Twelve: rematch
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"I knew it was too easy," Teela said to no one.
She still had her staff in hand, and now she began running toward the nearest group of Rebel women, yelling, "Cover the queen! Get to the Woods!"
Because no way had she just fought a mountain full of harpies only to lose Queen Angella to Force Captain Blondie's goon squad.
The goon squad this time had arrived in some kind of transport vessel, now hovering over the burned-out field of deadfall, close to Talon Mountain. There were a dozen soldiers in gray armor on sky sleds, the woman with the red festival mask, and another young woman that Teela had never seen before. The new goon was also wearing red and black - it seemed to be the Horde's preferred color scheme - but instead of a festival mask, her accessories were a large, segmented tail with a barbed stinger at the end, and pincers in place of hands.
And, of course, Force Captain Adora. Still blonde, still razor-sharp.
Teela swiftly took stock of the situation, the way she knew Blondie was doing on her end.
Approximately half of the Rebels, including Madame Razz, were in the Whispering Woods or close enough that pursuing them would be useless. The other half had formed up around Queen Angella, who was on the ground amidst the deadfall, holding her daughter's hand. Both the royals looked exhausted. They had maybe a hundred yards to go to reach the Woods.
Bow was no longer right behind Teela. In fact, she had no idea where he was.
Sneaky. Surprisingly.
The soldiers were fanning out on sky sleds, intent on surrounding the queen's group. Blondie and the other two women remained where they were, standing on the edge of the vessel, overseeing the operation.
Teela would have wanted to be in between the Horde squad and the queen, but she wasn't; she was an outlying point. Easy to ignore.
She kept running, hoping to draw fire. Hoping to get Blondie to focus on her.
One of the soldiers was doing the talking, speaking into a handheld device that amplified his voice. He said, "IN THE NAME OF HORDAK, WE WILL DESTROY-"
An arrow embedded itself in the device. It sparked and fizzed, and the soldier dropped it with a yelp.
From the edge of the non-magical forest, Bow offered a salute and a grin.
"Scorpia," Force Captain Adora said crisply. She pointed at Bow, who was now offering them a cheerful wave. "Get him."
The goon with the tail stinger leaped from the transport, snapping her pincers with a surprisingly loud sound as she landed and sprinted towards Bow; three soldiers peeled off and followed her.
Bow made tracks into the forest. Scorpia and her three soldiers pursued.
Clever, Teela had to admit, to draw off four enemies at once. Also brave. And a little stupid.
Probably not as stupid as what she was going to do.
Which was to plant her feet, give her best and most piercing whistle, and when the two Horde women's heads swiveled in her direction, to brandish her staff and yell, "Did you lose something, Force Captain?"
The festival-mask woman lifted her upper lip in a silent, disdainful snarl, and moved as if to come after Teela. Force Captain Adora checked her with an upraised hand. "Take command, Lieutenant Catra," she said, not looking at the woman. "I have a score to settle."
Then she jumped down from the transport. Landed. Stood straight. Drew her sword. It caught the morning light in a bright flash. So did her blonde hair.
Teela shifted her grip on her staff. Unexpectedly, she found herself grinning. Something about this was almost familiar -
Blondie moved.
Teela moved. Their weapons met in a clanging screech of metal-on-metal. Sword versus staff - it should've been easy. Teela had the weapon with the longer reach. Therefore she had the advantage.
Except Force Captain Adora was fast. And she was good.
She blocked Teela's strike, feinted with the sword, and while Teela was blocking that, kicked her squarely in the stomach - hard enough to knock her down.
Teela hit the dirt and rolled, coming up on her feet just before the sword sliced into the ground. Her brown cloak took a slice on its hem, but not the skin underneath.
Adora was fast, but no one had ever called Teela slow.
And Teela wasn't exactly in it to win it. She was simply trying to keep the most dangerous opponent away from the most valuable members of the Rebellion: the queen and the princess. Once they'd reached the Woods, Teela was done here. It was not about a rematch.
Absolutely not. No way. Nuh-uh.
Force Captain Adora was pressing her towards the forest, and Teela was letting her. She didn't want to make it too obvious, though. She dodged a strike and swung the butt of her staff upwards, aiming for Adora's jaw. Adora saw it coming and flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding the impact. She landed some distance away, giving Teela a chance to check on the queen's group.
They were closer to the Woods. All of the Rebels were on their feet, though two were clearly wounded, and the other three were using their bows as clubs.
Without warning, pink and purple light flared - Queen Angella and Princess Glimmer, who obviously weren't as exhausted as they'd seemed. Soldiers in gray armor stumbled back, most them knocked to the ground.
Back at the transport, Catra pulled her mask down over her face, and suddenly a large, snarling cat with blue-black fur was bounding towards the queen's group.
Well. That answered a few questions.
But then Adora lunged forward with her sword, and Teela had to block, and then they were in the trees and the rest of the skirmish was hidden.
