Captain
#12 – Catching up with……….
Written by: Robert Rock
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Otherworld, Castle
Braddock
Time, it marches on across the multiverse. On Otherworld its march has not been kind to the king, Brian Braddock.
Recently war raged here lead by Mandragon; it divided the citizens and sowed discontent across the realm.
Brian’s attempt to save the sanity of his brother, lead to betrayal by Dane Whitman and Brian’s wounding with a shard of Yggdrasil.
A wound that won’t heal and has left Brian at less than full strength.
Slaymaster almost lived up to his name and killed Brian in his own throne room. Only interference by Brian’s beloved wife Meggan and a Herculean effort on his part saved his life.
Also Meggan lost their child during this time.*
* Last few issues
After this there was the briefest of respites and peace reigned once more in Otherworld.
The coming of Jasper’s destroyed the tranquility once more. Mad Jim imprisoned Brian and placed Roma back on the throne of Otherworld.*
* Tempus Fugit cross-over in Pendragons
Once Jasper had been defeated and normality returned t o the multiverse, Roma found that she had regained her taste for power and was reluctant to give control of Otherworld back to Brian.
Roma has also become convinced that Brain was yet another her of the many genetic failures of her father and not fit to rule Otherworld.
This lead Roma to attempt a mad gambit to solidify her
power,
including granting the power of Captain
This failed and Kelsey used the power Roma had granted her to resurrect Joey Chapman instead.
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Otherworld now
Roma paced in her room in the Castle she chaffed at the indignity that Brian had imposed on her, house arrest within the castle. She was only allowed out of her room with a Dark Guard escort. She wondered what would happen to that edict with their impending disbanding.
She had been so close to gaining full control of Other world again, the little bitch Kelsey had robbed her of that and one day she would pay dearly for that transgression.
Roma took some measure of solace in the fact that her illusion was dispelled and Kelsey had lost her precious children that had given her miserable life some meaning. *
* See Knights of Avalon #1
As she paced, she plotted and planned. No failure would sit on the throne of Otherworld for long.
She had to find out where her father had disappeared to; together they would remedy the situation.
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Limbo
Merlyn and Sammael had retreated to a corner of Limbo at the end of the war on Otherworld. With them they brought both the tortured young Brian and the unborn infant of Brian and Meggan.
Since coming to this place Merlyn had used the special time properties inherent on Limbo to accelerate the growth on Brain Jr. and freeze the development of young Brian.
Both of the Brian’s lives had become an almost endless dance of training both mental and physical.
The intensity that Merlyn and Sammael expended on both was far beyond that received by any before.
Both had developed greatly and their power was an awesome sight to behold. As they clashed with one anothe r, the ground of Limbo shook and the heavens seemed to tremble.
Sammael looked on as they battled; he paid particular attention to Brian Jr. From the first moment he had laid eyes on him there was something that had deeply unsettled the advisor. Some quality to the level of his gaze the could unnerve anyone he cast it upon.
The terror that ran through Sammael’s mind was that Brian Jr. could truly be the genetic perfection that Merlyn had so long strived for, but in the same breath, he could also be his greatest and most dangerous failure.
“They are truly a site to behold, are they not?” Merlyn asked.
“Aye my lord, they are.” S ammael answered. “I have not asked up to this point, but as they come to the end of their training, how long will you keep two?”
“Astute as always advisor, that is a question I hope will answer itself in time.”
With that Merlyn turned his attention back to the field of battle.
The two Brian’s circled one another, gauge defences and planning attacks. At this point in their traini ng, their battles had become akin to chess matches, a wrong first move doomed t he game.
As much as either would ad mit, it had become obvious the Brian Jr. was the superior of the two; he possessed a flexibility of mind and body in battle that Young Brian was unable to match .
Brian Jr. started with a f aint that Young Brian nearly fell for, but at the last possible moment resisted. In reaction, Young Brian spun and attacked with a back handed thrust to Brian Jr.’s jaw. Brian Jr. blocked the b low with one hand and gripped Young Brian’s wrist twisting it painfully to the side. He viciously kicked out toward Young Brian’s head catching him clean on the jaw and nearly separating it from his shoulder.
The fight was over that qu ickly. Young Brian slumped forward in unconsciousness. Brian Jr. caught him and propped him up against himself.
“Don’t worry brother, I’ve got you. Next time will be better for you I’m sure.”
Even though his words were reassuring, the look that Brian Jr. had in his eyes told all who saw it, the dynamic of their relationship had just radically changed.
Sammael looked toward Merl yn and saw him nod and mumble to himself.
Brian Jr. and Merlyn locke d eyes for several moments, before Brian Jr. turned and began to drag Young Brian back to their shelter.
