Path Into the Darkness
Part Seven: Grune
Chapter Two: The Marauders

Alarms blared loudly in the control room of Old Thundera’s Cat’s Lair. Jaga the Wise, now the acting Lord of the Thundercats in battle and emergency after a recent and unfortunate turn of events in a scuffle with Plundarrian Mutants that had blinded Lord Claudus, burst in and charged toward the console manned by Chetland, Tygra, and Firestripe. “What in the name of the gods is going on?” the jaguar asked with a note of panic. “I had a message that the Felis One outpost was—”

“Destroyed, yes,” Firestripe confirmed gravely. “We’re still trying to get all the details, but so far we know that an unidentified craft of Lunatac origin opened fire on them when they asked them to submit to a search.”

“It wasn’t unidentified,” a furious Chetland corrected the elder tiger. “You heard the name on the message before the explosion!”

“We can’t verify for certain that it was him,” Tygra said with a frown. 

In the weeks that had passed since Grune’s defection, neither he nor Scarlette—who had given birth to twins only days before—had yet been chosen for the soon-to-be-open Thundercat position definitively yet. After months of careful consideration between both herself and Claudus, and approval from Firestripe, Scarlette finally decided to go ahead with her ambition to seek the position of Thundercat, even if it meant that she would have to do it along with raising her twin cubs, a female and a male she had named WilyKit and WilyKat, on her own. 

Although Claudus could not be named the cubs’ father, especially now that his arranged bride had been taken and their marriage fulfilled and consummated a week prior, the titled Thundercat Lord had been more than willing to let them reside with her in the Lair for the time she was a trainee and permanently if she were to become a Thundercat. Already the infants were cared for by snarfs on staff and adored by most of Cat’s Lair’s residents. All that Claudus required from Scarlette in return was her silence as to the twins’ sire, and by extension, the favor of secrecy from those who knew the truth, which they granted. To answer questions as to the identity of the twins’ father, Scarlette wove a false tale saying that one night she impulsively took a lion lover, a traveler in town only for a matter of days, whose name and clan she did not catch before their paths parted. While such behavior from a Thundercat trainee was scandalous in the eyes of nobles and clan leaders, it was far easier for them to accept than the truth would have been, and the raised eyebrows could be endured for as long as it took for more interesting gossip to come along. 

Tygra, meanwhile, still competed openly and fairly with the tigress for that Thundercat position, unwilling to give it up without a fight. As things stood, Firestripe was not looking forward to the day where he would ultimately have to choose between his two star students.

Jaga frowned when he heard the exchange. “Can’t verify it was who?” he asked.

“Grune,” Firestripe answered with a sigh.

Taken utterly aback, Jaga blinked in shock. “What?” 

“A male voice claiming to be ‘Grune the Mighty’ threatened Felis One before the Lunatac craft opened fire on the station,” Chetland informed Jaga.

“But the intercepted transmission from Pardus Six was somewhat garbled,” Tygra pointed out, not so much trying to defend Grune as he was trying to defuse Chetland’s temper and remain rational so that they could be sure they had all the facts before jumping to conclusions. “It was pure chance that they happened to have another channel open when the ship opened fire, and they were not able to positively identify the voice. There was no video feed with the transmission, either, so the possibility exists that it could have been someone posing as Grune.”

Chetland was not convinced. “Why would anyone want to impersonate a traitor like Grune?” 

“He is not a traitor unless it truly was him that destroyed Felis One,” Firestripe’s normally calm voice stated with a firm edge. “Just because Grune chose to leave us does not mean he’s betrayed Thundera.”

“He threatened Lord Claudus and Jaga,” Chetland argued. “I heard him say as much. We all did,” the cheetah said, looking over at Jaga to back him up.

Jaga sighed with both sadness and frustration. “Grune was angry when he called us enemy and left. I don’t doubt that he holds a grudge against us, taken to the extreme of hatred in some cases, but he also has not taken any action against us in all the weeks he’s been gone.”

“But maybe only because he’s been living with the Lunatacs, and even they arrested him for espionage,” Chetland responded with a frown.

“Keeping company with the raider gang the Lunatacs of Plundarr is what did that, I imagine,” Tygra said evenly. “Grune was asking for trouble by associating with known criminals like that.”

“He must have known what he was getting into when he got involved with that green-haired killer,” Chetland went on angrily, glaring at the screen. “And now he’s become just like her, killing innocents like those manning Felis One without so much as batting an eye.” 

“But we don’t know it was him,” Tygra insisted. “It’s not exactly a secret that Grune left us and went to the Moons of Plundarr. Someone like him doesn’t just blend in a place like that. Look how quickly it got back to us. It’s possible that the pilot of that ship was some Lunatac raider trying to talk his way onto the planet using Grune’s name, and when that didn’t work, he opened fire out of spite or impatience.”

Firestripe frowned thoughtfully. “That is possible, yes. We should also consider that Grune was arrested on the Third Moon not long ago, and we haven’t heard anything reporting an escape.”

