#1 JUL 16, 2007 · 18 yr ago
Title: Doorway of the Gods, Chapter 1
Author: Lindacat aka Azmom
Status: Not complete
Summary: In this chapter we meet Linda, a human woman from Earth's 21st century. She is pulled into the very distant future where she meets Bengali and several other Thundercats and their mates. Can they get her back to her own time?
Rating: Level 4
Genre(s): Epic, Drama, Romance, AU
Warnings: Adult Situations, Mild Cursing.
Disclaimer: This is just a story that came out of my head due to my love of Thundercats. All rights to Thundercats belong to WB and associates.
This was my first story ever posted and it made its debut on EOT under the name azmom, but I thought it was time to revamp it. So I re-read it, added to it, took some silly nonsense out, and have hopefully rewritten an even better fic. Hope you enjoy!
There was a saying during First Earth that when the deities closed a door, they always opened another. This is the story of what happened when one woman stepped through one of those doors.
Chapter 1
First Earth; that what the residents of Third Earth would call it many centuries later, but to the residents of this time, it was known simply as the year 2006, the 21st century. The world had survived the Y2K bug and had come though the tragedy of 9/11. It had deployed troops to Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of freedom while gas prices, plummeting drug coverage, and healthcare showed the people of the United States of America exactly what the price of "Freedom" had cost.
Political leaders took pock shots at other leaders and debates raged out of control over what to do about the state of the country, but in the small farm house on a lone dirt road in Iowa, Linda Hurst ignored all of this and carried on with her own life. She didn't care about public reform or healthcare, who wanted to be the next President, nor did she pay attention to news reports of how many men and women died every day protecting others who only wanted them dead. She had discarded the real world, wanting only to be left alone to live out her life the way she wanted.
It wasn't that she really didn't care, it was that she had just given up. To her state of mind, the world was on a collison course with destiny and she was just along for the ride, so why worry or care? Today however she was in a happy frame of mind and instead of analyzing it to death, she simply accepted it as a gift and ran with it.
Linda stepped outside her front door and admired the glorious autumn morning. The light of early dawn bounced of the beautiful colors of red, orange, and yellow of the trees. A light fog hung low in the corn field, giving it a mystical aura. The corn itself still held some of its summer greenery, but was slowly changing to its golden shade that the farmers hoped for.
“Man, I tell you what God, you sure have one hell of a paint brush.” Linda thought to herself as she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the clean country air before saying, “Well, time to stop gawking and do my walk.”
She slipped her earphones on and began to walk in time with the music. In her ears could be heard the music of Ludicrous rapping about fantasies. It was a nice, upbeat song to walk to and the quiet setting of the country helped her pleasant mood. For the first time in almost 2 years, she felt at peace. Two years since that day she heard a knock at the door and was stupid enough to answer it.
“Don’t think about it,” Linda chided herself, “It happened. Life goes on.”
But she couldn’t help thinking about it. Three years ago she and her husband Greg had been living in Tennessee where Greg had been stationed with the Army when he was called to fight in Iraq. For the entire year that Greg had been deployed, he had been able to dodge all the bullets, mortar shells, suicide bombers, and everything else that had been thrown his way. Finally his tour of duty was over. “Just one more mission Baby and I are coming home!” he had told her on the phone.
But he never did. The next day she opened her door to an Army chaplain and another officer from his unit.
“Mrs. Hurst, my name is Captain Reyes and this is Lieutenant Smith. We’re sorry to inform you but your husband was killed yesterday when a mortar shell hit his convoy. I know there is nothing we can say to ease your loss, but we want to help in any way we can.”
The memories of that awful day came flooding back, causing Linda to stop and lean against a fence pole. It might have been two years since Greg died, but at times the pain was as fresh as it had been the day she had learned that her lover and best friend would never smile or love her again. She pulled off her earphones, tears glistening in her eyes, and scanned the sky.
“Give me strength Lord, to carry on this day and help me to understand why.” This little prayer usually helped her when she got this way, but for some reason, it just wasn't enough. She then added to her prayer, “People tell me that when you shut a door, you usually open another one, I just wish I knew what your plan is for me.”
As soon as she had said that, Linda noticed the wind picking up. It started as a gentle breeze and slowly gained speed until it was near gale force winds. “What the hell?” she exclaimed as she nearly lost her balance.
Linda started walking in the direction of her house, but for every step she took, she was pushed back two. She looked up at the trees to gauge the speed of the wind and noticed that none of the trees were moving. Not a single one was bending and flapping around as they should have been, not even a leaf fluttered. "What is going on here?" she wondered, "Is this some kind of freak tornado?!"
