Knight�s Pride
By T.F. Kit
Chapter 3: Princess Lost
It was a week after the R�n�R. All the trainees were sitting in the library working on flight calculations. The Lion simulations were hard and no one knew how they were looking in the eyes of their trainers. Only Ryan and KaLee seemed to have a knack with the Cats. The other recruits were a bit awed by this. The Voltron lions were supposed to be incredibly difficult to fly. The only one who had not crashed in simulations was KaLee; even Ryan did not have that distinction.
"Aaaagh." Cole let out an aggravated yell. Everyone looked up at him. "I hate these. They are just pointless. You don�t need to do this before flying."
Ryan smiled.
"Actually you at least need to know how to do this stuff. Otherwise you do crash." KaLee chuckled a bit.
"What?" Cole looked at her. She still was not in the full good graces of him, but she had earned his trust a bit more over the last week.
"Just recalling another conversation similar to this one at the academy." She looked at Ryan. "Calculations are not his favorite thing either but..."
"But to be a great pilot you have to be able to do them in your head." Ryan finished the statement. "If I recall you spent plenty of time working on them."
"Well yeah, I am not the natural pilot you are." She made it a fact.
"What?" Derk and Deida spoke together.
"I thought you graduated top of your class at the academy." Lillian said.
"I did." KaLee responded.
"But�" Lillian began.
"I was first in every class but flight and target practice. Ryan was top in target practice and we were tied in flight class. Honestly he is a natural pilot." She looked at the group and shrugged. "Yes he has crashed a few more times but that doesn�t mean he is a bad pilot, just a little risk taking."
"So you are admitting you are not the best pilot here?" Cole sat in shock.
KaLee nodded. "There are a lot of things I am not the best at and most likely I am not the best at anything. There will always be someone better than I am. Sometimes however I am the best person available. That is where the difference lay." She looked back at her paper.
The calculations were not fun and some of the ones they gave you were almost impossible to find in actual flight experience but she could almost do this stuff in her sleep. When she had been five years old she told her father she was going to fly the Black Lion one day, that she did not want any other one than that one. He had laughed, not at her for wanting to fly, but at how she was so serious and determined at that age that she knew what she wanted. She had studied the flight calculations for the Lions for the next seven years. So as she had said before she could almost do these in her sleep.
"Hey," Spike�s voice carried through the room. "Did any of you know the King and Queen had another kid?"
There was an audible shuffling around the tables and Spike continued. "Yeah, an older daughter. Born seven years before Prince Andrew. Her name was Katleina."
"What happened to her?" Cole asked, his interest only half perked but he really did not want to do calculations.
"Doesn't say." Spike commented. "This book is just a birth record."
"She didn�t die." KaLee spoke her heart in her throat but her exterior calm. Ryan looked at her. "She left."
The rest of the group looked at her stunned.
"How the hell do you know that?" Spike asked.
She opened her mouth to speak but Ryan interrupted. "I told her."
All the attention seemed to shift to him immediately, except Spike�s his gaze remained with her, a second longer than everyone else�s.
"Kat is my best friend." He gave an explanation. "And I am one of her honor guards. Sworn to protect her." He looked around the room.
"So you know where she is?" Derk asked.
Ryan nodded. "More or less." There was a moment of silence before someone spoke.
"And she is...?" Cole said.
"I am bound by an oath as one of her guards to not reveal her location." He said.
"The price she would fetch would be great." Spike commented. "And that isn�t even from her family."
Ryan nodded not sure if he liked how Spike had brought that up as his first thought.
Cole shifted impatiently then turned his stare back to KaLee.
"So," he spoke. "Do you know where she is or can�t you tell either?"
A smile slid on her face as she spoke. "I know exactly where she is and no I am not going to tell." She looked around at the faces staring at her. "I understand the need to remain hidden from..." she paused trying to find the right words. "The ones that would seek to conquer."
"What do you mean?" Spike asked.
KaLee had noted his interest in this. She had also noted Lillian�s fringed distance. "I think you should check this out."
"An exercise?" Cole asked.
She nodded. "Actually yes. Even Ryan doesn�t know everything about what happened or why."
"And she told you?" Spike seemed to know the right questions to ask, but it was Droe who answered.
