Disclaimer: Thundarr The Barbarian was created by Joe Ruby & Ken Spears of Ruby-Spears Production, with the aid of Alex Toth, Jack Kirby, Steve Gerber, and Buzz Dixon. The show and its characters are currently owned by Warner Brothers Entertainment.

I own nothing but the stories in my head. This tale was written as an act of love for Thundarr The Barbarian, not for profit. As no money has been paid for the writing of this story, no copyright laws have been violated, either intentionally or otherwise. Please don't sue me. I'm poor and will be unable to pay you any money should you win your court case.

Should any of the above copyright holders wish to profit off of my stories by producing them for the public, either as an animated feature or a comic book, I would be more than happy to oblige. Of course I would expect a fair percentage of the royalties as compensation.

Thundarr The Barbarian

in

The Sorceress & The Mistletoe

Chapter One

In the year 1994, from out of space came a runaway planet, hurtling between The Earth and The Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Man's civilization is cast in ruin. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn. A strange new world rises from the old. A world of savagery, super science, and sorcery.

Far to the north, three figures make their way across the ruined landscape. Winter has come in full force, a blizzard of epic proportions blowing across the frozen land. The wind is howling, blowing snowflakes the size of human hands nearly horizontally through the air. The three figures struggling through snow that reaches nearly to their hips are so heavily wrapped in furs, one could almost mistake them for three great arctic beasts.

In the lead of the trio is a man, wrapped in furs, which cover his fur boots, loincloth, and vest. His blonde hair is the colour of straw, and is worn long, down to his shoulders. On a leather thong around his neck hangs the tooth of a great predatory beast. On his wrists are a pair of heavy leather bracers. On the left bracer is a golden sword hilt. His name is Thundarr, a powerful barbarian. Once enslaved by the wizard Sabian, Thundarr made a daring escape. Now, with the help of his two companions and his mighty Sunsword, he fights for freedom and justice. Thundarr is leading his noble steed, Lightning, by the reins. A stallion with a coat so white, the beast is virtually invisible in the blizzard.

Following close behind Thundarr is someone even larger and more powerfully built than the barbarian. Beneath the many layers of animal pelts is a leonine creature called a mok. His name is Ookla. He combines the features of a lion and a man in much the same way the Minotaur of ancient Greek myth combines the features of a man and a bull. His head is that of a great lion, with a golden mane of hair. The fur on his face is coloured black and gray, giving him an even fiercer look than he might otherwise have. He stands well over 7' tall, his body covered in the sleek tan coloured fur of a cougar or mountain lion. Beneath his layers of animal skins, he wears a fur loincloth and a pair of fur boots. While nature had already provided Ookla with a coat, moks are indigenous to temperate through tropical climates. They don't really care much for the cold. Like Thundarr, Ookla was also enslaved by the wizard Sabian. When Thundarr made his escape, he took Ookla with him. The two of them have been inseparable ever since. Like Thundarr, Ookla guides his mount through the snow. But as moks are too heavy to be carried by horses, Ookla rides a yellow beast called an equart, which Ookla had named Comet. Much larger and stronger than a horse, an equart is none the less nearly as fast and thus makes an excellent mount.

Bringing up the rear of the group is the smallest of the trio. Beneath the layers of animal pelts is a beautiful olive skinned young woman with almond shaped eyes. Her hair is long, reaching halfway down her back, and black as a raven's wing. She wears a very impractical blue leotard (especially in this weather) with golden trim, gold coloured boots which come up nearly to her knees, gold bracers on her wrists, and a gold circlet about her head. She is Princess Ariel, a powerful sorceress. Her stepfather is the wizard Sabian, and she was the one who helped Thundarr and Ookla escape his dungeons. She has been traveling with them ever since, using her magic and her vast knowledge of the world at large, and it's history, to aid her two friends in their adventures. She leads her chestnut coloured mare, whom she had named Chestnut, by the reins. Being the smallest of the three, she uses the path that the other two had tramples into the snow. Even so, it is very slow going. And the snow is falling so heavily that the trail is being filled in almost as fast as it is being made.

"THUNDARR!" Ariel screams in an attempt to be heard over the wind, "WE CAN'T STAY OUT IN THIS WEATHER! WE MUST FIND SHELTER!"

