Chapter 15: The Return Part 3

Without sails, the gunboat was slowly going - the current pushed it, which made steering it a little tricky, but they couldn't go any faster. "We need to set sails!" Seacat yelled - the wind was blowing from a favourable direction. One piece of good luck so far.

That would change at the first bend - but with their current speed, they wouldn't reach the first bend, not with the Horde giving chase.

"I've dismantled the guns in the fortification," Adora yelled. "But there's another gun emplacement further down the river."

Seacat knew that already. The captain was rushing to the mainmast, but he wouldn't be able to set the mainsail by himself. "Help Seahawk!" she yelled. Brain Boy was treating whatever wounds the princess had suffered, but Adora was so strong - at least as She-Ra - she could probably carry the sail up the mast if she tried to. Not that it would be of any use.

But they needed to pick up speed. As slow as they were, the Horde scum could keep pace with them on foot, and if they… She drew a hissing breath through clenched teeth. Skiffs! Horde skiffs had appeared on the banks of the river.

Worse - those were the artillery skiffs she had heard of. "Watch out!" she yelled. "Artillery!"

"What?" Adora whirled.

The skiffs were already setting down to deploy the guns. And the Horde soldiers with them didn't look like the dregs of the service. At this distance, and with how slow the gunboat was going, they wouldn't miss.

"An artillery duel! Huzzah!" Sea Hawk was rushing towards the gun that hadn't been immobilised by Horde scum stuck to it. "Follow me!"

"Can you even shoot the gun?" Adora yelled - but she was running after the captain anyway.

Seacat hoped her friend had received some training in gunnery in the last four years - she knew they hadn't received any while she had been a cadet in the Horde.

She corrected the course a little - she wanted to hug the river bank opposite the Horde guns, but she couldn't get too close, or she might end up running aground - and clenched her teeth as she watched the four guns set up. A few more minutes, tops, and they would be under fire. And Sea Hawk was talking Adora through loading the gun. Apparently, she had stayed on the command course. Damn!

"Don't worry, it's really easy! Just open the breech like this, put the shell in, then the powder charge… yes like this! Slam the breech closed, aim and… FIRE!"

The gun bellowed. Dirt was thrown up in front of the Horde guns - they had missed.

But at least part of the crew looked rattled. Oh, one soldier was down, too - must have caught some shrapnel. Seacat hoped that they had been the main gunner.

Then she saw the guns move. The Horde gunners were aiming!. Cursing, she pulled on the wheel, pulling away from the river bank - and slowing down. If she timed it right…

The guns fired - smoke and flames shot out of their muzzles, followed by the sound of the shots rolling over the river.

Two missed, throwing up water in front of the slowed gunboat. The third didn't, hitting the foredeck - and wrecking the gun there, with the Horde scum still stuck to it. Seacat winced as she saw the mangled, bloody mess left - that could've been her friends! Or herself.

But Sea Hawk was unfazed - and Adora, stubborn as always, had already reloaded the gun. Once more, the captain returned fire. Seacat tried to track the shot with her eyes - but this gun fired too fast.

One of the horde gun emplacements blew up in a giant explosion, throwing pieces and body parts all over the other guns and wrecking the skiff behind the gun.

"Huzzah! We hit their ammunition!" Sea Hawk cheered.

"Yes!" Seacat hissed.

One gun down, and the explosion had hurt two more crews - including the slower one. They fired, but their shot went wide - Seacat had steered the gunboat back on the fastest course.

Now it was a race between their gun and the remaining ones. And Sea Hawk and Adora beat the Horde - their next shot wrecked the fastest gun remaining on the river bank, toppling it and shredding the crew with shrapnel.

That left two wounded, shaken crews. And the distance was opening. The Horde fired before Adora managed to reload, but both shots missed - the near-misses must have thrown their aim off.

Sea Hawk missed in turn, but close enough to kill a few more soldiers - and one skiff was smoking. The Horde scum had had enough and started falling back - or fleeing.

