Chapter Six

Panthro flexed his fingers, trying to force more blood through the constricted veins of his wrists.He was seated on the floor of the small hut, his hands bound behind his back by sturdy leather straps.His eyes were closed, his head back as he listened to the sounds of the village outside and tried not to think about how badly he needed to pee.

He mentally reviewed the information he'd gathered since his capture.The tribe lived suprisingly close to Cat's Lair, and seemed to be composed entirely of female humans.Their tree-top village was a marvel of engineering, and reinforced his belief this was a lost colony of some sort.

The panther frowned slightly, considering the puzzle that he'd mulled over since his arrival.The women had no knowledge of Thundercats at all, which seemed to indicate the colony was at least a couple thousand years old.By now, they should have either died out altogether, or else have spread well beyond the forest, with at least a bronze-age civilization level.It was almost as though something had retarded their development, trapping them in the hunter-gatherer stage.

He thought about the individuals he'd met so far.Willa, the one who'd challenged him at the field, was the leader and credited with his capture.He'd not seen her since their arrival at the village.

Then there was the young girl who'd arrived shortly before dusk.She bore enough resemblance to Willa that the panther had concluded they were related.She'd knelt before him onthe floor with a platter of fruit.She'd taken a bite, chewed in an exaggerated manner, then swallowed audibly.She'd pointed at the pear, then at him, and extended the fruit towards him.

She thinks I can't speak their language, he'd mused.He'd decided to play along; no point in frightening them any further.He had merely nodded and opened his mouth wide in an expectant manner.

The girl had pressed the pear against his mouth, allowing him a large bite.As he chewed, he'dgiven her what he hoped she'd take as a warm, friendly smile.After a moment of watching him, she'd tentatively smiled back.

She'd fed him several more pieces under the wary eye of the the guards, then held a bowl of water to his lips so he could drink.When she left, she paused at the door and favored the panther with one last, bright smile.He missed her the second she was gone.Friends were something he had in short supply these days.

Now he was paying for the drink he'd had earlier.He opened his eyes and looked at the other two humans he'd shared words with since he'd arrived.His guards, they were two sisters, identical twins with curly black hair and hard blue eyes.Seated on stools acrossthe room, they were armed with bows, which they kept knocked at all times.Their vigilance was admirable; Panthro would have sworn they took turns blinking.The only words they'd traded had consisted of him asking, "Could you take me outside?I need to pee."To which the sister on his left had growled, "Shut up."They had the weapons, so he'd shut up.

He fidgeted uncomfortably, and thought they did not look any more likely to have mercy on him now than before.Of course, he could easily escape, but that would almost certainly mean knocking these twos' heads together, and he didn't want to do that.

On the other hand, he thought, If it comes down to thumping them versus wetting my shorts...

"Better be thinking about your own head," he heard Gideon say in the back of his mind."They still think you're some kind of demon.Prob'ly trying to figure out whether you'd make a better statement burnt at the stake or with your head hung on a pike."

Panthro ignored his grandfather's memory and listened to the chirping of the insects outside. The was some kind of hum there now, distant but getting louder.He thought of Wilykit and her insect collection, wondered if she knew this species.Maybe when he left, he'd try to catch one for her.

He heard another of the high, trilling calls the women used for distance communication.He'd heard them on and off all evening, noting the patterns in pitch and tempo that conveyed information to those in earshot.This was, however, the first call he'd heard that terminated in a ragged scream.

The two guards sprang to the door, looking outside in alarm.When they suddenly realized they'd abandoned their post, they turned around to find the prisoner gone, his bindings lying discarded on the floor where he'd been sitting.The peg on the wall where his weapon had hung was likewise empty.

The two looked at each other, sharing that strange silent communication some twins possessed.Together they charged out of the hut and down the walkway outside.Panthro watched them go from where he hung, pulled flush to the room's ceiling by one powerful arm, his free hand holding his 'chucks to his side.

He grinned at the memory of Gideon's endless lessons on psycological combat and stealth technique.You were right, Paw-Paw, they never do look up.

