Chapter six! Time for a proper showdown with Sendak! How will our heroes get out of this one? Well, you'll just have to read to find out which I assume most of you are here for anyways. I had most of this chapter finished last night, aside from the last scene and the editing, but I found some time this afternoon to work on both of those things, so here you go! Thanks for reading, as always!
under the pale moonlight
chapter six
under the cloudy sky
It had taken some doing, but eventually they got everyone in the village ready to move out. Though judging from the way he kept catching Miss Lia checking the position of the sun, it wasn't nearly fast enough for her tastes. It made Lance more than a little nervous, and he found himself constantly checking behind him, looking towards the forest.
He wasn't the only one.
They were all gathered in the village square- not just the villagers, but the merchants who had come for the harvest festival too, the ones who hadn't already left at the first sign of things turning south. Nadia had made a reappearance, and was standing with the village elder, who periodically glanced their way. He wondered what she was telling him, though whatever it was, it seemed to be enough to convince him of the need for urgency.
Shiro and Pidge were standing off to the side with Miss Lia. The tavern keeper was now clad in armor similar to that of her son's, though hers had an extra cloth wrap around one shoulder that his didn't. She wasn't wearing a mask, but he could see one hanging off her belt. The design was again similar to her son's, but not exactly the same.
Hunk and his family were with him, waiting near the center of the crowd. Unlike the eerie silence of that morning, the village square was now filled with noise, but it was all hushed whispers, as if people were too afraid to raise their voices in the event the Galra might hear them. It seemed kind of silly, but Lance found himself whispering all the same.
He nearly missed Yorak, in spite of how badly his dark armor clashed with the bright blue skies. He was standing atop a roof, his arms crossed tightly in front of him. At first, Lance thought he was looking towards the forest, before he realized his masked gaze was actually directed towards the sky. It was only then that he noticed there were small clouds starting to gather just over the horizon. Yorak clearly didn't like it, and neither did he.
Not when they were coming from the forest.
As soon as it was determined that everyone was accounted for, the village elder stepped forward. Someone had procured a horse for him, one of the few they had in the village, otherwise Lance was fairly sure he wouldn't be able to make the journey. He was still in fairly good health, but his bones weren't what they used to be. He walked with a cane now, though he'd been fine without one in Lance's youth.
He only half-listened to the man's speech. He already knew what he was going to say. Instead, he glanced over towards Hunk. They hadn't had much time to really talk about the whole paladin thing, and he wasn't sure if Hunk had told his folks yet or not. He knew they were just as close knit a family as his own, and that there were no secrets between them, so maybe he had already told them.
Thinking that made him feel a little guilty for not telling his own. But he would! Just... just not yet. When they got to the fort, maybe. He'd tell them then. Settling on that, he turned his attention back towards the elder.
Sensing the need for urgency, the old man kept his speech brief. His grandson helped him mount his horse, and then slowly, they began to move out.
As they followed the path away from the village, Lance kept glancing back. Not at the forest- but at his house. He didn't know when he would see it next, or if it would even still be standing if they ever got to come back. He could still see the hill it sat on, and probably would be able to until they entered the stretch of woods up ahead. It felt like ages since he had gone into them to find some fever-reducing mushrooms with Hunk, but it had barely even been a day ago.
Glancing over towards his friend, he sensed Hunk was feeling the same way.
"We're moving pretty slow." Hunk whispered. "Do you think we'll make it before sunset?"
Glancing back up towards the clouds off towards the horizon, Lance narrowed his eyes. If he didn't know any better, it felt like they were starting to get darker- much darker.
And closer. But maybe he was just imagining things.
"Let's hope."
He wasn't imagining things. The clouds were moving closer.
By now, everyone had noticed. What had started out as a slow crawl began to pick up in speed. Now there were actually people running, hoping to outrace the clouds that everyone had realized weren't natural. Not when they had gotten close enough for people to notice that there were strange shapes moving within the clouds, like black shadows that stretched back along the horizon, as ominous and foreboding as the storm clouds that they followed.
And someone- or something- was at their head.
"Keep up the pace!" Nadia shouted. "Only a half mile more to the Southern Fort!"