Seacat took a deep breath. They had gained a little time. She hoped it was enough to find a way to escape - they couldn't stay on the river. The next gun emplacement would be ready for them. And those guns wouldn't be artillery meant for the field, but rifles meant to sink ships.

But they couldn't get off the river either - not without getting spotted and run down by half the Horde. There were skiffs following them on both sides now - fortunately, there were no artillery skiffs among them, but the scouting skiffs would ensure they couldn't slip away, not without the shrimp teleporting them.

Seacat glanced down at the deck and clenched her teeth. The princess was awake now, but she didn't look in any shape to stand, much less use magic. Damn. Although… She grinned. They could set the gunboat on fire - make it look like the shot that hit them had caused it - and then escape by diving. They could probably scrounge up makeshift snorkels to stay underwater longer… with all the smoke and fire, the Horde soldiers would be unlikely to spot them, and then all they needed was a good spot to sneak up the riverbanks unseen. And Catra remembered such a spot from a past exercise as a cadet.

She nodded. Yes, this was a doable plan. All they needed was a little luck and some…

She blinked. Down on the deck, Adora was glowing. And pointing her sword at the shrimp. What the…? She almost hit a sandbank in the river.

In front of her eyes, a glowing beam shot out from the tip of Adora's sword and hit the shrimp. And the princess shuddered, then stood, smiling and hugging Brain Boy and Adora - who had shrunk down to her normal size, too.

Well, using magic to heal their teleporting princess worked as well, Seacat had to admit. And they wouldn't need to cobble together snorkels. But they still needed a distraction - even the Horde scouts wouldn't miss the sparkles if they teleported from the deck.

"Hey, princess!" she yelled. "Can you teleport us to the riverbank in a few minutes? Or do you need to nap a little?"

"I can teleport you right now!" the shrimp yelled back.

Yes, she was back to normal. "No need - we need to pass the right spot, yet," Seacat told her. "Remember the exercise where we dunked Lonnie in the river?" she asked Adora.

"You did that!" Adora replied. Then she nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Good. That's where we'll get off this boat."

"Yes!" Sea Hawk yelled. "I'll prepare the distraction!"

"The distraction?" the shrimp asked Adora in a low voice - she probably didn't intend Seacat to hear her.

"We'll set the ship on fire so the smoke will mask our exit," Seacat yelled down. "So, get ready."

"He'll set the ship on fire?" Brain Boy looked shocked. He really should've expected that. This was Sea Hawk, after all.

"No, of course not!" Sea Hawk's head popped up in the open hatch in the middle of the deck. "I've already done that!" he added as he climbed out, followed by the first wisps of smoke. "Huzzah! This will be our most dramatic rescue, yet!"

Which meant he had cut the fuse a little short - so to speak. Seacat steered the gunboat a bit closer to the riverbank as the next bend appeared. They would need all the speed they could get to reach the exit spot before the fire reached the magazine.

"Why exactly did we have to rescue her again?" Seacat heard the shrimp complain to Brain Boy. She better not be serious!

"Because Adora and Sea Hawk were rushing off with or without us and someone had to be sensible here?" Brain Boy replied.

Hey! Seacat was the most sensible of the group!

By now, steering had become a little tricky since smoke was covering most of the foredeck. In fact, Seacat couldn't see much of the river any more - but she could see the first flames licking the deck from below. And the spot with the bushes and dense underbrush leading into a patch of woods was still about a minute away.

Adora climbed up to the bridge. "Are you sure about this?" she asked in a low voice.

"Do you have a better idea?" Seacat briefly turned her head to flash a grin at her friend.

"I had a better idea - before we ended up on this…" Adora shook her head as Sea Hawk started to throw bags of powder over the railing. Yes, the captain had cut it a little close.

"Hey! My plan was to sneak onto a river barge." And that had been a much better plan than using the same route that you used to get in to get out again.

She turned the wheel - it was getting a little hard now, in this current - and winced when pain flared up in her shoulder as a result.

"You're hurt worse than you said!" Adora sounded aghast.

"I can still walk, run and steer the ship. A little pain is nothing compared to Shadow Weaver's punishment."

