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A Tale of Jaguars	By : Aline Category: +S through Z > Thundercats Views: 13095 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Thundercats, or any character or event associated to it, and I'm not making any money from this fiction.

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
- 26
WARNINGS: This contains Slash, and abuse, as well as mpreg. It is dark and treats themes only for mature audience, such as sex with a minor. Do not read if you don’t like it.
*Disclaimer: I don’t own Thundercats, or any character or event associated to it, and I’m not making any money from this fiction.
Author’s note: Sorry for the long time between updates. I have too many things to take care of, but I try to find time to continue writing. Anyway, here it is, thank you for reading.
CHAPTER 25. The Shadows of Revenge.
The calm of the jungle was disturbed by a chilling scream. Birds flew everywhere, escaping the noise and the sudden feel of danger that accompanied it. A predator sniffed the air, curious at the smell of fresh blood. It followed the sweet odour to find out the source until it came to a cave, the entrance obscured by the shadows of trees and bushes. It stopped however, unwilling to get closer. Its fur stood on end and it growled threateningly before turning tail and run away.
The shadows around the cave seemed to move. They flown towards the opening and were sucked inside. In the depths of the cave, the flow of shadows seemed to expand and fill the shallow space entirely. There was only one lithe silhouette discernible amongst the darkness. A female jaguar was kneeling in front of a fire pit, holding something meaty and bloody on her hands. The fire was now dead and amongst the ashes laid the charred remains of things that had been burned past recognition. The smell permeating the cave was of blood and rancid meat. The female put a bloodied knife on the ground beside her and took a bite of the thing in her hands before throwing it towards the extinguished fire. She couldn’t help but gasp in surprise when flames suddenly came to life to consume the final offering she had thrown. Purple flames that gave no light at all. The signal that her ritual had worked. She looked beyond the flames to the barely distinguishable figure of a big bundle, the size of a grown cat. It disappeared in front of her eyes, consumed by the shadows invading the place. She could feel the energy behind her. The shadows were gathering, solidifying in three bodies. Still, she didn’t stand up until a deep voice was heard.
‘You paid the price to summon us. You have offered the lives of your own blood. What do you want in return?’
The female turned and looked at the three figures in elation. She had done it! Now she could have back what was rightfully hers!
“My cub. Bring me my, and Jareid’s cub! Jareid’s offspring belongs to me!”
The shadows disappeared, leaving Mai in darkness. Her eyes focused on the light that was entering through the cave’s opening again, and she laughed. It had worked! She knew that you didn’t need to be a shaman for the rites to work for you! Who would have thought that the load of old transcripts that her uncle had inherited her family would be of use? She had been lucky to grab the right one when she had been left to pack. Now she could have her life back. Now Jareid would finally come to her side. She would return to the city as its queen!
She walked out of the cave with barely a disgusted look behind. Her father had gotten what he deserved. How had he dared to deny her her rightful place at the court! She lamented that her mother had had to share the same fate, but Mai had had to be sure that the offering would be strong enough. Besides, her mother would probably be proud of her for not having given up. She had always told her that she deserved the best, and that she should be willing to do anything to achieve her goals. Yes, her mother would have been proud. After all, the poison that Mai had instructed her accomplice to use was quick and wouldn’t have caused her mother much pain. She sat on a rock outside the cave, waiting for the shadows to return with her cub. Her eyes were still bright with a glint of madness in them.
&&&&&&&&&
Cheetara put Itzamma in the crib carefully. The boy was still awake, but he was very put out to be in her arms and wouldn’t stop wriggling and hissing. The cleric sighed in resignation and let the cub be. She was relatively sure that he wasn’t going to disturb his sister, who was sleeping in the same crib. She gave him one of the colourful teething rings that Tygra had insisted to keep always at hand. The twins were teething already and they both had taken a liking to gnaw at the bars of their crib. Itzamma looked at the toy intently for a moment before putting it in his mouth. He glared at the cheetah for good measure before turning his entire focus on the plastic ring.
Cheetara chuckled and shook her head. Then she left the crib’s side and went to retrieve Akbal. The little cub was rolling around on the mat, trying to catch Snarf. Cheetara watched amusedly as the pet jumped from one side of the cub to the other. Just barely escaping from the grasp of the tiny hands. Akbal giggled and screeched happily. His little arms and legs moved vigorously to take impulse and roll from one side to another in pursue of the elusive tail of the pet. Cheetara sat at the cub’s side and offered him another teether. Akbal immediately grabbed the toy and started to gnaw at it almost desperately. Cheetara smiled and rubbed the cub’s tummy gently. Akbal continued babbling around the teether in his mouth and making happy noises. The cheetah talked to him, playfully asking about how yummy his toy looked and other nonsense. Akbal seemed to have the pent up energy of all three cubs, and soon was rolling again, looking for Snarf. He even tried to lift himself a few times without much success, but it was clear that any day now he would start running around in pursuit of the pet.
Cheetara sighed looking towards the crib. She could understand Tygra’s worry. The two twins seemed to be very far apart in development. They were almost four and a half months and Itzamma still preferred to lie in the crib than start exploring like his twin did. Even Ixchel stayed awake longer and was starting to try to sit up by herself. Cheetara of course knew the most likely explanation, as well as Jaga had known once he had had some private words with Bengali. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t just explain to Tygra what was happening. She had thought that her old mentor would want to inform Tygra, but instead Jaga had insisted for her to keep quiet. Bengali wasn’t saying anything either, but the cheetah knew that the shaman was monitoring the cub closely, making sure that nothing went wrong. She really wanted to ask the purpose of all the secrecy. It wasn’t as if Tygra wouldn’t understand.
She sighed again and returned to play with Akbal. It wasn’t a big deal really. They’d tell Tygra at the right time. Meanwhile they’d continue to observe the twins and care for them with as much love as the family could give. So far, the couple had managed pretty well. Saixa’s help had allowed Tygra to focus on his training and other obligations without fear for his cubs. The female had subtly started to become part of the family, and some of the nobles were convinced that she was technically a concubine. Many believed that Jareid was bedding her, of even sharing her with Tygra. Cheetara had had a good laugh when her tiger friend had listened to that piece of gossip. The baffled look on his face had been priceless. Of course, Saixa was doing nothing to stop the rumours and even encouraged them from time to time. Jareid didn’t like it, but allowed it to continue because it was diverting attention from Tygra. His ex-lovers were now more focused on targeting Saixa, who could defend herself quite well.
