(On the Hunt) Chapter 25

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 25

Lions

Pidge arrived to the bay early. Flynn kind of hated when he did that; not having to keep an eye on him was so nice. But rather than going to the console and making a nuisance of himself he walked straight up to his commander, datapad in hand. "Sir, I've done the best I can with the crystal data."

…That didn't sound like a declaration of success, but it wasn't a report of failure, either. "Did you get anywhere?"

"Yessir. Lack of context and processing power were obstacles. But there is some new information." He seemed a little uneasy as he said that; Flynn eyed him, but he didn't offer anything more.

That was the report's job, he supposed. "Okay, let's see it." He accepted the datapad and sat back on the workbench, starting on the report summary. It was stilted and clinical, pretty much what he'd expect from Pidge, and…

…And…

He read it. And read it again. And then scrolled down the rest of the report, skimming it, trying to figure out if something had been lost in translation. Or maybe the ninja had acquired a sense of humor, or was just trying to make certain he actually read it. But no, everything there backed it up entirely.

But that doesn't make any sense. It doesn't begin to make any sense. It's ridiculous.

"Pidge…" He kept his tone delicate; he wasn't at all trying to be insulting. It was just too far out of the field. "What's your confidence in this decryption?"

"Statistically insignificant uncertainty, sir. I checked it against the Alliance's report to be sure. They missed some minor points but the overall concept is the same."

"…You're much too damned cavalier about telling me that," Flynn grumbled, then paused as the other implication of that sank in. If he'd checked their report… he scanned the summary again, making sure the words hadn't changed to something more reasonable. No such luck. "What you listed in the overview, the major points. The Alliance knew this? All of it?"

"Yessir."

Okay. Then this is what we have. He closed his eyes for a moment. "What do you make of it?"

Pause. "It isn't my job to have an opinion, sir."

That earned him a glare. "Don't even begin with that, Pidge. I asked you for an opinion so now it's your job. Talk."

He seemed a little bit taken aback by that, but then nodded. "Yessir. There's no way of knowing if this information is really even what the Galra are searching for, so the effort they've put into the search doesn't speak to its credibility. The Alliance has only seen fit to dispatch an Explorer Team, so their commitment doesn't speak to its credibility either. Plenty of civilizations pour enormous resources into religion regardless of proof, so the temple you found the data in likewise doesn't speak to credibility."

Flynn had winced at the religion point, but fortunately the ninja hadn't noticed. "Solid logic. Conclusion?"

Now he paused, a thoughtful frown crossing his face. "Truthfully, sir, I don't think the specifics change the nature of the mission. We're still hunting a pseudo-mythical planet, based on minimal evidence, to recover a weapon that may or may not still exist. The details of that weapon are a distraction. Not relevant… albeit useful for confirmation if we find it."

Most of that lined up with what Flynn had concluded, and the rest of it was very Baltan. "Alright. Thank you." He stood and handed the datapad back. "You sent me a copy?"

"Yessir."

"Okay. If I tell you to take this shift off, will you consider that a reward or a punishment?"

Pidge looked at him blankly. "Why would you reward me for doing my job?"

Oh, he'd walked right into this. Flynn met his gaze and smirked. "I believe you just told me it isn't your job to have opinions." The ninja blanched. "…Also you just matched a whole intel task force's productivity by yourself. Take a break if you want."

He nodded, then shook his head, then sighed. "Honestly I'd rather not, sir."

Well, it had been worth a try. "Okay. You have the bay, then." That wasn't something he'd generally leave the ninja with, but nobody else was scheduled to be on shift for another four hours… and he was pretty sure they'd all be elsewhere before that happened. "I need to go talk to Kogane."

Pidge saluted and retreated to his console; Flynn grabbed his own datapad and headed out. This wasn't going to go poorly at all.

*****

Flynn had been right about one thing, at least. Not half an hour later the team had been summoned to a conference room, and Keith was pacing around it in agitation. Every so often he shot his second another look of exasperation, which his second just as regularly ignored.

Really, Pidge had gotten the decryption done at the perfect time. Kogane wouldn't put him on restriction again… probably.

Keith wasn't sure whether he wanted to or not, if he were being honest. He still couldn't quite believe what his second and the ninja had done—though the more he thought about it, he wasn't sure why he was surprised—but what was he really going to do about it? Report Flynn for copying the crystal? Turn Pidge in for hacking the AML? Certainly not.