"Sometimes it is easier to talk to someone not personally involved than the people you trust." His voice rolled through the room.
KaLee nodded. "That was the way I understood it." She stood up.
"You aren�t going to help us?" Deida asked.
"Now where would the challenge be in that?" Ryan responded. "She knows all about this." His eyes watched her. "Besides, with the right information we can ask her the right questions to get her story as well."
Very good Ryan, I know you have been waiting to hear my side of the story.
"What about calculations?" Cole asked, almost as a challenge.
"I think they can wait for now." KaLee�s voice was smooth. "I will let you get to work." She picked up her calculation papers and began walking out of the library.
She was almost to the door as she heard the shuffling of people and chairs and Cole ask the question. "Okay, where do you guys think we should start?"
* * * * * * * * * *
Andrew stood in a pair of black boxer shorts and a white T-shirt. He was doing kicks to the large punching bag as KaLee walked into the exercise room.
"Keep your leg straighter." KaLee said, coaching. She caught the slight pause in his movement but he continued on.
"Hi Commander." He said. "How are you doing?"
She smiled. Taking the focus off of you, interesting but usual tacked.
"I am doing well your majesty." She answered.
"Please, call me Andrew." He said.
It did not sound natural coming out of his mouth. She wondered why. "Then let me return the favor and have you call me KaLee." It sounded more relaxed than his did, but he seemed in the defensive.
*Wouldn�t you be? *
KaLee stiffened. That was not her voice in her mind.
"Are you alright Comman� KaLee?" Andrew asked stopping to look at her.
She brought herself back to the moment shaking off the twinge of excitement she felt. "Yes. I am fine." She did not explain why she twitched. There was no way to make a plausible excuse right now. He looked at her a moment longer then returned to the punching bag this time with his hands. KaLee began to stretch out.
It was a few more moments before one of them spoke again. It was KaLee. "The trainees found the Royal birth records and found out about your older sister." She chuckled. "They want to find her."
Andrew stopped as he turned to face her and said in astonishment. "What?"
"I said the trainees�" KaLee started again but was cut off.
"I heard what you said." Andrew�s voice was impatient. "I mean what about�" He paused his face searching for the words. "What are you going to do?"
She continued her stretching exercises. "What do you do when you know where the Princess is but can't tell anyone?"
Andrew swallowed. "No one knows why my sister left. Not even one of her best friends, Ryan." He shook his head and looked at the floor. "How are they going to find her when after she left here she ceased to exist." He looked back up to her. "Are you going to help them?"
She thought a moment. "Honestly I don�t know Andrew."
He seemed to be debating about something then saw the time. "Oh crap." He wrinkled his nose. "I have to go." He started towards his towel.
"What do you have going on?" She asked.
"Etiquette lessons with Cordillia." He answered. KaLee chuckled. Cordillia was a stricter governess than Alura�s Nanny.
Andrew was almost out the door when he stopped and turned back to her. "I understand why I was not asked to fly the Voltron Lions. My age and experience is against me. But�" he paused searching for the words to get himself placed correctly with her. "Would you please teach me how to fly at least? I know that is the first step."
She stopped her stretching and spoke. "I will check with your parents first and when they approve it I will do so gladly."
"They have already said I could learn if I asked a good pilot." He said. "You are a good pilot."
"Ryan is better than I am." Her eyes watched him.
"But I trust you more than I do him." His eyes held hers, genuine trust was in them.
So is sadness but I can�t help you with that.
"Okay Andrew. I will teach you." KaLee smiled her own sadness hidden.
With that said Andrew smiled a genuine relaxed smile and left.
KaLee started to work on her form. It had been a while and she wanted the practice alone to collect her thoughts.
As she was there she heard someone enter the room and say, "Still dropping that shoulder." It was Keith.
"Well, I have had a long day." She responded. She heard him set down his bag.
"Why did you come?" He asked.
"Not very subtle." She stopped practicing and walked over to her towel.
"You didn't answer my question." He retorted.
She smiled her back still to him, always persistent. "An opportunity arose and I took it." She said.
There was a pause. "That is not what was told to me." Keith said trying to be diplomatic. "I was told you asked for this assignment."
"I did." KaLee said back.
"Then what you said before," Keith retorted.
