Flights Of Fancy

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

Chapter Twenty Nine: Shifting Sands

They met no more troubles over the Griffin's domain, though in reality, the troll tunnels had cut down traveling time to some extent because they didn't have to climb up, over and around a great deal of the Mountain range. The weary travelers, their spirits lifted by Mike's return to health and Marina's reincarnation, now looked towards the last of the mountains they had to make their way down to get to what lay beyond.

Mike gestured to the sandy rolling hills, " That is what we've been making our way too?" He wondered curiously.

"Of course Mike what did you think Shanza and the others meant by us having to go through the desert to get to the Volcanoes where Shaman is being held?" Don asked.

"Desert?" Mike scrunched his face up quizzically, as if he couldn't quite confirm the word ever having come up before now.

"Hot arid places, don't care for them in the least," Marina sniffed.

Raph glanced at Mike's questioning skeptical look and laughed, "Bet ya anything Mikey here thought they said dessert not desert."

"I did not" Mike protested quickly crossing his arms over his plastron and glancing away.

Raph snickered, "Yeah you did. You probably thought it was full of treats to eat ya glutton."

" So it could have been" Mike retorted.

Raph chuckled and smacked Mike on the back of the head in a friendly way "Just as I said. Ya always think wit your stomach."

Mike gave an embarrassed little grin and a casual shrug, " What's wrong with that Raph, at least I think with something, and I bet I'm not the only one who thought it was something other than desert."

Traba rolled his eyes and gave a panting grin "I am called the Foolish one, but even I am not that much of a fool."

Leo listened to the banter, paying little mind to any of it, he looked out at the rolling brown dunes with the occasional little scrub bush or cactus looking plant here or there and large rocks, it truly looked like an empty wasteland. "What sort of dangers are waiting in the desert? What will we have to look out for?" He asked curiously, he wanted to be prepared for the dangers that they might run into. Being warned ahead of time could save his life, or his brothers. Leo was fully aware that they would be far more likely to find trouble then those who had lived on Necron for years.

Shanza blew out sharply, ' There is the Phoneix, the firebird rules the land. the Basilisk the deadly lizard, can kill a being by looking at it. Then there is the Antlope, giant insects that roam across the desert devouring anything that comes in their path, they say that is why nothing grows in this desert for the Antlopes destroy it before it grows too large.'

Don considered this information, "the antlopes sound almost like warrior ants back home and stories of the Basilsk has been known through out history, the name itself means Deadly King."

'It is true enough.' Gimod allowed, "some people believe that the ones with the head of the rooster is a different species but it actually is the male. The Male Basilisk has the rooster head, the female and the young do not, only when it reaches about three years will the male young start to form the rooster head. They also have venom similar to mine.' Gimod informed them, ' All of them have a snake like body with legs and feet like lizards may, there are some on Necron who believe these creatures are related to us dragons to some extent.'

Symbia nodded, "There are certain similarities between them, though I think most wyrms would deny it on pretext alone, even if it was proven that there was a relation between them. Also one must not forget the Singing Serpents."

"Singing Serpents?" Raph grinned, the name sounded rather ridiculous and he wasn't sure if he ought to take this seriously or not.

Yes, the Singing Serpents, they bury themselves under the sand, and often pop out of nowhere to snatch the unexpected traveler. But if they have not had a meal in some time or have just gone passed a molt, then they will sing, it is an enchanting sound that lures prey to them. They then wrap and constrict their food before swallowing it whole.' Gimod rumbled.

"Great!" Leo remarked sounding anything but amused, he could already tell that going across the desert was going be an uneasy task, especially when you threw in the hazards that could be expected like extreme heat, possibly sandstorms, lack of water and that sort of thing. It was just as good they were reptilian. Then again the mutation had changed them so much that they had many human attributes so he had no knowledge of how much heat they could handle. He knew for a fact they did better in snow then most reptiles would.

Gimod flapped his wings, 'I'm looking forward to soaking up some heat, who knows I may yet learn another ability. I haven't learned one for years.'

" Are you supposed to learn something new every year?" Don inquired curiously.

Gimod rumbled a bit, ' Not necessarily. All dragons are born with the ability to communicate telepathically, to fly and bring down food on wing and to flame. It is said when a dragon is able to do all these things he has earned his heritage,' Gimod explained patiently, ' The rest of a dragons ability comes later as the wyrm grows. It is said the longer a dragon lives the more abilities he may have. I have earned venom, the ability to control others, and to teleport from one place to another. Some dragons can spit ice, throw tail spikes, are able to become invisible and other traits as well.'

