Chapter Eight

Back at Kublai's fortress, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla have finally made their way back to the wizard's main chamber. Thundarr and Ookla both lean heavily against the wall outside the chamber. Thundarr's skin has turned awfully pale since they left the dungeons, and he is sweating more than ever. He peals off his fur vest and drops it on the floor. It hits the metal with a heavy splat, as it is so saturated with perspiration. Ariel gives him a worried look.

"Are you sure you two are up to this?" she asks.

Thundarr looks at her, takes a deep breath, steels himself and stands up straight. He takes another breath and gives her a nod. Ookla does likewise. Forcing a confidence into her voice she didn't truly feel, Ariel gives them a nod of approval and says, "Good. I don't know if I can defeat him on my own, not while he's wearing that ring."

"Then let's go take it from him!" says Thundarr, for a moment sounding like his old self.

Thundarr takes out his Sunsword and ignites the blade. He walks up to the hallway wall and then turns to the others.

"This time we attack together, all at once," he tells them.

Both Ariel and Ookla nod in agreement. Thundarr quickly cuts a large circular hole into the chamber wall. Ookla grabs the metal slab as he pushes through and holds it before him as though it were a shield. Thundarr and Ariel quickly step in behind their friend, Thundarr stepping around to the left and Ariel stepping around to the right. Kublai spins around to face them. On the wall behind him the three companions can see the what it was that held Kublai's attention. On the wall is a gigantic magic mirror, and in the glass is the image of the chaos which is now taking place at Alcatraz. Ariel quickly unleashes a magical blast at the lich, which he easily deflects with as wave of his hand.

"Yaaaaaaa-hee!" cries Thundarr as he charges forth brandishing his Sunsword, Ookla close behind howling in fury and holding his makeshift shield up before him.

Kublai aims magical blasts at both Thundarr and Ookla as they charge, but the attacks are deflected by the shield and the Sunsword. He tries a similar attack on Ariel, who tumbles out of the way and counters with a magical attack of her own. Again the lich blocks it, and quickly tries another attack on the barbarian. Thundarr deflects the blast with his Sunsword, redirecting it right back to its source. The spell hits Kublai right in the chest, tearing open his tunic. Beneath it is what appears to be a red crystal hanging on a gold chain around his neck. Before he can even cover up, Ookla reaches out and pulls the item from his neck. At almost the same instant, Ariel hits Kublai with an extremely powerful magical attack, throwing him against the wall. Kublai reaches out for the lost necklace, but as he does so Thundarr cuts his hand off at the wrist. Thundarr stands over the severed hand with his Sunsword held high.

"You barbaric fool!" cries Kublai, "You'll doom us all!"

Thundarr ignores the undead wizard and strikes the bone ring on the hand with his mighty Sunsword. The ring is destroyed in a loud explosion which knocks all four of them off their feet. Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla sit up just in time to see the evil red glow fade from Kublai's empty eye sockets and his body crumble into dust. Just as the three heroes get back up on their feet, the chamber doors slide open and a horde of zombies start shuffling into the room. Ariel quickly erects a protective wall of magical energy around them, which keeps any of the zombies from attacking them, but the room fills up with more and more of the living dead. They even come in through the hole Thundarr cut in the chamber wall, and they can see that there are more gathered outside in the hall. Ariel turns to Ookla.

"Hurry Ookla!" she says, "Destroy the talisman!"

Ookla drops the crystal necklace on the floor and stomps on it with the heel of his foot. The second the three of them hear the crunch of the crystal, the zombies stand up straight and stop moving. Ookla lifts up his foot and looks at the ruined talisman. The crystal was not red at all, but was in fact a crystal vial filled with Kublai's blood. Keeping the energy wall up with one hand, Ariel points her finger at the red stain on the chamber floor and unleashes a stream of magical flames, which engulfs the blood. As soon as the blood from the talisman is incinerated, all the zombies in the room and out in the hall collapse into lifeless heaps.

Back at Alcatraz, things are going from bad to worse. The zombies have over run the pike men on the floor and now Shara and Synda are leading the other villagers in a bitter fight to the end. The undead mob has also broken through the barricades that were keeping them from climbing the stairs to get to the archers on the catwalk. Now the young and the elderly are hiding behind the archers who are trying to slow down the zombies with their arrows and crossbow bolts, but ammunition is running low. The only thing that's keeping the people on the catwalks from being completely over run is Merlik. He has fallen back to a position behind the archers and has erected magical walls between the defenders and the zombies. He has even kept the walls only shoulder height so that the archers can still get their head shots. Unfortunately, this means he can't help the people fighting on the floor. Locked in a prison cell, Valerie is close to death. Maya is standing as far back from the prison bars as she can get, as zombies are right outside the cell and are reaching through the bars to try to get at her. All of a sudden, all of the zombies stop moving and just stand up straight. At the exact same instant, Valerie stops breathing. A second later, all of the zombies fall lifeless to the ground. And at that exact same instant, Valerie takes in a deep breath. Then another, and another. Maya breaths a sigh of relief as Valerie's breathing returns to normal. She touches Valerie's forehead, and is relieved to find that her fever had broke. Maya then checks Valerie's pulse, and smiles as it seams to get stronger with every beat. She peals away the sweat soaked bedding and covers her friend with a dry, warm blanket. Once satisfied that Valerie is out of danger, Maya assumes the form of mercury and slips through the bars of the prison cell. Once outside the cell, she then assumes the form of iron, just in case the zombies hadn't all been destroyed. She runs towards the other defenders to see if everyone's alright. Everywhere she looks she sees dead corpses lying everywhere.

