A Cub's Trials 3
One day, about two months after that incident, the cub had been put to work outside for the first time since he had been there. Not that it mattered, it was nearly as dim and dingy as inside. But at least it was warm, and not so stuffy. He would not mind working outside more often, even if the job was less than desirable. He was emptying the chamber pots from the slaves' quarters into the moat, usually a job for one of the Mutant slaves. But this day it had been regulated to him. His eyes widened as he saw just what lived in that moat...a large, many tentacled thing that reached for him as he approached the side. Glancing nervously back towards the castle, he waited until the thing retreated for the time being before dumping the pot.
When he was done with that, and had brought all the chamberpots back to the dungeon cells, he was to take all of the weapons in the castle and clean them of the blood and dirt and rust. The Mutants would not trust any slaves but those that they knew were broken; Ocellon would not dare try anything with the weapons. Though it was possible that with a surprise attack that he might kill a Mutant...the others would slowly torture him to death.
Ocellon had finally dragged all of the weapons out onto the stone slab in the weedy, brown-grassed, thorny courtyard and laid them out. He had a large bucket of water, a harsh soap for the weapons, a brush, and a pile of cloths. There was more than thirty different weapons, including the spare ones and those belonging to lesser Mutants. There were axes and swords and all kinds of blades. A few maces and even one of Jackalman's clubs that the cub could barely carry in both arms. With a sigh he started cleaning.
That day, Bengali was out alone on the ThunderClaw, when instinct told him to go check out what the Mutants were doing. They had had little trouble from the Lunattacks, it was the Mutants that were being so vile lately. And so the white tiger decided to fly by and see what happened.
Meanwhile, Ocellon was halfway done with the weapons. He had cut himself a few times on the blades, but otherwise managed. He had a pile of clean weaponry on one side and was cleaning a crossbow when Vultureman came out to check on him.
Not knowing the crossbow was loaded, as he didn't know what the weapon was, just as the buzzard came out it discharged and sent a bolt across the moat into the swamp. Ocellon blinked in surprise.
"Caaaw!" Vultureman exclaimed, startling the cub. He walked up and smacked Ocellon visciously across the face. "What's the matter with you?" he demanded. "You're wasting ammo! Next time make sure they're unloaded, caaw!!"
Ocellon yelped and started shaking, but he nodded, and the buzzard let go of him. Crying quietly, the child went back to cleaning.
Bengali, who had been flying overhead and had seen the whole thing on the small screen in the ThunderClaw, dropped his jaw in shock. That cub looked like a Thunderian! And that cowardly Mutant had just struck him! With a growl, Bengali narrowed his eyes and flew off in the ThunderClaw. Luckily for him, there was no one was in the Control Room to notice the beeping indicator, which stopped as soon as Bengali was out of sensor range.
Back at Cats' Lair, where everyone but Snarfer was assembled, Bengali landed the ThunderClaw in the hangar and found the others in the council room.
Lynx-O frowned when he ran in, sensing something was wrong. "Bengali, what happened?"
As the other looked a little concerned at him, Bengali caught his breath. "Lion-O! ThunderCats!" he said. "I've found another Thunderian!"
"What?"
"Really?"
"No way!"
Lion-O approached the young man. "Where, Bengali? I thought all the others were destroyed when the Mutants attacked us..".
Bengali shook his head. "I don't know, Lion-O. I thought so too. But I saw him at Castle Plundaar! He's a cub, he can't be more than three or four. They've got him as a slave, Lion-O! The poor thing's in chains, and I saw that cowardly buzzard hit him for something."
"WHAT?!" came the enraged response from Panthro, followed by others' expressions of disbelief and anger.
"We've got to rescue him, Lion-O!" said Wilykit.
"Yeah!" her brother agreed. "They're at Castle Plundaar?"
Bengali nodded. "Yeah. he looks like he's in bad shape, Lion-O, I have no idea how long he's been there. I wonder how he even got here."
