The Cure: Part Five
Luna sat impatiently upon Amok's back, watching the sun grow lower in the sky through the safety of Skytomb's large viewscreen. "Damned sun, soon you won't be a burden to me any more." she said softly to herself. If she had her way, this would be the last daylight she would have to avoid seeing ever again... she would have the cure, her mortality, and even her wayward subordinate, Alluro, back again. As it should be, she thought.
"What are you babbling about, Luna?" asked TugMug, who was stationed at the controls piloting Skytomb at a slow pace over the lush jungles of Riyl-Miren below.
"Never you mind, TugMug, just concentrate on getting us to those coordinates I told you about by nightfall."
"I am, I am." the round lunatac replied with annoyance. "But you could have at least given me a little more warning. Skytomb can't move at a decent speed if its scanners have to penetrate this dense layer of plants to determine where we are in relation to our destination. I said I can get it there near sundown, that's the best I can do, so get off my back."
"Don't get insolent with me, TugMug, just do it!" Luna screeched, waving her riding crop at him in anger.
TugMug grumbled and muttered a few derogatory terms at Luna under his breath, then went back to work at the controls.
***
Deep within the cave that had shielded her and her new fledgling from daylight, Divia opened her eyes, somehow attuned to the fact that the sun would be soon to fade to darkness and that her final hour of triumph over those that had dared to wrong her had finally come. She stirred in the warm arms of her sleeping fledgling, who had obligingly held her to his side as they slept over the long day. She was grateful for that... it had been a long time indeed since anyone had shown her any sort of affection... though she knew deep down that in this case it was inspired only by fear and manipulation. In her opinion though, that was good enough, for now. She didn't really care for him much anyway, only for the company he provided. Evil as she was, Divia was a lonely, bitter, lost soul, and desperately wanted to have someone, anyone, be at her side to command and do with as she pleased. Being the most powerful vampire in existence was of little consequence if there was no one who could truly appreciate that fact and who she could lord the power of it over, after all.
She carefully studied the sleeping face of her companion, the Riylien warrior-turned-vampire Ren'fos. His loyalty to her so far had shown to be true enough, with the exception of when that strange hynpotic alien-vampire that was with her father had attempted to sway it. Hatred and rage welled up anew within her at that thought. Another unforgivable betrayal to add to the long list of reasons why she hated Lucius. He would pay, oh yes, tonight he would pay.
"Awaken." Divia spoke, clearly and authoritatively.
At the sound of her voice, Ren'fos stirred and then opened his eyes, waking up as he was bidden. He rubbed his eyes and blinked, as though he were still disoriented. Then he remembered. The details of what had happened last night flooded his mind. Watching his friends be attacked... being bitten... himself changed somehow by the young goddess in front of him into a blooddrinking creature of the night... then fighting other immortals, ones his new mistress had claimed were enemies... and finally, losing and fleeing here with her in defeat. It was almost too much for him to process. "Divia?" he asked quietly, meeting the gaze of his staring mistress.
"Good, you're up. Nightfall is upon us. It's time to finish the job we started last night. Lucius and his vampires must all be destroyed tonight, as well as those cats that Mumm-Ra asked me to dispose of along with them."
"Mumm-Ra." repeated Ren'fos slowly. He remembered him, he was the grotesque thing that had appeared to Divia just before they'd taken their rest for the day. The sinister being had scared him thoroughly. Inwardly he wanted nothing to do with that creature or anything he had planned, but he dared not speak out against Divia. She had quite a temper, and he knew that she wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he acted against her.
Divia nodded. "Yes, Mumm-Ra. I said I would repay him for freeing me from my tomb by helping to rid him of these 'Thundercat' enemies of his. Let's not waste any more time. Follow me." She started on her way out of the dark and windy cave, then beckoned to Ren'fos, who rose to his feet immediately and fell in step behind her. The small vampiress opened her eyes wide as they neared the exit, stopped short, and looked around. Ren'fos stopped with her and gave her a questioning look. "He's near here... the first one I bit last night. One of Mumm-Ra's cat enemies, a lion. I can sense him. We must find him. The power of my bite is within him, and with it I can control him and use him to help us destroy our enemies." She then laughed. "Then we'll have the pleasure of destroying him as well."
