Stone Sickness
Part One
Normally when the night hour grew late and dawn was near, Skytomb was quiet. Though Lunatacs enjoyed the dark and dangerous elements of the night, it was rare for them to not be asleep at that hour, and even rarer for there to be any sort of noise aside from the constant grumble of the furnaces and the hum of heavy machinery. Therefore when the sound of loud, agonizing cries came from Chilla's room, it awoke everyone on the floor with a start.
RedEye was the first in the hallway, followed by Alluro a moment later. They were both at Chilla's door in a flash. "Chilla! What's going on in there?" RedEye shouted, banging on the door. "Chilla?"
He was answered with a groan, followed by a loud thump.
Alluro pressed the release button the automated door that led to her quarters. He hoped she didn't have it locked. If she did, and she wasn't able to release it, they'd have to somehow override the security system, which could cost time he wasn't sure they had. Fortunately it wasn't an issue, for the door slid open as soon as he engaged the release mechanism. He and RedEye immediately ran inside.
The sight before their eyes was a disturbing one. Chilla lay on the floor, grunting and moaning, clutching her abdomen as though she was in immense pain. Alluro was the first to reach her side. "Chilla! What happened? What's the matter?" he asked her, a note of concern in his usually arrogant voice.
Her jaw quivered between labored breaths, and her raspy voice came in gasps that made it clear that her pain was enough to make speaking difficult. "Hurts. Can't make it stop."
"Is she sick?" RedEye asked, more to Alluro than to Chilla. She didn't seem to be in the condition to give a coherent answer.
Alluro laid a hand against her forehead. Her normally cool skin felt warm. Not really hot, but warmer than it should have been, and given that she was an ice Lunatac, that worried him. "She may have a fever. Help me get her into bed, RedEye." He put his arm around her shoulder while RedEye slid an arm around her hips, taking care not to hit the area she was gripping in pain. They set the groaning Chilla down on the bed just as a very tired-looking, grouchy TugMug poked his head in the doorway.
"What in the name of the Moons is all this racket?" demanded the irate Lunatac.
"Chilla's sick," RedEye answered.
"Can't she be sick quietly?" grumbled TugMug. "I'm not feeling so hot either, and I could use the sleep. I've got a splitting headache and my stomach feels like I swallowed the slime on Castle Plundarr's moat. So keep it down in here!"
RedEye frowned. "I hope this isn't catching."
Alluro ignored TugMug for the time being and propped a pillow under Chilla's head. "When did this start, Chilla? You seemed all right earlier."
Chilla winced and tried to muster up the energy to answer. The truth was she hadn't been all right earlier, but she had done her best to hide that fact from the others. To show weakness of any sort in front of another of her kind was not only an embarrassment, but in some circumstances, downright unwise. The pain had started late that afternoon, but at the time she thought it little more than a muscle cramp that would go away on its own. She and TugMug had spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon participating in yet another of Mumm-Ra's ill-fated schemes, and had thanks to him been the test subjects in one of his spells. The effects had been reversed when the Thundercats defeated him (like they always did, she thought with some bitterness), but she supposed it had taken its toll on her in some way, for shortly before sunset she started to feel the pain.
At first it was a twinge in her gut, almost like a stomach cramp, but with something else. She tried to alleviate the pain by eating some biscuits and drinking some of Luna's herbal teas—their leader had several jars of herbs that she steeped into teas as a recreational sort of drink—but it failed to make her feel any better. An hour passed and she started to feel worse. Another hour after that she was in so much pain she could hardly walk. She excused herself from the others and went to the med room, but realized to her dismay that she couldn't tell one medicine or concoction from another. It was always either Alluro or Luna that prepared them, and she was loath to admit to either that she was in serious enough a condition to ask for help. So she instead turned to a painkiller she knew would work. A nice tall glass of TugMug's specially brewed ale, which actually had almost four times the alcohol content of a standard brew. She downed the glass in three gulps, and stumbled into bed, with the hopes that whatever it was, it would pass in her sleep.
It didn't.
Instead of a restful sleep or even a dreamless oblivion, she suffered long and twisted nightmares. She was surrounded by fire, weak and powerless, with mocking faceless voices all about her. Unseen, unidentifiable weapons lashed out at her, and while she ran and ran to get away from them, she never got anywhere, and the pressure kept building and building. And the pain got worse. And worse. And worse.
She didn't know she had been screaming in her sleep until she awakened, sprawled out on the floor and clutching at her midsection in agony. She felt like her insides were on fire, like that horrible lava that Mumm-Ra had once sealed her in all those years ago was being poured inside her body at that very moment, hardening and contracting as it touched her, killing her with a combination of fire and stone.
She was barely aware, but vaguely glad, when Alluro and RedEye burst into her room. They fired questions at her that she had trouble answering, but she offered no resistance at their efforts, futile as they might have been, to comfort her. She had some awareness of TugMug shouting indecipherable rants from the doorway, but she didn't really hear what he'd said, and had a feeling she wouldn't have cared even if she could.
"Chilla! Chilla, can you hear me?" She was shaken out of her thoughts to see a startled Alluro above her, demanding her attention once more. RedEye was behind him, silent as he often was, but watching her intently.
"Yes," she said with effort, and took a couple of deep breaths.
"When did this happen? How long have you been like this?"
"Don't know. Felt kind of sick and laid down. Just… just woke up now."
"Sick how?" asked RedEye.
Chilla winced again as a pain from her abdomen shot up the length of her body. "It hurts. Here." She gestured to her midsection.
Alluro laid his hand on her forehead for a moment, frowning as if deep in thought, then withdrew it quickly. He smoothly rose to his feet and gestured for RedEye to go out into the hall. "I'll be back shortly, Chilla. In the meantime just stay in bed and don't move." He then walked toward the door and exited the room, RedEye with him.
