Path Into the Darkness

Part Four: WilyKit

Chapter Four: Secrets in the Present

 

Several hours later, WilyKat and Leonora landed the Feliner II in the MoonTower’s landing bay, where Frostor and a rather relieved and eager Snarfer greeted them.  After exchanging quick hellos and giving instructions to a few guardsmen on which things to take to their guest quarters, the feline pair was taken to a room containing WilyKit, the Lunatac royals, their relatives, and the two Mutants.  Upon entering WilyKat noticed his sister stretched out upon a recliner with her eyes closed.  She appeared very tired and worn, and he was very glad that he had insisted upon coming to see her himself.  She definitely needed someone, and he was thankful that Snarfer had the judgment to see that and to call him.  He hurried over and gave his resting sister a big hug.  “Sis, how are you?”

 

She opened her eyes and sat up as he approached, and happily returned the hug when he joined her.  “I’m glad to see you, too, Kat,” she said with a smile.  “Hey... what’s with the arm?” she asked, noticing his bandages.

 

“Mutant terrorists bombed Ratar-O’s palace over on Plundarr.  They weren’t too thrilled with the idea of peace between our worlds I guess.”

 

“Count on Mutants for civilized behavior,” Luna sneered sarcastically.

 

Jackalman narrowed his eyes at the short lunar woman.  “Nyah, you’re lucky I’m such a good natured Ambassador, Luna, otherwise I might have to be offended on behalf of my world.”

 

“Your world should be embarrassed to have you as it’s representative,” Luna retorted to the jackal.

 

Frostor exhaled an annoyed, icy mist into the air.  “Can you stop instigating for five minutes?”

 

“I’ve hardly said a word for the last ten,” Luna replied haughtily.

 

“Good, try for twenty next time,” the ice general snapped back.

 

Leonora watched the exchange, a bit surprised at the blatant show of disrespect among the Lunatacs and Mutants, but she supposed that perhaps their foreign etiquette was different than it would have been on New Thundera.

 

WilyKit glanced over when she heard the exchange, and noted Leonora’s expression.  “Don’t take Jackalman and Luna too seriously, Leonora.  You’ll get used to it.”

 

“Not that she should have to,” Selene murmured, giving Luna a pointed stare.  Luna frowned and sulked silently atop Amok’s back.

 

“Anyway,” WilyKat continued, “don’t worry about the arm, it’s not serious at all.  And they have the terrorists under control over there.  Lynx-O went in my place this morning.” 

 

WilyKit smiled.  “I’m glad you weren’t injured too badly, or worse,” she told him, and then waved to Leonora.  “By the way, nice to see you, Leonora.  It’s a surprise to see you here too.”

 

“You’re a friend and WilyKat’s sister, so I offered to come and help with your ghost problem.”

 

“And she can, too,” WilyKat told WilyKit.  “It turns out that she’s a Halerani, and not just any Halerani, but the one who inherited the Staff of Dera.  It used to be a part of the Treasure of Thundera that was once entrusted to her clan to use to drive out evil spirits and cleanse the soul.” 

 

“It should have the power to drive away whatever is tormenting you,” the lioness added.

 

Selene nodded to the new arrivals.  “In that case, we’re very glad to have the both of you here.  It’s nice to meet you.  I’m Queen Selene,” she stated in introduction.  “This is my husband, Psiarik,” she gestured to him, seated in a cushy chair across the room.   “Over there is his father, Alluro, and beside him Chilla,” she pointed to the elder psi and the icewalker standing nearby.  “You’ve already met Ambassador Jackalman of Plundarr,” she gestured to the canine, who grinned smoothly at the lioness, “over there is our technical weapons specialist, Vultureman, also of Plundarr,” she pointed to the vulture Mutant, “and last but most certainly not least, my Aunt Luna and her guardian Amok.  And I believe you’ve already met Governor General Frostor,” she finished.

 

“I’m Leonora of New Thundera,” she replied nervously, not used to having so many eyes on her at once and certainly not all Lunatacs and Mutants.  “Nice to meet you all.”  She turned toward WilyKat.  “I take it you’ve already met everyone here?”

 

“Oh yes, we’ve met,” Alluro volunteered.  “Some of us knew him on Third Earth.”

 

“At one time or another, yeah,” WilyKat agreed.  Because he was technically a diplomat, he left it at that, although he was tempted to say more.

 

WilyKit eyed Leonora curiously.  “It’s great that you can help with the ghosts, but how come you never mentioned you were a Halerani before?”

 

Leonora examined the Staff of Dera, which she had hurriedly retrieved from her home before she and WilyKat had departed.  The artifact was about a foot and a half long, carved in a dark cherry-colored wood, ornately engraved with ancient designs and symbols in the wood.  Affixed to the top was a flawless orb of pure amethyst, held in place by a delicate-looking and elegant silver holder.  “It was never something I really thought of mentioning before there was a need for it,” she answered.  “Like I told Lord Lion-O, most of my clan was lost in the Exodus.  Spiritualists aren’t something needed in day-to-day life for the most part, so it was never an issue that came up, until we heard what had happened here.  I volunteered to help, and Lord Lion-O seemed to think it was a good idea, so here I am.”

 

“Good,” Luna answered before either of the twins had a chance.  “Because frankly, lioness, something has to be done about these damn ghosts of hers.”  It was then that both WilyKat and Leonora noticed that Luna had a bright purplish bruise on the side of her face from where the invisible Torlei had struck her earlier.  WilyKat wondered for a moment who had done that to the ex-leader of the Lunatacs of Plundarr, and what they had looked like when Amok finished pummeling them for it.

