CHAPTER XIV: BATTLE FOR BRIGHT MOON – PART II
"We have to escape, run away and re organize ourselves."
Everyone turned towards Shadow Weaver in astonishment.
"B-but we can't leave! They'll destroy everything! Maybe even the Moon stone!" Bow protested.
"Horde Prime won't risk that." Glimmer murmured in a disgusted tone of voice.
"What?" Adora asked.
"Catra told him about the Heart of Etheria… he doesn't know much about it, but I doubt he'll risk destroying one of its pieces."
"Then… why are his ships targeting Bright Moon?" Perfuma wondered, clearly confused by the tyrant's doing.
"I think he wants to give us a taste of his power, he wants us to know he could completely erase us and our home in an instant. He wants us to surrender, to give him what he wants." Glimmer theorized.
"Whatever is the case, we can't stay here, it's too dangerous to take the risk, we need to flee-" Shadow Weaver chimed in, trying to make her point, but suddenly, a voice spoke from above them.
"That won't be necessary."
"Aunt Casta!" Glimmer exclaimed as the sorceress glided towards the small group.
"And I'm not alone!" Castaspella shouted excitedly.
Everyone gasped as the clouds above them cleared and countless other wizards and sorceresses appeared from above the castle, descending gracefully towards them like hundreds of falling stars.
The chivalry had arrived.
"I thought I'd bring back up, seems we'll need it. Alright everyone! Let's show the Horde what Mystacor is capable of!"
As Castaspella spoke, all of the mages began to trace lines in the air with their fingers, and as they kept moving their hands, a large barrier began to rise from the ground. It grew and grew until it completely covered Bright Moon castle.
"Good job everyone!" Castaspella praised as she clapped her hands.
"Casta…"
The mages' queen whipped her head around so quickly and so harshly that her neck hurt. That voice… she knew that voice… it was the same voice that always told her she could do anything, that she could overcome any obstacle life would present to her. It was a voice she expected never to hear again, that she grew not to miss anymore, not to remember anymore. And yet… there it was… and there he was…
"Micah…" Casta muttered in a hushed tone of voice, her voice cracking, tears flooding her eyes.
"I…" The old king tried to find some words, but when he felt his sister wrapping her arms around him, he knew he didn't need to.
"I thought you were gone." Castaspella whispered, bewildered.
"I'm here Casta, I'm sorry it took me so long to come back." Micah said, holding her tighter.
The two held each other for a few more instants before letting go, their hands still conjoined, warm smiles upon their face.
However, the moment was soon spoiled .
"Uh, not to interrupt the happy reunion or anything, but I think we've got company." Mermista spoke up, pointing a finger towards an area outside the magical barrier that had been completely enveloped in a greenish light.
Soon, hundreds of clones began to appear from inside the beam of light, stepping forwards, marching towards the barrier until they came to halt a few inches away from the light blue wall of magic. Their expressionless sent chills running down the princesses spines. The clones were armed with long, white, odd looking rifles and as one of them took a step forwards, the others raised their weapons towards the shield.
"Surrender, the great Prime demands it." The clone spoke in an emotionless tone of voice.
"Why don't you surrender?! I really want to see what your pea shooters can do against this barrier! Hah!" Swift Wind shouted, scraping the ground with his hoof.
"As you wish."
That was all the warning that was given to the princesses before the clones started shooting. Greenish spheres of energy flew through the air at an incredible speed before colliding with the wall of magic surrounding the castle. The black ships' cannons, which had remained silent the whole time, finally began to shoot. Their powerful blasts hit the barrier's surface before dissipating into thin air. All of Bright Moon's guards reached the palace's grounds, joining both the princesses and the mages. As agonizingly slow minutes began to pass, small cracks began to form on the wall's surface as both Horde Prime's clones and ships kept shooting.
"The wall won't last much longer! Gather in groups and use the blasting spells! Aim for those cursed ships!" Castaspella yelled at her mages.
"Prepare yourself! When the barrier is broken, we'll have to fight with everything we've got!" Micah shouted to his soldiers.
"Whatever happens… we stay together." Adora stated, looking at Bow, then turning towards Glimmer.
Soon, the barrier would have fallen. But despite that, the princesses exchanged determined looks, the fear in their hearts long gone. Their powers were still weak, but they still had each other. They managed to rescue Glimmer and now they had their queen back. Micah was there too, and so was Castaspella and all of her mages. Horde Prime's clones may have had larger numbers, but they had nothing to fight for if not the fear of their master.
The cracks in the barrier grew more numerous, larger and deeper until chunks of the wall began to fall down, disappearing in the air before touching the ground. All of the wizards and sorceresses gathered in small circles, moving their hands through the air and summoning what looked like large cones of light. They emerged from the ground and grew taller and taller until from the tip of each one of them, beams of pure magical energy erupted and flew towards the five black ships.