"Do you know what's the matter with her?" RedEye asked.
"It's hard to say," Alluro replied. "I'm no healer. But given the sort of pain she's describing, the feverish symptoms, and the fast onset, I'm wondering if she hasn't contracted some sort of infection… or if she's been poisoned."
RedEye blinked with surprise. "Poison? Who'd do that?" He glanced down the dark hallway for a moment, then lowered his voice. "You think Luna might have done it?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Alluro thought for a moment, then answered. "I wouldn't say she isn't capable of it, but I highly doubt it. It's not Luna's style, for one, and secondly I can't figure a reason as to why she'd do it."
"Who, then?" RedEye wondered. "Not either of us, and I doubt TugMug would have done it. The Thundercats would never do something so 'dishonorable' as that, so that would only leave the mutants or," he paused for a moment, "Mumm-Ra." The dark mage's name hung in the ensuing silence like a curse for several moments until RedEye spoke again. "He did call Chilla and TugMug to aid him today."
Alluro nodded. "And didn't TugMug say just now that he wasn't feeling well either? Something about his stomach bothering him?"
"I think we'd better find out exactly what Mumm-Ra involved them in today."
"You get TugMug," Alluro told RedEye. "I'm going to find Luna. She's got night watch, and it's nearly dawn anyhow. Meet us in the control room." With that Alluro turned and headed for the lift.
He arrived in the control room to find Amok snacking on some candy fruit jelly-covered toast and Luna absent-mindedly playing a computer game on one of the smaller monitors. "Luna," Alluro spoke as he entered, "I think we have a problem."
The surprised Luna nearly jumped out of her seat at the unexpected sound of a voice in the doorway. "Alluro, you startled me," she said, then glanced at the clock. "You're up early. What's going on? What's the problem?"
"Chilla is very ill. She was in enough pain that her cries woke all of us up. I'm not sure what's the matter, but I have reason to believe she may have been poisoned or otherwise infected… and I suspect it's Mumm-Ra's doing."
"Mumm-Ra?" Luna raised an eyebrow and her voice took on a note of annoyance.
Alluro nodded. "She was fine before she and TugMug left for the pyramid after he summoned for two of us this morning. And she said that it was this evening—not long after she came back—that she started to feel pains in her stomach. That's why she retired to her quarters early, I imagine."
Luna tapped Amok to stand and had him bring her over toward Alluro. "You say she's ill. How bad is she? Do you think she'll recover?"
"It's hard to say," Alluro replied quietly. "That would be a question to ask a healer, not a hypnotist. But I think it goes without saying that we need to find out exactly what caused her condition and do what we can to remedy it as soon as possible. Especially if it's something that worthless bag of bones did. And since TugMug mentioned that he wasn't feeling well either, it is rather suspect."
"Where is TugMug, anyway?"
"Right here, Luna," answered TugMug from the doorway in a tired and irritable voice. "Though I'd rather be in bed."
"And you can go there as soon as you tell us what happened to you and Chilla today," Luna informed him. "Alluro seems to think that Chilla was poisoned by Mumm-Ra, and that you may have been too."
"I know, RedEye told me," TugMug grumbled, rolling his eyes with annoyance. "Mumm-Ra didn't feed us anything, so we weren't poisoned. In fact we barely saw him. He had us go to the warrior maidens' territory to get some ancient mask out of a tree. Chilla and I both thought it was a stupid and pointless job, one he should have done himself."
"Laziness always was one of Mumm-Ra's flaws," Luna remarked.
"That wasn't the worst of it," TugMug continued. "The mask was spooky… just from handling it you could tell it was charged with black magic or something. It was all silver, with these green copper snake carvings coming out of the top like hair, and its eyes were closed. That is, until Chilla commented on it… and then the mask came to life all on its own. Its eyes somehow opened and sprayed some kind of smoke on her. When it cleared, she was stone."
"Stone?" Alluro repeated in mild disbelief.
"You mean she was frozen in place?" RedEye asked.
"No, I mean she was stone," TugMug insisted. "As in not flesh. A statue. A very lifelike statue wearing her clothing, but not alive."
A shocked look crossed Alluro's features. "My gods… Mumm-Ra's mask turned her to stone?"
TugMug nodded and winced slightly. It was clear that he was not feeling well either, though he didn't make any more of an issue of it than he had earlier. "Not just her. When I saw what it did to Chilla, I turned the damned mask over to face the ground and tried to get the hell out of there. I'm not going to be a guinea pig for Mumm-Ra's half-assed magic," he explained. "But I didn't make it. I heard a noise behind me, and I made the mistake of looking back. The mask somehow stood itself up and faced me… and opened its eyes. They were red, the same kind of red as Mumm-Ra's. Before I knew it I was surrounded in the same smoke that got Chilla, and I couldn't move. Next thing I know it was hours later and Chilla and I were both restored… I don't know how, but we saw that Thundercat signal in the sky so our guess was that the Thundercats did something to stop whatever it was Mumm-Ra was up to and reversed the spell. That's when we came back."
RedEye shook his head in disgust. "Where does Mumm-Ra get off testing his magic on us?"
"I don't know," Alluro said, also clearly angry, "but whatever spell that was that turned you two to stone, I'm betting that's what's wrong with Chilla. And probably you too."
Luna studied TugMug for a moment. "Yes, but you don't seem to be affected as badly as Alluro told me that Chilla was. I wonder why that would be."
"Perhaps that's something we should ask our dear friend Mumm-Ra," Alluro said, and headed toward the hallway. "I'm going to look in on Chilla and see if she's gotten better or worse."
