Chapter 7

Se-le-ni

I stumbled as I landed and had to steady myself on the ground until my head stopped reeling. I closed my eyes, and when the spinning subsided, I opened them. We were on a large, deserted plain, its rocky ground stretching out as far as the eye could see. The sky above us was dark, as if we were under a constant cover of clouds. I never thought I would return to this place again.

The other ones had landed some distance away from me, a clue of how difficult it had been for Ka-ma-la to travel here with such a large group. I looked around, but I knew we wouldn’t meet anyone here. That’s what it was designed for.

“You dare to take us here?,” Joshua asked.

“Where else?, Ka-ma-la replied. There is nowhere else that is safe now.”

He shook his head in answer.

“So what now?,” the younger man of our group asked.

“Preparing,” Ka-ma-la replied.

I glanced around and caught sight of Me-la-ni. She was huddling on the ground some distance away from us, and I instinctively ran to her. I still remembered her arms around me, and her soft skin against mine, and I winced at the memory. It didn’t mean anything, she was in shock. I knelt down beside her as I arrived, and she glanced at me with weak eyes.

“H-hey…”, she whispered.

Her gentle greeting took me by surprise, and for a moment, I didn’t know what to say.

“Hey…, I replied. Are you okay?”

She nodded and tried to stand, and I wrapped my arm around her and helped her up.

“We’ll stay here until we know what we’re up against”, I heard Ka-ma-la declare.

Me-la-ni took a careful step and, still with my arm around her, hobbled over to the others.

“Is this still safe?,” she asked as we halted before them.

“As safe as it can be.”

Joshua glanced around, clearly not happy with where Ka-ma-la had taken us, but he knew better than to argue.

“We'd better get going, then,” Me-la-ni proclaimed weakly.

The others gathered around, looking expectantly at Ka-ma-la and she cleared her throat.

“And so they have chosen side,” she began.

“Traitors…,” the younger man muttered.

“There is nothing we can do about it now. We can only assess the situation and gather a plan from what we know.”

“So what do we know?”, Joshua asked.

I glanced at Me-la-ni. She was standing straight now, but I could see that she was still weak, and this place wouldn’t help her gather her strength. I wanted to reach out, take her hand, but I wasn’t sure how she would react.

“We know the Masters of the Universe have gathered again”, Ka-ma-la stated.

“Do you? I only heard it from Bo-lo-to,” I asked.

“They have, although they are not yet as strong as he would like to pretend. However, they will be.”

“Who else is on our side?,” Me-la-ni asked.

“Ka-ra and Sara. I’ve vetted them.”

“We haven’t met with the others,” Joshua added.

The group fell silent for a moment.

“So, what shall we do?,” the younger man asked.