Chapter 2 of Signal in the Sky


Maps And Legends
By Purrsia Kat



The Mutants stood by mutely as Mumm-Ra pondered the news of their most recent defeat. The deceptively frail looking mummy paced near the bubbling cauldron, his red cloak hiding his hideous face. When Mumm-Ra finally spoke, Slithe, Jackalman, and Monkian collectively jumped; their small minds had wandered amid the short silence. His gravelly voice jarred them back to reality.
"Simpletons, pay heed..." the ancient villain began, "It is only with the help of mighty Mumm-Ra, ever-living source of evil, that you will defeat the ThunderCats."
"B-but, Mumm-Ra, it was--" sputtered Monkian.
"SILENCE!" Mumm-Ra's rage-filled voice echoed through the decrepit Black Pyramid. "You had them beaten and still lost. You had the Sword of Omens in your hands, but where is it now?! You had the Lord of the ThunderCats on death's threshold, yet he still lives! And now the ThunderCats have even regained a member of their clan. None of that would've happened if I had been made aware of those events. Your half-baked Mutant schemes fail miserably time after time."
"It wasn't our fault, Mumm-Ra. Those damned cats have got nine livesss. If you're so sssmart, let's hear your plan, yessss?" Slithe boldly taunted.
"Oh yes," Mumm-Ra replied with an sinister chuckle, "I have a plan. I'll show you fools how to skin a cat."




Felina awoke with a start, her adjusting eyes unable to recognize the foreign surroundings. Soon the last vestiges of sleep evaporated from her mind and her confusion lifted. She recalled how she had reluctantly agreed the prior evening to staying at Cats Lair. Not that she minded being among her own kind, but she was not looking forward to explaining that she didn't want to stay.
It was not quite first light but Felina decided to rise anyway, careful not to wake Bela, who was comfortably curled at the foot of the bed. She walked softly to the small desk on the opposite wall where the Book of Omens lay open amid a pile of old books. Being from a long line of Thunderian scholars, it was her job to study the ancient tongue of her ancestors, thereby enabling her to translate and interpret the sacred Book of Omens. She often stayed up late and rose early to study. Since her studies were interrupted by the destruction of Thundera, she lagged behind in the volume of knowledge one her age should have mastered. It didn't help matters that the Book's text was latent with vagaries and riddles, all of which were designed to hinder outsiders from gaining the secrets of the ThunderCat power.
She was concentrating on her studies so intently, she didn't hear the knock on her chamber door. Bela stretched lazily and eyed her engrossed charge.
"Enter," Bela announced, taking the task upon herself.
Felina startled and clasped the collar of her thin nightgown. Cheetara breezily entered the chamber. The cheetah flipped a tuft of her blonde mane off her shoulder.
"Snarf has been trying to call you to breakfast," she informed the lioness. "Don't you think you could study better on a full stomach?" Cheetara's silken voice held a timbre of amusement.
"Yes," Felina replied. "I guess I get a little carried away with the Book sometimes."
"No need to apologize. It's a great heritage you carry. It's a shame you didn't know your mother, as it's like seeing a ghost -- watching you sit there poring over that book so seriously," Cheetara reflected.
"So you knew mother?"
Cheetara nodded. "Leonda was one of the best scholars in the history of the lion clan."
Talking of her mother made a gaping hole of emptiness open inside Felina, and so she wished to discuss her no more.
"I will dress and be along shortly," Felina stated dismissively.
When she entered the dining hall, the ThunderCats had already begun their meal. They didn't seem to notice as she silently slipped into an empty seat. She observed the Thunderians she knew as a child. She noted almost immediately, the romantic energy between Cheetara and Tygra. Their tender glances and subtle touches spoke volumes. She had regarded Tygra with a brotherly reverence on Thundera and thought it wonderful to see him so clearly in love. She hoped the fates would bless her with such a love.
"You know, you don't get a lot of nourishment by looking at the food," Panthro wisecracked.
Felina felt a rush of blood warm her cheeks beneath her fur. She reached for a steaming plate of Berbil Berry pancakes and scolded herself for being such a daydreamer.
"After breakfast, you can join WilyKit and me on a hunt. It's going to be Kit's first time out, so it should be pretty exciting," remarked Cheetara.
Felina knew it was the female cats' job to bring in the big game. Since she was a guest in the Lair, it was only right that she contribute and nodded in agreement.
"I must warn you though...my archery skills are a bit rusty," she confessed.
"Mine are flawless!" WilyKit bragged excitedly. "I'm gonna bring in a 200 pound elk on my first hunt. Just wait and see."