"Where is he?"
"This way." replied Divia. She waited only a moment to point out a direction, and then took off in a flash of supernatural speed. Ren'fos, still learning to control his powers, followed her as best he could. He stopped when it felt right, and found Divia standing over a bloody mess beneath a large vine-covered tree. Divia greeted him with a wicked grin. "Look." she said, pointing to the mangled pile of flesh beneath her. "The carcass of a wild beast... a dangerous one, too. A boar, by the looks of it, and taken down by the lion with his own hands."
Ren'fos fought back a wave of nausea as he beheld the animal's body. Divia was right, it was a boar, and had it still been alive would have been one of the largest Ren'fos had ever seen. The animal had met a violent end. Whatever had killed it had seemed to revel in it, to enjoy it, and the poor beast had clearly suffered before death had claimed it. The primary wound was a long, jagged gash across its belly that appeared to have been torn by clawed hands. Puncture wounds and scratches decorated the rest of its body, probably put there by the one restraining the animal while he tortured and killed it, or perhaps from the boar's own struggling and final throes of death. What internal organs remained in the body had been punctured and mangled, while others were strewn about the general area. The most unsettling thing, however, was when he looked upon its head. The neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, but not broken. He noticed puddle of half-clotted, dark blood oozing from beneath the throat. Upon closer examination he saw that had come from a gaping hole torn in it by what must have been teeth not too unlike his own had been as a mortal, perhaps a bit sharper, but not a vampire's. The being that had delivered the gruesome death to the boar was not what he was.
"The cat-man did this?" Ren'fos asked with disbelief. He had seen the spotted she-cat up close when he had taken her back to his village, and from what he had observed of her, she did not seem to be capable of such viciousness. Could the cat who had killed this boar truly have been of the same breed?
"I see you don't understand." Divia said, a tone of arrogant impatience in her voice. "Well that doesn't matter, because it's true. I infected the cat that did this myself, that's how I know he did it. I can smell him. Even now, he is not far." She looked up at the trees around her. "Are you, Lion-O?" she called out loudly.
Ren'fos looked around as well. He saw nothing.
"I know you are." Divia continued, speaking into the dark jungle surrounding them. "Come out, kitty cat. Come see me, Lion-O. Now! I've more for you to destroy." There was a rustle in the brush nearby. Ren'fos nervously glanced around once more, then let out a gasp when a large musclebound cat-man came tumbling out of the bushes in their direction, growling and hissing. Instantly Ren'fos jumped back and took a defensive stance, fangs bared and ready to strike. The wild stranger rushed towards Ren'fos and Divia, but stopped short when Divia put out her hand. The cat-man reached up and gripped his head in pain, and let out a yell, as though he were in torment. Ren'fos noted that his clothes and mane were stained with dried blood, and the expression within his eyes was somewhere between a wild and untamed madness and a deep guilt. Divia grinned. "I knew you would come when I called, Lion-O. You too are mine, even though you try to fight it. Poor little lion... Are you in pain, kitty?"
Lion-O growled and shook his head, sanity breaking in for a fleeting moment as he looked upon Divia's evil face. He began to remember what had happened. The attack, the terrible impulses... and he knew that the one who stood before him was the one who had attacked him and forced him to do the things he had already done... the last of which was the cruel, tormenting death he had visited upon the unfortunate boar, who, unbeknownst to Divia and Ren'fos, was only one of many such victims who had fallen to him since the attack and his subsequent loss of the Sword of Omens. The guilt of what he had done, and the knowledge of what he was helplessly turning into, drove him to let out another hopeless wail. "Nooo! I am not yours! I won't be!" he raged in a sudden moment of clarity.
"Yes!" Divia shouted back, even more insistently, giving him a forceful, cold glare.
The desire to destroy and inflict pain surged within him once more. He forgot all about his desire to regain control of his senses and fight the mad urges. All he wanted to do was kill and destroy.
