My goodness, such a VERY long time for an update from me! I am SO VERY SORRY! But, since it is just before Christmas, you all can consider this a type of present, I suppose! My muses haven't been very cooperative and I honestly was trying to get this to a length that would warrant being an actual chapter. Being a full time student and mom makes finding time to write extremely difficult (and if any of you know how hard pulling a double major off is, let me tell you... Creative Writing and Music majors are NOT easy to do! Let's just say music theory is NOT as easy as it sounds!) I want to say thank you to my readers who have been so very patient awaiting this update. I love you all!
I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.
Keith was up early the next morning, quietly packing what he could and readying the horses for the road. He grinned, thinking of the woman he'd left asleep in the shelter. He didn't want to wake her, but knew he would have to soon, they needed to get back to the Castle. He ducked back into the shelter to grab something when she spoke.
"What time is it?" she whispered. "And why didn't you wake me to help?"
He grinned as he looked over at her. "It's 0630 and I wanted to let you sleep."
She stretched under the blanket before reaching for her discarded clothes. "You're a glutton for punishment trying to do everything yourself," she murmured, sitting up.
His eyes darkened as he watched her start to dress. "No, just…doing my damnedest to avoid temptation and keep you in bed all day."
She looked at him and blushed darkly at the heat in his eyes. "Well, if that's the case, perhaps it was for the best," she whispered.
He stepped to her, bent and kissed her thoroughly. "I thought so, yes. But, since you're up, hurry up and get dressed and we can get out of here."
She nodded, licking her lips. "I'm…trying to get dressed. Someone keeps…trying to stop me."
He chuckled. "Then I'd best get back outside and finish what I was doing before we delay ourselves further." He disappeared outside.
She sat there for a moment, staring at the door. "That man…wow," she whispered. She quickly shook her head, slid out from under the blankets and finished dressing, pulling her borrowed boots on and pulling her hair back out of her face. She quickly folded the horse blankets, rolled the bedrolls, and attached them to the saddles before taking them outside.
She moved to her horse, carefully draping her horse blanket and then putting the saddle on, cinching it tight. She then moved to Keith's putting the horse blanket on. His horse was a couple hands taller than hers, and she had a little difficulty putting the saddle on, but she soon had it positioned correctly and cinched down.
Keith brought over the saddle bags and the other bags, then he went back and took down the shelter.
Once Duvessa had the saddle bags and the extra pack on the horse, she helped Keith with the shelter. She smiled at him as the last of it slid into its pack. "Time to go home?"
He smiled and straightened. "Yes, it is," he stated. He moved to her and touched her cheek. "Shall we pretend I'm still missing my memories?"
Duvessa giggled. "While that would be funny, I don't think it would be proper."
"I know," he agreed. He kissed her softly before pulling away. "Come on. We need to get moving," he stated and moved to the horses, putting the pack with the shelter in it on his horse. He moved to her and her horse. "Need my help?"
She smiled and mounted her horse with his help, and took the reins from him. She waited as he mounted his horse, then they set off down the trail towards the castle.
Lotor threw his goblet at Maahox's head. "Your precious pet was killed!"
"Yes, it would seem that we have had a slight set back in that regard," Maahox agreed. He stared at Lotor, unflinching as the goblet sailed harmlessly past his head, passing inches from his ear. "However, as you well know, Sylvan was only ever a tool. A means to an end."
"What end, Maahox? Yours?" Lotor sneered.
"Hardly," Maahox stated in a bored voice. "He was an experiment. I am always experimenting with things, you know this. Sylvan was my test subject on how well humans can handle Haggarium. He was doing remarkably well until his demise."
"For what purpose would you test on humans?" Lotor growled. "Not to mention, a waste of good Haggarium."
"To gain you an army of slaves, My Lord. Release the Haggarium into the atmosphere, let it rain down, and the people will rise up and attack," Maahox purred.
"You should experiment more with the slaves we have on Doom first. I'm not going to have perfectly good slaves here that we can't take home," Lotor muttered.
"Oh, it wasn't ready for deployment yet, My Lord. But, soon, very soon," Maahox purred.
"Well, release the robeast. May as well be a thorn in Arus' side since we are here," Lotor stated, dismissively. "Put it down near that storm and let it wreak havoc in the aftermath."
"Excellent idea, sire," Maahox purred. He turned back to his console and pressed a button, deploying the robeast. "About the only one you have ever had," he muttered under his breath.
Thunder crashed and lightning blazed overhead as Keith and Duvessa made their way back to the castle.
A tree fell on the path before them, spooking Duvessa's horse, nearly throwing her from the saddle. She barely managed to keep the reins and calm the horse.
"You all right?" Keith asked, his horse alongside hers, holding the bridle.
She nodded. "I'm fine," she answered, running her hand along the horse's neck, talking soothingly to it. "Easy, girl. It's ok." She looked back to him. "This storm is over land now, it should be weakening. I don't understand why it isn't."
"If I remember the weather forecast correctly, there was another system moving in from the inner hills on this continent. It might have reached here by now, keeping this storm fed," Keith answered.
She nodded. "Makes sense, I suppose," she stated. She patted her horse one last time. "We need to get to the castle. We can't stay out in this much longer." She closed her eyes and tilted her face to the sky. "You're right. That other system is merging with the storm. I should never have strengthened it." She gasped as she felt his hand land lightly on her arm. She looked at him.
He shook his head. "No. You did what you needed to do to slow down the Drules. Don't blame yourself."