No answer was forthcoming though. Try as she might, she found it impossible to move forward but still she fought against the wind, determined to reach the safety of her home. The torrent increased until Linda was knocked off her feet and landed on her chest, knocking the breath out of her for a few seconds. She looked around for a ditch to climb into, remembering her tornado survival skills, drilled into her from childhood, when she noticed something weird going on behind her. There behind her was the road, but it was distorted, wavy almost, like a Fun House mirror.
Linda, however, wasn't having any fun! The wind refused to let her move anywhere but towards the vortex and she dug her nails into the dirt road, scrambling for a hand hold and ripping her skin in the process, but inch by inch she was being dragged toward this thing. The last thing she remembered before she lost consciousness was screaming.
Silence reigned in her ears until finally she heard birds singing and felt warm air on her face. She opened her eyes and saw a canopy of green trees above her, streams of sunlight breaking through the cracks. “Am I dead?" she wondered "Is this heaven?”
Then she moved and uttered a loud moan of pain, letting her know instantly that this was far from heaven. Slowly Linda sat up and looked around. “Where am I?” she wondered.
She stood up cautiously and assessed the damage to herself. Thankfully there wasn't much, a couple of scrapes and bruises here and there. The worst of her injuries were her hands. Her nails were broken and jagged, scrape marks marring her fingerprints and knuckles, but she could tell that they weren't too serious.She’d had worse playing flag football with the local boys as a kid. These wounds were nothing.
She took a better look at her surroundings, seeing huge, lush trees as far as the eye could see. The air was so warm and moist that she was beginning to perspire badly. “If I didn’t know any better," she thought, "I’d think I was in a tropical rain forest, but that can’t be right! This is supposed to be Iowa!”
She reckoned that she must have hit her head badly and that this was all a bad dream but as Linda was gazing at this foreign landscape, she didn’t notice the movement behind her until she heard the cracking of a twig. Spinning around she came face to face with a large, white ape/human thing. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes grew large and she knew she was in no dream, she was in a night mare!
“Hello there girlie,” said the creature, “ Lookin’ for someone, Hoo, Hoo?”
“Uh, I, Uh” was the only thing that came out, fear paralyzing her.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” then the strange thing began to laugh evilly and advanced on the strange human woman. Instinct kicked in finally, freeing her from her stupor and she ran! Although Linda had never been a fast runner, she found that her feet had grown wings. The trees became a blur as she raced past them but she knew that the monkey thing was hot on her trail and it would be only minutes before he caught her. Ahead of her she saw a ledge and had no idea what was beyond it, but she didn’t think she had much of a choice. That thing was right on her; she could hear its “hoo, hoo” getting closer! Linda sent up a silent prayer for deliverance and jumped.
The Almighty must have heard her because she saw a river just below her and as her feet hit the water she thanked God for his mercy. As the river swept her away, she could hear the monkey thing howling in rage.
Linda let the river carry her for what she thought was several miles and then swam for the shore when she saw a low bank. Once on the bank, she started crying and shivering, the shock of what had happened and the cold of the water catching up with her. It was only her common sense that got her up and moving. Suddenly she caught a wiff of smoke and looked up. There she saw over the low trees the tale tell signs of active chimneys a few miles away.
“Where there’s smoke,” she thought, “There’s fire, and where there’s fire, there’s usually people. And I need to move it! No telling how fast that monster can travel. I really don’t want it finding me.” So saying, she headed in the direction of the smoke, hoping that they would help her out.
Bengali was heading back to the Tower of Omens. He had just been to the Wollo village and had a good day trading all of his iron works and buying new metals for his forge. He loved the haggling of prices and the witty barbs that he and his customers exchanged. He’d even bought a doll and a bag of treats for Renee, Pumyra and Oro’s little girl. Renee always expected a present from her Uncle Benny when he came home from trading and today would be no different.
As he walked through the forest, he noticed how quiet it was and this put him on edge. The animals of this land knew him and felt safe with him in it, so when it was this quiet, he knew that the animals were scared for some reason. Slowly he pulled out his weapon, the Hammer of Thundera, and continued on his journey cautiously. Out of the corner of his eye Bengali spotted movement. He quickly hid behind a tree and moved around the massive trunk to get a better view. With the Mutants around, a Thundercat always had to be on guard. What he saw was a woman dripping wet, shivering, and looking confused. "A Warrior Maiden?" he thought then dismissed this notion. Not likely, her clothes were unlike any he had ever seen.
