THUNDERCATHIANS
Capítulo 17: El Dara
An absurd, almost surreal image was drawn before the explorers. The lost city of El Dara was located on a ledge that came out of a rocky wall cut by nature in a vertical line of ninety degrees.
The west side of the city bordered on the colossal rock wall of the mountain, while the east side bordered on an unfathomable abyss also cut into a perfect vertical line.
“...so, this is El Dara," said Tygra, gawping.
“We'd better move on," said Risu and all present made their way to the city.
“The structures seem to have the aesthetics of the classic constructions in Cathia," said Rauri after a while.
“They are blackened, perhaps by the passage of time," said Cheetara.
“That wouldn't explain why I smell the scent of a raging fire," Lynx-O said, and the others exchanged glances and rushed through.
“What happened in this place?” Pumyra asked no one in particular.
“What's going on?” Lynx-O asked.
“You were right, Lynx-O," said Bengali, "the whole place seems to have fallen prey to the flames, only the tallest structures made of stone are still standing.”
“What shall we do, Risu?” Rauri asked him.
“We will divide into three groups: Tygra will go with Cheetara; Pumyra, Bengali and Lynx-O will go together; and we Rauri will form the third group.”
When the three groups decided on their way, they separated to find out what happened in the city.
Lynx-O's group reached what appeared to be the ruins of the houses of the people who lived there.
“I don't think I'm up for this anymore," said Lynx-O after a while and frustrated because his sharp sensory instincts were of little value in the face of all the mess on the floor.
“What a strange place for a city," said Pumyra.
“Rest here a bit, Lynx-O," said Bengali. “I suppose that this geographical enclave and with only one entrance is optimal for defense, the city could not be invaded.”
“But in the end, that advantage played against them," said Pumyra; "when the fire broke out, the impregnable city became a death trap, there were no escape routes.”
Lynx-O crouched down and grabbed a couple of crockery.
“Pumyra, Bengali, how about we put this place in order," said Lynx-O, "and we'll get an idea of how these people lived.”
The two young thundercats nodded and cleaned up the place as best they could, finally setting the table and placing several fine cups on top of a cracked teapot.
“This is a home, a family lived in this place," said Pumyra, whose face was filled with tears.
“Let's sit down for a moment," Bengali suggested, and the three thundercats enjoyed the sun's rays penetrating the collapsed wall of what was once a happy home.
.
.
In another sector of the city, Cheetara and Tygra, had reached what seemed to be the city's prisons, what they saw they didn't like one bit.
“Heavens, Tygra, what the hell happened here," asked the thundercat, disgusted by the Dantesque spectacle in front of her.
“Surely it was a slave revolt," said the thundercat as he saw the multitude of corpses of different races, all of them in shackles and chains, all of them apparently fallen fighting their masters.
All around was grotesque, images of what seemed to be a last attack or a last defense were repeated all over the place.
“There you can see rails and trolleys for transporting minerals," said Tygra.
“Apparently they were mining coal among other things," said Cheetara after she and Tygra checked the interior of one of the cars.
The Thundercats continued to explore and saw the remains of countless torture machines.
“…Whiskers..." said Tygra this time, who frowned and hugged Cheetara, who began to get nervous.
“...Poor Wilykit, poor Wilykat, they were so excited about the city of El Dara.”
“Not just them Cheetara, not just them...”
Risu and Rauri had arrived at what appeared to be the city's library, the place looked pitiful, but searching hard they managed to find a couple of whole books.
“...As far as it counts here," said Rauri, who used her superior vision of asistedroid and used a program to reconstruct words that were unreadable in Risu's eyes, "when Cathia made her first explorations of outer space, before meeting other races in the universe, scientists experimented with transposition engines similar to ours, they ended up on the Third Planet and by the same date, the ancestors of the thundercats arrived here.”
“Then those Cathian explorers and the ancient Thundercats founded El Dara," said Risu, who looked impressed.
“That's right...the task of founding this city was an arduous one, but they had the help of Mumm-ra's star stone.”
“Are you sure about that Rauri!”
“I am, Risu, do you think the stone is still in this place?”
“It is most likely or else there would be stories about the star stone, the best thing to do is to retrace our steps and communicate this to others.”
At the entrance to the city the seven companions exchanged impressions about what they had found and all were impressed, especially with the matter of the unknown whereabouts of the starstone.
“It is already night," said Risu, "tomorrow morning we will search the city palace and its temples, hopefully finding the stone soon.”
Late at night when most of her friends were asleep, Pumyra decided to go outside and get some fresh air and clear her head.
“...Pumyra. What are you doing up?” said Bengali, who apparently had the same idea.
“Oh, hello, Bengali. I couldn't sleep because of what Cheetara and Tygra told us.”
“Yes, the same thing happens to me.”
“...Bengali, do you think, if the war hadn't happened, we would have ended up like this place?”
