A/N: Once again, sorry about the delays. I really need to get back to work on this story at a regular pace. Unfortunately, I doubt that'll happen until after my wedding in February. Please R&R, and remember: credit for all fancharacters used is given to the proper parties in the copy of this chapter in my deviantArt gallery!
Chapter 13: Shashara
The lizard women of the Hidden Blades led them to an endless stretch of sand dunes, and bade the cats follow them into the heart of dunes, where lay the concealed entrance to Shashara. At the base of the largest among the dunes they stopped, and one of the warriors bearing a spear drove her weapon deep into the sands, twisting the shaft counter-clockwise as she did so. From within the walls of the tank, the cats watched as the sand shook and parted, revealing a towering door that sank into the ground, opening to the interior of a cave that led inside the huge dune.
"That's…that's impossible!" Tygra exclaimed. "There's no way they could live inside that mountain of sand! It would collapse on them!"
"And there's no way that technology could exist outside bedtime stories," Lion-O said dryly, "Come on, Tygra. Are you really that surprised?"
"Are you really that unfazed?" His brother shot back.
"Alright, both of you stop bickering." Razor jumped in testily. "So they live under a mountain of sand. They're desert lizards. I'm sure they've found a way to adapt, and I'm sure we won't die when we go inside."
Both princes fell silent, unable to look the older cat in the eye, and after a moment, Razor turned away and went to tend to Cougaress, who was looking paler than usual, and perhaps a touch queasy. Lion-O and Tygra glanced up to see Razor wrapping an arm around his young wife's shoulders, speaking in a low, gentle voice, his expression softening. Tygra shot his younger brother an uneasy look.
"He's just worried about Cougaress being sick this morning, that's all," He said, though he hardly seemed convinced of that fact himself. Lion-O, on the other hand, thought his brother might be on to something.
"Come to think of it, Tygra…Cougaress has been sick the past couple of days." He whispered, voice colored with worry. "Maybe the heat of the Dead Plains and this desert are having an effect on her."
"Think we should tell Cheetara?"
"Does she know any clerical spells that would help?"
"I…you know…I don't know."
"Alright, everyone!" Panthro suddenly bellowed from his driver's seat. "Brace yourselves! It looks like things are going to get a bit bumpy!"
They immediately complied, taking seats and hanging on tight as the tank crawled forward through the opening. Panthro fiddled with the controls as the dark tunnel walls began to swallow them up, and abruptly the front exterior lights came on. Lion-O and Tygra got back out of their seats, almost immediately losing their footing as the massive vehicle bounced and rolled slowly along, and they clambered up to the cockpit to join Panthro, staring out the windows at the illuminated path. Their escort band continued to move in front of them at a brisk pace, but the Hidden Blades no longer ran; They took long-legged strides with their heads held high and their weapons stowed, Salariss in the lead. The tunnel went on for the better part of a mile, bouncing the tank along in an agonizing slowness, but before long, they came to a gradual turn, and a soft, faint, orange glow from up ahead lit the path. The mouth of the tunnel opened abruptly, and the princes let out a shared gasp.
"By Queen Edith's spear!" Panthro swore in awe.
They were in a vast cavern the size of a mountain, hollowed out and worn down to a perfect smoothness, and throughout it, as though growing like an enormous tree from the earth, was a sprawling city. All the buildings appeared to be made of the same kind of blasted, sun-baked brick, quite possibly a combination clay and white sand, and despite the roughness of them, there was a haunting elegance and beauty to the city. Huge basins were set in hollows surrounded by deep trenches all through the city, and in these basins were shallow pools of oil that burned as giant lamps. Panthro had to park the tank presently, as most of the roads that had been made between the expansive buildings were far too narrow for its bulk. And everywhere they looked, there were horned lizards.