It was in part thanks to those rumours that Cheetara was now taking care of the cubs instead of the jaguaress. One of the ladies from a noble family had been found dead the previous day. She had gone to the pond to bathe, and her servants had located her body amongst some bushes when they had gone in search of her. She had used to go to the pond by herself frequently, so they had only discovered her when she had taken too long to return. The shamans had determined that a snake had bitten her. A Taranga, more precisely, which was the most poisonous snake one could find in the jungle. Her poison could kill a grown cat in seconds. It had been a horrible accident, and the body had been prepared quickly to give her the final rites. She had been part of a high-ranking family, and the royal family, including Lion-O, was expected to attend the ceremony of parting, along with the rest of the court.
Baal had heavily suggested for Saixa to accompany them, and for she to remain at Jareid’s side inside the temple. Jareid had been very upset, not only because he hadn’t wanted to attend the deceased’s final rites in the first place, in addition he loathed the fact that he was being forced to fulfil the nobles’ expectations. Tygra had managed to calm him a little. He didn’t really mind if everyone wanted to believe that Saixa was Jareid’s concubine, as long as they stopped to pressure for the prince to choose a female. They seemed to think that the royal family was somehow incomplete. For all that they were grateful that Tygra had grounded their prince, they were still fearful that he wouldn’t be enough in the long run. They preferred to be sure that Jareid was truly satisfied and wouldn’t return to his previous obnoxious behaviour.
Cheetara had been convinced that Jareid was going to kill someone when he had realized that they had no one to leave the cubs with. No one he trusted that is, as Ben had to be present in the ceremony and neither parent wanted to take the cubs to such an affair. Jareid had even suggested leaving them with only Snarf, but Tygra had pointed out that even as intelligent as the pet was he could not feed them, or change the cubs’ nappies. The jaguar had threatened Cheetara with all kinds of painful death if something happened to his cubs. Tygra had apologized, but the cheetah had no doubt that Jareid had meant every single word. Then he had spent some time muttering and raging under his breath, occasionally cursing the nobles’ existence, and complaining that a certain family had already caused too much grief for him. She wondered what had happened to make him act in that way. Granted, it wasn’t very difficult to make the jaguar prince angry, but Saixa didn’t look so eager to attend the rites either. She would do it because it was an obligation, and a perfect opportunity to be seen with the royal family, but she hadn’t been in really good terms with the deceased. Tygra had also looked uncomfortable, and had promised Cheetara to be back as soon as possible. The behaviour of all three of them seemed suspicious for the cheetah. Anyway, she didn’t expect them back before noon.
She played with Akbal a bit more before the cub finally yawned and gave signals to want to sleep. She changed his nappy, taking advantage of his tiredness. Saixa entered the room when she was just finishing and peered into the crib to find both Itzamma and Ixchel fast asleep.
“Hi. Are they done already?”
“Not quite. Jareid is just being a bastard and insisted that I should come to check on you. He’s being outright impossible.”
Cheetara growled while she lifted Akbal on her arms.
“Does he really believe that I would hurt Tygra’s cubs? He’s the most unreasonable cat I have ever met!”
“Ha! Sweetie, you don’t know half of it.”
Saixa was about to say more, but she suddenly froze. Every hair on her back stood up and she looked around nervously. Cheetara shivered and held Akbal more tightly. The room suddenly felt oppressive, and it was getting dark.
Both females moved at the sides of the crib, looking for danger that they instinctively knew was there, but couldn’t see. In the crib, one of the cubs started crying, the other two closely followed.
“What’s happening?”
“I-I don’t know. Call the guards!”
Saixa took her communicator out. She only had time to press the panic button when the shadows around them suddenly turned alive and surged from the floor in front of them.
“For the great Thunder!”
Cheetara quickly put Akbal in the crib to be able to take out her staff. Snarf stood on the railing, all freaked out and hissing. Saixa tried to move the entire crib away but the shadows moved towards them incredibly fast. A dark tendril grabbed Saixa by the waist and threw her against the wall with force. Cheetara attacked, dodging the shadow tendrils and trying to hit the darkness with her staff. She put herself in front of the crib, but soon realized that she wasn’t a big obstacle. The darkness was everywhere and another tendril surged from the ceiling, directly above the crib.
“No!”
Cheetara jumped, intercepting the shadow, which grasped her and threw her to the side. She turned in midair and landed on her feet, ready to charge again. Faintly, he heard noise at the door, and she realized that the guards were there, but couldn’t enter. There would be no help. She attacked again as Snarf flew past her to collide hard into the door. She moved her staff expertly, trying to reach the crib. The darkness seemed to grow around her, and she felt herself being lifted and smashed against a hard surface. Pain exploded in her head and her side, and she couldn’t breath. There was something above her, all around her, that was blocking her mouth and nose and pinning her down. She tried to struggle to no avail. The lack of air and the pain soon became unbearable and darkness flooded her.
&&&&&&&&
Mai stood up quickly and grinned in delight when the shadows around her moved and raised from nowhere. The sound of crying came abruptly into existence. She extended her arms, impatient to finally have her cub, but she looked shocked as she was offered three crying kittens.
“What? What is this? I told you to bring me...!”
‘Jareid’s offspring belongs to me!’ She heard her own voice coming from one of the shadows. ‘This is Jareid’s offspring.’ It finished.
The three shadows deposited the crying cubs on the ground and disappeared.
Mai was at a loss for a moment before realizing that she should have been more specific in her request. Well, it didn’t matter, she just had to look at them to know which one was hers. Only one would be a pure jaguar. She sneered at what was obviously a tiger cub and frowned dismissingly at the black one. Both of them were obviously the tiger’s spawn. What could you expect from an outsider? Mai was now sure that her cub would be the heir. No one would accept a black jaguar as king, and the tiger wouldn’t even be looked at. She lifted the jaguar cub from the ground and started to walk towards the camp that her father had set for them. She left the other two cubs where they were. They were not her problem.
