***If you really want to read the silly disclaimer, go back to the Prologue
- I am not going to post it all over again! :-p***
Chapter I * * * *
The Rebel Leader Adora, or more formally known as Princess Adora of Eternia slept peacefully in Castle Blackmoore on the planet Etheria, unaware of the event about to unfold around her. Since becoming the rebel leader, she had been lucky to get a few hours to herself without something coming up needing her, or She-Ra's attention.
Queen Angela of Brightmoon, one of the other key leaders in the rebellion against the Horde occupancy of Etheria, had seen that the train was taking its toll on Adora and set her foot down and ordered Adora to take a few days off to recharge. She had even mentioned slyly, that Adora should consider making a visit home to see her family on Eternia and possibly taking the pirate Captain Seahawk with her to meet her parents, causing Adora to curse her fair skin as she had blushed rose red.
Upon reaching Castle Blackmoore and concluding her business there, it was too late to travel on to Gailsbreath to meet Seahawk that day. Adora had decided to retire early and leave with the first light in the morning to get to the village. The seneschal had sent a messenger out to Gailsbreath to let the captain know not to expect Adora until the following day.
In the Fright Zone, the Horde's main base for their occupancy of Etheria, at Shadoweaver's Horror Hall, Shadoweaver told Hordak of her findings, "Hordak, I have located the Ex-Force Captain Adora at Blackmoore Castle." Shadoweaver's raspy voice reported her findings as she turned from pool of vision. Her hooded red dress hid her disfigured face, so all that could be seen were her glowing, yellow eyes.
"Excellent, Shadoweaver, excellent," Hordak replied, clapping his hands together in evil glee. As the commander of the Etherian Horde Force, he didn't believe all that strongly in Shadoweaver's magic. He had seen it work well and other times seen the horrendous result when one of her spells was turned against her. "All is in readiness for the attack, let it commence!"
"As you command, Hordak," Shadoweaver replied with a wave of her arms and a flash of lightning, cast the translocation spell.
Shadoweaver, Hordak and two full platoon of robot troopers along with four of the Horde mercenaries - Leech, with his energy draining ability, Mantannae, known for his balance distorter beams; Catra with her stolen mask of the cat people that allowed her to change her form into that of a cat; and Scorpia, with claws for hands and her deadly scorpion's tail- all appeared outside the walls of Castle Blackmoore. For Shadoweaver, she was looking forward to this attack, since she had a new spell she wanted to try out on either She-Ra or Adora, it mattered not which, for without either one, the rebellion was doomed. She needed a way to get back into Hordak's good graces and this spell should be her ticket to do just that.
Inside the castle, the heat lightning and which preceded the approaching storm was intense enough to wake Adora from her peaceful rest. The blonde young woman donned her robe and moved to the window to watch the storm as it approached. At first, her sapphire blue eyes saw nothing and she turned to pick up the Sword of Protection, which was laying next to a dress her mother had given her for a Terran holiday called Christmas. As her hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword, it glowed brightly and the all too familiar scent of danger filled her senses. With the next brilliant flash of lightning, the Horde attack force appeared amidst the gusting wind. Adora gasped in surprise at their sudden appearance before she quickly recovered herself and hurriedly got dressed before raising the alarm.
Once the alarm was successfully raised, Adora stood in the courtyard in the middle of the raging storm, directing the castle's defenses. Shouting the orders out over the loud, booming thunder and gusting winds. That accomplished, she realized that she needed to get a better idea of how the fight was going on outside. She needed to find out if She-Ra's help would be needed and she couldn't do that from inside the castle. Her next goal in mind, Adora snuck out of the castle amidst a group of fighters as they went out the main gate, trying not to draw attention to herself from the Horde troopers.
It was at this point in time, the nightmare began for three women whose lives were all somehow connected to Adora's - The Sorceress of Grayskull, guardian and guide to Adora and her brother Adam; Queen Marlena, Adora and Adam's mother who never thought that her Terran background would ever come into play again; and Chelsea Cameron, a young psychic from Queen Marlena's home world who had helped He-Man to defeat Skeletor after he had returned from the 'grave' and captured Castle Grayskull again. Each was helpless in the grips of the nightmare that they now witnessed unfolding from Adora's point of view.