 

Leonora gasped when she saw the ugly bruise.  “Did the spirits do that to you?”

 

“Supposedly,” Chilla hissed from behind, although it was clear that the ice woman was not happy they were entertaining the ghost stories.  Even though the children were not present at that time, she did not want the ghost nonsense getting any more repetition than it already had.

 

Luna bristled at snide edge in Chilla’s tone, while Frostor answered the lioness for her.  “That’s not all they did.  They threw half the library’s books at me and they were groping WilyKit.”

 

“It was awful,” WilyKit agreed.  “It’s one of the most terrifying things I’ve been through, and that includes all of the disgusting stuff Mumm-Ra put Kat and I through as kids on Third Earth, too.”

 

“But why?” Leonora asked.  “Why are they doing these things?  Most spirits aren’t violent, and many that would be don’t have the power to affect the physical realm.”

 

“We were hoping you could tell us that,” Psiarik said as he stood up and took Selene’s side.

 

WilyKat looked at Leonora and her staff.  “Can you find that out for us?”

 

“I’ll try,” the lioness replied, and closed her eyes.  She cleared her mind, trying to open it up and receive any sort of impulse, feeling, or presence in the atmosphere of the room.  She spent several long moments attempting, but nothing came to her except a lingering trace of darkness.  “I don’t get the sense any kind of presence in here. Whatever spirits were tormenting you, they’re not here now.  That’s not to say they weren’t, or they won’t come back, but until they do, I won’t be able to tell you any more.”

 

“Cawww, that figures,” Vultureman snapped rudely.  “These two aren’t going to be any help to us.  If there are even ghosts at all, and she’s not just crazy.”

 

“My sister isn’t crazy,” WilyKat said, narrowing his eyes at the avian.

 

“Nor am I,” Frostor growled.  “I know what I saw in the library.”

 

“And how would you explain this then, Mutant?” an equally irate Luna demanded, pointing at her bruise.

 

“Nyah ha ha, even the ghosts find you intolerable?” Jackalman suggested with a snide grin.

 

Amok did not find the insult at Luna funny, however, and growled threateningly at the Mutant.

 

“Cool it,” Frostor warned, glaring at Luna, Amok, and Jackalman.

 

Selene stepped into the center of the crowd, her presence demanding that they calm down.  When there was a lull in the exchange, she spoke up to redirect the conversation to a more constructive end.  “If what Leonora says is accurate and there are no ghosts here right now, we shouldn’t waste whatever short time we have before their next visitation by standing around squabbling.”  She looked to Luna.  “You should take it easy, Aunt Luna.  I don’t want you to attract their attention again.”  She then turned to WilyKit.  “And it might be for the best if you were to try and rest as well, Ambassador WilyKit, given your condition and the excitement earlier.”

 

“Condition?” WilyKat repeated, looking toward his sister worriedly.  “What condition?  Are you all right?”

 

“You didn’t tell them?” Alluro asked, raising an eyebrow at Psiarik and Selene.

 

Snarfer jumped up.  “We sure did,” he corrected the psi, “but, uh, I guess you two probably left the room after we told ‘em, snarfer snarfer.”

 

“Told us what?” Leonora inquired.

 

WilyKit’s cheeks flushed with some embarrassment.  “You told them, Snarfer?”

 

“We wanted to make sure they knew about your condition so they would understand what was happening here with you, so they wouldn’t worry needlessly about you.  You hadn’t asked me to keep it a secret, Ambassador, and I didn’t mean you any insult by it.  I am sorry if I spoke out of line,” Selene said apologetically.

 

WilyKat was beginning to worry, as their talk instantly reminded him of the strange purple vomit she had been suffering a few weeks ago.  “Harm?  Kit, Snarfer, what’s going on?” he asked.  “Snarfer, what did you tell the others while Leonora and I were getting ready to leave?”

 

WilyKit laid a hand on her brother’s good arm.  “I found out what the purple puke was, WilyKat.  It’s a hormonal imbalance that causes a temporary sickness in pregnant Lunatacs... or women of other races pregnant by Lunatacs,” she told him after a pause.

 

He blinked.  “What?  You’re pregnant?”

 

Leonora’s eyes widened in surprise, but she did not say anything.  Normally congratulations would be in order after hearing such news, but she could tell from the pained expression on the female Thundercat’s face that it was not what she wanted to hear.

 

WilyKit nodded to confirm it.  “When I lost my memory I had a lover.  I still don’t remember all the details, but I now know that he’s a Lunatac.  A hunter named Darkail, who works for Selene and Psiarik as an Ambassador.”

 

“He’s the father?” WilyKat asked.  “Where is he?  Does this mean he can tell you what happened while you were missing?”

 

“Yes, and no,” WilyKit replied.  “He is the cub’s father, I’m sure of that.  But as soon as I figured that much out, he disappeared for parts unknown, so I’m not really any closer to finding out anything else.  All I know about my missing time is that it was spent with him.”

 

“And he’s deliberately keeping you from remembering it?  Why?” WilyKat demanded.  The thought of someone coldly manipulating his sister in such a manner made him furious.

 

WilyKit sat back down in her chair.  “I have no idea why he’s hiding it or how he did it.”

 

The male Thundercat frowned and sat beside her on the chair arm.  “What a mess,” he sighed.  “I’m glad there’s nothing wrong with you—”

 

“That’s debatable,” Vultureman cawed under his breath, much to the amusement of Jackalman and even Luna and Chilla, who were within earshot.

 

If WilyKat heard it, he chose not to dignify it with an answer.  “Still, I don’t like all these unknowns.  We have to get to the bottom of this, and of these ghost problems.”

