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ThunderCats: Sword of Kings

Chapter VIII: The Assassin

Lion-O walked down the halls of the Royal Palace after parting ways with Cheetara, passing a few Palace Guards as he did. The prince lifted his hand up to his cheek, still feeling the warmth of Cheetara's lips on his skin. That sensation was something that wouldn't go away for a long time.

The prince eventually reached his bedroom and entered, yawning as he did. It had been a long day, and all Lion-O wanted to do now was to get a good night's rest. He walked to his dresser and pulled out his bedclothes.

"Don't take those out, it's not like you'll need them tonight."

Lion-O turned to see that he wasn't alone in his room. A puma stood near his bed. Her amber eyes reflected the light from the window. Her long brown hair with white highlights, which was tied in a ponytail, reached her upper back with bangs framing her face. A dark brown dress reached down mid-calf with a garter on her right thigh and a belt with a bag was bound on her hips. The moonlight shone down on two golden manacles on both her wrists and arms.

"Y-y-you're not supposed to be here? Who are you?" Lion-O asked stammering. Whoever this puma was, she was beautiful, but second only to Cheetara. "Why are you here?"

The puma gave a sultry smirk. "My name is Pumyra," she answered as she approached, swaying her hips as she did. Lion-O couldn't help but gaze at them as she reached him. She lightly touched his arm. "As to why I am here, Prince Tygra sent me to you as a gift to welcome you home. He thought that you would enjoy some of my—" she whispered the last word in his ear, "—services."

Lion-O's entire faced turned red as it finally dawned on him that this puma was a courtesan, a woman of the hour, a lady of the evening. He could only guess on some of the services his brother had paid her to perform.

He pulled away from her, stepping backwards toward his bed. "I appreciate my brother's generosity, but I assure you that your services are not required."

Pumyra chuckled. "I get it," she said. "This is your first time, isn't it?"

Lion-O blushed, and he gave a start as he almost stumbled on his bed. "That…that has nothing to do with this!"

With grace, the puma courtesan swiftly walked toward the prince and claimed his lips with her own. Lion-O opened his mouth to try and protest the kiss, but Pumyra took advantage of this and thrust her tongue inside.

As she explored his mouth, Lion-O couldn't help but feel the spot on his cheek where Cheetara had kissed him starting to burn. He didn't know if the cheetah would ever reciprocate his feelings, but he felt as if this was a betrayal to her.

Pumyra pulled away from the kiss and gave a light shove and the prince soon found himself lying on his bed. It wasn't long before she was on top of him, her legs straddling his waist. It was from this position that Lion-O had noticed her necklace, a flat golden hand with the red and black ThunderCats symbol in the center, hanging around her neck by a red leather chord.

The puma trailed a finger down his chest. "Trust me," she purred, her right hand trailing her thigh, "you'll never forget tonight."

Lion-O saw Pumyra's eyes shift to her left as she drew something from the bag on her belt. The prince saw that it looked like a miniaturized archer's arrow. It was then that her left manacle unfolded into some kind on bow. Within a breath, she shot the arrow towards one of the draped windows.

Lion-O watched with wide eyes as a jaguar came from behind the drapes. He wore all black, his right hand held a dagger while the left one clutched his throat, blood seeping through his fingers. The jaguar gasped and coughed blood as he collapsed on the floor.

Lion-O quickly shoved the puma off of him before running out of his room. "GUARDS!" he called out. Three guardsmen ran to him within seconds, but by that time, the puma was already gone.

Lion-O was in the throne room with his father, Tygra, Jaga, and three Clerics (the one right next to him was Cheetara). It wasn't long before Grune entered the room.

"General," Claudus said, "what do you have to report?"

"Nothing good, Your Highness," the Destroyer said grimly. "The assassin bled to death before we could get anything from him. We searched his person, but found nothing that could tell us who wanted Prince Lion-O killed. Also, we were unable to find the second assassin.

Jaga turned to the lost prince. "Lion-O," he said, "what can you tell us about this puma?"

He took a breath before he began. "All I know is that she claimed to be a courtesan that Tygra had hired for me."

"Which is ridiculous," the tiger had said quickly, his eyes shifting. "I would never partake in such a thing."

Lion-O saw Cheetara rolling her eyes. "But I don't think she was an assassin," he said.

"Why would you say that, Lion-O?" Claudus asked.

"Well…" Lion-O thought for a moment. "If she was an assassin, I wouldn't be here talking to any of you, right? She would have killed me if she was."

"He brings up a good point, Claudus," Jaga said. Thankfully, he believed the lion prince's logic.