She gently laid her other hand on his. "I know, but the people…"
He gave her a soft smile. "Are probably prepared and will be safe in their homes," he assured her. "Unlike a certain princess and commander."
She smiled. "All right. How much further, do you think?"
"An hour or two if we're lucky," he answered. "Think you can make it that long?"
She nodded. "I will do what needs to be done," she assured him.
He chuckled. "I hoped you'd say that," he stated and pulled her horse along beside his, heading towards the castle.
Duvessa rode in silence until her horse shied and pulled out of Keith's hand. "Whoa. Easy. Easy. What is it?" she whispered to the horse. Then she heard what sounded like branches being stepped on, but a lot louder. She looked at Keith, confusion on her face.
He shook his head. "I don't know. Come on, we need to get out of here," he whispered and spurred his horse.
Duvessa spurred her horse and took off after him as the crashes got louder and the ground began to tremble.
Keith shook his head. "Dammit," he murmured as their horses raced along the road.
She saw him shake his head. "What is it?" she asked as another crash and earthquake came from behind them.
"I'm pretty sure that is a robeast and we can't see it," Keith answered.
Duvessa felt her heart drop to her stomach before it rose to her throat in fear. She swallowed hard. "We need to use our Voltcoms, alert the castle…"
"Mine is nearly dead and I'm sure yours is, too. I know we haven't used them much, but they weren't meant to go this long without a charge," he stated. He shook his head. "Damn, I'm not sure we can out run the damn thing…"
"We need to at least try, Keith," Duvessa stated.
He nodded. "I know."
She looked at her Voltcom. "Castle Control, this is Duvessa. Do you read? There is a possible robeast in the woods south of the castle. Come in, please?"
Static burst over the speakers in Castle Control. Pidge's head came up sharply. He hadn't meant to fall asleep at the console, but he had been putting in some long hours looking for their lost teammates.
"Control,…..vessa…..read? is….robeast…woods…castle…"
"Duvessa, this is Pidge. Can you repeat that?" he asked, adjusting the frequency on the console.
Pidge waited several long moments before repeating his request. "Damn it," he muttered and began to go over the message, trying to filter it out.
Duvessa frowned before she looked back to Keith.
"Nothing," he muttered. "Damn. I was hoping I'd be wrong."
Another ground shaking boom came from behind them. Their horses galloped harder and faster, foaming at the mouth trying to outrun whatever it was behind them.
"We can't push the horses like this for much longer," Keith stated. "It will kill them."
"I don't think we are the ones pushing them," Duvessa answered.
They let the horses have their head, galloping madly down the road.
"You're sure it was Duvessa?" Lance asked.
Pidge stared at him, arching an eyebrow over his contoured glasses.
He sighed. "Okay, what did she say?" Lance quizzed.
"That there is a robeast somewhere around the castle. And guessing from the activity from the seismometers we have around the area, there is one south of here in the woods. I'm hypothesizing that Keith and Vessa are somewhere south of the castle," Pidge stated.
"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go find them," Hunk encouraged.
"The problem with that, Hunk, is this storm. It's not going to be easy to fly in, and we're going to need Vessa in Black," Pidge stated.
"And she's out there," Allura whispered. She frowned, but nodded. "Then we go out, rescue them, one of us gets her and Keith back here, and we defeat that robeast."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Lance stated. "Let's go."
"And what about us? Are we chopped liver?" Daniel quipped, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Black can't be flown without the key. Vessa has it, so none of you can fly him. Man the defenses. Keep the robeast distracted if it gets close," Lance ordered as the others ran for their Lions. Then, he turned and ran for Red.
"Reminds me of a line from an ancient Terran movie," Larmina muttered. "'What do you expect me to do? Protect the car?'"
"I rather like protecting this car," Vince stated. "Lots of ways to protect it. Come on, let's get the defenses up." He led them all over to the main console, calling up the defenses and various other monitors. "Pick your section and let's have some fun!"
Daniel grinned. "So, a challenge, then?"
Vince grinned back. "Maybe. Who can hit the robeast first, longest…whatever. Name it and we'll play it."
Larmina snerked as she dropped into a holochair, controls popping up in front of her. "I'll whip the pants off both of you."
Daniel laughed as he sat down in his. "All right, you're both on!"
Vince grinned as he took his seat. "This is going to be so much fun!"
Duvessa's horse reared, sending her flying into the brush along the side of the road before it bolted through the forest.
"Vess!" Keith called. His horse stamped and frothed. "Dammit." He dismounted just as his horse would have reared, dumping their gear onto the road, and taking off after the other horse. He moved to her and helped her to her feet. "You all right?"
She nodded as she looked up at him. "We need to keep moving. That thing can't be far behind us."
"I know. Let's go," he stated. He moved to the gear the horse had dumped, picked up what he could, left the rest and the two made their way down the road towards the castle.
A scream of a massive beast echoed over their heads as the ground shook followed by a loud boom, making the two of them stumble.
"That thing is way too close for comfort, it has to be," Keith muttered, glancing behind them as they kept moving forward.
"I don't hear trees snapping yet," Duvessa stated. "So, it's close, but not that close."
He nodded and they pressed on in relative silence. Still too close for my peace of mind.
She chuckled softly. You're telling me…
He blinked and looked back at her. "Sorry, I…"
"Why? You're just saying exactly what I was thinking myself," she stated.
A roar sounded from overhead and they looked up to see something streak across the sky.
"One of the Lions," Duvessa whispered. "They're looking for us and that robeast."
"So, your message got through," Keith deduced.
"I sure as hell hope so," she stated and they kept moving forward.