What it came down to was that now they had more information than before… information intel had not seen fit to give them. They were the ones chasing legends out here; they did what they had to do.

We're all we have.

The team filed in slowly, looking more or less confused—Pidge less, Lance and Sven more. Hunk set a large plate of donuts on the table as they gathered around. It all seemed unusually normal.

Once everyone had settled in, Keith stopped pacing. "Alright. We have new information. Stoker, I think I'll let you lead this."

Lance paused in the middle of a bite of donut. Ninja's gonna what now? Glancing around at the others he saw similar looks of surprise; at least he apparently wasn't missing anything.

Nobody looked more confused than Pidge himself. "Sir? I sent the report…"

"That wasn't a suggestion, Stoker."

Blinking, the ninja drew back slightly. It was logical, he supposed; he knew the material best. But giving briefings was even less his job than having opinions was, and he certainly hadn't come prepared to deliver one… Flynn caught his eye, silently offering to intervene, but he waved it off and took a moment to gather his thoughts.

"…Voltron is a weapon made up of five individual components that work in concert. The components are mechanical cats."

That hadn't been nearly what he'd wanted, but he supposed—based on the shocked looks, and Hunk dropping his donut—it got the point across well enough.

"Huh?"

"Fucking what now?"

"How'd…?"

"House cats?"

The last question was Vince, and it seemed a bit more concrete than the others, so he opted to address that one first. "More like lions—the Alliance's translation says lions, anyway. It's about as close as anything."

Keith cleared his throat. "The less they know about your methods here the better, Mr. Stoker."

"Sir, you asked me to deliver a briefing." It seemed like they were well past worrying about propriety, given this whole discussion centered on a very illegal copy of a classified mission resource. Besides, he didn't have to explain exactly how he'd gotten the Alliance's report.

Sven spoke up before that could go any further, in any case. "Voltron is made up of five robot lions?" He just wanted to clarify that he was understanding correctly. Surely he couldn't be understanding correctly.

"Five robot lions that work together somehow," Pidge confirmed, shrugging and starting to hook his datapad up to the conference room's systems. "I can start at the beginning?"

Pausing, Keith found himself going through rather similar logic. He had asked for a briefing. There was no point trying to protect his team from reality. They were all in this together no matter what… he nodded slowly. "Proceed."

"I have questions," Lance mumbled as the ninja brought up a file. The room's projector sprang to life, displaying what looked like some sort of floor plan: five parallel corridors leading to one large pentagonal room. His jaw dropped. "A LOT OF FUCKING QUESTIONS!"

"Is that…?"

"…Put that the fuck away, I never want to see it again."

Cam and Daniel exchanged confused glances; for once it was only Cam who spoke. "What is that, exactly?" It wasn't that Daniel had nothing to say… more that he had so much he wanted to ask at once that he'd briefly forgotten how words worked.

Pidge himself was a bit surprised by the reactions. "It's a kind of blueprint," he explained hesitantly. "It was on the crystal. Intel was wrong, most of the data was audio, not visual—this is one of the only images I could find, it's where most of the translation context came from."

On the crystal? Hunk looked over at Flynn, realizing just what had happened here, and he couldn't help a hint of a grin.

For his own part, Flynn was looking anywhere but at Hunk; he leaned forward a little. "That's the temple, Pidge."

"Of hell," Lance agreed.

"It's… oh!" The ninja looked back at the blueprint and nodded. "That makes sense."

"Ninjerk," Jace muttered, "there is not one fucking sliver of this that makes sense."

Looking around at how twitchy all of the team's veterans suddenly looked—even Keith had a shiver run through him—Daniel finally found words. "Is this the temple with the never-explained murder vines?"

"Yeah, that one," the medic acknowledged, glaring at the blueprint.

Zooming in on the main room, Pidge pulled up images from each side; etchings of large cats, most with manes, though they didn't look at all mechanical. What they did look like was the carvings that had actually been there, though much sharper and cleaner. "There are five of these robot lions, and each correlates to one sector of the temple. It seems to back up what the Terinians said about the colors of the 'beasts', kir sa tye?"

"Yeah." Cam, as the one who'd translated those reports, nodded. "Some of that information was a bit contradictory, but all of this seems to fit."

"It would make sense." Keith exhaled slowly. "Those colors, and the cat statues we had to use to escape."

"Well, if these robocats are half as nasty as their temple was, I sure ain't gonna mess with 'em," Hunk declared. It drew a couple nods of agreement.

