Flights Of Fancy

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Chapter Eleven – Allies

Gimod considered Shanza's request, ' I truly believe that these beings are connected to Wizards, at least in some way, and they ought to be dealt with accordingly.'

Shanza bobbed her head then snorted softly ' If they are evil in any way I will know it quickly. Then if you are right about them they can be dealt with. If you are wrong then there will be no reason to regret it later.' Shanza replied sweetly.

Gimod rumbled deep in his throat as he blew out a small tendril of smoke ' Fool 'corn.'

' Stubborn wyrm.' Shanza teased.

Gimod chuckled, ' Very well I have asked Goshen to bring them down here.'

Goshen appeared a few minutes later with the two humanoid chelonians grasped tightly in clenched taloned hands. Goshen dropped the turtles from about five feet in the air between Gimod and Shanza , before the dragon set to hovering directly over head to ensure the turtles didn't try to escape.

Shanza seeing Don and Leo knew instantly who they were and she squealed with delight rearing up in sheer joy, the toshe also yipped with excitement their tails wagging furiously as they caught both sight and scent of the turtles.

Gimod and Goshen were both perplexed but Gimod waited until Shanza had seemed to gather control of her excitable behaviour before passing the mare a questioning look.

Shanza blew out sharply with sheer pleasure before deigning to reply to the unasked inquiry from the dragon. ' I do not know these two personally,' She confessed, ' however, both the pack and I have run into two others that are similar. Their brothers were good beings and both Lobo and I were willing to trust them.' Shanza explained, 'So I feel that we will gain no harm from these two.' Shanza concluded as she pranced on the spot in a perfect piaffe.

Don gaped open mouth his eyes and senses quickly taking in not only the two dragons, which he knew wanted to kill him but also the unicorn and the pack of toshe who were sitting in a circle around Gimod and the unicorn. Don was so shook up at the recent events he hadn't even registered Shanza's words though Shanza had allowed her thoughts to travel to all her friends as well as the turtles.

" Here I thought things looked bad with just the dragons." He muttered, " Now it looks like it just got worse."

Leo smiled " No Don didn't you hear the…" Leo scowled not quite sure of what sort of beast Shanza was, mythical creatures were not exactly one of Leo's areas. " A unicorn I think." he continued arching an eye ridge.

Shanza bowed her long neck in agreement ' Yes I am a unicorn.'

" She said something about seeing Mike and Raph and we could be trusted because we knew them." Leo said. At the moment he was quite willing to throw in with the unicorn and the pack of strange dogs if only in hopes of escaping Gimod.

Still it was hard to miss the fact that the unicorn and dragon seemed to be associated and not exactly opponents, at least not from the looks of things.

Shanza craned her neck out nuzzling Leo's shoulder her horn seemed to glow for a moment or two. ' He is one who values honour and has integrity. He believes in championing those who needs it. He has seen great horrors and they have taken his innocence but he is no threat to us.' Shanza declared simply, before sniffing at Don touching him lightly with her horn.

Don suddenly felt a great wave of deep serenity almost wrap itself around him and he relaxed in the soothing comfort that he found feeling tension and stress evaporate almost instantly.

' Do not be afraid. Gimod won't hurt you now. He has to be very careful you know.' Shanza whispered voice barely seemed to touch his mind.

' This one is wise but gentle and he truly wishes to harm no one.' Shanza turned her attention back to Don ' You two must be Mike and…' She paused trying to recall the other brother's name.

" Raph!" Lobo barked sharply.

' Yes Raph's brothers.'

" We are." Leo admitted, " Did you see them recently? Do you know where they are now?" he asked frantically.

Shanza flicked her tail as she straightened up ' Yes we have seen them they are most likely a day away, two at the most.' Shanza hedged, ' It seems that Raph wasn't interested in traveling with us. He went his own way. Mike wanted to stay but I didn't like Raph going alone on Necron and told Mike to stay near his brother.'

Leo's face grew hard with concern as he realized how close they could have been to being reunited, if only Raph hadn't acted so much like well Raph. Now who knew how long he and Don would have to travel before finding their two brothers. Grumbling under his breath at Raph's irresponsibility, Leo could only hope for the best.

