Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron/Go Lion or any of their characters. They are the property of WEP , Devil's Due Comic, Toei Animation and Dreamworks. All other characters are mine. This is written purely for entertainment purposes and I am not monetarily compensated in any way.
A/N: Thank you all who have read, reviewed, fav'ed and followed! This chapter is dedicated to Voltron fandom's "horsey set." Dressage is hard, amirite? 3
Legend of Angel Falls
Chapter 7
Oh, the song of Loreley
Charms the moon right from the sky
She will get inside your mind, lovely Loreley
When she cries "Be with me until the end of time!"
You know you will ever be with your Loreley
~Loreley, Blackmore's Night
1
From behind the falling curtain of water, Isabel watched Yon disappear at the edge of the the reflecting pool. His body armor shimmered for a moment as he activated it's camouflage and his form blended seamlessly into the surrounding leaves. He had been coming for nearly four weeks now; his visits had been frequent but purposely random to avoid either of them being detected. So far it had worked.
He had been generous with his gifts also. Along with food he had brought her clothes, bedding and other comforts. And today, one more thing, more precious than the rest. She jingled the bracelet on her wrist admiring intricacy of the woven links and the flash of the pretty orange gem set into the star burst pendent. He had surprised her when he had brought it to her today when he visited. He had made it out of a necklace he wore. The pendant had 'Nal'lan' engraved in wiggly Drule script around the bezel setting of the gem on one side. It was his surname- his family name. Every male of his family had one, he had explained. They received it at Na'reldai'ra, a ceremony marking the transition from boy to man. It was a literal symbol of him belonging to his clan. Necklaces meant ownership he had also said, and that's was why he was offering her a bracelet. He said he would never own her, that he belonged to her, not the other way around.
"Will you take it?" he asked.
She had stared at the bracelet silently and it took her a moment to realize his hand was trembling. He was nervous, very nervous, and she didn't realize what he was really asking until that moment. Indecision had gripped her. Was it possible to actually want what he was offering and accept it while being too afraid to refuse? The question had been too complicated to consider at the moment, and the only thing that mattered was that she did want him and not just for the protection he offered. Of that she was sure. Her voice failed her as she tried to speak the word, so she just nodded as she blinked back tears. He had expelled a shaky breath and embraced her, kissing her forehead then her mouth before fastening the bracelet around her left wrist.
He showed her a bracelet of his own, made from the remaining links of the chain. Normally, she would fasten it on him, but a betrothal bracelet would create dangerous questions back at his base.
"It won't be this way for long," he had said, "The fighting is over- here anyway. Leon Provence is totally in our control. We're building a permanent base and I volunteered to stay. I'm sure I''ll get it. Everyone else wants to go home or on to the Fifth where the real fighting is."
"Don't you want to go home? Back to your family?" she asked, not sure if she really wanted to hear the answer.
He shook his head, "No, there's nothing there for me. I'm the youngest male. My family isn't rich, there's nothing for me to inherit. It was either work for my brother or a career in the military."
Isabel had frowned, but said nothing as she toyed with the bracelet, realizing she had very much to learn about the man who had given it to her.
"It will be better for me—for us—here. I get a pay increase for staying and I'll get promoted faster. Once the base is finished, you'll be able to leave here, come live with me on base."
The idea of leaving the cave had frightened Isabel, it still did, especially the idea of leaving it to go live among the Drule. "How can I do that? Won't there be problems? What if your people won't accept me?"
He shushed her with finger to her lips then ran his hand through her platinum hair, "They will. This has happened for milennia to Drule armies: we invade and conquer a Kingdom, then the beautiful girls conquer us."
2
Keith led his horse toward the outdoor riding arena. He could hear Nanny's voice issuing instructions to someone riding on the opposite end. A moment later Allura's black velvet helmet and shining gold hair came into view as she trotted her palomino down the long side near him. The mid-morning autumn sun was bright and warm, illuminating the small cloud of dust the followed after her. He walked forward to get a better view and paused to watch her ride.
"Now try again once you get to the turn. Round him though...bend him around your inside leg-get him back on the bit!-good! Good!" Nanny called as the golden horse flexed at the poll and dropped his head down, his small ears swiveled to the side showing he was in as deep concentration as his rider.
"Okay, close the outside rein...don't let the hind-end come off the rail...lighten your inside rein—Ha! Good! Just like that!" Nanny clapped her hands as Sonne and Allura executed a perfect shoulder in along the opposite side of the arena, "Alright straighten out and at B go back to rising trot and ask him to go long and low..."
He saw Allura notice him standing there with his horse as she came back around. He smiled at her and half waved and he saw her smile back as she rode by, correcting Sonne as he whinnied and turned to look at Keith's mare. He saw Nanny looking at him after Allura had passed, her lips were pressed together as if she was considering something. He waved to her and she nodded and turned her attention back to Allura and waved her in. He watched them exchange a few words and then Allura approached and Nanny follow a few paces behind.
"Good morning, Princess. You guys are looking good," He said as Allura came to a halt at the white pipe rail fence.