There were children, running and playing in the streets. There were men, their spike-horns much longer and larger than the women's dressed in flowing robes, talking with one another, yelling at children, trading large baskets of good, and various other surprising chores. And the women patrolled the streets in groups, all dressed in the same strange armor-clothing as the Hidden Blades and adorned with various weapons, heads held high, and they moved and carried themselves with the proud bearing of veteran warriors. Lion-O couldn't help but feel a strange sense of admiration and childlike wonder, and he looked back at the others over his shoulder.
"You guys have got to get up here and see this!" He said with a grin. Outside, the horned lizards were pausing to stare openly at the arrival of the Thundertank, and other patrols of women rushed forward to greet and speak with the Hidden Blades. For a brief moment, one of the women conversed with Salariss, the two gesturing animatedly, and within a few more moments, the young female lizard turned and looked up at the tank's windshield, waving for them to come and join her. Lion-O reached over to the control panel, hitting the switch for the doors as Panthro turned the tank off, and he raced outside, eager to speak with more of the lizards, the others close behind him. As he approached, the young lizard women all watched him with peculiar half-smiles, and Salariss motioned toward him as she addressed one of the older lizard women.
"Bodza," she said, "May I introduce Lion-O, the young king of the Thundercats, upon whom fortune and the sun smile?"
The warrior called Bodza looked to him, and he inclined his head respectfully toward her.
"Ma'am." He said. Bodza did not immediately respond but continued to study him with sharp amber eyes. He was reminded quite forcefully of a nanny or governess inspecting a cub for dirt after a washing. Finally, she gave an approving nod, and a slow, warm smile spread over her face.
"Fortune and the sun," She spoke, her voice as warm and rich as honey cake, "Do indeed smile upon you Lion-O, and upon your companions."
"I don't know about that." He said with a nervous chuckle. 'We've had a pretty rough time for a while now."
The assembled older lizard women chuckled softly as well, but it was gentle, and confident. They were not mocking him, laughing at his expense or anything of the sort; theirs was the kind of laugh Claudus had made whenever the prince had doubted himself in any way as a cub.
"Come, walk with us!" Bodza declared at once. "We shall take you to the Seats of Wisdom. They will doubtless wish to speak to you, and you to them."
Thus the Thundercats followed the two bands of lizard women warriors through Shashara, descending the slopes to the lower part of the city. Everywhere they walked the horned lizards stopped whatever they had been doing to come and watch the cats. Initially, Lion-O and Tygra exchanged a few concerned whispers, worried that the inhabitants would prove hostile, but they soon discovered it was a pointless concern. None of the sand-colored reptiles regarded them with any sort of emotion beyond polite curiosity, and before long, the cats were watching them back. Razor and Panthro were wary, which was to be expected, but the Wily twins kept looking around in excited awe, and Kuncia had her journal out, quill pen dancing across its pages as she rapidly took down notes.
"Our people are a curiosity to you." One of the Hidden Blades remarked, sounding pleasantly amazed. "This is refreshing to see. There are legends among our ancestry of the cruelty of cats toward other animals."
The words were a barb in Lion-O's chest, however innocently they were spoken. He swallowed hard, averting his eyes to the ground as they walked.
"Unfortunately," he said softly, "The legends? They're probably very true. I believe my ancestor, Leo, wanted peace between the animals of Third Earth…but I cannot speak for any of my other ancestors or the cat race. And now that cruelty has cost us more than we can fathom."
"There is wisdom in your words." Bodza spoke abruptly as they walked down a wide, main road. "That is why the sun smiles upon you. But I would save your words for the Seats of Wisdom, Lord Lion-O. Let them hear you, and allow yourself to hear them in return."
"Bodza." Kuncia spoke up from behind Lion-O, clearly eager to ask about something, and he relaxed, relieved to have the subject changed. "What does your band call itself? Salariss and her companions are the Hidden Blades. Are you so named?"
"Indeed!" The older woman said at once, delighted. "We are the Crimson Talons, the sister-mothers to the Hidden Blades."
"Sister-mothers?" WilyKit pulled a face, sounding perplexed as she and her brother studied Bodza. "What does that mean?"
