Chapter 8

Consciousness was like a slippery fish.If he held it tight, with both hands, then he could keep it.But the second his focus wavered, it slithered through his grip and tried to escape.

He was hurt.His whole body was covered with small scratches, matting his tan fur with sticky blood.He leaned on the Sword of Omens, point in the ground, to take some of the weight off his right leg.There was a knot as big as his fist in the back of his thigh, oozing a yellowish pus.

Poison, he thought, but that didn't bother him much.Thundercat biology was highly resistant to poison; if it hadn't killed him by now, it probably wouldn't.

He'd reached the edge of the clearing.His body burned.His muscles would only do what he told them if he said it twice.Even as he thought this, his legs buckled, spilling him back to the ground.That slippery fish tried to wriggle away from him again as he lay there.

The memory came back, unbidden, to his clouded mind.Cheetara screaming as two of the creatures dragged her into the air, one stinging her in the back.He'd turned, aimed the sword to fry the bugs.That was when he'd been hit from behind.

All but one of the creatures had been killed or driven off by then.As his head spun, he'd thrown the Sword at it, cutting it in half.He'd caught the weapon as it returned to him, raised it high, tried to summon the others.

That was all he remembered.When he woke, the moon had moved a little and he'd used all his strength to issue the call.Now he pushed himself back up and struggled through the trees as he heard the roar of the Thundertank's engine, getting louder by the second.

He staggered out of the swath of forest and fell again on the plain.Then Tygra was there, helping him up, supporting him as they moved towards the idling 'tank.He saw someone spring nimbly from the back seat to the unoccupied position beside Panthro, then Tygra piled him into the back seat and ran off.

He positioned himself, trying to keep the pressure off his wounded leg.When he gave up and looked forward, he stared at the occupant of the copilot's seat.She had long, sleek black hair, tied back in a braid.Her skin was bare and dark, her eyes bright and intelligent.She was human.

Tygra returned.He stood outside the vehicle and leaned in towards Lion-O."Where's Cheetara?" he said.

"Th-the b-b-b..." he stuttered.The poison, he thought in sudden panic.I can't get my mouth to work right!

"Bugs?", Panthro said, turning in his seat towards the young lion."Bugs got her?".Lion-O nodded weakly.

"Is she still here somewhere?" Tygra said as he pulled the medical kit from below the seat and climbed in beside him.Lion-O shook his head..

"The bugs carried her off," Panthro said.It wasn't a question. Lion-O nodded again.Tygra began to treat Lion-O's injuries as Panthro turned towards the human in front.

"Willa, I need to know anything you can tell me about these fliers," he said."Whatever you know, even the littlest thing might count."

"They have a nest to the north, as you thought," she said."They live in a great hollow mountain.We sent a group of warriors once to try and rescue our people, but no one returned."

"They are Mumm-Ra's creatures," she said, fishing in her belt pouch.She produced a small piece of chitin from one of the creatures and passed it to the panther.Embossed on it was the serpent-of-infinity symbol the demon priest adorned himself with."Our holy teachings say that Mumm-Ra punishes us with these devils when we break his holy law by sowing crops."

"Of course," Tygra said as he smeared antibiotic on another of Lion-O's scrapes."Mumm-Ra fears technology.For any civilization to advance, it has to have the stability and food resources that come from agriculture.By giving your people this law, and using these monsters to enforce it, he's kept you trapped in a stone-age culture for centuries."

Willa contemplated this, then shook her head."I have too little knowledge to understand this.I broke the law because my people starve during the dry season."

"We'll help you with that, too," Panthro said."The berbils don't eat what they grow, it just sits in bins and rots.They'll give you as much as you want."

"But now," he continued, "Tell me how to get to this nest..."

The Thundertank roared northward, then veered to the west along the edge of the forest.An hour of top speed brought the small band a hundred yards from the base of what, at first glance, appeared to be a solitary small mountain dropped from the sky by an absentminded god.

As they exited the 'tank, Panthro looked over the structure.The moonlight was too dim for details, but there did seem to be several passages bored into it's sides, each easily large enough to stand in.As he'd expected, the lowest was fifteen feet up the side.After all, he thought, Why would flying insects need a ground-floor entrance?

He turned at the sound of Willa's approach and smiled reassuringly at her.He turned further to see Tygra helping Lion-O out of the 'tank. Willa placed her hand lightly on his arm.He turned back to her, and she snatched her hand away as though she had been caught doing something she shouldn't.

"Is he fit to do this?" she asked, indicating Lion-O.Panthro looked back, and saw the young Lord of the Thundercats press his hand, gently but firmly, against the tiger's chest, pushing him away.Lion-O braced himself against the side of the 'tank, got his feet firmly beneath him and stood.He looked up, met Panthro's eyes, nodded grimly and began to walk towards them.

Panthro smiled faintly."He is his father's son," he said softly."I don't think I could stop him if I tried."He began to walk towards the hill as the others gradually caught up, their ears open for any note of the tell-tale hum of approaching fliers.