TugMug shrugged at Luna's question and also started for the doorway with Alluro. A brief expression of discomfort flashed across his face, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the others. "I don't know, but if it's all the same to you I'd rather try and ponder it after getting a good night's sleep. I may not be as bad off as Chilla but I still feel like a pile of mutant crap."
Luna nodded dismissively in his direction. "Yes, get some sleep," she instructed her rotund subordinate. "I'm sure you need it." She then turned to glare at the monitor and sighed with disgust. "Thanks a lot, Mumm-Ra," she muttered.
***
The break of dawn arrived no more peacefully at Cat's Lair than it had at Skytomb. Panthro awakened to a pain in his stomach so intense that it was able to bring even the mighty Panthro to his knees. He had barely managed to stumble into the hallway before he collapsed and fell against the wall and floor with a thud.
The sound of Panthro's fall brought Cheetara and Tygra running. Immediately the two Thundercats got their friend onto his feet and helped him back to bed. Tygra sent Cheetara to find Lion-O, but unfortunately she found her lord in the same, if not slightly worse, condition.
Lion-O was twisted into a fetal position in his uneasy sleep, his knees drawn tightly to his midsection and his powerful arms clutching desperately at his knees. His head was covered with beads of a feverish sweat, and his breathing was punctuated with low groans of discomfort. "Oh, Lion-O," Cheetara whispered worriedly, and sat at his bedside. She laid a gentle golden-furred hand on his brow for a moment, and felt the heat of a burning fever. Now more concerned than ever, she gave him a gentle shake. "Wake up, Lion-O," she urged.
The Thundercat lord grunted and rolled slightly, then groaned loudly at the resulting pain of the movement. He opened his eyes and saw the concerned gaze of Cheetara above him. "Cheetara?"
"Lion-O, what's the matter? What's wrong with you?" she asked.
Lion-O sat up, and groaned in pain at the effort. "My stomach," he answered. "Never hurt like this before. Started last night and it's gotten worse. Oh, Cheetara…"
"Shhh, save your energy," Cheetara urged, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm going to go call Pumyra, and she'll find out what's the matter with you. Don't get out of bed."
"Okay," he agreed weakly, and rolled back over.
"I'll be back soon," she told him, and then was back in the hallway in a flash. She saw the door to Panthro's room was open and Tygra inside helping Panthro back into bed. Tygra turned when he heard her approach. "Where's Lion-O?"
"He's sick too. I don't think he can get out of bed. He said it was his stomach."
"Just like me," grumbled Panthro, who then winced in pain. "What in blazes is the matter with us?"
"Could be a Third Earth flu or disease that we haven't yet encountered," Tygra theorized. "Or perhaps something in food you ate? The fact that you and Lion-O were both affected so suddenly and at the same time makes me thing it's definitely something external in origin."
There was a sound of rushing feet out in the hallway and two more heads poked into the doorway. "Panthro? Tygra? Cheetara?"
"WilyKit? WilyKat?" Cheetara asked, turning to see the distressed faces of the Thunderkittens greeting them. Cheetara suddenly got a gut feeling that something was terribly wrong. Both kittens looked upset, and though she couldn't quite tell, it appeared that they had been crying. "What's the matter, kittens?"
"Snarf just sent us up," WilyKat started, a somber note in his voice. "He wanted us to find you. Is Lion-O up too?"
"Lion-O's still in bed," Tygra answered, not opting to give out any more details until he could find out what was troubling the kittens. "What's going on?"
"Snarf told us to tell you…" WilyKat's voice trailed off and he looked away, searching for the right way to phrase the news he was sent to give.
"Willa's dead," WilyKit blurted out, finishing the sentence that WilyKat was unable to.
"What?" Cheetara said, amid gasps of shock from both Tygra and the sick Panthro.
"But I just saw her yesterday," Panthro said, struggling to sit up in bed.
"What happened to her?" Tygra asked the kittens gently. He felt a great wave of sadness build inside him. Willa was a valued friend and it hurt deeply to realize that he would never see her again.
"Snarf just got a communication from Nayda a little while ago," WilyKit explained sadly. "Willa got sick late last night. She had a fever and Nayda said she was screaming about a 'fire in her stomach'. They put her in the healing hut and had their best medicine woman try to help her, but nothing worked." Despite their sadness at the news, Cheetara and Tygra exchanged worried looks. The symptoms were eerily like those of Panthro and Lion-O. "And then this morning," the kitten continued quietly, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes, "they learned that she died in her sleep."
"Oh no. Poor Willa…" Cheetara lowered her head in mourning for the loss of their ally and close friend.
WilyKat then noticed Panthro's condition. "Panthro, are you all right? What's wrong?"
"Just a stomach ache," answered the tired panther.
"Oh no!" gasped both kittens in unison. The same thoughts that ran through Tygra's head now ran through theirs.
"Now wait a minute… it's not necessarily what happened to Willa," Tygra told the kids. "Let's not jump to conclusions."
"That's right," Cheetara agreed, even though she knew in her heart that it was the same thing, and that they should be worried.
Both kittens fell silent for several moments. WilyKat looked down the hallway for a moment, then ended it. "Well, I guess we gotta wake up Lion-O and tell him."
"Wait, Kittens. I don't think that would be a good idea. Lion-O is…" Cheetara faltered for a moment, searching for a delicate way to phrase it, "Lion-O is sick too."
"He is?"
"What's the matter?"
Not wanting to alarm the sick Panthro unduly, Tygra ushered the kittens out into the hallway. Cheetara instructed Panthro to remain in bed and rest, then closed the door and joined Tygra and the kids. "I don't want to scare the two of you," Tygra began, "but it seems that whatever is the matter with Panthro is also affecting Lion-O. Cheetara and I woke up when Panthro fell ill."