Jaga sat down in one of the empty control room chairs and stroked his beard as he contemplated the possibilities. “That’s true, Firestripe, but I wouldn’t call it a given that he could not have escaped simply because we haven’t heard anything,” the jaguar pointed out. “We’ve been at war on and off with Plundarr’s Empire and the Lunar Plundarrian Kingdom Moons for generations now. The arrest of Grune, as a former Thundercat, is a very nice political victory and one that King Lunaro no doubt took great pride in flaunting to their media. It made us look foolish and further fueled the rivalries between our respective peoples, which is exactly what a warmongering sort like Lunaro would want. Conversely, if Grune did escape, it would make Lunaro look foolish and inept to his people. Lunatacs are very unforgiving of weakness of any sort, especially in their own kind. It would be my guess that if an escape took place, Lunaro would have seen to it that any reports of it were silenced until the matter was either resolved or far enough out of his control that it was impossible to cover up.”

“Then you think Grune might have escaped?” Firestripe asked. It struck the tiger uncomfortably that if what Jaga said was true, Chetland’s conviction of the former Thundercat’s guilt would be that much harder to dismiss as impossible.

“I wouldn’t say it’s out of the realm of possibility,” Jaga said sadly, his words leading to an awkward silence that settled over the room. Eventually Jaga stood, walked over to the viewscreen, and mercifully broke it with a question. “Has the ship in question been tracked?”

Chetland nodded to the jaguar and brought up a map visual on the screen. “The station that intercepted the transmission—Pardus Six—was on the other side of the planet when it happened. When their standing connection with Felis One cut off suddenly and they picked up on the massive heat signal signifying the explosion their first efforts were, naturally, on determining if there could have been any survivors on Felis One…” Chetland’s voice trailed off for a moment and became hard and angry once more before he continued “…which there weren’t.” 

Sensing the somber change in the cheetah’s mood, Tygra finished explaining for him. “Once they determined that there was nothing they could do for Felis One, they did their best to track the energy signature of the unidentified Lunatac craft, and alerted us. Unfortunately due to some severe electrical storms near the surface, the trail went pretty much cold once it entered the atmosphere over the Servalin Sea. Their best guess is that it landed somewhere in the mountains of Gatoria.”

“Gatoria—that’s somewhat remote territory, almost self-governing in that we haven’t had to intervene in any local affairs there in years,” Jaga mused. “Have any of the local clan leaders reported anything unusual?”

“We haven’t had the chance to contact them yet,” Firestripe told Jaga. “We’d barely just gotten off the line with Pardus Six when you arrived.”

“We’ll need to send someone out there, and of course inform Lord Claudus. I may be acting Lord in war situations but he still holds the royal title and must be kept informed,” Jaga said decisively.

“Who are you sending, Jaga?” Chetland asked with a hint of eagerness in his tone. 

Jaga eyed the young cheetah carefully. “I know that your clan is from the neighboring province, Chetland. Would I be correct in assuming that you know your way around the Gatoria territory fairly well?”

Chetland nodded. “I’ve been in and out of their primary city a number of times.”

“All right then, the mission is yours. Do you want any of us to go along with you?”

Chetland almost broke into a smile for the first time since the situation was mentioned. The cheetah swelled with pride at the chance to go and tackle an important mission, and have an opportunity to be the hero he had always wanted to be since joining the Thundercats. Although he had been anointed a Thundercat only a little over a year prior, things had been mainly peaceful and his greatest glory so far had been his part in fighting off Mutant raids. “I think I’ll be able to handle it,” he replied confidently. “If I find myself overwhelmed I promise to call for backup.”

Jaga nodded. “Very well then. Take one of the HoverCats and report back as soon as you learn anything, and take care of yourself. Good luck, my friend,” the jaguar finished, saluting the youth as he left. Chetland respectfully saluted his elder and Lord in battle back, and hurried out.

Once the cheetah was gone, Firestripe raised a concerned eyebrow in Jaga’s direction. “Are you sure that was wise, Jaga? Sending him alone knowing how,” he paused as he searched for the right word, “impetuous he is?”

The jaguar gave a confident nod and a slight smile of reassurance back to the tiger. “‘Impetuous’ is putting it lightly, but still, Chetland would not have attained the title of Thundercat if was not able to handle himself in a tight situation. He does know the territory and his anger in this case might actually be an advantage. He feels very strongly and because of that I believe he will do his best to see to it that the individual responsible for the deaths of the crew of Felis One is brought to justice—especially if it’s Grune who was responsible.” A regretful look flickered through Jaga’s eyes as he spoke the last words. “Nothing wounds as deeply as betrayal, and I think that Chetland would hunt him down to the end to satisfy his anger at such an unthinkable act.”

Tygra looked uncertainly at the screen. “I just hope his anger doesn’t get him killed.”

“And I hope that it wasn’t Grune,” Firestripe added sadly, unable to be confident in the fact that it was not.

Jaga laid a sympathetic hand on the elder tiger’s shoulder and followed his friends’ eyes to the view screen with an ominous feeling of apprehension growing within him. “So do I, Firestripe. So do I.”

* * *

As the report from Pardus Six suggested to those in Cat’s Lair, Grune touched down in the southern end of Gatoria’s imposing mountain range, about five miles from the limits of their primary city, named after their province. Using what little fuel he had left, the sabertooth carefully guided the stolen Lunatac craft into a wooded lowland among the hills to disguise it, and once he was satisfied that it was hidden well enough, headed off on foot toward the city. 

