Even Lyra’s cat eyes took a while to adjust to the darkness. When they did, however, she found her self standing in a cavern, at the edge of a pit. Startled she jumped back, while Karen felt around the edge of the pit. Suddenly, her paw disappeared! “Here,” she rumbled. “March.”
“But--” Thunder protested.
“March!” growled Karen. Shaking with fear, Lyra and Thunder stepped forward... and found themselves standing in a huge, blue room piled with gold and jewels. They seemed to be in an invisible room suspended above the pit. And in the midst of the treasure sat the Nakura, King of Dogs.
“Well, well,” he growled. “What do we have here?”
“King Nakura,” Karen greeted him. “I bring you two prisoners and their weapons.”
“Let me see them. The prisoners.” Karen roughly shoved the two cats forwards towards Nakura. He stood up, letting them see his true size. Walking around the littermates, he sniffed them each once, making Lyra’s nose wrinkle up in disgust at his foul breath. “Young, strong and nimble,” he commented. “What brings you here?”
“We are here...” Lyra pretended to hesitate, keeping Nakura focused on her while Karen slipped their weapons into their paws.
“We’re here to kill you,” Thunder stated boldly, and he leaped at the dog king.
Clawing and slicing with her dagger, Lyra joined him. Her dagger nicked his nose while she used her claws to scratch his flank. Meanwhile, Thunder had leaped onto his back and was clinging on tightly, his claws unsheathed. Roaring with pain and anger, Nakura swiped his paws through the air trying to dislodge Thunder, who jumped off to avoid getting thrown through the air.
“Nakura, here!” Karen tossed some weapons toward her former mate. Lyra paused for a moment, gaping in astonishment. I thought you were on our side! But then she realized that the weapons were her’s and Thunder’s, and if he touched them, he would die instantly.
Nakura dodged the flying swords and glared at Karen. “Very well,” he growled. “Three on one. So be it.” He leaped onto one of the piles of gold and jewels, and drew out a golden sword. Seeing this, Karen rushed at him. Taken by surprise, Nakura leaped over her... right into the claws of Lyra and Thunder! They ran alongside his, raking their claws through his pelt, tearing out large clumps of fur. Yelping in pain, Nakura rushed toward the entrance of the cave, but there was a rumbling sound, and suddenly, all the exits were blocked by huge boulders! The rebels had cut off his exit! Growling with frustration, Nakura turned around and started to fence with Thunder. This slashed and stabbed, throwing in a few scratches along the way. Suddenly, one of Nakura’s claws found his mark! Thunder flew backward and hit the wall of the room, sinking to the ground unconscious.
<No!> thought Lyra.
<I’m... okay,> Thunder thought. <Just give me a moment.>
Yowling with rage, Lyra picked up her bow, notched an arrow, and sent it flying towards Nakura. He blocked it with his sword, then lunged towards her, paws outstretched. Lyra picked up her sword, and they parried and thrusted at each other with no success. Suddenly, Lyra had an idea. Slowly backing up until she was nearly standing on the weapons Karen had thrown, she scooped them up and threw them at Nakura one by one. Suddenly, the dog king with involved in a frenzied dance of avoiding the weapons. In the midst of this, he slid on a cat fur carpet he had on the ground, and he landed flat on his back. Lyra leaped onto his stomach and put a sword to his throat.
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