Chapter 6

Adora stared blankly at her sword leaning against the wall. Gleaming and dark, pulsing with energy, voices calling her name. Visions of... everything flooding her memory.

It was days after the purge of Elberon, it took ages for her to recover from that and when she did, Adora had gone to see what happened to the captured people. Turns out they were all enslaved, forced to work in the mines beneath the Fright Zone where the metal is produced and melted down to make the armour for the Horde. It was horrid, she could not believe her eyes. She wanted no part in any of this but she had no choice, there was no escape. She had to do it, or suffer at the hands of Shadow Weaver. That was not a prospect that thrilled her. Actually, it chilled her to the core.

Force Captain Catra received a new mission today, they're transporting goods to one of the Horde occupied territories, but to get to it they need to traverse the Whispering Woods. They're heading out in a few moments, Jack and Ryan were packing in the last of the supplies. The soldiers are in need of security bots, armour as well as nourishments.

Adora considered leaving the sword behind, however Shadow Weaver beats the crap out of her whenever she's spotted without it. So with great reluctance, she picked up the sword and sheathed it on the leather sheath behind her. She walked through the Fright Zone, which she learned recently was in the middle of a vast desert, to get to the loading bay.

This mission should hopefully go without a hitch, it's not too complicated. The only difficult part was navigating the Whispering Woods. From what Shadow Weaver told them, the woods were full of magic, with constantly changing and shifting landscape and it's also right on Bright Moon's front door, where the heart of the Rebellion was. They'll need to sneak past them, assuming they don't get lost.

"Right, I'm driving," Catra's voice echoed from the corridor. Adora punched in a number on the keypad next to the door, it opened while a horn blared from above, a red light blinking. She entered the pretty empty bay, the door shutting softly behind her.

"Why you?" Ryan argued with her.

She put her hands on her hips. "Because I'm the leader here." She took the keys from him and looked at Adora. "You're in the front with me, come on." Catra hopped into the driver seat, sliding the key into the socket and turned. The van rumbled to life. The rest of the team went in the back, buckling into their seats. Adora slipped into the passenger side, her sword resting beside her, hilt against the door.

The van pulled away from the bay and started along the path, taking them right out to the desert. Catra and Adora put on sunglasses to protect their eyes from the glaring sun. Catra also pressed a button which raised the visor between them and the rest of their team, meaning they couldn't hear each other. If they wanted to communicate, they'd have to do it through the comms tablet. They each carried one.

"This will be fun," Catra said, a faint smile upon her fierce lips.

"What makes you say that?" Adora asked, gazing out at the desert, taking in the views she'd never been able to have growing up. She loved how beautiful Etheria was, a shame the Horde was destroying all the beauty.

"Because we're finally going on an adventure," she replied, eyes glittering with wonder. Adora smiled, content to see her so happy.

It took a while to reach the Whispering Woods, Catra and Adora filled the hours chatting. Gossiping, and having fun. Every so often, voices floated to her from the sword but she ignored them as usual.

The woods were massive, filled with thick trees with massive amounts of foliage, twisted branches, and strange flowers of varying sizes and coloured. Long grass, low hanging fog and little balls of topaz floating in the hair like bubbles in the deep ocean. It was a stunning place however she was almost a hundred percent sure they were going in circles. She saw that same bolder four times now at least. She knew it was that bolder because it had scratch marks on it from wild animals.

"This doesn't seem right," Catra admitted finally. She was so sure they were in the right direction, on the correct path. The stubborn cat.

"I agree, although I'm unsure what to do. We could change our course?" Adora offered. She opened the glove box, looking for some map of Etheria or something so she could direct Catra through the woods but there was nothing there.

There was no way of telling if they were going in the right direction, their comms pads don't have signal within the woods, something is interrupting the reception, and the tree's foliage is so full that they can't see the sky outside the window. There was no sun to guide them.

Catra decided, after seeing the bolder for the fifth time, to change course. She went to the right because their directions told them to go right after a certain point. They never reached that point, but still. It was the best plan they had.

"It's going to take time to figure out how these woods work," Catra grumbled.

"Time we don't have," Adora said. This mission was on a timer, to be completed within two days and since it was nearly a whole day's travel, they were on a tight schedule. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles turned white. "How long have we been in these woods? It feels like forever." Catra shrugged, brow pinched in. She was severely pissed off, which was understandable.

After some time going down the road, having not spotted another bolder, the van comes to a screeching halt. So hard, Adora is flung forward, the seat belt creating a deep impression in her skin. That was going to bruise by the morning.