Grune knew the name of Luna’s contact there, a leopard named Derleo that owned several blocks of the city. He was ambitious, like Luna had been on her own world, but unlike Luna he did not quite have enough money or the base of power to pull off the sort of takeover she’d had in the works. Luna had tricked Derleo into thinking that if he allowed her use of his resources that he would be in charge locally once she took it over. Grune knew that Luna might have permitted him to take a sizable profit from the operation, but that she never intended to allow him to keep any sort of real control over the region. Instead that would have reverted to himself and Kalin, her chosen “local representatives” for the takeover, whom she had told Derleo would be present to make sure things ran “according to plan”. Fortunately Derleo was not quite shrewd enough to have caught on to Luna’s intent to double-cross him, for otherwise their deal would have been off before it ever began. 

Once he was in the city, Grune was able to find Derleo without too much difficulty. He tracked the rogue leopard down to a popular but decidedly sleazy casino in a bad section of town, inside which the sabertooth was quickly escorted into the back office once he presented his “credentials” to one of those posted on security there. One of Derleo’s associates, a shifty-eyed golden cat named Temorak, stood by the door while a lanky leopard, who he assumed was Derleo, turned in his leather swivel chair to greet the visiting ex-Thundercat with a sharp-toothed grin. “Grune the Mighty,” he said smoothly, “this is a pleasure. Please, have a seat.” He gestured to a comfortable-looking chair to the left of the desk.

The sabertooth took the offered seat and met Derleo’s gaze evenly while the leopard continued to talk. “I’ve heard a great deal about you. Your reputation on Thundera is unprecedented.”

“You mean ‘notorious’,” snickered Temorak.

“I’m both,” Grune rumbled back, pleased in a dark way at the reactions his name now inspired compared to the stuffy and forced respect his old one had always granted. He decided immediately that his new reputation was a vast improvement. 

Derleo chuckled in admiration of the sabertooth. “Well it’s not just anyone who can say he was once one of the mighty Thundercats and part of an outlaw gang of Lunatacs. Especially one as elite as Luna’s.”

“Elite,” Grune snorted, “if you consider backstabbing scumbags ‘elite’, then yes.”

“But no less backstabbing than the Thundercats were to you, am I right?” Derleo pressed with a poisonous smile. “Tell me, what exactly did they do that pushed you to leave them? The news reports are, shall we say, skewed by their hold on the media.”

Grune let out a low growl as the leopard hit upon on the sore subject and rose to his feet. “If all you’re interested in is some tabloid-trash scandal to sell to your friends, then don’t waste my time. I was told you had serious business to conduct.”

“Touchy, touchy,” Derleo drawled with a dramatic frown. “Sit down, Grune. It was mere curiosity, nothing more, although if you’re that adamant about it, it must be something good, I imagine.” The leopard slid a pile of paperwork aside and leaned over his desk and closer to his visitor. “But you’re right; I do have serious business to conduct. Or rather, I did—with you as Luna’s representative.” He reached over into a drawer and pulled out a disk, which he placed into a holo-reader on his desk. “But according to this news report here from not long ago, Luna and her gang were run off the Moons. Her base of power has been obliterated by the royalty… and, it claimed, you were arrested and sentenced to death for espionage by King Lunaro himself. But yet… here you are.” Derleo shut off the projection. “So tell me, Mighty Grune, how is it that you managed to get here?”

“I’m lucky,” Grune answered the leopard with a mysterious chuckle. “Actually, I escaped, which is why I came back to Thundera and came here. Luna might be gone, but I still want my cut of this project.” The sabertooth drew his mace and fingered the sharp spikes of it deliberately. “And I think you’re going to give it to me.”

As soon as he saw Grune draw his weapon, Temorak drew his own, but a raised hand from Derleo stopped the golden cat before he could fire. “You’re really not in a position to be giving me orders,” Derleo informed Grune in a warning and superior tone.

Unimpressed, Grune snarled at the leopard, refusing to allow the rogue to intimidate him, and reached across the desk to grab him by the throat. “I think you misunderstand,” the sabertooth countered in a tone that clearly would take no argument if the arguer knew what was good for him. “It’s you that doesn’t know what he’s dealing with. Do you really think that someone who could escape a maximum security cell on a foreign world is intimidated by your street trash thugs?” Grune heard Temorak click his weapon, but he whirled around still with a firm grip on the leopard. Derleo was torn from his chair and thrust before Grune as a shield before he could do more than yelp in protest. “Go on, fire,” Grune sneered at the golden cat.

Temorak let out a low growl, but lowered his weapon as the sabertooth asked, and Grune then threw Derleo to the ground in disgust. “From here on out, it is me that gives the orders,” Grune asserted. “You can either work with me and join me for the ride, and take a cushy little position when I take over this province—something ten times better than you have now—under my leadership, or you can suffer an agonizing death as I crush your bones one by one. It’s your choice.” He glared at Temorak. “And that goes double for you.”

Coughing, and trying vainly to maintain some semblance of dignity, Derleo got to his feet. The leopard had his resources, but he was also smart enough to know when he was outclassed, and all the power he had currently was not enough to ensure that he would not die there and then at the hands of an out of control Grune the Mighty if he got on his bad side—which was something he certainly wanted to avoid after the experience he had just had. 

Derleo straightened his clothes, and gave Grune as indignant and withering a look as he could. “Well, I see how you got your reputation for ruthlessness. Have it your way, then. We’ll cut a deal. You do the brunt work of organizing the takeover, and I’ll supply what weapons and manpower I can to do it. In return you give me administrative rights to deal with the locals as I see fit, and a significant cut of the profits.”