* * * *
Adora moved along the edge of the battle, she occasionally encountering a trooper or two, and dealt with them accordingly, but for the most part all the robot troopers were engaged in fighting the rebel defense force. She was beginning to get a pretty good idea of the attack force size and saw that for the moment, the rebels were holding their own against the enemy robots. But, all bets were off when dealing with the mercenaries. She knew that Hordak wouldn't commit himself to an attack of this size without having at least one or two of them handy, and they were the unknown factor. She-Ra would be needed to deal with them. She headed into the woods to change into She-Ra to give the rebels the edge they needed by taking care of Hordak's mercenaries. Just as she lifted her sword in preparation for the change, Adora heard a rustling in the brush behind her. Not sure if it would be friend or foe, Adora whirled around in time to see Catra's flying leap.
Catra slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Adora grunted as she skidded in the mud with Catra clinging to her legs. As Catra clawed her way towards Adora's face, Adora yanked one leg free and slammed a boot into her opponent's face. Catra let go with a growl of surprise and Adora scrambled back to her feet first.
Circling each other, probing the each other's defense, Catra hissed, "Give up, Adora! You can never win! Even your friends are doomed!"
Adora shivered inside as she though of the hideous evil that Hordak could have planned for her friends and was determined that Hordak would never win complete control over Etheria again. "I won't give up, Catra. I can't give up."
Meanwhile, Hordak watched the battle's progress from inside one of his tanks with Shadoweaver at his side. At Catra's signal, she was to transport them to Catra's location, so Shadoweaver could use her new spell on whichever of the two rebel women that Catra managed to trap. The signal should arrive at any moment, and Shadoweaver was getting as impatient as Hordak.
In the midst of all this, Spirit, Adora's horse and companion, managed to get himself out of the stable and then out of the castle. He tried to follow her scent to get to her side as the lightning and thunder continued to crash overhead and the rain continued to come in blinding sheets. He followed her route along the edge of the battle, trampling any robot trooper who was foolish enough to get in his way. The robots quickly left him alone after that.
While in the village of Gailsbreath, Seahawk, the semi-reformed pirate and Adora's love, was going over plans for the refitting and refurbishing of his ship, the Solar Sailor II, with his first mate and best friend Swen when his half of the magical pendant that he shared with Adora began glowing.
Swen was the first one to notice that it wasn't the lamp's reflection on the pendant, but the pendant itself that was glowing. He stammered, "C- Cap'n, l-look!" He pointed to the pendant, "Your pendant, it's g-glowing! Adora must be in danger."
"By the saints, Swen, you're right! Gather up the men, we're going to Castle Blackmoore!" He then added under his breath, "Hang on Adora, I'm on my way." He held the pendant in his hand for a moment longer, looking at it thoughtfully before he went to join Swen and brief his men on what was happening.
Once the crew was gathered, the red, closely clipped, bearded pirate explained that something was amiss at Castle Blackmoore and he believed that the Horde was involved. The crew let out a bloody thirsty cheer that the rumbling thunder couldn't drown out. They had a score to settle with the Horde, still, for shooting the original Solar Sailor out of the skies and now they were going after the Captain's lady? That was going too far. They let out another bloodthirsty cheer as Seahawk gave the signal to move out and march on to Castle Blackmoore.