A twisted smile spread across Divia's face. "Yes, my little lion. That's what I thought. Come with us. There's plenty for you to kill tonight." She leaned over and took his shaking hand in her own for a moment, then took off once more. Despite his feeling that he shouldn't, Ren'fos followed them anyway.
Perched in a treetop high above, Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living watched the scene take place. Though he would have preferred Divia kill Lion-O then and there, he did get a thrill out of the idea that Lion-O would first be a party to the destruction of the very ones who loved and trusted him as their leader before he was eliminated himself. Being able to watch his longtime enemies be confronted with the ultimate betrayal of their lord as he helped delivered them to their makers would be a delicious treat after all the humiliating defeats he had suffered at their hands. Ultimate victory, finally, was within his grasp.
***
RedEye pushed open the heavy stone door that was the exit to LaCroix's temple ruin and stepped into the dusk outside. "It's dark enough." he called to those behind him... an unlikely group of allies, if ever he'd seen one. First to step out was LaCroix, followed by Chilla, then after a short distance Nick and Cheetara, and finally Alluro, with the unconcious Janette in his arms. When they were all out, RedEye shut the tomb door again. Cheetara eyed up the group comprised mostly of her enemies nervously. There was nothing about this expedition she liked, and the idea of having to find the cure she was supposed to find with Bengali, Pumyra, and Lion-O instead with a bunch of evil vampires and Lunatacs, was not her idea of an ideal mission.
Nick seemed to pick up on her thoughts, and took hold of her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Thanks for hanging in there with me, Cheetara."
She smiled at him weakly and nodded. She understood. Janette was one of Nick's closest companions for hundreds of years, and she would die without her help. Even though Cheetara distrusted and disliked the evil vampiress, she was not petty enough to allow her to die because of it. That was not the Thundercat way.
Alluro's voice snapped her back to attention, perhaps because the sound of an enemy's voice was enough to have her on alert instantly, even though in this case... probably... he was not an immediate threat. "LaCroix, you said you knew the way." he called over to the ancient vampire, clutching Janette's pale, limp form in his arms. "I don't think we've got much time. Let's get going."
"This way." LaCroix replied, leading them on an upward slope behind the temple ruin. "Using the information Cheetara has given, the description of the ruins that supposedly hold this 'cure', I can say with some assurance that the ruins at the top of this peak are the same that she has described. Just follow me and we'll be there in no time."
"We'd better be." Chilla muttered.
The seven of them were on their way.
***
After a couple of hours of laying in Bengali's warm, comforting arms and desperately trying to convince herself that the fears brought up in her nightmare were groundless, Pumyra had fallen back into a much-needed dreamless sleep. Only a few more hours had passed before she was brought back into the unwelcome reality of the inhospitable jungles of Riyl-Miren. Bengali shook her a slight bit harder, until she opened her eyes. Though he knew she'd had a rough day of rest, nighttime was once again upon them, and he didn't want either of them to have to wait another minute to get the cure they so desperately needed, so they could save Lion-O, cure their own supernaturally afflicted bodies, find Cheetara, then go home and return to the lives they had once had, before any vampires had walked upon their world. "Pumyra?"
"Yeah... I'm awake..." the sleepy puma muttered, rolling over and blinking a few times before sitting upright. Her arm, at the site of Divia's wound, was still throbbing with pain. Making it even worse, her head now ached from the stress of trying to fight the evil, twisted impulses that threatened to take over her mind.
Bengali was still quite unaware of her discomfort. "Let's get going then!" He bent down and helped Pumyra to her feet, then set about taking down their campsite and packing it back up.
As Pumyra rolled her sleeping bag, images from that vivid nightmare flashed through her head. How could she have dreamt something so hideous? She cast her love a glance. Bengali was so strong and virtuous, even as a creature of the night. Why would she have dreamt of something as awful as the brutal slaying she'd visited upon him? Swallowing hard, she looked down at her arm. The pain was getting worse. She debated again whether or not she should tell Bengali, but settled on "no" as she had before. He was already worried enough with Lion-O's craziness and Cheetara's disappearance. It would only hinder our mission if I burden him further, she told herself, and that's a luxury we can't afford right now. Wincing in pain as she shoved the last of her supplies into her pack, she turned to Bengali and gave him a weak smile. "Ready, Ben."
