They moved off down the corridor. Jaga took the lead, the Claw Shield fitted over his left hand, the Sword of Omens still sheathed within resting on his forearm. Next came Chetnya, then Jepthah and his small cadre of loyal panthers.

Jaga could feel the Eye of Thundera's presence in his mind. The weapon had thrown it's sensory web as far as possible, and even as they moved, Jaga was learning what they faced.

The weapon could not read the minds of those it detected; however, it could sense strong emotion, and the hostility radiating from the death squads was intense. The invaders ranged along the corridors, breaking into rooms, demanding loyalty or death from those they met. Those they knew to be loyalists, and those who were not Panther Clan, were given no choice. The momentary jolts of terror from their victims hammered at Jaga's mind, ringing in his psyche long after the source had been ended.

He guided the group along a relatively safe route, waiting until the bands of marauders were past, then moving with speed and silence. Soon the group was on the ground, huddled amidst the huge tree trunks that supported the Weaponmaster's citadel.

"Lady Tanak and Prince Pan-Dar were supposed to leave by a secret exit in the Lord's quarters," Jaga heard one of the men say as they considered their options. "We can only pray to humanity that they escaped. If the prince lives, then we still have hope."

The words profoundly disturbed the puma. "Would they actually kill a boy?" he asked Chetnya quietly.

"This boy in particular," she replied. "If Gideon is dead, then Pan-Dar is Weaponmaster. Bushi demands that before anyone else can claim the Lordship of Panther Clan, all clear heirs must be destroyed."

Jepthah waved to the group and they moved on, heading further into the trees. Jaga continued to use the Sword to evade the death squads, and they arrived unchallenged at a small clearing. Jepthah went to the edge of the clearing, knelt and gripped a large loop of root jutting from the ground. He heaved upward, and a large patch of turf rose upward, revealing a passage into the earth. The group entered in swiftly, glow globes appearing in hands to shed their wan, inexhaustible light onto their path.

They moved as quickly as they could without blundering into a possible ambush. Everyone knew they were far more vulnerable here, trapped and without cover, than they had been on the surface. After several long minutes they arrived at another trap door, and were soon among the trees of the perimeter moving quickly away from the captured fortress.

After another fifteen minutes of careful travel, as they paused to rest, Jaga and Chetnya sought out Jepthah. "What happened back there?" Chetnya demanded angrily. "And what the hell do you mean Gideon is dead?!"

"Within our clan are twenty four baronies. One of these, Baron Kestile, has been an outspoken critic of Lord Gideon, and has been linked to separatist groups in the past. He is almost certainly behind this." The soldier shook his head in a combination of grief and awe. "They must have been infiltrating the garrison here for years, because most of the stronghold's main defenses were in their possession when they struck. When they moved, they took those defense capabilites they did not already control first."

He looked at Jaga, fury simmering in his black eyes. "It started shortly after midnight. The death squads came to the barracks before they began roaming the palace. Those of us loyal to our lord were outnumbered and divided by the enemy lines," he said. "I don't know how many made it out, and I have no way to contact any that did."

"Gideon," Jaga said. "He's dead?"

"For all intents," the panther said morosely. "He joined the defenders to buy time for the royal family to escape. The rebels killed every defender except himself; they took him prisoner."

Jaga hesitated at this. "But why?" he asked. "If the goal is to seize control of the lordship, why not kill him immediately?"

"Perhaps m'lord did not notice this, but the rifles the traitors employed were Clannad models," Jepthah said. "I expect they would have spared Gideon to deliver him up to their mutant allies."

"Where would they have gone?"

"To Baron Kestile's stronghold, about thirty miles north of here," Jepthah said, his eyes downcast, despair in his voice. "Twice that fortress has been besieged, once by the Reptilians and once by Panther Clan. It has never fallen." He looked at Jaga, defeat in his eyes. "Our lord is formidable, and has dealt the Clannad many blows over the years. They will make a spectacle of killing him."

"Then we have to move fast," Jaga said. "If they get him off-planet he'll be lost to us. Now here is what we are going to do-"

"Lord Jaga," Jepthah interrupted "Even if I could find some loyal panthers to join us, there could never be enough of them! Kestile is impregnable!"

"Not anymore," Jaga said simply, in a tone that silenced the panther completely.

********

Kestile, named after the barony itself, bore some similarities to the Weaponmaster's stronghold. It too was nestled high above, in the tops of the gargantuan trees that formed the basis of most Panther Architecture. It too was surrounded by a mile-wide artificial clearing, intended to prevent anyone from reaching it undetected. Spotlites on every side prowled the border, as did thermal cameras. A number of mines were there as well, just to keep the would-be intruder humble.

From the edge of the clearing, Jaga surveyed all of this, considering his options. When he made up his mind, he walked boldly into the clearing, directly into the path of one of the spotlites. It swept over him, then sprang back.

Jaga closed his eyes against the harsh glare, raised his arms above his head and waited. It took less than five minutes for a Thundertank to roar into view, it's top hatch springing open even before the vehicle had come to a halt, spilling forth weapon-toting panthers.

They did not treat him as roughly as he'd expected, stripping him of the Sword, Claw Shield and the velvet pouch, then patting him down for hidden weapons. After they had him manacled securely, the leader demanded, "What are you doing here?!"

"I've come to rescue Lord Gideon," he said quietly.