"You would refer to us as something like aunts to the Hidden Blades, commonly." Another Crimson Talon clarified.
"Then why not just call yourselves their aunts?" WilyKat demanded, and Kuncia leaned forward behind him, enthused to hear the answer as well.
"Because it isn't tradition." Salariss spoke up, her tone delicate. An odd hush fell over the horned lizards, and the cats looked at one another, sensing they'd hit on a sore subject. Lion-O glanced to the others, pleading that they would find a new topic to speak of, and the cats fervently examined their surroundings, trying to find something to remark on. Somehow to no one's surprise, Panthro was the one to speak up.
"What's with that table?" He asked, pointing a mechanical finger off to the side. Everyone followed his gaze to see one of the longest, largest tables anyone could ever dream of. It stood waist-high, made from a beautiful white stone, and was the length of the Thunderan palace courtyard, almost a full mile.
"It's beautiful!" Cougaress gasped.
"What is it for?" Cheetara asked, looking to Bodza. The lizard woman began to preen with pride as she gazed upon the impressive stone.
"That table was given to us as a gift many years ago," she explained, glancing briefly in Lion-O and Tygra's direction, "By a very wise, very brave king. Ever since, we have used it for the great holiday feasts and celebrations, for important discussions and debates among our people, and for strategy meetings in times of war. And if your arrival brings a brightening of the sun to the eyes of the Seats of Wisdom, then you shall dine there tonight."
They continued their march once again, following the length of the stone table, and Lion-O glanced to Tygra and Cheetara.
"Did you catch that?" He whispered.
"How couldn't we?" Tygra replied, frowning.
"Lion-O," Cheetara murmured, "Do you think the king Bodza mentioned could be one of your ancestors?"
"After that look she gave me, I'm not sure how he couldn't have been one of my ancestors." He answered.
"Unless it was one of mine." Tygra added irritably.
A pair of rough hands shot out of nowhere, pinching both princes' ears sharply, making them stifle yelps of pain.
"What did I say to the both of you about bickering?" Razor hissed. "Knock. It. Off. You're both better than that."
His sharp nails released them amid the sounds of the Hidden Blades trying not to giggle, and both their faces burned bright red in shame. They remained quiet as both patrols led them to a gigantic building that was open on all sides, where one could easily walk between the many colummns and into the inner chamber. Their large party ascended the stone steps and entered an atrium, where the floors were made of marble, two blazing basins of fire stood twoard the opposite walls, and the ceiling rose half a mile above them. While the Thundercats stared in awe, the horned lizards kept moving forward, to where a large group of male horned lizards sat in a crescent formation on raised stone chairs.
"So those are the Seats of Wisdom." Panthro said, eyes going wide.
"How fascinating!" Kuncia breathed, writing even faster than before. As they approached the stone chairs, the seated lizards paused in their discussion to look at the newcomers in surprise. Bodza murmured to the other women in a language the cats couldn't understand, then Salariss approached the male lizards, drew her scimitars, and raised them in a salute.
"May the sun be brightened in your eyes, blessed Seats of Wisdom!" She began in a resonating voice, "I am Salariss, First Spear of the Hidden Blades, and with me I bring what I feel to be a serendipitous arrival. An hour foregone, my spear-sisters and I came upon a large metal machine, and out of instinct, reacted as though we had been set upon by agents of the deathless-demon."
The horned lizards seated in the chairs said nothing, but their expressions hardened and they tensed visibly. Lion-O couldn't blame them; they practically lived under constant threat of Mumm-Ra discovering them. They had a right to be apprehensive. His thoughts briefly returned to Nyrris, trapped, left behind in that hellish pyramid.
By Thundera, she'd better not be harmed.
"But when this machine opened, we were met not with soldiers of that forsaken army, but cats." Salariss continued, and the large spines of the male lizards appeared to prick up slightly, as though curious. A low murmur started among their number as Salariss spoke again. "And lo, who should be leading them but the heir of the Thunderan throne himself!"