 

Snarfer watched the twins for several moments, and then nudged Selene.  When the Lunar Queen looked down at him, he whispered a suggestion that the twins be given some time on their own to discuss things.  Selene nodded a discreet agreement and got the two Thundercats’ attention.  “Would you two like some time alone to talk?”

 

“That would be great, Selene,” WilyKit replied.

 

“All right then.  Leonora, why don’t you come with Snarfer, Frostor, and I, and we’ll show you to your quarters so you can get comfortable?  And I’m sure the rest of you can find somewhere else to assemble for a time?”

 

“Sure,” Psiarik agreed.

 

“Anywhere but the library,” Luna said, and started for the door.

 

Soon WilyKat and WilyKit were left alone in the room, and the two spent a fair amount of time going over everything that had happened.  She filled him in on the details of her nightmares, told him of her encounter with Darkail the night he left, and the attacks from the ghosts.  WilyKat took some time to fill her in on what exactly had happened on his visit to Plundarr.  Their long talk had a relaxing effect on the both of them, as they had always found comfort within their unique bond of being twins.  Soon WilyKit felt better than she had in a long while and was laughing and joking like her usual upbeat self, which in turn boosted her brother’s spirits considerably.  Before they finished their talk and rejoined the others for dinner, both twins felt like they could take on anything, a feeling they commonly had as children, and they were ready to face whatever evil was after them together.  It was a feeling of being invincible.

 

That feeling was exactly what the two dark spirits, invisibly lurking in the shadows nearby, were ready and waiting to destroy.

 

* * *

 

Later on that evening, WilyKit, WilyKat, and Leonora sat in a plush and spacious sitting room talking the ghost problem over with Selene and Psiarik.  On the other side of the room Chilla, Alluro, Frostor, and Vultureman were assembled, listening to Jackalman tell them about all of Slythe’s embarrassing screw ups in the Plundarrian army.  Naturally they were all to eager to laugh at the reptilian, especially the ones who had dealt with him on Third Earth.  Also present were the two royal children, Erissa and Silvian, but like most children, they were in and out of the room, scampering all over the place while they played with each other.

 

It was that relatively calm scene that Mumm-Ra and Torlei came upon when they teleported themselves invisibly into the MoonTower.  The evil undead pair had decided to make another move to re-establish the fear they were trying to put into WilyKit, but they were dismayed to find her once again surrounded by others.  “It seems they are reluctant to leave her alone,” Mumm-Ra rasped to his bride in a voice only she could hear.

 

“What do you think we should do, darling?  It looks like they’ve fetched two more cats to help the poor, troubled WilyKit.  It’s almost too tempting to resist.”

 

Mumm-Ra scowled.  “Perhaps we should show them a real taste of our renewed power, then.”

 

“Shall we reveal who we are, or just continue our little poltergeist imitation?”

 

The ancient mage surveyed the scene.  “No, we must not let them know who we are yet.  Not until you have taken possession of WilyKit’s body,” he told her.  “But there is no reason we can not put a real sense of fear into all of them.  Perhaps a harsh dose of fright to prove that we will not be intimidated by numbers will be enough to convince her to yield to your offer to ‘help’ when we corner her alone.”

 

Torlei smiled coldly.  “I like the way you think, Mumm-Ra darling.”

 

“Of course you do,” Mumm-Ra answered with a dark and arrogant chuckle.  He then positioned himself behind WilyKit and placed a hand on her neck, giving her the sensation that the hand of something as repulsive and cold death itself was touching her.  Torlei stood by, waiting to see a reaction before making her first move, allowing Mumm-Ra to take the lead of this particular supernatural attack.

 

The second WilyKit became aware of the malevolent touch upon her neck, her entire body stiffened with a horrible feeling of fear and dread.  Doing her best to convince herself that it was her imagination, she casually brushed her neck, hoping that would make it stop.  It didn’t.  Mumm-Ra’s grin widened as he sensed the Thundercat’s growing fear, and began to slowly draw his hand down her neck and along her shoulders, while using his other hand to trace the cold touch across her face with his index finger.  After only moments, WilyKit could not stand it any longer and cried out, slapping at the ghostly hands in vain.  “Leave me alone!”

 

Her outburst immediately caught the others’ attention.  “WilyKit!” WilyKat exclaimed.  “What’s happening?”

 

“They’re touching me again,” she shrieked, and jumped out of her chair in the hopes of shaking it off.  Mumm-Ra however anticipated her doing just that and followed her, grabbing and groping at her in frightening, invasive, and demeaning ways.  When she began flailing and struggling, he began to poke at her and slap her to frighten her into submission.  One slap landed hard against the side of her cheek loud enough that those around her could hear it.  “Ouch!” she cried.

 

“Leave her alone,” Psiarik growled angrily at the spirit.  The commotion was now loud enough that not only the group assembled around Jackalman, but the two children as well had stopped what they were doing.  All eyes were on WilyKit, the focus of the activity.

 

“Leonora, what is it?  Can you sense it?” WilyKat demanded.

 

Leonora took a deep breath and closed her eyes, forcing herself to focus.  Immediately her senses were overwhelmed with the presence of both Mumm-Ra and Torlei, overwhelming evil in an incomprehensibly malevolent form.  Her mind formed a vision of the two of them in their natural forms, but she had never encountered neither Mumm-Ra nor Torlei before so she did not recognize them for whom they truly were.  “There are two spirits here,” the lioness stated.  “One is an old demon, one that radiates an intense and ancient evil.  That is the one touching WilyKit.  He’s… he’s grotesque in appearance and I can’t place what species, if any, he may have once been, or if he was ever mortal at all.”

