One Week Later.
Fire. The town that Catra had told them to meet her at was on fire and what's more, the smell of iron was in the air. "Oh no." Adora charged forward, leaving both Bow and Glimmer behind she took the form of She-Ra, after having found out her friend was alive after thinking she was dead for six years, she wasn't about to let her friend die. "Catra! Catra where are you!?"
The sound of wood splintering and a groan of pain was the reply as a man bearing a shield depicting a stag with serrated horns landed in front of her. "Adora? Is that you?" Looking in the direction where the man had been thrown from, Adora saw Catra emerge from a burning house, her clothes torn and her body bloody.
"Catra what's happening- Are you ok!?" At Adora's question and look of horror Catra looked down and smirked before turning her attention back to her friend.
"Don't worry about this, most of the blood is from the attackers." A groan interrupted the silence and Catra turned her attention to the man who was now working his way onto his feet. "Speaking of which." Catra marched over to the man and grabbed him the collar of his shirt before dragging him back to the burning building and slamming his back into the wall. "Find your captain, find Hillevi and tell her that I call a holmgang." She tossed the man to the side and he ran off.
Then she winced and looked around, spotting some relatively clean cloth in the snow she walked over and picked it up. Then her she heard a set of twangs in quick succession and dove to the side just in time to miss being hit by the volley of arrows that had been fired at her. Before Adora could ask if she was okay, Catra had taken an axe from the hand of a dead warrior and thrown it in the direction the arrows had come from. A few shouts of surprise followed by a thud sounded from that direction before Catra let out a sigh. "Adora? Could you go get that axe back while I deal with my arm?" Adora just gaped at her friend as the catgirl began to wrap the relatively clean cloth around her arm.
"Catra, what's going on? What's happening here?" Catra let out a grunt as she pulled her improvised bandage tight and looked at her best friend as she stood up and began walking in the direction she had thrown the axe.
"Harald is the High King of a third of the Northern Tribes. These raiders are members of the Sawhorn Tribe, and they aren't part of my father's kingdom." As they approached the area the arrows had been fired from, they heard a groan. "Oh shit, he's still alive?" Adora was confused at Catra's surprise until she saw what the axe Catra had thrown managed to hit. A man lay on the ground, a bow in his hand and an axe lodged in his head.
Adora slapped her hands over her mouth at the sight as Catra crouched over him. "Adora? Adora where are you- By the First ones! What happened here!?"
If Catra heard her, she didn't acknowledge it, instead focusing on the man on the ground. "Cuyler the Skinner, it looks like all your crimes have finally caught up with you."
The man, despite having an axe lodged in his head, laughed at her. "There is no crime in skinning beasts like you, animal. This will be proven when I take my seat in the All-Father's Hall." He turned his head slightly, to look directly at Adora, who was just now starting to understand what he had meant, and smiled. "A Valkyrie has already arrived to guide me." He began to reach out to her before Catra snorted.
"Adora might be a beautiful warrior woman, but she's no Valkyrie." She reached over and took the bow from Cuyler's hand, who suddenly looked absolutely terrified. "And when the Valkyries do come, they will pass you by. I leave you with no weapon, I deny you Valhalla. You go to Helheim, realm of the dishonored dead!"
A look of rage spread across the dying man's face. "You whor-" He was cut off when Catra ripped the axe from his head. She stood up and turned around, noticing the look of horror on their faces.
Glimmer and Bow were horrified by what they had just seen, but Adora was horrified by the cold look on Catra's face. "Catra..." The sound of a horn cut Adora off as it rang through the air and Catra let out a growl.
"Adora, I need you to do something for me. Take this axe back to the man I took it from, place it on his chest and wrap his hands around it, and tell him to fly swiftly to Valhalla." Catra held the blood covered axe out to her and she hesitated to take it. "Adora. Please." Adora gulped and took the axe. Catra smiled and turned away, taking off in the direction of the village center.
Adora ran back to the dead man Catra had taken the axe from and did as she asked, then she headed toward the village center, where she found a circle of people from both sides of the battle, just as Catra pushed through the crowd, stepping into the center of the circle to face down another woman who wore armor decorated with bones, and a helmet, decorated to look like the skull of the deer she had seen on a shield earlier. 'Why did everyone just stop fighting?'
Catra held her hand out to the side and took hold of the axe that a warrior handed her, before pointing it at the other woman. "Hillevi Fritjofsdottir! Three times now! Three times you have attacked one of our villages and in doing so, insulted my Father, the first time I sent you away in the shame of defeat!" The warriors behind Catra let out a cheer. "The second time I took your eye and warned you that a third insult would not be tolerated!" Another cheer, even louder this time. "If you have done this of your own accord, I have neither pity or mercy left for you! And if you have attacked us on the order of King Fritjof of the Sawhorn Tribe..." Adora saw Catra's eyes narrow and a frown work its way onto her face. "Know that your father has sent you to die." A third even louder cheer rang from around Adora just as Bow and Glimmer managed to push through the crowd and reach her.
The other woman laughed and pointed the massively oversized sword she had been resting on her shoulder at Catra. "If it is my fate to die today then so be it! I will take you with me so I may gift your pelt to my husband when we meet again in Valhalla!" A cheer rang out behind her before Catra laughed and shook her head.
"Cuyler already lies dead, and I have denied him Valhalla." The cheers went silent as Catra's words hung in the air. Then the woman let out a roar and charged at Catra.
"Then I will deliver you pelt to your father!" The woman brought her oversized sword down in an attempt to strike Catra, who simply sidestepped it, and retaliated by swinging her axe at the woman, managing to cut into her arm. The same thing repeated over and over, with Hillevi charging Catra in a rage, Catra dodging and retaliating. It went on for ten minutes and Adora couldn't help but think it was like seeing a cat toying with a mouse. When Hillevi finally collapsed to her knees, Catra walked up to her, axe in hand. "So, this is how it ends." She took hold of her sword and tossed it aside before looking up at Catra and bared her throat. "Go ahead, finish me so that I can join my husband in Helheim." Adora watched the scene, praying that Catra would spare her opponent.
Then Catra did something no one had been expecting. "No." She walked past her opponent and picked up Hillevi's sword, before returning and dropping it in front of her. "I denied your husband Valhalla because he was a monster. He took pleasure in causing others pain, he has no place in Valhalla, but you are a warrior, who fought bravely and with honor. You served your king and fought for what you believed in, I will not deny you your place at the All-Father's side. Take up your sword." Hillevi looked at Catra in shock before laughing and taking hold on the sword in front of her.
"Perhaps your Father wasn't wrong to claim you as his blood." Hillevi closed her eyes and looked up. "I ask that you make it quick, I don't want to keep the Valkyries waiting any longer." Catra nodded and brought the axe down, Bow, Glimmer and Adora looking away before the blade made contact.
Catra's voice cut through the air. "The daughter of King Fritjof lies dead! Any of the Sawhorn who remain by nightfall will meet the same fate! Leave your weapons and any supplies you have in your camp, we of the Frostfang Tribe will consider this as payment for your crimes!" The sound of metal hitting the ground filled Adora's ears, as did the panicked shouts and footsteps of retreating warriors. "Adora!" The girl opened her eyes to see a blood splattered Catra smiling at her. "Good to see you again."