Chapter XIV

The power buzzed through him, the magic radiating down his arms and through the sword. He swung it down, his opponent dodged, and the motion continued into the trees and a nearby rock ledge, cleaving each into pieces.

She leapt toward him and his blade came up to meet hers. The barrel of the gunblade struck squarely with the metal of his sword. They broke again, attack, parry and counter. Lion-o retreated first, putting space between, and sending his mana bubbling to the surface to channel along his arm and discharge from the sword.

Panthera closed the distance with a enticing grin. She stepped in close, hooking her heel around the back of his foot. Then she stepped back pulling his legs out from under him. The mana he was channeling dispersed at the shock, buzzing outward from his skin. It fizzled along his sword, and sparked out between the two of them. Panthera gasped as the electric energy shot out grazing along her skin; she lost her balance as well.

The two of them toppled to the ground. Lion-o felt her warm weight on him and a light scent of juniper wafted over him. "Wasn't that the same move I used on you, a while ago?" Lion-o asked her after a moment, both of them catching their breath and not quite willing to move yet.

She laughed, "Maybe." She admitted, and lifted her head from his chest to look at him, "Your magic is impressive. Is everything about you this electrifying?"

"Everything?" Lion-o asked, not as perturbed by her tone as he used to be. "What else about me electrifies you?"

Her grin widened, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would." He agreed, "Maybe I should order you to tell me."

"Order me?" Panthera's eyes narrowed, though her grin remained dangerous and vexing, "Do you think you could?"

He reached out with a hand, and she didn't move away, her eyes as intense as before. She didn't move away, her eyes neither deflected nor wavered, completely fixed on him. He leaned closer and she seemed to welcome the movement.

A twig snapped. The two of them broke apart, leaping to their feet to face the soldier who had come from the direction of the camp.

"Your majesty," the soldier bowed quickly, "My lord. We have captured an enemy scout and are requesting permission to interrogate."

"Where was he found?" Panthera asked.

"The western end," the soldier reported, "He's refusing to speak and we will begin interrogative measures as soon as we have his majesty's approval."

"Take me to him. I want to be there when he talks." Lion-o commanded, the three of them hurried back to camp. If the enemy had scouts out already, that meant Mumm-Rah's armies were close and further altercations weren't far behind.

The lizard was a thin sour-mouthed creature who kept his mouth firmly shut, his eyes glaring, either defiantly resigned or expecting to be sought out and rescued.

"Where is the main force? Does Mumm-Rah know where we are?"

Tygra had been waiting for them, still trying to pry answers from the stubborn reptile. "We're going to have to hurt him," Tygra told Lion-o first off, "He hasn't said a single word since we brought him in."

Lion-o approached the lizard, "I know you are loyal to your own commanders, and there is no love lost between us," Lion-o told him, "But if you don't tell me what we need to know, I can't guarantee your safety. We only need to know what Mumm-Rah's troops know. Did they send you here to check our position? Are there others out there?"

The lizard met his eyes evenly, he didn't even twitch. "Then, I'm sorry," Lion-o told him turning back toward Tygra. "Is it possible he's mute?"

"He is capable of sound," the soldier who had lead them back put in, "I was there when he was captured, but he hasn't made a noise since then."

Lion-o was about to give the go-ahead to Tygra and order the entire camp to pack-up and move, if only to give them more time before having to face more lizard troops. That was when the wind changed. The smell of metal, scales, and reptilians filled the air. They were already there.

Around the camp a cry went up. Weapons were drawn on both sides and Lion-o's eyes locked with familiar inky black. This was one of the few lizards Lion-o could recognize by sight; Rezard. His men surrounded, fanning out into the camp, and among his lead men they held cats captive, blades to their throats or guns to their temples. They weren't attacking, and when their eyes met, Rezard's advance halted.

"Hold!" Lion-o commanded his free warriors. Panthera froze, though her gunblade remained drawn, Tygra similarly held his gun pointed squarely at the apparent leader. For his part Rezard had drawn no weapon, despite his men being armed to the teeth.

"General Rezard." Lion-o greeted, assessing the situation quickly based on sight alone. The lizards were taking up defensive posture, using their captives as shields, and as in their previous encounters there was nothing about Rezard that indicated open hostility, despite apparent actions.

"Lion-o." Rezard returned coolly.

"Our perimeter was overwhelmed!" one of the soldiers choked out past the blade to his neck, "We never saw them coming!"

"Do we attack?" Panthera hissed impatiently, the tension palpable in the air. But the lizards had yet to attack, so Lion-o was hesitant to make the first move when Rezard appeared with an army and halted what would otherwise have been an excellent stealth attack.