Lance was still staring at the blueprint. Perhaps more specifically, the red sector of the temple. "So wait." He could feel the warmth of the metal in his fingertips again, an almost impossibly clear memory. "One of these things is a fucking red lion?"

"Apparently." Pidge shrugged helplessly. "Red, black, blue, yellow, and green. Lions." It might be a little bit of a jump to say it so simply, but not that much of one.

"We're looking for a robotic rainbow." Daniel thought that over for a few moments and shrugged. It was weird, for sure, but weird was pretty on-brand for them.

"So it's not just one weapon?" Vince was slowly coming to terms with what he was hearing.

"It is and it isn't? They're all part of a single weapon system. I think."

"Yeah, sure." Lance shrugged too, though quite a bit more dramatically. "Five robot lions work together and go RAWR, we're Voltron? Why not."

"That's fucking ridiculous even for us," Jace muttered. Nobody could really argue the point.

In the following moment of quiet, Hunk looked back over at Pidge. "So uh, didn't happen to find anything more about where these cats are, didja?"

The ninja shook his head. "Altea was mentioned, but that's all. I think there were references to other planets, but they weren't used the same way. Context was unclear."

Other planets sounded much more important than that brush-off; Keith eyed him. "What were these references like, exactly?"

"The word…" He paused a few moments, trying to wrap his tongue around the alien sound, then made a face and gave up. "…the word I'm pretty sure is 'planet' is used in reference to both Altea and Sorthal, within a certain grammatical framework. The other times the base word comes up, it doesn't seem to be linked to any name. Intel didn't catch that point, but I can't see how it helps us."

Keith didn't either, but Lance's head had snapped up again. "Wait, intel knew the rest of this?"

"Most of it."

"The lions, though?"

"Yes."

Their pilot stared, really wanting to go off about that, and yet… he slumped back in his chair and shook his head. "Almost don't blame them for leaving that detail out."

Hunk shifted a little. "Beats blurry finger painting, yeah?"

"We wouldn't have gotten to the blurry finger painting," Jace snorted, "we'd have laughed Colonel Hawkins out of the fucking room."

"Yeah probably." Lance smirked. "But hey, we know what your artwork was now!"

"I draw better cats than that, fuck right off."

"Awww, you draw kitty cats?"

For a fraction of a second, Jace was absolutely going to lunge across the table and punch him in the mouth. Sven knew that look and reacted instantly, putting a hand on his shoulder and pulling him back; it seemed like an overreaction even for Jace, but he did calm quickly. Lance noticed none of it. His mouth was working a little bit on autopilot as his brain tried to grasp what they'd just learned.

The problem was, after all they'd seen so far… he was pretty sure he was buying it.

"Settle down," Keith ordered, scowling between the two of them, then he leaned over an empty chair and frowned. "So we know more about what we're looking for, but no new leads on where to find it. Was there anything else, Stoker?"

Pidge shook his head. "Just fragments, sir. Nothing I could make any sense of."

"Alright. Thank you." He looked over the rest of the team. "Thoughts?" Really he had a pretty good idea of what kind of thoughts they might have, but may as well have the discussion.

Flynn frowned. "Would've thought a set of rainbow robot lions would be a bit… conspicuous."

"Yeah." Vince nodded. "Robot lions seems like the kinda thing people would remember."

"Seems to back up the weapon not being active anymore." Keith was almost positive about that point. If there were a weapon made out of metal cats roaming the galaxy in modern times, they would have heard of it.

Cam looked at the blueprint again, eyebrows furrowing. "Why lions?"

"Why not lions?" Hunk grinned.

"Lions are pretty cool," Daniel agreed.

"I'm not saying they're not…" Their comms officer shrugged. "Just, why shape these weapons like animals? According to the Terinians, they fly. Most races use fairly standard ship shapes for a reason, don't they?"

"Who cares? Lions are cooler."

"Maybe they're a race that… honors lions somehow?"

"Lions are pretty fierce." Vince was frowning too. "Though I kind of thought they were an Earth thing."

"We have maned cats on Balto," Pidge offered. "They're called shinchaska, but they get translated into English as lions. This is probably similar."

"Really?" Vince turned to him. "Awesome, what do they look like?" And why can't that be my nickname?

Reclaiming his datapad—he was pretty sure they'd all seen plenty of the blueprint by now—Pidge typed a few commands in and pushed it over to his roommate. "These." The screen showed two sleek leonine creatures, one very dark, the other ghostly silver. They were clearly not Earth lions, but it was just as clear why they would be translated that way.