When Adora could sit up straight to look out the window, she saw the van was slowly being encased in ice. The wheels were completely frozen. Oh no. From the ice, giant icicles sprung forth, the points not far from the window. Adora scanned the forest, from the edges of darkness she saw them, the princesses. Snowflake, sparkles, flower girl, the giant scorpion and a couple of other ones she hadn't seen before.

"Ah crap." Catra rolled down the visor. "Listen up, we've been ambushed. If we're captured, don't say a word to anyone. I'll deal with them." Adora stared at sparkles who looked back. "When you get the chance, if you get the chance, use the sword."

The princesses inched closer to the van, the back door was ripped right off by a strong wind. "Out of the van," sparkles demanded. "And do so slowly, any sudden movements and you'll be impaled. Keep your hands where we can see them." The icicles moved closer as a warning. They showed their hands and one by one they exited the van. There was a princess, the scorpion, that came to the passenger door and with her giant pincers she ripped it right off, throwing it away like rubbish. Her tail raised above her head, pointed at Adora. Why did she look so familiar?

"Out, slowly," she demanded. The sword had tumbled to the ground when the door was torn off, the ice princess had snatched it right up. Adora got out of the van, her hands raised by her head, palms open. Snowflake stripped her of all her other weapons and removed her red jacket, leaving it discarded on the ground. "This one's clear," the scorpion princess said.

"Good," Sparkles said. The flower princess used vines to bind their hands behind them, clothes to gag them. Each of them were teleported away by Sparkles, but one at a time. Interesting, perhaps it was so they wouldn't know where they were being taken to, or the layout of their prison. Adora was the last one, left standing with a scorpion's tail centimetre from her back, surrounded by princesses fascinated by the sword.

The sparkly princess came back for her at last. "Time to go, Horde scum." She gripped Adora's shoulder. In a puff of sparkles, they left the woods. Adora felt the sensation of weightlessness for a brief and terrifying moment, her vision completely blackened. Once her eyes could see again, she saw she was standing in a prison cell. Sparkles pushed her further in and her back found a solid wall, she grunted upon impact. The room was dark, safe for a few lit sconces, a guard outside every cell. Adora slid to the ground, glaring up at the princess. And just like that, she teleported away, leaving her alone in an unfamiliar place.

The team could be anywhere within the prison blocks. She had never felt more alone in her whole life than she did at that moment. She was still bound and gagged, so sure she'd be getting interrogated about the Horde's plans and any secrets they may have that could help the rebellion.

She won't tell them anything. No matter what.

Adora had no sense of time, so she had no idea how long she'd been stuck in that cell with scurrying rats by the time the guards unlocked the door. Two tall guards dressed in armour made from a light silvery metal, she could faintly see it sparkling. They adorned flowing muslin cloaks, done in a fashion that represented wings. Simplistic design yet also quite sparkly. Hm. It kind of reminded her of the sparkly princess.

They came in and picked Adora up, each guard holding onto one of her arms, pulling her along. They walked up stairs, out of the prison block, into the main hallways where they walked past panel after panel of hand painted murals, flags with crescent moon designs on them accompanied by stars and tapestries done in purples and pinks. Everything there was purple, pink or blue and very, very, annoyingly sparkly. It's like the princess vomited everywhere.

The guards took her to a room where they placed her in a chair. In front of her was a table and some computer monitors she could barely see. On the table were all of their weapons, including the magic sword where a purple haired girl in a metal mask was studying it. Around the table were the princesses, but also someone new. She looked like sparkles so much, she had angelic wings, a warm aura about her and a crow of moons and stars upon her head, long, flowing pink hair like Sparkles.

"Is this the last of them?" the woman asked, looking at Adora disappointingly.

"Yes," the flower princess replied. "Although, I don't think I know her. It's hard to tell, her face looks both familiar and unfamiliar." The princess had three red roses in the eye socket Catra had scratched at. She had only one eye left.

"I've got that same feeling," Sparkles said.

The woman stepped towards Adora. "Regardless of whether she was on the battlefield, she may still hold important information." The flower princess snapped her fingers and more vines pinned Adora to the chair. Snowflake was sitting in a chair nearby, looking utterly bored. Adora was more focused on the monitors, because of what was on those screens. It was words she recognised. Things like, Grayskull and She-Ra, words whispered to her in the dark of night and the light of day. "Begin the questioning," the woman commanded with a voice of authority.

Sparkles stepped close to Adora, eyes narrowed on her. "What's your name?" she asked. Adora didn't answer, her lips were sealed shut the moment Catra gave the command. She would spill no secrets. Her eyes flickered to the computer monitors again where odd letterings appeared, kind of resembling constellations, like the design on the sword. She looked again at the sparkly princess. "Fine, not like I care for your name anyway." She crossed her arms. "Tell us everything you know about She-Ra."