&&&&&&&&
Tygra was aghast. He paced from one side of the waiting room to the other like a caged animal, growling from time to time, and really wanting to get his claws and teeth into something. He should have gone with Jareid. The jaguar had taken two units of the hunters out and was searching the jungle. As futile as it was, given that no one knew what to look for besides the cubs, it was doing something. Tygra had been ordered to stay behind, so one of them would be there to receive information. The tiger however was getting more and more frenzied. He would rather go out and search for his cubs. He had already popped out his claws and was close to start punching the walls. He still couldn’t believe that someone had managed to get inside the palace undetected.
The ceremony at the temple had been about to finish when they had heard the alarm. He had quickly found his communicator, as all forces were linked when a panic button was pressed. He had nearly screamed when he had seen that the source of the alarm was the nursery. He and Jareid had run towards their rooms as fast as they could. They had arrived as the guards had managed to force the doors open and thus had gotten to see the destruction first hand. The nursery had been in pieces. The guard had barely avoided trampling over Snarf, who had been close to the door, not moving. They had found Cheetara amongst the broken furniture and shelves, bleeding profusely, and Saixa at the far wall under what remained of the rocking chair. Both had been unconscious. The crib had not been damaged, but it had been empty. No one had seen what had happened. No one had identified any intruders in the palace, and there was no evidence of a forced entrance or departure.
Tygra roared once more and started to bite his fist. The only ones who could tell him what had happened were Saixa and Cheetara, and none of them had recovered consciousness yet. Cheetara in fact was taken into surgery and they were fighting to save her life. Snarf was awake, and very depressed, but he couldn’t tell them anything.
A pair of thin arms surrounded his chest and he felt the slight weight of his brother from behind.
“They’d find them Tygra. They can’t have gone far. Jareid moved the forces immediately.”
Tygra sighed and embraced his little brother fiercely. It had been two hours already. Who could have possibly been agile enough to hide from the jaguars in such a short time? Xilara and Yeanna were also with him. Baal had gone to aid the search. Everyone was very worried and tense. It was another half hour before Bengali appeared in the waiting room. Xiar had gone to inform the chief commander and communicate with Baal. Tygra looked anxiously at his friend, but seeing the troubled face of the older tiger, he guessed that he had bad news. Xilara was the first to ask about the situation and Ben gulped nervously.
“Both Cheetara and Saixa are out of danger now. Cheetara is going to need sometime to recover completely, but she’d be fine. Lady Saixa is awake, but... well...”
“What did she say Ben? What happened to my cubs? Where are they?” Asked an anxious Tygra. Ben sighed and covered his face with his hands for a second before moving them to his head.
“I... I don’t know how to phrase it. Lady Saixa said... well, the shadows attacked them.”
Tygra was momentarily befuddled.
“The shadows of what?”
“Of nothing. There was nothing there, only the shadows. The darkness filled the room, and it became tangible, and attacked them. Lady Saixa says that they knocked her out as she was trying to move the crib out of the way.”
The cats were speechless for long moments before Xilara tried to understand better.
“But... how is that possible? It’s surely magic, but who can control magic like that? I’ve never heard about shadows attacking people.”
“It’s a forbidden art. That’s what the High Shaman said. He was really worried. He said that...” He paused and looked towards Tygra worriedly. The young cat was clenching fists and teeth tightly.
“What Ben? And where is Xiar?”
“He went to call the forces back. He said that if the shadows took the cubs they weren’t going to be able to find any trace.”
“No.” Tygra turned around and stormed out of the room, ignoring Ben’s calls to go back. He had to find Jareid. They had to find their cubs. They could still be close enough to them.
&&&&&&&&
Evan, a brown hawk, was very bored. He had been charged with doing recognition of the west side of the jungle, but so far he hadn’t spotted anything interesting. Not that anyone really expected something to happen. It was the border of the jungle after all. The few tribes that made it their home were located far in its depths, and the hated cats’ city was days away. Not for nothing it was the biggest jungle in Third Earth. You could walk through it for days and days without encountering another sentient animal. Evan looked back the way he had come from. He could see where the jungle ended, and rocky, dry landscape began. Avista’s towers were faint, but still distinguishable at the distance.
Evan narrowed his eyes and his beak made an annoyed sound. Avista had once been a glorious city. It had floated in the sky, keeping its citizens safe from the dangers and violence of the rest of the animals. But those times were over. The technology that had once sustained Avista had failed when the cats had stolen the Tech Stone. The city had fallen, and the Avians had been unable to get the anti-gravity generators working again. Without the Power Stone, Avista was just a big pile of rubble. Evan, as many others, couldn’t really imagine how the city had once been able to float in the sky. He only had the old stories that were told. No one had ever explained to him how the cats had managed to steal the Power Stone, but everyone was sure that they were the ones to blame for Avista’s fall. The Avians hated the cats for it, and thoughts of revenge had festered in some of them for generations. Now that Vultaire had taken the power as Prefect of the city, he was preparing their forces with what little tech they still had. The vulture was obsessed with recovering the Tech Stone, and was insistent on attacking the cats’ city. Most of the people supported him. They wanted the easy and rich life their ancestors had written about. They only had stories about the magnificence and opulence of the old city. All of it taken from them by a cursed cat.
They still had some machines and individual ships, but they were failing because no one knew anymore the correct way to give them maintenance, and they didn’t have the means to make more. They didn’t have the power or the knowledge. Those had been stolen with the Stone. There were only a handful of still working speeding bikes, and the scouts used them to patrol the jungle constantly. They already knew the general direction to the cats’ city, and were mapping the possible route for an army to take. Vultaire cursed each day their lack of machines. Without them they were at a huge disadvantage. Just crossing the jungle could take them months. They needed another strategy. It was clear that they wouldn’t be able to even get close to the cats’ city in the jungle without being spotted.
Evan sighed and continued his circuit above the trees. Personally, he thought that their obsession with recovering the Power Stone was futile, and it was restricting them greatly. They could have moved on, on their own, ages ago. He knew that there were other bird tribes that had flourished without any stone’s aid. But it was equally futile to argue with his compatriots, so he shrugged and turned his vehicle around. Just a few more minutes and he’d return to the base.
