A Change in the Winds
Arus
arus-dot-geo-at-yahoo-dot-com
Voltron and its characters are owned by World Event's Productions.
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Chapter 13
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# # # # # Arus - Triasian Attack Force # # # # #
Lance pulled his Lion ship around as he took out the last of the fighters
that came near the Castle of Lions. He saw Neive finish up his set of
fighters as well. He breathed in deeply as he watched his scanners to see if
any other fighters were nearing.
Lance, that was 7,867 fighters we took out, Pidge came over his
communcations link. That is more fighters than we ever encountered with
Zarkon's forces.
Lance gritted his teeth. "Just who in the hell are these guys," he asked
himself. He then turned around to see that the young woman, Siaras, was
laying unconscious in the rear of his cockpit. He quickly flipped on the
auto-pilot of his lion before standing up to confront her.
"Wake up!" he yelled as he pulled her up. "Just who in the hell are you?
Who is controlling these fighters!"
Siaras slowly opened her eyes to mee the gaze of the pilot above her. She
smiled weakly. "You have already lost," she stated.
"What do you mean?" Lance asked. "Who are you?"
"Rolsin knows about the sixth lion ship," she stated. "He will do everything
in his power to prevent you from finding and using it. Even now, he has
enough information about your Voltron Lions to find a way to defeat you.
Your Captain fell into our trap so easily. He was so predictable."
Lance's eyes widened. "What?"
"Even now, Rolsin will do everything in his power to destroy the Black Lion,
even if it means in killing him," she stated.
Lance quickly let her go, rushing back to his seat as he punched up the view
screen to bring up the locations of each lion ship.
"Pidge, do you have read on the Black Lion?" Lance quickly asked.
An awkward silence fell upon Lance as he anticipated anything that Pidge
would report.
Lance, I---I'm getting nothing, Pidge replied. Not even an energy
reading.
"What?" Lance asked. "Hunk, Pidge, scan the area you last saw the Black
Lion. Neive, we will scan the far side to see if he flew that way."
Lance, he wouldn't have just flown without letting us know, Neive
stated.
Lance slowly shook his head. "Please, we have to find it," Lance stated.
"The Triasian force set us up. They weren't here to attack Arus. They were
here to test us."
What? Pidge replied. Why?
"To know how we work," he stated. "To see what kind of tactics we would use.
Its the oldest military strategy known and we fell for it."
We will scout a 100 km radius from the Castle, Hunk came over the
communications link. If we find anything, we will let you know.
"Anything out of the oridnary, whether it is a patch of forest that looks
odd, report it," Lance stated.
Lance watched as his teammates then took off. 'How could we have been such
fools!'
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Zeya slowly opened her eyes, realizing that she was now hanging from the
seat she was in. The harness that she had strapped around her, kept her in
place. It was at that momen, she realized that the Lion ship must have
landed on its side.
As she moved, she let out a scream as she realized that her left shoulder
started to ache. She looked down and saw that it was dislocated. With her
free arm, she pulled on the straps that held her in, and released them. She
fell from their hold on her, breathing in deeply as now every muscle in her
body ached. She quickly looked around the now almost dark cockpit, wondering
what happened. She placed her right hand to her left shoulder, and with a
push, she popped her shoulder back into place. She bit down on her lip to
muffle her scream, but it was painful as she tried to move around.
It was then she noticed that the small cockpit was filling with smoke and
her breathing became harder. She worked her way toward the seat in front of
her, hoping that the Captain was alright. She covered her nose and mouth
with her sleeve, so that she wouldn't breathe in the gathering smoke. As she
neared the seat, she saw that he was slumped to one side.
She pulled him free out of the seat and felt around the side hoping that a
latch would open the top entrance to the cockpit. Her exploring paid off as
the small door slid open and sunlight poured in. She slowly climbed out of
the cockpit and once she found footing, was able to pull the Voltron Force
Captain as well. She then let out a gasp, realizing that fatigue was already
getting to her as she fell to the ground below her, but did as best as she
could to cushion his fall.
