Chapter 11

"The real irony is, he probably saved your life," Tygra said, flipping through the test results on his clipboard.

Lion-O lay on his bed, as swathed in bandages as Mumm-Ra had ever been.He had second- and third-degree burns from the electrical assault, severe blood loss and internal injuries from the parasitic k'tuk, concussions, contusions, infections, and a host of related ailments.

"Remind me to thank him sometime," the young lion said drily.

Tygra set the clipboard back on the dresser.The tall Thundercat was wearing a long white physician's coat, a stethoscope slung around his neck."I'm not kidding," he said."The electrical attack that stopped your heart killed the k'tuk.One more attack by them and the damage would have been past your ability to regenerate. "He paused, then added softly, "We almost lost you."

Lion-O gazed up at the tiger."Thank you," he said, without really knowing why.

"Okay Lion-O, now listen up!" squeaked Wilykit from Lion-O's right.She was dressed in a white nurse's uniform and taking her responsiblity with the inordinate gravity of any small child playing grown-up."I'm your nurse, so you gotta do what I tell you, understand?"

Lion-O smiled as she began to tick off her instructions on her fingers."First, take your medicine.Second, get lots of sleep.Third, drink plenty of water.Fo...fo...Tygra, what comes after 'third'?"

The tiger shrugged, suddenly overcome by a "coughing" fit.Undaunted, Kit carried on."Number four," she said, "Eat all your veggies.Number five, wash your hands before you eat.No, wait, that should be number four.Okay, let me start over."She drew a deep breath."First...hey, are you listening to me?"

Lion-O no longer looked at either member of Cat's Lair's medical staff.He stared between them with a fixed gaze, frozen.Tygra looked to his left, nodded, then back to Wilykit.

"C'mon Kit," he said."If you help me clean the lab, I'll let you play with the bandages."

Delighted at the prospect of tying Wilykat up again, Kit bounced after the elder cat."It wasn't very realistic last time.Maybe I should rough him up a little first, so I have something to treat.Oh, 'scuse me Cheetara..." And then they were gone.

She looked at Lion-O.He looked back.She crossed the room to his bed.He slid to the right, making room for her to sit, which she did.She stretched her arm out, laying it around his neck and pulling his head against her shoulder.

For a time they sat like this, neither speaking, only Cheetara moving as she gently stroked his mane.She was content to wait.And finally Lion-O's shoulders began to shake, his breath grew choking.Soon the young lion was weeping helplessly against her breast, clinging to her as though he'd never let her go again.

Cheetara waited for it to pass.Eventually the sobs quieted and the fierce grip slackened, but he did not move away.

"I thought you were dead," he said thickly.

"Why did you think that?" she asked.

"I saw it," came the pained whisper."I held you in my arms.I saw..." he stopped.What did I see?, he asked himself.

He remembered landing, the stench and filth of the pit, the vomiting attacks.He'd lost his glow-globe, but there had been some (Even so, there would not be enough light to see well for at least another hour or two) dim light.

He'd heard her voice (a low, sighing moan) and after several minutes had found (a darker patch of blackness) her.He'd gone to her, pulled her to him, felt her fur (smooth and slick to the touch).He'd looked into her eyes (wet patches in her slime-encrusted face).

Lion-O sat up straight on the bed, awareness beginning to grow.Then he rememberedher (driving her nails into flesh), and looked at the bandages covering his wrists.Wordlessly, he began to pull the wrappings loose from his right arm.

In a moment he had it free.Tygra had shaved the fur away in the areas of the punctures, to examine and treat them better.He closed his left hand over his wrist, examing the lay of his claws.

Thundercat claws had been intended by long-vanished Man as a climbing tool and last-resort weapon.Feline in design, they were sickle-like hooks.Had a Thundercat put the marks on his arms, the punctures would be small, and at right angles to his forearm.