 

“Damn that lioness,” Torlei hissed to Mumm-Ra.  “She can see us!”

 

“She may be psychic, but she is a weak fool and no threat to us,” Mumm-Ra growled as he roughly jerked WilyKit by the arm.  “Silence her before she gives these fools any more information.”

 

“Wh—what does he want from me?” WilyKit screamed as she fell backwards, courtesy of Mumm-Ra’s invisible manipulations.

 

“The second spirit, what is it and where is it?” Selene asked Leonora, keeping a watchful eye on the two children, who were hiding by a very aggravated-looking Chilla. 

 

Leonora concentrated harder, but her inexperience at seeing on command hindered her, having never been formally trained as a spiritualist.  She focused her mental energies on Torlei.  “The second spirit is watching us, and enjoying WilyKit’s pain.  There is deep hatred within this spirit... radiating a desire for revenge, and I think intent on possessing WilyKit’s body,” she told them.   “This spirit was once mortal, and in life was a Lunatac.”  Leonora let out a shriek as she realized how close Torlei was to her, and that she had directly noticed her.  “She’s standing right here!” Leonora shouted, leaping back from the chair she had just rose from instinctively.

 

“How very astute, lioness,” the ever-living psi hissed in a threatening voice that only Leonora and Mumm-Ra could hear, “but now you will pay the price for your discovery!”  Torlei then hurled a powerful blast of telekinetic energy at the lioness.

 

Leonora cried out and fell to the floor from the unexpected blow of invisible energy.  Selene bent over to help her up.

 

Pleased with the chaos they had caused, Mumm-Ra decided to push them farther.  He grabbed WilyKit by the torso and lifted her, shrieking and struggling, and then levitated into the air so she was suspended high above the floor.

 

“Put me down!” WilyKit screamed in a panic.  “WilyKat!  Someone help me!”

 

WilyKat whirled around from the sound of Leonora’s cry to WilyKit’s frightened screams.  When he saw Leonora move and that she was all right, he raced toward WilyKit.  Psiarik reached her first, and tried to pull her down, but he was no match for Mumm-Ra’s immortally strong grip.  WilyKat tried to help, but he was a good foot too short to be of any assistance, so he and Psiarik shouted for Alluro to give them a hand.  It struck WilyKat as odd to be asking Alluro for any sort of favor, but when it was his sister’s life on the line, he would take any help he could get.

 

Although helping a Thundercat in any way was not exactly something Alluro took pleasure in doing, he certainly had no love for the spirits terrorizing his home so he started across the room to assist.  Torlei, however, was not about to let that happen.  Suddenly Alluro was struck hard in the gut with a telekinetic blow that doubled him over in pain, stunning him.  As he gasped for breath to recover, another force uppercut him on the jaw and sent him sprawling onto the floor.  Torlei stood above him, invisible, admiring her fist and smiling wickedly.  It felt better hand to hand, she thought viciously.  You won’t interfere with me this time, Alluro.  I’ll see to it that you get yours, along with that Thundercat over there.

 

Torlei’s hateful sentiment was powerful enough to be sensed by the Halerani nearby.  She knows them.  This attack is something personal, Leonora realized.  She opened her mouth to vocalize her observation when Torlei realized that the lioness was onto her.  The female ever-living growled and hurled a telekinetic force field at the lioness, knocking her backwards and slamming her into the sharp corner of a heavy wooden end table a few feet away from the children.  Erissa and Silvian watched the ghostly attack, petrified, and they clung to the cushions of the couch in fear as they watched Leonora grunt in pain and roll over.  Torlei was not finished with the Halerani, however, and used her powers to levitate and drop a heavy ottoman right on top of the fallen lioness.  Erissa shrieked in terror at the sight.

 

The child’s cry was more than enough to stir Chilla to action, and the icewalker flew into a furious rage, losing whatever control she had over her temper.  She spat ice into the air over Leonora, but it collided with the chair and wall behind it as Torlei held no substance.  “Show yourself, coward,” she rasped in outrage.  “I dare you to try and take me out.  I’ll send you back to the lowest level of the hells where you belong!”  She shot a fire beam from her hands at the rug in front of her defiantly.

 

Mumm-Ra laughed in dark amusement at Chilla’s outburst, although only Torlei and the struggling Leonora could hear him.  “You have to hand it to her, she’s got nerve!”  With that he threw the suspended WilyKit down onto her brother and Psiarik, and teleported himself directly behind Chilla to teach her a lesson about mouthing off to the mighty Mumm-Ra.  As soon as he rematerialized, he kicked her as hard as he could in the back, slamming the ice woman roughly into the floor.  “That’s for being such a bitch all your miserable life, Chilla,” he laughed coldly.

 

Chilla winced in pain from the blow, but she did not let her discomfort show.  “Is that the best you can do?” she snarled defiantly, and shot a heat beam into the air above her.  It sailed right through the mummy’s invisible body and left an ugly black char on the ceiling instead.

 

Torlei frowned and assisted her dark mate by directing a painful bolt of energy in Chilla’s direction, while Mumm-Ra took the more personal approach by repeatedly kicking her where she lay on the floor, making it impossible for her to get up.  His foot landed several times against her ribs, cracking at least two of them, and then when that satisfied him, he slammed his foot into the side of her head, making her involuntarily cry out in pain.

 

Alluro stumbled forward, seeing the beating Chilla was taking from the angry spirits.  “Chilla, stop,” he yelled.   He tried to move forward to help her, but suddenly he was overwhelmed by pressure on all sides and could barely move, courtesy of a telekinetic force field from his ever-living sister.   “Stop goading them, Chilla,” Alluro urged, hearing her curse unintelligibly at the one beating her, through her yelps and growls of pain.  He felt sick and angry watching her being assaulted like that while he was unable to do anything but talk.  He was no fighter, and in truth she was far more skilled and durable than he in a melee brawl, but she was his lover and he wanted to do something to help her. 