That was Lion-O's cue. He stepped away from the crowd and approached the Seats of Wisdom, taking a closer look at the lizard men. Much to his surprise, their age range was huge, from a few younger than he was to a couple that looked as old as Jaga had been. They all wore robes of sun-bleached orange that draped over their lithe forms, broken only by the spiny horns that protruded through the fabric, and oddly enough, they each held small cups of tea in their claws. They paused for but a second on seeing him, then began murmuring almost feverishly, an excited undertone in their voices.
"Sword of Atlanna!" One of the youngest gasped, nudging the older lizard seated next to him. "Elder! Elder! It is him!"
"Be at ease." The older lizard whispered.
"Ahh...hello, um...blessed Seats of Wisdom," Lion-O began hesitantly, "As Salariss said, I...I am Lion-O, the Lord of Thundera. And these are my closest friends and allies, the Thundercats. I am honored to meet you."
"It is on fortune's gracious wind you were brought to us, young kind." Said the lizard in the center seat, the lines in his scaly face setting him close to Panthro in age. "Now speak, for we would hear your story."
And Lion-O told them everything; Grune's betrayal, the fall of Thundera, Mumm-Ra's army on the move. He told of meeting the fish people and the Petalars and finding Panthro. Their discovery of the lost Tower of Omens and the mystical book particularly seemed to have all the lizards anxious, but they made no move to interrupt, and Lion-O went on. He struggled here and there at times, but the other cats would jump in and help when he had difficulty remembering something correctly. Finally, they got to the end, to the present time, and Lion-O only hesisted, on the verge of choking on the words, when he spoke of Nyrris being trapped in Mumm-Ra's temple. At last, the hall fell completely silent, save for the crackling of flames in the basins. All the cats waited with drawn breath as the male lizards contemplated silently and sipped at their tea, saying not a word but exchanging many glances.
"The sun has watched you on your long and harsh journey, Lion-O." One of the eldest lizards said. "We apologize and offer our sympathies for all you have lost. And we are sorry to hear of your trapped friend; were it within our power, we would help you save her."
He tensed in irritation; what was the old lizard saying? Surely the Hidden Blades or the Crimson Talons had the capability to help rescue Nyrris! Yet here were the leaders of the horned lizard city essentially, albeit politely, refusing to offer aid!
"Do not begrudge us, though," said another lizard, shifting in his seat and speaking softly, "We do not count you among our enemies."
"When the time is right," the young male who'd whispered earlier spoke in a high-pitched, eager voice, "Shashara will march onto the field of battle behind your banner!"
Many of the cats did a double-take.
"Excuse me?" Lion-O asked, thrown for a loop.
"You do not know, but that is hardly a surprise," intoned the lizard in the center, "But a long time ago, we were visited by one of your ancestors."
"One of...my ancestors?"
"Rithlio, the Azhure Ghost," the young male spoke up again, "One of the Thunderan kings of the past. He was said to wear a diadem and cape of deepest blue, and his mane was so long that it had to be tied in a woven braid that fell to his knees."
"Rithlio..." Cheetara muttered, "Why does that name sound so familiar...?"
Lion-O also struggled to recall where he'd heard the name before. Claudus had had him study his ancestry several times as a cub, but the child prince had always been more interested in stories and fairy tales, thus forgetting his lessons. He cursed himself for not remembering.
"Rithlio," the center male repeated, "Is probably best remembered in your histories as the king who commanded the clerical order to hide one of your most powerful artifacts in a place called the Tower of Omens."
A collective gasp rose among them, but the Seats of Wisdom took no notice, and went on with the telling of the story.
"Our territory had once stretched as far as the edge of the jungle, to the borderlands between that stood between that thriving green life and this sandy waste. As the clerics searched for this Tower of Omens, they passed through the borderlands, and had met with some of our warriors. Our histories become confused then, on the details of what transpired between these Thunderan clerics and our warriors, but their ways soon parted, and it was then that the horned lizards began to pull our territory borders further in.