But these were neither.They were broad, slightly cresent-shaped, and aligned with his forearm.Another memory flashed through his mind.Willa, holding out the insect shell for them to examine.Only now, he focused his attention not on the scrap of chitin, but on the hand itself, on it's blunt, broad, rounded nails...

"It wasn't you," he said quietly as he looked at the wounds."It was one of Willa's people, a human, one with a build like yours."

He turned to face her."I...I just assumed somehow that it was you.But I couldn't see any details, there wasn't enough light for that.I just...," he fell silent, looking back at the marks again.Cheetara reached out and pulled him back, letting him rest against her.Lost in their thoughts, they were quiet for a time.

Then Lion-O asked, "Where is Panthro, anyway?"

The Thundertank crested the hill overlooking the k'tuk nest.The vehicle's forward hatch slid open and two figures climbed out.

Panthro leaned back into the cockpit and flipped a switch on the dashboard.The rear bay of the 'tank opened with a soft hum.Another switch brought the primary cannon rising up from the floor of the bay.

The big Thundercat whistled as he sprang nimbly into the bay.He removed the power and control cables from the cannon, then pulled out the locking pin.He hefted the two hundred pound weapon onto one shoulder and flipped up the bench seat to his right.He nestled the cannon into the packing foam within, then closed the compartment again.

He swung around and lifted the left bench.Within this was a tube of metal, much smaller and lighter than the cannon.He mounted and connected this to the boom arm, replacing the 'tank's control cable with a small pushbutton remote.

He pulled up a heavily-armored panel at his feet and removed the sole object lying there.This he slid inside the tube, allowing it to rest there.He then looked through the sighting reticule, bearing down on the distant nest.

He'd have smiled, but it would have spoiled the tune.

After locking in his target, he hopped out of the right side of the bay and approached his companion.With a slight bow, he offered her the remote.

"T'would you do me the honor, m'lady?" he said in a courtly tone.

"I would," Willa said primly.She took the remote from his outstretched hand.Together, they turned to face the distant mound.

Willa smiled savagely as she depressed the button.A great gout of flame surged from the rear of the launch tube; a small missle burst into view, rocketing outward towards the mound on the horizon.

A handful of second later, a brilliant flash erupted there, followed instantly by a deafening bang, making the ground shake beneath the couple's feet.Where the k'tuk nest had stood was a rapidly rising mushroom cloud, stretching ever-higher into the sky.They watched this disperse until it revealed an immense crater, hundreds of yards across and tens deep.

Of the nest, nothing remained.

"I love the smell of plasma munitions in the early morning," the panther purred."Smells like victory."

Willa looked at him with a puzzled expression, then let it go.There was alot about their new allies she did not understand; she could spend a lifetime asking them to elaborate.

"Well, that's the last one," Panthro was saying as he disconnected the launcher."We only salvaged three missles from the ship, and we don't have the resources here to produce more."

"Why did you not use these against the citadel of Mumm-Ra?" Willa asked."Surely it would serve us better to snuff out the evil at it's source.

Panthro finished stowing the launcher and turned to face her.His expression was dark, his tone grim.

"I did," he said."That's where the other two went."

Cheetara walked down the hall, away from Lion-O's room and it's slumbering occupant.She was smiling slightly, remembering the end of their conversation.

Wilykit had come in while she explained Panthro's whereabouts."Time for your medicine Lion-O," the kitten had said."Remember, I'm the nurse, so you have to take it."

Lion-O accepted the pills- an analgesic for pain, antibiotic and sedative- then hesitated before taking them, looking at Cheetara.

"Go ahead," she'd said."I have some things to do."

"Yeah, hurry up before he...," Wilykit started to say.Then the three heard rapid footsteps racing past the hall door.

"Gets loose," Wilykit said morosely."Great, now I gotta catch him all over again!"She bolted out of the room after her brother.

The two adults laughed heartily when they were sure she was out of earshot.Lion-O swallowed the pills with water, then lay his head in the cheetah's lap until the sedative began to take effect.When he started to snore, Cheetara had pushed out from under him and tucked him in.