They were pretty badass, regardless; Vince grinned slightly. "Yeah, Baltan lions are pretty fierce too. Maybe it's a universal thing?"

"Convergent evolution is a thing all over the galaxy," Jace pointed out. "Forget Baltan lions, look at Baltan Baltans."

That was a pretty good point too.

Lance was overwhelmed enough without getting any further into discussions about alien biology. "So the temple, that was for the lions then? Or for Voltron?"

"They're the same thing." Pidge hesitated. "Kind of."

Great. "My head hurts."

"Not as much as it hurt when we were in the temple, I hope," Flynn muttered.

"Nooo. In the temple I was nearly flat on my ass."

"You were all pretty assed there," Jace snorted, and Hunk made a face.

"Ain't wrong…"

Lance glared at the medic. "Yeah, how did you end up the least affected?"

"I had to carry you through a murder garden!" Jace glared right back. "You just had to sit there and point!"

"While poisoned!"

"That's fucking IT!" Daniel erupted, nearly jumping out of his chair. "It's been months of murder vines this, garden of murder that, now there's poisoning? I want the fucking story!" He crossed his arms and swept a mixed glare and pout around the table.

For a moment the room went silent. Nobody really wanted to answer that question, or they'd have done it a long time ago. Cam spoke up hesitantly when nobody was in any hurry to respond. "I think Daniel has the right idea. Might be best if we had the full story. In case we run into another of these temples, you know?"

"Logical," Pidge agreed, eyeing Keith. He was still just a little resentful about having the briefing sprung on him. "The Commander should tell us."

Flynn snickered, and Lance leaned back in his chair with a smirk. "Yeah, Keith, tell them."

Sighing, Keith nodded slowly. There wasn't really any arguing the logic. Pulling out his own datapad, he brought up the report and projected their own representation of the temple. It looked pretty similar to the blueprint, though a much rougher sketch. "We were sent to Sorthal to investigate a site the Galra had on their list. We found this temple. Investigated the entryway." He pointed to the small room at the beginning. "Someone hit some sort of trigger in the floor, and we all fell into different corridors."

The kids exchanged glances. Daniel was pretty sure this sounded way more interesting than all the libraries they'd been to; Vince felt it sounded more something than the libraries, at least. Pidge and Cam just watched, curious.

Keith pointed to the middle corridor, which had a few simple lightning bolts drawn on it along with the rather whimsical label of BZZZZT. "Sven and Flynn fell into some sort of… electrical gauntlet."

"With actual lightning," Sven clarified.

"And a floor that tried to kill us," Flynn added.

Nodding, Keith pointed to the next corridor, which was labeled both FUCK THIS—he had redacted that particular note from his teammates before submitting the report—and VINES. "Lance and Jace fell into a room infested with some sort of semi-sentient vines that were attacking them."

"Poisonous sentient vines," Lance muttered.

"Fucking angry thorny ones," Jace agreed.

Lance winked at him. "Left you alone, must've thought you were family." The medic just snickered.

Their commander cleared his throat slightly; he knew what would happen if he let those two get going again. "Hunk and I fell into some sort of cave where we had to reassemble a seal underneath a rising pool of ice water. The pieces were on the ceiling." He pointed to the corridor labeled with a couple of simple snowflakes and a very large BRRRRRR.

Daniel's eyes widened slightly. "Shit." That was all way more hardcore than a bunch of boring libraries. Maybe even more than the one with the Guardian.

"After making it through the corridors, Flynn and Sven had electrical burns. Lance was poisoned and wounded from the vines. I had severe hypothermia…"

"I had kindathermia," Hunk added.

"It was not fucking fun."

"It was a fucking mess."

"And then," Flynn indicated the temple's main room, "we took the crystal and the ceiling tried to kill us too."

"Which was just lovely." Lance made a face.

Pidge was looking between the original members of the team, silently reassessing his opinions on their capabilities. Though to be fair, he'd already decided they had more going for them than the other humans he'd met. Daniel was also impressed, grinning slightly. "Sounds like one of those really old Indiana Jones movies."

"It was," Lance agreed, pointedly ignoring the really old jab. No way was he giving the kid the pleasure when murder vines were up for discussion.

"Totally was." Hunk winced. "It looks way more fun when Indy does it, though "

"Yeah, if I didn't have actual scars I'd remember it a lot more fondly."