Lobo whined " Don't worry Traba is missing knowing that foolish toshe he went off after them just to keep tabs on them. He might even convince them to come back." Lobo wagged his tail, " I have a feeling if anyone could convince him Traba would be the one. Either way they will be easy to find."

Leo breathed a sigh of relief at those words.

Don grinned too at hearing those words " Sounds like everything is cleared up except for the fact that Gimod earlier seemed so, full of anger about unicorns that this relationship" Don gesture with one arm towards Shanza then to Gimod " Is rather mystifying to say the least. It just doesn't seem to make sense." Don's tone was slightly irritated because things that didn't make sense had always irked him enough that he would do his best to solve the mystery. Sometimes he would lock himself away for days hardly appearing for food or anything else while trying to solve the problem.

Shanza laughed, tossing her head up and down a few times ' Perhaps after introductions Gimod will explain. It is more his story.'

Don looked warily at the dragon uncertain how far the beast could be trusted especially after all Gimod's recent threats and aggressive tendencies. Don would sooner of heard it from any one other then Gimod. Considering how testy and irritable Gimod had proven to be Don wasn't sure if they'd get much of an answer from him.

Still they were soon introducing themselves to the pack and the unicorn who responded in a formal, but friendly fashion.

Leo of course bowed to each of the toshe and Shanza as they gave their names.

' Well before I begin everyone best make themselves comfortable.' Gimod warned as he lowered his head near Leo and Don ' I hope you can forgive my behaviour towards you earlier. We dragons are naturally suspicious and our ability to discern truth is non- existent at best' Gimod explained, ' I also need to be very cautious about any strangers who come here. Hopefully you will understand why when I finish my tale.'

Leo turned and sent a very silent and subtle message to Don before turning to face Gimod " That is understandable and we forgive you. There was no lasting harm done." He offered magnanimously.

Don sat down and whispered out of the corner of his mouth " I'd hate to see where we would stand with him if we didn't forgive him."

Gimod heard the exchange and tossed his head back laughing, a sound that truly was bizarre it was so eerie that it only caused the two brothers more unease.

Gimod finally managed to settle down enough to remark ' You're pretty funny Don.'

Don gave a weak grin and a shrug " If you say so, but if you think that just wait until you meet Mike."

" I really am intrigued to find out how a dragon and unicorn have become friends." Leo declared as he made himself comfortable by dropping cross- legged on the ground.

Don sat down between Leo and Gimod eager to hear the story himself especially after all Gimod's disparaging remarks about unicorns.

' It started a few years ago now.'

" A few?" Lobo asked startled by those words.

' We dragons are long lived. What other creatures insist is a life time we dragons consider no more then a few seconds' Gimod huffed, ' You ought to be used to that dealing with creature's like unicorns.'

Trina, Lobo's sister wagged her tail " Of course we know the age of the immortals, called that because they never seem to die. We toshe know that all the mythical beings can die though." She retorted, " I think it is unicorn magic that has helped us stay so young and youthful since our journey to help free the other unicorns."

Shanza snorted and struck one fore hoof down on the ground ' Please allow Gimod to speak or this will take years off all of us.' She implored.

Gimod smirked as Trina ducked her head gave a plaintive whine and slunk back to her place. ' Thank you Shanza.'

Gimod's Story:

' When I first met Shanza, she was traveling with Lobo's pack, searching for the missing unicorns who had been taken captive. Their journey took them directly through one of the many dragon breeding grounds.' Gimod chuckled a bit, ' Luckily, for them, it was past the season for having and raising young or they would have never left the valley.' A low rumble escaped Gimod's throat.

' My egg must have been kicked out of the nest as a dud, because I was not hatched in a nest and I came rather late in the season. By the time I came into the world no dragon was around. I found out later that, my late hatching was in my favour.' Gimod's tongue flickered momentarily before turning a warm gentle gaze on Shanza.

' I was alone for what felt like a very long time when I finally came across Shanza and the toshe. The toshe figured I was a dragon and like my kin I could not be trusted. They feared I would kill Shanza.'

" We had a right to fear it too." Lobo snarled.

' Shanza felt I wasn't much of a threat and didn't want the pack killing me in spite of the fact the pack warned her of how dangerous I would be when I earned my dragon heritage.'

