From the Past of Third Earth, Part Two:

Lost Prince, Chapter Eight

Sincline threw open the door, glaring at the mutant commanders sitting around the table. They looked back at him in a combination of shock and guilt, the cards in their hands betraying the slightest of shudders, as if none of them knew whether to hide their game or not. The prince could've cared less about that; his people could do whatever they wanted in their free time. What did bother him was the unhappy idea of what, exactly, had been withheld from him when he first awoke. Something told him it was far more important than he'd initially thought.

On the opposite side of the room, relaxing in a chair from where she could easily observe the game but not bother to participate, Duchess Ravenwaves raised an eyebrow at him. "Something wrong, prince?" she asked, barely paying any attention to the lowly mutant soldier kneeling beside her, jerking off as she gently petted his forehead.

"I want to know what Mumm-Ra insisted I not be told," he stated. "I'm getting the very strong suspicion he did so to manipulate me."

She considered the statement for a moment. "It does sound like something he'd do," she admitted. "Especially if he'd been watching someone long enough to determine what—or who—they wanted or needed."

He shot her a sharp glare. That, he thought, confirms some of my suspicions… and I will have to be very careful around her from now on. This manipulator is a sneaky little—

Before he could finish the thought, Monkian interrupted. "But what if Mumm-Ra was right and telling you would make you insane?"

The prince felt a sharp flash of fury shoot through his entire frame, raising his body temperature a few degrees. That bastard, he thought. He's been influencing these idiots so long they fear distrusting him completely. A hint of movement caught his eye, and he turned his full attention to the coward. Within seconds, he'd grabbed the jackal by his neck and slammed him against the wall. "Tell me now," he ordered, his tone brooking no arguments.

As he'd hoped, Jackalman didn't bother trying to bluff. "He didn't want you to know you've been sealed away for longer than just a few months or years!" was the unexpected answer. "You're barely remembered as more than a legend of lost glory, the empire you were once heir to has been gone for millennia, and every mutant in this castle is all that's left of it!"

It suddenly felt as if his blood was replaced with ice water. "Everything… everyone I knew… is gone." Which means Fala… is forever beyond my reach….

Even though it wasn't worded as a question, the jackal nodded emphatically. "Mumm-Ra said you'd lose your mind if we told you that." His ears folded back. "Have you?"

Sincline slowly returned Jackalman to the floor. "No." Turning to Ravenwaves, he queried, "Where does your father live?"

"In the Black Pyramid," she replied. "I'm guessing you want me to let you in." As the mutant she was petting started to make a familiar guttural noise, she flipped around and snapped at him, "Remember what I told you! Don't aim for the dress!"

Livid, he aimed his attention at the reptilian sitting at the table. He rules my people like an idiot, lies to me like a backstabbing coward— "Slythe, once we've taken care of our little intruder, you and Ravenwaves are taking me to Mumm-Ra. I am going to have a very personal… discussion with him." His mind was already lining up the pieces and creating a mental picture which infuriated him further. That bandaged sack of bones knew I'd search for Fala as long as I thought she was still alive. If I'd known its been millennia since he trapped me, I wouldn't have fallen for that mistake.

He glanced briefly around the room. I better not let these idiots figure it out, though; let them assume I just have a thing for blonds and something else ticked me off. "It is time he learned who is truly in charge of the inhabitants of this castle."

She's not in the dungeons, Pumyra thought, poking her nose out the door cautiously as she snuck past the two guards she'd knocked out. I guess Slythe wasn't in charge of this operation, then. Now, if I were a smug newcomer commander with a penchant for blonds, where would I take her? She scowled, the horrible decoration of a decapitated corpse in a glass coffin gracing the hall making her sick. If he's a sleazebag, she's probably in his room. In her condition, she certainly wouldn't be able to fight back. Dashing into a darkened corner, she studied the inside of the castle. The next question, then, is which room would he be staying in? Second floor, where it would be easier to hear a fight before being involved in it? Probably. Whoever this man is, I doubt "idiot" is part of his personality.

