Chapter Five
Yeek flies all night long carrying Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla, and they have yet to spot the wizards fortress. The sun begins to rise over the eastern horizon, and they know that time is running out. The zombies will be making it to the gates of Alcatraz soon. And what's worse, their friend Valerie Storm will soon be turning into a zombie herself. Finally, as the sun begins to climb higher into the morning sky, they see what must be the wizards fortress. It's old and falling into disrepair, but it still looks quite formidable. The towers reach up high into the sky, and the walls, while covered with vines and ivy, are still very thick and sturdy looking. Thundarr steers Yeek towards the top of the tallest tower, guessing that that would be where this wizard would keep his main chamber. Down below in the courtyard Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla spot several figures roaming about. By their unsteady gait and stiff movements, the three heroes guess them to be zombies, further proof that they have the right place. Yeek lands on the roof of the tallest tower. The barbarian, sorceress, and mok climb down off of Yeeks back. Thundarr pats the great bird on the rump and Yeek takes to the air once more. Thundarr takes out his Sunsword and ignites the blade.
"Whoever this wizard is," he tells his companions, "I doubt we will take him easily. We must be cautious."
Ookla gives an affirmative growl and knocks an arrow to his mok bow. Instead of his usual stun arrows, he now has a quiver full of razor sharp hunting arrows. He knows what will happen to him if he allows himself to be bitten by one of these zombies, and he has no intention of allowing that to happen.
"It can't possibly be this easy," whispers Ariel, "No wizard would ever leave the roof of their fortress unguarded."
As if in answer, the doors to the tower slide open and out step a host of guards. The three heroes can tell by the guards faces that they are undead, but there's something different about these guards. For one thing they're wearing armor. Of course this could simply be what they were wearing when they died, but that's not all that's unusual about them. They also move with a grace and ease they'd never seen from a zombie before, which were always slow and uncoordinated. And they're all carrying spears, which is highly unusual for zombies according to everything Princess Ariel had ever read on the subject. Ariel points her outstretched hands at two of the guards and blasts them with bolts of magic. Green energy leaps from her hands and incinerates the two guards heads, dropping them to the ground. Ookla shoots one, then another, and then a third with arrows from his great mok longbow. The arrows strike each of them in the head, piercing the brain and destroying the undead things. One of the undead guards tries to skewer Thundarr with its spear, but Thundarr cuts the weapon in two with his Sunsword and then quickly decapitates the undead guard. Another guard tries the same tactic against the barbarian. Just like the first time Thundarr cuts the spear in half, but this time when he tries to decapitate the guard it ducks under the flaming blade of the Sunsword and then sweeps Thundarr's legs out from under him. It quickly draws its sword from its belt and, after a quick and fancy flourish, thrusts the blade towards the barbarian's heart. Thundarr rolls out of the way just in time, causing the thing to stab his blade into the floor roof. Thundarr nips up to his feet and starts slashing his Sunsword at the guard. Amazingly, the guard ducks and dodges every attack. Finally the guard tries to attack with its own sword, but Thundarr's parry cuts right through the guards steel blade and continues on to decapitate its owner.
"Well, that was new," says Ariel, "At least these things die the same as regular zombies."
"Enough talk!" says Thundarr, "We must find this wizard and destroy his talisman quickly, or else Valerie is doomed."
The three of them enter the guard room on the tower roof. Inside they find an elevator. They enter the elevator and Ariel presses a button which she guesses will take them to the wizard's main chamber. The elevator stops and the doors slide open, revealing a long hallway that's literally packed with flesh eating zombies. The zombies turn and begin clambering towards the three heroes. Thinking quickly, Princess Ariel launches a sphere of flames down the hall, which gets larger and larger as it rolls along, engulfing all the zombies in its path, until it eventually explodes as it strikes the wall at the far end of the hall, destroying all of the zombies in their path. She quickly raises a shield to protect the three of them from the flames racing back at them from the explosion.
"Oolka and I could have taken them," says Thundarr.
"We don't have time for long drawn out battles," Ariel reminds him, "Valerie and the people at Alcatraz need us to do this quick."
Ookla roars in agreement.
"Very well," agrees Thundarr, "lead on."