Lion-O shook his head. He was frowning darkly. "Those Mutants have gone too far," he muttered. "Let's go. We can figure out where he came from another time." He thought for a moment then said, "Lynx-O, you take Pumyra and Bengali and get the ThunderStrike ready. Panthro, Cheetara, Thunderkittens, Snarf, meet me in the ThunderTank. Snarfer can look after the Tower of Omens, and Tygra can stay here. Got it?" The others nodded, and Lion-O raised his fist. "HOOO!"
"HOOOO!" the other cried as they sprang into action.
Back at Castle Plundaar, the buzzard had gone out to check on Ocellon again, found him working satisfactorily, and left once more. The small cub was almost finished.
He was cleaning the last of the weapons as the sun started to go down, and the ThunderStrike appeared in the sky. The ThunderTank roared up in from of the Castle, roaring across the drawbridge before the surprised Mutants had a chance to draw it in.
Ocellon, who was in the back, did not see what all the noise was, and looked up, but he was too afraid to go and see. He flinched violently when one of the mook Mutants ran out of the Castle and grabbed him by the mane and shoved him towards the rear door, the dragged him up to the Control Room.
All four of the ranking Mutants were in there, Monkian and Vultureman at the controls, blasting at the vehicles. S-S-Slithe turned and snarled at the cub. He would take his anger out on him later. "Sit down, or you'll regret is, yeeees!?" he hollered at the youth, who immediately sat down on the floor of the Control Room, his thumb in his mouth. His bright green eyes regarded what was happening on the viewscreen. He had never seen the ThunderCats except for a fleeting glimpse of a fight here and there. This was weird, though...they had never attacked the Castle like this. He was too broken to hope that they might come and rescue him, but he liked any time he could see them. They his poeple, and they were free. Any look he could get of them was welcome, and this time it seemed he would be allowed to sit and watch.
"Lynx-O!" Lion-O called over the radio. "What does the Braille board say? Can it pick up any Thunderian life forms?"
"One moment, Lion-O," said Lynx-O calmly, as his fingers flew over the Braille board's raised dots, both flying the ThunderStrike and getting information from it. "Yes, in the Control Room, I have a Thunderian signature, a small ocelot child."
Panthro growled, grabbed the radio, and replied, "S-S-Slithe is going to regret enslaving one of our countrymen! A cub no less!"
Lynx-O nodded at the panther's words. "Yes, Panthro. We are all angered. But we can't go into this headfirst, we have to think it through a little or else it could get him or us hurt."
Panthro sighed and calmed down. But only a little bit. "Yes, Lynx-O. You're right. But I hate those Mutants!"
In Castle Plundaar's Control Room, S-S-Slithe growled as both the ThunderTank and the ThunderStrike returned fire on the Castle, easily avoiding the energy bolts form the laser turrets. "Vultureman! Jackalman! Monkian! Get the vehicles! Monkian and Jackalman take the Skycutters, Vultureman, you take the Flying Machine!" Almost as an afterthought, he grabbed Ocellon by the mane and threw him against the wall, attaching his leg irons to a computer console, then ran to the hangar, telling his guards to keep an eye on the kid. There were undertones of this attack that he didn't like.
After a sharp outcry upon hitting the wall, Ocellon only curled up against the console to watch. As least he wasn't working.
Outside, as the four Mutants sprang to attack, the small cub inside watching on the viewscreen, it was a full fledged fight. With the Mutants inside firing on the ThunderCats, the ones outside attacking, and the ThunderCats firing back, it was chaos. The Thunderkittens had taken their space boards and were flying up in the air, hurling capsules at the riders of the Skycutters, and hitting the wings with well timed dives with their boards.
Lion-O found the Skycutter frequency and spoke angrily to S-S-Slithe. "Mutants! You have a small Thunderian cub as your captive! Release him, and we will cease our attack!"
S-S-Slithe was a little surprised. It had not ever occurred to him that the reason for this attack might be the cub. Blast it, they must have seen him working outside. He laughed into the radio. "No way, ThunderCats! He's our slave. You get your own, yeees!"