Thundarr stops and looks back towards Ariel. He can barely see her through the blizzard, even though she can't be more than ten or fifteen feet behind him.

"THE MUTANTS TOOK GEMINI THIS WAY!" Thundarr screams back, "WE MUST CATCH UP TO THEM BEFORE THEY CAN REVIVE THE WIZARD!"

Weeks before, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla had learned that a band of mutants loyal to the wizard Gemini had taken the wizard's body so that they could attempt to revive him. Years ago, Thundarr had done battle with Gemini. During the fight, he had thrown the wizard into a magical pool which petrifies any living creature that enters it, turning him to stone. Now apparently there's another magical pool far to the north which can reverse the process and bring him back to life. Thundarr had vowed not to allow that to happen.

"THUNDARR!" screams Ariel, "THE MUTANTS HAVE LIKELY TAKEN SHELTER FROM THE STORM! WE SHOULD AS WELL! WE'LL NEVER FIND THEM IN THIS MESS!"

Ookla howls his agreement in his bestial tongue. Thundarr has to agree with his friends. Trying to find the mutants in a blizzard like this was a fool's errand. He just hated the thought of Gemini returning to life. But in his desire to prevent that from happening, he stupidly plunged head first into this blizzard. He had foolishly forgotten that Nature laughs at the stubbornness of man. Now he and his two closest friends were in serious danger of freezing to death.

"WE WILL MAKE FOR THOSE TREES UP AHEAD!" Thundarr screams back, "WE CAN FIND SHELTER THERE!"

"WHAT TREES?!" asks Ariel, "WE CAN'T SEE FIVE FEET AHEAD OF US!"

"I SAW THEM IN THE DISTANCE BEFORE THE SNOW STARTED!" replies Thundarr, "WE'VE BEEN HEADING STEADILY TOWARDS THEM ALL ALONG! JUST A LITTLE FARTHER AND WE SHOULD BE THERE! THE TREES WILL PROVIDE SOME PROTECTION FROM THE SNOW AND WIND, AS WELL AS PROVIDING WOOD FOR A FIRE!"

"THEN LEAD ON!" screams Ariel, "BUT HURRY! MY HANDS ARE SO COLD I DON'T THINK I CAN WORK MY MAGIC!"

Thundarr turns back to the path ahead and begins plodding through the snow. Ookla follows close behind, following in Thundarr's and Lightning's footsteps. Princess Ariel follows the mok, her own footsteps going into the foot prints of the two ahead of her. Hours go by, and the three of them are still leading their mounts through the heavy snow. Eventually, Princess Ariel collapses in exhaustion. Ookla glances back and sees the sorceress laying face down in the snow, her mare nudging her with its nose. Ookla howls at Thundarr to stop. Then the two of them trudge back to help their friend. Thundarr helps Ookla lift Ariel up and wrap her under his own animal skins. Thundarr takes Ariel's layers of pelts and wraps both the mok and the princess in them, so that Ariel's body is making direct contact with Ookla's fur covered skin, and thus sharing each other's body heat.

Then they continue on towards the north. Thundarr and his stallion, Lightning, taking the lead once again. Ookla followed close behind, carrying Princess Ariel close to his body under several layers of animal skins while leading Comet and Chestnut by the reins. Hours pass, and still they wade through the heavy snow. Eventually, Thundarr too stumbles and falls. No matter how determined the barbarian is, the blizzard and his exhaustion are just too much. Carefully, Ookla scoops up the barbarian and carries him under the layers of pelts as well. With his body heat keeping Thundarr and Ariel alive, Ookla continues on in search of these trees Thundarr had spoken of.

Hours pass, and they have yet to find the shelter of the trees. Even with his great mok strength, Ookla's legs begin to give way beneath him. First he begins to sway as he walks. Then he begins to stumble. He forces himself back up and continues on, but very unsteadily. Finally, the strain of fighting through the blizzard is too much, even for the mighty Ookla. Exhausted, the mok collapses in the snow. He closes his cat like eyes.

Just a little rest, he thinks to himself, Just a little rest, then I'll find us some shelter.

As Ookla slips away into unconsciousness, he could swear he can hear bells jingling in the distance.