Flights Of Fancy
Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.
Chapter Eighteen - Casting Suspicion
Early in the morning the group of travelers gathered in the unicorn meadows to teleport to the enchanted sea off of Griffin Rock, having teleported to the unicorn meadows to begin with the turtles at least had a better idea of what was about to happen. They went from the grassy meadows of the valley, to a sandy beach studded with a few shells, and tiny pebbles. Overhead a few birds dived and called loudly to one another, though most of their feathered friends had to rouse themselves from hidden nests. The sun still had to put in an appearance, and a cool breeze blew bending thin stalks of grass that sprouted in the sand in various spots. The morning sky was painted in light colours with just a hint of red, and the smell of the water and open air was both relaxing and energizing.
Don had just one problem with the whole picture, and that was the fact, that the sun looked no higher or lower in the sky then it had been at the unicorn meadows, he knew for a fact that they had traveled hundreds of miles by teleporting and the sun ought to be higher up then what it now appeared to be.
" Time doesn't stand still, and there is no possible way for this part of Necron to be under the same time zone" he muttered his brow furrowing as his two toed feet dug deep into the sand.
'Relax its magic' Shanza informed him sweetly letting out a warm puff of air onto Don's shoulder, ' When we teleport we can choose time as well as place. It just made sense to teleport to early morning so we wouldn't lose travel time.' She explained.
Don scowled, what the unicorn said made sense but obviously there had to be some limits to the technique of traveling through time and space. He shook his head and sighed in exasperation, he didn't understand magic it only confused him. He consoled himself with the knowledge that while magic might be hard to understand, it still was governed by certain rules to keep things reasonable.
After all, Don mused, magic can't be all that powerful or they would have been able to retrieve Shaman on their own. He reflected for a moment on this idea and decided that he still preferred the logic he found in math or science over that found in magic.
Marina tugged on his purple bandanna by hooking a claw into it, Don turned his head and glanced at the inquisitive feline.
" Over to the East where you see the large rocks, well, That is where we are heading." She informed Don, " I think it might be wise to scout for any griffins in the area." Marina glanced at Gimod " Perhaps the dragon and I ought to tend to that."
Gimod smirked, a twisted smile of pleasure crossing his face, ' What ever would you need me for, your not afraid of a little pussy cat are you Marina?'
Marina sat up very straight as she tossed her nose in the air and flicked her tail with disdain " Don't kid yourself wyrm, I am related to the griffins and I know how impressive a dragon is," she sniffed, " It is those mangy mutts who ought to be worried for they are not going please the griffins so we best make what impression we can, while we can." Marina declared as if this was only natural.
Lobo bristled taking offense to the catafly's words.
Traba the black toshe walked up to the leader and clicked his teeth quickly together " Just wait I'll snap that little know it all in half." Traba growled.
" Patience Traba" Lobo whined, " She will get hers when she least expects it, for the catafly will be on guard expecting some repercussion."
Symbia pranced up alongside Shanza and Demon Wing, the centaur had a bow over one arm and a quiver full of arrows harnessed to her back.
Demon Wing pawed the ground with a fore hoof ' The catafly is right about one thing, it is best to look for the Griffins before they spot us.' He curled his upper lip, 'Of course once they know about us we will have no peace until we head into the desert beyond.' He grunted in disgust flicking his tail before springing to the air.
Gimod nodded, knowing in such a battle even the toshe were fairly useless as the griffins could stay well out of range of the venomous teeth. ' Perhaps if we meet the Griffins first in battle then they will leave us alone.' The dragon suggested his eyes sparkled brightly and he could not hold back on the smoke that curled up from his mouth and nostrils in his eagerness.
Shanza reared up snorting in amusement and then sobering almost instantly ' I recall the last prock of Griffins I ran into.'
" Vile beasts" Symbia muttered with disgust tossing her long hair.
' It was when Gimod first learned to flame he looked so comical' Shanza laughed, 'He even ended up choking on his own smoke.'
