55

"Where is Orion?" Jaguarin fretted, pacing his living room floor. He was supposed to meet Orion tonight, as they would be going to the landing pad together the next morning, not long after dawn. He had gone over to Orion's home, but there was no one there.

"I'm sure that he will be here, Jaguarin," his older sister said, trying to calm the agitated young man. "Please try to calm down."

"But we leave for the landing pad before dawn... I'd feel a lot better if he were here." Jaguarin sighed. "I'm giving him an hour. Then I'm going out to look for him."

His sister nodded. "Well until then, relax, all right? Getting all worked up is not going to do you any good."

"Yeah, yeah," Jaguarin grumbled. His whole family was together, as they would all be on the same ship.

----

As deep into the forest as possible, a group of four Thunderians dragged Orion into a clearing near a stream. They splashed the cold water onto his face until he woke, groaning, his head throbbing. His eyes were unfocused for a few seconds, and he blinked them, trying to get his vision to clear.

Falcon! He had heard Falcon cry out before he lost consciousness! He tried to sit up, but yelped in startlement as a heavy boot kicked him in the side, sending him sprawling onto the leaves, looking shocked. He blinked upwards for the first time and was not entirely surprised to see Leodin's unattractive visage glaring down at him. "What in the hell!" Orion growled, clenching his fists and getting to his feet before they could stop him. Pumar and the woman darted forward and grabbed Orion's arms. "Hey, let go of me, you miserable-"

His words were cut off as Leodin sank his fist into Orion's midsection. Not having expected it, Orion doubled over, the breath knocked out of him.

Leodin grabbed Orion's mane and jerked his head backwards, and Orion had a horrible recollection of when Blackmoor and his taskmasters had finally caught up with him, right before he left Plundaar. Seemed he couldn't leave any planet without getting beat up, he thought giddily.

"We came to a decision, traitor," Leodin said, his face twisted into a chilly grin. "We decided to give up your slot on the ship to a real Thunderian."

"What?" Orion growled, giving the man an incredulous look. "What the hell! What'd I ever do to you to make you hate me so much?"

Leodin snarled, getting his face very close to Orion's. "You're not Thunderian anymore, you mixed breed freak," he said to him. "If you once were, living on that trash-heap of a planet has leeched it from you. You're not one of us, you even talk like a damned Mutant! And I've heard that you've even got friends over there. That makes you nothing but a traitor in my book!" He spat in Orion's face.

Orion recoiled, snarled, and lunged from the grasp of the two Thunderians that had a hold of him. Taken by surprise, they lost their grip, and Orion tackled the man that had just spit in his face and called him a traitor. The two men fell to the ground, fighting, and after a few moments, the other three Thunderians jumped into the brawl.

Orion was strong and tough, but he couldn't fight off three people. Not when two of them were miners, and stronger than he, and all four of them were bigger than he was.

Pumar and the other man finally pulled Orion off of Leodin, and the foursome began beating the daylights out of their captive.

Back in the village, Jaguarin still paced. Something was wrong, and he intended to find out. "I'll be back," he told his worried family.

Jaguarin checked out Orion's house once more, and saw only his backpack, just as before. He'd take that to his place and leave a simply phrased note so that if Orion wondered, he would know where his things were. And then, having brought a compass so he didn't get lost in the woods, he searched.

It was an hour and a half later that Jaguarin found Falcon, lying unconscious in the dirt. He was breathing, at least, and Jaguarin knelt by the young animal. "Oh jeez, this wasn't done by any animal." Jaguarin bit his lip,. Time was running out, and if he didn't find Orion soon, he would miss their transport, and would have to try and get on a later one. The next one leaving from this village wasn't leaving for a month, and the last was leaving three weeks after that!

Trying not to panic, shoving thoughts of missing ships and being left behind to the back of his mind, Jaguarin scooped the little hyena off the ground and ran for his place. He picked up Orion's pack on the way back and headed into town.

"Oh by the lords," said Kailee, Jaguarin's sister, when he brought Falcon in. "What happened? Isn't that Orion's pet?"

"Yeah," Jaguarin said through gritted teeth. He wasn't used to trekking through forest with a heavy pack on his back and an animal in his arms. He dropped the pack to the floor and lay Falcon down on the couch. "Someone's hit him in the head, and Orion was nowhere to be found. That worries me. He could be anywhere in that forest."

Kailee winced, stroking the animal's fur. "Should we take him to the vet? Oh wait...he won't be in his office, will he? He leaves on tomorrow's ship also."

Jaguarin nodded. "Yeah I know...get some water, will you? I'm going to try and wake him."

Kailee nodded and ran to get a pitcher of water. Their parents were already asleep, wanting to get some rest before they had to leave. Jaguarin sprinkled some water on Falcon's face a few times, hoping the little animal would wake. Growing frustrated, he finally filled a small glass with the cold water, and dumped it on Falcon's face.

With a yelp of pain and surprise, Falcon woke, shaking his head, and whimpering in confusion. He fought for a moment to stand, then collapsed back down on the couch, dizzied by the blow to the head. Jaguarin felt bad, but he was growing more and more convinced that Orion was dead, or would be that way unless he found him. "easy, little one," he said softly, gently stroking the cub's fur. "Take it easy for a minute, okay?"

Falcon's nose was sniffing the air frantically. No Orion! But someone he knew, the cat-person that was Orion's friend. Falcon whimpered again, trying once more to stand, and this time succeeding. He whimpered anxiously once more, jumping unsteadily down from the couch and turning around in a circle.

