The last rays of the setting sun shone down on the burnt and ruined Arusian land. It gave little warmth to the mournful occupants of the once shining planet that was at one time regarded as the Bright Empire. Two figures stood alone at a mouth of a great cave.

The young woman turned to her friend with a disappointed look on her face. He knew it was a lost cause, and more than once he tried to dissuade her from coming with them, but her stubbornness refused.

“I don’t think they trust me,” she sighed refusing to meet her new friends gaze. “If I were my father they would come out,” she mumbled under her breath.

They had been visiting the different caves her father had made for shelter from the war, trying her best to persuade the people to come out and start their lives again. He knew that her beaten and hopeless subjects lived in the ground like animals for many countless months. He wondered if they would ever be the same after the devastation they had seen. Many had gone crazy, mad wanderers through out the continent chanting of their doom.

He was even forced to watch the young girl with a watchful eye. When her councilor, and only remaining member of her court, had stationed him as her Highnesses personal guard, he was instructed to keep close eye on her. Coran had questioned her sanity and even thought she may attempt suicide. As downhearted and morose as she was, he doubted any of these to ever to be true.

He had grown to respect and admire her during the month he had know her. Yesterday he had taken her up above the planets atmosphere and shown her the planet from space for the first time. She squealed in delight as they took off and raced for space, but when they turned around and she saw the entirety of her planet for the first time, there were tears in her eyes.

Her mouth hung open as if in awe, and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. At first he was shocked, it wasn’t the reaction he had expected. For one moment he wished he could see her homeworld through her eyes. She saw much more than he did. From a distanced the blue world looked healthy and clean, a beautiful ball the much resembled his own.

Though he was instructed to never touch her person, he reached out and took her hand. “Can I do this?” was all she said. Since that moment she seemed more up to the task at hand. Her spirits had even risen.

“Let’s call for the rest of the team and eat, Your Highness.” Sven suggested in hopes of taking her mind off the current subject. There was no response, she only shrugged her shoulders.

They walked silently to a nearby clearing in the woods and called for their teammates. They sat in silence for some while before she explained why the woods, which he preferred not to enter, were named the Weeping Woods. It was a silly little story that he dismissed as folk lore.

Towards the end of her story the Princess stopped and looked about her as a visible chill coursed through her body. Her guard ran to her placing his coat around her shoulders.

‘No,” she whispered with a gesture of her hand, still glaring into the forest. Changing from Basic Common to the English language she murmured with a heavy accent “We’re being watched!”

Sven spun around and glanced in the direction she pointed. His expression at first puzzled. He saw nothing, but drew his sword, nonetheless. He heard the princess mutter ‘ In the trees’. His eyes narrowed and brow furrowed as he strained to see what she so easily saw.

“Get on your horse and ride back to the castle, now!” he barked. But she didn’t move.

“They’ve surrounded us.”

“I don’t see anything!” he growled ready for a fight. His expression had hardened into a grim mask, he only wished that the young Princess wasn’t there. Moments before the great host swung from the trees he caught a glimpse of them. Horrible things that were once men perhaps. Now they were slobbering brown shapes that seemed quaver between a human form and shapeless masses.

“Witchcraft!“ screamed Allura as she drew her own dagger. “Demons left from Zarcon’s occupation!”

The horrible brown things, some swinging some jumping, landed on the ground yards from the pair. They had long claws that protruded from human-like hands, and fangs that streams of drool hung from. Sven attacked first. He waved the great sword the Princess had given to him in one hand and a blaster in the other. He aimed and took down two of the sniveling brown things before they all together vanished.

He quickly turned to find the princess holding her own bloddy dagger. It wasn’t human blood that covered her hands and knife, he knew she was yet unharmed. “Where are they!:” he yelled firing blind shots into the air. One must have hit it’s invisible mark, for a brown creature appeared and fell heavily to the ground and disintegrated like his comrades, who had fallen previously.

The witch craft shocked him. There were no such creatures on earth that could conjure up such demons. He pushed back his fear of the things and began to thing about his fight.

A sudden jolt sent him reeling and his gun flying from his hand. One of the invisible demons had hold of his arm, he could see bloody claw marks as it scratched him to the bone. As quickly as it happened, his arm became numb and all feeling was lost. But, he swung the sword in his other hand and cut through the idiot fiend, had they not been invisible this would have been simple.

The beasts appeared to him now in their entirety. Another wave of imps moved toward him, he feared in the recess of his mind for the Princess. He knew she was quite skilled with a sword, but unaccustomed to killing. He swung at them taking a head here, an arm there. Rallying his Moonstone sword and letting it fall again and again on the never ending horde of demons. He guessed that there was at least twenty before they vanished again.

There was a dull explosion in Sven’s head, like the thunder of a great storm. He reeled feeling a part of his skull crack. He could hear Allura calling his name, but there were claws on his back tearing at him. When he opened his eyes there was nothing to see. The world had gone black. He was surely to die now.