Suddenly, he saw something weird a few yards away to his right. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the point. It seemed like a defined area of the forest was suddenly dark. Too dark. He turned his speeder that way to investigate. The forest however returned to normal before he reached the dark area. He continued anyway. If he found evidence of some species’ activity so close to the border of the jungle he would have to report it. He flew above the identified area and spotted a cave. In front of it, in a small clearing, he could distinguish two tiny, wriggling figures. He frowned and hovered over the place. His hearing wasn’t so good, but his sight was, and he quickly identified two cat cubs. He flew around at a discreet distance, looking for an adult. The trees obstructed his view, but he was reticent to land and explore the area more thoroughly. This could be a trap.
He waited for some minutes. One of the cubs started to wander away slowly. Evan assumed that both were still too young to walk. They were obviously crying and distressed. He convinced himself that there was no adult to care for them around, and landed close by. He grabbed his crossbow and had it ready as he approached the crying cubs. No one attacked him, and he inspected the two tiny kittens. One was black, and the other orange with stripes. The black one had stopped crying and was currently gnawing at a rock he had found. The other was no longer crying but screaming its lungs out. Evan looked around one more time and finally spotted the signs of someone else having been there. He hunched and looked at the footprints that were around. They belonged to a cat certainly, and apparently came from the cave and continued to the jungle. He looked at the cubs again and considered what to do. The black one had noticed him and was trying to crawl towards him, crying again.
He could leave them there. He remembered the unnatural darkness that had covered the entire area. If the cubs were tainted with dark magic, he was certainly not taking them to Avista. Two cats less that wouldn’t be a bother in the future. He clicked his beak, and was about to get on the speeder when another voice came from above.
“Hey Evan! What did you find?”
Evan looked up and saw as another speeder came down and landed. A tawny falcon called Thier approached him and inspected the cubs with a grimace.
“Cats?”
“They seem to have been abandoned.”
“They’re too far away from home.”
He picked the orange cub up and looked closely at the tunic it was wearing. He hissed when he found the symbol embroidered in the fabric.
“This is the royal emblem.”
“How do you know? I thought it was a black cat on a red background.”
“That’s the symbol of the other city you fool. The cats that live in the jungle are by far more devious and dangerous. This cub could have something to do with the royal family.”
“Why are they here then? Maybe the cats just want to get rid of them.”
“Maybe not. Maybe someone is causing troubles. Surely they fight amongst themselves a lot.”
“I say we leave them here.”
“No. This could be an opportunity.”
“An opportunity for what?”
“Lets take them to Vultaire.”
Evan hissed in displeasure, but grabbed the black cub and got on his speeder. He had a very bad feeling about the whole situation, and he only hoped that Vultaire decided to just get rid of the cubs.
&&&&&&&&
The vulture looked critically at the cubs, which had cried themselves to sleep by then. He recognized the royal emblem and considered what to do. This could be his chance to finally get the cats out of the jungle and to get the upper hand. It all depended on how high on the ladder of power the cubs’ parents were.
“Give them to Aura to feed. She’d find something. And send a group to search the area where they were found. Maybe we could find something useful.”
“Sir, what about the dark magic?” Evan insisted worriedly.
“Ka! Another reason to presume that the cubs were taken by an enemy of the cats. Do you really think that they would bother themselves with magic, when they have the Power Stone to give them all they could possibly want? This is our opportunity for revenge! And if it turns out that the cats are not interested we can always kill the kittens later anyway.”
Evan frowned. He really didn’t like it. He should have left the cubs where he had found them.
&&&&&&&&
Baal was growling and cursing obsessed females to hell and back. There was only one person he could think about that could have been so stupid and crazy enough to use the kind of dark magic that Xiar had described. Where had she gotten the information to undertake a ritual, he could only guess. Xiar was convinced that she had found the old parchments that her granduncle had once been charged with guarding. The hunters had been notified that they were most likely looking for Mai, but there really was no lead to her whereabouts. She could technically be anywhere. Both Jareid and Tygra were understandably out of their minds. It was night already and they were still searching like possessed, despite the heavy rain that was currently falling. The problem was that even with the aid of tech it would take weeks, maybe months, to search the entire jungle. They needed something to point them in the right direction or they would be running around in circles forever. They had already tried to contact Myron. The jaguar had taken a communicator with him, but there had been no answer. There was also the question of what exactly Mai wanted to do with the cubs. They could be dead already for all they knew. Or worse. If their guess turned out to be wrong and Mai had nothing to do with the kidnapping, then they would be looking for the wrong person.
Baal had put Xiar and the shamans to find out a way to be sure. There must be some way to trace the magic that had been used. All magic left some kind of residue behind. Surely they could manage to use that. Xiar was reluctant to try because it was dark magic and none of the shamans had much practice controlling that specific kind, but they were running out of time as it was. They had to find the cubs soon. Baal knew that his son was barely holding himself together and Tygra was going to run himself into exhaustion. It would be devastating if they didn’t find them.
Xiar and the most powerful of the shamans were presently at the temple, trying to find a way to trace the shadows. Baal was in his study, tracking his son and son in law with the coms. The Chief Commander was leading the search, though by that point the priority had changed to keep both the heir and his mate safe. Baal was considering the best way to bring Jareid and Tygra back to the palace. As anxious and angry as they both were, they would likely drive themselves sick. They were not going to stop willingly now, and that would be counterproductive.
He heard the door opening and soft steps getting closer. He frowned and acknowledged his visitor without taking his sight from the window.
“You should be in your room Lion-O. You’d need your sleep.”
“I’m sorry Sir. I couldn’t sleep.” Said the lion anxiously. Baal sighed.
“We are taking care of everything. We will find the cubs. If you want to help, maybe you could try to convince your brother to return and have some sleep himself.”
“I’d try. Sir, I’ve been thinking, my father used to say that the Sword of Omens was more than just a weapon.”
Baal frowned and turned around, unsure of what the little lion was suggesting. “The Sword?”
Lion-O nodded and licked his lips. He was disclosing a big secret, but if Baal could use the Sword and was the Lord of the Thundercats now, he had to know.