"Lion-o?" Tygra hissed in question, his thoughts apparently following the same as Panthera's.

"So Mumm-Rah has sent you to kill us?" Lion-o asked after a moment, gauging Rezard's reaction. A muscle in his neck twitched slightly at the name.

"I am here on my own errand," Rezard told him, voice still calm and cool, his eyes turned to the captured scout they had been about to interrogate. "You have one of my men." Lion-o waited and Rezard spoke again, "I have not taken the lives of any of yours, I propose a trade. Your entire perimeter guard in return for my scout."

"So many for the return of one?" Tygra asked suspicious of the lizard's actions, "Why?"

"Call it fraternity," Rezard told Tygra, his eyes moving back to Lion-o, "It is more than a fair trade."

"It is, and wie'll take it." Lion-o told him easily, cutting the lizard scout loose. The reptile stood and with a nod of his head Rezard's warriors released the cats, all stumbling back toward their respective groups. Panthera and Tygra had begun to relax their guard somewhat as well.

"Then our business is concluded," Rezard announced, turning to disappear into the army shell of his followers.

"You've left Mumm-Rah's army, haven't you?" Lion-o deduced, and Rezard paused.

"What makes you think that?"

"If that's the case then I think we should talk," Lion-o suggested, "If we share a common enemy perhaps we can be of use to each other?"

Rezard turned, a steely smile on his face, "If that were the case, how do you think we would be of use to each other exactly?"

"I think we should discuss possibilities." Lion-o told him, letting the invitation stand without decorum or threat. Rezard seemed to consider it, then he spoke to a lizard, likely his second in command, and then stepped back toward Lion-o and the other cats.

"Then let's discuss them," he glanced at the other cats with narrow eyes. The Thundercat soldiers were exchanging somewhat incredulous looks with each other.

"Somewhere more private, then?" Lion-o suggested again, turning and inviting Rezard to the main tent. Tygra met his eyes as he passed, and stepped back, judging that his brother knew what he was doing.

Lion-o invited Rezard to sit and offered him a drink, as was the formal niceties, but the lizard was having none of that. "I'm here to listen to your proposal," Rezard told him, "I assume your aim is an alliance of sorts. My question is what do I and my kind get out of helping you?"

"Besides taking down Mumm-Rah?" Lion-o wondered, "You and yours would have the benefits of ours, we'd be free of this tyrant."

"To replace him with another. You." Rezard reasoned, "I have no love for cats. I know Mumm-Rah's army, how it works, I know his fortress, and I have friends who are still within the fold. I know how I can be of help to you and goal you speak of. But you have yet to give me a reason to give you that aid."

Lion-o frowned. "I would not be a tyrant to replace Mumm-Rah."

"You would not intend to be." Rezard corrected. "How would those other than cats fare under you, I wonder? Or your son? Or his son after that?"

"I have no wish to oppress anyone, or allow them to oppress future generations." Lion-o said, knowing that he had no ironclad resolution that Rezard seemed to be demanding. "I know that you are equal to me, and in some matters probably even surpass me. I can acknowledge the same of Shen, the leader of the jackals, and others, different from me, who I have met."

Rezard grinned but it was a small somewhat hollow gesture. "You speak pretty words," He told Lion-o, and he stood to leave, "And that is all I have seen."

Lion-o watched him go, the tent flap falling shut behind him, and sighed. He was disturbed again soon after by a sentry who came to announce one of the Thundercat lords who had caught up to their travel party. Lion-o allowed him and his entourage to be ushered into the tent.

General Puma greeted him, stony-faced and his jaw set immovable. "You are sympathizing with lizards now?"

"They are broken from Mumm-Rah's armies." Lion-o told him.

"As though that matters!" Puma scowled, "They're little better than snakes, the lot of them."

"Is there any news?" Lion-o cut in, "You must have come all this way for something."

"I came to remind you of your precarious position." Puma's voice carried a warning. Lion-o frowned, and Puma continued, "If you lose the support of the Thundercat lords your little war against Mumm-Rah is finished, along with your rise to power."

Lion-o stiffened. "Your father and I had an agreement," Puma went on, "I realize that agreement was nullified when he died and our order was upset. Which is why I am making a new agreement with you."

When Lion-o still looked pensive, or confused, Puma growled and went on, "I'll just spell it out for you, your majesty: You will marry my daughter, she will become your queen, and my clan will join the royal household. If you refuse I will withdraw my support, and the other lords will follow me. That means, if you refuse, your crown and this war are lost. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Lion-o managed, his voice felt thick. Puma beamed, but his eyes were dark, and there was triumph in his gaze.

