Disclaimer: I have never and never will own the TMNT. Man, these disclaimers sting mondo bad…rub it in, why don't you! (grumbles)
A/N: It's been a month. A whole stinkin' month. Sheesh, stupid writer's block. I wrote a song for this one, and I rather like it. (grins) Thank you, my faithful reviewers!
17.
'…What…IS this, Kiyo?' she asked, confused. 'How…can I speak to you like this?' The purple dragon looked very puzzled.
)I'm not…sure…( Kiyo struggled in return. )Can Bima and Iwansi do it too?(
'As far as I know, yes.'
)Is this strange sensation…communication?( Kiyo asked with delight. This was exhilarating! So many long months had passed since they had hatched from their eggs and just now they were learning to speak with their consciences. It was very exciting, but he wasn't certain if Rijinn was able to do it. He hadn't spoken a word or made a sound since his hatching. )Perhaps we can…ask Rijinn a question or two?(
Saesha looked at him. 'Question? What's that?'
)I heard it in the birejji,( Kiyo stated knowledgeably. )One of the senseis asked his student for a question once. I was hiding in…the bushes.(
'Oh. Maybe I can ask…you a question,' she said.
He smiled. )Where's…Rijinn?( This mind speech thing was very hard to figure out. He had to know who to project his thought to.
Saesha pointed with her tail to the end of the plants where the ball of yellow light in the sky is closest to the ground. 'By the…um, cold blue stuff.'
)Oh! I know…that word too,( Kiyo said. )I think it's called…water.(
'Wadder?'
)No,( he persisted gently. )Wa-T-er.(
'Watter. I think…I've got it now.'
)We need some…lessons on this…stuff.(
Saesha glanced at him again. 'Lesson?'
)Another…time, shisuta,( he said with a smile, sliding down the hill on his paws. It would be nice if he knew how to use those big skin flaps on his back. Iwansi learned how to float in the sky yesterday. It was quite exciting. Bima tried too, but she's so big she barely got off the ground. They'd have to help her soon. Kiyo trotted across the long water trail, stopping to drink. He should go to the birejji every day to learn new things. That way maybe they can teach Rijinn how to speak too.
He reached out with his mind. It was a new thing he learned on his own one day when Bima had gotten lost in the plants. He couldn't find her with my eyes so he had to find her with his mental senses. Somewhere nearby he could feel Rijinn. Kiyo started walking again through the leaves and cool branches. The little colorful feathered things were making high noises above him. HeI'd have to ask Iwansi to get them some for hirugohan. That was another new word he had learned at the birejji the other day. It was when the two-legged creatures ate their food on a wooden board. He liked the name so much he had taken it home.
He heard loud sighing to his right and turned through the leaves to see Rijinn's dark red scales overpowering the green of the bamboo. )Brother?( Kiyo ventured tentatively, stepping out towards him. He stiffened when Kiyo's mind made contact with his and he was attacked with roiling emotions, most of which were fear. )Brother?( he asked again.
He stared at Kiyo through wild eyes, mute even in his mental senses. He had shut him off from all his thoughts. )Please…brother, let me in…I want…to help you,( he said haltingly. This speech was hard work!
…Help?
There! He said something! )Are you alright…brother?(Brother? He seemed confused and scared.
)What's…wrong, Rijinn?(
Scared. I want…home.
)You're not…making sense, brother.( Kiyo linked his tail with Rijinn's and nuzzled his neck. Then he opened his mind to him, but he got no images. He heard a soft voice come through the darkness, sad and melodious. It made him think of a mother. He had seen one once. She was playing with her little child on a hillside. Both were making that funny sound that two-leggers do when happy.
Home is where that person…is, Rijinn said with longing.
)I don't understand, brother.(
Sounds of shouting abruptly slashed through the peace of Kiyo's dreams. He moaned as the agonizing ache in his abdomen made itself known again. Why wouldn't they let him sleep? Hadn't they already done enough to him? He had lain there motionless on the stone floor of his cell for some time now. And why not? It hurt too much to move. And he couldn't bear the weight of his shame if he opened his eyes and saw Xetyphaes staring in with that cruel smirk on his red face.