***
As TugMug had predicted, Skytomb arrived the coordinates Mumm-Ra had given them only minutes after sunset. Luna and Amok waited for TugMug to land the fortress impatiently. If all went as she planned, the cure would be hers first. And then she would decide who got it from her, who didn't, and in Alluro's case, who would take it whether he wanted to or not. The old ruins were at the top of a small mountain, tall stone cliffs and dangerous rocky trails thick with jungle growth all around. A small barren patch of rock on the peak was the only place Skytomb could really land, so that was where TugMug set the giant fortress down. It was a quarter of a mile or so away from the temple, but that wasn't so far that Amok couldn't manage it on foot, especially as a vampire. Maybe it would hurt on the way back, considering it would be all uphill, but Luna would be so glad to have them both cured, she figured she wouldn't care and Amok wouldn't complain.
Once Skytomb had landed, Luna and Amok quickly made their way, as per Mumm-Ra's directions, to the lost temple ruins. It wasn't long before they found what they were looking for. Luna's eyes grew wide as she looked around what must have once been a most impressive courtyard. The age-old stone ruins, covered in vines and eroded by time, were still quite impressive. Several buildings, most of which were now little more than foundations and broken columns, surrounded the area, and beneath a layer of dirt, weeds, and decaying plant matter the presence of a cobblestone-like flooring could still be seen in patches. Luna wondered why more hadn't grown there in all that time, why it wasn't as covered as the rest of the jungles... was it perhaps that there was some force keeping this place open, accessible, making sure it wasn't forgotten?
Luna pondered that for a few moments, until all of her thoughts were banished by the sight of one key structure, one that Mumm-Ra's cauldron had shown her in some detail. In the dead center of the plateau was a rectangular altar, barely touched by any evidence of jungle life except for a thin coating of vegetation. "Amok, over there, quickly!" Luna exclaimed. Amok carried his tiny mistress there in record time, and the two of them beheld the strange altar.
It was even more peculiar up close. Once Amok had cleared the vines and plants obscuring it, Luna saw that the stone was lighter in color than any stone that they'd noticed anywhere around, and all of the ancient carvings and glyphs were deep, detailed, and looked as precise as though they'd been cut only yesterday... even though that was quite impossible. The altar was large, about three times the size of Amok, and nearly as tall. Holding onto his horn for support, Luna stood atop him and looked at the top. One side of it was cut with a circular hole, with a strange pulley device and an attached stone vessel right at the top. It almost appeared to be a well. The sacred well, Luna recalled, hadn't Mumm-Ra mentioned something about drinking water from a sacred well while wearing part of the artifact? That must have been what held the mystical waters, she reasoned. There was a crease that separated the well opening from the rest of the altar, from the top it looked as though it might slide off, almost like a crypt. The thought did not sit well with her. Crypts reminded her of Mumm-Ra, and such thoughts weren't pleasant. But still, crypt or not, she had a feeling that she had to open it. Perhaps the cure they'd been searching for was inside.
"Amok, push the very top of this thing."
"Grrr, ok Luna." the beast grunted. He placed the palms of his massive hands against the edge of the ancient stone and pushed. Nothing happened.
Luna frowned. "Harder, you lazy lump. It's not doing anything!"
Amok grumbled louder and pushed harder. Still nothing.
Luna was not pleased. She had not come all this way and gone through all of this just to have some worthless slab of stone stand in her way now. "I SAID HARDER, AMOK! PUSH THAT BLOCK!!!" she screeched at the top of her lungs, and stomped her pointy boot down on her poor bodyguard's head.
Amok let out a little whimper, more likely from her shrill shrieks than the kick, and shoved forward with all of his might. Suddenly the stone began to gave way and slid forward. Amok lost his balance from the sudden movement, and Luna was sent toppling off his head into the hole revealed beneath the ancient slab.
