Welcome back, gang. These next few chapters can be considered a bit of an intermission between Marcius' tale and the next tale. I have still yet to give Balor a voice, so I will take suggestions. Enjoy.
Sanctuary
An hour later, Lion-O, Pumyra, Tygra and Cheetara met back at the ThunderTank. Panthro and the Wilys were there too they hadn't gone anywhere. Autolycus' warning was something they heeded but when Tygra and Cheetara had left the Tomb of Marcius, an argument between Autolycus and Sothap had started. It would seem the leader of the guardians didn't like having non-evabon in the tombs and from what they heard about a body being stolen he had good reason.
As the ThunderCats discussed what they had found out a revelation began to dawn on them. They had been told the Evabon were monsters but what they learned from their history was that the Evabon were no more monsters than Mumm-Ra was a god. They were a people with a history as grand as any others.
While they discussed what they had learned, a commotion came to their ears. As they walked towards the location of the commotion, a familiar voice came to their ears: the voice of young Balor. Autolycus, Asaji, Terag and Sothap were all standing around the eight-year old, some of them looking more aggressive than others.
"In my day, any gray-skinned child would be taken out into the wilderness, just after it's born, and be abandoned to die!" Autolycus' comment caused a shocked look to appear on Panthro's face. That was barbaric! To think Autolycus could be so prejudiced. Panthro had been prejudiced once but never to the extent Autolycus was!
"Yes, well, the clan you came from is still prejudiced towards gray skins." Lion-O watched as Terag scratched an itch on his neck. It was almost like the itch was Autolycus' prejudice. It was an interesting way of taunting someone and there was a clear look of agitation on Autolycus' face from both Terag's comment and scratching. Terag was loudly scratching that itch and the sound of the scratching made the older Evabon grind his teeth.
"Father, we can't deny someone sanctuary." Autolycus slowly turned his head to look at Asaji. "But we can't just send him away. Gard sent him here for protection."
"We just can't let this hunter get him." Tygra and Cheetara both starred at Sothap. He was showing something he hadn't shown towards either of them. Whether it had to be because Balor was another Evabon or not, they weren't sure. Whatever the reason Sothap was showing compassion for another living being. "If what this boy said is true then the hunter is a danger to all of us." Sothap walked closer to Autolycus and started to speak into the older Evabon's ear. "Look at the bigger picture! This Hunter means to hunt our race to extinction. This is no time to be prejudiced. We have to protect young Balor, here." By this time, besides the ThunderCats, many more Evabon were looking at Autolycus. Autolycus saw the look in their eyes. He knew he was only leader as long as he had everyone's support. If he didn't then he would have to face challenger after challenger. At last, Autolycus breathed, not unlike how Gard would.
"I'll… think about it." Autolycus walked away, everyone watched him as he did. Finally, the crowd started to disperse. The Wilys ran up to Balor. They were all surprised to see each other. As the young friends caught up, the older ThunderCats walked towards the Evabon who had not supported Autolycus' idea of not giving Valor sanctuary.
"How'd you find your way here?" Kit was as confused as Kat. How did Balor know where to go? Had Gard told him? They had found the valley by accident. Gard must have told Balor where to go.
"I just knew where to go." Balor scratched his head, unsure of how he knew. "I don't really know how I found my way here."
"Every Evabon knows how to get here even if they've never been here before." Asaji explained to the older ThunderCats. Balor couldn't really explain to the Wilys but Asaji could give a good enough explanation to the older cats. "You can blindfold an evabon and they can still find their way here. Without map or compass we can still find our way here even if we've never been here. It is all because this valley is where our race had its beginnings, long before the tombs were built, this is where our race started."
"You have strong ties to this place." Asaji nodded at Pumyra's observation. It made sense. The Evabon would have strong ties to the place where their humble beginnings had begun. A feeling of dread started to come over Pumyra. Couldn't the Hunter have followed Balor here?