Shards of a Different World
CHAPTER THREE
Journal Entry
March 12
I can't believe that he would do this to me! I thought that Alfor loved me! Here he has been in talks with my father – supposedly bargaining for my remaining on Arus as his future wife – when father showed me video footage of my beloved only fighting for his people. That I have been forgotten!
I love Alfor dearly. Even now I hate and love that man with all I have in me. Yet, I cannot bring myself to ask him … I am afraid my father for once is speaking the entire truth.
All that father asks for my remaining on Arus is for me to drop the barrier for a few moments. Just long enough to show Alfor that if he ever hurts me what he will be facing. Does father love me after all? I am so confused.
Same Day
Evening
I was such a fool! To ever believe that my father could speak a single honest sentence. Now, I very well may have lost my only love.
I dropped the barrier as father asked, and he attacked. Many of Alfor's people were killed or captured to be used as slaves … and who knows what else. It tore him apart. Alfor is a kind ruler who loves his people – that was one of the many things that first attracted me to him.
When I was caught … I saw the shattered look in his eyes. Gods, I think that I have lost him forever!
Same Day
Night
Alfor called me to his presence. It was horrible. He wouldn't look at me at all. I have never seen him so livid. For a long time he said nothing, only paced and tossed chairs around. He would not lay a hand on me. No, he is not that kind of man.
Finally he asked me one question, "Why?"
I explained it all to him. I swear he was so pale and heart broken. He showed me the tapes, unlike the tapes that my father had shown me, he was arguing for me alone. Gods, he had been true to his word! What have I done?
Alfor sent me away, and the guards dragged me off. I was apologizing until the door shut in my face. It was not enough – and I know that saying how sorry I am will never be enough. I know now that my love hates me.
Even now he is deciding my fate. All I can do is hope that he does not send me away.
Journal Entry
March 13
I spoke with my Alfor this morning. This time he looked me in the eyes. I could see he no longer felt anything towards me.
"Tell me true, Haggar. Did you know what would happen?" He asked me.
I told him no, I apologized yet again, and begged him not to send me back to my father. Alfor gave a sigh that ripped into my soul. "I have no choice."
"You told me that we always have choices!" I pleaded hard. I have never been so afraid in my life. "Please, exile me wherever you wish. I'll never ever come into your presence again. Please, don't let him take me Alfor."
But he did! Father agreed to release all of the prisoners for me!
Same Day
Afternoon
I left the place I had come to call my new home for the last time only an hour after my last meeting with Alfor. I was not allowed to say goodbye to him. Yet, I saw him watch me be escorted out by father's soldiers. He looked for a moment as if he would change his mind. But, that could have just been my frightened heart wishing too.
The moment I got on board father's vessel I was introduced to my fiancé. Crown Prince Zarcon of the planet Doom. My fate is sealed.
Journal Entry
March 16
I hurt so bad! The bedding wasn't supposed to happen until after the wedding tomorrow, but Zarcon raped me just after lunch. As long as he went in me, and as many times as he raped me, I know he had been drugged to break me as a cruel man would his woman.
I had hoped that maybe Alfor would rescue me from my fate, but now … why should I dare dream. Zarcon bedded me, and I can feel he has impregnated me. I feel so dirty and used.
Journal Entry
December 8
It hurt so much. Yet, I have survived only to become barren – that is what the doctor said. I birthed a son, so Zarcon no longer sees any use for me.
He took our baby and gave him to one of his warrior mistresses to nurse. I was thrown into a dungeon room that is to be mine now. I am alone and in no better than an unlocked cell on a planet I cannot escape – even if I had somewhere I could go. Yes, this is what I deserve.
There are books here, manuscripts, and ancient tomes. At least I will have something to do as I await the day Zarcon kills me. Unless I can prove to him that I am useful, that will certainly be my fate.
Alfor … my beloved. I wonder what you are doing now.
Journal Entry
December 12
I have lost everything I loved. My Alfor is to marry! A dark haired woman named Rhiannon. I want to wish him happiness, but I can't. I always hoped that maybe … someday.
Now he will have his Queen, and she will not be me.
If only I had trusted him as deeply as I once professed when he needed me too the most.