They reached the base unchallenged.Panthro pressed his hand against the face of the hill, and to his surprise came away with a fistful of the stuff.Tygra joined him, taking some of the loose soil to examine.

"The creatures made it," the tiger concluded."Different insects build structures like this.They say on First Earth there was a kind of termite, smaller than your little claw, that would build a nest taller than a full-grown Thundercat."

Panthro looked up at the height of the structure."So these bigger bugs build bigger bunkers, huh?"

Tygra cocked his head."We're probably going to die, you know.So before we do, answer me one question, Panthro: Do you do that on purpose?"

"Do what?"

"Never mind," Tygra sighed."The stuff's fairly solid an inch or so below the surface.We should be able to climb up without much trouble."

Soon after, the four stood in the moonlit mouth of a long, dark corridor leading into the interior of the nest.No sound issued from those stygian depths, although Tygra could not shake the feeling that something knew they were there.

Lion-O faced down the corridor, the Sword of Omens held before his face, his expression one of intense concentration.A moment later, he lowered the weapon with a sigh.He turned to face the others and said, "Nothing."

"I don't understand," Willa said."What are you trying to do?"

"The Sword of Omens allows me to see through the eyes of any Thundercat I know, provided they're within range," Lion-O said."But their eyes have to be open and uncovered, or I can't see anything."

"And it won't work with an unconscious subject," Tygra interjected.

"Or a dead one," Panthro said in a subdued voice.

"No," Lion-O said firmly."She's still alive."

"But how can you be sure?" Willa asked.But Lion-O only turned around, raised the Sword to his face and again spoke the command, "Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight.Show me Cheetara!"

Tygra walked over to Willa, leaned down and said softly, "Because we need her to be alive.She's very special to all of us, for different reasons.If something were to happen to her..." the tiger stopped suddenly, his voice choking off.He turned away quickly, but not before Willa saw the glistening in the tall Thundercat's eyes.

"Alright, let's move out," Panthro said, passing out glow-globes among the crew.The dim green light was barely enough to see one's own feet, but it was inexhaustible and impossible to extinguish.Willa stared at the small sphere in bald-faced wonder.

Panthro clapped Lion-O on the shoulder."This isn't getting us anywhere," he said."If we're gonna do it, let's do it."Lion-O nodded.He placed the claw shield against his hip and accepted the globe the panther offered him.

Together, they moved off into the darkness.They walked two abreast, Tygra and Panthro in front, Lion-O and Willa to the rear.The corridor sloped gently upward, paved in loose dirt that made for treacherous footing; even the agile Thundercats slipped periodically.Willa had a more difficult time of it, twice falling completely.

The passage opened up in places, extending the walls beyond the light of the glow-globes.In others itnarrowed, forcing the team to walk single-file.Twice it forked, causing them to pause while Panthro raked his claws in the wall to indicate the path out.

After another such pause, Tygra asked, "How are you holding up?"

Panthro raised his brows at the question."Fine.Why?" he asked as they continued on.

Tygra grinned."Well, I know how you are about bats.I thought this might be getting to you a little."

"Stick it up your striped ass, Tygra," the panther growled."I'm fine."

"As long as you keep telling yourself they're not bats, you mean," Gideon chimed in.

"You shut up, too," Panthro mumbled.

"But I never said anything," Lion-O said in a wounded tone.Panthro ignored him.

They had come to another of the large chambers.Despite his bravado, Panthro was getting rattled.They were wandering around in the creatures' nest, for God's sake, and still they'd not been challenged.Were they in the wrong place?Or were they walking into a trap?

"Hold up a minute," the panther said.The others gathered near him."Does anybody have a better light source?" he asked.

Tygra shrugged and looked at Willa, who shook her head."Lion-O?"

Lion-O raised the Sword of Omens."I don't think it was meant for this, but there's something I can try."

The young Lord of the Thundercats moved to the front of the team.Once he was well clear of them, he raised the sword to eye-level, focusing.

"Thunder..." he said, snapping the sword to the right."Thunder..." to a low guard stance."Thunder..." to a high vertical.

"Thundercats, Ho!" he cried.Instantly the Eye of Thundera sprang open, bathing the chamber in brilliant red light.

And revealed in that light were the distant walls of the chamber, walls that seethed with shiny black life.These were juveniles, only half the length of the mature individuals Panthro and Lion-O had faced already.Now, as the comforting darkness of the nest was disrupted, they exploded from the walls towards the source of that glow, filling the air with their deadly humming battle-cry.

Lion-O lashed about him with the Sword of Omens.He could hear Panthro swearing, Tygra's roar of fury, Willa's panicked scream.All were drowned and muffled by the hideous buzz of the flyers pounding into his ears, disorienting him.

Pain jabbed into his good leg, then his right shoulder, then his lower back.He cried out, staggering as these new doses of venom reinforced the first, taking hold of him faster than before.He fell to one knee, tried to stand, fell again.

He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

Continued...