A Tale of Jaguars

A Visit to Thundera

The ship landed within Thundera's sight. There was still some distance to cover, and Lion-O wondered if they were going to walk, or use the pods. He was surprised when the backside of the ship opened and the big birds were herded out. He understood then why they had taken one of the big ships for such a small delegation.

"We're riding there?" He asked Baal. The jaguar king looked happy to mount the birds.

"Of course. We're not so far, but why walk?" He answered. Lion-O looked towards the city.

"Why didn't we land closer?"

Baal smiled and got comfortable on his mount.

"Well, we don't want your father or any of Thundera's citizens to have a heart attack, do we?"

Lion-O scowled and looked at the ship. It was big enough to be seen from the city, surely the guards had already spotted it? And Baal had been sending messengers and warriors to the city the entire year. Surely his father must know that technology was real by then.

He mounted, helped by Xiao, who had gone with them as his guard, and kept himself close to Jareid's side. The jaguar prince didn't look too happy on the bird. He'd prefer to ride a pod any day. A machine was a smoother ride than a bloody bird.

Once everyone was ready, Baal gave the signal to move. Lion-O then noticed that the air around them looked strange, like there was some kind of transparent fog. They advanced, and Lion-O could feel the exact moment he went trough an energy field. He looked back in surprise, and confirmed that the ship was no longer visible. He gaped and returned to look at a smirking king.

"Now, we wouldn't want them to know everything, do we?"

Lion-O pouted. Of course that just meant that he wasn't allowed to talk about technology. And he had been hoping to tell Jaga everything about how it worked! That wasn't fair!

Well, screw it! He was going to tell anyway. His father should know what was going on. Besides, he knew that Baal had sent messages to the jaguars that had been left behind to be part of Thundera's new council. It was impossible that no one had realized what the jaguars used to get messages so fast, and how they managed to come and go between the two cities in short lapses of time. Surely his father already knew everything about technology.

The thought had also occurred to Jareid, who was complaining loudly about their mounts.

"Really dad? Why do we have to hide the ship? We could have landed right in the palace's front yard! It's big enough!"

"Like I told the cub Jareid, I don't want Claudus aware of certain things just yet."

Jareid huffed derisively and rolled his eyes.

"Please! It's been a year, and I seriously doubt Illiard and Xuan, or any of the others, have been avoiding using their gadgets. They can't live without them! Besides, you really think Lion-O is not going to say anything? He's absolutely marvelled with tech!"

"Don't worry about that. Experience has shown me that the eyes only see what the mind wants them to see. We'd be gone before Claudus realizes the truth of his sons' words."

Jareid scowled at his father like he had suddenly grown another head. It made no sense to him. How could Claudus explain the jaguar's firepower and their very evident more advanced weapons, or their instant communication with each other without technology? Magic was good, but it was not a talent your every day cat possessed. Besides, it was very different from technology, and no one was that good anyway. But he shrugged and let it drop, seeing that his father wasn't going to change his mind.

They rode the fifteen minutes that separated them from the city, and were received by their own representatives and the city guard. People had congregated on the restored main avenue to watch them pass. There were several hostile faces, disquieting muttering, and other noises of displeasure, but the guard was doing its job and kept everyone at bay. Baal rode his way confidently, like the king he was, ignoring everything around him, as if the mob simply didn't exist. Jareid was a younger mirror of his father; both of them were plainly telling the Thunderians that common cats were not worth noticing. Lion-O was nervous. There were many angry looks directed at him. Xiao had told him to simply ignore it. He was the royalty, not them, and he didn't have to even look at them if he didn't want to. Lion-O felt uncomfortable, but he ended up mimicking Jareid's posture. He couldn't help but notice that after a while people stopped their stares and focused on their guard, or in gossiping with each others.