"What I said." KaLee interrupted. "Was that I took an opportunity not that I was offered it." She clenched her fingers around her towel.
"Why did you request the position?" Was the next question he shot off. She could hear the anger begin to hiss into his voice.
"Protection." She responded, her voice going to ice as she turned to face him. "Protection of Arus, of the people of this planet of the universe and its residence."
Keith shook his head. "What is the real reason?"
"I just told you." KaLee managed to hold her pain inside. He had no idea how much she wanted to get his approval.
He moved closer to her. "You came back for glory as a pilot of one of the lions and that is all." Keith was fuming. "There were good men and women who could have been in the place you took. You have an obligation to tell me the real reason you came� here."
What were you really going to say?
KaLee looked at him the anger and pain that was hidden just under the surface began to boil through.
"Why?" His voice was steel against hot steel, asking an askable question.
"To protect." She said it again, answering the question as best she could.
Again he shook his head. She watched as the pain under his cool exterior began to eat its way through. She took a deep breath building up the icy shield around herself and said, "I am sorry." She could not manage to say anything else. She turned and walked out the other door the tears already beginning their steaming descent down her frosted cheeks.
* * * * * * * * * *
Back in the library the group of trainees sat around the table with papers and books strewn all over.
"Hey!" Derk shouted.
"I think we found something." Deida said.
They handed the open book to Spike. It was big but not very thick. "It looks like an only log book." Spike commented.
"It must be Old Cap's." Ryan said. The other trainees looked at him puzzled. "Old Cap was the grounds keeper here until about four years ago." He responded. "I remember seeing him when ever my father came here."
"Well let's read this entry the twins found." Spike said, taking the book but looking at Ryan. He knew Ryan did not like being associated with his father.
"It starts about halfway down the page." Deida said pointing to the point.
"It is titled Katleina's 15th Birthday." Derk said.
Spike read out loud.
'It looks to be a beautiful day. I have a lot to do. I want to get a whole bunch of lilacs and put them in Katleina's room before she gets back from her ride. It is her 15th birthday and lilacs are her favorite flower.
She seemed so distant. I found her in the kitchen eating a little tub of ice cream. I know it is a family tradition. Keith normally would be there with her, I wonder why they didn't make it back from their ride. I sat with her for a while but she just wouldn't talk. Just sat eating the ice cream. When the clock struck midnight she stopped. She put away what was left. She gave me a hug and thanked me for the lilacs. She said she would cherish them. Then she left. She seemed almost sad, but determined. As though she had something hard to do. I wonder what it was.�
"Then there is the next entry." Spike said and continued to read.
�RED-ALERT
She is gone. She left. We can't find her. She is gone.'
Spike flipped the page and that was it. He looked at the end of the book.
"Is there anything more?" Lillian asked. There was tension on her face.
Spike shook his head and responded. "No, but there seems to be several pages missing. Torn out or something." Spike looked up.
Ryan looked back at him. There was nothing more he could say.
He had told how he had looked, how the whole of the Voltron Force looked for her. But she was gone. Even he did not know why she left.
He had not told them anything else, not what he had found out when he managed to corner her alone away from the academy and prying eyes. All she told him was that she did it to protect Arus, her family and Voltron that she would not tell him why. Nor would she tell him why she became a Dark Knight.
The words seared into his mind. When she said that. Dark Knights were hated and feared by every one in the universe. Even the Drule kingdom did not take kindly to them. They were at an uneasy peace with the Garrison. Very little was even known about them.
�Dark Knights: a secret society of people who dabble in the arts of magic and dark energy, the energy of between. When approaching or working with them do so with great caution. They have their own agendas for everything. And view themselves above law.� That was the Garrisons official position on them. Ryan had a tendency to believe that. Everything he had encountered, both as an officer in the Space Explorers and as a crewmember on his father�s ship, was that of aloof attitude from them. That they were better than everyone else was.
Droe looked over to him a moment then said. "This is becoming more and more of a mystery isn't it."
"Well, there has to be something else." Cole said. "Even if we don't find more of this journal there has to be something. All we have to do is look in the right place." They continued on.
* * * * * * * * * *
KaLee sat huddled in the corner propped between two walls only a meter or so from a sheer drop of five or six kilometers to the ground between the castle and the mot. The stars expanded above her and the breeze dried her damp face. She gathered her thoughts. KaLee liked this place, high above everything else, on top of the castle.