Felina had no luck with her hunt thus far, not that she could blame her borderline archery skills. She could scarcely find a creature to test them on. Cheetara had already downed a hefty wildebeest and she was already back out with WilyKit to scout for another to the south. Now, as late morning gave way to afternoon, Felina moved farther out to a savannah northwest of the Lair. She vowed she would not return for lunch without a kill. The lioness' spirits lifted when she entered the savannah to see a large herd of antelope leisurely grazing. Felina began to prowl through the tall amber grass, hoping that closing some distance would make up for what she lacked in accuracy with her bow. She smoothed the skirt of her purple uniform, and slowly drew herself up to a sitting position. As she reached into the quiver for an arrow, a shadow passed over her. A cloud of dust rose where the frightened antelope herd fled amid thunderous hove beats.
Before Felina could even comprehend what had caused the herd's flight, a creature that had to have crawled from the bowels of hell appeared before her. His menacing cackle sent a wave of terror into the very core of her heart. The muscular creature floated before her, his glowing red eyes terrifyingly hypnotic.
"The hunter becomes the hunted," the beast growled.
Felina shook off her fear long enough to raise the bow and fire at her foe, the arrow embedding itself in his chest. Her relief turned to utter amazement as the hideous demon pulled the arrow out and snapped it in two, without a wound to show for its efforts. When she tried to run, he shot her with energy beams from his clawed hands, knocking her out.
"Yes, I will show those Mutants just how one skins a cat."




Lion-O stood at the top of the steps outside the threshold of Cats Lair. He had intended to take a break after his hard work cleaning the wildebeest carcass when he spied Cheetara returning in the Thundertank with yet another kill.
"Well, Snarf, so much for a break," Lion-O sighed.
Tygra, who had stepped outside to join the pair, could tell his lord was still fatigued from the poisoning he had suffered the previous day. "I'll clean this one, Lion-O. It will be a great opportunity to show WilyKat how it's done. You and Snarf go grab lunch."
Lion-O made no effort to hide his relief. "I owe you one, friend. C'mon Snarf, let's grab a bite!"
"I knew I forgot something, snarf snarf," Snarf moaned. "I forgot to make lunch! Looks like we're stuck with leftovers, Lion-O."
Cheetara and WilyKit bounded up the steps, leaving the slain wildebeest atop the Thunder Tank.
"How'd you do, Kit?" Tygra inquired.
"Aw, shucks, I haven't even fired a shot yet," WilyKit replied with annoyance.
"You've just got to stop clomping through the fields like a herd of elephants, Kit," laughed Cheetara. "You'll get the hang of--"
The growl from the Sword of Omens at Lion-O's side interrupted the conversation. He lifted the blade from its perch within the claw shield and looked through the Eye. "Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight." As commanded, the Eye of Thundera revealed a vision to Lion-O.
"It's Felina. The Sword showed me that Mumm-ra ambushed her and carried her to what looked like a maze of old ruins."
"That sounds like the legendary ruins of Artis," Tygra mused. "It's a maze alright. Legend has it that whomever enters the ruins is doomed to wander there for eternity."
"Are you sure, Tygra?" Cheetara wondered.
"Yes. The warrior maidens warned me of those ruins before."
"Well, let's head for the Tree Top Kingdom. Maybe they know of someway to get Felina out of there," decided Lion-O.
With that, the group headed for the Thunder Tank. Tygra and Lion-O tossed the carcass off the tank. "Tell Panthro to take a break from repairing the Lair and take care of this wildebeest," Lion-O told Snarf.
"Aw, I want to come with you, snarf snarf."
Ignoring the fuzzy creature's protests, the mighty cats proceeded to pile into the vehicle. Bela came bursting out of the Lair and ran to Snarf. "Where are they going?? I just spent all afternoon making lunch!" Bela exclaimed as she watched the Tank disappear over the horizon.
"No one appreciates a snarf," they whined in unison.