Shaking his head, Keith shut down the projection. "I'll leave out the illegal departure from the planet…"

Sven groaned slightly at the reminder of what his beloved teammates had done, and the paperwork it had likely created. "I would like to restate that I had nothing to do with that."

"Yeah, for sure. It was really just a couple of these assholes who got us chased off the planet by sticking an inspector in a box…" Jace rolled his eyes. "You kids missed all the fun."

"I dunno, between the mafia and the bugs—"

"Wait, that's the cat in the box?!"

"—I'd say they're havin' plenty of fun!" Hunk didn't even miss a beat at Cam's outburst, but he did grin that much wider.

"The mafia was pretty fun," Daniel agreed; Lance glowered at him, while Cam stared a hole in the table.

"No it was not!"

"I mean, up until the point Cam got shot it was pretty fun…" That got a balled-up napkin tossed at him; he caught it and threw it back.

"Yeah, sure. Let's just be glad flirting with a mafia king went better than flirting with the damn cat."

Cam blinked, forgetting to keep scowling at Daniel. "You flirted with the cat in the box?"

"It wasn't in the box at the time."

That wasn't exactly what he'd been going for. "And failed?" If the cat had ended up in a box it sounded like he'd definitely failed; Cam suddenly, finally, found himself feeling a bit better about the Dradin disaster.

Lance was visibly disgruntled as he answered. "Never try to flirt with a cat on Sorthal, trust me. I've fucking never had that happen." Pidge eyed him, briefly wondering if he should mention that Baltans were also feline and generally unmoved by human flirting… no, it didn't seem quite relevant.

Leaning back in his own chair, Flynn looked nowhere in particular and shook his head. "Honestly, robot lions is great. It means all of the ridiculous things we've just discussed are no longer the craziest part of this mission." Lance looked at him and laughed; he couldn't help it.

"No kidding." Jace frowned. "And now we're what? Going to look for information on robot lions in a bug library? We are completely fucking on brand here, boys."

"So it would seem." Keith looked around the room. This was what Explorer Teams were for, and they all knew it… but if they couldn't laugh about it, what could they do? "Alright. You're all dismissed to commiserate on your own time."

Watching them go, shaking his head slightly, he looked down at his hands. Robot lions. The feel of the black metal was crackling through his fingers. A black lion. It felt like something was still missing from the equation… the lightning, the water, the vines? Every answer they got just raised new questions, whether it was about Altea or Voltron itself. And he couldn't help but remember the tests they'd done on the metal… magical robot lions?

He wasn't sure if that sounded more crazy, or less.

This is way above my pay grade. All of our pay grades. But here we are. He nodded slowly. And we won't fail.

*****

The trip above ground went about as well as one could hope, in Allura's opinion. Drule patrols were moving nearby, perhaps in search of her father’s body. Thankfully, the trees along their path were not the kind to shed leaves; they still provided plenty of cover, and the small team moved quickly and quietly. As they reached the mountain side, they waited for the morning fog to add an extra layer of cover before moving along the rocks to reach a small cave covered in brush.

Even though she had protested, Allura was feeling a bit relieved to have some company on this trip. She may be risking exposing an ancient secret, but if her father had truly succeeded it may not be a secret for much longer… in any case, she felt certain having to carry his body the whole way back to the shelters would be emotionally taxing, even if not physically. As well as the few soldiers Sariel had chosen, and Coran, she had brought a simple sled that she could use to drag her father from his resting spot.

Even once they were all in the cave, there was an almost unearthly hush as they moved through, zigzagging their way to an access tunnel. The tunnel itself was hidden by a secret door, but Allura knew exactly where to look. Placing a hand on the main latch, she looked back to her small entourage and spoke quietly. "I will need you to wait here. Once I pass through this door, the path will lead straight to the gryphons' lair, and they can startle easily. If you stay here, you should be able to avoid being heard."

"Princess, are you absolutely certain that you must do this alone?" Coran asked, a worried look on his face. He knew what answer he would receive; it was far from the first time he'd asked. But he felt he had to try one last time nonetheless.

Allura nodded as she flipped a few hidden switches, allowing the main latch to unlock. A gust of wind filled the passage they were in as the door slowly opened. When the door finished moving, the air became still once more; a few faint screeches of gryphons could be heard in the distance.

Coran helped move the sled into the newly revealed passageway. He didn't retreat after doing so. Still feeling a bit like she was betraying an ancient trust, Allura looked at the old advisor and shook her head. "Please, Coran, I need you to wait over there."

