24

Fighting for Freedom

"Icrrii's dead." The disgusted words were spat at the short leader of the Lunattacks as she took Skytomb away from a battlefield of shops and buildings.

"What?!" she shrieked. "HOW?"

Without even a wince at the unpleasant sound, Chilldon snarled and flung the female Lunattack's blade to the floor at Havoc's feet. "We were outnumbered, that's how!"

Infra was nursing a sprained arm, and the several bruises and cuts they all had gotten. "We've let them advance too far, Fintii," she said, hatred in her hoarse voice. "They've developed gunpowder weapons. That was what hit Skytomb. As we were trying to retreat from the ground battle."

"They also have hand held weapons!" Earthquake said. He had been the only one to escape serious harm, only some cuts and bruises. He hopped up and down angrily, denting the solid metal floor before Fintii screeched at him to stop it.

"The mighty Lunattacks of Plundaar? Stopped by a bunch of HUMANS?!" A cannon. So that was what had hit the great fortress, knocking it out of its stable hover. They had had to retreat.

"They aren't humans," Infra said, flopping disgustedly in a chair.

"They're Nai."

"Same thing! None of them have powers as we do, and you could not handle a town of them? One TOWN?!"

Chilldon growled angrily and grabbed Fintii's tiny tunic collar. "They had projectile weapons, Fintii!" He screamed, ignoring Havoc's warning growl and his large hands around his own arms. "They're hundreds strong! We can't fight an army that big! Even Psychren retreated!" He let go of Fintii as the others simply watched. He had taken a nasty gash in the side, severe enough to be concerned about blood loss, and it had not improved his temper.

Fintii stared at him in shock, then shook it off. They had taken a loss, everyone was shaken up. "Release him, Havoc," she said. As agitated as the others, Havoc took to pacing the room.

"Havoc hate Nai," the semi-sentient beast declared.

"Yeah, us too," Infra growled.

Sounder, who had a bloodstained bandage around his head, spoke up with his eerie calm, even now sounding only slightly strained. "This rebellion was no coincidence, either."

And so it had not been a coincidence. Saber had not passed through the largest of the Nai towns, although he had met a good deal of its traders at market before he left, and they had taken a liking to the spirited boy. Even so, that would not have been enough for them to rebel, but Leyati had also done some long thinking about the young boy's words about freedom and repression. He had not been able to find the words he needed due to his youth, but his spirit showed through nevertheless. And Leyati knew the townsfolk well. The more he talked, the more they all realized, as had the denizens of Tisatria, that enough was enough. And this one had been a victory.

Fintii turned to look a dangerous dagger at the hyperaudio Lunattack, who returned her gaze intensely. "What do you mean, Sounder?" she asked in a quiet voice. That voice said he had better explain before she had Havoc rearrange his features.

Havoc made them all nervous, including Sounder, but he did not flinch. He was too angry at the lowlings in the villages.

But it was Infra that answered for him, laughing amazedly. "That human brat we held here a week or so?" she said. Fintii nodded, narrowing her eyes. "The kid survived, and somehow made his way all the way down to the sea. He found a water supply somewhere."

"And he made it all the way down to the Nai villages!" Earthquake growled, punching the wall and leaving a large dent. Fintii did not even notice. "It must have taken months! He's been telling everyone what he knows about us! People that thought us to be demons know better now! Especially ones we've fought!"

Fintii raged, screeching an incoherent shriek. "That's the seventh one!!"

"It's the ninth one," Infra corrected.

"I've listened, Fintii," Sounder said. "I've heard the people speaking of a human boy that passed through, telling tales of us. Telling them what we are. Some mention him by name, and he's the one that's convince them to rebel."

Fintii was quiet for a very long time as she thought, the eyes of the others all on her. "It's time to tell Mumm-Ra," she said quietly. The others' faces showed varying degrees of distaste, but none argued. After many decades of power, the Lunattacks of Plundaar had a problem.

***

"Who dares disturb my rest?!" a low, ancient voice demanded, as the cracked, yellowed lid of a sarcophagus slid open. A group of six Lunattacks stood before him as he emerged: Fintii on her mount, Psychren, Sounder, Infra, Earthquake, and Chilldon. Most looked the worse for wear, and they all were angry. "What is the meaning of this disruption?"

"The villagers, mighty Mumm-Ra," Fintii growled. "They've revolted."

The Lunattacks told Mumm-Ra of what had been happening the past few weeks, two weeks after Saber had found the ice fortress. Here and there, another would add a detail, or correct something, and as they explained to Mumm-Ra, his expression slowly darkened. "So what do we do?" Psychren demanded, his fists clenched in rage.

Mumm-Ra was silent for a long time, only digesting what he had been told. Seemed that this one child had done what many warriors could not. Still he said nothing, only waved his hand over the waters of his cauldron, and gazed into it. The Lunattacks circled around the pool to look as well, as a wavy image of the very village they had been defeated at appeared. They were tending wounded, but for the most part they were celebrating. They had won a battle against the demons of the rocklands, and with no casualties. Mumm-Ra growled angrily, seeing similar scenes of the past days in other towns. That would make things that much more difficult now that they knew it was possible to win.