"I went to get Lion-O to tell him what was wrong, but when I got to his room, he was too sick to get out of bed himself," Cheetara added.
WilyKit met Tygra's eyes solemnly. "What's wrong with Lion-O?"
"He also has stomach pains," Tygra said after a deep breath. "That's why I want you two to contact Pumyra right now and ask her to come over. She is the only one of us with true healing skills, and I want her to take a look at them. In the meantime, I'm going to examine them both, ask them questions, and see what I can find out."
"I'll go with the kittens and tell Snarf what's happened," Cheetara volunteered. Tygra nodded in agreement, and the two kids and Cheetara hurried down the hall, while Tygra returned to Panthro's room. As he walked in and saw the first rays of dawn cast across his friend's bed, he could clearly see the haggard and pained expression on his face. Tygra took a deep breath and thought again about what the kittens said had happened to Willa. He prayed in the name of the Eye of Thundera that somehow he could stop his friend and his lord from sharing her fate.
***
"NO!" Chilla shrieked at the top of her lungs, her gravelly voice rising to a shrill level in the throes of her agony. She thrashed in her bed and threw the flask of herbal medicine that Amok was trying to force-feed her right back at Luna.
"You have to take it, Chilla," Luna screeched back at her. "Your fever is too high. Alluro said it's seven degrees above normal. Seven degrees, Chilla. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how serious that is."
"You don't understand! It hurts!" What Chilla was trying to convey in her feverish hysteria was that she was in far too much pain to put anything in her stomach. What had been incredible pain early that morning had now graduated into sheer agony. She had vomited several times, but nothing came up except for a burning combination of acid, bile, and something cloudy that even Alluro could not identify. Making it worse was that when she did heave, her entire abdomen felt like something was driving razors through her internal organs. She never wanted to eat again, much less take some herbal remedy of Luna's that would probably just make her feel worse.
Luna was losing her patience. She deeply resented the fact that she was going out of her way to actually help the other Lunatac and that she was repaying her for her generosity by acting like such a miserable bitch. She would have left her to stew in her misery and die, but Chilla's value as a warrior was too high to let go. They had few enough advantages against their enemies as it was, and no matter how insufferable she was, she had to admit that Chilla was useful enough to be worth keeping. "You will take it, even if I have to have Amok shove it down your throat and—"
"Luna!" Alluro's unusually stern and forceful voice silenced her rant in an instant. "What in the name of the Moons is the matter with you?"
"I'm trying to help," she snapped. "Or are you too stupid to see that too?"
Alluro exhaled and tried to keep a lid on his own temper. He was at his wit's end. He had no idea what was even the matter with Chilla, and he certainly had no leads as to how to remedy it. "Making her fight you isn't helping," he pointed out. He looked at Chilla, writhing around in discomfort on her bed, her sheets and most of her clothing now stripped from her because of her dangerously high fever, and tried to fight back a feeling of hopelessness.
"She's trying to kill me!" raged the delirious Chilla.
Luna frowned with aggravation. "Oh, for crying out loud…"
Alluro took the flask of herbal medicine from Amok's hands and set it down on a shelf that functioned as her nightstand. "Luna, leave. Take a walk, go do something, I don't care what, but just go, all right?"
"Fine with me," Luna snapped. She prodded Amok to take her to the door, only to be stopped by RedEye on his way in.
"What now?" Alluro asked RedEye, dreading the answer.
"TugMug's worse," the red-eyed Lunatac informed him. "He won't get out of bed. I don't think he can."
Alluro sighed. "That's just great. So now they're both sick."
"There's something else," RedEye continued. He held out his large pale-skinned hand and opened his fingers. In his palm sat a rounded pebble.
Alluro glanced at it and frowned. "It's a rock, so what?"
"TugMug threw it up."
"And you picked it out?" Luna asked incredulously. "Oh, disgusting!"
RedEye glanced at Luna briefly with an annoyed look on his face, then turned to Alluro. "It was in the sink in his bathroom from the last time he threw up. I thought it was something important so I rinsed it off and brought it to you."
"He must have eaten something with a stone in it. Strange. Why would he do that?"
RedEye just shrugged and headed back through the door. He really didn't care to see Chilla sick. It wasn't so much concern for her as the simple fact that it unnerved him. Luna, fed up with the situation herself, followed him with Amok, leaving only Alluro in the room with Chilla. He walked over to her bedside. "Luna left. I'll see to it that she leaves you alone for now."
Chilla let out a little grunt and rolled over, taking the effort to open her eyes and meet his. He was startled to see a wild, terrified expression in them and the rims filled with tears of fright and pain. He realized then how incredibly painful her condition must have been for her to willingly show such weakness. "She wants to kill me," she murmured. "Don't let her kill me."
Alluro offered a reassuring smile. "I won't let her harm you."
She reached up and grasped his hand with surprising force. "I don't want to die," she rasped, then arched her back as a fresh wave of pain shot through her body and groaned loudly. "Don't let me die," she pleaded, a tear spilling down her cheek. "Don't let me—"
"I won't." He squeezed her hand back and knelt beside her, and reached a hand to brush a stray lock of her white hair away from her face. Her skin felt eerily warm, indicating to his dismay that her fever still hadn't dropped. She closed her tired eyes, grateful for the tender touch, and rested her head against the pillow once more. As she slipped back into her restless sleep his fingers caressed her jaw, far more affectionately than he would have allowed himself to do if Luna or RedEye was still present, and felt a rush of emotion for her. More so than any of the others, she meant something to him. She was his friend, sometimes his lover, but always the one he was closest to. "No Chilla, I won't let you die," he vowed, his voice barely above a whisper. When he could stand to look at her no more, let his fingers fall from her face, placed a gentle kiss on the slender blue fingers her hand, and started for the door.