Standing in the doorway, he gave her a stern look. "Your Majesty, I will stand here and go no farther."

She knew that look; it meant that she was being given as much leeway as she was going to get. She would have to trust in her father’s old friend to honor her wishes, and not follow. Sighing as she went to take the sled, she gave a small nod to the guards, then produced a small light and began to make her way up through the tunnel.

As he watched the princess vanish around a bend, Coran stood at the entrance to the tunnel and took in the surroundings. It was a rather large tunnel, allowing the sled to pass through easily; it seemed like much more than was needed just to sneak in and observe the gryphons. It made him wonder as to the true purpose of these passages… perhaps, if Allura found what she was hoping for, he would have the answer in time.

*****

Larmina had no interest in playing the highly visible overseer—which was probably just as well, really. It wouldn't have worked. Very few of the people in the castle shelter knew who the bastard heir of the Seven Isles was, and those who did know would consider it reason not to take her seriously. The Council had made that clear enough. So she'd opted to stick to her previous story… wandering the caves, asking people how they were doing and what they needed, as if it were simply the militia checking up on everyone. She was doing her duty, whether they knew the details or not.

It suited her fine. Though the fact that Hanso and Allendar had been flanking her the whole time made her feel a little more like some stuffy noble with bouncers than she'd have preferred. Whether they were actually playing bodyguard, or just looking for an opening to start grilling her, she didn't know… and if she had her way, it wouldn't matter.

A young boy nestled into his sleeping father's arms had been watching them as they made the rounds. As Larmina and the others approached he motioned for quiet, then hissed "Shhhhh!" so loudly his father startled. It was all she could do to suppress a laugh; the kid was cute. Kneeling, she nodded to him and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Hey there. How are you and your dad doing? I mean, I know it su—uh, it's hard here. But we're trying to improve things. Can we help?"

The boy nodded. "Daddy is scared," he declared in the kind of grave voice only a toddler could really wield. "We gotses enough food an' good blankies an' stuff but he's still scared."

They'd heard that plenty on their rounds. Everyone was scared. Who could blame them? Glancing bank at Hanso and Allendar for help, she tried the same reassurance they'd been giving the others. "There's a lot to be afraid of," she agreed gently. "But the militia can still protect us."

"Isn't that," the boy protested, wide-eyed. "He's afraid cuz the Golden Gods haven't saved us yet. What if they don't?"

…Oh. Now that was a problem they could not help with. Not least because the thought had occurred to Larmina more than a few times herself. She glanced back at the others again, though she doubted either of them had any more theological insight than she did; both shrugged in response. Finally, after flailing a bit, she tapped the golden markings on the boy's cheeks. "Their priests are still with us, so the Golden Gods must still be with us also. Right?"

"The Golden Ones always work in strange ways," Allendar agreed. "And we're still protected here."

It seemed to mollify the boy, who nodded and said nothing more. But he wasn't the only one. As they continued through the cave, a handful of others had similar sentiments. Wondering why they had been forsaken, what they had to do to regain the Golden Ones' favor. Considering her own invocations of the gods before and since the attack, Larmina was thoroughly uncomfortable by the time they finished. And she was only going to get less comfortable, considering what she had to do next…

She put it off as long as possible. Some people needed new blankets or clothing; others required medication. Illness still ran rampant through the caves. They'd made notes of what was needed, to be delivered to those on the Council who were in charge of resource acquisition. After delivering those, checking in with Captain Sariel, chatting with a couple of the elders, and doing everything else she could think of to not deliver her last report, she sighed and beckoned for her companions to follow. "Okay, let's go tell the shiny shirt that he's got some issues."

High Priest Teynn did not look any happier to see her than she was to see him; as they approached, he bowed his head about as slightly as he could get away with. "Lady Larmina… should you not have a more impressive guard? You are the highest noble in the caves, after all."

The fact that she hadn't asked for a guard at all notwithstanding, Larmina wasn't about to put up with this nonsense towards her friends. "I'm sorry," she said icily, "are the people who keep you fed and clothed down here not impressive enough? Maybe next time I'll bring you on my rounds instead. It's only taken a few hours, I'm sure you aren't doing anything else important."

He scowled. "I am only too happy to walk among the flock, Lady Larmina. I do so often."

"I said with me." She scowled right back. "Neither of us really wants that, but believe me, I'm way too used to people like you to care."

Eyeing her for another moment, he diplomatically retreated. "I am merely concerned that things are done properly… very well. What can I assist you with?"