"But then, some few months shortly after the encounter with the clerics, our people were approached by King Rithlio himself. Jaga, the head of his clerics had spoken of our people to him, and Rithlio wanted to meet us. He said it was a delight to speak with any lizards on peaceful terms, and for a brief ten days he conferred with the Seatas of Wisdom. Our people and the Azhure Ghost came to an understanding of one another, and Rithlio had his finest stonemasons make for us the Great Table you passed on your way here, as a sign of the peace they had agreed upon."
"If you were to see the reliefs carved into the table," Salariss said, leaning in closer to the cats, "There are images of Rithlio speaking to our greatest warrior, Atlanna."
"One of the stories," said another among the Seats of Wisdom, "Tells of something Rithlio discussed with Atlanna. He feared the death-less demon would one day rise again, with a thirst for the rule of all Third Earth. He said our people must wait for his heir, a young king with an open mind, true of heart, who would see the wisdom of alliances between all animals. He would be brought to us on fortune's divine wind, and prove himself the heir of the Azhure Ghost."
Lion-O thought hard, realizing the path set before him just got a good deal tougher. From the sound of the kind of cat his ancestor had been, he had some big armor to fill! But what if he couldn't? Something told him he didn't want to find out how the horned lizards would react to that. He looked the speaker in the eye, set his jaw, and spoke.
"How can I prove I am Rithlio's heir?"
The Seats of Wisdom glanced between one another, exchanging perplexed looks, when the horned lizard in the farthest left seat smiled nastily.
"Show us the Book of Omens." He answered in a smugly triumphant tone.
"Show you the book? Why?" Razor demanded.
"If this Lion-O is the heir," the same lizard drawled, "Then he would have the Book of Omens in his possession. It is, after all, one of hte keys to defeating the death-less one, is it not? You claim to have it in your possession, but how do we know you speak truly to us?"
"Feluca has a point." One of the other male lizards said with a grim nod. "Show us the Book."
Lion-O nodded solemnly, conceding there was no other way to pass this test. He turned and looked for the Wily twins.
"Kit, Kat-"
"Way ahead of you, Lion-O!" Kat said with a grin, whipping the Book of Omens out from behind his back.
"You could have said something sooner." Kit added.
Lion-O frowned, but took the precious artifact without a word. It was disturbing really, how good those two were at pilfering things. He would have to get Kuncia on their case for that. He looked back to the Seats of Wisdom, clutched the book tightly, and lifted it for all to see. The color drained from Feluca's face as he worked his mouth soundlessly, and the others rose from their stone chairs, surging forward for a better look.
"Sword of Atlanna!" The oldest lizard croaked in a scratchy voice. "It is just as the stories said!"
"It's fantastic!" Another breathed excitedly.
"Is this proof enough for you?" Lion-O asked. The lizard men looked at him, then at one another, and then collectively, they each folded their hands and bent at the waist into a low bow, making the Hidden Blades break out in a gasp.
"Welcome, descendant of the Azhure Ghost. Fortune smiles upon you, and so do we."
The Thundercats perched on a high road cut into the floor of the massive cave, watching curiously as horned lizards bustled about on the lower plateau, preparing a feast for the evening's celebration. Kuncia spoke at length with some of the women from the Crimson Talons, Panthro and the Wily twins hovering about her as she took notes in her journal. Tygra, Cheetara, Razor, and Cougaress watched the lizards below, discussing their favorite foods to pass the time, and Snarf and Kewi flopped around on their backs, enjoying attention from a few of the Hidden Blades girls. Only Lion-O appeared to be unhappy, standing a couple feet away from his peers with his arms crossed, brooding as he watched the horned lizards below. The others had tried engaging him in conversation once or twice but he had kept his replies crisp and short, and they gave up. Finally, it was Salariss who got him to open up.
"The sun has been dark in your eyes since the Seats of Wisdom accepted you for who you are. Does it anger you that our people offer our alliance?" She asked, drawing everyone's attention. Lion-O studied her for a couple minutes before answering, his tone even and his speech slow, measuring each word carefully.