She had started the trip out in front, with the village elder, but had now gravitated towards the back. She kept a tight rein on her horse, who surely would have bolted otherwise. The village elder's had about half an hour ago, but thankfully the same grandson who had helped him onto it had been able to catch him before he'd ended up crushed by its hooves. He was now being carried on his grandson's back, the bulky carpenter keeping pace with the villagers even with the extra weight.
He wasn't the only one being carried. Luis had scooped up his youngest, leaving Marco to carry his other child, who did so without an ounce of complaint. By now, most parents were carrying their children- anyone who couldn't run was being carried by someone, burly merchants who had nothing to do with the villagers and had just been there for the festival picking up some of the slack for those who didn't have any other family. A few of them were likely regretting leaving behind their slow moving carts and oxen, but it spoke to how much everyone feared the Galra that they would be so willing to leave their source of income behind. Aside from a few hunting dogs and the odd cat, most of the village's animals had been set loose, figuring that they had better odds of surviving that way.
If they had more time, they could have organized better, but as it was, most families were reduced to bringing only what they could carry on their backs with them. And if those clouds were any indication, they had left just in the nick of time.
He wanted to fall back, to ask Miss Lia what was going on, but he couldn't. His mother had his wrist in a death grip, as if she was afraid the second she let go, he'd run off into danger. Which... he guessed she was right, but he really wished she'd let go. He could shrug her off, but he couldn't bring himself to do so.
(So maybe he didn't really wish she'd let go.)
With every passing minute, it felt like the clouds- and the creatures they brought with them- were closing in. Off in the distance, Lance swore he could hear howling, not from any natural creature, but from something else. He really didn't want to find out what.
"Lance! Hunk!" Pidge's voice caught their ear, the small boy racing to catch up with them.
"Pidge!" Lance shouted, having to in order to be heard over the sounds of the crowd. "What's going on? What are those things?"
"I don't know." Pidge admitted, shaking his head. "But Miss Lia says we need to get the Southern Fort as quickly as possible."
"They look like what we saw last night!" Rachel called out from up ahead.
"Well whatever they are, they're bad news!" Lance said. "And honestly, Pidge, not to question Miss Lia, but I'm not seeing how hiding inside a fort's going to help protect us from those things."
"It was kind of rushed, but she said something about wards?" Pidge said, sounding unsure himself. "All I know is that the Southern Fort is really old in some places. Maybe back when it was built, they built in wards against evil."
"Sounds good enough for me!" Hunk said, to which Lance could only nod. "But somehow I don't get the impression they'll just give up."
"They won't." Shiro said as he jogged into view, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "Lia says that she and Yorak will deal with them and take care of the cloud cover that's protecting them."
"And then what?" Lance asked. "We just wait until nightfall when the Galra can send out even more creepy creatures?"
"Yeah, I get that the clouds are protecting them from the sun," Hunk said, "-but what's stopping them from sending out more when it just gets dark on its own?"
"She says not to worry about that. This magic is powerful enough that it should drain its caster for several days." Shiro shook his head, his eyes darting back. It was clear from his body language that he wanted to stay and help, but he'd probably been refuted.
"So basically if they stop them here, we won't have to worry about the Galra for a few days?" Hunk asked, sounding hopeful.
"I don't know if we won't have to worry about them at all," Shiro said, "-but at the very least, they won't be able to send out another force like this again."
Lance nodded. Good. In a few days, they could get to this Castle place and awaken the moon maiden. Then they might be able to keep his family- and everyone else, for that matter- safe from the Galra for maybe at least another few months while they went to find these lions that Yorak had mentioned. After that, it would be smooth sailing.
(At least, he hoped.)
"Are you sure they'll be able to handle those things by themselves, though?" Hunk asked.
"Please," Lance rolled his eyes, huffing slightly, "-Yorak has that like, crazy paladin magic and Miss Lia is super strong. They'll be fine."
Because if he didn't believe that, then he might actually have to accept just how dire a situation they were in. He couldn't imagine how much worse it would have been if they had all still been in the village- at least this way, they'd had at least an hour's head start, and even if the clouds had started to move faster, it wasn't like they were racing. Whatever weird, creepy magic had been used to summon them, there were obviously limits to what it could do.