“My father said that it could recognize danger, and would know if something really bad was about to happen. He said that it especially protected the royal family, and that the Lord of the Thundercats only had to use it, see through it, and he would know what the danger was.”
Baal looked at the young lion, considering. He had read about the Sword of Omens’ power. It was said that it guided the Lord of the Thundercats to victory. But until now he had thought that it was merely a powerful weapon, useful only in an actual battle. It would have never occurred to him to use it in any other fashion.
“See through it? How’s that supposed to work?”
“Well, father said you had to hold it upright in front of your face, so the Eye of Thundera is at your eyes’ level and looking outwards. If the Sword considers you a worthy Lord, it’ll show you what you need to know.”
‘What I need to know. Interesting phrasing.’ He thought.
The kit’s idea had merit though, and he lost no time in going to his personal armoury, where both the Sword of Omens and the Tech Stone were held under special security. Lion-O followed him, anxious to see if his suggestion was any worth. Baal didn’t stop him, the kit could be useful if he needed more information, or to contact someone.
They entered the armoury and walked all through it to the left side. Lion-O looked around him in slight awe at all the weapons displayed in special shelves. Some of them looked weird and some were clearly just traditional weaponry. Finally, Baal stood in front of a bare section of the wall and put his hand on the shelf that stood to his left, just below a wicked looking helmet. There was a faint hissing noise and the wall slid open to reveal a dark and small alcove. There were two display cases in there, each one like a column made of glass. Inside one, there was something that resembled a piece of circuit tablet, only round, and in the other was the Sword of Omens, encased in its gauntlet. The Eye of Thundera was visible, and shining with an eerie red light.
Baal narrowed his eyes and inspected the Sword. The War Stone had not been like this when he had taken it from Claudus. Maybe this meant that it indeed perceived danger somehow. He pressed some unseen button on the stand and the showcase opened. Now Baal and Lion-O could hear the sound coming from the Sword. It was like a low roar, like it was calling. Baal took the handle and the roar stopped. The red light however didn’t diminish as Baal unsheathed the Sword and held it in front of himself as Lion-O had instructed. Immediately, the guard changed shape and Baal found himself looking through two circular pieces like a binocular. A series of images started to pass before his sight, almost too fast for him to caught any detail, but he could make sense of enough of them.
The nursery. Darkness invading every corner. The shadows throwing Saixa, Snarf and Cheetara out of the way. Mai standing in a clearing in the jungle. The shadows disappearing, leaving three cubs behind. Mai walking back into the depths of the jungle. A hawk and a falcon holding one cub each. The towers of a city, just beyond the jungle. A vulture laughing.
The flow of images stopped and the Sword recovered its original shape. Baal looked dumbfounded for a moment before realizing that the stone had also ceased to glow a brilliant red. He sheathed the sword again and closed the case while he thought about the images he had seen. Then he turned around and started walking away. Lion-O huffed and hurried to follow.
“Sir? What happened Sir?”
“It seems that we need to get in touch with an old enemy. Go to sleep Lion-O. Your information has been very valuable indeed. We will be ready to make our move in the morning.”
Lion-O smiled, happy that he had been able to help. Baal returned to his study and called Xiar and the Chief Commander. They had to build a strategy. He also had to decide on the best way to make Jareid come back from his frantic search, and keep him focused enough to lead their forces efficiently.
&&&&&&&
Tygra was feeling the full pressure of being the one expected to maintain the calm and think rationally. All he wanted to do was scream in frustration at the top of his lungs and brutalize some furniture. Jareid had been given a mild tranquilizer so they could bring him back to the palace. The jaguar prince had not been listening to reason, and would have kept searching every inch of the jungle himself. Tygra had been the one to understand that Baal had a lead to the cubs, and they needed to organize and analyze the situation with cold heads. Tygra didn’t know how he was supposed to do that. He wanted to go and retrieve his cubs now. He couldn’t stop thinking about how scared and hungry they must be, maybe even soaked if they had been exposed to the rain. They needed him. But Baal wanted to be cautious. It would do no good to rush.
Apparently the assumption that Mai had been the one behind the shadows had been correct. She was still somewhere in the jungle, and they needed to find her. But first they were going to secure the cubs. Tygra was grateful to his little brother for having told Baal how to wield the Sword of Omens in this case. Xiar and Baal had gone through the images that the Sword had shown the king, and had concluded that the cubs were most probably in Avista. They knew where the city was, and it would take less than an hour to fly there in the war ships. The problem was that the birds of Avista were not in friendly terms with the jaguars. Tygra remembered a small delegation of birds that had been present at the cubs’ ceremony as allies, but apparently those were from another tribe that had always lived in the jungle. Avista’s birds had never abandoned their fallen city. However, they also hadn’t made the slightest move to attack since the cats had stolen the Tech Stone from them. Technically they were still enemies, but had never made any attempt to cause a full out war. Now they had the jaguar heir’s cubs, but they seemed to have stumbled on them by accident. Maybe they didn’t even know that the cubs were royalty. But the jaguars had no way to know the Avians’ intentions if they didn’t go and ask.
Baal and his Chief Commander had decided to organize a well-sized group that would show the jaguars’ power without being openly hostile. They just wanted the cubs back. If the Avians returned them without stirring problems, they would grab them and leave. They also would restart the search of the jungle from Avista’s side. Seeing that the Avians had found the cubs, there would be more chances to find Mai around that area.
This time Baal was not going to spare her life. The entire mess had convinced him that the best way to deal with traitors and delusional, status-hungry females, was to just kill them. He was still considering the convenience of keeping her away from Jareid until a sentence could be given. Tygra really hoped that Jareid wouldn’t get to see the female before a trial could be set. He knew that his mate would not be so generous as to wait for her to be tried appropriately. The jaguar prince was going to kill her, and Tygra wasn’t going to even attempt to stop him. He very much wanted to tear the woman to shreds himself. That she had dared to use dark magic on his cubs! Very dangerous dark magic according to Xiar. Ben had explained to Tygra how the shadows were supposed to work. Apparently you needed a sacrifice to be able to call the dark spirits. Your sacrifice had to be of blood, and important enough to be exchanged for a favour. If the spirits considered that your sacrifice wasn’t enough for the favour you were asking, they’d take your soul as well. Tygra could only imagine what had been Mai’s sacrifice.