They had done hours of experimenting on him with magic and knives, and for the life of him, Kiyo couldn't understand why they had taken him. Didn't Xetyphaes hate Aireilei more than the rebels? Didn't he wish for more dragons to add to his one female? A twinge found its way into his stomach. These had been happening more and more frequently as of late. He groaned and curled up into a ball to ease the painful pressure in his bowels. This was hell on earth.
As he lay there breathing heavily, he reached out with his mental senses to see if he could find any of his siblings near his prison. He had been doing this periodically for several days now, but each search brought him nothing. He felt Xetyphaes' ever-watchful presence about twenty feet away in the room the demented ruler had named his lab. Kiyo's sharp hearing picked up the scraping of knives on a sharpening stone. He cringed as another wave of dull pain washed over him. That sound usually meant something bad.
Footsteps began coming away from the lab, getting louder with each passing second. They were light. Kiyo had come to learn that light steps meant something wasn't going to happen to him today. The heavy thudding ones were often a sign of dread. And for good reason. When the green dragon had first gotten here, he fought like a demon with his wind magic, but was easily subdued by Xetyphaes once on the stone table. Therefore, most soldiers feared him and his wrath. But not now. Kiyo had been enormously listless in the past seven days' time. He couldn't imagine why.
"Well, my little friend," came the laughable voice of his antagonist right by the bars of his cell, "I've something to show you!"
)Leave me alone.( The dragon gritted his teeth as his guts started hurting again.
He heard a sinister chuckle. "Oh no, I insist." Power gripped his thin frame, lifting him off the floor and uncurling him. He gave an involuntary whimper when pain stabbed his lower torso. Dreading what he might see, Kiyo opened his eyes ever so slightly. All he got was a blur of mixed colors. He couldn't help but think he was going blind. He did nothing but lay on the floor in a fetal position, not using his sight even when they took him out. "Do you see this, my dragon farm?" Xetyphaes crooned, using his pet name for Kiyo.
He brought out a small gray object, mottled with green spots. )Is that…?( Kiyo didn't dare to finish the sentence.
"Rainbou laid it just this morning, along with three others," he announced with a devilish smirk, stuffing the item back into his robes. The black jewel in his other hand flashed, releasing him from its grip. Kiyo hit the floor on his left side, dispelling what breath he had left in him.
)You…bakira,( he choked out, flinching as another wave of pain struck him in the gut.
Xetyphaes chuckled. "Now now, don't be so concerned about the hatchlings. When they come out in five days, I'll take good care of them."
)I seriously doubt that.(
The midget's presence faded from Kiyo's mind as he walked away, still chuckling in his evil way. The dragon cursed to himself. No living creature deserves to be under that monster's control. He would find a way to get his children out of here, whether he followed or not! Curling up into a ball again, he let his mind wander around the castle. Rainbou's presence could be easily defined as pure chaos. She still had her original mindset of a mother, but it was being stifled by her controlled personality.
The guards were nothing special. Just a bunch of dull-witted idiots parading around the halls and courtyards with their spears and lances. As he went through each room, he prodded the inhabitants' consciences with his own. In each he detected a sense of loss. One maiden wished so dearly to be free of this hellhole, but was held against her will. In a different place, in the palace jails on the other side of the area, rebels chained to walls longed for home. There was even a half-rukit child inside one of the cells, a shackle around her thin wrist.
Then, he found four other minds, those of his unhatched offspring. Two of them seemed…dead, somehow. )Hello?( he asked one. The dragon said nothing to him, but exuded primitive confusion, a sign of infancy. It was to be expected. In that moment of contact with his hatchling, Kiyo promised himself that he would get them all out of here. Eventually.
Leo's eyes snapped open, his body shaking with enormous tremors originating from his legs. He had been meditating for a few minutes, no more, no less, when a gigantic force of pain had slammed into his roaming mind. It was another mental presence, drunken with agony and purely writhing with shame. He had managed to catch a faint scrap of memories from the entity before it left him to ache in his spot on the astral plane.
Now, as he sat there on the boulder, staring out towards the valley where several herds of wild teela grazed by a village, he tried to sort out which memories were his and which weren't. He searched the deepest corners of his mind for a few seconds before chancing upon a piece that wasn't his. Frowning inwardly, he let his own conscience touch the other gently. Immediately, a scream of anguish filled his ears, repeating over and over a garbled phrase. Leo once again jerked back to reality, looking around.