The woman was definitely human, but she didn't wear the animal skin garb that Maidens normally wore. Instead she had on some kind of thick blue and white baggy shirt with a silver jagged line going down the front and her leggings were of a blue woven material, something he had never seen before, and her footwear, he didn’t know how to describe those. They were white and pink, perhaps made of a strange leather like material, with pink strings running through holes in the front.
As garish as her apparel might seem, Bengali sensed that she was frightened and in need of help.Quickly he replaced his weapon back in it's holder and stepped out from behind the tree, calling out to her. “Excuse me, can I help you?” he asked. She jumped at the sound of his voice and whirled around. As she got a good look at him she screamed and began to run away.
“Hey! Wait! I just want to…Damn!” He took off after her, running on all fours, needing to shorten the distance between them. She was heading towards the Forest of Mist and he knew if she reached that area, he might just lose her. When Bengali got close enough, he made a leap into the air, twisted around and landed just a few feet in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.
“Don’t hurt me!” the woman shrieked, coming up short and putting her hands out in front of her to ward him off.
Bengali put his hands up in a calming motion, making no move towards her. "I’m not going to hurt you; I just want to help you. You looked lost.”
“You sure you’re not going to hurt me? You promise?” she asked, taking a hesitant step back.
Bengali could see how terrified she was and his heart went out to her. Her hazel eyes were wide with fear and that bothered him. “Lovely shade of hazel, nice golden flecks.” he thought though, then shook his head which caused the woman to step back and grab a near by branch, ready to use it against the strange creature.
“I swear by the Eye of Thundera, I’m not going to harm you in any way.”
A confused look crossed her face. “The Eye of what?”
“The Eye of Thundera.” repeated Bengali. Her statement made him frown. How on Third Earth could this woman not know what the Eye of Thundera was? Everyone knew about the mystical eye! “You’re not from around here are you?”
The woman gave a harsh laugh. “You could say that again!”
Bengali spied her hands and saw that she needed medical attention. “ Look, I live a few miles from here. My friend Pumyra is a healer and she can take a look at your wounds if you like. You also look like you need some dry clothes before you come down sick. Please, put the branch down and trust me."
The strange human hesitated for a minute before she lowered her makeshift weapon and allowed it to drop to the ground. The Thundarian sighed in relief and smiled at her, she however did not return his smile.
"My name is Bengali by the way.”
He stuck out his hand and waited for her to make the next move, hoping to break the tension. She eyed him warily and slowly reached out her own hand and clasped his. “Linda.” she said simply.
“It’s nice to meet you Linda.”
“Um, yeah, you too." she said then took a quick glance around. "Could you tell me one thing please? Where are we?”
Bengali gave a short laugh. “Well, right now we are in the Tree Top Kingdom of the Warrior Maidens. Queen Willa rules these lands.”
Linda looked confused again. “Queen Willa? Tree Top Kingdom? I take it that it's not part of America?”
America? He’d never heard of such a place. It only confirmed his suspicions of her not being a part of this area. He wondered if she had come from another planet and had landed here. That still didn't explain the state she was in. "No, we’re on Third Earth. Where are you from?”
“Iowa." she answered then asked "Why did you put a Third in front of Earth?”
"It's just what the people call it."
"I see." she said, but she really didn't. She wondered if he had misinterpreted the locals. She knew that there were poor countries that were call third world countries and she guessed that he had substitued "world" for "Earth". It made sense to her at least and strangely it eased her mind a bit.
As Linda followed Bengali through the forest, she mulled things over in her mind, trying to find some kind of rational explanation for all of this. Both of the creatures she’d met were human like, she was sure of that, but the other features of them made her wonder about their origins. She shuddered to think what would have happened if that ape thing had gotten hold of her. But the guy she was following seemed decent enough. Kind of cute too, in a cat like way and she wondered what kind of cat he was.
He was white with black stripes, and his hands were tipped like claws. Even his feet she could see were claw like and she could have sworn that she had heard him growl. He looked like a Siberian tiger and it made her think that this country's government was doing human/animal cloning. Was she on some kind of government test site? That could explain the two guys she’d met here, but how did she get here?
"Maybe a transportation experiment." she reasoned. If all of that were true, she could be in some serious trouble if she were caught.
“We’re almost there. You should be able to see the Tower of Omens in a second.”
“Huh?” said Linda, returning to the “real” world. “ What’s a' Tower of Omens'?”
“It’s my home here on Third Earth. I live there with my friends. And could you do me a small favor? When you see them, don’t scream.”
Linda nodded and smiled a bit. “I’m sorry about that. It’s just… I’ve never seen human/animal hybrids before.”