"Good, we will return before nightfall with the contract." Puma told him, "The ceremony will wait, but the certificate of marriage will be complete before dawn tomorrow."

In a moment Puma and his entourage were leaving. Lion-o felt vaguely sick. What was he supposed to do now? What would be say to Cheetara? Tygra? Could they still win if the reserve Thundercat armies went rogue with Puma? Lion-o stepped outside and stopped short when he found Rezard's back, the lizard turned back to him, shrugged and walked away. He began gathering his men together and their group started to leave.

Lion-o sighed again. Any respect he may have garnered from Rezard was likely staunched by that display, unable to protect himself from such political maneuverings. He couldn't give in to this, if not for his own sake, than for Cheetara and his brother.

Cheetara was across the camp grounds as well, she had seen her father, and though her brow creased in thought or confusion she made no move to follow. How did he feel about her? She was lovely, she was strong, she was intelligent, she had trained him and she had been his friend. But she didn't want him. Did he want her? Maybe. At some point, he knew he found her to be desirable. But then she was the only woman he had ever known then. Who did she want? She and Tygra seemed to talk a lot lately, he'd overheard enough of their conversations and seen the way he watched her, he'd have to be blind not to notice.

But Cheetara wasn't the only woman he respected. There were others. There was Panthera. She was also beautiful, also intelligent, and certainly strong. He had an idea of what she wanted from him at least, she was also a Thundercat lord, like Puma. Lion-o froze and felt his blood drain for the second time.

Surely not. Panthera was nice enough, they had a similar interest in technology and he was learning a lot about their different communication devices and other constructs she and her brother worked on. It was thanks to that that he remained in contact with Shen and some of the other leaders in charge of the armies as well as the refugee bases, keeping them up to date on positions and well being. But wasn't it possible her interest in him was fueled by something similar to Puma's?

His eyes found her, she was standing with her brother in a group of cats, they were looking at the map of the region, Tygra and the kits were with them. Lion-o moved to join their group.

"So we're really that close to the Berbils area?" Tygra was asking, as Panthro marked some places on the map in red.

"We definitely are if we're encountering their traps this often." Panthro told them, "We only scouted out a few locations before, but see how they're growing more clustered? Our advance team just found a whole new nest of them set up all over this region."

"Makes sense," WilyKit interjected, "The valleys where they're likely hidden is just over this ridge here, isn't it?"

"Yes," Panthro confirmed, "The closer we get the more probable it becomes."

Tygra looked up as Lion-o approached, "What did Puma want?"

Lion-o shrugged avoiding the question, "If we're this close we should move camp, we've wasted enough of the morning as is."

"We'll spread the word, camp should be ready to move within the hour," WilyKat volunteered, he and his partner both taking to their feet quickly.

OoooooooooooooooO

Cheetara watched her father and his entourage as they exited the camp. They had come to speak with Lion-o but the meeting had been very brief. The lizards were leaving now too. Now there was less to distract her. Her mind became calmer and the voices returned. She walked off quickly, aiming to join the perimeter circuit, walking to distract herself with movement. It didn't really work.

She could feel her mana buzzing beneath the surface of her skin, hyperaware of the mana surrounding her in the earth, the forest, and the very air she breathed. She tried to block out the voices concentrating on her father. Why was he here? Had something happened? No. If it had the news would have spread by now.

She had other suspicions, he was an ambitious man and he never gave up easily. But she had already delivered her warning, if he did try to press the issue, she would deal with it by any means necessary. The kits came by the perimeter next, and she overheard the message to pack up camp. It was about time they moved for the day. The morning had been disrupted with the arrival of the lizards, though she had been out of camp when it had happened.

It was difficult to sleep, but meditation in a quiet spot, far from camp, seemed to help calm her mind and quiet the many voices drifting in and out of her consciousness. She circled back around to the inner camp. The main tent was taken up and Tygra was climbing into the black and silver monstrosity that was the Plun-Darr.

"Hey, Lion-o, you coming?" Tygra asked after seating himself in the pilot seat. Lion-o however shook his head this time.

"I'll walk, today," Lion-o told him. His eyes turned toward Panthera and he moved away toward her and the head of the group. He looked pensive. Cheetara turned toward the Plun-Darr and thought she felt the familiar twinge of revulsion she fought it down and focused on Tygra instead.

"I'll ride with you today," Cheetara suggested loud enough for him to hear. Tygra looked at her, shock registered on his face. "Well, only if you want me to."