Taking a risk, she kept quiet until she was certain no one was nearby, then swiftly ran across the hall and up the stairs, dodging down a hallway just before a door opened somewhere. That was too close. Glancing down the passage, she tiptoed to the closest door and put her ear against it.

Just as she did, the door swung open, almost throwing her off balance. She stared up in shock at Sincline, who glared right back at her as if she were the source of all his problems. Just as she realized the imminent danger she was in, he drew his sword and snapped it towards her. Jumping backward into a wall, she did the only sensible thing which immediately came to mind: RUN.

Flying down the hallway as fast as her legs could carry her, she resisted the urge to panic when she heard him head after her. By Thundera, I'd had no intentions of fighting him—he took out Bengali, Tygra, and Cheetara, I'm no match for that kind of brute force! And now he's catching up to me! She saw the dead end in front of her as she continued racing through the passage, immediately casting her gaze around in an attempt to find some sort of aid. What do I do, what do I—ah! Hoping Sincline would be caught off-guard, she leapt up to a ceiling light she spotted, grabbed onto it, swung her feet against the ceiling, and used the force of the blow to jump over Sincline as he skidded underneath her in surprise.

She yelped in shock as a throwing dagger smacked into her right shoulder, the metal missing her shoulder blade by only a fraction of an inch. She didn't waste any time looking behind her, though, taking off again at a dead run as she heard his cry of, "Slythe, NOW!"

She didn't have long to ponder the strange order, as the four commanders immediately crowded into the hallway from the room Sincline had been in, potentially blocking any possible escape. Yanking another flashbomb from her pouch, she threw it before her as hard as she could with her left hand, covered her eyes with her arm, and jumped. The sound of the bomb going off echoed in her ears, and as soon as she felt her feet touch something—head, shoulders, arm, she didn't care—she leapt forward again, daring to uncover her eyes—just in time to realize she was heading over the banister and into the entryway.

Reaching down in a panic, she barely manage to grab onto the railing with her right hand, yanking her entire arm and jarring the dagger still sticking out of her. Barely holding back the shriek of pain, she glanced up just in time to see Sincline raising his sword over his head, intending to hack her hand off. She immediately let go, twisting in the air to land on her feet, and took off again towards the dungeons. There was a thump behind her, and she knew without needing to turn around the man was still right on her heels.

As soon as she dashed through the door, she jumped again, clinging to another ceiling light, but this time anticipating he wouldn't expect her to stay still. Unfortunately, he seemed to second-guess her motives, immediately throwing another dagger at her as he crashed through the portal after her. She barely dodged it, threw herself at him with a yell, only to screech in fright as he stepped aside, grabbed her ankle, and tossed her into a wall. "Fool me once," he snarled at her, his sword swinging down at her just before she managed to roll aside.

Grabbing another pellet, she flung it at his face. It exploded just before it reached him, releasing a noxious gas that would cause his lungs to flare up in protest and his eyes to immediately tear up in order to prevent harm to his body. Not daring to underestimate him again—with her rotten streak of luck, he'd probably shake off the effects in less than thirty seconds—she flew out of the room again…

…and ran right into Slythe.

"What the—?" was all the reptilian had time to say before she kneed him in the crotch as hard as possible. As he fell to the floor with a squeak, she ducked beneath Monkian's mace, slammed her shoulder into his stomach—a move she immediately regretted as pain from her wound shot through her entire frame—and turned on her heel to run in the opposite direction as Jackalman and several other reptilians tripped over their fallen companions.

Thank Jaga I can deal with mutants, she thought dashing down another hallway, but I don't know how to deal with that Sincline! The only reason I'm probably still alive is because all I've done is run away from him!

A hand popped out of an open doorway, grabbed her right arm, and yanked her through the portal. Before she had time to screech in pain, another hand clapped over her mouth as the door shut on its own, somehow remaining impossibly silent. She was pulled against the wall, her back still to the stranger, and froze at the unfamiliar voice telling her firmly, "Keep quiet, he's still hot on your trail." The dagger was pulled from her shoulder and tossed aside, and a warm cloth pressed tightly against the wound. "The spell I just cast will only make us unseen to him, not unheard."