She heard Adora gasp and felt guilty about the low blow - but they really couldn't afford to talk right now. "Alright! See the green bush there? We need to teleport right behind that one!" she yelled.

"What bush?"

Oh for…! "Get up here and take a look!"

"Glimmer!"

But the shrimp was already climbing the stairs. And she managed to catch a glance before the billowing smoke blocked their view.

"Alright! Everyone off the ship now!" Sea Hawk yelled, running towards the bridge.

Seacat cursed. That meant they had a few seconds left, tops. She grabbed the shrimp's arm. "Let's go! Now!"

They scrambled down the ladder to the deck, where Sea Hawk and Brain Boy were waiting, coughing in the smoke.

"Go now! Now!"

Seacat saw the flames in the hatch suddenly grow much brighter - and then the whole boat vanished.

She landed on a steep slope and barely managed to grab the closest branch to keep from falling down and into the river. Looking around, she held her breath, then relaxed - everyone was with her, too: Adora, Sea Hawk and Brain Boy. And the shrimp, but that was a given seeing that the princess had teleported them. In the last second, actually.

Seacat hadn't heard an explosion, though - had the boat…? Turning around, she saw the smoking remains spread over the river, a number of smaller fragments still in the air. No, the gunboat definitely had blown up. Completely. That must have been a big powder magazine. But why weren't her ears ringing? Had the ship exploded in mid-teleport?

"A harrowing adventure, indeed!" Sea Hawk commented as he got up and brushed off some dirt from his pants. "But well-timed!"

"You cut that far too close!" Adora protested. "We almost died!"

"I had faith in Princess Glimmer," the captain retorted, unfazed. "And the closer, the better - the Horde will surely assume we died with our brave little boat."

The gunboat had been larger than the Dragon's Daughter IV. But with everyone glaring at Sea Hawk, Seacat wouldn't point that out.

"Guys? We need to move. They'll cover the riverbanks!" Brain Boy said.

He was right, of course. "Are you strong enough for another teleport?" Seacat asked the shrimp. She did look a little under the weather. Not as bad as before Adora healed her, but not well either.

"No, she isn't," Adora replied.

"Hey!"

"Glimmer…" Brain Boy's hand on her shoulder apparently shut the princess up.

"Let's go, then. We need to be deeper in the forest when the Horde starts searching the riverbanks," Seacat said. The skiffs couldn't navigate the forest here, but there would be squads on foot coming - or by barge.

She started climbing up the rest of the slope. The soft soil made it a little tricky, especially with one arm - her claws weren't as useful as usual.

"Ca-Seacat! How badly hurt is your shoulder?"

Damn. "I'll manage," she replied to Adora without looking back.

"I can carry you."

Like hell she would let Adora carry her! This time, she glared over her shoulder at her friend. She wasn't an invalid - she had escaped from prison by herself, hadn't she?

Her friend flinched for a moment, then that stubborn expression set in. "I can carry you."

"I'm fine," Seacat spat, clearing the last part of the slope before the more even part of the forest.

"But you're hurting!"

"A little pain never hurt anyone," she retorted.

"What? That makes no sense! Catra!"

It made perfect sense! Seacat huffed and quickly moved ahead. There was a road cutting through the forest near the river - they had to cross it unseen.

"Don't be so stubborn! We're here to help you!"

She turned and hissed. "I don't need your help! I am fine!"

Sea Hawk cleared his throat. "We'll treat all our wounds once we're safe - relatively safe."

She glared at him, but the captain simply smiled at her. Huffing, she turned around and continued towards the road.

"Why is she listening to you? She never listens to me!"

Really, had Adora forgotten how good her ears were? And it wasn't true - Catra listened to Adora, as long as Adora wasn't being dumb. Or no fun. Or needed to get taken down a peg or two.

"Why, she's my first mate, and I'm her captain, of course."

That, too, of course.

"But… I was a force captain, too!"

Seacat rolled her eyes.