Bengali stopped and looked at her, a frown on his face. “ I’m not a hybrid; I’m a Thundarian of the White Tiger Clan.”
Linda winced and her face turned red from embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. Everything is just so different.” To her self she said quietly, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas any more, Toto.”
Bengali felt pity for her and he hoped that he and the other Thundercats would be able to help her. He continued on towards the end of the forest, Linda following him aimlessly. Soon they stepped out into a clearing and she was momentarily blinded by the sun. When her vision had adjusted, she saw before her a massive white tower with a cat eye on the top, giving off an apperance of watching all within its realm.
The sight of it mesmerized her and it was a few minutes before she could say a thing. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before and her therory of govenment experiments slipped just a notch. “Is this your Tower of…um, I forgot what you called it.” she asked.
“The Tower of Omens. Yes, it is.” Bengali answered as he smiled with pride. “ It’s an observation post we use to keep an eye on things. Between this and the Cat’s Lair, we can pretty much see what’s happening any where on Third Earth.”
“Ok.” Linda said then thought to herself, “ What’s a Cats Lair?” She had no time to ask any more questions as the tiger picked up his pace in the tower's direction and she had to jog to keep up with him. When they neared the Tower, Linda noticed a small child running towards them. As the child got closer, she could see that it was a girl about 4 or 5 years old who also had cat like features.
“Uncle Benny, uncle Benny, whadja bring me?” the girl yelled as she launched herself into Bengali’s arms.
Bengali laughed and caught the child, swinging her around before holding her up on his side. “Hey there sprite, what did your mom tell you about running out of the Tower alone?”
“Never go out alone cause you don’t know what’s out there” she recited dutifully. “But it’s ok, uncle Benny, you’re here so I’m not alone.”
Laughing, Bengali said, “You got me there kid.” He turned to Linda and said, “Linda, this is Renee, my niece. Renee, this lady’s name is Linda.”
Linda smiled at the child and said, “Hello Renee, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Hi,” Renee said shyly then turned to Bengali, “ So whatcha bring me?”
Linda laughed. “She’s definitely determined.”
“That she is.” Bengali agreed then turned to the child in his arms and put her down. “Hey sprite, I need to take this lady to your mom so she can fix her boo-boos and then I will show you what I brought you, promise!”
“Ok,” said the girl and quick as a wink, she took off for the Tower.
“She’s probably running to her mom to tell her about us." Bengali explained to the human woman. "Renee likes being the first one to tell people new things.”
"Most children I know are like that.” said Linda and smiled at the running child's exurbernce. Curiosity got the better of her and she asked, “Do you have kids?”
The Thundarian shook his head. “No, I haven’t found the right woman to have a family with. What about you? Do you have any children?”
A sad look passed over Linda’s face. “No, my husband and I never had any children.”
"Had." Past tense. Bengali waited to hear more, but Linda said nothing else. He respected her silence and refrained from asking any more personal questions. When they reached the Tower, they were met by a man and woman. Like Bengali, they were humaniod with cat like qualities.
“Linda, I’d like you to meet Pumyra and Oro." To the waiting couple he announced, "This is Linda. I found her in the Tree Top Kingdom and thought it best to bring her here.”
“How do you do.” Linda said and offered her hand. Pumyra took one look at the proffered hand and the healer in her took over. She quickly examined it and frowned.
“Oh my! How did you do this?” asked the woman.
“Well, it’s a long story...” Linda began but the strange cat lady gently cut her off.
“Hmm, well, we can hear it later in the control room,” Pumyra said, glancing at the two men, to which her husband nodded. “Right now let’s take care of these wounds and get you some dry clothes.” She led Linda into the Tower, leaving the men behind. Oro waited until the women were out of earshot, then turned to his friend.
“So, what’s the story?”
“It’s just like I said,” began the tiger, “ I found her wandering the forest near the Wollo village dripping wet. She seemed dazed and confused, in fact, she was so terrified that she screamed and ran when she saw me.”
Oro thought about this then asked, “ So what do you know about her?”
“Well,” Bengali began, “She’s never heard of Third Earth or Thundercats. She says she’s from some place called ‘Iowa’ and referred to something called America. She mentioned a husband, but I think he is deceased. The way she talked about him in the past tense led me to that conclusion. That’s about it.”
“Hmm, perhaps she can tell us more after Pumyra takes care of her.”
As the two men entered the building, Bengali found himself thinking about the strange woman. Who was she, where did she come from, and why had she been so scared of him at first? The look of fear he’d seen had made him want to protect her. Well, the Code of Thundera stated that he had to protect anyone in need, but it had been different with her.
