eleven: attack on harpy mountain
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The sky was still dark when the harpies began returning to Talon Mountain.
They had big, ugly wings, to match their big, ugly bodies, but they were absolutely silent fliers. The line of harpies stretched out, one after the other, in a ragged v-formation, wending its way over the forest and field of deadfall, pointing towards home.
No bird was dumb enough to sing while harpies were aloft. No harpy was smart enough to notice the bird calls that followed them this morning.
One harpy reached the cavern entrance. Two.
Before the third could cross the threshold, a particularly loud bird call rang out in the forest, and without further warning a barrage of glowing arrows soared into the sky.
The arrows arced into the harpies' path, causing the creatures to hiss and screech and break up their formation.
And then the arrows exploded in a shower of bright, dazzling fireworks, and the fun really started.
Harpies panicked. Harpies wailed. Harpies wheeled about in disarray.
Another bird's call.
More arrows launched - this time with more conventional flames. They landed among the dry trees of the deadfall field, which promptly caught fire. Maybe some of the Rebels had been out there earlier, splashing flammable liquids around. Maybe those Rebels had also planted some packets of explosive powders. Might explain the little detonations of searing light and cracking noise that appeared as the fire spread.
Harpies lost their minds.
Except - one of them managed to spot four Rebel archers, who had stepped out from the cover of the trees to get better shots, and somewhere in her dull, slow brain the pieces clicked together. She grabbed a sister harpy, and they went hunting.
The four Rebels scrambled for cover. On the other side of the deadfall, three different Rebels stepped out from their cover and loosed another volley of fireworks - then bolted away as well, dragging a witch who was hurriedly casting more spells on more arrows.
Outside of the cavern, it was chaos. Smoke. Screeching. And as the harpies inside the cavern realized they were under attack (it took them a minute), they began to fly out to meet their foes.
Queen Angella, still shackled to the throne's pedestal, stood at the far tether of her chain, wings tensed for flight, eyes searching the predawn madness outside. Maybe looking for her daughter. Probably. Definitely.
But Princess Glimmer wasn't outside.
The air took on a glittering purple shimmer and there was a soundless pop! and Glimmer was standing on the pedestal not three feet behind her mother. Well, mostly standing. She kind of gasped and her knees buckled as she rematerialized, but that was okay, because she'd pushed herself to the limits by teleporting someone with her, and Bow caught her easily before she fell.
The queen whirled. "Glimmer!"
"Mother!" she cried, and flung herself at the queen, who luckily also caught her - and swept her into a ferocious hug.
In the cavern around them, harpies were darting hither and thither in varying degrees of panic. None of them seemed to notice the reunion.
Bow, however, was obviously noticing the harpies. He grimaced, then gave a courtly flourish and said, "Your Majesty, if you would allow me to free you from these chains…?"
"Thank you, Bow," the queen said. She didn't let go of her daughter, but she did tuck her wings to allow him easier access to the collar at her neck.
"It's enchanted," Bow said after a moment. "Just like we expected. Hold on, let me get the lock picks that Madame -"
But time and luck were up.
A bolt of white, magical light cut through the air with a sizzling zap! and struck the throne behind the trio. Immediately, jagged rocks burst out of the impact site, their spikes aiming every which way, some of them coming a little too close.
Glimmer shrieked and jumped away from her mother. The queen turned, spreading her wings to protect her daughter from what was coming next.
Bow ducked the wings and scrambled to stay close enough to continue working on Queen Angella's collar.
There was a loud, angry, and fairly hideous scream. It echoed around the cavern.
The massive harpy who'd screamed - and who'd fired the magic bolt - swooped out of the cavern's shadows and landed in a perch on the back of the throne, grasping it with her taloned feet.
"You!" she screeched, rearing back, pointing a scepter at the queen. Red eyes blazed. Leathery wings spread. "You no leave, ugly bird! Prisoner forever!"
Queen Angella lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes, the picture of royal dignity despite the filthy condition of her clothes and the archer tugging desperately at the collar around her neck. In ringing tones, she declared, "I have never been your prisoner, Hunga. In my mind, I have always been free."