They walk down the corridor, stepping over the charred bodies of the slain zombies as they go. They reach the door and find it locked. What's worse, the locking mechanism is fused from Ariel's fire spell. Thundarr cuts through the door with his Sunsword and Ookla kicks it in. The three of them charge in ready for anything... at least so they thought. But nothing could have prepared them for the sight which was before them. Standing there, in front of a great computer screen, stands the wizard Kublai whom they had conquered before. But that wasn't what they found so surprising. Not the fact that the wizard in question was Kublai, nor even the fact that he had found a way to get his powers back. What has then in such a state of shock was that Kublai was undead. His skin is stretched taught over his skeletal face. His purple clothing hangs off of his skeletal frame as though on a famine victim. His eyes are no longer in their sockets, just deep black holes with baleful red pinpoints of light glaring out at them. Kublai throws his head back and laughs an evil, hollow laugh, devoid of any human emotion.
"Demon dogs!" exclaims Thundarr.
"Kublai!" gasps Ariel, "Impossible!"
Ookla roars in defiance and Kublai laughs even harder.
"No Ariel," says Kublai, "Not impossible. You defeated me as a mortal, but now I am so much more. I am not just a wizard, I am one of the undead. A lich! And you are about to join my army of the dead!"
"Not if I have anything to say about it, wizard!"
Kublai laughs again and presses a button on his control panel. A door off to the side slides open and in walks several skeletal figures, all wearing black uniforms with white trim which Ariel recognizes as being the traditional uniforms of people who study the art of kung fu. They each carry a weapon which is a traditional part of that specific martial art. One of them carries a twin pair of hook swords. Another has a pair of sai. Another has a pair of short wooden poles, about 2' long each, commonly known as Filipino Sticks. One carries a spear, much like what the guards on the roof had. Another carries a weapon that Ariel recognizes as being called nunchuks. One carries a twin pair of swords, much like the one used by the guard Thundarr fought on the roof. Another carries a pair of Chinese broadswords, with curved blades which are wider near the tip. Another carries what is known as a three piece rod, a weapon very similar to nunchuks. The eight undead kung fu masters spread out and the undead wizard, Kublai, zaps the weapons of the first undead warrior with red energy beams from his eyes. The weapons glow red with mystical power. Then the glow spreads to the next warrior's weapons, then the next, then the next, until all eight kung fu masters are wielding enchanted kung fu weaponry. Then one by one they start twirling their weapons about in elaborate patterns. The red glow of their weapons make elaborate patterns in the air. It would be rather pretty if it weren't so ominous. The three undead kung fu masters with swords charge straight for Thundarr. The barbarian works his Sunsword back and forth furiously, desperate to keep the deadly whirling blades at bay. The ones with the bludgeoning weapons head straight for Princess Ariel. The sorceress fires off blast after blast of magical energy at the undead martial artists, but unlike regular zombies they are too quick and agile. They duck and dodge her attacks until they're within striking distance. Ariel conjures a protective magical bubble around herself just in time to stop their nunchuks and Filipino sticks. The two with the spear and the twin sai attack Ookla. The mok grabs the enchanted spear by the shaft and throws its wielder across the room with little effort. Before the other undead martial artist can block, Ookla drives the spear right through the things skull, killing it. Before Ookla can even retract the weapon to use it again, his other opponent attacks him with an amazing flying kick. Ookla becomes bombarded with a flurry of fast paced punches and kicks that he can barely see, let alone anticipate or block. Finally he gets fed up and simply grabs the undead creature by the head with both massive hands and picks it up. Then with hardly an effort Ookla crushes the things skull. With his two opponents defeated, Ookla looks to try to help his friends. He grabs the spear and pulls it free of the corpse's head, or at least he tries to. What he actually succeeds in doing is pulling the corpse's head free of its body. He throws the spear at one of the undead swordsmen battling Thundarr and impales the skull of the one wielding the twin longswords.
The swordsman with the twin hook swords hooks the two blades together and whips them about at Thundarr. Thundarr ducks at the last minute and the weapons wind up accidentally decapitating the swordsman with the twin broadswords. Thundarr tries to take the offensive, but the undead warrior has his weapons in both hands again and is coming at the barbarian with a flurry of attacks that Thundarr is lucky to be able to parry. They wind up maneuvering under a bunch of low hanging power cables. The undead thing tries to Thundarr down with a double overhead downward slash. The hooked blades catch the cable and the swordsman is electrocuted. After the rotting flesh peals back from his skull, the swordsmen releases the weapons and drops dead at Thundarr's feet. Now the barbarian and the mok run over to help Ariel. The martial artist with the nunchuks whirls about and strikes Ookla with them. Ookla simply growls and grabs the undead master by the head with one massive hand and picks him up. Then with little if any effort, he squeezes and crushes its skull like an egg. The undead martial artist with the three piece rod attacks thundarr with it, while the one with Filipino sticks beats on Ariel's protective bubble like he's doing a drum solo. Thundarr deflects strike after strike from the rod with his Sunsword. Then when he decides to push the attack, the fiery enchanted blade of the Sunsword cuts right through the chains holding the rods together, then right through the skull of the undead thing wielding them. With only one undead martial artist left to fight, Ariel reverses her protective spell and traps the one with the Filipino sticks in a bubble. She then shrinks the bubble down until it crushes the unlife out of the thing trapped within. The three of them then turn as one to face Kublai.