 

The ice Lunatac was too far into her rage to even hear his warning.  Her head pounded painfully from Mumm-Ra’s repeated blows, and he had hit her so many times that breathing seemed to hurt her, especially with the unpleasant tingle and burn of the telekinetic shock she had received.  She did however find the reserve to spit out one last epithet to her attackers before she lost consciousness from the pain and lay limp and bleeding on the floor.

 

Mumm-Ra decided they had given the Lunatacs and their guests enough of a scare for the moment, and that they had proven their point.  He signaled Torlei to back off, and then let out a loud burst of evil laughter that everyone in the room could hear clearly, but disguised his voice while doing so, so they would not identify it is as him.  He enjoyed the stunned and frightened looks on the mortals’ faces, and then added for effect an ominous warning of, “I will have my revenge!” before he and the smug Torlei vanished from the room altogether.

 

The room remained silent for a moment, until Leonora spoke up quietly from where she was still pinned to the floor beneath the ottoman.  “They’re gone this time... for now,” she grunted, struggling.  Jackalman and Frostor lifted the piece of furniture off of her, and then helped her to her feet.  Meanwhile Alluro, now free of Torlei’s telekinetic field, had scooped up the unconscious Chilla and set her on one of the couches.  He was relieved to see her stir a moment later and that her wounds appeared largely superficial.

 

Selene quietly surveyed the scene, at a loss as to what any of them could do against the evil force harassing them.  Leonora had been able to give them some information, which was an advantage, but it would not be of any use if the spirits kept her under such an attack that she could not try to use her staff on them.  She looked from Chilla, who had been roused back into consciousness, and the shaky Leonora.  “Is everyone all right?”

 

“I’m fine, although I can’t say it’s been fun,” Leonora remarked, and smiling slightly despite her discomfort.

 

“Getting kicked in the head is no picnic either,” Chilla, rasped, and winced as she inhaled as she felt the ache in her ribs.

 

“Maybe we should call some medical staff here to see you, Chilla,” Frostor suggested, noting her discomfort.  He knew Chilla well enough to know that if she visibly showed any pain, odds were that she was in a good deal of it.

 

“No, I’ll be fine,” the ice woman replied flatly. 

 

WilyKat frowned angrily.  “We have to do something about these ghosts.  This is even worse than you described to us when you asked us to come.  How many of us got physically attacked this time?”

 

“Four,” Vultureman cawed.

 

Jackalman eyed Leonora.  “Nyah, aren’t you supposed to be able to handle them?”

 

Leonora nodded.  “If I can get a chance to use my staff, I might,” she said with a sigh.  “But I never knew spirits that played this rough.  I’ve mostly just seen ghosts that are displaced souls or trying to get in contact with loved ones.  Not demons.”

 

“I thought you said one was a Lunatac?” Alluro questioned. 

 

“I did,” Leonora confirmed.  “The one who grabbed WilyKit and beat up Chilla was the demon.  I’ve never felt such an intense sense of evil.  The other one had the appearance of a Lunatac, and I think was mortal at one time.”

 

“I see,” Alluro said, leaning against the couch.  He had a suspicion as to who the Lunatac ghost was, and why it hated WilyKit, although it was an incorrect one.

 

“What we need to find out is why they’re doing this, and see if there’s a way resolve the reason motivating them to attack us,” Leonora suggested.  “That might take away their power.”

 

Vultureman narrowed his eyes at WilyKit.  “Caw, none of this started until that Thundercat showed up.  They’re her ghosts.  I told you we should send her packing, and then they won’t bother us any longer!”

 

“And I told you, Vultureman, no one is being sent away,” Selene argued.  “Who’s to say that would even make them leave?  They seem to hate us just as much as they do her, or they would not have attacked Aunt Luna, Chilla, Alluro, or Frostor during their visits.”

 

Immediately coming to his sister’s defense, WilyKat glared furiously at the vulture.  “It’s not her fault that they’re attacking her, Mutant!”

 

“Oh it isn’t?” Vultureman retorted argumentatively.  “Whatever it is attacks her first, and it only strikes when she’s around.  Haven’t you noticed that?”

 

“But why does it hate me?” WilyKit wondered aloud.  It said it wants revenge, a little voice inside her nagged, answering her question before anyone else could.  It wants vengeance for whatever you did to it.

 

Leonora shivered slightly as she thought about the hateful and malicious auras of the spirits.  “They want to torment you and punish you for something they feel you’ve done to them.  That much I’m sure of.  The way one of them spoke, it seemed you knew them on a personal level.”

 

Alluro did not like the implication in Leonora’s statement, especially since it seemed only to confirm what he suspected.  A Lunatac that has a deep hatred for WilyKit and wants to possess her?  Someone who feels wronged by her?  I know of someone who fits that description all too well...

 

“But who could hate me that much?” WilyKit wondered.  “I don’t remember anything…” her voice trailed off as it suddenly occurred to her that she might be being tormented by someone she truly did not remember, someone from her missing time.

 

Selene thought for a moment.  “Do you think it might be someone you encountered during your memory loss?”

 

“I would like to think I would remember if someone had died,” she protested, not sure how her mind could simply erase such an event.

 

Jackalman frowned.  “Nyah, well you’d also think you’d remember getting knocked up, but you managed to forget that.”

 

At that, WilyKat lost his temper.  “Watch your mouth, Mutant!  You’re not the only one here with diplomatic immunity,” WilyKat threatened him angrily.