Back at the Castle, Spirit reached the clearing where Adora and Catra were slugging it out. He knew that Catra was a dirty fighter and didn't trust her not to pull a bad move to cripple/wound Adora seriously. He moved in to break up the fight by blocking Catra from getting to Adora when a bunch of Horde robots came out of the dense forest and blocked his way. Knowing that it would take too long to go thru the robots, he decided to try and go around to another side of the clearing, only to see more troopers in the forest, blocking his every access to her. Recognizing it for what it was - a trap meant to capture Adora, Spirit knew he needed help in order to get Adora out of it before it was too late. But first, he had to give her some time for him to bring back help and to do that he had to distract the person commanding the robots. He didn't know who it was until he had reached almost the opposite side of the clearing and saw Leech hiding in the brush, directing the robots' movements. He charged the mercenary's hiding spot, rousting him out and herding him for a thick patch of prickly, thorny bushes. With a butt of his head, Spirit sent the mercenary sprawling headfirst into the briar patch. Not taking time to gloat over his momentary triumph, Spirit worked his way back thru the forest until he reached the road to Gailsbreath on the far side of the castle, away from the battle and set out to get help at a full gallop.
About halfway there, Spirit met up with the pirate captain and his men. The white horse with the fiery mane and tail thundered to a halt in front of the captain, his sides heaving as he struggled to bring enough oxygen into his lungs, sweat foaming on his coat, making his coat seem gray rather than its normal gleaming white. Based on Spirit's appearance alone, Seahawk made his decision.
"Adora's in trouble right, Spirit?" he asked, putting a steadying hand on the horse's neck.
Spirit nodded his head, concentrating on getting as much fresh oxygen as he could into his lungs.
"Think you can get me back there fast?" he asked.
Again, Spirit nodded. He would do anything for Adora.
"Then, let's go, Spirit," Seahawk answered, getting a good handful of Spirit's mane and hauling himself up onto the horse's back. "Swen, get there as fast as you can. I've got to see what Hordak's trying to do to Adora now."
Spirit spun around and lunged forward into a ground-eating gallop back the road towards Castle Blackmoore, his hooves kicking up great clods of mud behind him.
Back at the Castle, the rebel troops were still holding their own against the robots, but with Mantannae and Scorpia harassing them, the rebel force was having a hard time beating the robots back. They needed some reinforcements, but there were none to be had at Castle Blackmoore and no one to send with a message for help to either Whispering Woods or the palace at Brightmoon stating their need. It wasn't desperate, but it wasn't good either..
Chapter I * * * *
The Rebel Leader Adora, or more formally known as Princess Adora of Eternia slept peacefully in Castle Blackmoore on the planet Etheria, unaware of the event about to unfold around her. Since becoming the rebel leader, she had been lucky to get a few hours to herself without something coming up needing her, or She-Ra's attention.
Queen Angela of Brightmoon, one of the other key leaders in the rebellion against the Horde occupancy of Etheria, had seen that the train was taking its toll on Adora and set her foot down and ordered Adora to take a few days off to recharge. She had even mentioned slyly, that Adora should consider making a visit home to see her family on Eternia and possibly taking the pirate Captain Seahawk with her to meet her parents, causing Adora to curse her fair skin as she had blushed rose red.
Upon reaching Castle Blackmoore and concluding her business there, it was too late to travel on to Gailsbreath to meet Seahawk that day. Adora had decided to retire early and leave with the first light in the morning to get to the village. The seneschal had sent a messenger out to Gailsbreath to let the captain know not to expect Adora until the following day.
In the Fright Zone, the Horde's main base for their occupancy of Etheria, at Shadoweaver's Horror Hall, Shadoweaver told Hordak of her findings, "Hordak, I have located the Ex-Force Captain Adora at Blackmoore Castle." Shadoweaver's raspy voice reported her findings as she turned from pool of vision. Her hooded red dress hid her disfigured face, so all that could be seen were her glowing, yellow eyes.
"Excellent, Shadoweaver, excellent," Hordak replied, clapping his hands together in evil glee. As the commander of the Etherian Horde Force, he didn't believe all that strongly in Shadoweaver's magic. He had seen it work well and other times seen the horrendous result when one of her spells was turned against her. "All is in readiness for the attack, let it commence!"
"As you command, Hordak," Shadoweaver replied with a wave of her arms and a flash of lightning, cast the translocation spell.