Fortunately for Luna, she didn't fall far. The opening beneath the stone altar was shallow and relatively empty, and Luna had landed flat on her behind, which given the fact that she spent most of her time sitting on Amok's back, was padded amply enough for her to not sustain any injury other than a minor sting from the fall. Luna scowled up at Amok. "I didn't say to drop me!" Amok pouted, not quite understanding why he was being reprimanded since had successfully carried out the task she'd asked of him, but didn't say anything. Luna sighed and stood, then caught sight of something hidden in the corner, beneath a part of the altar still covered by the stone slab. "What's that?" she mused aloud.
Answering her own question, she reached beneath it and grasped the object. It was cool to the touch, and made of some kind of metal. Her heart began to pound and her head spun with excitement. Could this be it, the artifact she was looking for? She pulled it out into the open, lit only by a dim evening moonlight now, and examined what she'd found. In her hands was a large golden chalice, with a smooth jade rim atop a thick golden one along the bottom edge. The outside was decorated with precious stones and jewels embedded in the gold, while the inside of the vessel, the part where one would pour the liquid to be consumed was lined with jade as well. On a whim, Luna turned the bottom portion of the cup, and the gold and jade rim came loose in her hands. Upon closer examination, it was clear that it was some form of bracelet. She recalled the part of what Mumm-Ra had told her about wearing it and drinking from it simultaneously. Luna let out a shriek of delight. What she had in her hands matched what she'd seen in Mumm-Ra's cauldron perfectly! It was, at last, the ancient cure, the Chalice of Riyl-Inth!
"AMOK!!" Luna exclaimed. "This is it!! THIS IS IT!! WE'RE CURED!"
"Cured!" Amok echoed, smiling. Though he didn't really possess the ability to articulate his own feelings, he'd never liked being a vampire either, and he knew on some level that getting rid of that condition was what Luna was talking about.
"Lift me up, Amok. Before anyone else shows up, let's use this right now."
Amok lifted his mistress out of the interior of the altar and set her down on the flat portion next to the well. Luna quickly operated the small well to lower the attached vessel and fill it with the well's sacred waters. When she heard a splash and felt the pressure against the handle grow heavy, she cranked it back up. Ordinarily she would have had Amok do it, but she was so consumed with excitement that she didn't care. Once the bucket surfaced at the top, filled with the water, she poured it into the cup, spilling and splashing some, but not really caring too much about that fact. When the chalice was filled, Luna slid the already detached bracelet onto her arm. The large loop was far too big for her. She hoped that didn't matter. As it turned out, it didn't... as soon as Luna lifted the chalice, the bracelet pulsed with energy and shrunk to fit her arm perfectly, as if by magic.
That was the final signal that what she had found was indeed the real thing. With a gleeful laugh, she lifted the heavy metal goblet and guzzled the liquid within. As the cool, sweet fluid passed her lips and filled her body, Luna felt a strange dizzying sense of warmth and well-being. She'd never felt a healing touch before, but somehow she knew that was exactly what she was experiencing. Amok watched in amazement as her entire body was consumed in a warm greenish glow for a few moments and she literally floated into the air by several inches.
Then suddenly, without warning or indication, the glow disappeared and Luna dropped back onto the altar. The Chalice clattered against the stone, while the bracelet enlarged back to its original size and fell from her arm. Amok instinctively reached for Luna to see if she was all right. When he touched her, her eyes fluttered open and she sat up. Luna felt disoriented, weak, and tired... but it was a welcome feeling, for it was one she hadn't had in over a year. A feeling she could only label as mortality. Her lungs breathed in deeply, as if taking in air that was now essential when it hadn't been before. Her stomach rumbled, but her craving was for food, not blood. Her eyesight was no longer supernaturally sharp, and her hearing was more muffled than she remembered... but still, she welcomed it. "Amok..." she started to speak, crawling towards him. He saved her the trouble and set her back upon his back. "It worked, Amok. Now you do it. Fill the cup from water in that well and drink."