Dakari and Kadi, who were sitting off nearby, were sleeping in the warm sunshine. They had traveled most of the morning after all. And for almost four days they hadn't seen hide nor tail of Mikey. The scream the turtle had heard didn't seem to have affected the sleeping duo. Barely reassured, he resumed searching for that memory. This time he dove into it, bracing himself for the loud noise to come. Nothing battered his hearing. He opened his eyes cautiously, finding himself floating lazily above a fortified castle.
The walls were dripping blackly with an ugly substance, running down the dirty gray bricks to trickle into a moat formed out of long years of the process. The towers, their spires hostile and mean looking, rose high above the unkempt courtyard. Unsightly guards patrolled the walls with spears. A couple sat by with skins of wine, laughing amongst themselves.
Leo flapped his tail around in the calm air of the place. He was sure there was wind, but this being a memory, and he being an astral being, he couldn't feel it. He willed himself to float down to the courtyard, drifting gently like a leaf from a tree branch. When he landed, he ran through the nearest wall, passing through a guard. The unexpected contact made him jump in surprise, but he continued through the next wall.
Here he found several sharp implements: knives, a scalpel, the basic surgical things. He passed over them, going to the table, a bloodied slab of stone. It was fresh. He leaned forward. It was a silvery red substance, pooling in an indent near the center. Leo frowned in concern. The only things he knew of to have that color blood were dragons, but what…
"'Old 'im down, I almost got th' chains on 'im!" somebody cried. The rattle of iron came from a hallway, along with several screams of pain.
"Be careful, we don't want him spoiled for today's experiment!"
)No…please…( Leo's heart skipped a beat. Where had he heard that voice before…? )Don't do this…(
"Shut up, you whiny lizard." A flash of light came from down the hall, along with a squeal of utmost agony. Bring him to the table and get set up. I'll handle him once he's there," the squeaky voice said with authority. Shadows appeared on the wall, along with a small, chained form. The first to come into the light was a small person almost two and a half feet tall, swathed in robes that were far too large for his frame. His red skinned face held a smirk on it, along with a sense of child-like excitement. Then came the two lugs, along with the prisoner.
Leo's mouth went dry. It was Kiyo. The green dragon was carelessly stitched on slashes that went from the base of his tail to the beginning of his intestines. The two guards slammed him down on the table, eliciting a whimper from the bottom of his throat. No…The turtle wanted to get away from this memory so badly, but he had to wait until it was cut off. He watched as the midget seized a thin knife in his hand and took out a black jewel with his other.
"I'll get one this time, my little dragon farm," he chuckled, aiming for Kiyo's gut. Leo gasped and turned away in shock when the knife met its mark.
)AUGH!(
"Leo! Leo, wake up! Please!" Dakari's voice pierced the nightmare, waking him up. The turtle sat up with a gasp, his whole body shaking. The samurai rabbit stared at him in concern. "What did you see?" Wide-eyed, Leo recounted the whole thing in his mind, keeping a silent front.
"I…I…"
Kadi scrutinized him carefully. Don't worry, I'll see what his problem is…He felt her probe his mind and heard her squawk in outrage. How dare he! That monster! I'll have his guts for garters! How can one person be so sick…The icunix spat curse after curse but it did nothing to ease Leo's horror. He had witnessed Kiyo being cut open for…for…The turtle stared at his hands with a detached air. It was…so wrong…He hugged himself fiercely, feeling Hytis' beak stroke his shoulder.
It will be alright, he said softly to Leo and Leo alone. There will be a way to get him away from there. But right now, we must locate your brother. The turtle shuddered and let the phoenix cover him with a wing.
"So, who's this little guy? Sure is cute!" Mike made ridiculous cooing noises at the little rukit, who hid fearfully behind Kiara's leg with a whimper. She shushed him, wincing as her ear throbbed, and gently picked him up. "Goochee goochee goo!"
Bima rolled her eyes disdainfully. "You have any idea how incredibly stupid you sound, doing that?" she grumbled.
"What?"