He insisted on helping to get everything ready, trying very hard to not get into one of the individual ships and go for his cubs. He realized that he didn’t know exactly where Avista was, and the Avians could still be hostile. So he was going to follow the plan and wait for the troops to be ready. Soon though, Baal ordered everyone to have at least a couple hours of sleep before going. He wanted everyone alert for the trip. Tygra however thought that he was going to need a tranquilizer too in order to be able to sleep. His only worry was to recover his cubs as soon as possible. Even so, he tried to follow the king’s command and went to his bed. Jareid was already there, half knocked out thanks to the drug still in his system, and growling unhappily. Tygra lay with him and spent several minutes turning around in the bed, until Jareid pinned him down with his body and almost crushed him in a fierce hug. He didn’t mention anything about the new claw marks adorning Tygra’s thighs, and only promised that they were going to get their cubs back.
Tygra had a restless sleep, and woke the moment Jareid shifted to get up. Both were ready and anxious to depart before anybody else, and thus witnessed a furious Baal getting out of his study and barking out orders to have the entire fleet ready to go in thirty minutes. Jareid and Tygra looked at each other, realizing that something bad had happened, and hurried up as everybody else. Baal would tell them what was going on soon enough and they were done with delays.
Baal walked decidedly towards the armoury again. The ruddy bird! That scum had dared to threaten his grandchildren’s lives! He was going to show the despicable vulture just who had the upper hand here! He didn’t know how he Avian had found one of their communicators, but he had, and had managed to use it. The vulture had established communication with the Chief Commander, and in turn with Baal. He had threatened with killing the cubs unless the cats surrendered the Tech Stone.
Granted, Baal had considered taking the Stone with them and in fact using it as a bargaining chip. He had thought that for the Avians it would be a fair exchange. The cats didn’t really need the stone anymore. It had given them knowledge and the means to start developing astounding things. But it was no longer crucial for their continued progress. They had found other means to power the machines and Thundrilium, their most important fuel, was found in abundance. They could have parted with the Stone. The cubs were more important and Baal had been willing to reward the ones that had found them.
But now, after Vultaire, who apparently was the leader of the Avians, had declared his intentions and had threatened the lives of the cubs, Baal was not going to negotiate anything. Leaving the Power Stone in Avista would eventually bring them a war with the Avians. He could tell that war and destruction was what the vulture had in mind. He won’t allow it. It was time to eliminate the threat before it had the chance to develop into a real danger.
He revealed the hidden alcove and opened the case of the Tech Stone. He would take it only as bait. Once they had the cubs, they’d recover the Stone easily. His eyes however turned sideways to the Sword and the gauntlet.
Why not?
He opened the other showcase and took the Sword of Omens too. The birds wanted a Stone of Power. Well, he’d bring them two. Let’s see if they liked it.
&&&&&&&
Evan ran hastily to his home. He didn’t like what Vultaire was planning. His instinct was telling him that it was going to end very badly. As far as he knew no one dared to bother the cats that inhabited the jungle. Oh, he had heard all about Thundera and the eternal struggle that the lizards had with them, but Ix-Maal was different. The clan of the jungle had almost no contact with the Thunderians, and they were the ones with the Tech Stone. If the tales were right, these cats had an immense source of power at their disposal. They could have all kinds of massive machines, ships and other wondrous devices working for them. There was no way they could defeat such war power. Vultaire was crazy! The vulture was counting on the cubs they had found as leverage, but they didn’t even know if the cubs were important enough for the cats to care! In Evan’s opinion they were poking a wasps’ nest unnecessarily.
He had hoped that Vultaire would be mad enough to attempt to cross the jungle himself. If he had decided to go and find the cats, he would have taken the danger away from Avista, hopefully to never return. Unfortunately, the birds that had searched the area where the cubs had been, had found the site of a small camp and had retrieved what looked like a walkie-talkie. They had very few of them still in working conditions, and this device had seemed much simpler. It only had a couple of buttons on it. Vultaire had been elated. He believed that he could get in touch with the cats using the device, and he’d lure them out of the jungle. He planned to use the cubs, offer their lives in exchange for the Stone. Evan hadn’t liked the idea, but no one else seemed to have any problems with it. He didn’t know if they were that dumb or if they really couldn’t see that they were no match for an army! He knew, he just knew that the cats were going to take offence and attack them just on principle. He needed to get out of there before sunrise. He was going to take his family and leave before all hell broke loose. He entered his home, and thankfully his mate was still awake.
“Trina, pack the essentials and get the chicks, quickly. We have to go.”
“Evan? What happened?”
Evan explained as fast as he could while looking for a travel bag. His mate had already heard part of the news. Vultaire had made an announcement to the city, promising that he had obtained the means to get the Tech Stone back. He hadn’t, however, explained how exactly he had planed to do it. Trina was confused.
“But... Vultaire is doing the right thing, isn’t he? We’d finally get the Stone back.”
“Trina please, think for a moment. He’s issuing a threat to the cats. The same cats that have been in possession of the Stone for decades! Do you really think that they haven’t used it?”
The beautiful eagle blinked in confusion for a moment, and then understanding slowly reflected in her eyes.
“Oh, the weapons...”
“And everything else! The cats are specialized predators for a reason. Our species’ advantage is that we can fly, but with tech on their side they surely are very capable of that too. This is going to end very bad, and we have to get our chicks out of the way now!”
They hurried up and Trina even convinced her sister and a few neighbours to go with them. They were able to get out of the city while it was still dark. The guards looked at Evan questioningly, but he argued that they were going to find shelter for the chicks as a precaution. He even got charged with a few more little ones. He was happy to get them out, and just prayed that there would be enough of a city to return to.