Something brown entered the edge of his vision, and seconds later, Nadia rode into view. She looked down at Pidge, reducing her horse's speed to a steady gallop as she extended a hand to the boy. "Miss Lia says we should go ahead to the fort and make sure the gates are open. We'll have a big problem if they refuse to let us in!"
Pidge frowned a bit at that, his brows drawing together. "Why me?"
"You know why." Nadia said firmly, but didn't elaborate.
Pidge's frown deepened, her gaze darting over towards Shiro. The captain merely nodded his head, something unspoken transpiring between the two of them. Defeated, Pidge heaved a sigh, grabbing Nadia's hand and allowing her to haul him up onto the back of her horse.
Arching a brow, for once in his life, Lance managed to bite back his questions. Now kind of wasn't the time, he couldn't help but think, eyes darting behind him. Now he was all but positive that there was someone leading the charge of the creepy crawlies, though all he could make out from this distance was a vivid red color that was either blood or more likely armor the color of it.
Maybe he was new to this whole Galra business, but he was willing to bet anything that was Sendak. The real Sendak.
"Guess I'm going ahead." Pidge said.
"Guess so." Lance said. "Stay safe out there."
"I should be the one telling you guys that." Pidge pointed out.
"Don't worry about them." Shiro said, somehow managing to sound mirthful even in this awful situation. "I'll look after the kids."
Lance opened his mouth to protest that Pidge was even younger than him, but Nadia's horse raced off ahead before he got the chance. It must have sensed the danger, because it had no issue with running ahead and away from it like it had when she'd tried to get it to fall back to speak with Miss Lia.
It was kind of strange, a lieutenant in the perimeter scouts and even the Captain of the Royal Guard taking orders from a mere tavernkeeper. Except as Lance was finding out, there was no mere about Miss Lia. Not that he'd ever thought that, but man, had he severely underestimated her. He hadn't even known she was a mother, much less a Seer!
Eyes darting back behind him, they fell on not the encroaching clouds, but on the tavernkeeper slash Seer in question. For a second, he almost missed her. He expected her to still be running behind them, but she'd come to a complete stop, the woman now holding a sword that he didn't quite remember her having. Yorak had appeared from seemingly nowhere to stand by her, a sword in one hand, and an odd looking vial in another, from which flames seemed to leap forth.
He was still masked and hooded, no inch of his skin left exposed to the sunlight. Lance's brow crinkled at the sight, something tugging at him, before he forced himself to look away. Whatever their deal was, he had to hope they'd be enough.
Because right now, they kind of didn't have anything else.
Keith didn't turn to look back towards the fleeing villagers. He didn't have the time to, which was ironic, given that what was currently occupying him was trying to keep them all safe. While it wasn't hard to guess that this was yet another attempt by Haggar to capture Shiro, he didn't exactly have any illusions as to what would happen if they didn't get to safety before the clouds- and more importantly, from those taking sanctuary under their sunless skies- reached them.
Mercy was not the way of the Galra Empire.
Instead, he bit down on his thumb, blood seeping through a tiny crack in his armor. He let it drip on the sigil of his knife, awakening it in a brilliant flash that would have made him wince if he had more sensitive eyes. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see his mother do the same, the woman standing at the ready for anything Sendak and the witch might throw at them.
The Galra commander had discarded his human skin, and was now sporting a new armor. The material was different, but it was the same design he was used to seeing on those with higher rank. He'd worn similar armor before, during the times when he had been tasked with infiltrating the Empire itself, which given his skin wearing talent, was fairly often. His mother was just as skilled as he was, but she couldn't put on a new one without taking off her old one. They couldn't afford the loss of her abilities as a Seer, even long after the prophecy that had driven the Seer to seek her out in the first place had long since come to pass.
"Leave Sendak to me." Krolia instructed. "You take care of the shadows."
Keith gave her a curt nod, not protesting. Reaching into one of his belt pouches, he uncorked a vial, a flame that he had stored within it beforehand leaping out, growing stronger and larger as it did so, until it was encircling his body like a protective snake. It did no harm to him, not even singing the fabric of his hood.
He was the guardian of fire, after all.
From where he stood, Sendak smirked, raising his voice to bellow across the field. "So, if it isn't the Seer-Witch and her halfbreed spawn! Come to protect your puny human charges?"
Keith opened his mouth to retort, but his mother shook her head. One of these days, he was going to figure out how she could tell even when he had his mask on.