The door crashed open, and a furious Sincline shot through it, glaring about him in a murderous rage. Twice he seemed to look directly at her, but his eyes slid past, as if he was unable to focus on her. Spotting the bloodied dagger on the floor, he picked it up with a scowl, spun on his heel, and stalked out of the room, shouting angry orders at the mutants to find her.

As the door was slammed shut again by the exiting man, Pumyra twisted around to face her rescuer. She blinked in surprise at him, recognizing immediately he was blind from his blank and fogged eyes, and wondering how he had snuck into Castle Plun-Darr without raising any alarms.

He faced the wall separating them from the hallway, a finger pressed to his lips in a silent gesture that it was still unsafe to speak. It gave her a moment to look him over, taking in the silver hair which hung to just below his shoulders, his clean-shaven face, and the violet robe with white trim he wore tied at the waist with a white sash. Finally, he said in a low whisper as if to himself, "That is a dangerous man. My spells won't be effective against him for long." Turning to her, he asked, "You are the one called Pumyra, I assume?"

"Yes," she replied cautiously, reaching into her pouch and pulling out a roll of emergency bandage. "And you are—?"

"I am the sorcerer, Shining Glory. MoonGlo activated the machine that had been built to release me, begging me to help you until Lion-O and Panthro arrive." He raised an eyebrow at her. "I hope it wasn't revenge that caused you to come here."

She shook her head as she bandaged her own shoulder. "To be honest, not entirely. That bastard kidnapped my patient; she's in a partially comatose state and quite helpless—I can't leave her at his mercy!"

His eyes narrowed in thought. "Hmm… we'll have to find her, then."

"I can certainly tell you she's not in the dungeons. I'd thought he might have her in his room, but I ran into him before I could pinpoint where it might be."

"I'm not be a warrior like you, but I should be able to help. Is she one of the interdimensional beings like Indigo and Violet?"

"Yes."

"Then she'll have the same traces of their dimension they do." Closing his eyes, he held his hands close to each other, only the fingertips touching. A soft blue glow surrounded the digits as he suddenly drew strange symbols in the air, each one vanishing a split second after he finished them. There was a soft pop, and a moment later Shining Glory opened his eyes again. "She's four floors above us, sitting by a window… and there's something wrong with her."

Pumyra felt her hackles rise in fury as she pulled out a syringe with anesthetic and shot it into her shoulder. "Did that bastard already—"

"Not that," he interrupted gently. "He hasn't laid a hand on her. No, there's something else going on with her which bothers me greatly. I have vague recollections of Cheetara mentioning in passing someone was rescued from Mumm-Ra's Pyramid, and she wasn't in good shape. Is this the same woman?"

"Yes, she is, did… did Mumm-Ra do something to her?" Despite the danger the two of them were in, the potential answer to a question that had been bothering her for over a year nonetheless caught her full attention.

"I dare not speculate yet. I will need to examine her closely first."

Ravenwaves had watched almost the whole spectacle from the third floor, leaving the meeting room after the fiasco had started to climb the stairs and lean casually against the banister. "So that's a Thundercat," she said aloud to no one in particular. "Fascinating. If they're all like that, it's no wonder Father hates them." She tapped her fingers against her lips, thinking carefully. I wonder what would've caused the female to follow Sincline all the way here from the Lair, she pondered. Goody-two-shoes aren't known for revenge, so that can't be it. They were, however, well known for protecting the innocent, helping the helpless—

—and rescuing the kidnapped.

The duchess smiled, her gaze slowly moving upwards towards Sincline's bedroom. That Thundercat's here for the blond. It would certainly explain why she ran away instead of fighting. Alright, I have her motives figured out…

…now what about our dearly upset prince? Knowing Father, he really did want to manipulate Sincline, so the information he wanted withheld must've contained something which would… what? Hmm, let's think here…. Sincline said, "Everything, everyone I knew, is gone". He must've thought the blond was someone else, someone who isn't around anymore just from sheer amount of time.