He searched his powers, hunting for the human boy in his cauldron., but to his frustration he could not find him. Saber had gotten too far, and even with his vast powers, he could not locate one small boy on a whole planet of wilderness. He looked up at the Lunattacks. "Find him," he growled in a low, rumbling voice. It was quiet, but the power there was evident to all present. "We will deal with the villagers later, but I want the child found. We will show the people of Third Earth what happens to those who oppose the Mighty Mumm-Ra!"

The Lunattacks shouted, making similar vows, and raising their fists. Fintii nodded. "We will find him, Mumm-Ra, and that insolent brat will rue the day he crossed the Lunattacks!"

Mumm-Ra did not answer her, as he had raised his hands to the ceiling and repeated an incantation he had not uttered in years. The Lunattacks ran from the chamber, not in fear, but to begin their own search, eager as Mumm-Ra was for the boy's hide.

The ancient priest had once told the ThunderCats that time meant nothing to him, and he had been right. Their brief intervention of a few dozen years was but a blink of an eye in a rule of centuries. But now it seemed he had a new adversary, and despite outward appearances, Mumm-Ra believed him to be a worthy one.

Fully transformed, feeling the power once more of his larger, warrior's form, and clutching the hilt of the Sword of Plundaar, Mumm-Ra thought about his old adversaries. They had been among the best, the most difficult. He had followed them to their infernal New Thundera, and been unsuccessful in defeating them. He had been beaten down, humiliated, even by his own masters. But soon Tygra and Pumyra had joined the others from Third Earth, their fortresses now fully automated, and watched over by their allies on the planet. It had been that way for years while he pursued them on their own world.

Then had come the catastrophe. The blasted do-gooders had tried to come back and help, knowing of all the suffering and death the denizens of the planet were going through, but they had not been able to set foot on the planet. The air had been poisoned, lethal to many, and incompatible with the respiratory systems of the felines. Any cats on the planet's surface had died, and even now could not survive. Even the ThunderCats' breathing gear was ineffective, and he knew that quite a few of the thirteen they had then numbered had almost died. Saddened, they had left, never to return.

New Thundera was now a huge, bustling, productive planet, numbering in billions, as their original home had been, and few knew about Third Earth. Those who did knew it in legend. Mumm-Ra had returned to Third Earth, nothing in his way now to undisputed rule. Few species had been left by the disaster, and others had been crippled, like the Bolkins; yet others had adapted, like the humans. And slowly they grew again, and Mumm-Ra's domain was established once more.

And now it was being threatened again; not by a trained warrior, not by an immortal, or by armies. It was being threatened by one small human child with the charisma to convince others to fight, and the will to survive the hardship thrown at him. It was time to end this now.

***

Leyati's own town had been among those that had refused the monthly offering. They had taken injuries, but no deaths, and their morale had been boosted. Maybe the human was right; maybe there was a way to break free of the tyranny.

The old Nai fisherman was out on his boat when it happened. It was an unusually warm day for winter, and he had decided to see what his traps had gotten, if anything. He had plenty saved and stored and frozen to last until he could go out every day again, but it was always a good idea to have extra just in case.

And so he did not see the flying figures burst into the village. He did not hear the cries as the four-seater Icerunner began firing on the people. He did not feel the terror as the other, a lone man flying in the air, began to fire at the Nai with fingers that shot lightning as red as blood. He did not hear the shouts that what they had always feared had happened: the Lunattacks' lord had come to their town and the rest of the demon-type beings were flying through the streets in vehicles, shooting randomly at the Nai.

Skytomb hovered above the town, the most of the Lunattacks below, terrorizing the people. Even then, some of them stood firm, and it was these that would regret it.

As Leyati started back to the shore, not having caught any fish, Mumm-Ra grabbed one of the villagers that dared defy him. He lifted the terrified Nai off his feet and flew several yards into the air, blasting the unfortunate man's body with raw electricity, then letting the seared body drop back down with a sickening crunch. He smiled unpleasantly as he saw the Lunattacks wreaking their own havoc.

Soon they had the most of the Nai cowering behind buildings, or crouching on the ground, ready to run. They had a little group of about thirty out in the open, unable to run for fear of being killed, shot in the back. It was one of these that Fintii strode forward to question. Havoc took a hold of the woman by the torso, squeezing her until she screamed, and her ribs could be heard to crack. Then he topped. "Where is he?!" Fintii demanded. "Where is that human brat?"

"I don't know!" the woman gasped, then shrieked again as Havoc shook her injured body. She kicked feebly at him.

"TELL ME!"

The female kept up her claim to not know where the boy had been, or anything about him...Havoc flexed his massive, powerful muscles, and crushed her with his bare hands. He had not killed anyone in a long time, and now was back in the game. He was enjoying it.

Mumm-Ra watched all this gleefully, enjoying fighting once more as much as the Lunattack brute. He watched as the Lunattacks caught and systematically interrogated the villagers, killing those who did not give them information. Eventually, by violence, threatening the children that had been caught in the town square, by killing, then were able to find out the one man in the village that might know where the boy had gone to. Leaving the Nai in the town square to run, or to cower, or tend their injuries and cry over their dead, the group of evil headed for the east side.

Part 25: It Begins

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