Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron or any of its Taralonans belong to me, but I'm not sure who else would want them…
All errors belong to me alone. ;-D
Sequel to "Saved from the Queen by the Princess." You don't have to read that one first, but events are referenced from the story.
Setting/Rating: Setting is DotU but none of the events took place. I just picture them as 80s DotU and none of the stuff from VF has occurred. Rating is T for kissing and mild violence in later chapters.
Chapter 11
Two hours later they were on the mountainside discussing their options.
Breathing a little heavy from the climb and the awkwardness of climbing while holding hands, Keith spoke. "Well, we haven't seen any likely areas for caves and except for trees and shrubs; there isn't anywhere to conceal you. I think we should head back down the mountain."
Allura noted that Keith only mentioned concealing her, not him. Not wanting to argue right now, she pretended she didn't hear it. "I agree. My feet hurt and if we were flushed out up here, we would have a harder time escaping pursuit. Let's go down. I'd like to soak my feet for a few minutes in that stream if we have time." This time her smile was real.
"I think we'll have time for a foot soak. Making a circular trip to the hot spot will probably take us about four hours if we don't run into any Taralonans." Four hours minimum. It was more time than he wanted to use of the bracelet's power source, but they didn't have a choice. The sooner they returned to the thermal feature, the sooner he could turn it off and conserve power.
The trip down went a little faster and less than two hours later, Allura was soaking her feet in the cold stream. She leaned her head back and wiggled her toes blissfully. A sigh of relief escaped her lips. Keith sat next to her facing the opposite direction so that the sides of their thighs touched. Even though they had switched hands on and off for the last five hours, their hands were tired and it felt good to relax them. Allura smiled as she heard a rumbling noise and cracked her eyelids to look at Keith.
Shrugging his shoulders, Keith said, "Sorry, I'm hungry. I guess my stomach was being vocal." He pulled out a root and bit into it while giving her one as well. "I would say that we should chew on some soft inner tree bark, but that would leave evidence of where we were. I'll look for more of the roots as we walk along. We'll stick to the bank of the stream and walk in it some of the time. It will help disguise our tracks." Maybe they would come across a downed tree and he could look for some grubs. Turning back to Allura, he said, "Five more minutes then we've got to get moving again."
Allura laid all the way back on the grassy bank, chewed on the root, and closed her eyes. Less than a day and they'd be free or captured. It was hard to get the thoughts out of her mind.
Keith shook her leg and when she sat up, he reached across his body to take her right hand in his left. Standing, they brushed each other off and then began walking alongside the stream.
As they walked along the bank, Keith glanced over into the stream and stopped. "Was that a fish?"
Allura stopped and looked. Her searching eyes were rewarded with a flash of silver and movement under the water. "Yes! I saw it!"
Reaching down to take one of the knives out of his boot, he moved with her into the trees. After selecting a straight strong stick, he cut a length of vine and with Allura maintaining physical contact, he tied the knife to the stick making a spear. It wasn't easy, but with a little work, Keith was able to spear a fish.
Looking at the fish as Keith gutted and cleaned it, Allura wrinkled her nose. "You're sure it's safe to eat raw?"
"Yes. There is no poisonous aquatic life on Armor. On earth, some types of raw fish are considered a delicacy." He laughed as the wrinkle stayed in her nose. Even though she wasn't excited about the raw fish, Keith was pleased that she ate everything he gave her. It wasn't sushi, but he had to admit that it was better than the roots and a lot easier on the jaw muscles. However, they both drank a lot to wash down the taste and then they moved on.
They hadn't gone far, perhaps thirty yards from the stream, when Keith stopped them. There was a four foot drop where they both jumped down. The jump wasn't a problem, in fact it was a benefit. Looking at Allura's perplexed expression, he explained, "Let's walk a little ways in both directions. Sometimes with a drop like this there might be a small burrow or den. It might not be large, but that could work in our favor as they will be less likely to look for you there." Leading the way, they had gone about forty yards when Keith spotted a large deciduous tree growing along the ledge. The large roots grew like a waterfall over the side with a tangle of shrubs stretching for yards on either side. Walking up to the shrub barrier, they could see that water running over the ledge and roots had washed out a hollow behind the roots. Keith and Allura pressed their way through the greenery so they were at the base of the ledge. Without even being asked, Allura squatted down and slid behind the roots.
"It's actually pretty roomy in here compared to the crevice at the hot spot and I like that I can see out through some of the roots. Can you see me?"
Maneuvering the best he could while holding her hand, he didn't see anything that indicated her presence. "No, I don't think you'll be seen." He felt a pull on his hand as she started making her way out from behind the roots.