A dark grin crossed Grune’s harsh features. “It’s a deal,” he agreed with a chuckle. “And here you thought I was unreasonable.” Grune started for the door. Just as he was about to pass through, he paused and turned back toward the leopard and his assistant. “Have a nice day.”

* * *

The following morning, a larger group of felines that lived on the darker side of town gathered in a large warehouse to finalize their plans. Derleo was present, as was Grune, and two other of Derleo’s chosen favorite associates—another sabertooth, a burly red-furred cat named Sabryno, and a vicious looking jaguar woman named Jaguelise, all of whom were selected to oversee the coup they planned to stage that day. The first hour was spent dispensing weapons to the group assembled—approximately sixty felines in total, ranging from street bums to drug addicts and dealers to mercenary assassins. It flashed through his mind for a moment that he felt far more at ease with that sort of crowd, just like he had with Kalin’s, than he ever did with the Thundercats. While it was true that he had once felt a sense of honor and pride in the days when he was accepted among them, once its pretty façade was stripped away with the harsh truth of their lies, it only made his time with them feel that much more empty and pointless.

Grune stood back as Derleo, who still had the delusion of thinking himself as somewhat in charge, organized those assembled into four separate groups that were to spread across the varying borders of the province, and work their way inward, securing it from the outside in so they could effectively swallow it whole. The leopard then stepped aside to allow Grune to take over the execution of their plans. As he came forward to face the crowd he saw the awe and fear on their collected faces, and he felt that same rush of predatory power he had felt on the Hunt and so many other times during his days on the Third Moon, and he embraced it with a feral growl that silenced the entire room.

“Listen up,” Grune began with a rumble, “I’m not a cat of many words, so I’m not going to waste any of our time by making long and pointless speeches. We get enough of that from our ‘esteemed’ ruling nobles already.”

“Hell yeah,” echoed a young lynx in the front row.

Grune shot the youth a murderous look for interrupting him, making the slight feline shrink back in fear for his life, before he continued. “We’re all here because in one way or another, we’ve all been screwed over by those sanctimonious and pompous nobles, and we want a change. Why should the royalty be the only ones to have the privilege and freedom of doing as they please while the rest of us are expected to play by the rules—rules they set, and then break? We deserve our share of the power, and we’re going to take it and put it under my rule,” the sabertooth asserted, his voice passionate and captivating the entire crowd.

“All of those ‘evil’ things you’ve all been condemned for, been accused of, I’ll tell you right now, I don’t give a damn about,” Grune went on. “If you want to raid, if you want to take, if you want to kill—go right ahead and do it. My territory will operate on one principle and one principle only: the law of the jungle. Only the strong will survive, and the weak and the self-righteous that try and get in my way—in our way—will die.” Finishing his speech, Grune raised his mace and let out a mighty roar that filled the room.

The crowd followed their leader’s example, echoing his exclamation with feline roars of their own that resounded through the darkened warehouse like thunder. Cheers and chants of “die” followed, and Grune only encouraged their rebelliousness and bloodthirstiness by pacing upon the platform, waving his mace, feeding off the crowd’s energy, relishing in the feeling of power and anticipation much like he had when he had participated in the Hunt. 

“So today,” Grune began again, “we’ll go forth and finally take what the Thundercats will never let us have. We’ll take the weak Thundera that exists now and make it our own. We’ll take Gatoria, and once we take that, we’ll take down the Thundercats, and put this planet under our rule, under the rule of the Marauders and Grune the Mighty… Grune the Destroyer!” 

It was at that moment when he snarled the final words of his speech that their outlaw band became named, and it was it was on that day when Grune earned his secondary and far more notorious title. With a final frenzied victory roar, Grune leapt off the stage and charged through the doors of the warehouse and into the streets, followed by his band of destructive cohorts, who spread across the town at an alarming rate, rioting through the corrupt city and killing all those who opposed as they fought. 

* * *

It was not long after that when Chetland finally reached the borders of Gatoria City. The cheetah had made it to the remote province the night before, but he had spent that time searching the area closest to the suspected landing site for any sign of the Lunatac craft. He found none, and some questioning of the locals in the outskirts of town had proved inconclusive, other than a couple of accounts from Thunderians who confirmed seeing a ship land “up in the hills”—where, of course, there were no homes, given that the landscape was full of rocks, cliffs, and heavily wooded.

After an uneasy night spent in one of the village inns, Chetland made his way toward Gatoria City to do some investigating there, especially after he received a transmission from Cat’s Lair warning him to keep his eyes open. Apparently there were rumors of unrest in that city, local disturbances such as fires and rioting, that the law in the area was having difficulty keeping under control. Jaga, the Thundercat who had spoken with Chetland, had told him that he was willing dispatch backup to him if he needed it, but Chetland assured him that was not yet necessary and he would like to assess the situation before unnecessarily taking the other Thundercats from their duties. 

As he approached the city limits, Chetland heard an unnatural rumble coming from deep within the heart of the urban settlement. Although he would never have admitted to it, the young cheetah Thundercat felt uneasy and anxious, and understandably so. Like the other Thundercats, Chetland had heard all of the rumors of Grune’s criminal exploits with the Lunatacs of Plundarr after he had left the Thundercats, and the horrifying account of what happened to the doomed Felis One outpost was still fresh in his mind. Chetland wholeheartedly believed Grune to be guilty of all of those things—the seed of doubt planted that night that Scarlette received the incriminating picture had since been given ample room to flourish and grow through the sabertooth’s resultant actions—but even so, the cheetah was still not entirely sure how he would react when he confronted the traitor firsthand. The din of sirens and smoky scent in the air that hinted of discharged firearms and burnt flesh did little to ease his mind either.