On the way out, he spied the stone that RedEye said TugMug had thrown up. He picked up the pebble, which was about the size and shape of a small nut, and frowned as he recalled TugMug's words from earlier that morning.
"And then the mask came to life all on its own. Its eyes somehow opened and sprayed some kind of smoke on her. When it cleared, she was stone."
Stone. Just like the little rock in his hands. The stone that had come from TugMug, who had been turned to stone along with Chilla. By the same mummy that sealed them in stone years ago, as a matter of fact, and by the same mummy that even lived in a pyramid made of stone. Alluro stood in the hallway for several minutes, seething with rage and pent-up frustration directed at the stone-loving mage who had so callously turned his fellow Lunatacs into statues the day before. His heart burned with a fierce determination and he stormed down the hallway. It was time to have a little talk with Mumm-Ra.
***
A sharp knock at the door of Tygra's laboratory snapped him out of his intense concentration and back to reality for a moment. "Come in," he answered.
It was WilyKat. "Do you need any help in here, Tygra?" the youth questioned.
"Thanks, but I don't know what you could do," he replied. "Right now I'm just running some assays on blood samples from Lion-O, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary aside from a slightly elevated white blood cell count."
"What does that mean?"
"Generally it would indicate an infection."
"An infection? You mean like if you get a cut and it gets infected?"
Tygra nodded. "That's one kind. But they can also be internal, which is what I imagine is the case with Lion-O and Panthro. Has Snarf taken their temperatures recently?"
"About fifteen minutes ago," WilyKat answered. "Lion-O was the same and Panthro was half a degree higher."
The tiger sighed. "So the anti-fever capsules I had Snarf give them didn't help them at all," he said with a note of dejection in his voice. "Did Pumyra get here yet?"
"She's examining them now."
"All right. Could you go and ask her to come down here and talk to me when she's done."
"Sure, Tygra." WilyKat nodded walked toward the exit, but paused in doorway. "Tygra… can I ask you something?" Tygra looked up from the tube in his hands and gave WilyKat an affirmative nod. The boy shifted nervously in position and took a deep breath. "Are Lion-O and Panthro going to die?"
"I hope not," he answered somberly. "And we're all going to do our best to see that they don't."
"But you can't promise it, can you?"
Tygra lowered his head sadly. "No WilyKat. I'm afraid I can't."
WilyKat's expression remained unchanged. "Thanks for telling me the truth," he said quietly. "I'll go get Pumyra." He then headed down the hall and back upstairs.
Tygra sighed and went back to his analysis. He jotted down a few more notes on what he observed, but nothing added up. He read over them again, searching for some tidbit of information that he might have overlooked. He didn't even realize that he'd been in the same position for almost fifteen minutes, poring over his notes, until Pumyra knocked lightly at the lab door and walked in. "Hi Tygra," she said in greeting.
"Hi Pumyra. Thanks for coming."
"You know you can always count on me if I'm needed," she assured him. "I'm just sorry it's this sort of circumstance." She paused for a second. "The kittens told me what happened to Willa. It's such a shock. She was so strong, and she was young… I never would have expected…"
"I know. None of us did," Tygra finished, offering her a small smile of reassurance and shared sadness. "How did Panthro and Lion-O look?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Worse than I expected, from what I'd been told. Their temperatures are several degrees above normal and when I so much as touched Panthro's abdomen he roared in pain. Lion-O didn't have quite as violent a reaction, but he seems to be getting delusional in his fever. He was mumbling in his sleep and when he spoke to me, I think he thought I was his mother."
"Delirium of his high fever, no doubt," Tygra mused.
Pumyra nodded. "I told Snarf, Cheetara, and the Thunderkittens to give them sponge baths to try and bring down their fevers. Did you give them any medicines?"
"Antibiotics about two hours ago and some anti-fever capsules… they didn't seem to make any difference. If anything, they're even worse off," he sighed. "I wonder what could have made them get sick so suddenly. Willa too. We just saw her yesterday, you know."
"Thanks to that Hills of Elfshima disaster and Mumm-Ra having that mask stolen from the warrior maidens' territory by the Lunatacs." She shook her head in disgust. "Seems our visits lately are always because of some emergency like that."
"Mumm-Ra lives to cause trouble," Tygra agreed, then was struck with a thought. A very bad thought. "That ancient spell book that he used… the Norvog Nage… it was very evil, wasn't it?"
"Evil enough to drive Lynx-O temporarily insane, bring a destructive giant to life, and to turn Lion-O, Panthro, and Willa to stone." As she finished her sentence, her and Tygra's eyes met as the same thought occurred to each.
"All three were stone…"
"All three got sick…"
"Then this is even more serious than I thought," Tygra said worriedly. "If this condition isn't merely biological in origin, but some sort of side effect of black magic… or even worse, if it is black magic… then I don't know how we can combat it."
Pumyra fingered her belt sling for a moment. "There's one thing we can do. We can go and confront Mumm-Ra ourselves. Even though he wouldn't help us, and in fact probably caused this, we may be able to learn something. You know how he can't help but to boast and brag about his evil deeds. He may accidentally give out information we can use."
Tygra set down his notes and thought for a moment. "It's a big risk, but it's worth a try. And it will be very dangerous."
"If it saves Lion-O and Panthro's lives, it's worth it," she said determinedly.
"You're right. We're not making any progress here anyway. Let's go." He stood and faced Pumyra, who also got to her feet.
"Right behind you, Tygra," she said, and followed him out.
The two of them headed upstairs, and found Snarf in the kitchen preparing some broth for the two sick Thundercats. "Snarf, we need your help," Tygra told him seriously.