They were now safely away from the fort, having moved south a couple miles. When Kiara had been hiding behind the boulder, Bima had heard the noise and went to investigate it. The tensed rukit had nearly speared the dragon upon sight when Iwansi tumbled out, whispering furiously. Naicro was nearly gone and they needed that antidote fast. Relieved, Kiara let them take the vial to Aireilei, who was kneeling by his side. The vern's eyes were glazed like a cadaver's, unwinking and never moving. The white dragon forced his mouth open and smeared the gooey substance inside the vial on his tongue. He began reviving almost immediately when the mercenaries from the fort arrived.
"There she is!" the ringleader bellowed, jumping at Kiara with his sword raised for a powerful downward slash. Iwansi jumped in front of him, using momentum to rocket into his chest, making him fall back to the ground, landing on his rear. The yellow dragon snarled, baring her teeth, as her sister came up beside her.
"Go on, get the dirty traitor out of here!" Bima yelled venomously, charging at several of them with fire streaming from her jaws. She took out three with the fireball that came out, whirling on her hind paws to avoid a swipe from an axe. Her scarred hide rippled as she gathered herself for a leap. Just as she left the ground, an arrow passed under her, its diamond point gleaming in the firelight from the torches. Aireilei's trajectory buried itself in a squat figure's chest. He went down yelling like a banshee.
Iwansi, cornered at the boulder, made rude noises at the people in front of her. "I ain't gonna take that from some pipsqueak!" one said, running at her, his lance lowered. She disappeared in a split second, the confused rukit slowing down. "Where'd she…" Fire rained down on him in bullets, reducing the poor sap to ashes in moments. The other two were promptly slashed across the face by sharp silver claws. They screamed in pain until she went for their furry throats. Both corpses, major arteries spraying their red blood, went down with thuds.
"Eeew," she moaned, spitting. Kiara, weary from her flight from the fort, helped Naicro limp away along the line of black trees. If the vern had been black as well, they would've escaped notice.
"Oh no you don't, ya slut!" A scarred elf-like creature jumped in front of them. "You give me that kid or I'll turn ya into yer own grave!" As if to prove his point, rocks started levitating around them, steadily closing in on them. Naicro raised his head, a rebellious look in his bright eyes.
"Do you think that your rarely seen earth magic can stop us?" he asked sweetly, a completely different tone than Kiara was used to hearing. "Do you?"
"Darn right I do!" The ground rumbled.
"Foolish," the vern commented. Before Kiara could blink twice, Naicro firing globules of white substance from his person at the mage.
"Holy mother of griffin!" he cried in surprise, forming a barrier of rock. Naicro chuckled, increasing the barrage until the rock disintegrated. "Dragon magic!" the mage stammered fearfully as he backed away, tripping over a root. He died with a wild scream as he was covered by the stuff.
Kiara and her passenger turned wide eyes on him. "How…"
"All who harness it may use it," he explained. "Now, hurry! He was not the only one here!"
Meanwhile, Mike was surprising his victims as he popped out of the tall grasses only to smack them down with a nunchaku. "Hello, my name's Michelangelo and I'll be your beat-down instructor today!" he chirped cheerfully, bending backwards to avoid a swipe from an angry gunghir's dagger. "No no no, you're doing it all wrong! First you have to…stand like this!" he disappeared into the grass and reappeared behind the guy. "Booga booga!" he shouted at full lung capacity into the hapless mercenary's ear.
The gunghir straightened immediately, clutching his elf-like ears in pain. "Ow!"
"And then…You take a nap!" Mike dealt him a whap to the back of his neck with his hand, knocking out his victim. He grinned with accomplishment, looking around. Many of the fighters were either dead or out cold now, but a few were still fighting. He witnessed Aireilei pick up a fallen sword and lop off her opponent's head. The turtle cringed appreciatively. He was just about to turn around when he heard a familiar whistle and ducked his head inside his shell as a broadsword whizzed over him. "Hey, watch the head, dude!" he cried, peering out to see a rukit miss his arm by inches. "It's the only one I've got!"
As Mikey dueled the angry wolfman, Kiara and Naicro took out another mage, with the help of Palaesi, who had been nearly forgotten in the melee. The gunghir had been tottering around when she saw the little burnt-sienna rukit behind Aireilei, shivering. Curiosity overpowering the fear welling in her tiny heart, she stumbled toward him. That was when a shot of fire missed her by centimeters. The fire mage Naicro was trying to kill was putting up a fight to be reckoned with. Palaesi's volatile toddler temper flared within seconds and the fire mage found himself surrounded by a small tornado of wind, smashing him to the ground and into rocks. When she had finished, the mage was dead, a trickle of blood coming out of his muzzle.