He also wondered what had happened to her mate.
Author: Lindacat aka Azmom
Status: Not complete
Summary: In this chapter we meet Linda, a human woman from Earth's 21st century. She is pulled into the very distant future where she meets Bengali and several other Thundercats and their mates. Can they get her back to her own time?
Rating: Level 4
Genre(s): Epic, Drama, Romance, AU
Warnings: Adult Situations, Mild Cursing.
Disclaimer: This is just a story that came out of my head due to my love of Thundercats. All rights to Thundercats belong to WB and associates.
This was my first story ever posted and it made its debut on EOT under the name azmom, but I thought it was time to revamp it. So I re-read it, added to it, took some silly nonsense out, and have hopefully rewritten an even better fic. Hope you enjoy!
There was a saying during First Earth that when the deities closed a door, they always opened another. This is the story of what happened when one woman stepped through one of those doors.
Chapter 1
First Earth; that what the residents of Third Earth would call it many centuries later, but to the residents of this time, it was known simply as the year 2006, the 21st century. The world had survived the Y2K bug and had come though the tragedy of 9/11. It had deployed troops to Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of freedom while gas prices, plummeting drug coverage, and healthcare showed the people of the United States of America exactly what the price of "Freedom" had cost.
Political leaders took pock shots at other leaders and debates raged out of control over what to do about the state of the country, but in the small farm house on a lone dirt road in Iowa, Linda Hurst ignored all of this and carried on with her own life. She didn't care about public reform or healthcare, who wanted to be the next President, nor did she pay attention to news reports of how many men and women died every day protecting others who only wanted them dead. She had discarded the real world, wanting only to be left alone to live out her life the way she wanted.
It wasn't that she really didn't care, it was that she had just given up. To her state of mind, the world was on a collison course with destiny and she was just along for the ride, so why worry or care? Today however she was in a happy frame of mind and instead of analyzing it to death, she simply accepted it as a gift and ran with it.
Linda stepped outside her front door and admired the glorious autumn morning. The light of early dawn bounced of the beautiful colors of red, orange, and yellow of the trees. A light fog hung low in the corn field, giving it a mystical aura. The corn itself still held some of its summer greenery, but was slowly changing to its golden shade that the farmers hoped for.
“Man, I tell you what God, you sure have one hell of a paint brush.” Linda thought to herself as she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the clean country air before saying, “Well, time to stop gawking and do my walk.”
She slipped her earphones on and began to walk in time with the music. In her ears could be heard the music of Ludicrous rapping about fantasies. It was a nice, upbeat song to walk to and the quiet setting of the country helped her pleasant mood. For the first time in almost 2 years, she felt at peace. Two years since that day she heard a knock at the door and was stupid enough to answer it.
“Don’t think about it,” Linda chided herself, “It happened. Life goes on.”
But she couldn’t help thinking about it. Three years ago she and her husband Greg had been living in Tennessee where Greg had been stationed with the Army when he was called to fight in Iraq. For the entire year that Greg had been deployed, he had been able to dodge all the bullets, mortar shells, suicide bombers, and everything else that had been thrown his way. Finally his tour of duty was over. “Just one more mission Baby and I are coming home!” he had told her on the phone.
But he never did. The next day she opened her door to an Army chaplain and another officer from his unit.
“Mrs. Hurst, my name is Captain Reyes and this is Lieutenant Smith. We’re sorry to inform you but your husband was killed yesterday when a mortar shell hit his convoy. I know there is nothing we can say to ease your loss, but we want to help in any way we can.”
The memories of that awful day came flooding back, causing Linda to stop and lean against a fence pole. It might have been two years since Greg died, but at times the pain was as fresh as it had been the day she had learned that her lover and best friend would never smile or love her again. She pulled off her earphones, tears glistening in her eyes, and scanned the sky.
“Give me strength Lord, to carry on this day and help me to understand why.” This little prayer usually helped her when she got this way, but for some reason, it just wasn't enough. She then added to her prayer, “People tell me that when you shut a door, you usually open another one, I just wish I knew what your plan is for me.”
As soon as she had said that, Linda noticed the wind picking up. It started as a gentle breeze and slowly gained speed until it was near gale force winds. “What the hell?” she exclaimed as she nearly lost her balance.
Linda started walking in the direction of her house, but for every step she took, she was pushed back two. She looked up at the trees to gauge the speed of the wind and noticed that none of the trees were moving. Not a single one was bending and flapping around as they should have been, not even a leaf fluttered. "What is going on here?" she wondered, "Is this some kind of freak tornado?!"
