4

As Shadow Weaver stood watching from on high – her arms folded - the trio of villainesses now surrounded the prone Princess in a tight circle. Behind them, the remaining Horde guard stood still, but ominously on guard. Life began to return to She-Ra's limbs, but she could still barely move.

"Stand back, I warn you…" with all her strength, the erstwhile Princess of Power could only get onto her knees, her cape and dress now saturated.

"Bind her." Shadow Weaver called out, aggressively. Catra – purring wildly and showing little reluctance – was the first to step forward, dropping a concealed backpack to the ground from beneath her cape before seizing the kneeling, stunned, submissive body of She-Ra with hungry hands.

"Rriaow. You won't be needing this…" Catra cooed, effortlessly pulling She-Ra's shimmering golden headpiece from her temples, and tossing it into the mud.

"No… please, no…" the Princess begged as her blonde hair fell about her face. Entrapta silenced her and sent her kneeling body falling back into the brown liquid of the bog with a thump of the Doom Cannon against her caped back.

She-Ra cried out as she fell, gurgling with sobs as her face met with the muddy, unstable ground. Scorpia inched closer, and still holding the magical Sword carefully between both claws out of the heroine's grasp, she wrapped her dreadful tail around She-Ra's torso – holding her steady as her cohorts prepared to restrain her.

"Uhh… stop…" the Princess' protests grew fainter as Scorpia's tail coiled her, the sharp tip of the deadly stinger terrifyingly close to her prone, golden choker clad neck.

Above the Princess; thick chains, glowing green and clearly fashioned out of some kind of awful metallic compound of the Doom Crystal were produced from the opened backpack, and promptly locked around She-Ra's wrists by Catra; who fastened her arms tight behind her. The manacles, throbbing with wicked energy, seemed to sap the heroine's strength from the moment they were applied.

"Ngh… let me go…" She-Ra weakly pleaded as a huge collar – made of the same vile, glowing alloy – was clasped securely around her neck from behind. A large 'D' loop hung from its front, beneath the captive Princess's chin. Her now mud-tinged, wet hair had strayed, fallen and matted across the side of her face as she did her best to struggle against her constraints.

"The Princess is subdued, Shadow Weaver." Catra called out triumphantly.

"Quite subdued." Scorpia, relinquishing her tail's grip, stepped out behind She-Ra and tossed the Princess's confiscated sword high into the air. With the aid of some levitation magic, Shadow Weaver brought it floating gently into her clutches. She held it aloft as She-Ra struggled to look up at her mountainside perch, broken hearted.

"The sword of the Princess of Power." The hooded villainess cackled, her voice elevating with the smug pride of victory. "How our Lord Hordak could have use for this."

She-Ra sank further to her knees in the powerful bonds as the mud rose up to her short skirt. Her mind could scarcely compute how she'd fallen for this elaborate kidnap plot. Now, she was truly in danger of becoming a slave to the Horde. As the terrible bonds glowed about her body, a sensation filled her veins that scared her even more. There was some kind of excitement, even arousal beginning to stem from her captive state. She struggled, trying to close her mind from it.

"You'll… ngghh… never get away with this, Shadow Weaver…" She-Ra raised her head and blurted out, cohesive speech already becoming a problem as the elements of the Doom Crystal worked their foul magic on all aspects of the heroine's body.

"Enough talking for now, it is time." Shadow Weaver called out, nodding to herself, glowering eyes still transfixed on the crystal-emblazoned Sword of Power.

Catra dug into a pouch on her belt and produced a black leather gag, which was stuffed fully into the Princess of Power's mouth – reducing her diminishing protests to mere muffled whimpers. As the gag was buckled tightly around She-Ra's blonde-maned head and a thick leather leash attached to the 'D' link fronting the metallic Doom-Collar, the heroine's humiliation and restraint was complete.

"Take her away…" Shadow Weaver hissed; full of evil glee, as she slid the sword of power safely under her cape. With the command, Catra and Scorpia flanked their prisoner from either side and pulled her to her feet. Scorpia held She-Ra from behind and began marching her through the mud: Catra gleefully taking her from the front, tugging at the leash around her neck. Entrapta stood aside as the heroine was taken, a malign smile on her red lips and the Doom Cannon still aimed at the captive. She-Ra squealed into the gag as she saw Swift Wind's sleeping body stretchered ahead of her; as the pair were briskly marched away to their doom.