"We've come to put a stop to your plans." Krolia said resolutely. "Turn back, and maybe we will spare your life."
"Turn back?" Sendak laughed. "You would ask the one who has stood by our Emperor's side for millennia to turn back? I knew your kind were traitors, but I did not know how foolish you were!"
"He's not our Emperor." Keith snapped, glowering at Sendak from behind his mask.
Sendak scoffed, confidently striding forward in the darkness provided by the storm clouds overhead. It wouldn't be long before they reached them. No matter what, they had to stop them here. There was too much riding on this for them to fail.
He just wished there had been time to call for reinforcements. Krolia had sent word, but he didn't know if anyone would get here in time. Even just having one additional Blade on their side would be useful, providing his mother with the cover that she needed in order to destroy Haggar's weather working spell. As it stood, they would just have to take out Sendak and the shadows one by one if they hoped to stop them.
They could have asked Shiro, or the perimeter scout lieutenant for aid, but that would force them to reveal themselves for what they truly were. He doubted he could keep his Galra blood a secret forever, but they weren't quite ready for the world to know about them just yet. Despite the strong presence the Blade of Marmora had in this country, they kept to the shadows, hiding their machinations from both human and Galra alike. It was necessary, seeing as they didn't always know who to trust.
In the North, his homeland, it was different. But here, Haggar's spies were plentiful.
"I will only make this offer once." Sendak began, coming to a halt a short distance away from them. The gap between the cloud borne darkness and the bright sunlight was now so slight, he could have almost reached out and touched it. "Renounce your traitorous ways, and join us. Emperor Zarkon is still willing to hear your pledges of fealty."
Keith growled, tightening his grip on his sword as the flames around him grew brighter. He would never swear allegiance to that monster.
Krolia's gaze flicked his way, before returning to Sendak. Readying her sword, she braced herself for the fight to come. "There you have it."
Sendak narrowed his eyes, glowering at them in disdain. "Then you will perish."
Baring his teeth, Keith used his free arm to motion towards Sendak, his flame summon leaping forward in response. It surged towards the commander, taking on a more snake-like form as it did so, unhinging its jaw as if to swallow him whole. But rather than try and defend himself from it, Sendak simply stood there, a smirk on his face as his armor glowed, causing the fire snake to burst apart the second it made contact.
"A gift, from the high priestess." Sendak casually remarked. "You may have control over fire, paladin, but it is meaningless in the face of true power."
Keith narrowed his eyes. So they knew.
"Don't let your temper get the better of you." Krolia warned. "Concentrate on the shadows."
Gritting his teeth, Keith nodded. If Haggar had warded Sendak's armor against flame, he was willing to bet that she had done the same for her shadows. That made things more difficult- usually his flame magic was his trump card against the Galra. If he couldn't use it, then this battle would drag out for much longer.
But then again, if Haggar knew he was a paladin, it wasn't surprising that she would pull out all the stops to ensure he was killed. They needed all five paladins present to unlock the Castle of Lions and wake the princess, so even killing one would ensure the Galra Empire's victory.
He wasn't going to let that happen.
As the last few inches of sunlight gave way to darkness, the shadows let out a horrible howl. In the midst of the deafening noise, Sendak drew his massive sword, surging forward with a burst of speed that proved he wasn't just brute strength. There was a reason that he had stood by Zarkon's side for so long, and right now, that reason was sending him hurtling back as Sendak bypassed his mother to attack him.
"Yorak!" Krolia called out. Before she got the chance to intervene, a shadow surged towards her, abandoning its usual almost humanoid shape to assume the form of a massive lizard- if a lizard had as many limbs as a spider and a jaw that could split apart. Cursing under her breath, Krolia deflected its attack with her sword, briefly forcing it back before being beset by another.
"Your opponent is me, paladin." Sendak sneered. "I have orders to see to your death."
Gritting his teeth, Keith leapt backwards, putting a small amount of distance between them. Removing his mask, his shoved it on his belt, before resting both hands on the hilt of his sword. In his true form, Sendak was at least twice as strong as him, his human blood diluting the strength his Galran ancestry provided him with.