Lion-O roared in anger and replied, "You coward! Hiding behind a cub! And we don't want him as a slave, you miserable Mutant! We don't take another's freedom!"
S-S-Slithe did not answer the young lord, only ordered to the others: "Retreat! Back to Castle Plundaar!" He was on a different frequency, so the ThunderCats didn't hear this order. "We have that mangy little cub as leverage!"
The other three confirmed and followed S-S-Slithe into the hangar, cutting it off from pursuit as soon as the last Mutant had entered.
"What in the?" Panthro wondered. "Just like those cowards. Looks like we're going to have to go in after the kid."
Lion-O nodded and said over the radio, "Lynx-O! Can you get in from the top anywhere? Maybe the roof?"
Lynx-O shook his head, even though Lion-O couldn't see it in the their vehicle. "No, Lion-O. Seems like they got smart from the times we have gotten in through there and got rid of the exits."
"Then we'll go in the front. Go ahead and land, Lynx-O."
"Landing now."
In the Control Room, S-S-Slithe grabbed the cub, unclipped the chain from the console, and hauled the child to his feet, in sight of the screen. "Lion-O!" he called over the intercom, before anyone could get out of their vehicles. "I'd stay out there if I were you, ThunderCat!" He shoved the little boy against the console in view of the screen. "I'd turn on the visual in that Tank of yours to see just what is going on up here!"
Panthro started to stomp up the stairs, an angry snarl on his face, but Lion-O stopped him. "Hold on, Panthro," he said, and switched on the small screen in the ThunderTank. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the small cub being held by the scruff of his neck by that miserable Reptilian. On the small area of the viewscreen, he couldn't see what kind of condition he was in, but he could see he was in chains. "Let him go, S-S-Slithe!"
There was only laughter. Then: "Back off, Lion-O. You wouldn't want anything...unpleasant to happen to the boy, now would you?"
Ocellon was scared, but it was something he was used to. He was also fascinated, and looked at the other cats intently. He had never seen them up close like that. The one the reptile called Lion-O was in his view now. He was the one that he was most interested by. He was the leader, this much he knew.
Lion-O sighed, then he shut off the screen. "Backing up now, S-S-Slithe," he said, and motioned to the others to retreat. But he stopped the Thunderkittens. As the others retreated over the drawbridge, he spoke quietly to them. They nodded and snuck close to the building with their spaceboards. Then Lion-O joined the others.
"S-S-Slithe!" he said over the radio. "What would convince you to let the child go?"
"Hmmm." S-S-Slithe didn't answer yet. Maybe this kid would be of some good to him here after all. He got a nasty grin on his face. "I think that I might settle for the Eye of Thundera, yeeees?"
Lion-O shook his head. He might have known. "You know the Eye can not be used for evil purposes, S-S-Slithe..."
"Yes, but it CAN be destroyed...or rendered useless. Maybe we can't use it, but then again you can't, either. So what's it gonna be, Thunderlosers?" He had no intention of giving them the boy once he had his hands on the Sword of Omens, but they didn't have to know that, did they?
As Lion-O spoke back and forth with the Mutants, the Thunderkittens were flying up and around the Castle looking for an open, unbarred window to sneak in as Lion-O had instructed them. If they could sneak in, fly into the Control Room to grab the cub, then fly back out on their boards, they could get the poor kid out of there.
Lion-O did not trust the Mutants as far as he could throw Castle Plundaar. Maybe even less. "What proof do we have that you would turn him over to us?" he countered.
"Well you'll just have to trust us, now won't you, yeeeees?" He grinned, then looked at them closely. "Where are those mangy Thunderkittens?" he demanded.
Oops. He noticed that soon? The Mutants must have gained some brains, Lion-O thought. "They're in the ThunderTank," he bluffed.
S-S-Slithe narrowed his eyes and was about to respond when an alarm went off. The Thunderkittens had found a window and were climbing in. But Vultureman had installed an alarm system, and they had tripped it.