They reached the road a few minutes later, at which point Adora stopped complaining in a not-low-enough voice to Sea Hawk. Unfortunately, as Seacat could see from a bush overlooking most of the road, Horde soldiers were already deploying there - and they would start sweeping the forest between the road and the river soon.

"We can take them," the shrimp muttered next to her.

"That would alert them to our survival - and to our escape route," Adora, on Seacat's other side, replied.

It was getting a little crowded here.

"Letting them find us will do the same, anyway," the princess retorted. "And we can't exactly hide."

"We could, actually," Seacat informed the shrimp. "We could dig holes and hide there. But we don't have the time to do that." Catra had managed to hide like that a few times as a cadet.

"That makes no difference then," the princess told her.

"We could take out the soldiers and take a skiff!" Sea Hawk suggested. "A fast skiff - fast enough to escape their net!"

"And we'd need two skiffs," Seacat pointed out, "unless there's a cargo skiff around. Or an artillery skiff." And no Horde commander would send either into the woods.

"We could ambush a patrol and take their uniforms," Adora said.

"They would still miss the patrol." Seacat would prefer a method that wouldn't let the Horde figure out that they hadn't died in the gunboat's explosion.

"Do you have a better idea?"

Seacat didn't need to look at Adora to know that she was frowning at her. Like she used to frown at Catra when they disagreed about a plan of action.

She scowled. "No," she admitted. "Unless the shrimp can teleport us across the road."

"Uh…"

"I'll take that as a no," Seacat said. "I guess plan 'strip the guards' it is."

"And then we can commandeer a skiff or two!"

Sea Hawk wasn't one to drop a plan easily; Seacat knew that very well.

"It's not 'plan: strip the guards'!" Adora shook her head. "You make it sound as if we want to see them naked!"

Seacat grinned at her. "But we do want their uniforms, don't we?"

"Yes, but…" Adora shook her head, then suddenly smiled. "I've almost forgotten how you…" She trailed off.

But Seacat knew what she meant. Catra had loved needling her like that. "Let's get into position," she said with a grin.

"Position?" Brain Boy asked.

"Standard Horde tactics are to start at one end of the forest, not both. It cuts down on friendly fire. They'll keep the road secure with the main force and send a smaller force in to sweep the forest to flush us out," Adora explained.

Seacat wouldn't do it like that, but Catra had learned long ago that unless it came from the top, the Horde wasn't very keen on new ideas. "So, we'll set up a little towards the middle," she said. Far enough so the patrol won't be as sharp as at the start.

"It'll also give us time to camouflage us," Adora added as she rushed through the underbrush.

"But we'll be further from the skiffs," Sea Hawk protested.

"That won't matter," Seacat told him. "We can fake having wounded who need to be evacuated." At least, she hoped they would have to fake the wounded.

"Ah, yes, that would work - very cunning!" Sea Hawk nodded as he ducked under a thick branch.

When the Horde patrol finally showed up, they weren't as sloppy as Seacat had hoped, but they certainly weren't sharp. They had been at this for the better part of half an hour, and it showed - they had split up a little too much, which would make them lose sight of each other frequently.

Good. That meant they had a chance to take out the patrol without the rest noticing. That would allow them to change into the uniforms to fool the Horde forces outside the forest.

Perched on a branch, she grinned as she saw them come closer. And they weren't looking up - they never looked up.

"This is a waste of time," she heard one of the Horde scum grumble. "You saw the explosion. No way anyone could've survived that. Magazine went up."

"I didn't know that you were a sailor, Jens. Got lost on the way to the sea and followed us into the woods?"

"Friend of mine is in the fleet, arse!"

"Cut the bloody chatter! The rebels could be hiding behind the next bush!"

Seacat mentally marked the apparent leader of the group. His position - second behind the point man - matched the Horde tactics, too. Predictable, really. Which meant that this patrol would be made up of five soldiers. They could take five Horde soldiers without splitting them up - but Seacat would take any advantage she would get. Especially with her hurt shoulder.

She looked to her right, where Brain Boy was in another tree, then down to the others and signalled five enemies, wedge formation.

