Chapter 11
A loud noise outside the cave woke Cheetara. She wasn't sure what it was but until Lion-O got better she would have to defend them. The female ThunderCat summoned all her strength and let go of the Lord of the ThunderCats.
Quietly, she made her way to the cave opening. Outside she could see the bushes moving and bright torches were being placed inside the clearing. Extending her bo-staff, Cheetara waited at the entrance to the cave. Then she saw the Berbils and quickly dropped her weapon.
"We're over here!" She croaked and quickly the mechanical teddy bears rushed to her side.
"Thank Jaga!" Snarf shouted running over.
"Cheetara? Is that you?" Rober-Bill asked before Snarf could slip into his worrywart mode.
"Yes." She answered as her voice came back to her. The Berbils rubbed his eyes and looked again. What normally would be a clean, well-groomed ThunderCat appeared to be as Snarf had once said 'what the cat dragged in'. Cheetara was covered in dried mud and her hair and fur were plastered down. The vibrant yellow had been replaced with a very dark brown.
"Where is Lion-O?" Rober-Bill asked snapping back to reality.
"Inside. You have to help me." She said racing back inside. Of course, she made it to the Lord of the ThunderCats first and tried to wake him.
"Lion-O wake up. Our friends are here." The cheetah said. He didn't respond and she gently shook him. Again nothing. The lion's chest was still moving up and down but the lack of response was making her nervous.
Rober-Bill sent some of the others back to the village for a cart. Snarf had raced back to Cat's Lair to get a hold of the other ThunderCats. The unconscious lion was impossible to carry all the way back to the fortress even for twenty Berbils and Cheetara was in no state to do it either.
"Why won't he wake up?" The cheetah asked still trying to wake him.
"I don't know but the others will be back soon and we'll get him to Cat's Lair." Rober-Bill promised.
"Where's Snarf?" She asked.
"I sent him to get the others." The Berbil said.
"But they're out in space." Cheetara moaned.
"What about Bob?" Rober-Bill asked. The female ThunderCat had forgotten all about him. Apparently they hadn't traveled far enough to find him.
"He uh…" Luckily the other Berbils arrived with the cart and they loaded Lion-O up onto it. The Unicorn Guardians had allowed two of their magnificent creatures to help pull the vehicle to its destination.
Once the journey to Cat's Lair had been made, Lion-O was put on a gurney and wheeled to the sick bay. Snarf hooked him up to the machines as Tyrga had instructed. The tiger had said that Bob should be able to help him and Snarf told him that he didn't know where the Ultimate ThunderCat was; there was no time for an explanation.
Fortunately, the others were on their way back from New Thundera. Unfortunately, it would take them ten hours to get back to Third Earth. In the mean time, the medicine woman by the name of Rose from the Treetop Warrior Maidens would have to help them.
A search party had been sent out to look for Bob. Though she had known what the outcome would be, Cheetara figured it would hopefully allow her to avoid any questions about him. Snarf was in constant contact with the Feliner and that too allowed her to not be questioned.
The medicine woman had looked over Lion-O and decided that his body had gone into a protective coma of sorts to regain all the blood he had lost. She had asked about the seared section of Lion-O's leg and Cheetara had said that he had used the Sword of Omens to seal up the wound. Rose tried to press for more info but she couldn't get any.
The two women had cleaned all the mud off of Lion-O but his uniform would have to be removed. There would be no problem with the boots or top half of his outfit but the bottom half… Eventually, Snarf was called in to handle that part of the business.
About half and hour later, Cheetara emerged from a hot shower. All traces of dried mud and blood had been washed down the drain. Or at least that is what the cheetah tried to believe.
She now sat on another bed in the sick bay having her injuries looked at. Rose applied some butterfly bandages over the cut on the back of Cheetara's hand.
"Thank you for all your help." The female ThunderCat said.
"Its no trouble at all. You would do the same for us. How long until your friends arrive?" Rose answered.
"Another eight hours." Cheetara responded.
"I suggest you figure out what story you are going to tell them." The Warrior Maiden said flatly.
"Excuse me?" Cheetara asked.
"Its quite obvious that you used a sword on someone and Lion-O has a large wound in his leg. Now since you stayed with him the wound probably wasn't intentional but somehow he aggravated you enough to try to kill him." Rose told her.
"I would never kill Lion-O!" The cheetah raised her voice.
"Then who did you stab?" Rose asked. At this, Cheetara remained silent. She didn't know what to do.
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Out in the forest, the Berbils continued to search for Bob. It had been relayed to them that the Tower of Omens was empty and that weapons were missing. Rober-Bill had told his Berbils to keep searching and they were getting tired.
A Berbil by the name of Rober-Tom, sat down on a fallen log to take a break. His little mechanical joints were killing him. Suddenly, he felt something sticky on his leg and he stood up. Holding his torch closer to see what was on his legs, Rober-Tom saw what looked like tree sap.
"Oh great this will take forever to get off." He muttered to himself. But then he took a closer look at it. He couldn't remember tree sap being a dark red. Bringing his torch closer to the log, he noticed that what he thought was a branch sticking out was a sword and the log turned out to be a dead body; to be more specific, a dead ThunderCat.