Might have a way to stay alive by becoming useful to my husband. It will take time.
Once I am useful, I might be able to leave this marriage for good. But if Alfor is wed.
Journal Entry
December 16
The spells are harder to translate than I first thought. It will take me a few more weeks to be sure I will have the powers I have read about. The problem is that Alfor is wed. Even worse his Queen carries his child from their first night – I alone know this. They have been married for only a day. I need him.
Forgive me little boy for what I am about to do.
Evening
I flooded Alfor's bride with all the feelings I held about my marriage to Zarcon. She was so frightened that she fled with the little boy she doesn't even know she is now carrying.
He will be very much like his father. I see him coming back when Arus needs him most. I see him either being my executioner or my salvation. With my past, and whatever I ruin in the future, it will more likely be the former rather than the latter.
At least now I have a chance with my love again. Maybe we will be able to adopt this boy into our family, once I win back the heart of Alfor that is. I will owe the boy that much.
Journal Entry
April 19
Still not ready, and Alfor has another bride! I don't think I can interfere with his life by magic again. The lost of Rhiannon nearly crushed him to the point of deep despair, losing Aslynn would shatter the man I love completely. So, I will let her remain at his side
I can see in his eyes that he does not now love his new bride. Obviously the marriage was forced on him. Yet I can see that she will be good for my Alfor, and he will grow fond of her.
Journal Entry
January 20
He is as fond of Aslynn as I had feared. And now they have a daughter together. This Allura will know her elder brother – of this I am determined to make certain of. I owe them both and their shared father this much.
Rhiannon did birth the boy she carried. Yet now there is a stain on his birth. She has been called an adulteress so that Alfor would be freed to marry his current Queen. Of this I am sure he knew nothing about. I know that it was his advisor, Gamon's, plan. In fact Gamon is now out of a job and Alfor is looking for a new advisor.
Yet the damage is done. The boy will never be able to come forward as Alfor's son, nor have his true family name. What have I done to him?
Journal Entry
February 17
The news is worse now. Rhiannon is dead. She drowned to death not far from her father's home. Now the boy will know neither of his parents if I do not intercede! I only today discovered that his first name is Keith – his father's middle name.
He has is mother's hair and eyes, but the rest is so much like Alfor that it is uncanny. Oh, to think that once he and the girl could have been mine! But, my own distrust ended that long ago.
At least I did do my love good with my magic. I sent him the image and information of his son through a veil in the Dream Dimension. It was difficult to hide myself from his eyes, but I knew then as I know now that Alfor will never again trust me.
I used my magic to see that he has gone to visit his son, taking the girl with him. Brother and sister already are close and I see will only grow closer. But the boy didn't really understand why he could not live with his father and half-sister, though he accepted it.
SIX YEARS LATER
Journal Entry
February 10
I gave up writing in my journal so long ago, convinced that the time was better spent translating my ticket away from this awful place. Finally, after all these dark and lonely years, I have done it.
Tonight I will absorb all the powers within this filthy and bitter planet. That will give me the power that Zarcon feebly thinks he wields since he poisoned his father last year. I will punish him for stealing my son, stealing my hope, stealing my joy, stealing my freedom.
After I punish him, I will reorder time to set the path right – the way it should have gone. I will stop myself from betraying my only love. Then we will wed, I will carry the boy and the girl, they will not be half-siblings, and they both will grow up as the Royals they are destined to be.
Journal Entry
March 7
That fool Zarcon thinks he owns me. That I will bend to his every whim. If he only knew the truth. I cannot remember my past fully, but I know he holds something of mine that is precious – and I want it back. I could read this journal, but that is the past. Besides torturing him for the answers and my treasure would be much more fun – after that horrid night he ripped me so badly that I was infected and left barren.
He has ordered an attack on some planet called Arus. I can sense a power there that could overthrow him. But that power is weak right now – divided. I will help him by stopping the planet's best defense, but in my own way.
He wants me to completely destroy this robot, Voltron. I could easily, but why give Zarcon what he wants when he still holds my treasure? Besides, I need some power to take care of those I sense something about on that planet – namely the King, Queen, and Crown Princess.