Horde Prime's clones realized what the wizards and sorceresses were trying to do, but despite the fact that the barrier was starting to crumble, it was still preventing them from reaching the castle's grounds. Suddenly, loud explosions could be heard above Bright Moon as the ships were repeatedly hit with countless magical rays. Their light was blinding . When the cones of light summoned by the mages finally grew silent and vanished into nothingness, black smoke could be seen rising from all of Horde Prime's ships. They remained motionless for a few instant, before starting to move.
"Look up! The ships are retreating!" Castaspella warned everyone as the five ships began to move, shifting away from above the castle and disappearing into the night sky.
The clones, however, didn't cease their attack and soon, the magic wall summoned by Mystacor's mages fell apart. It was then, as the last thing that separated Etheria's armies from Horde Prime's, that Glimmer turned towards the other princesses.
"Ready?" The young queen asked, offering the princesses a small, yet courageous smile.
"For our home!" Bow shouted.
"For our friends!" Scorpia joined the choir of voices that was growing louder and louder.
"For Etheria!" Adora exclaimed as the magic wall fell.
But before the two armies could clash against each other the sound of a war horn resonated through the air. Suddenly, the clones began to turn around.
"We're being attacked from behind!" One of them cried.
"Who's attacking them?!" Frosta asked.
"I don't know! But we have to take advantage of this! Come on! We can do this!" Adora shouted as she knocked down to the ground a clone a grabbed his rifle.
"They don't have their ships anymore, come on!" Bow spoke between ragged breaths, clearly exhausted.
That is when a clone appeared behind him and raised a blade above his head.
"Bow!" Both Adora and Glimmer cried.
They began to rush towards the young archer, but it was too late. As Bow turned around the saber came down. He shut his eyes but…
The blow never came…
Instead, the archer heard a loud thump. When he opened his eyes, he saw the clone laying on the ground in front of him and when he raised his gaze, he was met with a smug grin.
"What would you do without me?"
"Huntara!" The princesses cried in unison.
And as more clones fell, both the princesses and Bright Moon's and Castaspella's armies realized who had been helping them. Huntara and her people had come to the rescue right on time.
"I thought you were trying to free the Crimson Wastes from the Horde… what are you doing here?" Glimmer asked, both surprised and relieved.
"I did, and when me and my people saw those black ships appearing out of nowhere I thought about paying you a visit, turns out I came at the right moment." Huntara answered, grinning triumphantly.
Attacked both from the front and from behind by Bright Moon's, Mystacor's and Huntara's armies, the numbers of Horde Prime's clones grew thinner and thinner in a matter of minutes. The remaining ones called a retreat and ran away from the castle's grounds. Their ships had flown away, leaving them stranded. In a last attempt to save themselves, they ran away until they reached the edge of the Whispering Woods and as they disappeared into the trees, Adora knew…
Etheria wouldn't have forgiven them…
The clones were never seen again…
Etheria had won the first battle against the Emperor of the known universe.
"We did it!" Bow exclaimed, bringing Adora into a tight hug.
Glimmer smiled sadly, taking a step backwards, but before she could move further away, the young archer caught her and brought her into the embrace too. The young queen's eyes widened in surprise before shutting tight, a trembling smile growing on her face as a few tears rolled down her cheeks.
The moment however, was short lived.
"Adora!" Scorpia suddenly called the blonde.
Adora turned towards the scorpion princess, noticing her terrified expression. She followed her gaze and noticed that Micah was leaving the castle's grounds. She knew where he was headed and without a moment of hesitation, she began to move. Before the old king could enter the palace, Adora caught up to him and blocked the entrance.
"Adora… move aside." Micah spoke in a firm tone of voice, but its slight trembling betrayed the fury he was trying to hide.
"No, I know what your going to do… I'm sorry but I can't let you do it." Adora shook her head.
"I'm not going to ask you again, I'm going to do what has to be done." The old king took a step forwards, now mere inches away from the blonde.
"You don't know what happened." Adora kept her eyes glued on Micah's, not showing any sign of fear.
"I don't know what… of course I know! I know what she did!"
"Oh, are you sure?! Did you know that Catra opened a portal not knowing that it could have destroyed our universe?! Did you know… did you know that she didn't have the slightest clue about what had to be done to save us? To close the portal? Did you know that Angella chose willingly to do that?" Adora stopped for a moment, wiping away a few tears that had welled up in her eyes. "Did you know that the only reason Catra did what she did is because she wanted me to suffer? And that happened because I broke a promise I made to her while we grew up in the Horde…"
"You… you grew up in the Horde?" Suddenly, Micah's voice began to soften.