No answer was forthcoming though. Try as she might, she found it impossible to move forward but still she fought against the wind, determined to reach the safety of her home. The torrent increased until Linda was knocked off her feet and landed on her chest, knocking the breath out of her for a few seconds. She looked around for a ditch to climb into, remembering her tornado survival skills, drilled into her from childhood, when she noticed something weird going on behind her. There behind her was the road, but it was distorted, wavy almost, like a Fun House mirror.
Linda, however, wasn't having any fun! The wind refused to let her move anywhere but towards the vortex and she dug her nails into the dirt road, scrambling for a hand hold and ripping her skin in the process, but inch by inch she was being dragged toward this thing. The last thing she remembered before she lost consciousness was screaming.
Silence reigned in her ears until finally she heard birds singing and felt warm air on her face. She opened her eyes and saw a canopy of green trees above her, streams of sunlight breaking through the cracks. “Am I dead?" she wondered "Is this heaven?”
Then she moved and uttered a loud moan of pain, letting her know instantly that this was far from heaven. Slowly Linda sat up and looked around. “Where am I?” she wondered.
She stood up cautiously and assessed the damage to herself. Thankfully there wasn't much, a couple of scrapes and bruises here and there. The worst of her injuries were her hands. Her nails were broken and jagged, scrape marks marring her fingerprints and knuckles, but she could tell that they weren't too serious.She’d had worse playing flag football with the local boys as a kid. These wounds were nothing.
She took a better look at her surroundings, seeing huge, lush trees as far as the eye could see. The air was so warm and moist that she was beginning to perspire badly. “If I didn’t know any better," she thought, "I’d think I was in a tropical rain forest, but that can’t be right! This is supposed to be Iowa!”
She reckoned that she must have hit her head badly and that this was all a bad dream but as Linda was gazing at this foreign landscape, she didn’t notice the movement behind her until she heard the cracking of a twig. Spinning around she came face to face with a large, white ape/human thing. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes grew large and she knew she was in no dream, she was in a night mare!
“Hello there girlie,” said the creature, “ Lookin’ for someone, Hoo, Hoo?”
“Uh, I, Uh” was the only thing that came out, fear paralyzing her.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” then the strange thing began to laugh evilly and advanced on the strange human woman. Instinct kicked in finally, freeing her from her stupor and she ran! Although Linda had never been a fast runner, she found that her feet had grown wings. The trees became a blur as she raced past them but she knew that the monkey thing was hot on her trail and it would be only minutes before he caught her. Ahead of her she saw a ledge and had no idea what was beyond it, but she didn’t think she had much of a choice. That thing was right on her; she could hear its “hoo, hoo” getting closer! Linda sent up a silent prayer for deliverance and jumped.
The Almighty must have heard her because she saw a river just below her and as her feet hit the water she thanked God for his mercy. As the river swept her away, she could hear the monkey thing howling in rage.
Linda let the river carry her for what she thought was several miles and then swam for the shore when she saw a low bank. Once on the bank, she started crying and shivering, the shock of what had happened and the cold of the water catching up with her. It was only her common sense that got her up and moving. Suddenly she caught a wiff of smoke and looked up. There she saw over the low trees the tale tell signs of active chimneys a few miles away.
“Where there’s smoke,” she thought, “There’s fire, and where there’s fire, there’s usually people. And I need to move it! No telling how fast that monster can travel. I really don’t want it finding me.” So saying, she headed in the direction of the smoke, hoping that they would help her out.
Bengali was heading back to the Tower of Omens. He had just been to the Wollo village and had a good day trading all of his iron works and buying new metals for his forge. He loved the haggling of prices and the witty barbs that he and his customers exchanged. He’d even bought a doll and a bag of treats for Renee, Pumyra and Oro’s little girl. Renee always expected a present from her Uncle Benny when he came home from trading and today would be no different.
As he walked through the forest, he noticed how quiet it was and this put him on edge. The animals of this land knew him and felt safe with him in it, so when it was this quiet, he knew that the animals were scared for some reason. Slowly he pulled out his weapon, the Hammer of Thundera, and continued on his journey cautiously. Out of the corner of his eye Bengali spotted movement. He quickly hid behind a tree and moved around the massive trunk to get a better view. With the Mutants around, a Thundercat always had to be on guard. What he saw was a woman dripping wet, shivering, and looking confused. "A Warrior Maiden?" he thought then dismissed this notion. Not likely, her clothes were unlike any he had ever seen.