"No," Willa glumly explained. "Your new friend is doomed. There is no way to bring her out of Artis without going mad yourselves." The Queen of the Warrior Maidens shook her head sadly.
"What do you mean, go mad?" Tygra asked.
"The legend says that nobody has ever left the ruins because an ancient curse placed upon the greedy Artisians. This curse made it so whoever enters the city goes insane if they try to leave. They are doomed to wander the city's endless maze forever. The greedy fools therefore had all their riches but could never leave their city."
"Thank you for the information, Willa. Come on ThunderCats, let's go back to the Lair. We need to come up with some other plan," Tygra suggested.
"But--" Lion-O began to protest, but stopped himself when he caught the look in his elder's eyes. Though he was Lord of the ThunderCats, Lion-O was wise enough to respect the insight of his elders.
As they loaded back into the Thunder Tank, Nayda, Willa's younger sister, rushed toward them.
"I overheard your conversation with Willa," the young woman explained in a rush. "Some time ago, an old Wolo gave me some ancient maps of the city of Artis. With them, you should be able to conquer the maze." She handed the yellowed, rolled maps to Lion-O.
"Thank you Nayda," he replied.
The ThunderCats sped away toward the ruins. Nayda stood in the breezy wake of the Tank, her eyes glowing a deep red and an uncharacteristic cackle escaped her lips.




"In the Sword's vision, I saw Mumm-Ra take Felina to a domed building," remarked Lion-O as he and his comrades made their way through the maze of ruins. The city was comprised of walled paths that wound around hundreds of decayed buildings.
Tygra studied one of the maps. "It looks like we need to go to the structure at the center of these ruins." The others followed the orange tiger's lead as he forged the way through the crazy twists and turns of the maze. Finally, the mossy building loomed before them.
"Curse, shmursh. This was easy," WilyKit laughed.
"Don't speak so soon, Kit. Mumm-ra may have this place laden with traps," cautioned Cheetara.
Tygra was the first to pass through the stone threshold, his bolo whip drawn. The interior was simply one large open space, and he easily located Felina. She lay shackled to an altar at the room's center.
"Felina!" exclaimed Tygra.
"You shouldn't have come," she replied weakly. "It's a trap."
Sure an ambush was certain, the foursome proceeded to approach the altar with senses heightened.
"Are you alright?" asked a concerned Cheetara, who was now beside her.
"These bonds...are....Thundranium," Felina responded.
With a simple command, Lion-O shot energy bolts from the Sword of Omens that shattered her bonds. Cheetara and Tygra helped the fatigued lioness to her feet.
"What trap has Mumm-Ra set for us?" asked Lion-O.
"If you're referring to that mummified creep, you're already in his trap. We're stuck in these ruins I'm afraid."
"But we have maps, Felina," WilyKit declared proudly. "Ole bone bag wasn't counting on that!"
"Those maps may have got you in here, but they won't help us on the way out...there's literally a magical curse on this place that makes you go mad if you try to leave."
"There's got to be a way," Lion-O said with determination.
"Maybe if we don't walk through the maze, but rather over it, we can circumvent this curse," suggested Tygra.
WilyKit wrinkled her nose. "What do you mean?"
"We have Lion-O climb to the top of one of the taller buildings and use his claw shield line to hoist us out of here. After all, Mumm-Ra must have escaped by flying out of here..."
"Let's try it!" Lion-O agreed as he dashed out the door. He decided to try a nearby tower. However, no matter how he tried to scale it, the stone crumbled to dust beneath his feet and claws. "It's no use!" He declared after exhausting himself with numerous attempts.
Night was falling and the thought of spending the night in the silent, creepy ruins wasn't appealing to anyone.
"There's only one thing left to do..." Lion-O raised the Sword of Omens above his head. "Thunder, Thunder---" he began.
"No Lion-O," interrupted Tygra. "All that will accomplish is calling Panthro and WilyKat into this trap. We must find another way."
"Maybe I can run fast enough to escape the spell and get help somehow," offered Cheetara.
"It's worth a try," Lion-O conceded.
Tygra shot Cheetara a worried glance. He knew someone had to do something about the situation, but he hated to see his love throw herself into the unknown. The thought of losing her was more than he could bear. He knew too well that the years they've shared as lovers marked him for a lifetime. Tygra would never be the same without her, but with the wars they waged with their enemies becoming more frequent and violent, that possibility was becoming all to real. Such was the price of love.
"Give me the maps, Tygra," Cheetara said softly, placing her hand gently upon one of his broad shoulders.
The tiger reluctantly pressed the papers into her palm, letting his hands linger over hers for a moment. He so wanted to taste her lips, yet his innate shyness kept him from making such a display of affection in front of the others.
"Go," he simply stated instead.