Teela countered, blocked, and at Adora's next thrust, leapt backwards, angling towards a tree trunk. A kick off of that and she grabbed a curving branch high over the girl's head, then swung herself up. The branch she landed on was bigger around than a full-grown human, though there were plenty of smaller branches hanging everywhere. All of them were curving, looping, twisty things.
Perfect.
If she'd been trying to get away from Adora, it would've been a failure, because the Force Captain was right behind her.
Teela backed slowly away, following the branch towards the trunk, spinning her staff in front of her. "How did you find us?"
Adora advanced, matching her pace, her sword held ready in one hand, the other outstretched for balance. "The harpies alerted us. Obviously."
Probably using magic. Or some of that technology the Rebellion didn't have. "Oh, obviously."
"You should surrender," Adora said. Cool and confident.
Teela said, "Maybe some other time," and struck at Adora's head.
Adora danced backwards. An easy dodge. But unlike a sword, Teela's weapon had two equally useful ends, and Adora didn't quite get out of range of the second. It caught her high on the left bicep; she hissed; her sword flashed out; Teela ducked under the strike and swept her staff at the girl's ankles; Adora jumped; Teela rose and jabbed the butt of her staff straight into Adora's stomach.
Very satisfying.
Especially the "oof!" noise.
And then Teela hooked the snake-head onto one of the smaller, swoopy branches and swung herself back down to the forest floor.
"Good try!" she called up, taking a cue from Bow and sketching a mock salute. She wanted to keep Adora following her, which was why she laughed as she turned to run. Definitely not because she was gloating. No. That would be completely unbecoming a captain of the Royal Guard.
In any event, Adora dropped to the ground in hot pursuit.
Teela moved deeper into the forest, still buying time for the queen. A dozen or so yards further on, she saw the wreckage of three downed sky sleds and three soldiers in gray armor, helmets knocked off, moaning as they lay in the dirt and draped over tree branches.
There was an arrow jutting out of each sky sled.
Where was Bow now? Hopefully doubling back to help Queen Angella. Teela figured it was just about time to do the same, although in a perfect world, she'd leave Force Captain Blondie down for the count first.
Because it was all about the queen's safety. It definitely wasn't a rematch.
Adora caught up with her not far past the wreckage, and they traded blows back and forth, neither one of them really getting anywhere.
It was just a little infuriating. Teela had become one of the few female Royal Guards, had made captain at sixteen, and now spent her days fighting alongside battle-hardened veterans old enough to be her father (not to mention her father himself), many of whom had mechanical or magical enhancements - or both - while all she had was a staff.
She wasn't the most powerful warrior on Eternia, but she was the best.
And she couldn't knock Adora down.
They clashed, Adora pressing close, her sword grinding sparks where it slid against the metal of Teela's staff.
"Surrender," Adora said through gritted teeth. She was sweating. Well, nice to know this was a workout for her, too.
"Dream on," Teela snarled back.
Adora's eyes narrowed - and then flicked up. Just for a fraction of a second. So fast it might not have happened at all.
Teela's eyes widened, and she dove sideways, turning it into a one-handed cartwheel.
Instincts were the most valuable thing a soldier possessed, Father said. Not that Teela needed proof of his wisdom, but even as Teela's hand touched down, Scorpia landed. The barbed stinger speared into the dirt Teela had just been occupying with murderous speed.
Teela, standing again, kept her staff ready, but one hand slipped to her belt. It was easier to reach now, because her brown cloak had a long, jagged, stinger-made rip in it.
Okay. That had been close.
"Where's the archer?" Adora demanded of Scorpia.
The other woman made a face as she straightened and pulled her stinger free of the earth. Arrow shafts, their fletched ends broken off, studded the chitin of her tail. "Got away."
Adora didn't like that, but she nodded in Teela's direction, and Scorpia grinned, wide and fanged. She snapped her pincers two times. "Hold still," she said, faintly hissing the "s".
"I don't think so," Teela said, and charged both women.
It was a feint. She wasn't intending to fight. Instead, she dropped to the ground and slid between them, and while she did, she threw the little packet of giggleberry powder straight at Scorpia's face.
Scorpia slashed at it with one of her pincers, clearly meaning to swat the packet away. Instead, the rough-sewn leaves split. Orange powder exploded into a glittery cloud.
Teela hopped to her feet and took off running. She didn't look back - until she heard Scorpia howling with laughter. The Horde woman was on the ground, under a slowly dissipating orange cloud, arms clasped around her abdomen, shaking uncontrollably as she laughed. She was completely helpless, completely disarmed, completely out of the fight.
Elders. This planet.
Teela couldn't see Adora. But that was probably because Adora wasn't lying on the ground, convulsing with laughter. Adora had a brain and had also bailed as soon as the giggleberry powder made its debut.