"And so did Catra. I promised her that we'd always be together, because as long as we had each other nothing bad would have ever happened… and then… then… the sword came. I got to see what the Horde was doing and decided to put an end to it, but in doing that I… broke my promise… I left her alone with the one who always treated her the worst." Adora turned towards Shadow Weaver, a disgusted scowl forming on her face. "And to think that some people would call you our mother, you've never been one, especially to her."
"I did what I had to… to make her stronger." Shadow Weaver responded spitefully.
"Lie all you want, you were always a bitter, sad old woman who took it out on a child."
"And yet you didn't protect her, did you?" The red witch mocked.
A flash of regret passed on the blonde's face but it was gone in a moment.
"No… but I'm going to do that now." Adora spoke determinately.
As the blonde's gaze returned to Micah, she could see that his expression had turned uncertain. Now he knew, he knew that Catra never killed Angella, it was the Queen who made her choice. She stopped the portal, sacrificing herself to save all of Etheria. Now he knew what kind of life Catra had as she grew up, who she had as a mother.
The old king hesitated for a few moments, and that was when Shadow Weaver stepped forwards.
"Your king gave you an order, step aside Adora."
"And her Queen is giving her another order!" Suddenly, Glimmer spoke up. "Adora, don't move an inch."
The blonde's gaze shifted on Glimmer, her determined look turning into one of gratitude.
"Glimmer?" Micah spoke in confused tone of voice as he turned towards his daughter.
"Dad…" The young queen reached for her father's hands, gently grasping them, a pleading look in her eyes. "Catra saved my life."
"What?!" Micah's eyes widened in puzzlement.
"Uh, are we talking of the same Catra who brought the Horde to the Crimson Wastes? The same who helped Hordak take over Selineas and countless other bad thin- ouch!" Huntara began to talk but Perfuma quickly interrupted her by elbowing her in the stomach.
"Yes, that Catra. She saved me dad. If she hadn't intervened, Horde Prime would have killed me."
Micah grunted, lowering his eyes, but Glimmer let go of his hands, cupped his face and raised it so that her eyes could meet his.
"Please dad, I know who she was in the past, I know what she did to Etheria, but I know there's something more to her than that. Give her a chance to redeem herself, at least if not for me, for her family…"
The old king remained silent for a few instants. Shadow Weaver had told him only a partial truth about what had happened to Angella. He only knew that a woman named Catra had killed her… but he didn't know… he didn't know she was the last one of her people… people who were brutally massacred by the Horde. He didn't know she had to grow up in the Horde and neither did he know that the one who raised was none other than the traitor who slaughtered all of the previous masters of Mystacor. He couldn't even imagine what horrors Catra had to experience as she grew up with a… no, not a mother… with a guardian like her. He didn't know that Catra didn't kill Angella directly, that it was never her intention do so. He didn't know… but now he did.
"She'll be taken to one of the spare rooms and imprisoned… if she'll prove that she really had changed… than I'll give a chance at redemption." Micah declared.
Shadow Weaver's eyes grew thin, but other than that, she remained silent and retreated into the castle.
Night finally came, and the princesses left the castle's grounds to reach their chambers.
It was time for a well-deserved rest.
͠
"My Lord…" The clone spoke, failing to hide the fear in his voice.
"Tell me X99… how did the assault go? Did my armies bring back the little queen and her companion?" Horde Prime spoke calmly.
"The assault… the assault failed my Lord… we lost an entire battalion and five of our ships are in dire need of repara-"
The clone didn't get to finish. In a flash, Horde Prime stood from his throne. His hand clasped around the clone's throat. The tyrant raised him from the ground effortlessly, watching lazily as the soldier started to gasp for air.
A few moments passed and then…
Silence…
Horde Prime let go and the lifeless body of the clone hit the ground with a loud thud.
Another one stepped forwards.
"My Lord…"
"I hope this time some good news will be brought to my attention."
"While the attack was taking place, some of our scavengers managed to retrieve something that may have a connection with the Etherian queen's weapon…"
"Let's see it then…"
Two other clones walked up to the tyrant, holding up a glass case. Horde Prime's eyes roamed its content, a curious look appearing on his face.
"Fragments?"
"Of an Eternian weapon, my Lord. Both the energy readings and the radiation signature are identical to the ones we detected when we analyzed the planet's core." The clones explained.
"For these fragments to be still energized even after the weapon broke… an incredible amount of energy must have been contained in it…"
"My Lord?"
"I believe we just found a very important piece of my new toy…"
Horde Prime cackled darkly, his eyes never leaving the golden hilt inside the glass case.
Hi guys! So here we are with a new chapter! I hope you liked it, and that you're enjoying the story so far! Thank you all for all your kind comments, your support keeps me going so keep enjoying this story and keep letting me know it in the comments! The next chapter "Forgive and Condemn" will be published on February the 28th, so keep an eye out for it… it's going to contain three of our favorite characters FINALLY talking…