The first few blocks the cheetah scouted were ominously quiet, but he knew immediately that something was amiss. Buildings and storefronts were either empty and open or locked up as though they had been vacated or secured in a hurry. Those not secured were mostly destroyed, sporting shattered glass and bent metal, and the streets, walks, and sides of the buildings were scarred with laser fire. The streets themselves were full of litter and held no pedestrians. What vehicles were present were vacant and damaged beyond use. Chetland did not see anyone around the immediate area, and guessed that looters and vandals had moved on while the innocents had fled for their safety. Frowning, the Thundercat drew his weapon—a lightweight saber—and advanced cautiously, keeping himself alert.

Hearing the unsettling noise of a disturbance growing nearer, the cheetah turned in that direction to investigate. When he crossed the next block he saw a panther, badly wounded and beaten, resting against the side of a building and seemingly unable to walk. “Sir,” Chetland greeted him as he rushed to his side, “what happened to you? Do you need help?”

The panther blinked and tried to focus. His tired eyes gleamed with a touch of hope when he saw the cheetah’s Thundercat insignia. “Thundercats,” he said with labored breath. “Thank the gods you’re here…”

Chetland tried to help the wounded cat sit up straight. “What’s your name?” he asked him, trying to keep him talking. “Who did this to you? I can get you to a hospital.”

“Name’s Weylyn,” he told Chetland. “Can’t go to the hospital… destroyed it,” the panther said with considerable effort. “They set it on fire.”

“On fire!” Chetland gasped in horror. Of all the things do deliberately light aflame, it struck the cheetah as unthinkable to bring additional harm to those recovering from it. “Did they put it out? Weylyn?” He did not mean to sound so demanding or impatient to the infirm cat, but he knew that the Thundercats had to be notified immediately and wanted to get as much information as possible.

The wounded panther swallowed hard. “Can’t reach emergency people,” he said with a slight shake of his head. “The lines are dead. They cut them to trap us.”

“Who? Who did this to you?” Chetland asked, laying a spotted hand on Weylyn’s arm.

“Marauders,” Weylyn groaned. “They called themselves the Marauders.”

Marauders? Chetland thought with a frown. He had never heard of any such group, but that only meant that they were not a known enemy as opposed to a brand new one. “Did they say why they did it?” he asked gently. “Or who they were working for?”

Weylyn struggled to sit up straighter in his considerable pain and answer Chetland accurately. “They said they were ruling now—the mob was angry—and they said they were going to kill all who opposed them. They told us to join them or die. I—I just tried to get away,” the panther explained miserably. “They did this to me. Said that was his law. Kill or be killed. Law of the jungle, something like that,” he said, finishing in a coughing fit, the conversation taking quite a bit out of the ailing panther.

“Whose law?” Chetland pressed.

Weylyn coughed again as he inhaled, and met the cheetah’s eyes somberly. “Grune the Destroyer.”

When he heard the name, Chetland lowered his eyes in unspeakable outrage and anger. “Grune,” he repeated in a barely controlled tone, “are you sure?”

The wounded panther nodded an affirmative reply.

Chetland took a moment to get a handle on his brewing emotion at the confirmation that not only had it indeed been Grune on that ship and responsible for the deaths of the innocents on Felis One, but that he was now terrorizing the innocent citizens of Gatoria by leading a criminal mob in some sort of rebellious power play. The cheetah Thundercat looked to Weylyn with hard eyes. “Thank you for your help, Weylyn,” he told him sincerely. “I’m going to get you some help. Stay here and stay quiet. If they’ve already come through here, they may not again. Try to hang in there.”

Weylyn nodded. “Thank you, Thundercat,” he said, and then as Chetland stood, he put out his hand against the cheetah’s leg with a sense of urgency. “Please stop them. We need you… all of you.”

“I swear to you that we will do what we can,” Chetland assured the ailing panther, and then picked up his communicator.

* * *

It was Tessana that received the transmission from Chetland back at Cat’s Lair. Upon hearing the cheetah’s distressing account, she promised him that backup would be sent there as soon as possible, and immediately sent the alarm through Cat’s Lair to bring every Thundercat inside it to the control room for the emergency update. Within less than two minutes the full crew was assembled—titled Lord Claudus, battle Lord Jaga, Firestripe, Sibera, and both tiger trainees Tygra and Scarlette—in anxious urgency in front of Tessana.

“What’s the matter?” Sibera questioned of the panther.

“What’s going on?” Claudus asked, before the white tigress could finish speaking.

“I just heard back from Chetland on the Gatoria situation, and it’s worse than we thought,” the panther informed them gravely. “The rumors of a mob are true and apparently have been underreported to us as far as how dangerous and out of control it is. Many of the communication lines and equipment in Gatoria City have been destroyed, countless injured and likely killed, and even their primary hospital burnt by rioters. Chetland is investigating it, and that’s what a witness just told him.”

Collectively the Thundercats and their trainees let out gasps and starts of shock, disgust, and alarm. “But why?” Tygra asked. “Why did this all start? Who’s doing it?”

Tessana sighed. “That’s the worst part. According to Chetland, the wounded witness he spoke with said it was a mob that called themselves the ‘Marauders’ that followed a leader called Grune the Destroyer.”