The King of Thundera looked unsure. "All the same," he said, "I want this puma brought in for questioning. Have the City Guard keeping an eye out for anyone matching her description."

Just like that, everything was decided. Lion-O returned to his room with Cheetara following close behind. When he closed the door, the last thing he saw was Cheetara guarding his door. In the morning, he would see her still standing by his doorway. She had not once left her post.

Panthro slept peacefully until he was jolted awake when the door to his room opened. The Grand Master had entered his room. "Come with me, General," he said, his tone authoritative.

The panther seemed unlikely to follow his order. "What on Third Earth for?" he asked groggily.

"You will know soon enough," he said before exiting the room.

Panthro didn't like the sound of that. For the first time in days, he left the room. The former general followed the Grand Master down through a torch lit hallway into a chamber. In the center a young puma girl was waiting.

When she saw the Grand Master, she bowed in respect. "Father," she greeted him.

"Pumyra," the Grand Master rested a hand on her shoulder, "my daughter, we're you successful in your mission."

"Yes, father," Pumyra said, her tone showing pride, "I was able to stop the assassin."

Her answer helped shake the sleep off of Panthro. "What assassin?"

The Grand Master drew back his hood, showing the face of a male puma around Panthro's age. His resemblance to Pumyra showing that he was, in fact, her father. "An assassin was hired to kill Prince Lion-O," he said. "Luckily, Pumyra was able to stop it from happening."

Panthro closed his eyes and balled his hand tightly into a fist. Someone had tried to kill Lion-O. Someone had tried to kill his boy, the boy he had raised as his own.

"I tried to tell you, General," the Grand Master said. "You could have brought him to us. Lion-O would have been safe with us, but you took him to the slums. You decided to turn him into your little fighting champion."

"I was preparing him," Panthro argued. "If they ever found us, he would have been able to defend himself."

"That didn't seem to help when they did find you." The Grand Master seemed furious. "After all your so called preparation, they still managed to capture him."

"Father," Pumyra rested a hand on his shoulder, "all this arguing is not helping Prince Lion-O."

The Grand Master seemed to have calmed down under his daughters touch. "You're right," he sighed. "For now, we must concentrate all our efforts on retrieving both Prince Lion-O and the Sword of Omens."

The meaning of his statement was not lost on Panthro. "Wait," he said, "are you saying that you plan on attacking the Royal Palace?"

The Grand Master nodded. "We must do what we can to ensure Lord Lion-O's safety. That is the duty of our Order."

"This is insanity!" Panthro boomed. "You can't attack the palace. That place is built like a fortress. You need an army to even get past the wall."

"We won't need an army, General," the Grand Master said, and beckoned for both Panthro and Pumyra to follow him.

The walked down a long hallway before they reached their destination. Panthro saw a heavy steel door guarded by four cats in strange looking armor. The dark blue armor covered them from head to toe, with the helmet having some kind of black glass on it. The one thing on the armor that stood out was the gold hand and ThunderCats symbol on both shoulder guards. They opened the door and the three entered.

Panthro saw cats in hoods like the Grand Master's and more strange armored figures. They were all setting up training dummies dressed as Thunderian soldiers with armor and shields.

"What exactly is going on in here?" Panthro asked confused.

"This—" his arm gestured around the room "—is where we test technology, General."

Panthro snorted. "Technology is a myth, a fairytale parents tell their children."

"Well then, General," the Grand Master signaled one of the armored cats, "let us show you what this 'fairytale' is capable of."

The armored cat went to a nearby table and picked up a long dark blue weapon. To Panthro, it was similar to a crossbow but without the bow. The cat aimed the weapon at one of the shielded dummies and pulled the trigger. At that moment, a burst of light shot out of the weapon's barrel and struck the dummy.

Panthro looked at the dummy with wide eyes. Both the shield and armor had a scorched hole through them, with the dummy itself singed.

"There's a people on the outskirts of Thundera," the Grand Master explained. "They call themselves the Ro…um, the Ro…"

Pumyra cleared her throat. "The Ro-Bear Berbils, father."

The Grand Master nodded. "Yes, that. In exchange for protection from the Giantors and Trollogs, the Ro-Bear Berbils construct weapons for us to use."

Panthro looked at the weapons arranged on the table. "These things are amazing."

"That's not the only thing they made us," the Grand Master said. He led the former general to an area with a sheet covering a gargantuan object. "They also constructed this prototype for our assault."

On his signal several hooded cats came and pulled the sheet. Panthro felt his breath taken away when he saw what was covered.

"She's beautiful."