Shaking off the debris that had clung to her clothes, she sadly said, "The only thing I didn't like is that there isn't room for us both."
Keith didn't say anything but led her back to where they had initially jumped down. He stopped there for a few moments, looking intently at the area, taking note of a tree with orange blossoms and a large purplish boulder. That hollow behind the roots might be very important later and he would need to be able to locate it quickly. He would be mentally marking the rest of the trip to the hot spot so that they could follow this route if they needed to.
Allura watched Keith taking in the landscape. She knew he was making a mental map and she knew that he would be quiet as they continued. She sighed as she thought of the silence that would be their third companion on the trek.
Her feet were dragging over two hours later, but Keith seemed to be fine. Of course he hadn't been walking barefoot most of the way like she had. Barefoot or heels were her choices while he had on hiking boots. While looking down at his boots and feeling envious, she tripped and it was only his strong grip on her hand that kept her from taking a hard fall.
Reaching his other hand out to steady her, he worriedly inquired, "Are you okay? Do you need a break?" He turned and led her over to a downed tree.
Sitting down on the tree with him, Allura said, "I don't want to slow us down."
"You're not slowing us down. You've done amazing and I'm proud of what you've done in this situation." Seeing she was still looking down at the ground, he placed a finger under her chin and turned he face towards him. "I'm not lying to you or making this up." He didn't feel any better when a tear slipped down her cheek. He had been pushing them both and while he was trained to do it, she wasn't, even with the training that he had her do back on Arus. Pulling her into an embrace, he made his decision. If they were able to make it to the thermal feature and it had been searched, they would stay there until they were flushed out. She was just too tired and worn to continue.
After being held for many minutes, Allura pulled back from the embrace. He was resting for her but she knew they needed to move on. Feeling better, she dared to ask, "How long do you think it will be before the team arrives?"
Taking her hand and rubbing his thumb across the top of it, he said, "I think it will probably be seven hours before they arrive, but it will probably be longer before they locate us. If you hear one of the Lions, you should turn off the bracelet and run to the highest point you can. They will be scanning for our bio-signatures which the dampening bracelet also masks."
"How long do you think the dampening field will hold out?"
"With both of us using it, it will last maybe five to six hours. But if it is just you using it, probably ten to twelve hours." He stood and pulled her up.
"But if we're at the hot spot, we won't have to use it at all."
"That's why we're going there. Let's hope they have already searched it. We'll need to be very quiet the rest of the way. We're only about a mile from the site. If you see signs of the search party-"
"Don't worry, I'll let you know."
With a nod from Keith, they started forward as quietly as they could go. About half a mile from their goal they came across signs that the soldiers had been in this direction and had spread out to search a large area. Putting a finger to lips, Keith examined the signs left behind and listened intently. Speaking softly he said, "I think it's been a few hours, but who knows if they are moving slowly or have stopped just ahead. We need to be vigilant." Giving her hand a squeeze, he moved forward leaving her to follow in his wake.
Twenty minutes later, they were squatting behind some shrubs at the tree line of the hot spot. There was no one in sight but Keith had his blaster in hand and so did she.
"We need to go around the perimeter of the feature and check it out from all angles and see if we can see which direction they went after here." Looking down to their joined hands, he said, "We're close enough to the feature now, that it's safe to let go." With that he released her hand and turned off the bracelet with a bright flash of light. After being in constant physical contact for hours, it was an odd feeling for both of them.
After making their way around the feature and finding no soldiers and no monitoring devices, they went to the stream to refresh themselves. Water was dripping from Allura's face as she asked, "What do we do now?"
Keith sat back on the bank and looked around. "Well, they all seemed to have gone off in that direction." He indicated the way by nodding his head. "I'd like to go for a quick look if you don't mind me using the bracelet." Seeing her look of surprise, he continued, "I'd want you to be in the hiding spot and that means you'd be standing in that confined space for probably thirty minutes. I know that's a long time and I understand if you don't want to do it."
Keith hadn't even finished his sentence before Allura was taking off the bracelet. Handing it to him, she simply said, "You need to do this. Go."
A few minutes later he walked her over to the fissure in the rock face that would hide her until he returned. He stopped her before she slid her way between the rocks. Seeing her turn and look at him, he leaned down and gave her a quick and simple kiss and then moved away. Perhaps that had been unfair of him, but it was done and he didn't regret it.
Allura looked at him. Why? Why had he kissed her now, when he was going out in the woods to look for the soldiers? She looked away from him as she wedged herself into the crevice. As she stood in the dark, silent warmth, she thought maybe he did it because it made him stronger. At least that was the answer that she was willing to consider.
