door! Its cannons had blasted straight through the western wall!
Scorpina looked up, suddenly alert, and stared at the grim face of Dregon’s vessel; “Oh no…” she murmured.
Zedd clambered to his feet as the smoke cleared and the foundations stopped violently shaking; “Scorpina… go and get the Green Dragon Coin,” he said; he took a light hold beneath her arms and hauled her to her feet, “Please…”
She looked at him incredulously, “Are you mad?”
“No…” he replied rapidly, “Just do this one last thing for me…”
“Last?”
“…”
“Don’t give up, Zedd, not yet - it’s not over!”
“No, it’s not,” he concurred, “But this is a burden I must face alone. Please do as I say…”
“But what about you?”
The two’s conversation was interrupted as, appearing from sudden blazes of light by the shattered wall, Count Dregon teleported in with three of his minions - Gork, Doubleface and Nefaria. Zedd and Dregon exchanged hidden glances, anger boiling beneath their skin; “I’ll be okay…” he assured Scorpina, turning back to her, “But he must not get his hands on it - not yet! I’m so close…”
“But you’re so weak…”
“I know.”
“Zedd…”
“I hate to interrupt your conference…” Dregon mused caustically, “But I don’t have all day.”
“Take it, keep it safe…” the Emperor went on.
Scorpina tightened her hand about Zedd’s as they shared a long, meaningful parting glance, before the Emperor turned to face his nemesis and he shouted, “Go!!”
And Scorpina obeyed - with her famous speed and agility, she fought her way through the smoke and debris and tore off down into the barracks of the besieged Lunar base.
Dregon stepped toward Zedd, sceptre in his hand; “She won’t get far…” he smirked.
Zedd looked around himself - Finster had disappeared.
* * * *
Climbing across the walls, rushing through hallways and leaping down stairwells, Scorpina was soon in the darker, more feared levels of Zedd’s moon fortress. She soon found her way to the tiny, secretive chamber in which the Emperor had recharged his precious Green Dragon Coin - breaking down the door, she barrelled in - only to find herself face-to-face with Finster!
The monster maker smiled coldly, holding a gun up to face her; she backed off a little in surprise, the Clayobian looking so unnatural in the role of a terrorist.
“Give it up, Scorpina,” he snarled, “It’s over.”
A heated fury unfurled itself from Scorpina’s stomach as she was hit by this sudden betrayal; “You two-faced, double-crossing bastard!” she cried.
“Two-faced?” he chortled, “An ironic statement coming from a woman who made love to her best friend’s husband last night…”
Scorpina swallowed, fingers tensing.
“Oh yes, I know…” Finster continued, “It‘s amazing how easily you two let your guard down and trusted the palace walls to conceal your affair…”
“You spying rat,” she snapped.
“I’m sure the Empress will be pleased to hear about it.”
Scorpina shook her head, “I’ve tried to save her from any of Lord Zedd‘s further advances… she should be grateful.”
“Grateful? What, that you took it upon yourself to have him play these ‘advances’ out on you?”
“Stop twisting things.”
“You’ve twisted things enough, madam. And to think that whilst you were cavorting with the Emperor in his bed, your dear boyfriend was giving up everything to get a message to him, to warn him of the impending and well-deserved doom that he faced…” He stepped toward Scorpina as he saw the guilt and vacillation dance in her eyes, “Doesn’t it make you feel terrible? To know that your loyal partner died, doing his duty, whilst you were selfishly satisfying your persistent lust for your master?” He shook his head, “Tch, tch, tch… I think you’d be much better off if you just gave yourself up now… you‘re a disgrace.”
She shook her head, “I won‘t surrender,” she muttered, though her mind was boggling with guilty, conscience-biting feelings; she wanted to run away and cry in a dark corner somewhere, but now just wasn’t the time - everything she had fought for since the day she was born was depending on it.
“Then may you die in dishonour!” he growled, shooting at her.
Scorpina leapt to the left, her lightning instincts kicking in, though she wasn’t quick enough to stop the laser bolt grazing her arm; she hissed, trying to ignore the pain as she took her chance to lunge toward the Clayobian; another shot bounced off the ceiling as Scorpina knocked Finster off his feet and he accidentally pulled the trigger. She threw a sharp punch into his cheek, dazing him for long enough to dive toward the suspended jar, holding the Green Dragon Coin, which she took into her grasp.