An unfamiliar noise from outside caught her attention, and curious, she headed to the nearest window to poke her head out. A vehicle perfectly fitting Vulture-Man's description of the Thundertank was heading straight for the castle, and there was no doubt in her mind the two occupants were more than prepared for a fight. "Well, here's an unexpected distraction. I'll bet my last pair of panties the female will use this to get the blond."

She stopped for a moment, an idea popping into her head. "Sincline was adamant about getting his hands on the blond… if he thought she was someone else… my father might've taken that into account… which means Father wanted the blond kidnapped…." She reached into her cleavage and pulled out the onyx vial she kept there, staring at it for a moment. "I wonder…. Is it her?"

Rotating, she returned to the main hall, calling downstairs musically, "Sincline, we've got company! I think that Thundercat called her friends!" And while you're dealing with them, I'm going to see if my hunch is correct.

Though the blast rocking Castle Plun-Darr was unexpected, it wasn't unfamiliar. "That's the Thundertank!" Pumyra said, relief washing over her. "Lion-O and Panthro will keep the mutants occupied while we get to Rainbow Brite!"

"I hope they manage to survive," Shining Glory admitted, sounding a little doubtful. "That Sincline is not to be taken lightly."

"If they were told what damage he caused at the Lair, they'll know to be on guard. Come on!" Taking his hand, she opened the door and walked brazenly down the hall. As she'd hoped, all the mutants were flooding towards the front entrance, determined to protect their home against the Thundertank. Still on her guard, however, she acted as if Sincline was hunting the two of them down, and proceeded to head up the nearest set of stairs at a dead run, leading the sorcerer along behind her.

Just as they reached the midfloor of the building, Shining Glory stopped and pointed towards a door partially hidden by the strange design of the castle. "She's over there."

Heading straight for it, Pumyra opened the portal and stepped through. Rainbow Brite was indeed sitting by the window, just as the sorcerer had claimed, a master-less puppet with its strings cut and taking up space. The puma helped him over the wreckage littering the floor of the room as she asked, "Can you tell what's wrong with her now?"

As soon as he was beside Rainbow Brite, he put one hand upon her shoulder, then the other on top of her head. His frown deepened. "This isn't good. Her soul is missing."

"Her… what?!"

"It's an ancient forbidden spell. It separates the soul from the body, creating a false limbo absolutely torturous to the person it's cast upon. Her body will continue moving on its own without the ability to think, and her soul still wanders this life unable to affect anything around it. Unless Mumm-Ra deliberately trapped her soul in a vessel, there's nothing any of us can do to help her."

Pumyra stared at him in horror, attempting to wrap her mind around what she'd just been told. "Why? Why would he do something like that?"

"There are only two people who can answer that question: Mumm-Ra and Rainbow Brite. She's in no condition to answer, and I seriously doubt we could get him to tell us."

"There's actually three people able to answer her question, Shining Glory."

Pumyra flipped around, staring in shock at the midnight-haired human who had snuck up upon the two of them. Situating herself between the well-dressed woman and the pair by the window, the puma reached into her pouch to pull out a pellet for defense.

"Ravenwaves?" The sorcerer sounded absolutely astounded. "What—how are you here? You should be—"

"Dead, I know, but Father enjoys incarceration more than anything else. I'll even bet your precious Lovely Locks is still around somewhere, too." She held out a little black bottle, wearing a mischievously evil grin. "I know you can feel the magic in my hand, Shining Glory, even if you can't see it. Is this what the blond over there needs?" At his quick intake of breath, she laughed. "It is, isn't it? That answers my question! I remember the day Father ripped her soul out and stuffed it into this vial—that woman had escaped one too many times for his sensibilities, and he was quite fed up with her!"

Shining Glory's voice was calm yet commanding. "Ravenwaves, please give us the bottle. There's no need for you to prolong her agony."