"Thank you," Allura smiled. Her cheeks were flushed and a small droplets of sweat glistened on the portion of her forehead left exposed under her helmet, "We've been working hard."
"It shows. He's really coming along...you look good together, " Keith said, appreciating Sonne's deep golden coat and long snow white mane, "He's fit for a queen—or a princess, I mean."
Allura smiled and her cheeks flushed a deeper crimson.
Keith returned her smile.
"So, are you going to bring us back anything for dinner, Commander?" Nanny asked as she came up to the rail.
"Ah...that's the plan..." Keith broke away from
"Try to get some fennik or some orik, they should be nice and fat now, getting ready for winter." Nanny suggested.
Keith nodded, his gaze strayed back to Allura and then back to his mare as she stretched her nose and nickered at Sonne.
Sonne nickered back, tossed his head and pawed the ground, eager to do his own socializing with Keith's mare.
Allura 'whoa-ed' him and reined him back a few steps, "He doesn't know he's not a stallion anymore."
"They all think they're stallions these days, huh?" Nanny stared hard at Keith.
Keith coughed and cleared his throat as he remembered Nanny's threat and read the look on the governess' face. Small talk was over.
"Well, I better let you get back to your lesson. You're doing so well, I don't want to break the vibe," he said.
"Thank you and good luck hunting, Commander," Allura said sparing a quick sidelong glare at Nanny.
"Yes, good luck, Commander. Have a safe ride," Nanny said to him then took Sonne by the reins and led Allura away.
Keith watched for a moment then led his mare to the courtyard and mounted up and rode off.
He kept his mare at an easy lope along the grassy shoulder of the road—now paved—until he came to the trail head he and Lance usually took. He headed up the trail, which was now becoming a well worn path wide enough that vehicles could travel. Indeed ruts had formed from where both rubber treaded tires and cartwheels had regularly traveled.
There were many things about Altea's lack of modern technology that he found difficult to adjust to, but to his surprise he found he enjoyed riding. Back on Terra it was something he had only seen actors do on the holo. And most of that had been CGI. The reality of of riding a horse far surpassed how he imagined it would be. It was infinitely harder than it looked; he found that out the hard way. But once he had learned to respect the horse, (her patience and forgiveness was endless) the trust and bond he had with his mare was incredible. In ways it was almost as close as the symbiotic bond he had with Black Lion, but much less consuming...less proprietary. His mare wanted nothing more than honesty, kindness and a purpose. But Black Lion? He knew that Black wanted something—all the Lions wanted for something—but what that was exactly he didn't know. He knew, all of the team knew, that was what was happening to Sven. Blue Lion wanted and needed and Sven didn't have enough- and it was destroying his sanity. Keith wondered if that would eventually be all their fates: to be isolated and steadily driven insane on this shabby colony so far from home.
Altea was so different, sometimes too different, and the Voltron force existed in a sort of social 'No Man's Land.' While the people hailed them as heroes, the team maintained a dubious reputation. Some still considered them Alliance spies and the rest treated them as if they were a strange new sort of nobility, which had yet to establish its place in the social hierarchy. Altea was where they all had chosen to live when they swore their service to Allura those many, many months ago, but none of them, himself included, could really call it home.
It was at times like this, when he was faced with the reality of his situation, he longed for his old life back on Terra. He had come out to day not only to hunt but to try to shake the lingering depression that seemed worse than usual lately. In the back of his mind he wondered if it was triggered by the Black Lion.
He had dreamed several times of Beverly over the last few weeks. Dreams so real and vivid he had been confused when he awoke, taking a moment to realize both where he was and when he was. He couldn't avoid the truth. He missed her, her family—her mother and father and her brothers- who had become like his surrogate family to him. When she died he had lost them as well. Not right away. But slowly, as the weeks and months after her death had passed, it became clear that his continued presence in their lives reminded them of the loss of their daughter and everything her life could have been. He supposed that was what he mourned most of all- not just the loss of Beverly herself, but all that their future would have held. He shook his head to clear it. That was then; this is now.
The leaves on the trees were turning shades of fiery red, orange and sun-bright yellow, just like the trees on Terra did. That at least was familiar. Autumn had always been his favorite season. The spectacular colors of the fall had always seemed to him a last defiance of the trees. To him they seemed most alive now, right before winter came and stripped them of their glory. The growing things going through their ritual of life, death and rebirth had always reassured him that life always goes on. It had helped him accept the deaths of his parents. It helped now too, with this new set of losses to grieve. Accepting life's endless circle helped him find solace and a sense of purpose in helping the people of Altea and, if he was being honest with himself, being in the service of the princess.
He came to a fork in the path and halted his horse. He looked at the well worn trail he had been following and then down the other. It was strewn with leaves and he smiled as he noted it was 'the one less traveled.' He set his GPS to relay his route and turned his horse and headed down it.
Before long his horse's hooves began to clip clop on hard pavement and on the right he saw small orange marker flags fluttering close to the ground. As he got closer he noticed a partially constructed wrought iron fence blocking him from going forward. Behind it a large wooden cross had been erected. Suddenly he knew where he was: Orlena. The path he was on led to the north side of the town, opposite from where he and Lance had accidentally stumbled upon it. He turned and walked along side the fence, unsure of whether he would pick up another trail. He craned his neck to see into the town and he saw a several tents set up for forensic field work. He thought of the woman and her baby that he had found and his breath caught in his throat. At least they'll rest in peace now—all of them. He shuddered as he remembered the glowing eyes in the window.