"What do you need?" asked the snarf. An alarmed expression crossed his already worry-lined face. "Oh no, snaaaarf, are they worse?"
"No, but we have reason to believe that they will continue to do so unless we take drastic action," Tygra explained. "That's why Pumyra and I are going to confront Mumm-Ra."
"No!" Snarf protested. "You can't leave now! You two are the closest we have to a doctor between Pumyra's basic healing knowledge and your scientific skills. Why would you go to Mumm-Ra now?"
"Because we have reason to believe that their condition was caused by one of his spells. Lion-O, Panthro, and Willa were each turned to stone by an evil spell yesterday, and today Willa is dead and Lion-O and Panthro are both sick from conditions that sound too much alike to be coincidence. Our skills alone haven't done us much good this far, so we're exploring every possibility we can… including trying to get whatever information we can out of Mumm-Ra," Pumyra told him. "You're a very good caretaker and I have faith that between you, Cheetara, and the kittens, you can do your best to keep Lion-O and Panthro comfortable until we get back."
"But… but Mumm-Ra won't help you. Snaaaarf, he's evil. He's the one who did this to them," Snarf protested.
"Not voluntarily, but there may be something in his pyramid, or if he confronts us, he may inadvertently say something we can use," Tygra argued. "We know it's a long shot but it's our best lead yet. Please try and understand."
Snarf sighed. "I understand… rowr… but I still think you're taking a terrible risk."
Pumyra patted him on the head and smiled reassuringly. "But that goes with being a Thundercat."
"We know we're leaving them in good hands with you, Snarf. Wish us luck," Tygra called out, as he and Pumyra headed for the hangar.
"Snarf, snarf, good luck," Snarf called back. "Jaga knows you'll need it."
***
In the dark and forbidding depths of his pyramid, the soft sound of approaching footsteps awakened the resting Mumm-Ra from his eternal sleep in the crypt. "A visitor," he grumbled in annoyance. The sarcophagus slid open and he stepped out into the main chamber to see who it was that saw fit to disturb his rest. The tall, lanky form of Alluro walked through the entrance.
"I did not summon you, Lunatac," Mumm-Ra stated as Alluro approached. "Why are you here?"
"I want to know what you did to Chilla and TugMug and I want to know now," Alluro replied, an angry undertone evident in his smooth voice.
"What I did to them?" Mumm-Ra repeated with an aggravated frown, trying to figure out what he was referring to. The events of the previous day had already been dismissed from his mind as unimportant. "I don't even know what you're talking about, Alluro. Leave me alone and go elsewhere. You irritate me."
The brush-off nearly set off Alluro's carefully controlled temper. The hypnotist glared at him and took several steps forward. "Not until you answer me," he replied stubbornly. "What did you do to them when you turned them to stone?"
"Oh, that," the mummy said ambivalently. "It was a test. It was nothing personal, if that's what you've got your undergarments twisted into a knot over. Besides, were they not restored to flesh when Lion-O destroyed the Norvog Nage?"
"They were, but now they're both ill, especially Chilla. She will not last another Third Earth day unless she is cured of whatever it is that your stone spell did to her."
Mumm-Ra cackled with mild amusement. "I see. So you've come here hoping to save your icy wench of a girlfriend from death, then. How very touching," he sneered sarcastically.
Alluro bristled at Mumm-Ra's trivialization of his intentions. "Just tell me how to reverse the effects and I'll be on my way," And stop wasting my time, you worthless bag of bones, he added silently.
The mage's eyes glowed maliciously. "Don't get pushy with me, Lunatac," he warned. "I have no qualms about striking you dead where you stand, so if I were you I would refrain from using that insolent tone, especially if you want to see your lover recover."
"She isn't my—"
Mumm-Ra snorted derisively. "Oh please, if you didn't have feelings for her, you wouldn't be here now. You're easier to read than you think, Alluro. You're far too self-absorbed to simply come here out of the 'goodness of your heart'." To emphasize his point, he replayed the hypnotist's tender treatment of Chilla at her bedside earlier in full color in the bubbling waters of his cauldron. A shocked look crossed Alluro's features for a moment, adding to Mumm-Ra's cruel amusement. "If you're still not convinced, I could always replay the last night she spent in your quarters… but I'd really rather not. The mere thought of you Lunatacs rutting about with one another makes me ill."
Alluro clenched his fist in anger, but managed to avoid letting Mumm-Ra provoke him. "Will you help her, Mumm-Ra?" he asked neutrally.
"I can… for a price."
"What price?"
Mumm-Ra smiled poisonously. "Your servitude would do nicely."
Alluro narrowed his eyes. "What? I already work for you, or have you forgotten how you bullied us into following your orders?"
"The allegiance of a treacherous Lunatac such as yourself is worth little to me as such. However, a binding agreement in dark magic, one in which you willingly agree for your soul to be bound in spell as my servant and in which you would follow my orders unquestioningly, would be of worth."
"I would sooner die than become your mind slave, Mumm-Ra," Alluro stated in disgust.
"But it's not you that would die if you refuse, now is it? That is my offer, Lunatac. Show me just how much you care for poor sick Chilla. If you wish me to end her suffering and restore her health, agree to be my slave for the remainder of your days."
Even to his own surprise, Alluro found himself considering it for a brief second, but his self-preserving nature quickly overrode that thought. However much he valued Chilla, he valued his own life and freedom more. Besides, he was certain he could find another way. "Forget it, Mumm-Ra," he said arrogantly, and turned and started for the door.