"I've been worried since we left Mumm-Ra's temple," he began, slowly uncrossing his arms to let them swing at his sides, "For Nyrris. For all of us. For our mission. And...I'm sorry if I've been letting that affect how I treat any of you. But I can't just ignore my worry."
"...if I may be so bold," Salariss said, "Your worry for others and for the sake of doing what is right is something to be commended. It means you will be a wise and good king to your people."
"But?"
"But you must remember to temper your worry and anxious feelings with fairness when you address others. Else you risk angering or confusing the people you speak with, and that sows dissent."
"You sound like you're speaking from experience." Lion-O remarked, raising his fiery eyebrows, and Salariss's thin lips turned up in a grim smile.
"There is a certain amount of learning a new leader must do to become a respected First Spear." She replied, making a sweeping gesture towards the other Hidden Blades, who all gave scattered nods.
She is speaking from experience, Lion-O said to himself, and he relaxed, his respect for Salariss growing tenfold. Slowly he smiled, a true, warm smile, and looked again to all of them, Thundercats and horned lizards alike.
"Right. I'm sorry, everyone; I shouldn't have been so short-tempered with you all." He said, and this time, he meant it. They all began to return his smile, radiating quiet forgiveness, when Cougaress suddenly doubled over, covering her mouth with one hand and her stomach with the other, making retching sounds. Lion-O recoiled in shock, only to remember a second later the white cat had been feeling ill earlier.
"Cougaress?" He said, taking a hesitant step closer.
"Honey, are you alright?" Razor asked worriedly, torn between putting an arm around his young wife and giving her some space. But before he could make up his mind, Salariss and many of the other Hidden Blades surrounded Cougaress, gently examining her and speaking in their rapidfire, hissing language. In seconds, Salariss's eyes shot open wide, and she barked for Bodza, who rushed over and started to examine the cat also. After a tense moment, she spoke in their language as well, letting out a deep, warm chuckle.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Razor asked desperately as Bodza helped Cougaress to sit upright again, and without warning, the Hidden Blades and the Crimson Talons all began to giggle like little girls. The cats looked on in surprise, and Bodza chuckled again.
"Wrong?" She echoed, shaking her horned head slowly. "There is nothing wrong. Your wife is afflicted with morning sickness because she's carrying a child."
That took a moment to sink in.
"I'm what?" Cougaress gasped.
"A cub? We're going to have a cub?" Razor said hoarsely.
Lion-O and Tygra's jaws dropped, and Cheetara and Kuncia rushed over to hug both Razor and Cougaress, huge grins on their faces that sent the lizard women into giggle-fits again.
"A kitten?!" The twins exclaimed, rushing over to join them as Razor hugged Cougaress tenderly, tears of joy in his eyes.
"She's pregnant?" The two princes blurted out, which only made the Hidden Blades giggle more. Panthro reached over and tugged on the ears of both princes, an annoyed grimace on his face.
"Alright, pull it together you two! Don't act like a couple of buffoons with weak stomachs; women get pregnant all the time, so there's no need to freak out," he huffed, "Look, even the kids are staying cool about it."
"Can you let us teach the baby all our tricks and skills?" WilyKat demanded, bouncing on the soles of his feet.
"Can we help you pick out a name?" WilyKit squealed, tail lashing the air in excitement.
"Will you let us baby-sit?!" The two yelled in tandem, eyes lighting up. It was at that moment Lion-O and Tygra shot the veteran general withering, humorless looks, and Panthro to form an argument that wouldn't quite escape his mouth. Finally, Cougaress managed a warm, happy chuckle, and she and Razor pulled the twins into a tight hug, before encouraging the others to join in.
"Oh!" Kuncia exclaimed abruptly, ever the practical cat, "I just realized...Cougaress, you'll need to find a midwife to help you deliver the cub!"
A pause grew among them, and Razor frowned.