Leo scowled at those words, Gimod noted his expressions and gave a low grunt.

' Dragon heritage, so you know is when a dragon hatchling is able to flame, fly and then to kill prey while on wing. Many hatchlings fail to earn this heritage and the hatchlings, are then torn to pieces by others in the area. When I earned my heritage at an unprecedented rate it unnerved the toshe greatly.'

Lobo stood up and stalked forward snapping at one of the dragon's toes " It unnerved us for good reason. Wyrms can not be trusted, especially as they have always been the greatest enemy of the unicorn and Shanza was the sole free corn at that time."

' Really?' Gimod mocked sarcastically. Then he puffed smoke into Lobo's face.

' He does have a point though. It is dragon nature after all, and the pack could only assume that I would act in the true wyrm like fashion.' Gimod admitted.

' We traveled together for a while and shortly after earning my dragon heritage some wizards conceived a plan to trap Shanza. Their plan worked quite well. During the stunt the wizards made it seem as if I was a part of this plot.' Gimod explained, ' I left the pack and went in search of Shanza. I thought the only way to prove I wasn't a part of the whole scheme was to free Shanza myself. This I was able to do and the toshe finally realized that I was not like other dragons.'

Don frowned slightly " Perhaps a different species."

' A dragon is a dragon.' Gimod insisted. ' Any way we traveled on facing many dangers and battles before we found where the unicorns were being kept. Shanza had to enter the subterranean caves to find the unicorns to free them. What she didn't know was Tilamat the mother of all dragons waited for her as well.'

Shanza pawed the ground nervously and backed up a few steps as Gimod unfurled a wing and wrapped it almost protectively over the unicorn.

' Tilamat used one of the oldest tricks known to dragon kind. They take the smallest hint of truth and twist it. The unicorn knows the dragon has spoken some truth and while they try to unravel it,' Gimod gave a dark almost sinister grin ' For you see the unicorn believes that if a dragon can speak some truth, there is good in it somewhere. Yet a dragon knows that it can trap a unicorn that way and drain it of all it's magic.'

Gimod paused briefly, ' So Shanza was trapped by Tilamat. I sensed what the old one was up to and sent a warning to Shanza. Tilamat became enraged because then Shanza became free of her spell.'

Gimod hung his head and he seemed to become a bit melancholy ' Tilamat cursed my intrusion telling me that runt dragons were not meant to live. Worse yet I had done the unthinkable by being true to my word and even more despicable becoming friends with a unicorn, no less.' Gimod's tone was thick with scorn, ' She cursed me then commanding that any dragon who found me was to kill me.'

Gimod sighed as he let these words sink in ' I knew I could not live my life alone and with dragons out to destroy me I could use allies. It made sense, or seemed to at any rate, to ally myself with those the dragons considered enemies.'

" That makes a great deal of sense," Leo acknowledged.

' Later I learned all runt dragons are killed when they are born and I am indeed a runt. I will never grow as large as normal dragons of Necron. I decided to risk my very life to see if I could spare a few other runt dragons.'

Don nodded, as he reflected on that. It made sense self preservation was a powerful instinct but matched with, self preservation, was the strong desire to mate. Gimod might be able to survive alone but to mate he would need to be with or around other dragons.

' I soon learned that all runt wyrms seemed to have the qualities of being true to their word. Hence the runt dragons are known as the noble wyrms of Necron.'

Shanza raised her long neck upward as she gazed up at the dragon ' I never knew when I spared his life that he would become such a worthy friend.'

Don grinned, " That explains everything except, why it is, that he still insults unicorns." Don decided.

Shanza laughed tossing her head ' There are some things in wyrms that remain constant no matter their size.' She replied her eyes twinkling.

' Most unicorns practically ask to be eaten, like that horned donkey sire of yours.' Gimod rumbled, ' If I had met any other unicorn first I probably would have eaten them!'

Don flopped back onto the grass staring up at the blue sky " You know Leo I'm starting to like this place." He announced as he heaved a sigh of relief.

" I agree Don but I will feel a lot better when we are back with Raph and Mike." Leo replied as his gaze traveled to the surrounding area. Hoping to catch sight or even a sense of the missing two drawing near, but he felt nothing.

TBC