“The Destroyer?” Jaga repeated, aghast and horrified. He desperately hoped that the one responsible for those crimes was not the same Grune that formerly went by the title “the Mighty” and who had once been such an honorable Thundercat and friend. Whatever had happened, Jaga did not want to believe that something could have twisted his former friend’s heart to become so vicious, hateful, and cold to do such a thing.

Lord Claudus’ expression meanwhile hardened. “Grune’s hatred of us has grown so severe that he’s turned on all of Thundera?”

“Maybe it wasn’t our Grune,” Firestripe said, although the elder tiger’s voice lacked conviction as he spoke his words.

“Did Chetland get a description?” Scarlette asked Tessana.

The panther shook her head. “Nothing too detailed,” she replied. “Apparently the witness he spoke with was very badly injured, and Chetland felt he was already putting a real demand on him physically by having him talk so much. The cat’s crime, by the way, was refusing to run with the mob in the destruction and carnage. They have a complete ‘with-or-against’ mentality and ruthlessly kill, or at least beat and leave for dead, anyone that does anything but join in. They called it ‘law of the jungle’ or something barbaric like that.”

Sibera grimaced. “How brutal.”

“Indeed,” Tygra agreed with the white tigress.

“Law of the jungle?” Claudus repeated, turning toward Jaga with a frown.

Both Jaga and Firestripe exchanged looks as well, but it was Jaga that verbally continued Claudus’ chain of thought. “That’s a rather telling philosophy, isn’t it?” the jaguar mused aloud.

“What do you mean?” Sibera asked, laying her hand on her fiancé’s arm.

Firestripe chose to answer her before Jaga could. “We know that our Grune was keeping company with Lunatacs, at least until his imprisonment, and that he was,” he paused, lowering his tone slightly as he broached a touchy subject that the Thundercats rarely spoke of any longer, “involved with one. Perhaps prior to his leaving us, and definitely afterward. The Lunatac in that picture sent to the Lair was a hunter. Hunters are known for their savage philosophies, including a wholehearted embracing of the principles of the ‘law of the jungle,’” the tiger explained.

“Philosophies that Grune might have embraced with more enthusiasm after he left us so angry and hurt,” Scarlette finished with a regretful tone. 

“And that might have pushed him over the edge when his lover was killed, if she was one of the ones who died in that raid that resulted in his capture. I know that from the reports we got, none of the criminals that escaped from that mess were hunters,” Tessana theorized further.

“But that would mean he would have had to escape from being imprisoned by the Third Moon royalty, and—”

“And if he escaped, then he would have done so on a Lunatac craft,” Tessana finished, her gray eyes hardening. “Like the one that opened fire on Felis One and destroyed it.”

Scarlette gripped the edge of one of the control room chairs. “I know what happened between Lord Claudus and—well, what transpired,” she amended quickly, deciding against speaking aloud of the lustful transgression in case an individual who did not know, such as his new young lioness bride, were to come in, “hurt him badly,” she continued, “but is it possible that Grune could really hate us that much, that he could come back to Thundera to murder innocent people just to get to us? And if so, why hasn’t he come after us personally? Grune was always a direct cat.”

“He could hate us that much if the dark urges from his hour of birth have consumed him and pushed him over the edge,” Sibera stated quietly.

Tessana frowned thoughtfully. “Or perhaps it’s because like I said earlier, his lover is dead, and he blames us for her death. Grune was already bitter from losing what he had with you, Scarlette. If he truly cared for that Lunatac, then it’s possible that he sees it as us—especially Lord Claudus—as taking two things from him, so he is seeking revenge by destroying something that we all hold dear—Thundera, and the respect of our people. How much more directly can he hurt Thundercats than by undermining their base of power so that all of Thundera can see it?”

“Then the riots in Gatoria may be meant to draw us out so that he can confront us, and then defeat us,” Jaga said sadly, simultaneously hating to hear such terrible things said about the sabertooth he had once considered his closest friend and unable to deny that they were very likely the truth.

Firestripe nodded, equally disturbed by the turn of events. “Grune would know that as Thundercats we would only fight our own people in the most strenuous of circumstances—never to kill, only disarm and capture so that they can be brought to trial—and that stacks the odds against us in a less than honorable fight where the enemy has less friendly intentions.”

“But we can’t ignore the innocents in distress in Gatoria City, so we have to go, at least some of us,” Tessana argued. “Perhaps not all, in case it is a trap.”

Claudus nodded. “There are seven of us here, five Thundercats and two trainees. Chetland is already there, so I think sending three more of us in—including one trainee—in would be the wisest course of action. That would leave some of us here to go in should things be dangerous enough to require it, but also someone available to be dispatched in case anything else goes wrong.”

“As acting Lord in battle, I will go to Gatoria City, old friend,” Jaga told Claudus earnestly. “Grune was once my closest friend, and perhaps I can get through to him. With you still adjusting to your blindness, and knowing the grudge he holds against you, I think if he were to confront you it would only make matters worse.”

“Wise words from you as usual,” Claudus acknowledged the jaguar with a smile. “I agree wholeheartedly.”

“Jaga, I would like to be the Thundercat to go with you,” Sibera said, stepping up beside Jaga. “Maybe what I know about the birth Hour of Darkness will be of use as well.”