“...The hearts of our people were hard, the war brought us suffering and loss, but we also won... no, we recovered something valuable. Maybe we would have ended up like El Dara, but now I know that's not our destiny.”
“Hold me, please.”
“Bengali stepped forward a few steps and embraced Pumyra.”
“If our people have a new chance, do you think we have one too? Pumyra asked.”
“Sure... but Lion―O...”
“I don't love Lion-O.”
“I hope he takes it well, he's already suffered enough.”
“Mainly because of me.”
“Don't say that, Pumyra.”
“And if Lion-O gets angry....”
“If he did, It wouldn't change anything, I'll always be by your side.”
“He could exile us.”
“I don't think Lion-O will make such a decision, and if that were the case, I will remain at your side, you are stubborn Pumyra, but you don't know the stubbornness of us of my race, you won't leave me so easily.”
Pumyra frowned but then smiled warmly at Bengali. There at that moment, the ruins of the lost city again witnessed a promise of love being sealed with a kiss.
.
.
The first rays of morning witnessed the laborious search of the thundercats to find the starstone.
It was Rauri with her asistedroid scanners who located the stone, it was behind a false wall, it had been placed there in an attempt by its bearer to safeguard it from rebellion and recover it later.
“We finally have Mumm-ra's last star stone," said Tygra.
“Too bad that the rest of the expedition discovered bitter things," said Risu with which the others looked down sadly. “Well, we'd better get back to Thundera, we have no more business here.”
“What will we tell Wiykat and Wilykit?” Rauri asked worried.
“The truth, I know it is sad, but we must learn a lesson from this truth, a lesson that will not only be for the benefit of the children, but also for our own. We must not harden our hearts and we must always watch over the peace and prosperity of all," said Risu and the thundercats returned home.
Inside the feline tank, Tara and Panthro talked about what they would do once the search for El Dara was over.
“I'm sure the captain and the deputy commander will want to go back to Cathia," said Tara, who was bored and looked out once again at the feline tank monitors.
“Will you be leaving soon then?” asked in a sad tone, Panthro.
“...No, the ship will have to be repaired first. The asistedroids will be very helpful, we didn't do it before because of the war against Mumm-ra, but now there's nothing to stop us from repairing the Thundercat.”
“But you'll have to come back.”
“...Maybe it won't be necessary.”
“What do you mean?” Pantro asked hopefully.
“Although we crashed in this place," said Tara, who was suddenly very animated, "we already know the exact route and navigation parameters in hyperspace, this time we won't make the same mistakes. What's more, it may not be necessary to have so much manual operation, now we can do it automatically or leave it in the hands of the asistedroids.”
“...Are you telling me...?”
“I can stay on the Third Planet! Apart from me, the ship has more engineers!”
“Are you sure about this, Tara!”
“I am!”
“What if Risu told you to leave?”
“I, like most of the crew, enlist as a volunteer, I do not belong to any branch of the army, Risu cannot order me to do anything.”
The two adults smiled, relieved that they had found a solution to their distress.
“Kiss me handsome.”
“-Whatever the lady says...”
Panthro's kiss was not delicate, but rather a strong and deep one that threatened to leave bruises on Tara's lips. When Panthro realized this, he tried to kiss more delicately, but the Cathian complained, holding the back of the head of the Thundercat tightly and increased the wild force of the kiss of the two formidable adults.
The kiss turned into a sheer display of passion that threatened to destroy the feline tank's controls and the movement of the adults translated into moans of pleasure sometimes caused by the clumsiness and abruptness that caused a certain degree of pain.
“Whiskers, keep it up, keep it up...”
“...Aren't you the one who's hitting?”
“What?”
“Damn it, Panthro, open up, we're freezing out here!” Tygra shouted angrily.
“Chief Tara, General Panthro, are you there?” said Risu.
Cheetara and Pumyra were shivering with cold, while Lynx-O only lowered his face and smiled mysteriously.
Rauri noticed Lynx-O's behavior and with the help of his sensors scanned the inside of the cat tank.
“...As you say... whiskers!”
The floodgates of the feline tank opened and all entered in droves, with the exception of Lynx-O, who helped an impressed Rauri into the vehicle.
“Sorry guys, I think we fell asleep," said Panthro through the monitor, he looked very nervous.
“Did you wait long?” asked Tara, who looked just as uncomfortable as Panthro.
“Yes! Tygra grunted, “We were almost about to look for you around. We're freezing and you're all warm!”
“Well, they were warm," said Lynx-O with a laugh that the others didn't understand, except for Rauri, who was only able to cover her face with both hands when she saw the faces of Panthro and Tara on the monitor.
CONTINUARÁ...
Author's final notes: and Pantro said: "thunder, thunder, thunder, thundercats, OHHHHHHH"
Nyajajajaja I look forward to your comments.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