But he heard her screams again. Calling his name and pleading for help. With all his strength he heaved the great monster off his back and swung his sword blindly around him, great circles in all directions. He felt it cleave through demon bodies and once even hit a tree. His attempt became despirate and he lost all reason.

He was stumbling and couldn’t even stand straight. Allura screams ceased and he feared the unthinkable. He attempted to call her name, but when he opened his mouth he only coughed and sputtered on the blood that was rising from his throat. He stumbled around madly waving his sword in every direction, until it became to heavy for his weakening arms. He dropped it and fell to his knees.

He raised his hands to his face and shrieked in agony. His back and arm was torn to shreds and he could not hear the Princess. But he did hear footsteps coming from beside him. He grabbed the dagger at his side and struck in the direction of the sound. A heavy thump came after he withdrew the jagged dagger from the creatures torso.

There were more footsteps. He heard them as he fell to his hands and knees. He felt his life slowly draining from him, down his arms, down his legs...the wetness sending chills down his wounded body in the cold night. The creature of the steps was close enough now. With every last bit of strength, he lashed out and threw his self toward the creature and buried his dagger in it’s body.

A small scream escaped the Princess lips as his small dagger dug into her side. He heard a thump of a lifeless body when realization hit him. He sank slowly into the ground wishing for a thousand bloody deaths for punishment. Then all was black.

She called out his name as he fell back in fear. She heavily fell to her knees, hands grasping the dagger in her body. Her eyes were wide with fear and amazement. She almost expected her self to be dead, but the wound was barely bleeding.

She leaned on one arm while the other held the knife in place and viewed the area they had just fought in. Ashes of the nasty demon monsters, creations from Haggars lab sent to torment her frightened people, were spread across the ground. Some bubbled and oozed, while other just looked like remnants of a great fire.

She whimpered in pain as she crawled on her knees for the nearest tree. Griping the dagger, but refusing to look at it, she began to cry. Sven had dropped dead at her feet moments after dealing her what might be her death blow. And the creatures, horrible demons that she feared were once her own people.

She pulled at the dagger in her side in hopes to die a quick death, but the pain caused her to weaken and she could not even grasp it.

Time passed. How much she was not aware. She leaned against the truck in shock, staring out into nothing. The wound at her side bled sparingly, but it’s pain paralyzed her. Even the voices she began to hear didn’t concern her anymore. Her bones were unyielding, her flesh and muscles asleep. There was no difference between life and death.

When the hands touched her head she made no gesture that she was aware of it. A face with the lightest brown eyes and pale brown hair peered at her. He took her by the shoulders and tried to raise her. He was speaking all the while. Pain tore through her waking her to the world; she shrieked.

Lance quickly unhanded her as the rest of the team came to join them. There was a look of pain and anger on the captains face as he came to the princess’ side. Trembling she pushed back the cloak that concealed the dagger.

Keith fell to his knees beside her and looked totally forlorn. He took her in his arms as someone else, Hunk maybe, held her hand. Her lips trembled but she didn’t want to cry in front of her hero’s. Her hands covered her face when she thought her emotions would betray her.

The men were making plans. They talked of Sven, also. Someone had already called Coran, he and the doctor should be there any minute. Someone’s comforting voice kept repeating, “Your going to be OK”.

And then Coran was there, kneeling at her side. She wondered if she had slipped away for a moment. Time seemed to pass strangely. He was talking with the doctor. “...no horse... cruiser...too rough ....do it here...”

All was quite for a moment. She could feel the beating of Keith’s heart as he held her up. Then the doctor was there. “Allura, we’re going back to the castle. We’ll remove it there....” he said placing a hand on her red cheek. She seemed to relax. But no sooner had he said it then he reached for the hilt and pulled it from her body. She howled in pain, and then fell back limply in to Keith’s arms.

The doctor poured something sweet down her throat and began dressing the wound. He commented to Coran that she was more scared than in pain. The knife had damaged no internal organs, that were of any use. They put her on the cruiser along with the crumpled body of their fallen comrade and raced the rocky road back to the Castle of Lions.

The remaining four teammates watched as the ship left the docking bay. There was not adequate resources to take care of their fallen friend. If he was to survive then he must be sent to Planet Ebb, a small planet known for its healers and medical resources. The young man was not dead, but he was in critical condition.

The young men watched as the ship disappeared into the Arusian night sky. No contact could be made with Earth, because of the planets position behinds its Sun. They would remain out of contact for at least a month. They would be minus one member of the team for at least twice that long.

The councilor watched the ship leave too, and thought that there went the planet’s last ray of hope. When news reached Zarcon that they were with out the blue lions pilot, he would surely attack.

He turned to the Princess who had tears in her eyes. She was no doubt thinking the same. She sat silently in her chair. Her small hand covered the dressed wound at her side. She was dizzy with the drugs the doctor had given to her.

She turned around and told the chair to take her to her room. Alone.