What is it about them that I feel a strong urge to keep them from Zarcon's clutches? I know that Zarcon wanted to wed the child to secure his place as Arus' future King and pull the planet – along with its mighty robot – into his empire. Something told me that could not be allowed.
In the Dream Dimension I warned the planet's King, and Zarcon was not the wiser of it. Alfor, Arus' King, rejected my 'King's' proposal soundly without fully listening to it. I hide to fight my smirk as Zarcon roared in disgust.
During the battle I broke the robot into five mechanical lions and sent them back into five hidden lairs on the planet – hidden to all but myself, Alfor, his friend Koran, the girl Allura, and those they chose to inform.
Zarcon was supposed to leave the castle alone in his attack. So that he did not earn the wrath of that King, Alfor. The truth is it would earn him my wrath the fold what he already has due him. But, I also see that it would earn him the wrath of some boy and the girl.
Ah, my powers tell me of a boy – the girl's half-brother. He will be returning with others to bring back the robot. HA! It will be no less than what Zarcon deserves!
He attacked the castle, which killed Alfor and his Queen.
Why does that cause me such pain? What does this King mean to me? After all, Zarcon is my husband – even if he acts as if he were single and free to bed anything in a skirt! Still my heart is grieving, and because of that pain I will make him pay all the darker.
THE PRESENT YEAR
Journal Entry
February 9
My mind has cleared over the years since I absorbed the powers of Doom. Gods what have I done? I mourned for my lost love, yet I didn't know why at the time. I nearly ended the lives of his children so many times. The children that once could have been my own babies.
Lotor, what that wench who raised him called my son, is as evil at times as his father. Yet there are times he winces at what his father would revel in. Maybe there is hope for my son at least.
I feel that he truly loves Allura. But unless I work my magic one last time to do good, he will never be given the chance I once had and foolishly threw away. I cannot bear that my son would not at the least be given the chance.
But, will Keith – the true blood son of my only love – be as my Alfor became? Cold, aloof? I need to know for sure. But, how?
Mind Twist Potion could work – it would not be permanent, but will tell me if he wants his throne or his sister and friends safe. Will this man be as his father once was, or was in my last moments on Arus as a free woman?
This book will prove his true blood line – should he be the man I hope he is, I will willingly give this to Captain Keith as reward for fulfilling not only all of my hopes, but his mother and father's as well. This I pledge by blood, magic, and oath – such as mine is.
Haggar
Keith felt numb for a moment. Most of his life, Haggar had been controlled by the magic she had sought to free herself with? In a way, she had no control over her choices. And she had fought against it. She didn't completely destroyed Voltron, mourned the loss of his father, and took care of him and his sister. All she wanted was her freedom at first, and now she only wants her son to be given the chance to be free.
Allura felt hope in her chest. Lotor really loved her? Gods, she had dreamed of him so often that it felt awful. She knew he was the enemy, but he was handsome and sure. A lot like her father and brother actually. But, with life as it was, that hope was dying fast.
Koran was proud of Haggar at that moment. She had finally done the one act that might someday save both her and her son – if Keith's heart could forgive that is. Then he looked over at the young man he had secretly been raising to be a King since he learned the truth four years before Alfor's death. Keith had become quite a young man over the years. Now he was to face the worse of tests – Nanny's moldings.
With a smirk on his face, Koran rested a firm hand on the now Prince Keith's shoulder. "Welcome home Prince Keith."
That was numbing to Keith. He not only had his true name, but he was a Royal now – meaning he now had to deal with Nanny!
Allura smiled and embraced him tight. "I know big brother. But at least now the truth is out and you are finally home."
"Thanks little sis." Keith fought hard his tears, but they filled his eyes anyway.
Nanny had been silent through the reading, now she suddenly found her voice. "Well, that means young man that you will have further duties as the …"
"Before you say it, Nanny." Keith interrupted, to the enjoyment of the team, Allura, and Koran. "Allura has been groomed all her life to be the next Queen. I don't care if I am older, sis is the Crown Princess and that is how things will remain."
Allura playfully swatted her brother's arms and fought the urge to smile. "So, I'm stuck with your chores? Not fair, ELDER brother!"