Zeya closed her eyes, breathing in deeply, as she laid on the ground. She
could feel her body aching as she stared at the unconscious Captain laying
near her. She felt her eyes grow heavy, as her mind slowly thought back to
moments before the crash. Why would the force not finish their attack,
knowing that they had crashed. Then, she realized that it was probably no
the intent.
She slowly moved her hand to the satchel she wore on her waist as her senses
then became aware of a dark presence nearby. She held her breath for a
moment, hoping that her movements would not be caught.
The unmistakable sound of footsteps neared and she closed her eyes as she
could now feel them. She let her mind and her sense tune into her
surroundings.
There were three of them.
And they were armored. Thick armor, by what she could sense.
But all armor have their weak points.
"Well, dear brother, it seems that we were able to catch two birds with one
stone," she heard a man's voice say. "The Princess Zeya was hiding here on
Arus."
'They were looking for me!' Zeya's consciouness nearly screamed.
"I'd be careful, if I were you, Risen," she heard another say. "Drule women
are known to be snakes."
"Snakes?"
'This is my chance.'
Zeya opened her eyes, quickly removing a small patch from her satchel and a
knife she normally carried. "As in, dont ever turn your back on one," she
stated as she quickly got up, placing the patch against the man's armor, and
whispered an incantation.
This caught the armored man off guard as the patch then started to glow and
a bright light then surrounded him.
"What sorcery is this?"
"Armor is no match against my magic," she stated as she held out her hand
toward him, placing it over the patch that she had just placed there.
The light intensified and soon, the man started to let out a groan as
whatever force created by the light was now crushing him in the armor he
wore. Zeya then brought her knife forward as she held it above her head.
"You Triasians work in three's right?" she asked. "Let's see how well you
work if you are one man down."
Just as she was about to bring her knife down upon the armored man, she let
out a scream. She dropped the knife she held as she clutched her arm to
herself. She stared down at her forearm and saw that a large knife was now
stabbed through it.
Another man, dressed in an all red armor, approached her and roughly grabbed
her by her hair and forced her to her knees. He ripped the small patch that
was on the other mans armor and pushed him away.
"Is that all the tricks you have, Princess Zeya?" the man in the red armor
asked, as he pulled tightly on her hair. "After studying under the Great
Haggar, all that you can do is utter meaningless incancations and weild a
petty knife?"
Tears flooded Zeya's eyes as she stared up at him. "You haven't seen what I
can really do."
With the strength she could muster, Zeya immediately pulled herself out of
his grasp, tearing what hair he had a grip on and brought her legs up to
kick him as hard as she could.
This sent him backwards, losing his balance a the helmet he wore cracked.
She then found her footing as she poised herself for another attack.
"Rolsin, this is no time to play games," Relins stated. "We should finish
what we have come here to do."
The man in the red armor stood as he stared at her. "No one has ever touched
me in combat before," Rolsin stated.
"Oh?" Zeya asked. "Then we will have to make sure it happens more often."
Zeya then started a charge toward him, and she watched as he readied for her
attack. She then smiled to herself as she quickly studied him. A natural
fighter, she recognized. The armor was the protection he needed, but her
kick did enough damage to the helmet he wore. She knew that he would have
the strength to defeat her in any physical fight, so she had to rely on her
own training as a sorceress to do what she could. She figured that the
forces that just attacked must have been ordered by these three. Rolsin,
Relins, and Risen were the names she caught. And this Rolsin, the man who
wore the red armor, must be the one who commanded them all.
It was all that she needed at that moment.
She continued her charge toward him, as he stood there. She then uttered an
incantation, which caused a whirldwind of dust to surround them. The man in
red armor just stood there. She lept to the air as she unsheathed two more
knives from her satchel.
"Rolsin!"
A cloud of dust and dirt thickened as the whirlwind gathered much more
strength. Relins held his brother back as the whirlwind came up and then
subsided.
Zeya held on tightly to the knife she held, as she had embeded it hilt deep
in the armor he wore. Her other hand which held the other knife was caught
in his right hand, and his left held a tight grip on her neck.
"Very good, Princess, that is now two times you've been able to break past
my defenses," she heard him say as he tightened his grip around her neck.