After studying the maps thoroughly, Cheetara knelt down into the racer's starting stance and prepared herself for the run of her life. An instant later, she was off and running, so much like a bolt of lightning. She found it difficult to reach her top speed with so many twists and turns. She made it no farther than a hundred yards through the maze before wild hallucinations began to grip her mind like a fragile egg in a vice. Cheetara dropped and gripped her head in agony. The ruins no longer loomed before her. In their place were horrible images of war and slaughter, ripped from her own worst nightmares. Cheetara was helpless to relive the real tragedies of her past; her parents' deaths at the hands of Mutants, Thundera's destruction. And those imagined terrors that before only occupied the farthest corners of her mind; Tygra's torture and ultimate death, losing a future cub to Mutant violence, her entire race losing its struggle for survival. All of these visions appearing so real that Cheetara was fast losing her grip on reality. Madness began to choke the very breath from her.




Hearing the cheetah's cries of pain, the other ThunderCats began to rush through the ruins, seeming to forget the curse that marked this evil place. They made it half the distance to Cheetara before their own delusions put a stranglehold on their minds.
"Must resist these images," Tygra thought, trying to gather his mental energy so that he could channel his gift of mind power. "If I can just---" Tygra messaged his temples and concentrated on abolishing the horrid visages from his head along with the agonized cries of his nearby comrades.
Tygra felt all feeling drain from his limbs as he focused his energies. venturing well into the depths of his psyche. He was strong enough to resist the stifling images of the evil curse, and hoped he could create an illusion of his own that would save not only himself, but his fellow ThunderCats. From his memory of the maps, his mind was able to project a vision of the ruins. Gradually, Tygra's illusion began to overpower that of the evil spell. Soon, they all followed a marble sized glowing orb that guided them out of the maze.
Cheetara was the first to step from the imprisoning walls of Artis. The glowing orb disappeared, snapping the she-cat back to reality. She turned back to see her friends exiting the ruins. Tygra, exhausted from such extensive use of his gift, collapsed on the spot. Cheetara and Lion-O rushed to help their friend to his feet.
"You saved our lives, Tygra." Lion-O said, his awe at the elder cat's mental powers apparent.



Mumm-Ra stood by the churning cauldron, not believing the scene before him.
"How did that accursed tiger have the strength of mind to defeat the evil spells of the ancients?? It's just not possible!" Amid his angry thoughts, he became aware of the Mutants' snickering at his expense. To loose to the ThunderCats again was a hard enough blow, but to endure the sting of Mutant ridicule---the mockery of these morons who would forget to breathe if you didn't smack them alongside the head occasionally---was too much to bear.
"Looks like the kitties still have their hides," giggled Jackalman, as he watched the cauldron's image of the ThunderCats walking away from Artis.
"Get out," spat Mumm-Ra. "Get out of here before I skin the hides off your backs!" In a rage, the mummified devil priest sent a barrage of shock beams at the suddenly frightened Mutants. They exited hastily, fearing they'd pushed him too far this time.