 

“WilyKat, stop it.  He’s not worth it,” WilyKit said, giving Jackalman a disgusted look.  “Besides, no one asked your opinion, Jackalman, so kindly shut up.”

 

Selene ignored the exchange, thinking about what Leonora had said earlier.  “Leonora, you mentioned something earlier about resolving whatever was causing them to attack.  Do you mean that if we could figure out what it is, we could perhaps do something about it to appease the spirit?  An apology or something along those lines?”

 

It’ll take a hell of a lot more than an apology, Alluro thought silently.

 

“Theoretically, yes,” Leonora said.  “But we will have to figure out exactly what the problem is first.  Either from them, or from WilyKit if she can remember something.”

 

“That sounds like a good idea,” Psiarik agreed, looking toward WilyKit.

 

Alluro shifted slightly, not pleased with the turn the conversation was taking.  No, it’s a bad idea.  A terrible idea.  Drop it, just drop it now, he silently willed, his apprehension growing.  He knew the others would not be pleased to find out the extent of his involvement in WilyKit’s memory loss, especially now that he was withholding information from them on the ghostly attacks.  If he could have gotten away with it, he might have hypnotized them into forgetting the idea altogether.

 

Oblivious to Alluro’s conflicted thoughts, WilyKit sat down and concentrated hard.  “I’m trying hard to remember... but I just can’t,” she lamented.  “I can’t think of a single thing that I did that would have caused something like this.  If I did do something, it had to have been during the months I lost.  And a lot of good that does us,” she sighed.  “I’ll never remember that, especially without Darkail here to help me fill in the blanks.  He’d be the only one who could tell us for sure.”

 

Another idea suddenly occurred to Queen Selene.  “WilyKit, there might be a way we can help you remember what happened, if you’d like to try it.  Psiarik has empathic abilities, and he’s been able to establish psychic links with others in the past.  Maybe if you were to try that, perhaps he could walk you through your memories and see past whatever it is you have blocking it.”

 

Psiarik cast Selene a shocked look.  “You’re kidding, right?”  He could tell from Selene’s expression however, that she was serious.  “Selene, I’m was never trained to do that sort of thing.  And I’ve never forged a mind link with...” his voice trailed off when he saw the pleading look on his wife’s face.  He sighed.  Selene was one individual he had a great deal of difficulty saying no to.  “All right, I’ll try,” he agreed reluctantly.  “If WilyKit wants to.”

 

WilyKit brightened hopefully.  “It would be great if this works.  It would solve so many problems if I could just remember what happened.”

 

“Yes, and we could all get some peace from her ranting and screaming and whining,” Jackalman added.

 

Several of the others shot the canine an exasperated look, while Alluro grew more uneasy.  He hoped that his mind block was strong enough to withstand the invasion of a second psyche into WilyKit’s.  He entertained the thought, just for a moment, of going against Darkail and WilyKit’s original wishes and coming clean, but that would create more problems than it would solve, especially as far as he was concerned.  Besides, he was not entirely sure that WilyKit truly wanted the block removed.  She had asked him to make her forget when she knew all the facts.  As it stood now, she did not.  So Alluro remained silent and watched.  He certainly did not want to call attention to himself, lest someone volunteer him for the job instead of his son.  He wanted stay as far out of the situation as possible.

 

Meanwhile WilyKat helped his sister into a comfortable reclining seat while Psiarik kneeled beside her.  The psi took one of her hands in his, and then placed his other hand on her forehead.  Both closed their eyes, WilyKit relaxing while Psiarik focused intently on her thoughts.  “Try hard to remember what happened the night you disappeared,” he said quietly.  Suddenly the both of them were flooded with mental images of her on her failed trip to New Thundera and her calling WilyKat, telling him she would be late because of the storm.  The image changed as a Lunatac approached her, a hunter they both recognized as Darkail.  He struck up a conversation with her, and lured her away from the comm unit.  After that, her memory sharply cut off and faded to black. 

 

“Try to remember the very next thing,” Psiarik urged.  “Anything at all.”

 

“I—I can’t,” she murmured.  Her feline features twisted into a look of intense frustration, and after several moments the only memory that came to her was the day she was found wandering alone and confused in the Valley of the Snarfs, weeks later.

 

“Focus on Darkail.  When he meets you, what does he say and do?”

 

WilyKit forced herself to concentrate again, and the image of Darkail at the outpost came back to them.  It was Psiarik’s hope that any detail she could remember about him that she could not before might be able to break through the void that obscured the remainder of the memory.

 

However, Alluro’s mind block was the work of a master, and there were safeguards in place to enable it to withstand against such an invasion.  Suddenly WilyKit and Psiarik saw a new image appear, that of a Thunderian who looked identical to WilyKit, although it was clear that she wasn’t.  “You have no business here,” the double stated coldly.  “Get out.  Give up.  You will find nothing here.”  Her voice was forceful, and her eyes glowed an aqua green color with some sort of hypnotic vibration as she spoke.  Not expecting the mental trap, the second WilyKit’s words caught Psiarik off guard, and he found his own psyche bending to her will.  It was only after his psychic link to WilyKit was severed that he realized exactly what had happened.

 

The dazed Thundercat sat up and eyed Psiarik quizzically.  “What’s going on?  What was that?  I’ve seen her in my dreams before.”

 

“The reason you can’t remember anything, WilyKit, is that they aren’t normal repressed memories,” the psi replied angrily.  “Some sick bastard put a mind block on you to deliberately keep you from remembering whatever you’ve forgotten.”

 

“What?  But who would do such a thing?” WilyKat asked.  “And why?”