Back in Kublai's chamber, Princess Ariel helps Thundarr back up onto his feet. She can already see the colour rushing back into his flesh. Even Ookla looks as though he is feeling better.

"Are you alright?" she asks the barbarian, "How do you feel?"

"I think I'm starting to feel better," says Thundarr.

Ookla growls a reply, which Ariel recognizes as a sound of agreement.

"Then let's get out of here," says Ariel, "we need to see how much damage Kublai has done."

The three of them head back up to the roof. The sun has just dipped below the western horizon, and the sky is bursting with a dozen shades of red in a spectacular sunset. Thundarr has put his fur vest back on, and the cool night air gives him a chill as it hits the sweat soaked garment. The barbarian puts his fingers in his mouth and blows an ear piercing whistle. In moments they see a bird flying towards them. As the bird grows nearer, they begin to hear its call.

"Yeek! Yeek! Yeek!" it calls.

Soon, Yeek lands on the roof of the tower and lowers his head to allow Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla to climb aboard. Then they take off and head back to Alcatraz. The ancient prison is easy to spot, for the blazing wood piles are giving off a light and pillars of smoke which could be seen for miles. As the returning heroes approach, they see much activity going on in the courtyard below. As they get closer they are able to determine that the villagers are using the burning woodpiles which were set up to slow the advance of the zombies by taking advantage of their instinctual fear of fire, and are now using them as funeral pyres to burn the bodies of the dead. They find an open space in the courtyard to land and Yeek gently sets down. No sooner do they get off the bird's back then a group of well wishers runs up to greet them.

"Thundarr!" cries Shara, and the young barbarian wraps him in a powerful embrace, "You made it! You're alright!"

"Aye, girl," replies Thundarr, "We all are."

"How did things go here?" asks Ariel.

"Not too good," says Merlik, who is just joining them, "we were having some trouble just before you guys succeeded in your mission. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!"

"What happened?" asks Ariel.

"Somehow the zombies found a way into the fortress from below," says Shara, "Apparently there are tunnels beneath Alcatraz that we weren't even aware of."

"What of Valerie?" asks Thundarr, "Were we in time to save her?"

"Just," replies Maya, who is just joining them, "She was almost gone when the spell was broken. A few more minutes and I would have had to kill her. She's resting right now. It'll be a while before she fully recovers, but Kwan thinks she'll be okay."

"Glad to hear it," says Ariel, "So what can we do to help here?"

And with that, they all go to work disposing of the bodies and repairing the damage caused by the zombie assault. It takes many days to clear away all of the bodies. The air is thick with the stench of carrion and burning flesh, a smell that will linger in the air for many days. Then they go about rebuilding the homes that were destroyed in the town of Cisco. Ariel and Merlik's magics help, but it's still slow going. They also go about reinforcing Alcatraz, just in case a similar emergency happens to occur in the not too distant future. They found the drain pipe which the zombies were able to breach the forts defenses with and seal it off, collapsing a lot of the tunnels and walling up others. Now that most of the work is completed, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla meet up with Shara, Merlik, Synda, Maya, and Valerie Storm in the town square. Valerie has greatly recovered from her ordeal, but she still needs to lean on a walking stick and her leg is still heavily bandaged.

"How is your leg?" Thundarr asks Valerie.

"I'll live," says Valerie, "Kwan has been tending to it with medicinal herbs. I'll be back at 100% in no time."

"I'm glad to hear it," says Thundarr, "You are a fine and brave champion."

"You're so sweet!" replies Valerie, and she kisses him on the cheek. Thundarr's face gets flushed in embarrassment, which causes Ariel to smile in amusement.

"So where are you off to now?" Shara asks them.

"First we have to go back to the town of Beverly to collect our horses," says Ariel, "If you don't mind giving us a lift?"

"It'll be our pleasure," says Merlik.

"And what of you three?" Ariel asks Valerie, "Back to the 20th Century?"

"Actually, I was thinking we should stay here in the 41st Century for a while," replies Valerie, "Seems like you guys could use a hand around here every now and again."

"With all the evil wizards running around," says Ariel, "we can use all the help we can get."

Shortly after, Maya, Synda, and Valerie are standing in the town square with Kwan and a bunch of the other villagers waving goodbye as Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla fly off with Yeek, Shara, and Merlik. Shara, Merlik, and Ariel wave back as they ride on Yeek's back, while Thundarr and Ookla are being carried in the bird's talons, and they all fly off into the distance to seek out new adventures.

THE END