"You are definitely not the coward your brother was."
Zeya could only clench her teeth as she stared up at him.
"What...have...have you done to my brother?" she asked.
"As with any who defy me," he stated as he squeezed harder. This forced her
to fall to her knees as she released the knife she held to grab at the hand
that was holding her. "Im sure that he has found his way to hell now, since
we left him on Doom before we destroyed it."
Zeya could only feel her resolve weaken as he kept his grip on her.
"We know about the sixth lion you are here to find," he stated as he held
her. "We know about your mother, how Queen Marlena used what she learned to
help her husband build the Voltron Lion ships. And we will make sure that we
do everything in our power to stop them from obtaining the secrets to the
sixth lion."
"What do you...do you know of the sixth lion?"
"Not as much as we would like to," he stated. "But, I am glad that we were
able to find you. How ironic that you would find protection in the arms of
your enemy."
"They were the only ones I could trust," Zeya stated as he squeezed again.
"Retrieving you, was part of our mission today," he stated as he lifted her
up off the ground. "Now, we must finish our next part."
Zeya let out a gasp as he threw her against the Black Lion, causing her to
scream out in pain as she fell to her knees. She breathed in deeply as the
wound in her arm started to bleed heavily. She cradled her arm as she
watched as he walked toward where Keith was lying on the ground.
"As soon as we are done here, we will take you back to our command ship," he
stated. "However, I cannot let this man live. As the Captain, the Voltron
Force will be rendered to a disadvantage if he should die."
"No!"
Zeya got to her feet as she made her way toward where Keith was lying. She
brought her hands together as she concentrated all her energy into a spell,
taught to her by Haggar so many years ago. She never had a reason to use it
till now; to protect her sworn enemy against another, who would only seek to
destroy anything that comes in his way.
"Rolsin!"
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Anala watched as the forest below the ship raced by as they made their way
across the eastern hemisphere to where the Castle Of Lions was in Altaire.
She hoped that their presence went unnoticed by the attacking Triasian
Force.
"Any readings ahead?" Anala asked.
"There are two squadrons of the Garrison fighters surrounding the Castle of
Lions," Lemille answered. "But, I only see four lion ships."
Anala's eyes widened. "Four?"
Lemille slowly nodded as she turned to Anala. "The Black Lion, its not with
the group."
Anala balled her right hand into a fist as she watched the view screen
before her. "We must keep radio silence if we are going to arrive without
their knowledge," she said. "Lemille, keep scanning for the Black Lion; Im
hoping that we haven't arrive too late."
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Zeya slowly opened her eyes; as the sun shined down on her.
She found herself lying in a green field, white flowers dancing in the light
breeze around her. She slowly sat herself up, noticing that she was
unharmed, not a wound on her.
'Where am I?' she thought to herself.
Laughter caught her attention as she turned toward her right. A young man
was playing nearby with a woman, who eerily looked familiar. She smiled as
the man handed her a bouquet of flowers that he had picked, and she
expressed her thanks to him. Zeya slowly stood wanting to know what was
going on.
The woman brought the flowers close to her and inhaled their scent. She
laughed as she got to her feet and the young man followed, chasing after
her.
"Karone!"
Zeya gasped to herself as the couple faded from her view.
"Mother?" Zeya said aloud.
She started to run after them, hoping that she would be able to catch up
with them.
"Mother!"
She continued to run, tears forming as she tried to keep up. Though, no
matter how hard she tried, she could not catch up to them. She ran until she
couldn't run anymore, and collapsed when her legs could no longer carry her.
She cried as she held herself, wishing that she could have seen her mother
again.
"Zeya."
She gasped as she looked up, finding that grassy field she had been in,
slowly disappeared. She was soon surrounded by a thick forest and a tall
mountain face stood before her.
"Mythrias, once stood here, long ago," a voice from behind her stated. "It
was here, we found our strength, found the will of Arus."
Zeya turned as a figure emerged from the shadows around her.
"You."
"I am just a whisper of whom you think I am, Zeya," the figure stated as she
came to stand before her. "But your destiny has always been to return here."