Kiara ran back, picking up the little gunghir and the rukit, who clung to her arm like it was his lifeline. While sprinting back to Naicro, she glanced back at the fort. Dread filled her heart as she caught sight of the mob of dirty warriors, distant, but deadly, rushing at them. "Guys! There's more coming! We have to run!" she roared.
Aireilei, arrow on string, looked for herself and cursed. "Jhadie! Mike, Sor, quit messing around!" she commanded, lighting the arrowhead on fire. She aimed quickly and let it go at an overly eager gunghir, who had jumped above her, ready to maim with his thin rapier. The shot exploded on impact. Bits and pieces of the unfortunate person rained down from above.
The turtle smacked another enemy down then jammed his weapons in his belt, dashing toward Aireilei. "Alright, let's go, let's go!" he cried, jumping on her back and jabbing her sides with his heels as he would a horse. Sor finished slashing the torso of his for before sheathing his sword.
"Knock it off! Bima, Iwansi! We're leaving!" The two dragons finished incinerating five more opponents before the yellow one took flight and Bima clambered into Mike's arms. Kiara, now on Naicro's back, signaled for them to leave. Then the vern streaked away from the battlefield, heading south. Aireilei launched into the sky with a powerful heave of her legs, Sor following.
Kiara shook herself out of the memory. "What? Somebody say something?" she asked in a detached tone of voice.
Bima inspected her with a scrutinizing eye. "I asked, what's his name?" she repeated, clearly annoyed.
"I don't know. Do you think I had time to interrogate him while I was running?" she snapped suddenly.
"No need to get touchy about it," Sor muttered.
"Fine, I'll just look for myself," Bima grumbled, closing her eyes. A few seconds later, she appeared puzzled.
"What?" Mike asked eagerly.
"He…doesn't have one."
Aireilei wrinkled her muzzle. "Strange one of his age doesn't have a name. I should think he would have one. But in any case, who wants to name him?"
"Brownie!" Mikey crowed loudly. The noise made Palaesi tumble off his shoulder in surprise. He quickly caught her.
"Are you kidding? That's a dog's name!"
The turtle harrumphed. "Well, if you think about it, that's what he is!"
"Khilol?" Sor suggested.
"Desert name. He doesn't look like he's from a nomad tribe," Aireilei mused. "Plus it means 'one who complains', which I don't think our little friend does often." The gunghir flushed red.
There was silence as everybody tried to think of a name. "Bob!" Mike shouted again.
"NO EARTH NAMES!" the white dragon bellowed at him. He shrank sheepishly, then held up his hand again but was silenced with a glare from Bima.
"Alright, alright, don't get your undies in a twist," he mumbled to himself, sitting down in the warm brown grass. A light breeze ruffled the foliage.
"How about…Heenu?" Naicro said. "It's an old name; it means 'red'." He looked at the child who was the source of the conversation. The rukit sat down on Kiara's foot. "Then again, I do not think it would work."
"Why not?"
"Heenu is the name of a killer to verns; he wiped out all but Orcaine and myself."
"Funny how that works out," Bima growled, looking at him suggestively. Iwansi glared at her.
"Jehk," Kiara whispered, looking down at her charge.
"What was that?" Aireilei asked, glancing at her.
"Jehk," she repeated, louder, "for 'hard ice'."
The white dragon nodded in satisfaction. "It works." Jehk looked up at her and smiled. "Doesn't talk much, does he?"
Kiara shrugged and picked him up. "I've only heard him make strange whimpering noises, along with quiet purling in his throat."
"Could be a mute. Let me check." Aireilei gently took Jehk from her hands and began the mental probing of his body.
Sor heard noises from Mike and looked at the turtle to find him playing peek-a-boo with Palaesi. "Where's the Mikey…There he is!" The little gunghir poked his beak with her index finger every time he came out with a devilish grin on his face. Then it became more of a face-making contest than a peek-a-boo game. Mike came out from behind his hands each time with a new expression, sometimes a suggestive grimace or a toothy grin. Palaesi, in turn, did her share of antics, flapping her wings and squawking like a crow.
