Thank you for the reviews, they are greatly appreciated!

*****************************
Chapter 4

The turtles and April lounged on the grass in a circle, a little a part from the warrior women who had poisoned and cured them all in a matter of minutes. A strange sight presented itself where the women were gathered. They surrounded Shredder, who still slept soundly on the green grass, flat on his back. That healing potion Ancha had injected him with seemed to be doing the job, his face looked flushed with health and the wound on his side had ceased to bleed. More bizarre than Shredder sleeping peacefully on the ground a yard or so away from the turtles was that the women were busy adorning him with flowers, garlands of rich red fluffy flowers which they draped over his chest and limbs, and delicate purple flowers wound through his black hair. April was watching with some amusement as the strong, warrior women giggled like young girls, blushed, and stared at Shredder as if he were some sort of gift from the gods.

The turtles were watching with profound annoyance, and not a little bit of jealousy.

"Don't these chicks know he's, like, an evil bastard?" asked Mike, as he watched a particularly lovely young woman weave tiny white flowered vines through his fingers.

"Apparently we're in that dimension where women still haven't learned from dating assholes," said Raphael, and not a little bitterly.

April had to grin. "Please, don't tell me you guys are jealous."

"Not a chance," Mike insisted. "I mean, being jealous of that loser! Hey, we're the heroes here, right? I don't know how many times we've saved New York from some twisted plot thought up by that freak. They just like him, because..." He trailed off with a pout.

April couldn't help but feel a wave of sympathy. While the turtles were muscular, strong-willed, and golden-hearted, they were still mutants, with only the most basic of human attributes. All those women saw...well, April had to admit, as he lay there, sleeping in the sun, his face relaxed, with dark arched eyebrows and thick dark hair laying gently around a strong, smooth face, and that body, geez, he was almost devilishly handsome. Even being away from her own world for a few days had made her lonely for a human face. It also struck her that he may be the only human male on this entire world...

"Unfortunately," Leonardo observed. "I think they'll only like him when he's knocked out."

"That's true," Don said. "I don't think these ladies know what they're getting themselves into...besides, we've got the portal to think about."

"Definitely," said Raphael. "Why don't we just get the hell out of here?"

"I told you," Don said as he punched some figures into the Dimensional Positioning Device. "I'm trying to sort out what's going on with the portal. I'm guessing it's only about one more day's walk, but, I can't figure out if its even worth going." He narrowed his eyes and glanced over at Shredder. "I half think he was just stalling for time when he said that it wasn't a portal, but, I don't know what to make of these readings. It's so unstable...there may be a chance it won't be there at all when we get there..."

"I say we take the chance," Raphael said. "We've got no obligation to stay. April, you own him, right?" April couldn't help but blush when Raph said this. "Why don't you just donate him to their love-slave charity or whatever, and let's get the hell out of here."

"I don't know if we can do that." Leo sighed. "I mean, when he wakes up, he might slaughter the lot of them. We can't just leave a dangerous criminal with these people..."

Just then Ancha walked up, grasping her bow and beaming. "Greetings, April and tawdi! I have sent an envoy to the Palace, which is not far, and they should be arriving soon with a proper entourage for us."

Leo glanced warily at her and gestured for her to sit down. "Ancha, we must speak with you about Saki, er, the Paelo..."

She lowered herself to the ground slowly. "Surely, tawdi, I will speak with you. But is it not your mistress's place to speak about what is hers?"

April's eyes widened for a moment, and then glancing at the turtle's tired faces, she cleared her throat. "Ancha, I think you might be mistaken about the, Pae-, Saki, the Shredder. I'm not sure he is what you were expecting. Where we come from he is a violent, evil..."

Ancha's face softened into a grin. "I'm not sure what you are attributing to it, but as you can see," she gestured to where the women fawned over his still form. "He is in perfect health, and very lovely. And he speaks and has will..."

"I think that's precisely the problem," Leo began, and Ancha glanced at him as if it was not his place to speak, but he pressed on. "In our world he is a hated and feared criminal, murderous and lusting for power. We have warred with him for years, and have never managed to defeat him. He is merciless and without pity, and the moment he wakes up, rest assured, he will kill whoever he can and escape, or worse..."