"Give her my regards at her funeral, then," Mumm-Ra said in a voice as cold as death. "Be sure and add in the sad eulogy you'll undoubtedly give on how much you'll miss her that you had the chance to spare her life and passed it by out of your own selfishness. Perhaps after you die and the two of you meet again in hell, she'll show her appreciation…"
Unable to keep a lid on his temper any longer, Alluro whirled around, his eyes ablaze with rage. "You bastard," he hissed, seething in rage.
Angered by the insult, Mumm-Ra lost his tolerance for Alluro, and hurled a blast of painful energy in his direction. It struck him squarely in the side, doubling him over in pain for several moments. "I warned you about mouthing off to me, Lunatac. Now I suggest you get out of my sight before I do something to you that will make what Chilla and TugMug are suffering pale in comparison. And don't come back unless you intend to do something about your predicament other than whine to me about it."
Alluro took a few deep breaths to dull the stinging sensation of the evil fire, then managed to stand upright. He gave the mummy one last glare of contempt, then stormed out. Mumm-Ra simply shrugged and returned to his sarcophagus. It was so hard to find worthwhile evil help these days…
***
Tygra and Pumyra parked the Thundertank outside of Mumm-Ra's pyramid and paused as they took in the forbidding sight of the dark monument silhouetted against the desert sky. Even though it was a sunny day, for some reason the sun never shone brightly over the black pyramid, and the sky above it always appeared dark though not a cloud was to be seen. Tygra wondered briefly how it was possible for there to exist an evil so intense that it could permeate the very atmosphere of the region.
"I guess we should just get this over with," Pumyra said nervously as she looked over the pyramid.
Tygra nodded. "Yes, there's no point in dragging it out. If we're to confront Mumm-Ra we might as well go on and do it. I just hope this isn't an exercise in futility."
"It's one of our last straws, what else can we do?"
"I know," Tygra sighed. He tightened his grip on his bola whip and started walking toward the pyramid. Pumyra followed. They were just about to try and find an entrance when the heavy stone passage covering slid open and Alluro walked out. The three of them faced off in a tense silence for several moments, before Alluro spoke.
"Oh, wonderful," he muttered disgustedly.
"Get out of our way, Lunatac," Tygra warned. "We're not here to fight you today, our issue is with Mumm-Ra."
"Popular, isn't he?" Alluro said sarcastically as he made his way back to the Ice Runner, which he'd used to get to the pyramid. "Hit him once for me while you're at it. He's got it coming to him."
Pumyra raised an eyebrow. "My, he's well-liked even among his own allies, I see."
Alluro paused in his steps. "Working for Mumm-Ra was never my choice, Thundercat. We Lunatacs probably hate him more than you do." He looked toward the Ice Runner again and then looked back. "Especially now."
Tygra started into the pyramid, but stopped. "Why is that, Alluro?" he questioned.
"I'm not sure why it would matter to you, but the aftermath of a spell he tested on Chilla and TugMug yesterday has made them sick and will likely kill them. He refuses to cure them unless I sell my soul to him, or some such nonsense."
Pumyra and Tygra exchanged looks. "What kind of spell, if I may ask?" Tygra asked.
"Something from an ancient mask that turned them to stone temporarily."
"The Mask of Gorgon," Pumyra said. "He used it on you too?"
"On Chilla and TugMug, yes. They were restored late yesterday afternoon, presumably by magic of yours, or so they hypothesized. You did foil whatever Mumm-Ra's little black magic plan was, didn't you?"
Tygra nodded. "Lion-O did, along with Panthro and… Willa." He lapsed into silence for a moment at his now deceased friend's name.
Pumyra took a few steps toward Alluro and addressed him. It was awkward to speak so directly to the enemy, but she had to find out more about what happened to Chilla and TugMug. "How are they sick, Alluro? Is it stomach pains? Fever?"
Alluro eyed her guardedly. "How did you know that?"
"Lion-O and Panthro have the same condition. Willa had it too."
"'Had it?' You mean she recovered?"
"No, she died," Tygra answered solemnly.
Alluro climbed into the Ice Runner. "She did? Well, my people will not share the same fate. I will see to that."
"You know," Pumyra suggested, "maybe we could work together and—"
"Not in this lifetime, Thundercat," Alluro cut her off. "I've already compromised my standards enough for one day. I'll find a cure on my own. But do give Mumm-Ra my fondest regards." The engine of the Ice Runner then came to life and Alluro sped off, leaving the two of Thundercats there to digest the latest bit of information they just learned.
"So Chilla and TugMug have taken ill after being turned to stone too."
"Yes. It's a pity that Alluro is too full of himself and his own pride to work with us. Perhaps with our resources pooled we might have come up with something."
"Lunatacs can't even work with one another very well, much less with us."
"Unfortunate, but true," Tygra agreed. He stepped into the still-open entrance of the black pyramid. "Let's get this over with, Pumyra."
"Right behind you, Tygra," she replied and followed him in.
As soon as the two of them entered the bleak passage, an icy wind of warning extinguished the supernaturally-lit torches on the passage on the wall, leaving them in an overwhelming darkness. Though he was still in his sarcophagus, Mumm-Ra already knew of their presence and intentions. He was closely attuned to the evil atmosphere of the pyramid and knew when he had visitors, especially unwanted ones. He was not amused. The aggravation of dealing with Alluro had not left the evil mage in the best of spirits to begin with. The unwanted intrusion of Thundercats into his temple served only to sour his mood further.
"I see I won't be getting any sleep today," grumbled the mummy, and he stepped out of his sarcophagus again. This time however he walked to the edge of the cauldron, extended his arms, and spoke the spell that granted him his power. "Ancient Spirits of Evil, transform this decayed form to Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living!" The eyes of the statues glowed with an eerie malevolent light and shot their power into the undead sorcerer's heart, transforming his withered body into its more powerful alter ego. He crossed his arms on the platform and his eyes burned with malignant fire. Now he was ready for them.