The woman was definitely human, but she didn't wear the animal skin garb that Maidens normally wore. Instead she had on some kind of thick blue and white baggy shirt with a silver jagged line going down the front and her leggings were of a blue woven material, something he had never seen before, and her footwear, he didn’t know how to describe those. They were white and pink, perhaps made of a strange leather like material, with pink strings running through holes in the front.
As garish as her apparel might seem, Bengali sensed that she was frightened and in need of help.Quickly he replaced his weapon back in it's holder and stepped out from behind the tree, calling out to her. “Excuse me, can I help you?” he asked. She jumped at the sound of his voice and whirled around. As she got a good look at him she screamed and began to run away.
“Hey! Wait! I just want to…Damn!” He took off after her, running on all fours, needing to shorten the distance between them. She was heading towards the Forest of Mist and he knew if she reached that area, he might just lose her. When Bengali got close enough, he made a leap into the air, twisted around and landed just a few feet in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.
“Don’t hurt me!” the woman shrieked, coming up short and putting her hands out in front of her to ward him off.
Bengali put his hands up in a calming motion, making no move towards her. "I’m not going to hurt you; I just want to help you. You looked lost.”
“You sure you’re not going to hurt me? You promise?” she asked, taking a hesitant step back.
Bengali could see how terrified she was and his heart went out to her. Her hazel eyes were wide with fear and that bothered him. “Lovely shade of hazel, nice golden flecks.” he thought though, then shook his head which caused the woman to step back and grab a near by branch, ready to use it against the strange creature.
“I swear by the Eye of Thundera, I’m not going to harm you in any way.”
A confused look crossed her face. “The Eye of what?”
“The Eye of Thundera.” repeated Bengali. Her statement made him frown. How on Third Earth could this woman not know what the Eye of Thundera was? Everyone knew about the mystical eye! “You’re not from around here are you?”
The woman gave a harsh laugh. “You could say that again!”
Bengali spied her hands and saw that she needed medical attention. “ Look, I live a few miles from here. My friend Pumyra is a healer and she can take a look at your wounds if you like. You also look like you need some dry clothes before you come down sick. Please, put the branch down and trust me."
The strange human hesitated for a minute before she lowered her makeshift weapon and allowed it to drop to the ground. The Thundarian sighed in relief and smiled at her, she however did not return his smile.
"My name is Bengali by the way.”
He stuck out his hand and waited for her to make the next move, hoping to break the tension. She eyed him warily and slowly reached out her own hand and clasped his. “Linda.” she said simply.
“It’s nice to meet you Linda.”
“Um, yeah, you too." she said then took a quick glance around. "Could you tell me one thing please? Where are we?”
Bengali gave a short laugh. “Well, right now we are in the Tree Top Kingdom of the Warrior Maidens. Queen Willa rules these lands.”
Linda looked confused again. “Queen Willa? Tree Top Kingdom? I take it that it's not part of America?”
America? He’d never heard of such a place. It only confirmed his suspicions of her not being a part of this area. He wondered if she had come from another planet and had landed here. That still didn't explain the state she was in. "No, we’re on Third Earth. Where are you from?”
“Iowa." she answered then asked "Why did you put a Third in front of Earth?”
"It's just what the people call it."
"I see." she said, but she really didn't. She wondered if he had misinterpreted the locals. She knew that there were poor countries that were call third world countries and she guessed that he had substitued "world" for "Earth". It made sense to her at least and strangely it eased her mind a bit.
As Linda followed Bengali through the forest, she mulled things over in her mind, trying to find some kind of rational explanation for all of this. Both of the creatures she’d met were human like, she was sure of that, but the other features of them made her wonder about their origins. She shuddered to think what would have happened if that ape thing had gotten hold of her. But the guy she was following seemed decent enough. Kind of cute too, in a cat like way and she wondered what kind of cat he was.
He was white with black stripes, and his hands were tipped like claws. Even his feet she could see were claw like and she could have sworn that she had heard him growl. He looked like a Siberian tiger and it made her think that this country's government was doing human/animal cloning. Was she on some kind of government test site? That could explain the two guys she’d met here, but how did she get here?
"Maybe a transportation experiment." she reasoned. If all of that were true, she could be in some serious trouble if she were caught.
“We’re almost there. You should be able to see the Tower of Omens in a second.”
“Huh?” said Linda, returning to the “real” world. “ What’s a' Tower of Omens'?”
“It’s my home here on Third Earth. I live there with my friends. And could you do me a small favor? When you see them, don’t scream.”
Linda nodded and smiled a bit. “I’m sorry about that. It’s just… I’ve never seen human/animal hybrids before.”
Bengali stopped and looked at her, a frown on his face. “ I’m not a hybrid; I’m a Thundarian of the White Tiger Clan.”