The human smiled sweetly, an undertone of venom still touching her eyes as she looked over Pumyra's shoulder at the sorcerer. "I shouldn't," she chirped playfully. "Father gave me this soul and told me to keep it for all eternity." Glancing at it, she suddenly frowned, adding sourly, "Of course… I hate him more than even Lovely Locks at the moment." Without warning, she tossed the bottle into the air.

Pumyra leapt forward, snatching the bottle in both hands before it could smash against the floor. As she scrambled to her feet, she couldn't help asking, "Why?"

Ravenwaves shrugged. "Why what? I have no quarrel with you, Cat Lady." She grinned again. "Someone else, however—" She turned and screamed out at the top of her lungs, "Vulture-Man, the Thundercat is stealing Sincline's woman back!"

"You bitch!" the puma snapped, pushing the laughing human out of the room and slamming the door shut in her face. Grabbing a nearby bureau, she shoved the unit against the portal. Even with the anesthetic numbing her shoulder, she could tell she was damaging the wound further. "That's not going to hold them for long, but it might be enough for you to fix Rainbow! If we can get her to walk out of here under her own power, it'll be one less thing I have to worry about!"

"Give me the bottle," Shining Glory insisted. As soon as the vial was in his hand, he immediately started casting a spell. "This is not going to be an easy curse to counter. Are you able to keep anyone from disrupting me?"

"I'm certainly going to try," she answered. "Just do what you need to."

The mutants were all too easy by this point. No matter how many of them there were, the majority really weren't all that original, making them nothing more than a familiar exercise to Lion-O. It was clearly a thought Panthro shared, as he certainly didn't need to do more than knock a few skulls together with a snort. "I'm sure Pumyra heard our arrival from inside the castle," the panther stated, throwing an unconscious simian into a crowd of reptilians, "so what's taking her so long to get out here?"

"It's possible she hasn't found Rainbow Brite yet," Lion-O replied. "If she'd been captured, the Sword would let me know. What I want to know is the identity of the man who managed to incapacitate Tygra, Cheetara, and Bengali all by himself." The Sword suddenly growled urgently, a noise louder and more urgent than any other warning he'd ever gotten before. As if something within it was screaming at him, he rapidly twisted around and stabbed the Sword of Omens just over Panthro's head—barely stopping the blade that almost cleaved into his skull.

The blue-skinned man's lips twisted only slightly, as if he were amused. "You," he stated, immediately attacking the lion. "You're the leader!"

Lion-O felt anger surge through his entire frame. "And you're the one who attacked my friends!" he snarled back, deliberately holding back the fury so he could concentrate on the coldly calculated attacks raining down upon him. Dodging a potentially fatal stab, he wrapped his arm around his opponent's and threw him hard against the side of the tank, disarming him.

The blow should've dazed him, but with only a quick shake of his head, the stranger was back on his feet. Before he could resume his bout against Lion-O, however, Panthro's nun-chucks wrapped around his wrist and yanked him to the side, unbalancing him. Lion-O quickly took care of two reptilians as Panthro grappled with the strange man, who seemed to be the panther's equal in strength despite his smaller frame.

"Prince Sincline!" a jackal called out, tossing the dropped sword towards the newcomer. "Your weapon!"

The now identified Sincline easily plucked the blade from the air and turned it on Panthro, who barely managed to maneuver so the stab aimed for him instead thrust into the dashboard of the Thundertank. Lion-O leapt towards the pair, slamming Sincline's blade back against the controls with the Sword of Omens just as he freed it. His attention once more on the Lord of the Thundercats, the prince pulled his sword out from under Lion-O's, attempting to land a killing blow, only for it to be blocked by the Claw Shield.

This… wasn't so easy, anymore.

Notes:

1. Yes, I truly believe Shining Glory is that awesome—rescuing people he doesn't know, recognizing evil immediately, knowing how to fix problems, calm and collected no matter what situation he finds himself in (feel free to disagree with me). As far as I'm concerned, he is THE best character from Lady Lovely Locks.