Sendak didn't waste any time coming after him, giving him mere seconds to avoid his next blow. He was strong enough to hold him in a stalemate if he had to, but he'd rather not have to. But while he was quicker on his feet than one would expect from someone of his size, Keith had the advantage of being even faster- what strength his human blood lost him, he made up for in being quick and agile.
It helped that there was more power in his frame than anyone- Galra or human alike- expected. He was slight compared to other Galra, having still not reached his adult height after all these years- if he ever would. He was starting to doubt it.
But now was hardly the time to think about things like his height, not with Sendak out for his blood. His mother had her hands full with the shadows, so he would just have to deal with him himself. He avoided Sendak's next strike, the massive sword the Galra commander used leaving a scar in the Earth. Sendak laughed, turning to face him.
"And here I thought a paladin might actually be a challenge." Sendak mocked. "Can you do anything other then dodge?"
Keith twitched, biting down on his lip to keep Sendak's taunt from getting to him. He was just trying to rile him up, that was all. He wouldn't let him.
All of that was thrown out the window the next time Sendak spoke.
"Your mother must have fallen even further than I thought to even think about coupling with a human." Sendak taunted. "It's a shame that I couldn't be the one to end his pathetic life."
Baring his teeth, a growl ripped from his throat. Surging forward, Keith was momentarily blinded by his anger, not thinking as he slashed at Sendak. The Galra commander easily deflected his blow, using so much force in doing so that he sent him flying. Groaning, Keith moved to stand up, to counterattack, but instead he just barely avoided a shadow that had broken away from the ones his mother was fighting to come to Sendak's aid.
He might have dodged the shadow, but it left him wide open to Sendak's next attack. Sendak's sword fell on his leg, and though his armor turned the edge of the sword blunt, preventing it from being severed, he still felt the bones shatter. Only his training kept him from yowling in pain, though he still unconsciously clutched the leg.
Sendak smirked. "If all the paladins are this weak, we won't even require Emperor Zarkon's power to finish the lot of you off."
Gritting his teeth, Keith pulled out one of his flame vials, uncorking it with his free hand. At the sight of the vial, Sendak let out a bark of laughter, angling his sword so that it was mere inches away from his chin.
"Did you not learn anything from your first attempt, child?" Sendak taunted. "Or has the pain already gotten to your head?"
Oh, it was painful alright, but it hadn't gotten to his head. Keith dropped his sword, and in the same instant, swept his hand outwards. The flames leapt from the vial, spreading out in an arc around him, alighting the grass. It hadn't rained in the past few days, so it burned well, exactly as he expected.
Sendak merely scoffed. "You think burning grass is going to save you?"
"No," Keith bared his teeth in a challenging grin, "-but I think the smoke will."
Before Sendak could react, he increased the intensity of the fire, and with it, the smoke. It quickly clogged the Galra's nostrils, causing him to reflexively protect himself from breathing in anymore. Grabbing his sword, Keith ignored how badly his left leg protested standing up, using Sendak's briefly dropped guard to his advantage.
His luxite blade pierced his abdomen, straight through his armor. Gaping, Sendak brought a hand up to it, just as Keith pulled his sword out, blood spattering his armor as he did so. It would be gone soon enough anyways, absorbed to reinforce the enchantments laid on it.
Sendak growled, seized by a powerful rage, but Keith couldn't help but feel a little smug. All it meant was that he had won, and that Sendak could see his life slipping away before his eyes. Even as the Galran commander brandished his sword anew at him, Keith forced his broken leg to move, avoiding his now admittedly clumsy sword strike.
Of course, that was exactly when his leg decided to give out.
"Victory," Sendak nearly howled, angling his blade at him, intent on taking him with him, "-or death!"
Keith braced himself, but it wasn't Sendak's blade he ended up having to avoid- it was his body. The Galra commander's head fell like a lump to the ground, the rest of his massive body crumpling soon after. He had to roll to avoid being crushed by it, but when he looked up, his mother was standing there, Sendak's blood dripping off her sword.
The shadows were gone.
"I thought I told you to leave Sendak to me." Krolia quipped.
Keith huffed, returning his sword to sleep. Sheathing his knife, he took his mother's outstretched hand, letting her haul him back onto his feet. He could barely put any weight on his left leg, and the entire thing felt as if it were on fire- an odd analogy considering his own immunity to the element, but a fitting one.
