Part 1: The Festival of Light
By RoariCat
"You know," Wilykit supposed as she dragged a metal comb through her auburn mane, deliberately slicking the black center-stripe into place. "It's not particularly wily to get in with an invitation."
"Well it's not really wily getting caught every year either." retorted Wilykat, still in slight disbelief that his sister could spend so long hogging the mirror.
"We still have to spend the whole night with his Royal Highness." Kit finally moved away from the mirror, smoothing her hair for the last time.
"We can ditch him in there someplace." Kat dismissed her with a flick of his hand, checking his own appearance quickly. Most of the matron snarfs had agreed they'd never seen the wily twins as clean before in their lives. Pretty much all of them also agreed that they would come home unrecognisable under dirt.
"I guess it's time to go," Wilykit prompted from the door. "Come on."
"Yeah yeah," Kat sniffed primly. "Wouldn't want to keep his lordship waiting."
Waiting was all Lion-O had been doing. Each day had come and gone with agonizing slowness, it was as though someone was turning all the clocks back five minutes for every two that passed by.
Snarf couldn't even interest the boy in any games, and that Friday had dragged all the toys out of the cupboard - leaving him with a ridiculous mess and Lion-O staring out the window, oblivious to it.
"Where are they?" he sighed for the millionth time. Snarf had given up answering, instead he picked lethargically at the board games and dolls. He intended to clear them up, but Lion-O's impatience and frustration was infectious.
"Look!" Lion-O pointed. A stream of locals had formed a queue at the gates, which weren't yet open.
"Snarf, do you think the cubs are out there somewhere?" Snarf asked, his nose twitching as he glanced over Lion-O's shoulder.
Lion-O didn't need another hint, he hopped through the scattered obstacles on the floor and immediately bounded out towards the gate.
Once there, it was apparent the kittens hadn't made it to the front of the line. The gate keepers were slowly checking each ticket, and plenty of silly hopefuls had turned up without one.
"Best stand over there." one said gruffly to Lion-O. "In case they get rough."
Obediently, Lion-O stood a little behind the open gate - peering through the vintage bars, his fingers wrapped around them. Fifteen minutes came and went before he spotted the familiar faces in the crowd. Wilykit and Kat were playing some sort of skipping game, to keep themselves amused as the queue went on. Every few seconds, one of their heads bobbed above the height of the other attendees.
"Wilykat!" called Lion-O, jumping up on to the gate and waving brightly. "Kit!"
Wilykit appeared and stayed, wobbling around a little. She waved back, but was soon distracted as Wilykat lost control beneath her. They snaked around in the crowd together, inspiring cries of unrepeatable words wherever they ended up, before sinking below Lion-O's line of vision.
"Hurry up!" Lion-O grinned as they pushed their way through the crowd, disregarding whatever politeness had prevented them from doing so before. "This is going to be great!"
Meanwhile...
Jaga, advisor in chief and protector of Lord Claudis, was not in attendance of the festivities. He was in a catacomb, far below the palace - staring at a short, blunt sword. The room was barren, only a pedastal in the center disturbed the flatness of the decor. On top sat the Sword of Omens.
Jaga was the only ThunderCat left. There had been little need for the elite of Thundera to band together, at the end of their last battle in their final war - the Thundercats had agreed to split their separate ways and find new destinies. Even now the memories brought a wave of fresh sadness with them, Jaga missed each and every one of his comrades. He wondered if any of them were still alive - dare he try to call them now?
"Sword of Omens," he said hoarsely. "Give me sight beyond sight."
Nothing happened. It was unusual, for although Claudis' father had been the foremost user of the Sword, it had once obeyed Jaga as well. The elder frowned, resisting the urge to scratch his head. Trouble was brewing, for the first time in years - but what source of evil could cause the Sword of Omens to lose it's life?
The Eye of Thundera remained dark, the power that surrounded it - the aura that every honourable thundercat could feel in it's presence - now gone. It was as being present in a tomb, the Eye of Thundera was rotting in a sword-shaped coffin.
"How can this be?" Jaga spoke aloud, as though expecting an answer from the ancients in return. Surely the Eye hadn't died after all these years? Unless... no, it couldn't possibly be. The ghost stories Jaga had heard as a child - they couldn't possibly be true.
Nevertheless, he dropped the sword back into place and fled to his chambers. He had to find his old books, had to reread the legend.
After half an hour of turning relentless pages and scanning every word in the ancient language, Jaga finally uncovered what he was looking for.
"And on the eve of light a darkness will fall; hidden from all eyes; blinding the all seeing; destroying all life..." It went on to describe in lilting verse the horrors and atrocities likely to befall Thundera. Something was waking up. It was a matter of severe urgency, but not even Lord Claudis knew of the confirmed existence of the Sword of Omens.
There was tale of another eye, hidden many miles below the soils of Thundera. It was still just a story, and a long shot - but Jaga had a feeling that it would be his only chance. A sudden, hacking attack of coughing quickly reminded him that he was far too old to pursue it himself. With the Sword of Omens rendered useless, he would need to form another plan to look for this lost artefact. This year he would be giving the festival a miss.
"Wow!"
All three cubs stopped to watch a talented, and rather sweaty fire-eater swallow and flaming sword.
"I wonder if he burns his tongue!" Wilykat was mesmerized as the sword was removed, still burning.
"Don't be silly," Wilykit admonished. "He must have a tongue-protector on." She added knowledgably, ambling on without the boys.
"Let's look this time," she heard Lion-O say. "We'll see if he has a tongue-protector or not."
Kit rolled her eyes. Boys. She was loathe to discover that she and Wilykat hadn't managed to ditch Lion-O at all, even after they sent him the wrong way in the Funhouse. Somehow, the little prince had found them not long after they had gotten away.
Soon she was beyond all the candy stalls and games, and in to an arena of stages. Each stage had a different competition behind held on it, the first she passed was the strong-cat test. Hugely muscled thunderians were trying to lift weights, while the presenter - a wiry looking Ocelot - attempted at all costs to distract them verbally. It seemed rather silly to Wilykit.
Her eyes roved around the area, passing over most of the stands until she spotted the beauty pageant at the end. It didn't take her long to cross the distance, and lean on the fence dreamily. She wished that one day she might win this competition, but for now was content to watch. Looking along the line of thunderian girls, the one at the end stood out the most.
She was a cheetah, tall and slender with spots sprinkled over her back, arms and legs. While the others oohed and aahed at the portly tabby mongrel of a host, she stood with her arms folded and her mouth firmly closed. Most of the time, she refused to even grace the others with a look.
Wilykit offered the cheetah a wide smile, and was delighted when she caught the contestant's eye and received a wink and a mocking eye-roll in response. Apparently, the woman wasn't impressed by the proceedings.
"How about you, spots?" the host approached. Clearly, he had been asking the cheetah a question. It seemed that both she and Wilykit had missed it.
"You promised I wouldn't have to do this." was the icy response from the woman.
"Come on, Cheetara. You're here now, might as well enjoy it."
When it was obvious that the wheedling was going nowhere, the host dropped the case and named the bubbly blonde lioness in the middle as the winner.
There was a short burst of applause, and a few people surged forwards to congratulate the melodramatic girl. When her view had finally cleared again, Wilykit couldn't see Cheetara anywhere.
"Oh well," Kit huffed, scuffing the ground a bit with her toe.
"Come on!" Lion-O's hand snatched at hers. "Wilykat's being chased by that fire-eater!"
To be continued ;).