"What is here?" Zeya asked. "Mythrias is gone! The people are gone!"
"Salvation," the woman stated. "Marlena knew that when she built the last
lion ship."
"The sixth lion?" Zeya asked.
"As much as the Voltron Force would like to believe, Marlena only
involvement in Voltron's creation, was as minimal at best. The Triaisans
only think that she used the technology she learned from the in his
construction."
"What?"
The woman smiled as she stepped toward the mountain face. "It was enough to
throw off the suspicion," she stated. "Enough to give our enemies the wrong
information. Clues she left behind were enough to convince others that was
what she wanted to have them think."
"Then the sixth lion ship?"
"Was her only project she had a part in," she stated. "The Sixth Lion, is
what will save Arus from the forces of the Triasians."
"But why have the three royalty to activate it?"
"Safety measures," she stated. "Marlena knew that the kindgoms of Arus,
however, working together, still had their rivalry. It did not help that
Alfor married from the Kingdom of Helena instead of Kingdom of Mythrias. But
your mother, she did not want to marry Alfor at the time. She was in love
with another."
"The young man I saw...who was he?"
The woman smiled. "He was the man who was given the opportunity to be one of
the first members of the original Voltron Force," she stated. "A commoner
from Altaire, who served for King Alfor as an attache' to Mythrias. However,
he was chosen to be apart of the original Voltron Force, and he honored that
position by fighting well on King Alfor's side.
"He was an honorable man, and even upon his death, he swore his undying love
for your mother," the woman continued. "Do you, Zeya, have those that care
for you? To fight for? That you would sacrifice your life even, to protect?"
Zeya stared at the woman. "I've sworn my life to protect those I trust and
care for," she stated. "My life belongs to only one person."
The woman slowly nodded. "Yet, the enemy that you have sworn to fight, took
you in, granted you asylum, and even now, one of them nearly costed his own
life to make sure you were safe," the woman stated. "None of this matters to
you?"
Zeya could only close her eyes. "I've learned to place your trust in those
that have shown you their trust," she stated.
"Yet they, trust you," she stated. "They trusted you, to help them find the
location of the Sixth Lion. Knowing that at any time, you could turn against
them."
Zeya's eyes widened. They were more than accepting her into their lives.
What were they thinking? Did they really trust her? Knowing that she would
leave them as soon as she located her brother?
"This is something new to you isn't it?" the woman asked. "Something you
have never experienced?"
The woman smiled. "Good, then you will be worthy of the task that lays
before you."
"What do you mean?"
"Zeya, you've have always known where the Sixth Lion is hidden," the woman
stated. "Its up to you to find it. And the only way that will happen is if
you learn to open your heart, to those that you may not expect to be you
friends."
"What am I to do?"
"You are the only one who posseses that answer, Zeya," she stated. "And
until you are willing to face your inner demons, as the last hope for Arus,
the Triasians will defeat the Voltron Force."
"My inner demons?"
"You dont have much time, Zeya," the woman stated as she started to walk
away. "Even now, your life is in danger."
"Danger?"
Zeya then cried out in pain as she fell to her knees and the scene around
her started to turn dark. She closed her eyes as she held herself up off the
ground with one hand.
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"Clever girl."
Zeya opened her eyes as she stared up at the man in red armor as he stood
over her. She then followed his gaze and saw that her spell had worked. An
energy field had come up around Keith as she held onto his hand. It would
deflect any physical attack against him, but the spell required that she
used the energy of those she needed to protect to create it. That however,
opened her up to any attack since she couldn't get enough energy to have it
surround her as well.
"You're willing to give up your life, to protect him?"
"I find it dishonorable for anyone to attack someone who is no position to
protect himself," she stated as she looked up at him.
"Well then, if you wish to continue our fight."
She then screamed as he grabbed her by her injured arm, trying to pull her
to her feet. She fought against his hold as she maintained her hold and her
spell over Keith.
She turned away from him as he fought against her, as she committed to one
final spell. When she helped Keith initiate contact with the other members
of the Voltron Force, she was able to explore the Captains mind and was
surprised by what she had learned. She finally knew what had gone on before
her arrival to Doom only a year before. That through all the trials he had
gone through, he was more than even Lotor had even realized. But it was what
she learned about his recent incidents that she wanted to tap into.
