Chapter Seven

Keith and Alana sat in chairs before Merla while Archent stood behind them, a rifle shoved into his back. All three stared stonily at their adversary as she ordered her robots and troops to circle and attack the approaching Arusians. Keith knew that Lance was leading them and had the utmost faith in his friend. Besides which, he noticed that Merla was not focusing as much on her ground troops as she was on Allura. He knew that Jack would never allow anything to happen to Allura, but Keith could not say the same about Bethie. It was not that he thought his daughter was cold-blooded, but she was in a better position to sacrifice her mother's life than Jack was. Jack would try to preserve the Arusian throne, to preserve a beloved aunt, but Bethie would think of Arus and what her mother would want her to do. Keith did not have to think hard to know what Allura would have done in the same situation.

Next to him, Alana was fiddling with the zipper of her jumpsuit. He could hear her breath coming out in short puffs and was afraid she would start hyperventilating. She was flushed and her dark eyes were clouded when she turned to meet his gaze. His girl had held up to all the challenges thrown at her, but she was still young and that was beginning to be apparent now. Keith knew the symptoms of hysteria and Alana was dancing on the line. He reached out and took her hand in his, his grasp firm and warm.

"Daddy," she whispered. "Mom's not doing too well."

"What do you mean?"

"That other Voltron is making her weak. It's taking too much out of her."

Keith's gaze shot to Merla who was watching them carefully.

"You're going to kill her if you keep her in that thing you made," he said. "Without her what will happen to your Voltron? Don't do this, Merla."

"I think that the Queen can make it to her destination and when she's there, she'll be able to re-energize. However, if something unfortunate happens to her, I have a few backups to consider."

Keith stood, ignoring the guards who suddenly had their guns point at him. He held on to Alana's hand, but stood before her protectively. He started to open his mouth to argue, but then decided that it was time to take a different tack. Jack told him how Merla had reacted when he'd challenged her own powers and what Keith needed now was to get her off-balance.

"Why can't you fly the robot?" he said. "If you want the core so badly, why aren't you in the cockpit flying that monster?"

"I didn't want to risk myself," she said stiffly. "Like your daughter told you, Shadow Voltron needs a lot of energy to run and if I were to let it drain me, this war would be over quickly. That's a stupid question, Your Highness. I expected better from you."

"If you're as powerful as you say you are, I would think that you could stand up to it. Besides, it is your creation. You would have found a way to make it sustainable, yet you didn't. It makes me question just who is most powerful; you or my wife."

"Your wife's magic are tricks compared to what I can do. I have destroyed worlds, Admiral. Yours will just be another one on a long list."

"I wish I could believe you," Keith said, almost lazily. "But I can see the fear in you. You created Shadow Voltron to go get what you wanted because you could not get it yourself. I don't know what your reasons are but I can make a guess. Perhaps you were afraid that Arus' magic would destroy you or you would not be able to control it when you got there because legend has it that only the Royal Family will know how to manipulate it. There is a reason why that magic was banished to Arus' core, Merla and you're not a stupid woman. Foolish, but not stupid. Proud...but not stupid. That's why you're sacrificing my wife, my family, instead of yourself. You may have known about Arus' magic before we did, but you're just as clueless as to how you're going to use it."

"Once I have my hands on it, it will become clear to me," Merla said, yellow eyes flashing. "Do not underestimate what I can do simply because I have been merciful to you and your people since I arrived here. You saw what I did in Voltronia; that was child's play compared to what I'll be able to do once I have Arus' magic in my veins."

"That's if it does not reject you."

"Like knows like. It will want to be wielded by a sorceress as powerful as I am."

"I doubt that. You're an invader, an encroacher. Arus will know it."

She struck him without lifting her hand. Keith barely flinched as power slammed into his cheek, merely rolled with the hit. He looked back at her, one dark eyebrow arched imperiously.

"Petty," he said.

Merla raised a hand and he felt his throat closing up. He was barely aware of Alana jumping to her feet and he felt the heat at his back as she called upon her own magic to save him. Startled, Merla released her hold on him when Alana's magic hit her with the same kind of power that hers hit Keith. She staggered backwards, eyes wide with surprise. Alana glared at her fiercely, this time she was standing protectively in front of her crouching father. Keith turned his head and looked at Archent, saw that the other man understood what was going to happen.

"I trust you, Alana," Keith said, looking up at her.

Alana did not look back at him, but she nodded. Raising her hand, she struck Merla again. Behind Keith, Archent planted an elbow in the guard's face even as he was taking away the rifle. With the other hand, he was using magic to blow out the power supplies of the other rifles in the room, but the Drules were scrambling and he had to take cover or risk getting his head shot off. Keith picked up a dropped rifle and fired at the other soldiers before they could hit him or his daughter. Alana looked like an avenging angel, her hair blowing with an unseen force as she advanced on Merla, but the other woman got her legs back under her and she began to fight back.

Castle Control exploded in gunfire and magic.

"Keith better give me a title after this," Lance said when a laser bolt narrowly missed taking his head off.

"Have you heard from them?" Jason asked worriedly.

"No. If we're lucky, they're taking Merla out from the inside."

Jason's look told him that he did not think they were that lucky. Lance ducked behind the barrier they were hiding behind and reloaded his ammo. As useful as the bullets were against the robot's thin hulls, he did not like having to carry around loads of ammo on his person and then reloading, wasting time in effect. He was just about to start shooting again when his earpiece crackled.

"Turn down the feedback, Link," he said. "You almost made my eardrum explode."

"Always complaining, aren't you?"

Lance nearly lost his grip on his rifle.

"Sven? Where are you?"

"Look up."

The shadow of several squadrons of IAF fighters fell on the grouped soldiers and nearly all of them stopped shooting to look up. Lance did not want to be happy to see the cavalry, but they needed help. There would be repercussions to accepting Alliance help but lives were at stake. His job was to win this for the Arusians and he was not going to let politics get in the way...this time.

"Never been happier to see you, pal," Lance said.

"We're under your command, General. Where do you want us?" Sven asked.

"Give us air cover," Lance said, signalling his troops. "We're going in. Have at least one squadron back up the fighters as well."

"Aye."

"LET'S GO," Lance yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. "We're moving in!"

As one, the waves of soldiers came out from behind their defensive barriers and ran into the rows of robots before them. They exploded as IAF fighters targeted them, clearing the way for the Arusians on the ground. Lance knew Jason was at his back and he tried not to think about this son as he led the charge. The castle loomed before them, impenetrable and well-defended, but Lance knew its systems inside and out. Somewhere in there, Keith and Alana were fighting for their lives and he wanted to get to them. Not because he thought they needed saving, but because he wanted a piece of Merla before they destroyed her.