"Congratulations!" laughs the evil lich, "Those were my most powerful Death Guards yet."
"Death Guards?" asks Ariel.
"A new form of undead of my own creation," explains Kublai, "They retain the skills they had in life, yet are as mindless and obedient as their more common zombie cousins."
"Enough talk!" says Thundarr, "Surrender now, wizard, or feel Thundarr's wrath!"
Kublai throws his head back and laughs his evil, maniacal laugh.
"Fool!" cries the lich, "You and the mok shall become my latest and most powerful Death Guards! And the lovely Ariel will become a my corpse bride! A lich, like me! Powerful, evil, corrupted, and undead!"
"Never!" cries Thundarr, then he raises his Sunsword over his head and charges the undead wizard, "Yaaaaaaaaaaaa-hee!" he cries.
Kublai blasts Thundarr with energy beams from his eyes. The crimson blast hits the barbarian too quickly for him to block with his Sunsword. Thundarr is thrown across the room and hits hard against the far wall with tremendous force, knocking him unconscious. Ookla howls in rage and charges Kublai with his fists raised high, ready to strike the lich down. Kublai hits the mok with a similar blast, and Ookla too is thrown across the room to slump unconscious against the wall. Kublai then turns his attention towards Princess Ariel. He attempts to blast her with the red energy beams from his eye sockets, but she dives out of the way and tumbles to her feet with a forward roll and throws a glowing yellow ball of energy at the undead wizard. Kublai deflects the spell with a simple wave of his hand and it explodes against the far wall, leaving a gaping hole in the thick steel plating. Kublai tries attacking with another eye blast, and again Ariel tumbles out of harms way and retaliates with a spell of her own. This time she hurls multiple energy balls at him. They're smaller than the first one she threw, but she's hoping at least one of them will get through Kublai's defenses. Again the lich defeats the attack with a simple wave of his hand. He replies with another eye blast. This time the sorceress stands her ground and deflects it with a magic shield spell. The eye beams hit the shield with such force that they shatter the magic and throw Ariel up against the wall. But her spell had deflected enough of Kublai's spell to keep her from being knocked unconscious, so Princess Ariel retaliates with a blast of yellow energy from her hands. Kublai unleashes his crimson eye beams at the same instant, and the two magical attacks stop each other cold in the middle of the room. Ariel takes three steps forward, and pushes her spell three steps closer to Kublai. Then she notices the ring on one of Kublai's fingers. It begins to glow an eerie purple colour, then the strength of his eye beams intensifies and their spells are now holding steady once more in the middle of the room. Ariel grimaces with the strain of spell casting and strengthens her own spell. Her magic gains some ground, but this time only a few inches. It's hard to tell with the perpetual grin of Kublai's skeletal face, but Ariel could swear that she saw him grin. His ring flared purple once again and once again his red eye beams gain ground, this time several feet. Ariel's brow is beaded with sweat as she strains against the lich's power. She steels herself and intensifies her spell. She doesn't gain any ground, but she does prevent Kublai from getting any closer. The lich's ring flares again, and again his magic intensifies until his eye beams are almost at Ariel's hands. Ariel's trembling now. Her hair and clothes are soaked with perspiration. Her vision is blurred and her eyes sting from the sweat getting in her eyes. Streams of perspiration are running down her bare arms, legs, and back as she fights to hold her ground against this impossibly powerful wizard. Her knees begin to buckle and her arms begin to tremble under the strain, yet she still refuses to yield. Gritting her teeth and glaring at the blur which Kublai has become, Princess Ariel increases the power of her spell and moves the lich's eye beams back about a foot. Then Kublai's ring flares to life once more, his own spell intensifies once again, and this time Ariel has no defense. The red beams strike the sorceress in the chest and throw her back against the wall, where she slumps to the floor unconscious. Kublai presses a button on his computer console and moments later several armored undead soldiers like the ones Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla fought on the roof enter the command center.
"Take these three to the dungeons!" the lich commands his undead minions, "I shall deal with them later. By dawn, they shall be my newest Death Guards!"
Kublai throws his head back and laughs his hollow evil laugh then watches his Death Guards, as obedient as any robot, rush to fulfill the wishes of their master.