Ylren.
She had heard of the Vallusian god, long before she arrived to Doom, and
thought he was only a legend. But after witnessing the events on Argos only
9 months earlier, she finally realized that he was real. And that the
Captain, a descendent of his bloodline, carried the spirit of this god, with
him. But was he really gone?
She didn't have time to find out. She quickly worked her arm free and
grabbed ahold of Keith's hand with both as she uttered her last incantation
before the man in the red armor was able to wrestle her free.
"KEITH! WAKE UP!" she yelled as the man roughly pulled her away. "KEITH!"
As the man in the red armor pulled Zeya away from the unconscious Captain, a
sudden stillness filled the air. Zeya gasped as she fought his hold on her.
Then she felt something grab at her arm and as she looked up, her eyes
widened in disbelief.
"Dont you know, that is not the way to treat a lady?"
The man in the red armor suddenly turned as his hold on Zeya weakened.
Then a sudden explosion filled the air.
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"There!"
Anala looked at the viewscreen before her. "What was that?"
"Something just exploded on that mesa," Lemille answered. "But it wasn't by
anything mechanical or a bomb."
"What?" Anala asked. "How far are we?"
"4000 kilometers," Sendrre answered. "We will be there in ten minutes."
"Open communicatiosn with the other Lion ships once we are 1000 kilometers
from that location," Anala stated. "Let them know that we've found the Black
Lion and that Keith is in danger."
"Roger," Sendrre stated.
"We still can't alert the Triasians to our location," Anala stated. "We are
unprepared for any attack by their forces."
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Rolsin was kneeling on the ground as he breathed in deeply. The armor he
wore had cracked in several places, as he stared at the figure who stood
only a few yards away. The Captain, stood where they had been, before a
force suddenly threw him and his brothers back. As he ragained his
composure, he saw that Keith was standing, holding Princess Zeya in his
arms, as his own wings were fully extended, marking the sign of his
Vallusian heritage. He then slowly got to his feet as he was joined by
Relins and Risen, removing the helmet he wore and slowly peeling the broken
armor he wore. Was that strange force that forced him away, the hidden power
that the captain held?
"You're the second person today who has been able to touch me," he stated as
he stared at the young Captain. "However, you are everything they've said
you to be, Captain Hayashi."
Keith gently held Zeya against him as he held her in his arms. She was
exhausted from her ordeal only moments before and the last spell she had
done, took everything out of her.
"I don't know who you are, but your presence her on Arus is not welcomed,"
Keith stated. "I suggest that you return to your ship and leave Arus as soon
as possible."
"And for what reason, Captain?" Rolsin asked. "Planet Arus is a vital planet
within the Galaxy Alliance. If we are able to conquer this planet, we will
have our nail set in place to levy our influence on the Alliance itself. No,
we will not go so easily. As with the Drule Supremacy, we will conquer the
Galaxy Alliance and the planets within."
"You will have to defeat us first," Keith stated.
Rolsin smiled. "If that is what you want."
Keith gasped as the man then rushed forward in an attempt to attack him.
Keith was able to dodge his attack, quickly retracting his wings as he
readied for himself for another attack. He knew that he would have to find a
place for Zeya to rest, if he were to confront him. He found the opportunity
he needed as he jumped back and laid the Princess on the ground near the
Black Lion.
"It isn't nice to attack someone when I dont even know who you are," Keith
stated as he turned to him. "You know who I am; so who are you?"
Rolsin smiled. "All you need to know, Captain, is that I will defeat you."
Keith prepared himself as the man then circled around him. Keith recognized
immediately that this man was indeed a fighter, and probably fought in many
battles. Though it wasn't what he was concerned about. He was still wearing
part of that armor he had managed to crack earlier, but that was after a
physical attack that nearly took all of his energy to commit to.
"Now, then, all my hand to hand battles have never lasted more than 5
minutes, Captain," he stated.
"Well, let's see if we can break that."
TBC