Adora nodded - but then had to explain to the others, who didn't recognise Horde signs. Great. Seacat made eye contact with Brain Boy and tried to communicate the plan to him. After two repetitions, he nodded.

She hoped he had understood, or they would have to improvise - Sea Hawk style.

But then the patrol was too close to say anything, and Seacat took a deep breath before moving a little further ahead on her branch. She and Brain Boy would take the two Horde soldiers on this side. And since she didn't have a trick bow, she had to do it the hard way.

The semi-hard way, she corrected herself as her target - the complainer she had heard before - started to make his way around the trunk of her tree. And he wasn't looking up at all!

Perfect. She glanced towards Brain Boy and snapped her hand downwards. Then she pushed off and pounced.

She hit the idiot's helmet with her feet - heels first - and drove him face-first into the soil. Before he could react or even cry out, she sneaked her good hand under his chin guard and opened the strap. He started to groan as she pulled the helmet off, but she grabbed his hair and slammed his face into the closest root a few times until he stopped moving.

And her shoulder only hurt a little more.

Then she looked up. Brain Boy had shot an arrow through the faceplate of his target. Messy - but then, they planned to fake a wounded or two, right?

And Adora, Sea Hawk and the shrimp were already moving towards the three remaining Horde soldiers. Seacat jumped up and followed the shrimp - Adora and Sea Hawk wouldn't need any help dealing with a single soldier each.

"I don't need help," the shrimp whispered.

"I don't care," she hissed back. "You can't teleport, can you?"

The princess huffed, then fell silent as they crawled through a dense bush.

"Hey, Jens, did you drown?"

"I said cut the chatter!"

"Jens?"

Damn. Time was running out. Seacat dug her claws into the soil, getting traction. Good.

"Sibon, go check on Jens and Lori!"

"Alright."

Adora and Sea Hawk should be close enough now. Seacat licked her lips. Almost…

The Horde scum stumbled over a root, and Seacat shot forward, ramming her good shoulder into his gut, and tackled him to the ground. With his breath knocked out of him, he couldn't yell - and there was the shrimp, hitting his helmet with a staff. Again and again. With enthusiasm.

The soldier didn't recover until he was out. Or dead - there were a few dents in the helmet.

Adora and Sea Hawk had finished their soldiers more quickly, though Sea Hawk had run his target through.

Well, good enough for a second wounded.

"Hurry! We need to change!" Adora snapped. "Pick a soldier close to your size and strip them!"

Seacat snorted, which earned her a glare.

"You know what I mean!" Adora told her.

Of course she did. But teasing Adora was fun.

Stuffing your tail down the leg of an already uncomfortable uniform wasn't fun, though. Nor was squishing your ears flat with a helmet not made for you. But the worst was the smell. "I don't think that their commander enforced the hygiene regulations," she spat while trying to breathe through her mouth.

"They are loosened in the field," Adora told her. "Don't you… oh."

Seacat rolled her eyes. Catra hadn't really cared much about regulations on her first and last field deployment.

"I look ridiculous," the shrimp complained.

She did, actually - the uniform really didn't fit her body. "You can be one of the wounded, then," Seacat told her.

"What?"

"And you're the other one," Adora said. "You're already wounded."

"I'm also the only one who knows how to act as a Horde soldier," Seacat replied.

"Except for me."

"No. You know how to act as a Horde captain, not a soldier." Seacat grinned.

Adora opened her mouth, but closed it again, obviously trying to find a counter-argument. "That's…"

"You can be a walking wounded," Sea Hawk said. "That means we have three wounded. Princess Glimmer, Bow and you."

"Why us?"

"You would stick out with your height," the captain told the princess.

"Or lack of height," Seacat added.

"And Bow perfectly fits the damaged uniform, but not the others," Sea Hawk went on.

"Ah." Brain Boy nodded.

"But…" The shrimp wasn't giving in easily.

"Glimmer!" Adora interrupted her. "Sea Hawk's right. I'll carry you."

The commander of the patrol wouldn't carry a wounded, Seacat thought. On the other hand, some officers might - at least if everyone else was already wounded or carrying a wounded. "Let's go, then!" she said.