Shadoweaver, Hordak and two full platoon of robot troopers along with four of the Horde mercenaries - Leech, with his energy draining ability, Mantannae, known for his balance distorter beams; Catra with her stolen mask of the cat people that allowed her to change her form into that of a cat; and Scorpia, with claws for hands and her deadly scorpion's tail- all appeared outside the walls of Castle Blackmoore. For Shadoweaver, she was looking forward to this attack, since she had a new spell she wanted to try out on either She-Ra or Adora, it mattered not which, for without either one, the rebellion was doomed. She needed a way to get back into Hordak's good graces and this spell should be her ticket to do just that.
Inside the castle, the heat lightning and which preceded the approaching storm was intense enough to wake Adora from her peaceful rest. The blonde young woman donned her robe and moved to the window to watch the storm as it approached. At first, her sapphire blue eyes saw nothing and she turned to pick up the Sword of Protection, which was laying next to a dress her mother had given her for a Terran holiday called Christmas. As her hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword, it glowed brightly and the all too familiar scent of danger filled her senses. With the next brilliant flash of lightning, the Horde attack force appeared amidst the gusting wind. Adora gasped in surprise at their sudden appearance before she quickly recovered herself and hurriedly got dressed before raising the alarm.
Once the alarm was successfully raised, Adora stood in the courtyard in the middle of the raging storm, directing the castle's defenses. Shouting the orders out over the loud, booming thunder and gusting winds. That accomplished, she realized that she needed to get a better idea of how the fight was going on outside. She needed to find out if She-Ra's help would be needed and she couldn't do that from inside the castle. Her next goal in mind, Adora snuck out of the castle amidst a group of fighters as they went out the main gate, trying not to draw attention to herself from the Horde troopers.
It was at this point in time, the nightmare began for three women whose lives were all somehow connected to Adora's - The Sorceress of Grayskull, guardian and guide to Adora and her brother Adam; Queen Marlena, Adora and Adam's mother who never thought that her Terran background would ever come into play again; and Chelsea Cameron, a young psychic from Queen Marlena's home world who had helped He-Man to defeat Skeletor after he had returned from the 'grave' and captured Castle Grayskull again. Each was helpless in the grips of the nightmare that they now witnessed unfolding from Adora's point of view.
* * * *
Adora moved along the edge of the battle, she occasionally encountering a trooper or two, and dealt with them accordingly, but for the most part all the robot troopers were engaged in fighting the rebel defense force. She was beginning to get a pretty good idea of the attack force size and saw that for the moment, the rebels were holding their own against the enemy robots. But, all bets were off when dealing with the mercenaries. She knew that Hordak wouldn't commit himself to an attack of this size without having at least one or two of them handy, and they were the unknown factor. She-Ra would be needed to deal with them. She headed into the woods to change into She-Ra to give the rebels the edge they needed by taking care of Hordak's mercenaries. Just as she lifted her sword in preparation for the change, Adora heard a rustling in the brush behind her. Not sure if it would be friend or foe, Adora whirled around in time to see Catra's flying leap.
Catra slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Adora grunted as she skidded in the mud with Catra clinging to her legs. As Catra clawed her way towards Adora's face, Adora yanked one leg free and slammed a boot into her opponent's face. Catra let go with a growl of surprise and Adora scrambled back to her feet first.
Circling each other, probing the each other's defense, Catra hissed, "Give up, Adora! You can never win! Even your friends are doomed!"
Adora shivered inside as she though of the hideous evil that Hordak could have planned for her friends and was determined that Hordak would never win complete control over Etheria again. "I won't give up, Catra. I can't give up."
Meanwhile, Hordak watched the battle's progress from inside one of his tanks with Shadoweaver at his side. At Catra's signal, she was to transport them to Catra's location, so Shadoweaver could use her new spell on whichever of the two rebel women that Catra managed to trap. The signal should arrive at any moment, and Shadoweaver was getting as impatient as Hordak.