As she leaned over him to fluff his pillow, he woke slightly."Cheetara?" he said drowsily.

"Yes Lion-O?"

He was asleep again even before he'd finished speaking.His voice was small and childlike."What happened to your shoulder?"

Cheetara smiled down at the sleeping man-child."Someday," she said softly."Someday you and I will go away to a special place, just the two of us.And I will explain to you all about my shoulder, and many other wonderful things besides.Now you sleep."

She pulled the covers up to his chin and tucked them in over his shoulders.She straightend, looking at his peaceful face, watching him breathe.

You said I was our heart, Lion-O, but you were wrong.You are.You, with your innocent, true spirit and boundless courage.

I've been very selfish, she thought, so absorbed in my hurt and lonliness, wondering if anybody truly cared about me, but when I was hurt, when I was in danger, you came.All of you.

The lion blurred in her vision, forcing her to wipe her eyes.And you, my Cubby, my love, walked through hell itself and did battle with the devil in my name.

There isn't much I can give you, Cubby.In truth, we are all paupers now.But if what I suspect is true, then perhaps I can give you the one thing you truly desire: answers.

She turned and walked quietly out of the room, then continued down the corridor.From far below, she heard the rumble of the returning Thundertank and smiled.Willa and Panthro were inseperable, and Willa's young sister Nayda was a delight.It did the kittens so much good to have a playmate apart from each other.

She turned a corner and nearly ran into Tygra.The tall Thundercat caught her by the arms, then took his hands quickly away.

"Cheetara, uhm," he stammered.

She stepped close to him and put a single finger over his lips, silencing him."Don't say anything," she said."First, I must apologise."

A confused expression entered the tiger's eyes.He glanced at the small scabs barely visible now on her shoulder."But, but I..."

"Did nothing wrong," she interrupted."It was an act of passion, I see that now.But what I did, I did with forethought and without any consideration for your feelings."

As Tygra looked at her, she lowered her gaze from his."I did you an unkindness, Tygra.I made our passion a test for you, set you up to fail, then blamed you for it.All to try and fill an emptiness in my heart that I, myself, created with my self-pity.I'm sorry for doing that to you."

Tygra put a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face to his again.His expression was gentle, kind."But I did something wrong too.I was... inconsiderate."

Cheetara stretched up onto her toes and kissed him tenderly."You will have another chance," she told him."But do not mark me again.My love is mine, to share with whom I please.It pleases me to share it with you, Tygra.But the Forerunner of Cheetah Clan belongs to no one but herself."

Tygra nodded, but his eyes held a hidden pain.She knew he wanted her exclusively, and loved him for it, but it could not be.She was her own; she could not exist any other way.He would have to accept that.They all would.

She kissed him once more, then walked past him.She was tired, but she had one more stop to make before she could rest.

A few more moments of travel brought her to a section of wall, no different than any other in Cat's Lair.She faced it and pressed her hand to an area waist-high and to her right.In front of her, the wall slid inward slightly then vanished in a sideways movement into the hollow wall beside it.

The Sword Chamber was spartan, the only furnishing a simple table.On the table rested an ornate rack, where hung the Sword of Omens.At the foot of the rack lay the Claw Shield.

Cheetara took the dagger-sized Sword in hand.The Eye of Thundera flashed and purred at her touch, as it had on occasion before.She turned it over in her hands, wondering about it, and about the two warriors who had wielded it.

"We all have our secrets," she said to the weapon."But tomorrow, you are going to surrender one of yours."

She returned the Sword to it's rack, left the chamber and returned to her room to rest.

By the next day, Lion-O was fully awake and requiring little pain medication.Thundercats had always been quick healers, but Jaga's Gift of the Red Eyes had enhanced their regenerative abilities a hundred-fold.The wounds the youth had sustained would have left him scarred, crippled and tied to a colostomy bag a hundred years earlier.Now Tygra was having trouble keeping him in bed after barely a week.