 

“Maybe whoever did it had a good reason,” Alluro suggested.  “Perhaps whatever she forgot will torture her worse than whatever she suffers now, and it was done for her own good.”  That much was the truth, although he could not say that.

 

Psiarik raised his eyebrows.  “No, I can’t believe that.  Mind blocks drive the blocked individual nuts far more often than they actually work.  More likely, whoever did this to her—probably Darkail—is trying to protect himself from something she knows about him.  Darkail is not a psi though, and he has no powers to do something like this.  When I find out what unscrupulous sleaze he paid off to do this to her for him, I’m going to string both of them up by their toes.  Not only have they caused Ambassador WilyKit an unbelievable amount of mental anguish, but they’ve also left the door wide open for these ghosts to attack and torment all of us.  Not to mention that by doing this to a Thundercat, a Thunderian noble, one could argue that they endangered the entire diplomatic relationship between our worlds.”

 

“Do you think Darkail would do that?” WilyKit asked.

 

“Who knows?” Frostor said with a shrug.  “Darkail has always kept to himself for the most part.  Alluro probably knows him best.”

 

Frostor’s words only cemented the feeling of dread Alluro felt building in the pit of his stomach.  He could tell from Psiarik’s stern tone that there would be no explaining away his involvement now, and he knew from past experience that his son did not forgive deception easily.  This is what I get for trying to do the right thing, he thought miserably.  I try to do someone a favor and I get nothing but grief for it... why in the Moons did I ever agree to help those fools?

 

Psiarik noted Alluro’s expression and the logical conclusion fell into place.  “You,” he said coldly.  “You did this to her, didn’t you?”

 

“Psiarik, I—” he began to explain.

 

“Don’t lie to me!” Psiarik shouted angrily, taking a few steps toward the hypnotist.  “You’ve done enough of that already.”

 

Alluro frowned, stung at being called a liar when his intentions had been good ones.  The last thing he had wanted was to create a rift with his son, but he supposed it was too late for that now, unless he could get him to understand why he had done it.  Damn you, Darkail, he thought angrily.  You should be here explaining this mess, not me.  “Yes, I did it,” Alluro said evenly.  “Darkail asked me to.”

 

“How could you do something like this?” Psiarik demanded.  “I told you five years ago, when we invited all of you stay here with us as our family, that if you ever did anything to hurt us, that you’d live to regret it,” the younger psi raged.

 

“She’s not one of us.  She’s a Thundercat,” Alluro retorted.  “And what does she matter to us?  And I’ll have you know, it was in her best interests,” he snapped arrogantly.  “Darkail would know.  He was with her the entire time.”

 

Psiarik glared at his father coldly.  “What does she matter?  She’s an Ambassador from New Thundera, or have you forgotten that?  You threatened an entire diplomatic mission by putting that block on her.”

 

“She wasn’t an Ambassador then.  She was his lover,” Alluro pointed out.

 

“She is now,” Psiarik argued.  “What does she have on Darkail anyway, or you for that matter?  Did you do this to save your own hide, or are you covering for Darkail for some other reason?  A nice payoff maybe?” he snarled accusingly.

 

Alluro narrowed his eyes contemptuously, highly offended.  While taking money might not have been beneath him in the past, he did not like his motives being questioned when he was legitimately trying to do someone a favor, and he certainly resented his flesh and blood—someone he had always gone out of his way to treat well—thinking of him in such a light.  “I didn’t take any money,” he said indignantly.  “Darkail asked for my help as his friend, so I gave it to him.  Do you think she was unwilling?  I assure you, she was not.  She was the one who asked for it.”

 

I asked for it? WilyKit thought, shocked.  I wanted to forget?  What could be so horrible that I would ask them to make me forget it?

 

Psiarik was not swayed.  “And it didn’t hurt that you got to stick it to one of your Third Earth adversaries, did it?  A chance to mess with her mind… that’s not a bad way of getting some payback for the time the Thundercats had you in exile and then on the run,” he said, glaring at him.  “Does your hate for Thundercats run that deep that you still can’t forgive them, even after everything we all went through in the Battle of the Swords?”

 

“Give me a break,” Alluro snapped back in disgust.  “If I was out for revenge on one of our esteemed Ambassadors, I would have gone after him,” he pointed to Snarfer, “for opening a damned beehive on top of me back on Third Earth.”

 

“Hey!” Snarfer piped up indignantly.  “Sor-ry!  You were trying to kill me!”

 

“I was trying to catch you, furball.  It wasn’t until after the giant bees came after me that I was trying to kill you,” Alluro corrected him, before fixing his gaze back on his irate son.  “I already told you my reasons, Psiarik.  If you choose not to believe them, that’s your problem.”

 

Chilla sat up and fixed her eyes on her stepson coldly.  Although she had not been aware of Alluro’s involvement in the situation, she saw no reason to blame him for something she felt was entirely WilyKit’s fault.  “Alluro didn’t bring those damned ghosts here,” she hissed.

 

“No, but he had no problem standing by and lying for Darkail about what he knew when we were trying to figure out how the hell to stop it,” Psiarik retorted to Chilla, and then faced Alluro again.  “She was an Ambassador when she came back here.  You saw how the block affected her, and you still said nothing.  Even after Darkail left, you didn’t say a word.  You enjoyed watching her suffer, didn’t you?” he challenged.  “Maybe Mother was right about you after all.”

 

Alluro bristled, stung more than he wanted to admit by the last remark.  “My feelings about the Thundercats had nothing to do with it,” he said icily.  “If Darkail was here he would tell you that I told them both what a foolish idea it was, and all of the possible side effects.  They insisted.”  He paused to glare at WilyKit, who only watched him, unable to confirm or deny anything he said.  “I even tried to get Darkail to change his mind and allow me to remove the block, the night before he left, when we learned that she carried his child.  He refused.”