Back in the twisting passages, Pumyra and Tygra continued despite the unfriendly atmosphere. When it became too dark to see, Pumyra exploded a marble on the end of a torch and it caught fire, illuminating the passage well enough for them to find their way to the dark heart of the pyramid where Mumm-Ra resided. Surprisingly there were few traps set to stop them, and the few that were there were easily avoided. Both Thundercats had an uneasy feeling about that, but they hadn't the time to be overly concerned about it. Eventually they found their way to the main chamber and entered.
"Oh goody, Ma-Mutt, we have houseguests," Mumm-Ra sneered in greeting, and then shot a few bolts of red lightning their way. "Welcome to my humble abode, Thundercats."
Tygra and Pumyra jumped aside and readied their weapons for a fight, but didn't strike. Instead Tygra spoke to him. "We came only for answers, Mumm-Ra," he said evenly. "We want to know what you did to Lion-O and Panthro."
A smugly evil grin crossed Mumm-Ra's decaying lips. "Oh my… so you've gotten so desperate that you would come to me for answers, eh? And you really think I would tell you what I did to them so you can save them? Me? The ever-living source of evil? The one who more so than any other on this planet, would cheerfully applaud your deaths?" The mage let out a wicked laugh of amusement. "You would almost be funny if you weren't so pathetic, Thundercats!"
Steadying herself and collecting the strength to challenge him, Pumyra stepped forward. "Pathetic? No. Willing to do whatever it takes to save those we love, no matter how impossible the odds? Yes."
"I'll tell you what is impossible, Thundercat, and that is a sniveling little mortal like you presuming to think that she could ever have the power to take on Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living," he sneered contemptuously. Then, without warning, he thrust his hand forward and a charge of red energy flew from his fingertips. Even the swift Pumyra could not move fast enough to avoid the sudden attack, and the beam seared its way into her leg, making her let out a scream of pain.
Tygra narrowed his eyes and swung his bola whip. "We didn't come here to fight you, but since you refuse to do the honorable thing, you've left us no choice."
"Wrong!" Mumm-Ra roared in response. He pointed in a magical summoning to one of the Ancient Spirits of Evil Statues. Its eyes came to life and the stone shook as it prepared to move. "It is you that has no choice, and we both know it. Otherwise you would not be here wasting your time searching for a final and desperate answer to a problem that you know you cannot solve." He looked to the statue, which now raised its foot and took a lumbering step off the pedestal toward Tygra. "But as always, I do have a solution. A very final one that will put all your petty troubles to rest for once and for all."
Pumyra, still recovering from the blow she took, got back on her feet and watched in horror as the statue's heavy hand came smashing toward the other Thundercat. Just in time Tygra wrapped his whip around his body and vanished from sight as the fist of the evil spirit connected with the stone floor, cracking it with its might. Then to her dismay she heard another similar noise behind her, and saw that a second statue was now animate, and its sinister eyes were focused upon her.
She ran for a more strategic position as best as she could while Mumm-Ra cackled in amusement from his pedestal. "It's a shame Lion-O, Panthro, and Willa did not stay as stone after all. As you can see, a statue can be so much more than a work of art," he said, watching delightfully as the other statue thundered toward Pumyra.
"And it's a shame you have to resort to these childish games in your attempts destroy us," Tygra's voice sounded from somewhere across the room.
Mumm-Ra whirled around enraged and faced the direction from which his voice had come. "Fool! You think my only goal in raising the Child of Gorgon was to make ugly feline statues out of you? I hate to take away your illusions of importance, but changing their flesh to stone was merely a bonus."
Pumyra rolled out of the way of the crashing foot of one of the animated statues just before it squashed her flat. "And a temporary one at that. When we destroyed the Norvog Nage we changed them back and—"
Mumm-Ra laughed at her outburst. "Or did you change them back? For all your knowledge, you Thundercats are pitifully ignorant as to the ways of dark magic. In destroying the Norvog Nage you also destroyed your only chance at reversing the damage done by casting the first."
"That's not true!" Pumyra gasped.
"And how certain of that are you?"
Pumyra had no time to answer as the statue caught her off guard and grabbed her by the waist. She let out a cry of alarm and flailed helplessly in its grasp.
"Now there is no need for you to worry about the fate of Lion-O and Panthro any longer," Mumm-Ra told her with mock concern. "You will be dead long before they are."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Tygra exclaimed. In a flash he was visible once more and leapt across the chamber to come to Pumyra's aid. He lashed his whip around the wrist of the statue and made it burn a hot fire. The stone went still from the pressure and heat for a moment, giving Pumyra enough time to wriggle her way out. Once free the fingers pressed together in a deadly grip that would surely have crushed her had she not escaped. The stone giant roared and lifted his arm, tearing the whip from Tygra's hands and completely inactivating its power.
The statue that had been chasing Tygra then fired a beam of energy at his back, hitting him squarely and dropping him to his knees. Pumyra quickly ran for him and took his arm. "We can't take these things on ourselves, especially now that we're both injured and you're disarmed."
"Yes," Tygra panted, struggling to his feet. Somehow he had enough adrenaline pumping through his veins that he could get up and run with her. "We have no choice if we want to survive long enough to save the ones we came here to save in the first place."
Mumm-Ra watched as the two Thundercats ran for the exit. The statues did not give chase since they had no power anywhere but in their own chamber and he did not care enough to put forth the effort to follow them himself. Besides, he knew that they would suffer more through their guilt as they watched their fellow Thundercats die, knowing that they failed them. So he watched them flee, and he chuckled to himself as he heard their rushed footsteps grow faint and distant. "And Thundercats, thank you for the visit, and have a very nice day."
Continued in Part Two