"After a day like today, I need a drink, snarf snarf," declared Snarf, sulking on a barstool inside the Balkan Bar. He was nearly yelling to be heard above the din of the jukebox and lively conversations.
Lion-O tried to mock concern but couldn't keep a grin form erupting, destroying his facade. "What do you mean, Snarf? You weren't the one trapped in the ruins of hell today," he noted as he downed a shot of whiskey.
"Don't be so sure, Lion-O." Snarf looked around to make sure Felina and Bela were out of earshot.
"Snarf, snarf...being trapped in a kitchen with that she-snarf qualifies as hell in my book." He took a lengthy swig of his Berbil Berry schnapps.
"Aw, it can't be that bad, old friend. Actually, I kinda thought ya might like having a female around," Lion-O said with a wink.
"No thank you!" Snarf declared, catching the lion's broad hint. "That Bela is a tyrant! She's rearranged my kitchen---I can't find anything. And she threw out all my spices, claiming they're too old, snarf snarf. She's just too bossy, Lion-O."
"Sounds like you two are too much alike," Lion-O noted with amusement.
"What?!" Snarf screeched incredulously.
Panthro sauntered up to the bar with Felina in tow. "What's all the heated conversation about? We're here to relax. After the day you all had, and my busting my ass to get the Lair back into shape, let's keep the topics light, eh?"
"It's a shame Cheetara and Tygra are missing out on this. But I suppose Tygra doesn't feel much like drinking," Felina commented.
"Bartender!" barked Panthro. "Give me a glass of moonshine straight.... on the rocks is for wimps," he said as an aside to his friends. "What'll you have, Felina?"
"Oh...uh," she faltered. "To tell you the truth, I've never had a drink before," she admitted sheepishly.
"Never?" scoffed Panthro. "Well, you're starting today. Bartender! Add on a shot of tequila."
"Gee, ya should've started her out with something less hard. Maybe a beer, snarf, snarf."
"Bah! Just ignore him," the panther advised a nervous Felina. "Nobody should listen to a drunken Snarf."
"Ha! Nobody listens to me anyway..." muttered Snarf as he slurped the last of the schnapps from the glass.
"So what's your story, Felina? You've really never had a drink?" inquired Panthro.
"Well, I was just a kid on Thundera, so that goes without saying. And the short time I've been an adult, I just haven't had opportunity to imbibe I guess."
The old Balkan bartender slammed a shot glass onto the bar in front of her, placing a salt shaker and lemon slice beside it.
"Opportunity is knockin', kid....drink up!" Panthro pushed the shot toward her.
She eyed the glass nervously. "What's the salt and lemon for?"
"Boy, you are a green one," teased Panthro.
"Sprinkle some salt on the side of your hand..." instructed Lion-O. "Really," he said when she hesitated. She did as told then looked to her lord for further orders. "Now, lick the salt, slam the shot, suck the lemon."
Felina cast doubting glances at both male cats. "Are you serious?" When they nodded in reply, she picked up the shot glass and decided it would be best to just get it over with. She licked her hand clean of the salt, quickly following with the tequila. Her eyes widened as the amber liquid burned a trail down her throat and into her stomach. She coughed fiercely as she struggled for composure.
Panthro let out a wave of rolling laughter. "Here, you forgot the lemon." He presented the slice of sour fruit to Felina. She grabbed the wedge from his mighty claws and whipped it back at him. Lemon juice sprayed as the fruit bounced off of Panthro's bald head. As Lion-O and Snarf erupted into laughter, the panther couldn't help but join them in spite of himself.




Maybe he's caught in the legend
Maybe he's caught in the mood
Maybe these Maps and Legends
Have been misunderstood

--Maps And Legends, R.E.M.

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