The soldiers surrounding him burst out in laughter. After several moments, the leader snorted derisively.

"You're off to a running start," he sneered. "So who's going to rescue you?" When Jaga said nothing, simply looking at him blandly, the commander turned to his men, singling out about half.

"Put him in the 'tank and run him in. We'll let the Weaponmaster decide what to do with him," he said. "The rest of you stay here and back up the patrols, in case he has friends out here."

Weaponmaster? Jaga thought, and then he was piled into the vehicle, his weapons stowed away, and driven rapidly back to the fortress.

Inside, he was led to a region of solid walls and reinforced doors that served as prisoner containment. Jaga's marvel at panther architecture diminshed slightly as they moved along the hallway, passing iron-barred doors on either side.

A dungeon is a dungeon, he thought. Whatever the walls are made of.

They stopped at a checkpoint, and the guards escorting him spoke to the guard at the post.

"Where are we going to put him?" the watchman grumbled. "We're full up already!"

The leader of the escort shrugged. "Put him with Gideon. It's what he came for anyway, right?" The others enjoyed another good laugh at this.

The watchman scowled, then opened the door to the door behind him.

"Third cell on the left," he said.

********

Gideon, Weaponmaster of Panther Clan, was feeling stressed. His home was invaded, his family was in danger, his clan was in disarray, and Kestile was upstairs having a party to celebrate.

He didn't know whether to feel outraged, fearful, disgusted, or just plain pissed off. As a consequence, he felt all of them, and that resulted in stress.

Strangely, being handed over to the Mutants who were partying with Kestile at that very moment did not really trouble him. Death was always a possibility, as was the needle; certainly a deposed Thundercat Lord would bring a high price at the slave market, once the minor difficulty of his free will had been chemically, permanently, removed.

Gideon was aware of this, but pondering on it was not useful. Instead the massive blue-gray thundercat reclined on his bunk, arms folded, eyes closed, adopting a state of mental readiness, waiting to exploit any opportunities that might come his way.

From down the hall he heard the turning of the latch, the scrape of the cell block door. He wondered idly if someone was being delivered, or being taken out, then wondered if it might be himself they were coming for.

Then he heard a singular noise, a sort of ringing metallic snap. This was followed by sounds he was more familiar with, including the high-pitched whine of laser pistols, several screams, and the thick, meaty crunch of bones breaking.

Gideon listened without moving as the footsteps of the victor came near and stopped in front of his door. Only then did the Lord of Panther Clan open his eyes to see a very dirty, slender-built puma, clad only in pajama bottoms, examining the combination lock of his cell.

"I'm here to rescue you," the puma said off-handedly, not looking away from the lock.

"It's about time," Gideon snarled. "You must be Jaga. Try one-two-three-four, it's the only combination these idiots can ever remember."

Jaga shook his head. "I don't want to set off any alarms. Better try the direct approach," he said, then grasped one of the steel bars of the cell door with both hands.

Gideon chuckled. "Don't bother, I already...I...uh," the panther lord stuttered as the bar tore free of it's upper weld and bent. The puma strained several moments as the center and bottom welds sheared away. Then he discarded the bar and repeated the operation with the next one.

Gideon stepped through the opening with some wariness; pumas weren't known for their strength. As he came, Jaga walked to the end of the hall and retrieved a set of laser pistols. He returned to Gideon and gave one to the Weaponmaster.

"There are a couple of things we need to pick up," Jaga said. "Then we can deal with this little uprising."

********

In the upper reaches of the fortress, in a large dining hall, the Panther Clan Barons oweing allegiance to Kestile had assembled to celebrate their triumph over Gideon, whom they held in opinions ranging from fool to race-traitor.

The meeting began solemnly enough, with Kestile proclaiming an end to Panther Clan's ties with the other Thundercat clans, a declaration of independence from Lord Claudis, and an oath to bring new security and prosperity to Panther Clan.

Soon however, as the stout continued to flow, the group lightened up. Music began, then dancers were sent for. Strangely, for all of their distaste for those clans they percieved as inferior, the all-male barons had an open mind as to whose naked flesh they gazed upon, and cheetahs, pumas and lions were all among the dancers.

Only one did not join in the mayhem, watching aloofly while sipping a mug of water. Stocky, shorter than the panthers, but even more broad and powerfully built, Lowthan was a Gaddite, that race indiginous to Second Earth, which Man and his bastard offspring had named "Reptilians"..

He smiled, pleased at how the evening was progressing. In his speech Kestile had called him "ally" and spoken of "partnership". The panther was gullible and essentially weak; a little ego-stroking, and the would-be Lord of Panther Clan had fallen neatly into his claws.

He sipped his water again as the group became more raucus, calling for the females to disrobe. The thought of exposed warm fur and unnaturally supple flesh repulsed the reptile.

How did they manage to escape extinction when humans stopped cloning them? he wondered. They are so ugly, it's amazing they could stand to breed.

The debauchery of it disgusted him more than the display itself. Thundercats were lewd creatures, perversions that combined the worst aspects of Man and beast. That Kestile would imagine that he, Lowthan, a True Blood, would call a made-thing like him "friend" defied all understanding.

Kestile caught Lowthan's eye just then, and raised his cup to the Gaddite commander in toast. Lowthan raised his cup in reply, favoring Kestile with a toothed grin.

It does have it's rewards, though, the reptile mused. The more perfect the trust, the more satisfying the betrayal.