' How do you like your barbequed Griffin?' Gimod asked arching an eye ridge, ' best tell me now I'll make it to order.' The dragon smiled, ' Come along then Demon let's go grab a lion by the tail.'
Marina flew up and settled down on Gimod's back, she was unwilling to waste her own strength to fly when she could hitch a ride.
Mike, Don, Raph and Leo trudged along the sand, enjoying the fresh air and the freedom of walking out in the open for a change.
Mike cocked his head his brow furrowed slightly " Do you guys hear something?" he wondered.
Shanza flicked an ear ' It is only the sound of those who live in the sea. The merpeople, the sirens and the purposes.' She replied in a distracted manner as she watched her mate and Gimod flying towards Griffin rock.
" Porpoises" Don corrected automatically, something he was used to doing with Raph and Mike when they tended to get a word wrong in conversation. Raph never took such corrections very well, insisted that Don knew what he meant.
' No Purposes' Shanza declared firmly, ' They are purple and very large eels and their sole purpose is to guard the sea.'
Raph whooped, " Imagine that Don is wrong and he don't know any more then the rest of us do here."
Don gave Raph a disparaging look, he figured that until the scouts returned they ought to stay close to the sea and as no one was making a move to head inland he settled down to strolling the beach. " Shanza I am curious how did you end up with Demon Wing?"
Shanza bowed her head for a moment to collect her thoughts.
Symbia glanced at her friend and unable to restrain herself jumped in " Demon had been kicked out of his herd and allied himself with the enemy."
Shanza snaked her head out quickly biting at Symbia's long hair and did a quick kick out toward the centaur mare.
' Oh Symbia get over it!' Shanza huffed.
Raph paused feeling slightly uneasy " Is he some sort of troublemaker, can we trust him?" he snapped instantly suspicious of the Pegasian.
Shanza stomped her feet in anger, ' He has paid the price for the crimes of the past. He isn't like that now.'
Mike nodded " Everybody can make mistakes or do something wrong" he agreed, " If Demon has learned from it and wants to move on I don't know why it would be held against him" he muttered.
Shanza sighed, ' It takes time to regain trust and while there are many who have forgiven, forgetting is another thing. Also there are those who would rather wait to see if he truly has changed before letting go. Some may wait forever and never let it go.'
Mike shook his head, " Pity. So what did happen Shanza? That is if you don't mind my asking."
Shanza knew that Mike wasn't the sort to hold the past against Demon but she wondered how the other turtles would relate to her mate, still it was probably better for her to tell them then Symbia, who happened to be a bit of a gossip anyways and the Centaur mare just might cast too much suspicions onto Demon as she was one of the ones who felt that Demon hadn't changed.
' Demon Wing was born on a night when supposedly the demons of the netherworld walk freely on Necron, sometimes, it is said the demons will mark a creature or person born at the darkest hour of those nights. That is why Demon is all black except for mane, tail and wingtips.' Shanza sighed softly, ' Marked with the demon colours he was named for the night and time he was born and in many ways that cursed him. For no mare would want to mate with Demon feeling he would not be a fit mate or husband.' She snorted sharply, ' Far too many superstitions.'
Leo glanced over " I suppose the rejection lead to hard feelings, some general discontent, making him susceptible to the dark ones wishes?"
Shanza bobbed her head in agreement ' Exactly the dark ones of Necron offered him things he could never hope to have in a Pegasian herd, normal colours, a large harem of mares for him alone to cover and breed all in exchange for a gem.'
" What kind of rock would the dark ones be willing to pay all that for?" Raph demanded sharply.
' The rainbow gem is no ordinary rock for it has magical powers and it can be used to control or change the aspects of the present to a future of the owner's outcome. If the dark forces gained the rainbow gem they would see to it that the darkness would reign forever.' Shanza explained, ' Gimod needed the rainbow gem to know what his future might be and I agreed to help hunt it down. We met Demon Wing on the journey and he did help retrieve the gem.'
" Yeah for his own means" Raph snorted.
' The dark forces were waiting for us in a predetermined spot, then Demon stole the rainbow gem to give to the Wizards, the head wizard once he had the gem, laughed at Demon saying he had no intention of keeping their end of the bargain.'