"You've got a point; it'll be a tremendous help if we have a midwife. But where in the world are we going to find someone at last minute to help deliver a child while we're still here in the middle of the desert?" He remarked.
This time, the horned lizard women roared and howled with laughter, leaning on one another for support, slapping their knees as they doubled over, and wiping tears from their eyes.
"You refresh our spirits like water drunk by a wilting plant!" Bodza gasped between her laughter. "Do you think that just because we are warriors, we cannot act as all women do? Our people may hatch, but we are all trained from a young age in the art of birthing-sisters to aid any guests to our city."
"Oh." Many of the cats blushed, and Kuncia quickly made more notes in her journal.
"But if any of you were to be Cougaress's midwife," Cheetara pointed out, "That means you'd have to-"
"Accompany you?" One of the Crimson Talons said slyly, a knowing smile stretching over her sandy face.
"That would be preferable." Tygra remarked. "I doubt Cougaress or Razor wish to stay here, no offense."
Several whispers flew among the warriors, when Salariss abruptly raised one of her scimitars.
"I could do it." She said, and when everyone jumped in surprise, her cheeks flushed a burnt-orange color. "I-I've had the training and this would be good practice."
"Even if it puts you in danger?" Cougaress asked.
"I welcome danger, and so I offer you my hands." Salariss said, blue eyes passing to each of the Thundercats, before she added self-consciously, "That is...if you wish it."
Cougaress beamed. "I would be happy to have you as a midwife, Salariss. Lord Lion-O?" She prompted.
Lion-O looked from her to the horned lizard woman. He liked Salariss; she was brave, honorable, and he trusted her. He would enjoy having her along, and if she helped Cougaress, then she would be worth the addition to their odd little crew.
He was sure his father would have never allowed it. He doubted whether or not Claudus would have even agreeed to meet and speak with these lizards peacefully. But another image rose in his mind, almost as vividly as if he had called on the Sword of Omens' power to show it to him. In his vision, he perceived another king, a lion who looked so wild you could hold no delusions that he was dangerous. A dark blue diadem adorned his head, barely visible beneath his wild red mane, which was so long it was pulled back in a braid that reached his knees. Blue eyes twinkling with mischief, he had a handsome, square jaw and a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, and draped over his shoulders was a magnificent cloak of deepest azure.
The ghost's eyes met Lion-O's, then closed in a pleased smile as the king nodded once. The vision came and vanished in a breath and Lion-O knew what to do.
Perhaps Father wouldn't have approved, he thought, But Rithlio is my ancestor, too. And maybe i am the heir of the Azhure Ghost after all.
He smiled broadly and extended a hand to her for a shake.
"It's an honor to have you with us, Salariss."
Mumm-Ra's red eyes flicked up and followed the young ocelot as she entered the throne room, approaching him cautiously. He could practically breathe in the fear rolling off her, but she put on a decent air of composure. And from behind the door, even when she had woken in her chambers, he could feel her magic, like a ghostly echo of discordant music, still reaching out with its parasitic claws, hungry for power to feed upon. He smiled in silent amusement; every mortal could be enticed into depravity. The cat would resist him for the time being, but he would inevitably coax the full extent of her abilities to the surface, and then her corruption would follow shortly.
After all, no warlock had ever found a method short of suicide to avoid such corruption.
"You summoned me?" She said dryly.
"And you still have a back-sassing mouth." He huffed in irritation. "I'll have to remedy that before long."
"I am aquiver with anticipation, sir." She remarked in a decent imitation of his voice. It was just amusing enough he ignored the cheek of it and beckoned her closer.
"Come, let us begin to test the reach of your power."
He spoke in his rasping, death-rattle of of a voice, raising a clawed hand above his head, crooking his bony fingers over the shimmering surface of the scrying ring. He slowly moved his hand in small rotations, glancing over to see Nyrris hesitantly approaching, eyes on the lavender surface, rubbing the gooseflesh on her arms, expression suspicious. He looked back to the ring, visualizing the young king of the Thundercats as he had several times already.