The Lord of the Thundercats had awakened early, and ventured down to the kitchen for breakfast, only to be ran right back upstairs by Snarf.He agreed to stay there, but only after recieving a promise of real food from the quadriped.

Kit and Kat had stopped by after breakfast with a VR headset and offered him the chance to join them in a session of "Virtually, Anything Was".It was a role-playing game where the participants played human workers and students on twentieth-century First Earth, enduring everyday life in that hectic, convoluted society.

Lion-O declined; he always found the game too stressful.Better to do battle with the Mutants than show up late for work with a hangover, and have to face his boss.

It was early afternoon when Cheetara came into the room, holding the Sword of Omens in her right hand.She sat on the edge of the bed, gave him a warm hug, then put the Sword in his lap.

"What's this about?", he asked.

"I've been doing some thinking about what you said in the woods, before we were attacked," she said."About how, with Jaga gone, there was no one left to tell you what happened at your mother's room that night.But there is someone left, Lion-O, someone who witnessed everything."

Lion-O looked at his lap, looked at the Eye, and realized that at some level, he knew it as well, had always known it.As he reached for the Sword, his hand trembled.

Cheetara put her hand over his."You do not have to do this Cubby," she said."You can wait if you do not feel ready."

Lion-O said nothing, and after a moment she took her hand away.Lion-O completed the movement, grasped the Sword, and raised it to his eyes.When he spoke, it was the voice of one about to gaze into the depths of nightmare.

"Sword of Omens, give me Sight Beyond Sight."

I advance quickly, but with caution.The corridor is bathed in blood-red emergency light, the smell of smoke is thick in the air.Capitol City is burning, Thundera is doomed, my blood-brother is dead.Only two things matter now.

I glance over my shoulder.The cub is safe, Lion-O is with me.I will get him to the nobles' ship, to safety.If I fail, I will be past caring, for I will be dead before I am stopped.

But nothing can stop me.

Ahead is the entrance to Minerva's chamber.The Sword reaches out ahead of us, sensing, and my heart fills with dread.There are five others in the room with her.

At the entrance I stop, listening.I turn to Lion-O, instruct him to hide if I am delayed.He nods.He is brave.He is so like his father.

I glance around the corner.Mutants, two primates, two jackals and a reptile.They are standing in a circle around Minerva's bed.I steel myself and advance.They hear me, part ranks to face me, and I see past them, and I see...

MURDERING SOULLESS BASTARDS WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WHAT-HAVE-YOU-DONE!!!!

They are dead, slaughtered, the floor is slick with their blood.

Minerva (my love!) oh God, Minerva!

Claudis (Brother!)I have failed you!

I stand over her bed, I look down at her.It is a standard Reptile torture.A small cut, above the navel, then a loop of intestine hooked out of it.More is pulled out, unraveled.It lays across her legs like a glistening blanket in the dim red light.

She raises her hand to me.I fall beside her and take it, press it to my cheek.I am weeping.

"Lion-O?" she says weakly.

"Safe," I reply.

"Claudis?" 

"Safe also," I lie.

"J-Jaga?H-Hurts.Hurts so bad..."

She is barely conscious.I know what she asks.I have done it for my men when the wound was past surviving.Can I do it for one I love?I must, but not by the Sword.That is forbidden.

There is a throwing knife (Tawn-Ya, praise the gods you were not here to see our world die, our efforts fail) in an ankle sheath on my right leg.I lay the Sword aside, remove the knife, place it above Minerva's heart.

I hesitate.So much (cries of passion)is ("Look at him, Jaga, a fine strong son!") racing (her arms around me as I weep) through ("I believe Claudis knows.He has known almost from the beginning.") my mind…

Then I feel her hand wrap around mine, a whispered "Please," comes to my ears.With a muffled sob, I clutch the blade with both hands and drive it home.She stiffens for a moment, then is gone.