"No, you can," Tygra said quickly, an easy smile replacing his surprise as he leaned out of his seat and offered her a hand to pull her up into the mech's pilot chamber. Their group was moving out, the Plun-Darr's chest slid shut and Tygra moved the machine with their group.

"I'm still hearing voices." Cheetara admitted to him.

"From the mana stream?" Tygra asked, and she nodded. "Any luck trying to control it?"

She sighed, "I'm trying. I can quiet the voices, and I can reach out to influence other mana. I think I'm starting to gain some control, but I'm definitely not confident enough to call on the full force of the mana stream."

"Don't worry," Tygra told her, "You'll master this. Small steps. Have faith."

Cheetara smiled, oddly comforted to hear what might have been her own sentiments coming from Tygra. Then Plun-Darr's radar screen began to blink red and emit a series of beeps.

"What is that?" Cheetara inquired.

"They're under attack." Tygra said.

"Who is?" Cheetara asked.

Tygra turned on the external output and addressed Lion-o and the rest of their group. "Hey, I'm not sure if this is an issue for us or not, but Rezard's group has been on my radar, and it looks like they're under attack by something big."

"What's their location?" Panthro shouted back. Tygra gave him the coordinates. "They've fallen into one of the traps we mapped earlier! One specific to lizards."

"We should help them," Lion-o decided immediately, "All able-bodied fighters, to me!" Lion-o ordered and he rushed off in the direction that Tygra's mech had indicated. Tygra and a good portion of their armed force went with them to assist.

They found them intoxicated, immobile, and under attack by a great four-legged beast of stone, wood, and metal. The trap was set with the ground giving way to pits of viscous gluey goo that smelled of sickly sweet and alkaline.

Several lizards had already fallen in and become fastened in place. The scent fogged up the senses and burned the nose. It seemed to affect the lizards worse than the cats, there was a large group of them stumbling around, affected by vertigo from the smell.

The four-legged machine stalked closer, eyes glowing like embers. Its metal jagged jaw snapped menacingly as it approached the smaller creatures. It raised a paw to attack. Tygra in the Plun-Darr intercepted, tackling the creature to the ground.

He struck at the thing with the mech's remaining arm. The machine twisted its body and leapt, agilely, over Plun-Darr's shoulder, pursuing after the fleeing lizards. The thundercat soldiers' main task was retrieving the lizards from the pits, and helping the others out of the area. Panthro had remained with the main group, in reserve. Panthera and the kits dispersed to the pits wearing gas masks and went about applying powder and neutralizers to nullify the toxicant.

Lion-o spotted Rezard in the fray, and went to him first. The movement caught the glowing eyes of the mechanical creature, its jagged mouth grinned and it leapt at them. Tygra had recovered and again attempted to pin the colossal quadruped to the ground. But the machine was fast, and again slipped through his grasp.

"It's not targeting me!" Tygra growled, moving his mech quickly after the four-legged machine, "Any luck with communications?"

Cheetara frowned, "I did what you told me with the screens, but it's telling me there's nothing there to communicate with."

"So what, it's an unmanned mech?" Tygra growled to himself, he should have figured; it worked more like a program than an opponent, if only it wasn't so fast.

The mechanical beast was catching up toward Lion-o and Rezard again. Cheetara heard the voices cluster and reached out to the mana in the forest. "Cheetara?" she heard Tygra's voice, it sounded distant; she fired the accumulation of mana, sending it straight at the machine.

Those glowing eyes turned toward the attack. It's body twisted, but it was unable to avoid the blast entirely. The metal and stone at its side had split and cracks formed at the stone where it started to crumble. It was injured, not crippled.

"Was that you?" Tygra asked. The Plun-Darr moved faster after the mechanical quadruped, "Do it again!"

Cheetara concentrated again, trying to concentrate the mana outside of the mech to target the enemy machine. The Plun-Darr jerked upward, following the stone and metal creature through a woody brush in the forest. Cheetara felt the voices flare, her own consciousness momentarily shocked. She released the mana and fell back from the mana stream, shutting herself off solidly to prevent adverse effects.

The energy outside the Plun-Darr dispersed, but in the wrong direction. Tygra cursed as he maneuvered the mech backward quickly to dodge the backlash of mana. The trailing of the power brushed by the Plun-Darr. Both Tygra and Cheetara felt the jerk and pull on the metal as the mech was side-winded from the mana blast.

Plun-Darr fell back to the ground. It's occupants grunted in pain from the jostling movement. Cheetara cursed her own relative inability, and Tygra checked the mech's systems and movements. He could still move, but the mechanical beast was closing in on Rezard and Lion-o.