"Ah jeez!" Wilykit exclaimed in surprise.
"Alarms! When did they put those in?" Her brother was looking around in startlement.
She shook her head. "I don't know! Do we fly in and try to find him anyway?"
He nodded. "Just try to avoid the Mutants!"
She nodded and they made their way down the hall, flying close to the ground on their boards, their lariats and capsules at the ready.
S-S-Slithe growled as the sensors told him just who was in Castle Plundaar, and sent a group of guards after the kittens. Then he growled at Lion-O. "I warned you, whelp! Now this kid is going to pay for your mistake!" He threw the child to the floor and stepped on the chain between his wrists. He ignored the cub's whimpers as he had Jackalman get the whip from the dungeon and bring it up.
"BLAST IT!" Panthro yelled in frustration, and banged on the side of the ThunderTank with his fists, denting it.
Lynx-O put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, my friend. We'll get him out." But his worried expression belied his calm words. "S-S-Slithe, wait! I'll get them out, leave the boy alone!"
There was no answer. S-S-Slithe was mad, and he would take his anger out on the cub whether the kittens retreated or not.
As Ocellon whimpered softly for S-S-Slithe not to hurt him, the reptile took the whip and yelled at the cub to shut up. Lion-O could hear everything over the radio, including the boy's pleas. "Wilykit, Wilykat, break off the attack, NOW!!" he yelled into the communicator.
"Retreating now..." came Wilykit's voice. She and her twin exchanged a puzzled look as a group of Mutants decided to attack them at that minute, barring their way. They simply turned around, hurling a smoke pellet at them, and flew back out the window, diving down to where the others were. "What's up, Lion-O?" Wilykat asked, but got a frantic wave of the hand telling him to be quiet.
Lion-O said desperately into the radio, "S-S-Slithe, they've retreated, please, leave the child alone!"
"Too late, ThunderCat!" came the response, then he heard the sound of a whip falling on flesh, and a young child's scream.
Panthro roared in anger. "I'll kill him!!!"
Lion-O brimmed with indecision. "We can't DO anything!" he cried in frustration. "They'll kill him!" He closed his eyes and shut the radio off. He couldn't bear to listen to that vile reptile beating the kid like that.
Lynx-O had his head bowed in thought. "Perhaps we should retreat for now, and attack when the boy is alone."
"But what if they do kill him, snarf, snarf!?" said Snarf. "We gotta stop S-S-Slithe from hurting him!"
"They could do that whether we are here or not, Snarf," Lynx-O replied grimly. "We must put together a plan of attack. We'll have to catch him when he is not guarded."
Lion-O finally nodded. "Yes, Lynx-O. I think that's the best way." He hated leaving the poor kid there, but knew that any move now could endanger his life. "Regroup at the Lair."
With Lynx-O, Bengali, and Pumyra back in the ThunderStrike, Lion-O and the other adults in the Tank, and the kittens on their boards, the ThunderCats retreated to fight another day.
Meanwhile, in the Control Room, S-S-Slithe was relieving his anger and frustration at the ThunderCats on the poor cub. He whipped the child relentlessly. The boy had lost consciousness around the fifteenth strike, but S-S-Slithe didn't bother to revive him, He did this only to have something to hit. The satisfaction of hearing the whip fall, and of seeing the blood welling from the lash served to satisfy his lust to hurt someone when he was enraged.
When he was finished, he gestured to the kid. "Get him up from there, Jackalman, take him to the infirmary. When he wakes up, put him back to work under guard, yeees?"
Jackalman cackled. "I bet those ThunderCats won't try THAT again!" he grinned as he took the cub down from where he hung. He wondered if he was all right; he had taken so much abuse, the jackal wondered if he would live very long. One time S-S-Slithe might discipline him and kill him, or he'd simply keel over while working. Not that the Mutants cared, slaves were expendable, and it was only a worthless Thunderian brat.
The most severe of the slashes were stitched up, and Ocellon was put to work the next day, even though he was in a lot of pain, he was still forced to work.