What does he truly want form me? What can I give him? She thought.
* * * * * * * * * *
Seven years earlier�
The young girl sat the wind whipping her hair around. After she had finished her ride on Noir Knight, her horse, she had come up here. She had stopped briefly in her room. It had been filled with lilacs by Cap. It was her 15th birthday, the deciding day of her life.
Why do I have to do this? The question rang in her mind.
*You know why. * His voice filled her. She felt his hands on her shoulders.
Taking a deep breath she looked at the sky and let a few more tears fall down her cheeks.
*Kat�* he started to speak to her again when her wrist communicator chirped.
"Kat?" Her father�s voice rang out. "Where are you? You had better be coming out of the door soon and not up on the roof again. Everyone is hungry and I am worried Hunk is just going to rush the food soon. Hurry up."
Kat heard voices on the other end complaining about her being late and about what they might do to her if she did not arrive soon. That would be Lance. Then the communicator chirped off.
Wiping the wetness from her cheeks she scooted up and stood pausing for a moment to look across the treetops in front of her. This was her favorite spot up on the roof of the castle, away from the bustling problems. She would miss this.
She shuffled to the vent that led inside, popped out in the attic storage room, and raced down stairs. She came to the door that led to the garden, it was open. Kat paused there looking out. Andrew was playing with Ajax, the dog, rolling around in the grass getting him properly dirty. She scanned the rest of the garden. Hunk was by the serving table where Meg, the cook, was trying to keep him away from the food, rather unsuccessfully. Hunk had a chicken leg behind his back and was going for another. Pidge was helping him by distracting Meg. Lance and his son Ryan, her best friend, were standing talking to her mother and father. Kat assessed the situation.
Ryan caught her eye. She motioned to him and he gave an almost non-existent smile. Kat moved quickly into the garden, behind one of the bushes. From there she gagged the distance between them and how she was going to have to hit him.
Her mother moved slightly away from him and Kat charged. She hit him mid-waits. Instinctively he grabbed her and flipped her over his head. She landed flat on her back, but managed not to get fully winded. Rolling up she teetered a moment on her feet before falling down on her butt and started to laugh.
Keith stood panting, hair hanging down and a broad smile across his face. "What are you doing?" He exclaimed, beginning to chuckle.
"Tackling you." Kat responded rolling to her feet and running at him again. This time catching him off guard she took him to the ground. They rolled across the grass laughing.
"Oh really," Keith said. "What if I tickled you?" He poked and prodded her ribs.
"Nooooo!!!" Kat screamed as she fell into helpless laughter.
Keith continued until Kat was so out of breath that she was beginning to turn purple. Then he sat up and looked at her. Slowly she regained her breath and color. As his face came into focus she noticed him looking at her with an odd almost sad look. She did not move her own thoughts trying to take everything in. She wanted to remember everything, especially him. Keith pulled himself back and stood up pulling Kat with him.
"Come on," Keith said grasping her to his side. "It is your birthday lets eat."
Several hours later as the Voltron force mounted their horses Kat spoke. "I don't know why you can't go tomorrow?"
"It is a nice day Kat," Alura said gently.
"But," Kat started holding on to her father�s reins.
"Katleina, we will be back later this evening and you and I will have our birthday ice cream in the kitchen, I promise." Keith leaned over on his horse and kissed her on the forehead. "I love you my little kitten."
As he rode out of the stables Kat calmly wiped the single tear that had slipped out, off her cheek.
Night had fallen and it was dark as she climbed the embankment leading to the woods. Kat crested the slope and looked into the shadows of the trees. There barely visible in the absorbing darkness was a ship, its ramp was down and a tall-cloaked figure stood at the bottom.
When she reached the ramp the lights and alarms went off at the castle. Looking over she saw the guards rushing out and faintly heard her name carried by the wind. She saw her father walking by the mot, look directly across at her, and then move on, not seeing her there.
"Ready to go?" The figure asked looking down at her, his voice gentle.
Kat took a shaky breath, knowing she could not stay and said. "Let's go." She pulled her cloak tighter around her, turned away from the frantic sight and walked up the ramp into the darkness there.