Linda winced and her face turned red from embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. Everything is just so different.” To her self she said quietly, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas any more, Toto.”
Bengali felt pity for her and he hoped that he and the other Thundercats would be able to help her. He continued on towards the end of the forest, Linda following him aimlessly. Soon they stepped out into a clearing and she was momentarily blinded by the sun. When her vision had adjusted, she saw before her a massive white tower with a cat eye on the top, giving off an apperance of watching all within its realm.
The sight of it mesmerized her and it was a few minutes before she could say a thing. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before and her therory of govenment experiments slipped just a notch. “Is this your Tower of…um, I forgot what you called it.” she asked.
“The Tower of Omens. Yes, it is.” Bengali answered as he smiled with pride. “ It’s an observation post we use to keep an eye on things. Between this and the Cat’s Lair, we can pretty much see what’s happening any where on Third Earth.”
“Ok.” Linda said then thought to herself, “ What’s a Cats Lair?” She had no time to ask any more questions as the tiger picked up his pace in the tower's direction and she had to jog to keep up with him. When they neared the Tower, Linda noticed a small child running towards them. As the child got closer, she could see that it was a girl about 4 or 5 years old who also had cat like features.
“Uncle Benny, uncle Benny, whadja bring me?” the girl yelled as she launched herself into Bengali’s arms.
Bengali laughed and caught the child, swinging her around before holding her up on his side. “Hey there sprite, what did your mom tell you about running out of the Tower alone?”
“Never go out alone cause you don’t know what’s out there” she recited dutifully. “But it’s ok, uncle Benny, you’re here so I’m not alone.”
Laughing, Bengali said, “You got me there kid.” He turned to Linda and said, “Linda, this is Renee, my niece. Renee, this lady’s name is Linda.”
Linda smiled at the child and said, “Hello Renee, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Hi,” Renee said shyly then turned to Bengali, “ So whatcha bring me?”
Linda laughed. “She’s definitely determined.”
“That she is.” Bengali agreed then turned to the child in his arms and put her down. “Hey sprite, I need to take this lady to your mom so she can fix her boo-boos and then I will show you what I brought you, promise!”
“Ok,” said the girl and quick as a wink, she took off for the Tower.
“She’s probably running to her mom to tell her about us." Bengali explained to the human woman. "Renee likes being the first one to tell people new things.”
"Most children I know are like that.” said Linda and smiled at the running child's exurbernce. Curiosity got the better of her and she asked, “Do you have kids?”
The Thundarian shook his head. “No, I haven’t found the right woman to have a family with. What about you? Do you have any children?”
A sad look passed over Linda’s face. “No, my husband and I never had any children.”
"Had." Past tense. Bengali waited to hear more, but Linda said nothing else. He respected her silence and refrained from asking any more personal questions. When they reached the Tower, they were met by a man and woman. Like Bengali, they were humaniod with cat like qualities.
“Linda, I’d like you to meet Pumyra and Oro." To the waiting couple he announced, "This is Linda. I found her in the Tree Top Kingdom and thought it best to bring her here.”
“How do you do.” Linda said and offered her hand. Pumyra took one look at the proffered hand and the healer in her took over. She quickly examined it and frowned.
“Oh my! How did you do this?” asked the woman.
“Well, it’s a long story...” Linda began but the strange cat lady gently cut her off.
“Hmm, well, we can hear it later in the control room,” Pumyra said, glancing at the two men, to which her husband nodded. “Right now let’s take care of these wounds and get you some dry clothes.” She led Linda into the Tower, leaving the men behind. Oro waited until the women were out of earshot, then turned to his friend.
“So, what’s the story?”
“It’s just like I said,” began the tiger, “ I found her wandering the forest near the Wollo village dripping wet. She seemed dazed and confused, in fact, she was so terrified that she screamed and ran when she saw me.”
Oro thought about this then asked, “ So what do you know about her?”
“Well,” Bengali began, “She’s never heard of Third Earth or Thundercats. She says she’s from some place called ‘Iowa’ and referred to something called America. She mentioned a husband, but I think he is deceased. The way she talked about him in the past tense led me to that conclusion. That’s about it.”
“Hmm, perhaps she can tell us more after Pumyra takes care of her.”
As the two men entered the building, Bengali found himself thinking about the strange woman. Who was she, where did she come from, and why had she been so scared of him at first? The look of fear he’d seen had made him want to protect her. Well, the Code of Thundera stated that he had to protect anyone in need, but it had been different with her.
He also wondered what had happened to her mate.
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