Marina fluttered around Gimod, "Pity dragons can't look cute."

' There is one dragon around my home a blue dragon who can make herself smaller or larger at will. She is very talented Hajshe is.' Gimod replied, 'When she shrinks herself down she is amazingly cute even for a dragon, and that is saying a lot, for we wyrms aren't normally thought of in that way.'

Traba licked his lips " A small little dragon fly huh? I could make a meal of that."

' Hmmm try it and Hajshe would grow large and teach you exactly what a dragon is.' Gimod retorted sharply, ' Come we get no closer to the desert by standing here looking at it, and if we move quick enough we will be able to start our trek in the desert through the night until it gets too hot to move.'

Leo nodded agreement, it made sense to do most of their moving during the coolest time, which meant night travel, besides their journey wasn't getting any closer to the end by standing in one spot looking at where they were heading.

XXX

They didn't get to the sandy desert until some hours later in the afternoon, the Mountain rocks giving away to the shifting sand, and heat. Nor did they have to go that far before they felt how warm the fine grains were under foot or how hot the sun suddenly seemed to become. They moved on slowly, and the toshe began to pant from the heat, their long tongues hanging out. Marina curled up on Demon Wing's back between his feathery wings to avoid being cooked.

Mike licked his lips and groaned wearily, "You know there have been plenty of times I thought I was dying of thirst, but I had no idea what that was until now."

"It ought to cool off soon enough" Don croaked, "the sun is starting to drop and when it does then it may get quite cool, that is if it is anything like at home."

"Are we going stop for a rest break or are we going straight on till morning?" Mike asked.

' We will stop for a rest and water break, for a bit soon.' Shanza allowed, ' We can have an hour, or two to rest.'

Mike was willing to accept it, he watched Symbia wipe her brow with her hand, shade her eyes and continue on, her hooves moving at a slow steady pace.

They continued for a bit coming near a large rock and a few cactus Shanza nodded her head, approving of the site as a rest spot, she lowered her horn and concentrated, from the rock came a cool deep pool of water, surrounded by grass, the cactus seemed to grow larger and grew branches with leaves on it. Marina bounced off Demon's back and squatted down near the water, lapping it up as if it were cream. Traba seeing the catafly other wise occupied crouched down and stalked up behind her. When he was right behind her he barked loudly then yanked on her tail.

Marina yowled as she leaped up, Traba released his hold, and the catafly in her rage at being bitten, by a dog, no less. Never mind being barked at in such a way forgot she had wings and she crashed down in the water, soaking wet and spluttering, while the toshe rolled on the grassy banks enjoying her irate remarks.

Don looked at the crisp clear pool of water "I so want to dive in."

"You and me both." Raph seconded.

Shanza snorted, ' Go on it is Unicorn water, it will stay pure you won't have to worry about tainting the water in any way. We will still be able to drink it Donatello.' She assured him soothingly.

That was all the invitation any of them needed the four turtles ditched their gear and dived in starting a water fight, then they came ashore feeling much cleaner and fresher then ever. Leo felt so awake that he decided to do some katas, but Mike and Raph curled up for a short power nap to further energize them. When they were finally ready to head back out over the sandy hills, the sun had almost fully set and everyone was more then ready to continue their trek.

As the stars started to come out Symbia began to tell the turtles about some of Necron's constellations, for the clear skies over head gave a wonderful view for her lesson on astronomy, " Up there that set of stars near the bright one is called the unicorn, the bright star is the horn tip." Don and Leo seemed to be the most interested in such talks. The toshe had ranged off into the desert to hunt up small bugs or rodents.

As the night wore on though clouds seemed to drift over the sky blotting out the stars, Demon took off to round up the toshe pack as it started to grow windy, by the time the toshe and Demon returned the wind had picked up, and the others had bunched closer together.

' This storm is not right it comes too fast.' Gimod shook his head, ' I will see if I can find shelter somewhere, for a sandstorm is coming and we can not continue under such conditions. Try to stay together until I get back.' He warned cautiously before taking flight.

Shanza and Demon bowed their heads, squeezing their eyes shut and trying to keep their nostrils shut off as much as possible to prevent any blowing sand from entering. ' Will move on for now.' Demon told the dragon.

' Yes no need staying in the open but if the weather gets bad stay in one spot.' Gimod insisted firmly, his voice sounded faint.

Symbia snorted "Only a dragon could fly in this wind."