Finster rose up with a frustrated cry and shot several times blindly at the female warrior; she rolled to her left, diving all but one of the incoming shots, which went straight through her thigh. Crying, she pounced back toward Finster one final time and dug her nails deep into his throat, resorting to her most brutal form of offensive - poison.
The Clayobian cried as the burning venom entered his bloodstream, and was sent instantly into a delirium, his vision blurring to a spinning mess and his body fraught with a stinging sensation.
Scorpina sighed as her rage ebbed and withdrew her vicious claws, quickly turning and running with the Green Dragon Coin held tightly in her grasp - she had to get out of here.
* * * *
Zedd was having a fight of his own in the throne room; the golden-masked Dregon was taking advantage of the Nimian Emperor’s current state of weakness, and threw him across the floor with a combination of punches and kicks.
Zedd cringed as he hit a wall, clutching at his stomach.
“Oh, bravo my count!” the obsequious Double-Face applauded as Gork danced about his feet in a typical, insane frenzy.
“Poor, poor Zedd…” Dregon laughed acerbically, “Always one step behind ol’ Dregon, even in his father’s eyes.”
“Leave my father out of this…” Zedd wheezed.
“It was true.”
The Emperor rose to his feet, flexing out his claws.
“It’s too late, Zedd,” Dregon murmured; he rose his staff toward the Nimian warlord and sent shards of lightning into his skinless body. Zedd howled, crumbling beneath the pressure, raw electricity coursing over his form and causing him great pain.
Dregon stepped toward Zedd smugly, taking pleasure in his suffering; “Only a fool would waste all of his precious energies on recharging a flimsy Power Coin - you’ve left yourself vulnerable, Zedd - did you really think no one would find out and take advantage of it?”
Dregon drew his sceptre back to his side and laughed as Zedd writhed on the floor, curling up in a tight ball, “The mighty Lord Zedd has been duped by one of his own subjects, made to believe that he was in love with a witch and made to marry her. He has wasted his energies on a Power Coin and a woman, and what does he have to show for it?”
Zedd’s chest rose and fell deeply as the vicious Count taunted him - even talking was too strenuous for him now…
“Nothing to show for a marriage on a whim, his future now is looking mighty dim!” Gork chortled, running a circle round the derelict chamber and laughing manically.
Doubleface turned his lip up at the insane creature; “Imbecile…” he seethed.
“But he’s right,” Nefaria said, stepping forward into the light; Zedd and Nefaria’s eyes met and the Emperor saw the flicker in them, the memory of the past still haunting her. Without her, Zedd knew he would have long been dead… to few people did he owe a debt. But it would seem that she had finally chosen her loyalty to the Count over his continuing survival; he surely wouldn’t be able to count on her this time…
“Yes,” Dregon nodded, his lips parting into a wide grin, “You see, Zedd, Rita and I plotted together - and wasn’t it an ingenius plan? What better way to bring about a man’s downfall than through his petty heart? Fine, we had to mould this heart the right way first, but the outcome was just what we wanted. Rita has played her own master for a fool and now, she and I will unite our forces. Once you’re dead, your entire Empire will legally be hers, and she will finally be free to marry again. Okay, you haven‘t conquered Earth, as we‘d hoped, but still…”
Zedd’s visor glowed scarlet as his rage burned in his heart; he had worked all this out with Scorpina last night, but hearing it from him made everything sound twice as bad as it already was…
“You’ve lost Goldar - I had to kill him… he was proving too prying for his own good - and you will now lose your ultimate possession - your life!”
With a flick of his wrist, he conjured up several magical binds and sent them flying toward Zedd; the Emperor twisted and writhed as the binds tightened about his wrists, ankles and his neck, shackling him into helplessness like a common prisoner.
“We will go to my latest conquest, the planet Nemesis, and there you will die in front of thousands, a poor, worthless and pitiful remnant of the proud Emperor you once were.” Dregon strolled to his enemy’s helpless form and grabbed his neck, forcing his head up to face him; “Hail Lord Zedd,” he seethed, then laughed bitterly…
Zedd dropped his head, his body so void of strength and energy he could barely keep himself conscious; /Go to Serpentera, my scorpion/ he ordered telepathically, hoping Scorpina would hear him, /Get out of here…/
TBC…
[1] - Lyrics from “Bring me to Life” by Evanescence