"It isn't me you need to assist. The people are frightened, and they're noticing the silence of the gods. Maybe you ought to reassure them some?"

"Perhaps they should pray more and doubt less," the High Priest snorted, though he looked a bit uneasy. "The Golden Gods are rightfully unforgiving towards the unfaithful. If we have not learned from the last time this planet was permitted to fall under attack from the stars…"

Larmina's eyes narrowed. The War of Golden Revival… it had been centuries since that near-mythical conflict. She hadn't been much more interested in listening to those history lectures than any others, but she'd thought she had the general sense of it. "Permitted? Wasn't the whole point there that the Golden Gods couldn't do anything to stop it?"

The look Teynn gave her was a strange mix of contempt, disgust, and pity; she wasn't sure which annoyed her the most, and decided they all did so equally. "Hmph. I would expect a Daughter of Arus to know better, but then, given your standing…"

Though the High Priest trailed off there, it wasn't entirely voluntary. It had much more to do with the fact that Hanso and Allendar had both put their hands on their swords and looked quite ready to use them.

"I would expect the High Priest of the Golden Gods not to insult nobility of any standing," Allendar said coolly.

"Yes." Hanso smirked nastily. "The Honored Mother would be appalled at your disrespect towards the Lady, don't you think? Even us peasants know the Golden Ones demand respect for royal blood."

Blinking, Larmina found herself blushing furiously. Part of her was gratified to have someone stand up for her. Part of her, well… "Okay, you two, you're embarrassing me."

"…Sorry."

"But are we embarrassing him?"

By that point the High Priest was completely off balance. The fact of being threatened, and shamed, by two militia peasants and an illegitimate noble was so absurd as to be briefly unrecoverable. "Of… of course. My apologies, my Lady." He forced the words out through gritted teeth. "Shall I educate you on the truth, then?"

Much as she didn't want to agree to that, it felt like that information might actually be useful to have. "Go ahead."

Teynn crossed his arms. "The War of Golden Revival began when the Usurpers held sway over Arus, yes. Since the false gods were weak, they could not prevent the invasion from the void. Arus would have been destroyed, had the Golden Ones not broken free of their prisons to reclaim what was theirs."

That all sounded familiar enough; Larmina nodded. "And they punished all the disloyal Arusians for following the Usurpers, but they did save them from the attackers."

"That is a childish simplification."

She blinked. So did Hanso and Allendar, who looked unsure whether they were being insulted or not. They probably were, but she waved them off anyway; it was a pretty tame insult, all things considered. "Okay. Simplification of what?"

"The Golden Ones looked upon those they had once uplifted, those who had turned on them for the Usurpers, and found them faithless and flawed." The High Priest looked downright nervous for a moment. "They rained fire over the world, seeking to purify it… but before they could finish purging the failed creation, the great beasts of the ancient plains intervened."

The great beasts of… Larmina blinked again. "You mean the lions?"

"Yes. They offered themselves as a sacrifice, that the Arusian people would be spared. The Golden Gods accepted that bargain. And so lions no longer prowl the plains, annihilated in Golden Fire. And our people—the very castle of the High King—have held the beasts in honor ever since." His eyes narrowed slightly. "But it seems over the centuries we have forgotten why the gods permit us to honor that sacrifice. It was a warning, children. If we are faithless again, there are no lions left to save us!"

*****

As she made her way to the end of the tunnel, Allura had to fight back numerous unpleasant thoughts of what state her father might actually be in. It was causing tension to build, even though she knew this location was safe. It became all the more dreadful as she came within sight of the den; she could see Black Lion's silhouette in the dim emergency lighting, looking somehow fearsome in the shadows. Usually the main lights would kick on automatically as the shuttle arrived. Coming in from a different access point left her seeing things in, quite literally, a new light.

It wasn't just the sight that sent a shiver through her, of course. This was now her task. The time of dreams, of just imagining Black taking to the sky, was over. She must carry on the work… she must find the way to wake him up.

Finally reaching the entry platform, she looked for a switch and found one that added only a little more light. It was good enough, she figured. There seemed to be no good reason to turn all of the lights on, and any slim risk of increasing discovery was a risk she refused to take. Steeling herself, she looked around.

Just as her father told her, he was laying by the lion's front paws. Her fears about the condition of the body proved thankfully unfounded; she could see the fatal wound, but it was surprisingly clean. The gryphons had carefully positioned his legs and arms so he was neatly laying on his back. It almost seemed as if he was just resting.