Leo stopped. Ancha's face had been contorting with some emotion and she finally could not hold it in any longer, and burst out laughing. Leo looked at the rest of the turtles in amazement.

She finally got a hold of herself and began to speak. "I apologize, tawdi, for my behavior. But it has become obvious that your knowledge of these creatures is not as deep and rich as our own, and that is why they still trouble you so."

She paused, and her voice took on a serious tone. "Our experience with them is vast and deep, and that is why what you say seems naive. Know then, that our world was not always so. Paelo used to be plentiful, but, according to our myths, those were the dark times, for all of their hearts were infected with hate and evil, just as you say. It is no secret with us. I am not privy to the wisdom of the Priestesses, so I cannot tell you the whole tale, but there was a great War, and the Paelo were slaughtered by the grace of the Goddess. The females of our race live many, many years, so many that it did not matter for a long, long time that the Paelos were dead. And when it finally did, when the very oldest of the oldest, the Queen mother Herself was ill and dying, for it is only the old who make up the court, then the Goddess sent a Paelo among us, and he was subdued by the Queen and united with her, and her highest courtesans. And for generations it has been thus. Only the most ancient rule in the court, and it is only those who produce daughters who go and live with the commons. After much time, one like myself," and here Ancha grew reverent and stole a glance to where Shredder slept. "may, enjoy the pleasures of the court as well."

The turtles took this in slowly. At some point April wanted to object, wanted to argue that there were many men from her world who were not violent and did not hate, but then she found herself biting her tongue, and thinking deeply about the question.

Leo finally spoke. "This doesn't change what I said. Your men may have been dangerous, but he is a twisted, evil..."

Ancha smiled and shook her head. "Truly, the art of potions has not been as advanced on your world. I should have known when I saw the Paelo, and it was so awake, so present. That is forbidden for all Paelo are evil of heart and never to be trusted. Let me put it plainly. Our poison darts, our healing vials, are curing mercers are but our simplest concoctions. Before the Paelo even wakes, it will be given a dazing drink which will make it weak and docile, and well before it meets the Queen it will be given others. And before their night together, it will be given such potions that even I do not know, secret holy potions that will make it passionate and make it forget himself..." Ancha trailed off. She sat for a moment, breathing deeply, then smiled. "I must go speak with my troupe before they bury the poor Paelo in flowers." And she was gone.

April found herself blushing at this, and a little smug. He eyes drifted over to where Shredder lay, his face flushed in the sun, daintily touched by a dozen women who fawned over him, and she truly began to realize how valuable an object he was to these women. The thought that she "owned" him made her feel like the wealthiest woman on the planet.

Leo sat back after this riveting tale and steepled his stubby, green fingers. "Well, I take it back, I think they can handle him just fine."

"Jesus," Raphael said. "Hell yeah they can. And may they never figure out that we're male."

Michelangelo smiled. "Well, dudes, I guess that means we can go! Sounds like these chicks have got Shred-head whipped in a way we never could."

"It's still too good a way to go," murmured Raph, staring at the gorgeous women who surrounded Shredder. "But I'll take it over nothing." The turtles all started to rise, but stopped when they saw that Don was still sitting perfectly still, his face concentrated on the DPD. He looked up at them, his eyes veiled with just a hint of fear. "We can't. The portal just disappeared."

Everyone stood silently for a moment mulling this over, and then a voice behind them caused them all to jump.

"Besides, it is necessary that you first see the Queen."

The turtles spun, reaching for their weapons, cursing themselves for allowing themselves to be snuck up on. Behind them stood a woman of the likes the turtles and April had never seen before. Her face was both young and ancient at once, wise and unspeakably innocent and fresh, her skin glowed with an inner light and her eyes were the gray of shining silver. She wore a delicate white shift woven with gold, and a thick ivory cloak. Her hair was covered with a golden-netted hood. As opposed to Ancha and her troupe of women, who seemed a bit primitive in dress, this woman looked completely civilized and sophisticated.

She was surrounded by an honor guard of equally garbed women, bearing golden bows that seemed more ceremonial in nature. More surprising, Ancha and her women had flung themselves down prostrate at the feet of this woman and her entourage. The turtles lowered their weapons.