"YOUHURTMYMAMMA!"

"Lion-O!"Only a boy, he has already developed Lion Clan's feared bezerker strength.He raises a fallen battle-axe, larger than he, and charges me, screaming hysterically.

There is no time; the Sword warns me more are approaching.I catch the haft of the weapon and strike Lion-O across the face.He falls to the floor, stunned to semi-consciousness.I scoop him up and lay him across my shoulder, then call the Sword to my hand.

I run, panting.But my panting sounds like sobbing.Oh my brother, I have betrayed you, failed you, and now, dishonored you...

Cheetara watched Lion-O staring blankly at the Sword, lost in communion with the Eye of Thundera.He'd not moved, had scarcely blinked for ten minutes.Despite herself, her mind began to wander.And in that moment, the young Lord's hand snapped out and seized her arm and she saw...

It is not words, for the Sword cannot speak as such.It comes to my mind as a feeling, an emotion, or an urge.It says, "Don't do this."

"It's my decision to make, old friend," I reply aloud.The weapon glints in the light of the overhead lamps, it's mirror-like metal reflecting both myself and the slagged door behind me.

"They will need you."

"They will survive," I say, my mind flying to the hibernation capsules in the belly of the flagship.Panthro is sixteen, Cheetara and Tygra fourteen, Lion-O twelve.The kittens are a mere six.They will all be six years older when they arrive on Third Earth.They are, I suspect, the last of our people.

Puma Clan will die with me tonight.

"Use the backup system.Think of your vows, of Claudis..."

"No more!" I bark.The Eye falls silent."I cannot do this any longer!I have failed, in every regard I have failed!I should have died with him back there instead of racing to the palace.It's all I deserved for what I've done, and failed to do."

I walk to the door, and turn back to the weapon."You will belong to Lion-O now.Love him as you loved me, serve him as you love him.Protect him and guide him.They will need you there."

The Eye sensed Jaga depart the chamber, tracked him to the bridge of the vessel.It felt him sit, heard with his ears the click of the drive button.

"Minerva..." it heard, and then it's friend and wielder was dead.

The Sword grieved.

Hours later, she lay in her bed, her head resting on Tygra's arm, her gaze on the darkened ceiling.

"I hated him," she said softly."I thought it was cowardice, but I was wrong.I've been wrong so much lately."

Tygra stroked her hair as he spoke."The burden became too much to bear, and he collapsed under it.We all looked up to him as a legend, but he was still mortal, still flesh and blood."

She nodded slightly."I don't hate him anymore.I feel sorry for him.To live with so much guilt and regret; I don't know if I could have faced it either."

"What about Lion-O?" he asked.

Cheetara was quiet for a moment."He didn't cry.I think at some level he knew all along.He held the Sword in his hands and said, 'I understand now.He did it for love, and he did it with honor.I forgive him, and I forgive you too.'"

"Maybe there will be peace for both of them now," Tygra said.

She turned her face him."What's going to become of us, Tygra?"

Tygra drew a breath and said, "I think we can become whatever we choose to be.None of us are related by blood except the twins.We could be friends, associates, or even enemies if we allow that to happen."

He drew closer to her, put his other arm around her shoulders."You tell me," he said."What do you want us to become?"

"A family," she said without hesitation.

Tygra smiled."Then that is what we shall be."

And as her tiger began to minister to her with the gentle touch of fingertip and kiss, she let her mind wander on clouds of sensation, drifting where it may.

What will it take to make us a family? she thought.Or has it already begun?Are the ties already there, only needing tended and strengthened with time and love?

We have to be careful not get so absorbed in ourselves that we forget to take care of each other, to be there for each other.So long as we concentrate on making each other happy, how can we help but be happy ourselves?

Tygra kissed her lips., and she opened her eyes to see his handsome face above hers.She flung her arms around his neck and let herself go.