Time to nab a skiff.

A few minutes later, they were nearing the road and Seacat started screaming: "Help! Help! We need help!"

"Ambush! Rebel ambush!"

"Help!"

"We need support!"

The first squads were already entering the forest when the group stumbled onto the road. A huge minotaur - a squad leader according to the rank tabs - confronted them. "What happened? Report!"

Adora actually straightened, saluting with the shrimp still hanging on her shoulder. "We were ambushed in the area straight behind us with overwhelming force. We managed to retreat with our wounded, but they were right behind us." She gestured at Brain Boy, who was leaning on Sea Hawk, faking a gut wound.

Seacat tensed. If the Horde scum knew the patrol leader…

But the minotaur nodded. "Get the wounded to the skiffs. We'll hunt the rebels down!" He started bellowing orders to the Horde soldiers gathered around them, and Seacat relaxed. A little - they still had to overpower the guards at the skiffs and escape. And then lose the inevitable pursuit.

But for now, they had fooled the Horde soldiers. As the Horde scum broke into squads and entered the forest to the screaming orders from the Minotaur, Seacat and the others staggered towards the skiffs parked further back, towards the edge of the forest.

"We need two," Adora mumbled. "One won't carry all of us."

"Even if it could, we'd be too slow," Seacat agreed.

"Three would be better," Sea Hawk said.

"That would leave one of us alone on a skiff," Adora pointed out. "And how many of you know how to handle a skiff?"

"I do," Seacat said. Catra had paid attention. Mostly. It couldn't be too hard.

"I can steer everything!" Sea Hawk added.

"We've been testing some captured Horde vehicles," Brain Boy said.

Adora, once more, closed her mouth and pouted for a moment. "Still, two are better than three - we can protect each other better." She turned towards Seacat. "And you're still wounded!"

"I can handle it," Seacat retorted. Of course she could - she had steered the gunboat, after all!

Then they were too close to the skiffs to keep talking. There were three skiffs, with two squads standing guard. But Seacat couldn't see the crews - were the soldiers both guards and crew?

"Hey!" Adora snapped. "Some help here! We've got wounded!"

The soldiers standing guard - some of them sitting - started moving towards them. Only one guard stayed behind - the squad leader, Seacat noted.

Good.

"What happened?" the first Horde scum asked as they reached the group.

"Rebel Ambush," Adora replied. "In the woods."

"Really? The rebels survived?"

"Hah! I told you! Pay up, Hana!"

"But…"

All the soldiers were now there, two reaching for Brain Boy. Seacat drew the shock rod dangling at her hip and buried the tip in the stomach of the closest soldier, straight under her chest plate.

She collapsed with a scream, and Seacat jumped over her, sprinting towards the leader at the skiffs.

"For the Honour of Grayskull!"

A Horde soldier flew past Seacat, crashing against a nearby boulder. Adora was showing off again.

More screams sounded behind her, but Seacat had only eyes for the horde leader in front of her. He was climbing onto a skiff! He was trying to escape! And alert the others!

Snarling, Seacat pushed herself. Not on her watch! Her shoulder started hurting from the movement, but she wouldn't let the bastard escape! She was almost…

The Horde leader suddenly jerked and screamed. As he slowly turned on the ladder and started to fall, Seaca saw an arrow sticking out of his back. Brain Boy.

She huffed as she turned. "I would have had him!"

The others had subdued the Horde squads and were already rushing towards her. "Get on the skiff!" Adora yelled.

Well, what did she think Seacat was about to do, take a nap?

Seacat had barely begun to start up the skiff when Sea Hawk climbed on board. "I'll handle the skiff," he told her. "Keep an eye out for trouble."

She nodded, stepping away from the controls, and looked around. Adora was wrecking the third skiff, while the shrimp and Brain Boy were boarding the other skiff they were taking. The Horde… Damn! It seemed that the Horde soldiers had noticed something amiss - they were moving towards the bodies on the ground. Even with the Horde uniforms the group was still wearing, they wouldn't take much time to connect the dots.