OoooooooooooooooO

Tygra was too far away. Something had damaged Plun-Darr. Rezard's breathing was labored, and every now and then he shook his head to clear it. The toxicant smell still affecting him. Lion-o turned as the mechanical beast closed in. Its dead glowing eyes locked on them, it's jaw snapping menacingly.

Lion-o drew the Sword of Omens. He could guess that it was Cheetara's mana that had somehow damaged that thing. The conventional weapons of their soldiers had proved ineffective, if mana was the only thing that could damage it then Lion-o could do it. He had to or everything could end here.

There was no pause or moment of reflection; their attacker had no concept of hesitation. The machine leapt at them jaws gaping. Lion-o raised his blade and felt his mana, drawing it out and channeling it to the blade, building its power.

Rezard looked up at the face of death and Lion-o swung his sword. Death bowed.

OoooooooooooooooO

It only took them a couple of hours to retrieve the rest of Rezard's men and move them all to safety. Panthro estimated that they had lost at least one day's worth of searching the valley for the Berbil clan's village. But given the area to search and depending how much they wanted to divide the groups, Lion-o and he had worked out that they might be able to make-up for that lost time.

Rezard and his men appeared to separate briefly into two armed groups, one stayed with the Thundercats for the moment, seeing to those lizards that had retained some of the poisoning effect of the toxicant pits, the other seemed to have left the temporary encampment. But then the group was again just as large as Lion-o had thought when he exited the meeting with Panthro. Rezard was waiting for him.

"I have reconsidered your suggestion." Rezard told Lion-o the next he greeted him. There was little in his face that had changed, or his tone, though his eyes seemed less steely perhaps.

"I didn't help you and yours to change your mind," Lion-o told him, "I encourage you to continue to do what you think it best."

"Maybe, I think I owe you."

Lion-o smiled, "Think of it as me repaying you, there are times in the past that I still owed you for." He reminded the lizard.

"I think it is best if I join you." Rezard told him, "Send me a message and I will assist you in your stand against Mumm-Rah."

"I'm grateful." Lion-o accepted. "Thank you, and I will call on you when we face him."

Rezard nodded and was about to leave when one of the Thundercat scouts ran up looking quite panicked. "Your majesty! We found General Puma's camp! It's been attacked!"

"What?" was the first intelligent thought that left Lion-o's mouth, "Are there any survivors?"

"None, your majesty!" the scout reported, "I saw the general myself, sire. General Puma is dead. It looked to be the work of lizards, the blood and fires were both still fresh and burning!"

"Mumm-Rah?" Lion-o thought aloud, and then immediately discarded the idea, if they had been this close there was no way they would have ignored the event with the toxicant pits. He glanced toward Rezard. The lizard remained cool, his eyes met Lion-o's evenly.

"It wasn't any of ours. We were here the whole time, as you well know." Rezard told him. Lion-o dismissed the scout, and as a potential measure instructed him to double the guard. There was no need to further the perimeter and scout for Mumm-Rah's forces.

"Well," Rezard said, as he moved back toward his army, the lot of them readying to leave again, now armed with a map of the traps in the area on their way out, "I wish you well, Lion-o."

"I wish the same for you, Rezard," Lion-o responded, meeting his eyes, "And thank you."

Rezard nodded and then he turned and was gone. He and his men left their encampment. Lion-o went to find Cheetara concerning the news about Puma.

"I'm alright."

"Your father was killed." Tygra probed when Lion-o was ready to leave her be. Cheetara looked at him with some incredulity. "You're not even a bit depressed?"

"I suppose I should be," she shrugged, "But I'm not. The loss of a general, and the loss of life is a sad thing. But I was more upset when Jaga died. He was truly my father, in more than name anyway."

It was Cheetara who gave the go ahead for the mourning period to be cut short after they had moved their envoy to the burnt camp to bury the dead. Soon afterwards the Thundercats were back on the move.

"Over this next ridge we'll be able to see the valleys the Berbil city must be located," Panthro proclaimed as they closed the distance on their map. They moved at their same regular pace up the ridge.

The valleys beyond were immense and if they had actually been forced to search the entire area, it might have been a somewhat disheartening and difficult endeavor. As it was, they could tell where the city was immediately.

A thick billow of smoke and flame jutted out from the side of one of the mountains. Flashes of green and blue lights indicated the presence of enemy mechs. Mumm-Rah had beaten them to the Berbil's hidden city.

AoooooooooooooooN

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