&&&&&&
The fleet was just arriving to the border of the jungle. The towers of Avista were clearly in sight and everyone was in position. Baal was issuing the final orders, and instructing his shamans to where they needed to go. Every ship, save the one they were on, was using the invisibility field. The orders were to secure the cubs first and then attack. Avista needed to disappear once and for all. Tygra had spent the fifty minutes it had taken to reach the city pacing the ship anxiously. Baal had informed them about the threat the birds had issued and he was furious and worried as hell. Ordinarily he would have protested against the destruction of an entire city, but at the moment he really didn’t care. He wanted his cubs back and safe. Being apart from them was driving him insane. He hadn’t even noticed that Baal had brought the Sword.
The king had not yet told the parents that they probably were only going to find two of the cubs. He wanted to take care of Avista first, so they could focus on finding Mai immediately after. Besides, he didn’t think that Mai would harm the cub she had taken, and he was convinced that it had been Itzamma. He was the one that show more his jaguar heritage after all. Though he also knew that they needed to find her as soon as possible, as no one really knew how stable she could be after she had summoned the shadows. Baal expected to finish with the birds quickly and then start the search of this side of the jungle without delay. To that end, Jareid was in another ship, waiting for the moment to land and start inspecting the jungle with a group of hunters. As good as Jareid’s violence was in the middle of a conflict, Baal preferred to have him directing his energy towards hunting their errant female. He didn’t want his volatile son to inadvertently provoke a reaction that could harm the cubs.
The ship approached the city and the pilot started to search a spot to land.
“My king, there’s a group of crows signalling a platform. We’re going to land very close to the towers.”
“Good. Proceed with caution and don’t let the shields down. They have tech too, and we don’t know how advanced it is.”
“Do you think they’d be able to sense the invisibility suits?”
“With a good enough radar they will. That’s why only Xiar would be following us. If we see that no one notices him, then he’s going to give the signal and you can start searching the place. We’d give the order for the troops to proceed once we have the cubs.”
A quick scan revealed that the guards were only carrying laser guns. There didn’t seem to be any other advanced weapon in sight. Baal got out of the ship, followed by Tygra and three warriors. Xiar had taken an invisibility suit and followed them, keeping his distance. Five guards received them, and showed them the way into the palace. No one made any indication that they were aware of the invisible cat following the group.
&&&&&&&
The short walk inside the birds’ palace was enough for Baal to realize that Avista had lost whatever technology it once had. He was astounded that they apparently had depended on the Tech Stone so much. He had never seen the floating city, but he had imagined it to be at least as efficient as Ix-Maal. What he was seeing at the moment didn’t even resemble Thundera. It was more like the birds had found some ruins and had taken residency in them, not bothering to repair any of it. He didn’t know if the rest of the city was in a similar state, but so far he was unimpressed with the birds’ adaptability skills. By the time they reached the main chamber his ear piece had informed him that Xiar had ordered the search of the castle, and also had decided to send the Chief Commander the signal for Jareid’s group to start searching the jungle. Baal didn’t issue a counter order. By the look of things this was going to end quicker than they had expected.
They entered what was supposedly the main chamber, where the vulture and several more guards received them. Vultaire was standing in the middle, with his guards around. They had old looking laser rifles with them. Behind him, a crow was holding Ixchel. Baal felt Tygra tensing up, and for a moment feared that the young tiger would jump forward and try to get his cub back. Fortunately, Tygra had a tight control on his impulses, and though he growled lowly he stayed put. Baal was grateful that the little girl was apparently asleep. Tygra would not be so controlled if she were crying.
Vultaire made a noise of satisfaction, seeing that his guards outnumbered the cats three to one. More so, the felines were not carrying their guns in the open, and their leader had only a Sword at his side. His plan was to strike as soon as he had the Tech Stone in his hands. They only needed to kill the king and force the rest to flee. If he was right, then the cubs they had found were royals. He took that to mean that if they take out the king, then the birds would have control over the royal family. With the Tech Stone back, and the cats leaderless, they would get the so desired revenge. The cats had only brought one ship, so they weren’t expecting to engage into a battle. That worked just fine with Vultaire’s plans. Maybe they’d even manage to secure the ship, and the Tech Stone would produce an entire fleet for them. His eyes fell on the orange cat that came with the king. He noticed the tense and aggressive posture, as well as the way the brown eyes were fixated in the cub. So, this was the father. Vultaire smirked inwardly. The father would be more careless, and at the same time more willing to do what Vultaire wanted to have his cubs back. As long as they kept the black cub out of sight, Vultaire believed that the cats wouldn’t dare to do anything risky.
Baal scowled at the vulture, and after a quick assessment of the room showed his teeth to indicate his displeasure.
“You said you had our lost cubs Vultaire. I see only one.”
The vulture gave a pleased croak and assumed a relaxed stance.
“Yes. You see Baal, you’re Baal aren’t you? The black cub would be produced after we have the Tech Stone secured back where it belongs. Not before.”
Baal cocked his head. That was confirmation enough that only two of the cubs were in Avista. Mai indeed took Itzamma, so Akbal was somewhere in the building.
“How do I know that they are unharmed?”
“Well, you’d have to hand out the Stone first, wouldn’t you?”
“I may decide to just turn around and leave. You are not even showing us the girl entirely, and I have no guarantee that the boy is still alive.”
Tygra clenched his fists and teeth. Baal was only buying time, but it was hard to stay in place and not say a word when his instinct was screaming at him to go and snatch Ixchel back. Vultaire clacked his beak a couple of times. The cat was trying to get the upper hand, and he won’t have it. Time to put pressure on them. It would push the father over the edge. He snapped his fingers and the crow holding the babe produced a dagger. Tygra’s eyes widened and he actually gave a step forwards before one of their escorts grabbed his arm. His growl could be heard now, and Baal knew that he wasn’t going to be able to stop himself much longer. The king was relatively sure that the birds would be slow in the counterattack if surprised enough. Still, he staled just a bit more to give Bengali more time to find Akbal before any alarm was given.
“Not a very honourable bird, are you?”
“I think we both know who has the cards here. You’ve already as good as accepted that the two cubs are very important. Maybe we should test just how much more important than the Tech Stone they are.”
The crow holding Ixchel was smirking, Baal knew even without looking at the bird. He stared at his foe for some moments, and then thankfully listened to Ben’s voice in his ear, announcing that they had localized Akbal. The king made a disgusted face at the vulture and produced the Tech Stone from inside his pocket.