Lion-O's face suddenly popped into view, and alongside him, the loudmouth tiger and the panther warrior. The three seemed to be deep in conversation, thought where they were, he had no inkling of. He sensed Nyrris flinching at the sight of her companions, and the smile crept back onto his face.
"There," he hissed, pointing at the lion prince, "Reach for Lion-O's life force!"
"W-what?!" She stuttered.
"With your power," he responded, "Reach out and seize hold of his life force."
"I-I am not going to-"
"Did I say to kill him?" He hissed, red eyes flashing with frustration. "Grab his life force. Form a claw with your power and seize it as you would the flesh of an arm."
He didn't expect she would be completely able to give her power form, not with the minimal command she had over it, but the more he pushed her, the faster she would learn. She glared at him once, furious, then shut her eyes in concentration, her nails digging into her arms. The aura of her warlock's magic shimmered briefly, blurring the air around her with a soft luminescence. It hovered in place for a moment, then tentatively began to snake toward the scrying pool. But a foot above the flickering image of the other cats, the thread of her power came to a halt and swung toward him, like a predator scenting wounded prey.
Mumm-Ra scowled in annoyance as Nyrris's eyes opened in shock, and with barely a though, he whipped his own power like a flail, ensnaring the end of her wandering thread. A strange tremor erupted in his magic and traveled the lines of the powerful nexus back into his body. He gave a small hiss of surprise. The sensation was alien and yet vaguely familiar, like the comforting weight of the heart-stopping dagger he always carried with him. As Nyrris went rigid, flashes of emotions passed through him in an eye's blink.
Fear, anger, confusion...and intrigued curiosity.
Then it was gone, and the two auras separated with a harsh wrenching that had Mumm-Ra stagger backward several feet and drove Nyrris to her knees. He took several rattling breaths in and out, staring at the gypsy cat. The reaction between their opposing magic, though significantly less violent, was almost identical to what had happened before, when he had forced her to her knees. And most irritating was the fact he had no notion what it meant.
He put it out of his mind for the moment as she looked back up at him, eyes wide.
"I suspected as much." He murmured. "So far, your magic's parasitic properties only target those nearest you."
She let out a relieved sigh, relaxing slightly.
"But not to worry."
She looked back up in alarm at him as he spread his lips in a wide smile, revealing his sharp, fang-like teeth.
"We have plenty of opportunities to practice on that." He said, extending a hand to her. "Follow me. I wish to test this again."
A/N: A few things for readers to note...
1. Panthro saying "By Queen Edith's Spear!" This is important, because since I've strayed from the canon continuity after the debut of Kaynar and Addicus, I also do not support the "canon" Queen of Thundera, Leona. I'm sorry to her fans, but Leona, pretty though she is, was NOT what I was expecting for a lioness queen. In the wild, in a true lion pride, lionesses are hunters and fighters, and I had been hoping for a pretty but tough warrior queen...not a hollow-brained piece of eye candy who suddenly stops loving her surrogate son the same way just because she's pregnant. I'm sorry, but that's just poor writing to pander to the Tygra fans. I support deviantArtist ~piku-chan's concept OC, Queen Edith. Piku-chan developed her long before Queen Leona appeared, and I fell in love with Edith the second I saw her. She is, and forever will be, MY headcanon Queen of Thundera.
2. Rithlio the Azhure Ghost (or, The Ghost In Azhure.) This is referencing a character who appears briefly in a flashback sequence in episode 6, "Journey to the Tower of Omens." He only appears once, he's obviously NOT a young Claudus (they don't look a thing alike,) and he's never named. You just know that he's a king of Thundera. So I've dubbed him "Rithlio", for Richard The Lionheart, because that's who I'm reminded of when I look at him. I feel he is awesome enough in his brief appearance that he deserves a name, a legend, and a history. So I'm trying to incorporate him into Mortal Bonds, and if enough people like what I do with him, I'm going to give him a mini-fic.