When he was confident the guards were far enough away not to hear, he tucked his 'chucks into the back of his shorts and pushed his right hand through the thatch, feeling for handholds.When he located a suitable branch, he dug his claws into it and muscled his way through to the thick foliage beyond.

On Thundera, Panther Clan had been tree-dwellers themselves.The great cat moved with silence and ease through the cover, his dark fur masking him from view of the women gathering on the walkways below him.He circled the village rapidly, listening as the hum grew louder.When he'd gotten a comfortable distance from his former prison, he stopped and relieved himself against a tree trunk with an audible sigh.

Moments later he moved towards the largest hut in sight, figuring this would be the center of whatever activity was happening.He could see the women in position now, bows in hand, lighting torches to break up the darkness.The humming had grown loud enough that the trees were reflecting the sound, preventing the panther from getting a fix on it's direction.

He found a limb large enough to crouch on comfortably and afford him a good view of the village and it's central clearing, while still maintaining his cover.As he settled in to observe, he noticed movement near the tree trunks,below the level of the walkways and torches.

He focused his gaze on the darting objects, his feline eyes adapting to the low light in a way the humans' eyes could not.Even so, the erratic flight of the creatures prevented him from getting a clear look at them.They rose swiftly until their blurred mass filled the open area at the village's center.

The women began to fire at the mass, dropping several individuals with their arrows.For long minutes the deadly missles cut through the cloud, until the women's supplies of arrows diminished, causing their attack to falter..

And then the counter-attack was on.The fluttering cloud of creatures surged outward en masse, breaking up along the perimeter of the clearing.The air was suddenly full of the screams of terrified humans fighting for their lives.

The panther frowned.He was reluctant to interfere - he knew nothing of this conflict, who they were or why they fought.The fliers had drawn the humans' fire, demonstrating a knowledge of tactics that hinted at awareness...

"WILLA!"Panthro's head snapped around at the familiar name.Through the sheltering boughs he saw one of the women struggling deperately against some kind of winged insect.The creature had a black, tri-segmented body, as long as the panther's arm, that glistened in the light of the nearby torch.A stinger potruded from it's anal region, rearing back to strike.

Then the combatants turned slightly, and the panther saw the terrified face of the young girl who had fed him fruit, saw that terror transformed into agony as the insect impaled her.

Panthro sprang from his hiding place, racing through the foliage towards the platform, the girl's wretched cries echoing in his ears, convicting him, reducing his heart to a cold stone at the center of his chest.

God DAMN my eyes...

He broke from the foliage, launching himself into the air above the platform.As he dropped towards the insect and it's unmoving prey, he saw an arrow punch through the creature's thorax, sending it and it's victim in a pile to the wooden walkway.He struck the platform an instant later, hearing Willa's cry to his left.

The panther snarled in rage and charged towards the struggling pair.He saw the stinger emerge from the creature's tail and draw back to strike.He leapt, throwing himself onto his back, sliding feet-first towards them.The stinger snapped forward.Willa screamed.

Panthro's hand shot out, closing around the thrusting stinger in a tight fist, stopping it cold.Startled, the insect relaxed it's grip on it's human prey.Instantly the Thundercat rolled, dragging the monster to the platform, pinning it's legs beneath his broad back.His free hand snapped backwards, and the insect's head collapsed with a crunch of fractured chitin.

He sprang back to his feet with an acrobatic flip, and turned towards the fallen girl, then stopped.The drone of the insects filled the air, the central clearing rippling with their mass.From all around him came cries of battle and death as the rest of the tribe fought on.

He looked back towards his friend, saw Willa already there, pulling the unmoving girl through the door of the large hut.

Panthro turned, moved out along the walkway, fangs bared, eyes glowing gold in the darkness.All right, bugs...

An insect rose up from below the platform and to his right.Panthro's 'chucks snapped out; the insect seemed to spontaneously explode in midair beside the Thundercat, fragments of it's shattered body raining down to the forest floor.

...Now you're messing with a sonuvabitch...

Continued...