Jaguarin bit his lip. He had an idea that Falcon could probably trace Orion, but how long would it take? Jaguarin woke his parents and told them what was going on. "I've got to go look for him," Jaguarin said.

"But our ship leaves in..." His father checked the chronometer on the wall. "It leaves in two hours! What if you don't find him by then?"

"Then...you need to tell them to give my spot to one of the stand-bys." There were plenty of people on standby, wanting to go out on an earlier ship.

His whole family protested, and Jaguarin had expected this. His mother's eyes widened. "Jaguarin, no! What if you don't get a transport out?"

Jaguarin shook his head. "I will. I will get a transport out. This is only the first wave, and they're still working overtime to get the other escape ships made. I'll be all right." He growled, holding up a hand, trying to still further complaints. "Damn it, you guy don't get it! Orion's the best friend I had in childhood, and he still is. I won't abandon him. He's had enough shit happen in his life. Now if he'd lying dead or dying somewhere, I want to do whatever I can for him! If we're not there by the time the ship is to leave, tell them to go without me, and I will get us another transport!"

Kailee finally nodded. "Mom, dad...he's right. I mean come on, the Code of Thundera, remember that? Loyalty and all? The Code means bullcrap if you're willing to abandon it at the first sign of danger."

This finally convinced Jaguarin's parents. "All right, son," his father said, hugging him. "Go on and find your friend. And we'll see you in a couple of months, all right?" His mother had burst into tears and thrown her arms around him.

Jaguarin nodded, hugging them both back. "Now come on guys, let go. The sooner I go, the sooner I find him." He smiled. "I love you both." He broke from them and gave his sister a big squeeze, knowing that he likely wouldn't see them for a few months. And if things went badly, he wouldn't see them ever. "Love ya, sis. Take care of yourself, all right? Go ahead and leave mine and Orion's bags here, We'll get them when we get back."

Looking once more at his family, Jaguarin opened the door, grabbed a flashlight from his backpack, and followed Falcon back towards the woods.

Deep in the woods, Orion had stopped fighting. He'd take a lot of bad hits, and was not conscious enough to fight. He only hoped that someone would find Falcon. The little band of bastards had taken turns with him. Two would hold him while the other two beat him with their fists and feet, sometimes using a sturdy branch they'd found on the forest floor. Then they would take a round holding Orion so the others could have a go at hitting him.

And now, as Orion was on the verge of losing consciousness, they dropped him to the ground, and kicked him, over and over. Orion finally blacked out, bleeding from the mouth and nose, and a dozen other places where they'd hit him.

"Come on," Pumar finally said, checking his timepiece. "It's nearly dawn...we'd better get out of here."

"What about..." the woman said, gesturing to the unconscious Thunderian.

Leodin shrugged, kicking Orion once more in the midsection. Then he took the branch and hit him hard in the head, to ensure that he didn't wake up any time soon. "Leave him. There're enough predators around here. Leave him for the animals. Come on, let's go back to town before anyone discovers we're missing."

"He leaves tomorrow. What'll happen when he doesn't show up?" Pumar asked.

Leodin shrugged. "You heard the mayor. If people miss their ships, they have to wait until they can get on another one. But I highly doubt he'll live this long. Come on. Our own ship leaves in a month. We need to start preparing for it."

And they left, leaving Orion lying on the leaves.

Dawn had come and gone, and still, Jaguarin and Falcon hadn't found the missing cat. Jaguarin bit his lip, hearing, even from deep within the forest, that his ship had left. He wondered who had gotten his and Orion's spots. "Good luck, guys," he whispered to his family, hoping that he would see them again in a couple of months, tops. But no, it would be more than that. The planet they were going to was three months away, and he'd have to be in stasis so that the ships were not loaded down with supplies.

Jaguarin was getting discouraged. It was clear that Falcon had some sort of trail, but the cub was not very good at tracking by scent, and he still staggered here and there from the head wound he'd taken.

But somewhere around midmorning, Falcon's ears suddenly perked up, and he wildly began sniffing the ground. The cub took off running, and Jaguarin took off after him, his hope renewed. It seemed Falcon had picked something up!

Five minutes later, Jaguarin ran from behind a tree to see Falcon whimpering, nudging an unmoving figure with his nose. He spat a curse, upon seeing that it was, indeed, Orion. He knelt by the cat, worriedly checking his pulse. He could see that Orion was breathing. Rather erratically, but at least he was breathing. Jaguarin couldn't find a pulse, but then he was no medic, and always had trouble finding it, even on himself. Damn, what should he do? He couldn't carry Orion, and he wasn't about to drag him across the rough forest floor.

Looking around, Jaguarin decided he would try and make a travois, as Orion had taught in his survival classes. As he looked around for some branches to use, he found one that was a disturbing shade of red at the end nearby, and he realized they'd probably beaten Orion with it. He wondered briefly if the bastards the man had warned Orion about after that one class had had anything to do with this. He would mention it to the authorities.

But for now, Jaguarin worked quickly, trying to make a working travois. A half hour later, he was dragging Orion towards the town on it.

At the edge of town, he hesitated. What if the ones who had done this to Orion saw him? He decided to leave Orion inside his house, run into town, and get someone from the hospital to take Orion there in a hovercar. Jaguarin could ride along with them.

Setting the travois down inside the one-room house, Jaguarin ran for town.

Chapter 56

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