Vultaire’s eyes positively gleamed at the sight of the Stone. Its power could be felt even from afar. There was no way the cat could trick them. He extended his hand towards his prize. Practically all the birds had their eyes on the Tech Stone, and no one noticed Baal’s other hand caressing the guard of the Sword.
A number of things happened in fast succession then.
Baal opened his hand, letting the Stone fall into Vultaire’s open palm. The vulture almost greedily snatched it.
A weapon was fired. The blast of laser went directly to Baal’s head, but it dissipated just steps from hitting its target as some invisible object got in its way.
The cat guards suddenly disappeared and Tygra was free from the arm grounding him. He quickly took out his whip, released it and sent it directly to the crow carrying his cub. The whip trapped the crow’s hand holding the dagger, going a few times around the wrist. Tygra pulled with all his might and both crow and cub fell to the floor.
All hell broke loose then. Weapons started to fire in every direction and bodies begun to fall as the birds tried to take cover and fire aimlessly. Tygra soon was over the crow and broke his neck with a quick movement. Then he grabbed Ixchel, who was already crying, and moved to the walls to get out of the crossfire.
Vultaire looked around him in utter surprise. He didn’t have the chance to comprehend what had happened before Baal jumped on him. The vulture screeched in pain and looked down to find the Sword of Omens buried to the hilt into his navel. He barely looked up again in frozen horror at the vindictive eyes of the cat.
“Yo...y-you...” He started coughing. He could taste the blood in his mouth. Baal smirked at him.
“I could have given you what you wanted. We can live perfectly well without the Tech Stone. We are not useless like you lot.” A hand grabbed the dying bird by the back of the head, pulling him closer to the cat’s snarl. “But no one. No one. Threatens me and my family and gets away with it. Stupid bird.”
Baal let Vultaire’s head go, and with a quick movement broke the Avian’s right wrist, so the bird would open the hand holding the Tech Stone. The jaguar retrieved it at once. He didn’t have the inclination to wait until the bird was dead. The Stone returned to the safety of his pocket and he enabled the mic on his communicator.
“Ben, are you finished?”
“Yes Sir, we have secured Akbal.”
“Good. Captain, let’s proceed.”
“Yes Sir.”
The com was turned off, and the jaguar took the Sword of Omens out of his victim’s body, leaving a huge open gash behind. He didn’t bother to look around to see the carnage. The shooting had ceased by then.
“Five minutes.”
He marched towards the exit, cleaning the Sword’s blade as he walked. Tygra was quickly at his side, and the rest of his warriors followed. Tygra was holding Ixchel tightly and murmuring soothingly in her ear. The little girl was sobbing uncontrollably, but was apparently unharmed.
The group arrived to the platform where the ship was waiting with practically no resistance. Once on the open they could hear the screams and explosions as the fleet was finally visible and blasting everything on sight. Tygra didn’t even notice. His entire focus was on his cub, and he practically flew inside the ship, anxious to get to Ben and his twins.
As soon as the last jaguar was on board, the ship took off. Not two seconds later, a powerful blast destroyed what was left of the palace. Baal started to communicate with the Commander and his son, to see if they had found some lead to Mai. Meanwhile, Tygra was about to have an apoplexy.
“And Itzamma? Ben, where is Itzamma? What happened to my cub?!”
“Easy Tygra, calm down...”
“Where is my cub?! Do not tell me to calm down!”
“He wasn’t in the building. The bird that was guarding Akbal assured us that they had found only two cubs.”
“What?!!”
“Calm down Tygra.” Baal’s voice interrupted the tiger’s meltdown. “It’s a sure bet that Mai has him, and we will find her. The hunters would not let her escape. Tend to your other two cubs. Make sure they’re not hurt and feed them. Mai couldn’t have gone far.”
Tygra made a distressed sound, but obeyed. He retired to a corner of the ship, where Ben handed him the bag that they had prepared. He checked both cubs consciously, and fed them. Ixchel accepted the milk after some coaxing, but Akbal was very agitated and only wanted to be held. Tygra growled when he discovered that his cubs were dirty and had a rash. He cleaned and groomed both of them with care, until they relaxed a bit. The tiger got as comfortable as possible, cuddling both cubs to his chest. The two continued sobbing for some time and Akbal started to bite his father’s shoulder. Tygra kissed them frequently, all the time thinking about his still missing cub.
‘Great Thunder, please, let Itzamma be ok. Please.’
&&&&&&&
Jareid was losing the tenuous control he still had. He had wanted to go with his father and his mate to rip the birds apart, but was convinced to hunt down Mai instead. He had only accepted because he had figured out that he could discharge all his anger on her without Tygra trying to stop him. But they had been on the search for an hour already, and all they had found had been the site of a camping and the cave where they supposed she had made the ritual. The shamans had taken on the cave, and had discovered the residual black energy permeating every corner of it. There hadn’t been any clues to where Mai had gone, and there had been no sign of Myron either. The hunters had also discovered the marks of a hover bike. That was really a problem. If Mai somehow had procured herself a vehicle she could be miles away. At that point Jareid had been understandably upset, but his mood had turned right down murderous when they had received the news that Mai had in fact taken one of the cubs with her.
The prince was just about ready to start burning the vegetation to make her show herself. He would have done it if he had been sure that she was still close by. As things were, they had been ready to move to other locations using the individual pods that allowed better manoeuvrability among the trees. However, Baal suddenly gave the order to abandon the search and turn back. Jareid was shocked by the decision and technically screamed at his father on the communicator. Baal stayed firm. He reinforced his order, and told his son to board the lead ship.
Jareid was very angry, and he demanded an explanation as soon as he was inside the cabin. Tygra was also there, still holding tight to his two cubs, and wondering what had happened himself. Both parents were distraught, but they calmed down a little when Baal explained that he had received a message from Xilara. Apparently, they had gotten a lead at home and Kaleb had found Mai and the missing cub. Tygra gave a deep sigh of relief upon hearing that, and Jareid started to ask questions and drive everybody insane. Baal managed to quell his son’s anxiety, and promised that they would arrive home shortly. He prayed that Itzamma was unharmed because he very much doubted that his son’s sanity would take any more bad news.
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A Tale of Jaguars