“Come Sammael, we have bus iness to discuss.”
With that Merlyn rose from his seat and left. Sammael remained behind for a moment watching Brian Jr. rece de in the distance. His mind processing not what his eyes saw, but what they hadn’t.
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Throne Room, Otherworld
Brian sat upon his throne and listened to the petitions of his people. Every day he sat in audience to at tend to the pleas and petitions of his people.
The hero in him chaffed at this inaction. He was meant for more than sitting and listening to the mulling of these little people. He yearned for the thrill of adventure and the heat of battle.
Brian shook his head. Thes e mini rages had been growing more and more in recent times. He secretly felt that his decision to dismiss the Dark Guard was a back door way to see more action personally.
As he sat the wound from Y ggdrasil throbbed. Brian idlely wondered if it would ever go away. He felt weak and drawn by it more seemingly every day.
The lack of his full stren gth frustrated him. His recent failure to help his sister out of her coma was only the most recent display of his waning power. *
* Pendragons #67
“Well my lord, what thinks you?” asked the farmer before him.
Bewildered, Brian’s attent ion snapped back the Throne Room. His face slightly flushed, he eyed the room finding all staring at him.
“My apologies Fener, I mis sed some of what you said.”
Fener looked hurt at this and his feelings of unimportance in the eyes of his King grew. “I realize that my l ord has greater matters to weigh, but I asked you help in settling the land dis pute between me and Hewitt. He continues to encroach on my property and though I have no proof, fell he is responsible for some of my missing game.”
“I see, leave the matter w ith me Fener, I’ll speak to Hewitt and hear his side and will call you both back to these chambers for my decision.
Fener bowed and scraped, b acking himself quickly out of the Throne room.
“My apologies to those who have waited this long, but I must attend to other matters. I will reconvene audiences on the morrow.”
Brian quickly exited the r oom as member of the crowd called out their complaints and grievances.
Brian wound through the ha lls of the castle finding himself at the doors of his personal room. He crossed the room and went out onto the balcony. He felt as though he couldn’t catch his breath and wondered if, as absurd as it sounded to him, he was having some form of panic attack.
“Heavy hangs the head that wears the crown does it not?” The voice was mocking in its tone.
The time since Meggan had lost their child had not been kind to her. Her behaviour and mental stability had become erratic, waffling between the deeply loving wife and a sarcastic cro ne.
As of late she’d progressi vely regressed into herself, constantly second guessing herself and the decision she had made to terminate the pregnancy.
She claimed through some f orm of mother’s intuition that she felt their son in some way wasn’t dead and was out there in the multiverse.
At first Brian thought it was just the stress of losing the child, coupled with the battle against Mandragon a nd Slaymaster. But she persisted with this crazy line of thought and Brian wondered if he might use his powers to heal her fractured mind.
She’d never let him even t ry, but he thought on it.
“Darling, what are you doi ng here, I thought that you were out today making an appearance at Loamhedge, survey ing the rebuilding after the war.”
“And I thought you were me ant to be in Audience for another hour.”
“I was not up to it today. The wound from the World Tree has been particularly bad lately.”
Meggan stood up shifting h er appearance to her lovely, long blond headed form. She crossed the balcony a nd wrapped herself around Brian.
“Then why don’t we spend s ome quiet time together in the chambers, my lord.” She said looking up at him w ith seductive eyes.
Not even waiting for a res ponse, she took his hand and led him back to into the chamber room and toward their massive bed.
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Limbo
The small wooden shelter h ad been home to the four occupants for quit some time. Exactly how long was impossi ble for Sammael to ascertain, time moved oddly in Limbo, if it actually moved at all.
He sat at a crudely built table and waited for Merlyn to return. More and more recently Merlyn had been mak ing forays out of Limbo and checking in on the status of key players.
Merlyn opened the door to the shelter and brushed some of the dust and sand that had blown onto his grey cloak during his journey.
“What is news, lord?” He a sked
“I’ve been to Darkmoor. Ad
am Crown
has to audacity to believe that he is the ordained ruler of
“Aye, lord. None that you have trained have ever been more ready. I would say not even Arthur himself possessed greater power than Brian Jr. but I must ask if you feel that he possesses the mental strength for what your asking?”
“We’ll see Sammael, won’t we? We must make final preparation for our departure. There is some final lessons that both must endure.”
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Authors Notes:
Holy Crap it’s been forever between issues. Thanks go to Barry who has been the model of patience.
Not a lot of action in the issue I admit, but to be honest I’m trying to get the storyline back together, reintroduce the characters and begin moving forward again.
I’d love to hear your thou ghts, please send them along to me at rarock2002@yahoo.ca or on the Pendragons yahoo board.
Cheers,
Robert