"Hurry!" Seacat spat. "They'll be coming at any moment!"

"We'll be moving in a moment!" the captain replied.

Adora looked at her, then rushed to the second skiff, jumping on board - Seacat could almost hear the deck crack as She-Ra landed on it with all the grace of a falling mast. Just how heavy was Adora in that form?

Something to tease her about later, Seacat decided - the Horde soldiers had reached the skiff guards. And one of them was pointing at the body of the skiff commander Brain Bow had shot.

Their cover was blown. And Adora was just starting up the other skiff. Damn.

But Sea Hawk was already moving theirs. "Hold on tight!" he yelled. "Huzzah!"

Seacat gasped and grabbed the railing as the skiff turned and raced towards the Horde soldiers, scattering them. And sending one scum who was too slow flying into a tree.

But more were coming out of the woods. Seacat ducked as the minotaur threw a pike at them which struck the skiff's hull with a dull thud. Others brought crossbows up. No guns, fortunately - if the Horde had deployed artillery, they would be done for already. But she could see grappling hooks in the hands of other Horde soldiers. If they managed to board the skiff… it wouldn't take many hanging onto it to drag it down.

She looked back to Adora. The other skiff was finally starting to move. "Let's get out of here!"

"Adventure!"

Their own skiff took a sharp turn, scattered the minotaur's squad - and sent the burly leader flying into the forest when he tried to grab the vessel. Then it shot down the road, following Adora's skiff.

A few more Horde scum took potshots at them, but most didn't even come close to hitting the hull before they were out of the woods and racing over the plains.

It didn't take long to catch up to Adora. Not only was the other skiff carrying three people - and one of them was She-Ra - but Sea Hawk was handling the skiff expertly. The captain could pilot any vessel, after all.

Seacat sat down and rubbed her aching shoulder. While keeping watch for pursuit - or Horde ambushes. It was a long way to the mountains.

"That's the Cold Peak!" Adora announced.

"Are you sure?" The shrimp looked a little sceptical.

Adora nodded. "Yes. I remember it clearly - this was one of the last field exercises I did with… Ah."

Seacat, leaning against the railing of her and Sea Hawk's skiff, rolled her eyes at her friend. "Damn it, Adora, I'm not going to break down if you mention 'field exercises'.!"

"Sorry." Adora looked sheepish. "Anyway - yes, I'm sure. We can reach the pass west of the peak in a few hours from here."

"Good." Seacat nodded. "We've been lucky so far, but the faster we're out of Horde territory, the better."

"Occupied territory," the shrimp told her. "We'll liberate it."

Seacat snorted. The Horde held it, and it would be Horde territory until they were driven out of it. A storm didn't suddenly turn into a squall if you refused to accept reality. Any sailor knew this.

"And our ruse fooled the enemy!" Sea Hawk announced.

Seacat snorted again. It wasn't much of a ruse. They had headed straight for the eastern passes at the start until they had left pursuit behind. Then they had taken a wide turn towards the northern mountains, in the hope of throwing off the Horde soldiers searching for them. At least that had been the plan.

Travelling through what passed for plains this close to the Fright Zone, they'd had to balance speed and safety. The more open they travelled, the faster they were - but the greater the risk of being seen by some field worker or patrol. The uniforms helped - Adora had shrunk down so she could wear hers again - but sooner or later, an officer would compare reports and sightings with deployment orders and find an unaccounted for skiff patrol.

Seacat hoped that this wouldn't happen until they were past the pass. They had decent odds - with the Alliance pushing down along the Eastern Coast, going east would be the obvious route to take. And any forces covering the mountains to the east would be too far away to block their escape up north. Though the Horde had enough soldiers to send substantial forces to both mountain ranges. Perhaps they should've tried to double back, cross the enemy lines, and make directly for the Whispering Forest?

No. They were committed now, anyway.

She rubbed her shoulder.