It was a lovely bit of philosophy, and it was totally lost on the raging harpy queen. Hunga screamed again, and started blasting away with her scepter.
Unexpectedly, it was Glimmer who stepped out and flung her own magic bolts in defense. Purple met white in eye-searing collisions, the energy spitting and spraying in all directions. For a few seconds, it looked like she might actually succeed in blocking Hunga's attack.
But the princess was young, and exhausted, and eventually, she missed.
Hunga's magic bolt slammed into the ground at Glimmer's feet. Rocks sprouted. Glimmer fell, shrieking, backward and over the edge, but managed to grab a hand-hold and stop herself before she tumbled all the way to the ground.
"Mother! Bow! Help!" she cried out. Her feet, in their lavender boots, scrabbled for purchase.
"No!" Angella tried to kneel to pull her daughter up, but the rock spikes and her chain were in the way.
Hunga laughed. It didn't sound any better than the scream.
Bow loosed a few arrows at Hunga, but they plinked harmlessly against her skin, and the harpy just kept laughing.
"Now you die!" Hunga said, sneering it. She aimed her scepter. "Now you all die!"
And at that point, Teela figured it was time to intervene.
Teela had been keeping an eye on the entire operation, but the Rebels outside had things well under control, and anyway, the rescue was the most important part. So she'd entered the cavern - the traditional way, on the ground - at approximately the same time as Bow and Glimmer, and had clambered up to a ledge a little higher than the stalagmite throne.
The brown cloak made for excellent camouflage.
Now she jumped, whipping her staff around in an arc perfectly timed to smash the snake-head into the side of Hunga's big, ugly skull.
Hunga screeched and toppled off of her perch. She caught herself mid-air with a few wing-flaps, shook her head a few times, and whirled to face Teela, who had landed on the seat of the throne.
"Get the queen free!" Teela ordered Bow, not taking her eyes from Hunga. If it had been one of her Royal Guards, she wouldn't have bothered, but she figured Bow might need some help remembering that if Queen Angella was free, they could save Glimmer and escape.
"Angella never free!" The harpy queen punctuated that by spitting in Teela's direction. She had large fangs and a thick black tongue. It wasn't a good look. "And you die too!"
"Good luck with that," Teela said. She shifted her feet slightly and made sure the snake-head on her staff was facing out. "Personally, I don't think you really have a chance."
Hunga wasn't one for witty banter. She snarled and lifted her magic scepter again.
Teela pressed the button on her staff that triggered its light.
Father hadn't been impressed with the light's performance during the Shadow Beast attack, once upon a time, so he'd made some… improvements.
In typical Father style, that meant the light was now bright enough to illuminate the palace's entire Great Hall. At midday.
Hunga screamed once more - this time in pain. She reared back, hands pressed over her eyes, entirely blinded. The magic scepter fell unheeded to the floor of the cavern, where it shattered into satisfyingly tiny pieces.
Teela, who'd shut her own eyes, opened them to see Hunga wibbling and wobbling and crashing into stalactites, clawed hands clutching her nocturnal eyes, wailing in agony.
"Got it!" Bow shouted.
Angella yanked off the collar, leapt off the platform, made a tight loop around the throne stalagmite, scooped up her daughter, and sailed for the cavern entrance.
"Let's go!" Teela said to Bow, who nodded and followed hot on her heels as she made her own, non-flying way to the exit.
Outside, the sun was up, the harpies were in full retreat, and the Rebels were cheering because Queen Angella was flying around, smiting her foes left and right with pink-tinged magic and a lot of pent-up anger.
Bow sent up a special pink-and-purple fireworks arrow so everyone would know to fall back to the Woods. Rebels started moving across the charred deadfall zone toward safety.
Teela took a breath and grinned. They'd done it. It would've been a lot easier and elegant with He-Man or the Masters, but they'd done it. They'd rescued Queen Angella of Brightmoon from the Harpy Queen of Talon Mountain, and against all odds, it looked as though everybody was going to make it home in one piece.
Never congratulate yourself until the battle's over, Father would say.
And he was right, because it was at that moment when engine noise filled the air and a voice declared via loudspeaker, "SURRENDER, REBELS, OR FACE THE MIGHT OF THE HORDE!"