"You'd make one heck of a baby sitter," Sor commented as Mike grunted like one constipated. The turtle pulled up the corners of his mouth with his fingers and stuck out his tongue.
"Bleah! Hey!" he cried when Palaesi blew his mouth full of icy wind, drying it numb. "'At's 'ot 'unny," he said with difficulty. The gunghir giggled and tugged his limp tongue with her two fingers.
"Silly Meki!" she chirped, climbing his plastron to give him a slobbery wet one on his scaly cheek.
"Aw, thucks, 'Ayaesi!" Mikey sighed happily. Sor and Kiara laughed as the turtle received several more. He sucked back in his tongue and began saturating it with saliva again.
Bima glanced at Aireilei, who was wrinkling her brow with concentration. "Does it really take that long to investigate a simple non-social problem?" she grumbled, watching a beetle crawl along in front of her snout.
"If he has a physical ailment, his magic is probably shielding it from her," Naicro said.
"Thank you Doctor Phil!" The vern blinked. "Sarcasm is a foreign language to you, I see."
Suddenly, Aireilei's eyes snapped open. "Phew! That took forever!"
"Well?"
"He does seem to have a defect in his vocal cords."
"But…He was…practically wailing when I got to him!" Kiara muttered, taking Jehk from Aireilei's hands. He looked up at her with bright blue eyes, then perked his ears forward, breaking his gaze at Kiara. The gentle breeze and distant bird calls was all they heard.
Palaesi, also listening intently with her long ears, bounced up and down on Mike's plastron excitedly. "Noises! Pretty noises over there!" she babbled in the short, uninformative way of a four year-old. "Noises, noises!"
The turtle directed his yellow ears toward where she pointed, which was back the way they had come. "Now that I think about it, I can hear music!" he confirmed, a puzzled look on his face.
"Suspicious," Aireilei growled. "Iwansi, go see what's up. Be careful to stay invisible."
"Yes'm," the yellow dragon grumbled, cloaking herself. They heard a rustle of unfurling wings and then she was gone.
As Iwansi flapped stealthily to gain altitude, she caught the sound of flutes and other pitchy instruments on the wind. Interested, she arrowed in that direction, flying fast on a southern wind. Very soon she came up upon a wagon, and cheery voices singing in beat with the tempo of the music. The cart rattled along, pulled by a lone creature of blue green color. Many who know the animals of Haradris would name it as a quiffer, a raptor-like herd-beast with a long neck and short muzzle. The quiffer's bone-ribbed ridge bounced along merrily as it clopped along on its large hind legs. The forearms, tucked to the chest, carried a small basket.
Intrigued, Iwansi dove down to the caravan, spotting several rukits trotting along happily behind the wagon. The driver of the cart had a flute pressed to his lips and was playing a bouncy tune in the higher reaches of the instrument. The person beside him pounded a drum with her palms, setting the tempo and the skippers behind the cart sang in tenor voices. The song went something like this:
Oh, I know of a short, fat, old man
He's red and he stinks something awful
He carries a purloined jewe-e-e-el
And he's really quite a pawful!
What's his name
Xetyphaes
We hope he explodes
What's his name
Xetyphaes
Somebody smack his nodes!
Oh, he's greedy and has two beady little eyes
He's no sense of all-time lows
He's got a big ol' be-e-e-e-lly
With a robe that trips his toes!
What's his name
Xetyphaes
We hope he combusts
What's his name
Xetyphaes
Fill his bed with rust!
His castle stinks like a stable yard
And his rooms smell real old
His bed's really du-u-u-usty
The covers are filled with mold!
What's his name
Xetyphaes
We hope he goes 'boom'
What's his name
Xetyphaes
Give him a poisonous 'shroom!
Iwansi masked her laughter masterfully as she flew back to the place where they had gathered in the grass, landing on the ground in a heap of giggling wings and hair. "Well?" Aireilei demanded.
"Oh! You should hear their…their song!" she gasped as the singers came over the rise.
No Donatello/Raph part, sorry. I had no inspiration for that. But I did do a song for you all. (grins) It's a really lame ending, I know, but...Meh. Anyway, the TMNT Fanfiction contest is being held at Stealthy Stories this year; go see my bio for more information.
Ashite Imasu,
LN