Jaga smiled, and then nodded agreeably to the white tigress. “I couldn’t ask for nicer company than you, my dear,” he told his lover warmly. Although Sibera was not one of their most aggressive team members, Jaga had full faith in her fighting abilities and knew her compassionate nature might be an asset when dealing with an angry mob even if she could not get through to Grune himself.

“And which of us trainees will be going, battle Lord Jaga?” Tygra asked the jaguar. 

Jaga looked from Tygra to Scarlette in consideration, and then finally turned to Firestripe. “They’re your students, and you know them best. What is your recommendation?”

The elder tiger looked over the two youthful trainees, both of whom he knew would be willing to go if need be and perhaps, in Scarlette’s case, a tad eager to do so. Tygra seemed more reserved about it, but he knew that was not fear of battle, just his natural reticence. “I think Scarlette should go,” he said finally. The tigress beamed, while Tygra only nodded, although a hint of disappointment shone in his eyes, which Firestripe noticed and promptly added to his statement to reassure the other trainee. “Tygra, I want you to understand that I do not question your ability to handle yourself in the least.”

“I don’t think that,” the younger tiger replied evenly.

“Good,” Firestripe said with a smile. “Because the main reason I feel Scarlette should go is that out of the two of you, she knows Grune the best. Granted, Grune will probably not be pleased to see her—but if she were to encounter him, we can hope that perhaps a part of Grune still holds a fondness for what they once shared, especially if he can see how much she truly regrets hurting him,” he finished, looking to Scarlette.

“Of course I regret hurting him,” Scarlette said with a shade of defensiveness.

“No one here doubts that you did,” Claudus assured the tigress. 

“Then it’s settled,” Jaga stated authoritatively, and turned toward Sibera and Scarlette. “Gather your weapons and meet in the hangar in five minutes. We will leave for Gatoria as soon as possible.” The jaguar then faced Claudus. “I plan to take the Sword of Omens with me. If things are as dire as we suspect, I may need its magic.”

Claudus nodded to the battle Lord in full understanding. “Of course, Jaga. May the protection and blessing of the Eye of Thundera be with you… with each of you.”

* * *

While the Thundercats were on their way to Gatoria City, Chetland had left the ailing Weylyn in what he hoped was a more comfortable position inside one of the buildings and moved on to find the ringleader of the angry mob responsible for his—and all of the other innocents in Gatoria City—condition. The cheetah Thundercat was beyond outraged at what he had learned, and the anger that coursed through his lean and spotted body was nearly as strong as the cold rage Grune himself felt.

Several city blocks from where he had left Weylyn, Chetland heard the unmistakable noises of the rioting in progress and knew that he had found the mob. Waiting until the right opportunity to make his move, he darted back and forth from shadowy alleyways to behind disabled vehicles using his natural cheetah grace and stealth to keep his presence a secret. Near his hiding spot he saw a leopard that had left the thick of the crowd smashing the window of a nearby building, trying to find his way inside. He was armed with a heavy laser rifle slung across his shoulders, and as the glass of the building broke both he and the rioting leopard heard the panicked cries from a Thunderian inside the building.

The confirmation of the presence of a frightened individual inside only fueled the leopard’s aggressive power trip, and he laughed viciously and doubled his efforts. “You can’t hide from the Marauders,” he growled in threat.

Chetland narrowed his eyes in anger and decided to confront the leopard before any more innocents were harmed. Leaping out from behind the vehicle he had been crouched with his saber drawn, he narrowed his eyes at the rioter with unbridled contempt. “Perhaps if this ‘brave’ Marauder were as tough as he implied, he would seek a fair fight rather than terrorizing those that can’t defend themselves.”

The leopard spun around and glared at the cheetah. “A Thundercat,” he sneered. “You pathetic nobles are too late to stop us. We own this city and there isn’t a damned thing you or any of the others can do about it. The Marauders are unstoppable,” he continued, and fired his laser rifle at the cheetah.

With the nimble movements and speed his race was known for, the cheetah Thundercat easily shifted out of the way as the leopard opened fire. “If that’s the best a Marauder can do, I’m not impressed,” Chetland retorted. In a flash the cheetah then sprinted toward his assailant, saber drawn, and sliced the strap from the leopard’s shoulder. Startled by the rush of movement, the leopard whirled around and went to fire again, but the swift cheetah’s fist caught him in the jaw and the assault weapon clattered to the ground. When the leopard bent to retrieve it, Chetland brought the blunt end of his weapon down on the side of his opponent’s head, knocking him out cold.

Chetland then went to the broken window. “This is Chetland of the Thundercats,” he called out to the frightened Thunderian inside. “You’re safe now, but stay hidden and stay quiet.” When he heard a muffled grateful acknowledgement, he took off once again, more determined than ever to find Grune.

It did not take the cheetah long to find the cat he was looking for. He pressed onward, stopping what Marauders he could without drawing the mob’s full attention onto him, and eventually spotted a familiar sabertooth figure accompanied by three other Thunderians beating a helpless—and by then nearly dead—jaguar held between them. Unfathomable disgust and anger filled the cheetah at the sight of the Thundercat traitor as every negative thing he had heard and thought of Grune in all the weeks since the sabertooth had left the Thundercats flashed through his mind. “Four against one is rather cowardly odds for one supposedly so mighty,” Chetland called out coldly, his saber drawn in an aggressive stance.

The familiar voice sent a fresh surge of hatred and rage through Grune, and he turned to face Chetland with venomous contempt. “Hello, boy,” the sabertooth growled. 