"Cat-Seacat! Does your shoulder hurt again? I can transform and…"

"It's fine," she told her friend before Adora could climb over the railing and hop onto their skiff. "Just an itch," she lied - during one of their breaks, Adora had transformed and healed Seacat's shoulder, but she still felt a twinge now and then.

Adora looked suspicious but nodded.

She really needed to understand that Seacat could take care of herself. "Let's go - the longer we stand here and chat, the more time the Horde has to catch us," she said.

"Hah! Even if they tried, we'd beat them in a daring chase up and down the pass!" Sea Hawk announced.

Seacat would rather sneak out of Horde territory than be chased out, but either way sounded fine as long as they made it out.

She leaned back as the skiffs started to pick up speed again and headed towards the mountain pass Adora had discovered as a cadet.

The pass was, as Adora had said, too narrow and too steep to be of much use. Even the skiffs had trouble navigating it - Sea Hawk had scraped the paint off the left side in a particularly tight bend. Seacat couldn't imagine the Horde transporting supplies through it. Perhaps with lots of skiffs, but that would gut the screening and scout forces of the Horde - they didn't have enough of the things to keep up with demand as it was, what with the Horde fighting on all fronts.

But… "The Horde could've been inserting small groups easily through this pass," she said, standing next to Sea Hawk.

"That's not their style," the captain replied.

"That doesn't mean they haven't done it. Or won't do it,"

"If they had, we would have heard of more acts of sabotage and attacks behind the lines," Sea Hawk told her. "And we already know they have spies in our ranks."

And traitors like the bounty hunters who had come after Seacat. She pressed her lips together, not wanting to remember the fight. She almost had them!

"But you are correct - we should use the pass ourselves to infiltrate the Fright Zone!"

"We can always sneak in through the Whispering Woods," Seacat pointed out. "Or land forces at the coast." Not even the Horde had enough soldiers to guard the entire border against infiltrators.

"Indeed! But having more options is always better!"

She couldn't argue with that. Certainly not when making their way up a narrow pass. "I just wish we were over the pass already," she muttered. "We're hemmed in here. If Adora's skiff breaks down, we'll have to walk since we can't pass it." She wouldn't risk flying over a wreck. Not with a chasm to their right and a cliff to their left. Unless Adora could push the wreck over the side of the road, down the chasm. "It's an ideal spot for an ambush."

"Of course it is," Sea Hawk agreed. "But they'll be waiting on the top of the pass, where they can keep an eye on both sides. And we'll scout it out on foot, so they won't spot us."

That was the plan, at least. But Seacat still hated their position.

"As expected, the Horde reinforced the pass," Seacat said, hiding on a ledge on the cliff, and looking at the top of the pass. "They didn't forget about it."

"Those are field fortifications - and rather shabby ones, at that," Adora, also hiding on the narrow ledge after managing - with help, of course - to scale the cliff, protested. "They can't be old. So, the Horde had forgotten about the pass."

"Until we were about to use it?" Seacat raised her eyebrows at her.

"Uh… yes?" Adora blinked.

"It's a trap. They're probably already moving to block the exit behind us," Seacat said. Which meant the Horde forces would be rolling up the road soon enough.

"Oh." Adora frowned. Then she set her jaw. "That won't help them - we can push through the line there."

"They'll be expecting us," Seacat pointed out.

"But they can't have enough troops up there to stop us. The fortifications would be better," Adora retorted, "so they can concentrate their forces behind us to catch us between the fortification and them."

She was probably correct. That didn't mean that Seacat had to acknowledge it - or like it. "Well, we either turn around and go back, and hope there's no blocking force, or we push on." And hope it wasn't a more complicated trap.

"We push on!" Adora said at once.

"I knew you'd say that."

"Hey!"

Seacat snorted, shaking her head. To be honest, she preferred to push on herself. Smash through the line, and show the scum that they couldn't hold or stop her. And she really couldn't see many troops. Perhaps one, two dozen. Nor were there traces of a larger force - which would have had to rush up the pass, and the dust thrown up by their marching would have been visible from afar. But why would the Horde send so few troops… She blinked as she spotted a Horde squad leader at the gate.

"Lonnie."