 

“How convenient that he isn’t available now to say that though, isn’t it?” Psiarik countered, his voice heavy with sarcasm.  “If keeping the block on her bothered you so much, why didn’t you just go ahead and undo it without his consent?”

 

“I gave him my word that I wouldn’t.”

 

“Your word?” Psiarik repeated incredulously.  “Oh, and that’s worth plenty, isn’t it?  Just ask my mother how good your word is.”

 

Alluro clenched his jaw and forced himself to remain calm, although he was both furious and hurt.  “I should have known that you would throw that in my face sooner or later.  You certainly haven’t grown up and gotten over it,” he snapped coldly.  “Obviously that won’t ever change, no matter what I do or say.”

 

“Just get out,” Psiarik hollered angrily.  “Now!  Before I decide to let you rot in jail for what you’ve done to WilyKit.”

 

“Calm down,” Selene interrupted, standing between them.  “Both of you are acting like children!”

 

Alluro ignored Selene and glared at Psiarik for a long moment before turning to leave.  “Gladly.”

 

Chilla grasped Alluro’s arm as he started for the door.  “Where are you going?”

 

He lowered his tone as he answered her.  “Anywhere but here.”

 

“I’ll go with you,” she said, wincing as she stood from her sore ribs.  Frostor stepped forward to catch her in case she fell, but Alluro steadied her first.  “No, Chilla.  You need your rest after that attack.  I’ll be in touch.”  With that he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, without looking back once.

 

A heavy silence fell over the room after Alluro’s departure, until WilyKit fell apart, leaning against her brother.  “I am so sorry.  I never should have involved any of you with my problems.  This mess… it’s all my fault.”

 

“You’re damn right this is your fault,” Chilla spat furiously.  “You and your pathetic problems and your damned ghosts.  I hope they do get rid of you, you worthless little brat!  Then at least you’ll be gone and out of our lives once and for all!”  The angry icewalker then grabbed Erissa’s hand and limped out of the room with her child in tow.

 

Snarfer gave WilyKit a hug.  “Snarfer snarfer, don’t listen to Chilla.  It wasn’t you who caused this mess.  You were innocent.”

 

“Innocent?  If I’m so innocent, why am I sitting here with a memory so horrible it had to be blocked by a hypnotist to keep me from knowing it?  If I’m so innocent, why did Darkail run away from me when he realized I knew who he was?” she sobbed.

 

The conversation was interrupted with the loud roar of a ship’s engines from the tower’s hangar.  They looked out the window to see one of the royal cruisers blast into the sky above.  “Caw, when Alluro said he was leaving, he wasn’t kidding,” Vultureman muttered.

 

“Good riddance,” Psiarik snapped under his breath.

 

Selene sighed.  “Don’t worry, WilyKit, one way or another we’ll get to the bottom of this.  It wouldn’t do to let you leave with the impression that we Lunatacs seek to drive Thunderians crazy over here on the Moons,” she said, only half kidding.

 

“No, that’s a specialty best left to my father and Darkail,” Psiarik muttered in disgust.

 

WilyKat sat on the edge of WilyKit’s chair.  “We never did figure out what exactly he blocked, either.  I guess we should have asked that before he took off.”

 

Psiarik frowned.  “Damn it.  I should have demanded he do that before I threw him out.”

 

Jackalman shrugged.  “You could try and catch up with him, but nyah, I’m not sure he’ll be thrilled to come back for a while.”

 

“He’ll be back sooner or later,” Frostor assured them.  “He might be angry with Psiarik, but I doubt he’ll stay away from Chilla and Erissa very long.”

 

Psiarik shook his head.  “I’ll get in touch with the royal guard tell them to arrest Alluro and Darkail on sight.  It shouldn’t take long to find them, bring them here, and force them to remove that block.  Depending on what we find out they’re hiding, I’ll decide whether or not to let them stay in jail.”

 

Selene gave her husband a look that read something along the lines of, “aren’t you being a little harsh?” but she chose not to push it beyond that.  Although Alluro and Darkail would surely not be pleased to be arrested, it was the most efficient way of bringing them both back to assist WilyKit.  Besides, she did not honestly believe that Psiarik would stay angry enough with his father to write him off for good. 

 

Psiarik, looked away from Selene, not in the mood to hear one of her “you’re not being fair” speeches.  In his opinion, after what Darkail and Alluro had done to WilyKit, he could not see any reason they deserved her or anyone else’s sympathy.  Instead he looked to WilyKit, WilyKat, and Leonora.  “I’ll go make that call now.  I’m sorry we couldn’t do more, WilyKit,” he said, and left.

 

Another tense silence hung over those left in the room.  “So what now?” Jackalman questioned, looking to Queen Selene to give the answer.

 

“I say we call it a night,” she said softly, lifting her son Silvian into her arms.  “I know I’ve had more than enough excitement for one day.”

 

“I second that,” WilyKat agreed, helping his sister to her feet.  Leonora murmured an agreement as well.

 

Vultureman nodded.  “I had enough long before that,” he cawed.  “See you tomorrow, then.”

 

Jackalman stepped toward the door.  “Good night, Lunatacs, Thundercats,” he said with a wave.  “Don’t let the ghosts bite!”

 

“Very funny, Mutant,” WilyKat muttered.  He clicked off the light as the last of them left the room, bound for their quarters.  What they did not know was that it would be the last night any of them would spend in the MoonTower.

 

 

Continued

 

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