"Rrriaow! You look just adorable all trussed up like that." Catra grinned back at the captive Princess – enjoying the anticipation of her imminent enslavement to her cause - as she tugged playfully on the leash, wrapping it around her fist. She-Ra could offer nothing in resistance, and merely bowed her gagged head as she walked painfully at her captors' dictated pace.

As the remaining Horde Troops made their way - single file - either side of her through the gully towards the coastline, She-Ra knew she was truly a prisoner of war, inevitably with worse to come. The Horde were notorious for enslaving the people of Etheria, and had many methods with which to achieve it. Such thoughts worried She-Ra on a constant level, but at this moment, chained and gagged in their clutches, they terrified her.

Weakly looking up as they traversed out of the gully and onto the path, She-Ra had a lump in her throat as she saw the threatening, scorpion-shaped silhouette of the 'Crawler'. It was Scorpia's heavy-duty, tank-esque vehicle waiting by a coastal ridge – no doubt ready for her transportation to the dreaded Fright Zone.

She-Ra was close to tears as she was led over the mound of Bright Moon towards her thankless fate, the sea crashing far beneath her. She knew she was utterly defeated; her only hope was some kind of rescue. Perhaps Glimmer and the Rebels at the Castle had rounded up the rest of the Horde invaders and would come searching for her? Or maybe He-Man himself could be somehow be contacted?

Her strength and will fading inside of her as she saw the 'Crawler's loading ramp lower to the ground – mere yards ahead - a single tear rolled down She-Ra's beautiful, gagged face.

The follow up expedition into the mountains of Bright Moon had left the Castle only shortly after She-Ra had. By the time they'd reached the standing stones, it was approaching nightfall, and they were on foot. Glimmer and Frosta headed the group – about twenty strong and consisting mainly of rebels volunteers appearing at the Castle in the wake of the attack.

A set of scouts took the point and headed through the gully, beginning to light torches in the impending darkness. The remainder fanned out in the swampy, circular spot of valley ground, searching for anything that'd lead them to the missing She-Ra.

"It's getting dark." Glimmer rued, now comfortably suited and booted in her blue-ish rebel armour, as was Frosta. "A scan of this area then we should scour the clifftops."

"Glimmer, look." Frosta pointed across a small, yet visible, gleam from the swamp ahead of them. Glimmer followed her gaze and slowly, painfully, made her way through the mud.

Horrified, Glimmer stooped to pick up the soiled yet still golden crown of the Princess of Power.

"No, it can't be…"

Glimmer sank to her knees, tears welling in her bright eyes.

"Princess, over here." A male voice – one of the scouts - hollered from beyond the gully.

Still clinging to her friend's crown, Glimmer broke into a run to follow the voice. It belonged to a Captain of the Rebellion, Alessandro Stace who knelt over some mud-churned, tank-like tracks in a suit of immaculate golden armour.

"What is it, Alessandro?"

"Tracks, milady. To my knowledge, they're those of a tank. The Crawler, to be specific." His eyes followed the tracks, with the aid of torchlight, to the coastal path.

"Scorpia." Glimmer's face sank even more.

Stace nodded. "The tracks lead off to the west, down the coast. I'd wager they'd lead us straight to the Fright Zone." As his handsome face tightened into a concerned frown, Glimmer knelt beside him to inspect the tracks. Stace looked into Glimmer's reddening eyes.

"I'm sure she's still alive, your highness."

"She's alive, I know it." Glimmer confirmed, and firmly. "But I can feel she's in great pain…"

Glimmer did her best to flick her mind back from the emotional to the logical.

"First Catra, now Scorpia. If my mother is correct and Shadow Weaver is involved too, we will have our hands full."

"What's our next move?" Frosta boomed impatiently, arriving behind the pair.

Glimmer stood up, looking down briefly at She-Ra's muddy crown in her hands.

"We tool up, and then we go for her." The redness gone from her eyes, Glimmer gave a steely look. Frosta matched her gaze, and gave the Princess an encouraging smile as the moon began to rise over the sea.