Grune’s companions meanwhile dropped the unfortunate jaguar in their hold to the ground and opened fire on Chetland without a word, but as the cheetah leapt back to dodge the beams Grune roared and put out his arm for them to stop. “I will deal with the Thundercat personally,” Grune snarled in a voice that would clearly take no argument, even from his own people. Obediently the Marauders with him lowered their weapons and eyed the cheetah like so much fresh meat as their leader stepped forward.

“You have more than me to deal with, traitor,” Chetland said aggressively. “The harshest judgment of every god in the universe will be upon you for what you’ve done to those on Felis One, in this city, and even whatever innocents—if such a thing is even possible in those people—back on the Third Moon that you’ve hurt. You not only turned your back on the Thundercats, but all of Thundera, and we’re going to bring you to justice.”

Grune laughed viciously. “Big words,” he mocked the Thundercat. “Did Jaga rehearse that little speech with you, or did you come up with that sanctimonious smarm all on your own?” The sabertooth tightened his grip on his spiked Thundrainium club and advanced toward the cheetah. “And you’re going to stop me, and stop all the Marauders, Chetland?” He laughed again. “You and what army?”

“The Thundercats need no army, only each other—because true Thundercats are loyal to each other,” the cheetah countered.

“Loyalty, that’s right,” Grune repeated sarcastically. “Lord Claudus and that little whore Scarlette know all about that, don’t they?” He snarled and swung the heavy mace at Chetland, who deflected it with a swing of his saber. 

The cheetah felt his strength dip when the metal neared his body, and it was then that the cheetah realized what it was made of. How is Grune wielding a weapon made of Thundrainium?

“Knowing the Thundercats’ brand of loyalty, Chetland, I wouldn’t be so sure that they were coming to stop me and save your hide if I were you,” the sabertooth sneered. “But then again, if I were you, I’d kill myself just on principle,” he added contemptuously.

Chetland swung his saber at the former Thundercat and Marauder leader. “If you killed yourself it would be a favor to all of Thundera and justice for all of those you murdered,” he yelled back hatefully. “I would do it myself, but real Thundercats—honorable Thundercats—don’t kill!”

The sabertooth deflected the swift strike of the cheetah’s saber with a clang. “Good thing for me I’m not a Thundercat, then,” Grune growled. “And a bad thing for you, Chetland,” he said, swinging the spiked mace back around unexpectedly and thrusting it forward with brute force.

Chetland saw the mace coming at him a moment too late. Although he tried to dodge out of the way and with the natural gifts of the cheetah clan and the amount of adrenaline in his system he should have been able, unfortunately the proximity to the Thundrainium had affected Chetland just enough that his reaction time was a fraction too slow and the deadly mace slammed into his gut with terrible might. The cheetah doubled over from the blow and gasped for breath as the sharp spikes punctured his hide and the mace buried itself in his midsection, the poisonous metal stinging and burning as it made contact with the raw flesh. 

Grune, smiling in cruel and smug victory, twisted the mace, tearing the impaled Thundercat’s skin and fur and causing him incredible pain as he embedded the Thundrainium mace deeper into his mortally wounded body. The sabertooth strode forward toward the side of the nearest building and shoved Chetland roughly into it through the weapon, pressing it deeper into his gut and releasing a hot spray of blood upon them both. Chetland himself went numb from shock and pain, and then lost all sensation in his lower body as one of the mace’s sharp spikes ground roughly against bone and cartilage, severing the lower part of his spine.

With a feral roar of rage Grune then yanked his weapon away, pulling with it pieces of flesh and sinew, and releasing even more blood in a deluge that stained the building and sidewalk the dying Thundercat fell against in a heap. For several seconds the sabertooth watched Chetland gasp for breath with savage pleasure, and casually flicked some of the mess decorating his weapon off to discover that some of the spikes had been chipped and dulled in the attack. 

Grune regarded the dying cheetah with the same sort of satisfaction he did the prey he had killed on the Hunt, only that time it had felt even better, knowing how he was suffering—the way all the Thundercats deserved to suffer in his eyes—an agonizing and painful death. “You should have stayed home, boy, and stayed out of my way,” he said coldly, staring right into Chetland’s rapidly glazing eyes. “I told Jaga that any Thundercat that crossed my path would be considered an enemy, Chetland. It’s a shame that of all the things he preached about in his infinite ‘wisdom’ he never shared that,” Grime said, and knelt on one knee at the moribund Thundercat’s side. “I wonder which will kill you first, cheetah—the shock, the blood loss, or the poison of the Thundrainium chips my mace left behind in your weak little body. But whatever it is, I hope it’s miserable,” he growled hatefully, “as miserable as the Thundercats made me.”

Grune then stood and stared at Chetland for the final time. “Know when you go to your grave that neither you nor any other Thundercat that tries will be able to stop the Marauders—especially Grune the Destroyer.” With that, the sabertooth turned to walk away, and motioned for the three Marauders that he had been with that had silently watched the confrontation between their leader and the Thundercat to follow. 

Through helpless eyes Chetland watched the Thundercat traitor depart and prayed to all of the gods in which he believed that the others would make it to Gatoria City in time to stop Grune, and that they would fare better against him than he had. Those were the cheetah’s final thoughts as his consciousness slipped away and he joined the beaten jaguar that lay several yards away from him in the welcome release of death.

Path 24