In the midst of all this, Spirit, Adora's horse and companion, managed to get himself out of the stable and then out of the castle. He tried to follow her scent to get to her side as the lightning and thunder continued to crash overhead and the rain continued to come in blinding sheets. He followed her route along the edge of the battle, trampling any robot trooper who was foolish enough to get in his way. The robots quickly left him alone after that.
While in the village of Gailsbreath, Seahawk, the semi-reformed pirate and Adora's love, was going over plans for the refitting and refurbishing of his ship, the Solar Sailor II, with his first mate and best friend Swen when his half of the magical pendant that he shared with Adora began glowing.
Swen was the first one to notice that it wasn't the lamp's reflection on the pendant, but the pendant itself that was glowing. He stammered, "C- Cap'n, l-look!" He pointed to the pendant, "Your pendant, it's g-glowing! Adora must be in danger."
"By the saints, Swen, you're right! Gather up the men, we're going to Castle Blackmoore!" He then added under his breath, "Hang on Adora, I'm on my way." He held the pendant in his hand for a moment longer, looking at it thoughtfully before he went to join Swen and brief his men on what was happening.
Once the crew was gathered, the red, closely clipped, bearded pirate explained that something was amiss at Castle Blackmoore and he believed that the Horde was involved. The crew let out a bloody thirsty cheer that the rumbling thunder couldn't drown out. They had a score to settle with the Horde, still, for shooting the original Solar Sailor out of the skies and now they were going after the Captain's lady? That was going too far. They let out another bloodthirsty cheer as Seahawk gave the signal to move out and march on to Castle Blackmoore.
Back at the Castle, Spirit reached the clearing where Adora and Catra were slugging it out. He knew that Catra was a dirty fighter and didn't trust her not to pull a bad move to cripple/wound Adora seriously. He moved in to break up the fight by blocking Catra from getting to Adora when a bunch of Horde robots came out of the dense forest and blocked his way. Knowing that it would take too long to go thru the robots, he decided to try and go around to another side of the clearing, only to see more troopers in the forest, blocking his every access to her. Recognizing it for what it was - a trap meant to capture Adora, Spirit knew he needed help in order to get Adora out of it before it was too late. But first, he had to give her some time for him to bring back help and to do that he had to distract the person commanding the robots. He didn't know who it was until he had reached almost the opposite side of the clearing and saw Leech hiding in the brush, directing the robots' movements. He charged the mercenary's hiding spot, rousting him out and herding him for a thick patch of prickly, thorny bushes. With a butt of his head, Spirit sent the mercenary sprawling headfirst into the briar patch. Not taking time to gloat over his momentary triumph, Spirit worked his way back thru the forest until he reached the road to Gailsbreath on the far side of the castle, away from the battle and set out to get help at a full gallop.
About halfway there, Spirit met up with the pirate captain and his men. The white horse with the fiery mane and tail thundered to a halt in front of the captain, his sides heaving as he struggled to bring enough oxygen into his lungs, sweat foaming on his coat, making his coat seem gray rather than its normal gleaming white. Based on Spirit's appearance alone, Seahawk made his decision.
"Adora's in trouble right, Spirit?" he asked, putting a steadying hand on the horse's neck.
Spirit nodded his head, concentrating on getting as much fresh oxygen as he could into his lungs.
"Think you can get me back there fast?" he asked.
Again, Spirit nodded. He would do anything for Adora.
"Then, let's go, Spirit," Seahawk answered, getting a good handful of Spirit's mane and hauling himself up onto the horse's back. "Swen, get there as fast as you can. I've got to see what Hordak's trying to do to Adora now."
Spirit spun around and lunged forward into a ground-eating gallop back the road towards Castle Blackmoore, his hooves kicking up great clods of mud behind him.
Back at the Castle, the rebel troops were still holding their own against the robots, but with Mantannae and Scorpia harassing them, the rebel force was having a hard time beating the robots back. They needed some reinforcements, but there were none to be had at Castle Blackmoore and no one to send with a message for help to either Whispering Woods or the palace at Brightmoon stating their need. It wasn't desperate, but it wasn't good either..