Chapter 5
Ben-Gali, Panthro, and Lea stood near Lion-O's bed as the group discussed the day's events. No one had any answers but they knew they had to be prepared when Sahara awoke to find out what she knew.
"I do not know how or why but somehow the Sword is trying to protect me. It seems an odd way to do it and Jaga did warn me some time ago that this would happen. He ignored the warnings and it was not until Thundera was destroyed that I was given the load of my responsibility. Perhaps it was destiny but I cannot see what taking the Sword away from me now would accomplish. I love Leo but he is not ready to lead the ThunderCats into battle," the lion shook his head.
"You sure he is not ready or are you not ready to give up the Sword?" Lea asked the hard question. Cheetara gave her a look but Lion-O reached out and touched her shoulder.
"She is right," he said.
"But you are the youngest of us. We cannot do this forever but I cannot lay down at let New Thundera go down without a fight," his mate argued.
"I'm not asking anyone to do that. We will all fight for New Thundera until our last breath but when the time comes, will we be able to step down and let our children and the recruits take over?" Lion-O asked. She nodded. The situation was one of none of them had considered. After all if they were still on Thundera, all of them would have retired from the service already.
"My King, we just heard!" Lucius, followed by Basheer, raced into the room.
"It will be all right my friends. Thank you for coming," Lion-O gave them a smile. Suddenly alarms went off and there was shouting.
"What's going on?" Basheer asked.
"Those are the Code Blue alarms. Sahara's heart has stopped beating," Cheetara said before racing to the glass which allowed them to look into the surgery room. She pressed her forehead against the glass and closed her eyes. Focusing her sixth sense, the cheetah tried to reach her daughter through their link. There was no response. Ma-Mutt barked; seeming to know what was going on. She tried again but got nothing. Suddenly the alarms were silenced, meaning that the machines had given up trying to shock her back to life.
"No," Cheetara shook her head, "no," as she raced into the room forgetting that she was not scrubbed up. Tygra was trying to manually to get the litah's heart beating again; Pumyra was furiously pumping oxygen into her trying to get her to breathe. They both ignored her until suddenly Sahara's body shook. The Sword growled and from out in the resting room came Lion-O's voice.
"Sword of Omens Come to my Hand!" The Sword ferociously fought to be free of its prison inside the litah's hand. It ripped and tore through what was left of the flesh in her hand and freed itself, flying toward its master. When it reached its destination, a bolt went through Lion-O and he shouted,
"HOOOOO!" The energy left the Sword and hit its target, Sahara's chest. She gasped for air and immediately Tygra and Pumyra tried to stabilize her. That's when they heard a shriek from outside the surgery room. Cheetara left her daughter's side and raced to her husband's side. He wasn't moving and she let out a scream before using her fists on his chest. Panthro pushed her out of the way and with all his might, slammed his mighty fist onto Lion-O's chest. He could feel the lion's ribs break under the force of his fist. The King gasped for air and sat up in his bed. He dropped back and Cheetara embraced him, fearing to let go. She'd almost lost two of the most important people to her in what was now the second day and her emotions were on edge. Tears streamed down from her face and Lion-O held her close as Pumyra rushed out to check on the King.
To Be Continued…