" So they duped him and every one blames him," Mike muttered sadly shaking his head, he felt bad for Demon.
' When Demon realized the wizard's had gone back on their word he fought to regain the gem and return it to Gimod, where it would be safe and used for the good of Necron. Gimod opted to further discipline Demon by raking the Pegasian's side with dragon claws and burning his wings so Demon couldn't fly.'
Don winced at the dragon's form of punishment to a creature who obviously had all ready realized it had made an error and done the best to correct it. It seemed a bit overboard to say the least.
' When Demon's wing's grew back to normal and he could fly he returned to the unicorn meadows to personally ask my forgiveness. I liked Demon before, and I felt that he was truly contrite. I cared about him.' Shanza explained, ' And still do.'
Raph glanced at the toshe and was pleased to see none of the canines seemed to be buying into the sentimental crap " In other words Demon might just be setting up some other trap for us later?" he snapped gesturing sharply as he gritted his teeth.
Shanza lunged at him but Lobo stood in front of the red masked turtle, baring his teeth and letting loose a low threatening growl.
Shanza wrinkled her nose and gave Raph a disdainful look ' Demon has learned his lesson. He would not do it for he knows that the dark ones can not be trusted.' She stomped her slender forelegs ' Demon can be trusted now. Besides his son is being held captive by the Dark ones.'
Raph looked like he was ready to tear down Shanza's declaration but a shake from Shea's head and the lightest of nips was enough of a deterrent to keep Raph from sprouting off his mouth any further. Though he longed to point out that if Demon was still with the Dark ones or allied with them, he could easily arrange for his son's so called capture, and still make himself look a hero.
" OW" Raph did his best not to yell as he whirled on the white male toshe for the nip.
Shea gave a panting grin, and a little wag of his tail as if to say he meant no real harm.
Shanza laid back an ear and kicked out with a hind leg ' Demon would never harm my son or I for anything. A mate and offspring was all he ever desired.'
Leo silently took in the unicorn's words he fully believed in forgiving and giving people a second chance, in many ways they had all been taught to do just that, however he also knew that trust once it had been broken was not an easy thing to replace or renew. He wanted to believe that Shanza did have the right of it, that Demon had indeed learned from his lesson and wanted to move on, but he was also aware of the unicorn's trusting nature. Like Mike, the unicorn might be far more willing to forgive and forget trusting in the general good.
It was a pity that such innocence wasn't always repaid in the best way, Leo reflected, for many times those who were so naïve would be all to willing to overlook the signs that clearly pointed to trouble. It is just as well that the toshe and Raph are here to warn us of anything before we step into it. Leo thought to himself. He didn't particularly like the idea that some one in their group might betray them in some way but he was glad to have this knowledge now, instead of finding it out when it was far too late to do anything about it.
' Don't say any thing to Demon.' Shanza pleaded with them, ' He has a hard enough time with such things' She sniffed as she shot a sour look at Symbia and the toshe.
Marina came flying back under the power of her own wings she settled quickly onto Don's shoulder her eyes large with fright, her body fuzzed up and her tail sticking straight up in the air with every hair on end.
" None of the griffins are happy they won't listen to me. Right now they figure on dining on Pegasian and then coming after the rest of us," she reported sounding out of wind.
" Where is Gimod?" Don demanded, he didn't really expect the catafly to stay with the others but if there was plenty of Griffins then Gimod might be Demon Wing's only chance.
" Trying to keep the Griffins from coming this way" Marina declared simply, " But you know I shouldn't have left it to that dragon because I don't think it is working."
" Look!" Mike pointed to the sky.
Where it had once been clear now one could see dark shapes that were clearly not clouds moving steadily in their direction, it reminded Mike far too much of the harpies he had battled before meeting Shanza.
All the turtles reached for their weapons simultaneously with Symbia swinging her bow into position and notching an arrow into place just seconds behind them, the toshe spread out, growling in a menacing way as Shanza stood her ground, her body tensed and the cloud mover closer.
TBC