The wind picked up speed and tiny granules of dirt, sand and grit were everywhere, it was hard to see each other in the debris that was scattered around and about them, Shanza trembled at how ferocious the storm seemed to be getting. She knew that the dark ones had to be behind this, somehow and she wished Gimod would return, she wasn't even sure they were on the right path anymore for they might have been blown and pushed off course. Perhaps, the corn mused to herself, Gimod had decided to lay low until the worse was over for the storm had become quite wild.

She could feel Symbia near by, for the centaur had taken a light hold of her mane, so as not to lose sight of her, but when Shanza tried to discern where Demon was she couldn't see him. 'Demon? DEMON!' she called anxiously. She trembled all over when she heard no reply. She paused stamping the ground in sudden indecision, ' Symbia I don't feel Demon or the others near.'

Symbia heard Shanza's thoughts and she was smart enough to give clear thoughts back to the unicorn mare instead of trying to out shout the winds that lashed at them ' Somehow we must have lost track of them. Lets just find a place and settle there until this storm clears up.'

Shanza shook her head in denial, she wanted to look for her mate and friends. ' Have you no loyalty. We must find them ...'

Symbia shook her head and wrapped both arms around Shanza's neck, " No we won't. We will only become more lost. Demon and the toshe will keep the others safe," She called into Shanza's ear, "We must lay low until it is safe to travel and I believe I see some rocks ahead where we might find some form of cover."

Shanza planted her hooves her tail lashing but the howling winds and the sand that pelted her, decided her in favour of common sense and she soon followed Symbia towards a blurry dark shape beyond them, as they neared they could see it was a rock wall of some kind and they found an area up against it where the wind didn't reach them as much, though they were not fully covered. All they could do now was wait.

XXX

Demon had turned to insure the toshe and the turtles were all together, the pesky Catafly was burrowed tightly like a pest, on his back. The tiny granules of dirt stung his eyes and hide, and the pegasian longed to get out of the sand storm. When he had assured himself that all were present and accounted for he turned back to find that Shanza and Symbia had vanished into the gloom of the storm itself. The toshe would be no help in hunting or tracking the two missing members down, the storm would hinder that.

Demon breathed out sharply and accidentally inhaled sand into his lungs when he breathed in, he coughed and pawed the ground, 'We have lost Shanza and Symbia in the storm. Let us hole over and hopefully find them when this subsides.'

Leo patted the stallion and nodded his head, and though Demon couldn't be a hundred percent sure he thought he heard one of the toshe bark in agreement.

' Try to stay close then and let's not lose anyone else.' Demon decided. ' It is probably too dangerous to move on ward. But lying in the storm is no good either for we could be buried alive under the force of the elements themselves.'

Leo heard that and held his sword, thinking of a shelter of some kind that would house them, and though the sword shivered and shimmered it didn't seem capable of doing it. Don watched the sword and considered the facts of the magical world they were on slowly took the staff that had come from the strongest wood on Necron, wood so strong it couldn't burn in fire. ' But what can it do? You don't really believe it will do anything do you?' Don asked himself as he looked at his staff. He grinned a bit to himself as he realized there were many things here that he had seen that he didn't quite believe it didn't stop him from seeing it, or from its mere existence for that matter. ' Aw what the hell.' Don thought, 'Consider this an experiment in magic.' With that he thrust his staff against the magic sword Leo held.

The light from Leo's dwarf sword seemed to change colour and shift as if suddenly it realized what was wanted, if a weapon could actually determine such a thing. Then the winds seemed to cut down, and there was a creaking noise like branches in the wind, but they were clearly in a wooden structure, that was though perhaps not solidly built or very large was protecting them from the elements outside.

Lobo growled appreciatively "Powerful magic that!"

"I don't see a door though guys" Raph said as he turned in a slow circle.

"Don't need one when we want to leave we just drop the magic by taking back your weapons" Marina,advised. "At least we are protected now" She purred as she sat up.

So they all found a place to settle down for some sleep listening to the winds rage and rant while feeling safe in the shelter. They were all woken sometime later to the bugling sound of a dragon. Leo and Don reached out for their weapons and as soon as they pulled the staff and sword towards themselves the rest of the shelter vanished.

"Astonishing" Don beamed with surprise.

Gimod crooned on seeing his friends, 'Where is Shanza and Symbia?' he inquired after making a mental roll call.

' We were separated' Demon confessed. ' But I am ready to look for them.'

Before Gimod could respond though they heard a faint message come from Shanza 'Help Antlopes. We are surrounded.' And then nothing.

TBC