After a few hundred yards he saw an opening into the woods. A true game trail. He remembered his original purpose for riding out today. Certainly he would find some good hunting this deep into the forest. He turned his horse down it and soon he spied the red feathered crest of a fat orik, a flightless but feathered reptile, waddling through the leaves digging for grubs with it's taloned feet. He leveled his side arm and took careful aim, shooting the creature in its scaly head. It ran a few paces then dropped like a stone. He dressed his kill and stowed it in his saddle bag, then mounted up and rode on, thinking that two or three more orik would be a nice catch.
The trail became faint, and the forest grew darker and more dense. And cold. Keith's horse raised her head, sniffed the air and snorted. Keith watched carefully as she flicked her ears back and forth a few times, scanning for something amiss. If there was danger, a predator or bandits lying in wait, she would hear and smell them long before he could see them. A moment later she relaxed and he clucked her forward. Suddenly a fennik darted down a tree and she startled, Keith saw it too and fired but he was too slow. The furry creature screeched an alarm as it scooted into the underbrush and disappeared. A group of birds roosting in a near by tree took wing, answering the fennik's call with their own which echoed through the woods as they flew.
"Damn it!" Keith cursed out loud. All the noise was likely to scare off potential game for miles. He looked around and checked his GPS on his comm. He was not far from Bowman's Ridge. He paused a moment and considered if he wanted to turn back or go a bit further down this trail. He was just about to turn around when his mare suddenly shied hard, side stepping and rearing before she bolted through the trees. He regained control, and brought her to a halt, then looked around for what what could have caused the normally steady animal to spook.
"Whoa, girl..." he soothed the frightened horse, noting that the woods had gone completely silent. He shivered as the hair on the back of his neck rose. He he looked left and saw a light shining a short distance off in the murky, green-dark of the forest like a lantern held high. He was bewildered at first, then it dawned on him: he was witnessing the phenomenon of Bowman's Ridge. An amorphous cloud started to to form around it and the light became two lights, then three hovering several feet off the ground. Automatically, Keith had his side arm in his hand. He thought he saw something behind it or within the cloud, moving coming closer. It looked like a man, but he couldn't make out any identifying features except for a jacket: Altean military issue.
"Stop right there!" Keith ordered, leveling the weapon at the shape within the mist, "I can see you're a person!"
There was no answer and the shape continued to move closer. His whinnied nervously and sidled back a few steps.
The lights grew brighter and they glowed at the top of the figure, like eyes. An icy chill washed over Keith as he recognized them. They were the same glowing eyes he'd seen in Orlena and they were definitely not cat eyes. He stared into them frozen, his weapon drawn, his finger on the trigger ready to fire, but he didn't. As he watched, the glowing eyes faded and the figure turned and receded into the gloom, disappearing within a tangle of laurels.
"Holy shit," Keith expelled the breath he'd been holding, "Come on, girl, let's get out of here!" he turned his horse around and let her pick her way through the trees until they found the game trail once more.
He had just turned past the fork and had started down the main trail when his comm chimed. It was Hunk and it was important.
"Go ahead for Kogane," he answered.
"Hey Skipper, there was an incident with Sven."
Keith's heart dropped, "What kind of incident?"
"He assaulted someone," Hunk's voice had a guarded tone.
"Who?"
There was a notable pause before Hunk answered, "The princess."
It was as if all the blood had rushed to Keith's head and for a moment he felt faint. "How bad?" He asked, at once dreading the answer while desperately needing to know. His mare sensed the change in him and came to a halt.
"She's not hurt. Not injured at all. He went into one of his episodes and just sort of grabbed her and was yelling nonsense. Her security got him off and they tasered him," Hunk explained.
Keith sighed, "Where is he now?"
"Medical, under observation...and arrest."
"Shit...understood. I'm on my way back to the castle. ETA 45 minutes," Keith replied.
"Understood, Skipper."
Keith put his comm back on his belt and picked up the reins in one hand. He clucked to his mare and she walked forward down the path. He knew he should hurry, but he was not eager to face the situation waiting for him back at the castle. Sven's illness was now very public, no doubt it was the talk of the castle and very soon to be spread planet wide. And the princess? He thanked God that she wasn't hurt. That had been luck, though. How could he face her after this? Sven was under his command; he should have had him...had him? Had him what? Confined to his quarters? What could he have done besides that? That might have been enough. And he should have have done it, but he had been too concerned with Sven's deteriorating condition being leaked to the Alliance and worse, to their enemies. Guilt flooded him, he should have done something...anything. Anything besides let the princess be in danger. Keith had an urge to turn back and disappear back into the forest. He remembered the strange lights and the figure he had seen. Had he really seen what he thought he had? Was this how it started? Was it like this for Sven at first? Hallucinating things that weren't there? A cold dread overcame him as he wondered: Am I next?