The team broke down into fits of laughter. Keith couldn't hide his smile. "Keep up that elder bit and I'll be the one spanking you this time LITTLE sister. After all, I would have been the one giving it to you that time you nearly killed yourself trying to learn to pilot Blue, along with nearly giving me a heart attack in the process!"
The fits turned into roars at that. Allura blushed and glared at that. "Try it Keith. Remember, I have learned one or two things about protecting myself."
"You are getting too big for yourself, Allie. Back off while you have a chance." Keith warned with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
Allura on the other hand kept pushing. "Promises, promises OLDER brother!"
Without giving her a second's warning, Keith grabbed, Allura sat down, pulled her across his lap, and gave her bottom three firm swats. "And now I can get away with it, Allie!"
Allura growled and turned red, while Keith rushed to the other side of them room and chuckled with the others. She stood up and chased after a smartly moving Keith. "I'm going to get you for that you old brat!"
"Whatever little kitty, kitty!" Keith shouted out.
For them both it felt so good to be a family again. But the racket pulled Nanny out of her second shock of the night. "That is enough the both of you! You are Adolescents, not a couple of children! Act your age and station or you will both be in your rooms for the week!"
Keith looked at Allura with a pale face. "Allie, Nanny can do that to me now – right?"
"Yep. Now I'm not the only one going through it!" Allura chuckled.
Keith had too many thoughts flooding his mind at once. "Gods, not the old Marry a Princess speech too!"
"As the only Prince of Planet Arus …" Nanny started, but Koran interrupted. "Nanny, the Prince has heard that speech many times when you gave it to the Princess. He has also heard the idea that Royals should not fight in the same way. Now as we both know that neither of them is going to quit flying the lions, please do not ruin tonight's celebratory mood with lectures."
The sent all the others into rolls of laughter.
And that night they all did celebrate.
Alfor went to Haggar, who was weeping on her cot. It grieved his heart that he could not pull her into his arms and love her as he had always wanted. "Haggar …"
"Don't! Your son is home! I did what I thought was right!" She snapped.
Alfor was shocked. Something was wrong. "Tell me."
"Zarcon knows what I did. So, now he is going to destroy my son – the only good I had left! My baby boy is to die!" Haggar wept into her pillow.
Knowing what his real love would think, Alfor decided to act. Using his powers he set all the guards and Zarcon into sleep. Then he opened Lotor's cell and freed the boy of his chains. Looking on his now still love, Alfor knew she felt the magic. "You gave me back my son, why would I not do the same for you, Haggar?"
"I thought …" She choked, but just couldn't finish.
She really didn't have to. "I never stopped loving you. The reason Zarcon took you early was because I was on my way to save you. I had my people back, and I was determined that war or no war that I would rescue my love. But he bedded you before I could get to you. I saw it, and felt my heart break for you. I heard you call out for me, but could do nothing to save you. Forgive me love."
Haggar was stunned. Alfor had meant to have her after all she had done? Tears of love poured from her eyes for the first time in so long. "If you can forgive me? I still love you, Alfor."
"As I will always love you. I forgave you long ago. Take care of our children, Haggar. They need you now." With that he left.
Moments later, in came a stunned Lotor. "Are you truly my father's wife? Are you my mother?"
Haggar wiped away her tears and sat up. "Yes, Zarcon is my husband. He took our son and gave him over to his mistress, Korlyn, to raise."
Lotor swallowed. "I was told that Korlyn was my mother."
He felt tears come to his eyes as he knelt beside her cot. Lotor felt so ashamed of all he had said and done to her. Tenderly she pulled him close, and he rested his head in her lap. As he felt her hand brush down his head, his eyes drifted shut.
For the first time in his life, Lotor felt safe. He sighed and relaxed in her embrace. "Mother."
Haggar felt her heart lighten and race with that one word. So long she had wanted to hear him say that word to her. "My little boy. My son."
For a time they sat there bonding. But they knew Doom was not safe. So they took a fast reconnaissance ship and left just before Alfor's spells wore off. They only got part way to Arus before Zarcon sent ships after them.
But, was there any hope for the pair on Arus?