"You should probably clean that up." Krolia observed, indicating with her head the still burning grass. Keith grimaced, retrieving an empty vial from his belt pouch, the one he had used to contain the flames lost in the grass. With a whistle, he directed the flames back into it, leaving no trace of the fire behind beyond the burnt grass and the lingering odor of smoke.
"How's your leg?" Krolia asked.
"Bad." Keith admitted. "The shadows?"
"Taken care of." Krolia told him. "The clouds will be gone soon too."
Keith nodded, knowing what she meant by that. His mother helped balance him as reached for his mask, unhooking it from his belt. He stared at it for a few seconds, before he fixed it to his face, the innate magic within bonding it to him. A few seconds later, he blinked, drawing in a long breath.
"We should probably get to the fort."
"Probably." Krolia said, glancing down on his leg. "That will be a problem."
Keith winced. He knew she didn't just mean that it would make the trek to the fort a problem, but that it would make his later journey to the Castle of Lions a problem. The Galra had no healing spells, and his mixed blood meant that he couldn't use any such spells usually associated with the magic of humans or Alteans.
A pureblooded Altean would probably be able to heal him, but there was only one place to find one of those, and it involved climbing a mountain.
"I'll work something out." Keith said.
"You'll have to." Krolia said. "But for now-"
He bit back a squeak as his mother suddenly scooped him up by the legs, grateful for the fact that his mask hid his flustered face.
"-you'll let me carry you." Krolia finished, in a tone that brokered no argument.
Burying his head in her shoulder, he who had just avoided it contemplated death.
Haggar's yowl of pain echoed through the darkened chamber as the single candle she had been using for light grew bright before exploding, sending hot wax flying everywhere. Raising her arms to protect her face, she hissed as the burning wax coated her bare arms, hot enough to burn the bandages she had tightly wound around them. Hastily loosening them, she dunked them in her water basin for as long as she dared, until fresh blood began to flow freely from her already healing cuts.
Once the wax was gone, and the stinging of the burns lessened, Haggar composed herself. Stemming the flow of her own blood, she carefully wrapped her arms in bandages once more. Only then did she turn to face the remains of the candle, having become so used to the darkness that she could make out what little remained of it without the need for a light.
So Sendak had failed.
Creating a weather working spell of the magnitude had taken a fair bit of her magic from her. It would take time for it to recover, not to mention the blood she had used to ensure the passage of Sendak and her shadows. It would have been easy had the humans remained in their village, but as usual, the blasted Seer Witch was one step ahead of her. She hadn't expected her to empty the village completely, but she supposed she and her kind always did have a weak spot for the humans.
Weak enough to mate with one, she thought.
Turning on her heel, Haggar fought the wooziness that accompanied the loss of blood. She would be unable to send any kind of pursuit after the Champion until she recovered. But she needn't panic. There would be other chances. They only had two paladins, not the required five. They would not be able to enter the Castle of Lions, nor wake the princess.
Still, there were measures she could take. Exiting her chamber, she turned to look up at the Galra that she had placed outside with firm instructions for her not to be disturbed. She didn't recall his name, but it mattered not, for he was nothing more than a mere foot soldier, and was unlikely to rise to a position of prestige any time soon.
"Send word to the falconers." Haggar instructed. "Have them spread word to our allies in the human's kingdom. Tell them the Champion has escaped, and has allied himself with the Seer-Witch and her paladin son. Find them."
Unimportant as he was, the foot solider still faithfully raised his hand in salute, resting it over his heart. "What shall I say is to be done to them if found?"
"Bring us the Champion, alive." Haggar said. "You can kill the traitors."
The soldier bowed his head. "Vrepit sa."
Watching him go, Haggar narrowed her eyes. It was unlike the Blade of Marmora to move so openly. Either the Seer-Witch was acting on her own accord, or there was a larger plan at work. From here, trapped inside the confines of the forest, she had no way to know.
But Sendak was not their only spy living amongst the humans. There were others. They would ensure the job was done.
Zarkon would reign again.
Her husband would reign again, and she would be at his side once more. The Earth would be theirs, as it was always meant to be. No more living in darkness. She would feel the sun on her skin once more, breathe something other than the dank air of the sunless forest.
They would be free.