Looking towards the crevice between Black's hidden den and the gryphon lair that masked it, she saw a small gryphon peering at her. Giving it a slight bow in thanks, she smiled when it returned her bow and, with a small bob of its beak into the air, ducked back away from view.

Turning, she inhaled slowly and focused on her true reason for being here. Her father's body had been well protected. Now this, too, fell to her. Carefully she moved him onto the sled she had brought, fighting her emotions for a few moments longer. Only once she had him secured did it feel right to take a moment alone with him. As she laid her head near his chest, she felt a slight shock that startled her for a moment. The faintest glimmer of hope that it might be a heartbeat… no. She had bumped the pendant he wore. Frowning, she noted that one of the shots which had taken him had also damaged the ribbon of the pendant. He'd believed this to be crucial, somehow. It needed to be secured.

Slipping it off the damaged ribbon, she felt along the edges of the pendant. There were tiny cracks there, just enough to see some other item hidden inside of it. Light that seeped in seemed to dance along its edges, sparking and crackling. Eyes widening, she tried to pry the pendant open more. Almost immediately she felt an overpowering urge to stop—as though invisible hands had been placed over hers. For a moment she tried to fight the sensation, but then thought better of it, placing the pendant in her lap.

Taking a deep breath and trying to shake the odd feeling, she looked up into the face of Black Lion, gazing down at her and her father. The golden eyes were as dim as ever, the noble face silent and grim. It felt as if they were united in sorrowful mourning. Lowering her eyes again, she tried to gather herself.

"Oh royal cub…"

Allura's head snapped up. The sound was deep, like a rolling thunder across the plains. Deeper than her father's voice. It had not been in her ears so much as her mind, shooting through her bones like a sudden downburst, coming from somewhere far away and yet feeling so close.

"How I wish… I could do… so much more…"

It was Black. She could feel it, she knew. The beautiful rich voice echoing in her mind was Black Lion… it could be no one else. Standing up, she moved over to the sleeping lion to touch his chin, stroking the smooth lines of his mouth and jaw. "Lion of Storms," she whispered, "is that your voice?"

"…Daughter of Arus…" Black’s voice slowly rose in volume, as though it were just as shocked as she was. "You… hear…?"

"Yes… oh yes." Allura rested her cheek against the cool steel, shivering with awe. "I can hear you. Oh Lion of Storms, please say you are waking up…"

"Oh royal cub…" The voice still sounded distant, struggling, filled with a mix of joy and sorrow. "I wish I could say so… the chains of sleep are still tight. But what joy it brings me… to be able to be heard once more… if my voice can be heard, there is hope…"

"Is there something more that I can do to help you wake fully?" she asked excitedly, looking up into the great lion's dimmed eyes. "Whatever it is, tell me, please! I shall do it, seek it out, whatever it is. I promise."

"I… cannot say…" The voice was fading again, and she could feel its frustration. "But be sure… I am with you… now…" A deep rumble of thunder echoed around her, a low growl, and the great lion seemed to fall back into sleep.

Tears fell from Allura’s eyes as she looked between the lion and the sled. Her father had come close to waking them up… so close. But there was some joy in her tears. As her father and the lion had said, there was hope… and suddenly that hope seemed very real. Black Lion was starting to wake. She had heard his voice. For what felt like a very long time, though it may only have been a couple of minutes, she stood before the lion in silence. If only he could speak again… but there was nothing.

Remembering her father’s warning of hardship as well, Allura finally nodded. She couldn't stay here. Not now. Her people needed her, and there was much to do. But as she turned back to the sled, she could still hear the echoes of the thunder, and it strengthened her for what would come next. She tucked the pendant into her pocket and gave her father a small kiss on his forehead. Then, grabbing one end of the sled, she slowly made her way back down the tunnel.

As she reached Coran and the team, she passed her father's body off to the soldiers with some relief, though also some pain. Now that she was here, in a rough tunnel without the great lion's presence, the reality felt more stark. Looking away for a moment, she buried her face into Coran's chest.

He gave her a firm hug, letting her sob softly for a few moments, before patting her shoulder to signal that it was time to go. They had to head back to the shelter as soon as they could. Nodding, the princess followed the guards, clinging to the memory of the voice as darkness seemed to press in around them.

Be sure… I am with you now.

*****

*Sorry about last week, real life happens, and such. But on the bright side, we're officially across the halfway point of On the Hunt!