"A wise choice, pseudo-Paelo," said the strange woman, her eyes narrowing slightly. Ancha glanced up at the turtles with alarm when she heard this.

The woman in command turned away from the turtles, obviously irritated. "Ancha, get up. If this is what you have summoned your High Priestess to see, then you have truly blasphemed..." She gestured impatiently as she talked.

Ancha sprung to her feet and interrupted. "No, your Holiness. These are not the creatures I spoke of..." She gestured for the Priestess to follow, and her troupe of women shrunk away, clearing a path through the grass to where Shredder slept adorned with flowers.

The turtles followed and could here the Priestess gasp. They gathered around to where he lay on his back, not lying perfectly still. His eyes moved under his eyelids, and in the silence of the moment, they could hear him murmur slightly, "Yes...yes."

The Priestess gazed upon Shredder for a moment silently. "Well, Ancha...I take back what I said...this is certainly Paelo, although it is of the mysteries alone that you were able to recognize him." She turned her gray eyes on Ancha who shrunk slightly from the gaze. "For while I have seen several Paelo in my long, long life, you, being only one hundred, have seen none. It is something we cannot control, and belongs to the collective memory, that women can still sense a Paelo and not take him for a monster. I take it you knew instantly..."

"In every fiber of my body." Ancha breathed, looking down at the sleeping form.

The Priestess's eyes narrowed again, a gesture of supreme calculation that sent shivers through the turtles. "Yes, I would think you did." She turned back to Saki, and snapped her fingers. "Very beautiful, though. Most uncommonly attractive." While she was very interested in Shredder, it was immediately apparent to the turtles and April that the Priestess held none of the same reverence for him that Ancha and her troupe did. In fact, her voice held something that amounted to greed. She peered down at him, "We have been most fortunate this time, the Goddess is especially giving."

Her Honor Guard appeared around her, looking at Saki with the same disinterested greed as their Priestess. "Bring the biers here," she said. "We must ready at once to transport him back to the Palace. There is much to be done."

Leo took this for his opportunity. "Priestess, with all due respect, is it necessary for us to come along? We came here accidentally, and we must travel at once if we are to return home."

The Priestess turned her piercing gray eyes on Leonardo and he felt himself stepping backward involuntarily. "You of course may leave when you like. But you must first travel to the Palace. The Queen will want to speak with you."

Raphael made a dissenting noise, and his hand crept toward his weapon. Leo gestured for him to stand down. "May we speak for a moment together?" The Priestess nodded and they grouped together a little apart from the group.

"I say we fight'm," Raphael said.

"Ditto," said Mike. "They're basically taking us prisoner."

"We shouldn't fight unless it's absolutely necessary," Leo said. "Don, what's going on with the portal?"

Don snapped the DPD with a sigh. "There doesn't seem to be any point in fighting now, because, it's gone. There's no doubt in my mind that if we fight our way out of here and get to the place where it should be, we'll find nothing."

"Better than being a prisoner..." Raph growled, growing impatient.

"Not necessarily," Don said. "Because if there is anyone who will be able to tell us how to get out of here, it's him." He pointed to where Shredder slept. "I'm now convinced that that contraption back there wasn't a portal device. And he's the only one who can tell us what it is."

"But he'll never tell us," April interjected. She'd been listening to this conversation and beginning to think getting home was more and more hopeless. "He'd rather we rot than tell us."

"Yes," said Leo slowly. "But if they have all these mind-control potions they claim to have, wouldn't they have a truth potion? Or any of these potions that make him docile, he should talk with those. Maybe we can ask that we interrogate him with it?"

"That's true," April said. "Technically, I DO still own him or something. They said they would trade with me fairly for him."

"That seems like all we can do," Don said. "Unless he tells us what exactly happened, and how to get the portal back, I think there's no chance of ever getting home."

And that, thought April to herself, would leave us in that unfathomable position of Shredder being "the last man on earth," so to speak. And although she used that phrase to say she "wouldn't even if he was the last man on earth," she was beginning to understand the wonder and awe the young women were paying Shredder.


To Be Continued!