No, Force Captain Adora was maneuvering through the forest so she could resume the fight. Which she did. Dramatically, with the kind of sweeping, ambush attack that was really kind of Teela's thing and which she wasn't pleased to have turned against her.
They were back to the grueling, futile exchange of blows. Finding her way back to the original battle site, and the Whispering Woods beyond, was tricky when Teela had to expend all her energy trying not to be stabbed with a sword.
At least she was managing to retrace her path, as she discovered when she nearly stumbled on a piece of wrecked sky sled. The three downed soldiers were still very much down (or up, in the case of the unlucky guy festooning a tree branch), and their sky sleds were too.
But Adora was still very much active, and showed no sign of retreating anytime soon. She dropped under Teela's next strike and switched her grip on the sword in one smooth, lightning-quick move, slashing upwards at Teela's hands. Teela slid backwards and kept all of her fingers - but not her staff, which Adora's blade caught and pulled straight from her hands.
Teela made a useless grab for it as it went, and immediately felt foolish for doing so. The staff flew into the trees. Not gone forever; just gone from this fight.
Now she was unarmed.
This was… less than ideal.
Regardless, Teela brought her fists up automatically. Never block with your face, Father had said, when she'd let her guard drop and her opponent had punched her square in the nose. Adam had laughed at her, until the third time she'd punched him in the nose and Father made him practice holding his arms at the proper angle for an hour every day.
"Ready to give up?" Adora asked, with a small, predatory grin.
"You wish," Teela said.
Adora's grin widened. She raised her sword - and an arrow struck it just above the guard. The force of the impact knocked it from her hand, and got a startled gasp as well.
Both Adora and Teela whipped their heads around to see Bow, perched in a tree, another arrow nocked and ready.
"Stay out of this!" Teela yelled, only to realize that the echo effect wasn't from any ringing in her ears; it was Adora, yelling the exact same thing at the exact same time.
Bow clearly hadn't expected a choral response. He lowered his weapon, looking confused. Neither girl noticed or cared, because they were back to the matter at hand.
Namely, fighting.
And more importantly, winning.
Neither of them had a weapon now, but that didn't matter. Teela had been fighting hand-to-hand since she could walk, practically, and while she preferred to have her staff, it had never really mattered to the dozens (if not hundreds) of Royal Guards and cadets that she had sent to the floor.
But once again, it appeared that Adora's training matched hers. Kicks didn't land, punches met empty space, strikes were blocked and parried.
Okay. Teela was completely done with this. Time for a better solution than slugging it out.
She scanned the area in between blows. Any good soldier used their environment to their advantage...
...like the undamaged blaster laying on the forest floor one good lunge away.
Teela blocked Adora's next cross, threw a high kick as a distraction, and dove for the blaster.
As it turned out, there were two problems with her plan.
One: she was a little too far away.
Two: Adora caught the long, trailing end of her hair and yanked her backwards. Really hard.
Teela lost her footing and went down badly, hitting the ground spine-first and halfway driving the breath from her lungs. Adora was already moving past her, going for the blaster herself, when Teela recovered.
Oh no you don't, she thought. She swung her leg around, hooking Adora by the ankle and knocking the other girl down.
Teela attempted to climb to her feet, but Adora wasn't having it. Well, fine.
Father had included grappling in her combat studies, pointing out that a great many hand-to-hand fights ended on the ground even when both fighters were a similar size, and as a young woman, she was likely to be smaller than her opponent. He'd probably been thinking of the drunken brawls in city taverns that the Royal Guard was sometimes called in to handle; sure enough, in her first year, she'd been dispatched to a few of them, same as any other rookie.
At one of those bench-clearing, window-smashing affairs, she'd had to take down a very angry, very inebriated man two feet taller and two hundred pounds heavier than she was. He'd clocked her in the head with a lucky wild punch right after she'd announced he was under arrest for disturbing the king's peace. It hadn't gone any better from there.
Compared to Adora, that fight had been a cinch.
Adora tried to put her in a choke; Teela flipped them and got the other girl in an armbar; Adora drove a knee into her stomach and pinned Teela's arm behind her back; Teela struck blindly backwards with her other elbow - and caught Adora squarely in the nose.
Lucky wild punch, indeed.
Adora was startled or injured enough - or both - to ease the pressure on Teela's arm. Teela freed herself from the hold and lunged forward, seizing the blaster, turning the motion into a shoulder roll, coming up on one knee.
Blaster aimed squarely at Blondie's face.
She had to hold the blaster in both hands, she was shaking so much from exhaustion and adrenaline. But it didn't matter. She'd won.
She'd won.
Ha!
"Surrender," Teela said, breathing hard, a triumphant smile curving across her face despite her best attempts to stay cool.
Adora kept her hands raised while she sat back heavily. She was out of breath herself, but there was nothing fatigued about the sharp, scornful look in her blue eyes.
"It's about time," Adora said.