Amok grunted agreeably and set to his task, while Luna placed the bracelet around his free wrist. Soon the bucket was filled, the water was poured, and Amok was the one drinking and glowing... and subsequently rediscovering that he was cured. Uncharacteristically happy and emotional, stemming from the immense relief that now it was certain they would not be spending the rest of their days as something they weren't meant to be, Luna clutched the Chalice, now inert and waiting to be used by someone else, with one arm, while fiercely hugging her loyal steed with the other. Finally, thought Luna, things were going the way they were supposed to.
***
The expedition of vampires, Lunatacs, and one lone Thundercat stood in a thick cluster of trees at the base of the mountain atop which at that very moment Luna and Amok were discovering and using the ancient cure. "Up there," LaCroix told the others, pointing toward the plateau.
Cheetara looked upward, her sixth sense tingling. She couldn't focus them clearly, but she was getting strong psychic vibrations from this place. "He's right. We're in the right place. I can feel it."
A familiar but unexpected voice from the shadows not far away made the cheetah suddenly spin around. "Cheetara? Is that you?" called Bengali. Moments later, Bengali and Pumyra approached them. They gave her an odd look when they saw the company she was with. "Holy Thundera... Nick? Is that you?" mumbled the stunned tiger in disbelief.
"And LaCroix..." Pumyra gasped. The sight of the vampire who'd brought her across was something that came as an utter shock to her.
Instantly he was at the puma's side. "So wonderful to see you again, my lovely."
"Don't touch her!" Bengali snapped at him, then looked from Nick to Cheetara. "What's going on? We were worried about you, Cheetara. You were missing, and Nick... gods, we all thought that you were dead."
"You were supposed to." Nick told him. "I know that must be hard for you to understand, but at the time, it was right--"
"Can't this wait?" an impatient Alluro's voice cut in.
Pumyra, who had been drawn into LaCroix's gaze, turned her attention to the lunatac, only to notice the wounded Janette in his arms. "Great Jaga... what happened? Who did that to her?" For something to wound a vampire so badly, especially one as old and powerful as she, it must have been something truly horrible. Like the one who attacked you and Lion-O, perhaps?
LaCroix glanced from his fallen fledgling to Pumyra's wounded arm and sighed. "The same who has visited her pain upon you. Divia. My daughter."
"Figures." Bengali said with a hateful glare at the ancient vampire.
"Don't take that tone with me, Night-Cat. I never intended for any of this."
Chilla growled at LaCroix. "Yeah well, we all know how well you consider the consequences of what you do before you act."
Bengali then picked up on the supernatural presence surrounding Chilla. "You are one of us?" he asked incredulously.
"She is mine." LaCroix informed him.
"I am not!"
"ENOUGH!" Alluro interrupted, this time nearly shouting. "We can not waste any more time getting to that cure. If the rest of you aren't going to leave now, I am going without you. I won't lose her, not again."
Pumyra looked at the wounded vampiress in the lunatac's arms and winced. She understood all too well how Divia's wounds hurt... and from the looks of it, Janette had gotten it much worse than she had. "You've found the cure." she guessed.
"Yes, LaCroix believes he knows where it is."
Pumyra looked to the others as another stab of pain originating from her own wound pulsed through her body. "He's right. We need to go. Now."
Nick nodded, looking first to Bengali and then to LaCroix. "Bengali, Cheetara and I can explain everything to you later. Pumyra and Alluro are right... we need to leave. Lead the way, LaCroix."
The ancient vampire nodded, and started on the final stretch to the forgotten altar. The others followed close behind.
***
Silently Mumm-Ra watched from nearby. He was full of evil anticipation. Soon the group of unlikely temporary allies would clash with those doing his bidding, and there would be a nice, bloody confrontation. If he was lucky, all the vampires would be either cured or killed, the few Thundercats present wiped out, and the lunatacs humbled or eliminated. He wasn't terribly worried about those who were technically his allies. If they happened to be eliminated by Divia, it was no loss to him. He never cared much for any of them anyway.
The ancient demon priest grinned wickedly. It wouldn't be long now...
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