Chapter 4

     He followed Shadow, a little bit behind her as his chest is at her flank, looking on guard. "Anything comes, and I'm going to kill them." He snorted.

     She pinned her ears. "That seems kind of gory," Shadow said flatly.

     "Not the way I do it. Just a hit in the head with MY head and they're unconscious for a good few hours," he stated.

     They continued to fly in silence. After a while, the sun's rays glinted over the horizon. Shadow yawned. "I'm tired Diablo, do you think we can land and sleep for a few hours?"

     Diablo flied forward to Shadow, nodding. "Sure, follow me." He looked around, flying down to the left as he landed near a cave. It's too small for him to get but just right for Shadow. "Since you have the stone, you can sleep inside while I guard.”

     “What about you?" Shadow asked turning to him and giving him a concerned look. "You have to keep your strength up too."

     "I was trained to go weeks without sleep, I’m fine." He assured Shadow, smiling handsomely.

     "Are you sure? How about we take shifts?" she suggested. Shadow didn't like the idea of going to sleep while Diablo stood watch. She didn't want him to treat her specially just because she had the stone.

     He thought for a moment, then nodded as he saw the concern on Shadow’s face. "Sure."

     Shadow breathed a sigh of relief and laid down on the floor. Her eyes drooped and just as sleep overtook her she whispered. "This is so exciting; I've never been on an adventure before........" The sounds of her shallow breathing echoed throughout the cave as she slept soundly.

     Diablo stood guard, his wings covering himself as he laid in front of the hole. His remained locked on the landscape that spread out around him. He would snap up to attention at the slightest sound and tilt his head up at any bird that flew in the sky. He looked over his shoulder at Shadow’s sleeping form in the cave. He smiled and turned back to his duties.

     He eventually woke up Shadow a few hours later, as it was her shift. "It's your turn, Shadow."

     Shadow jerked her head up and yawned. "Okay." She slowly got to her feet and plodded out of the cave. It was around mid-day, the sun shined high in the sky. She squinted at its blinding rays.

     Diablo nodded, lying down as he fell asleep rather quickly, his wings covering him.

     Hours had gone by and Shadow had remained as vigilant as Diablo, but, in the shadows, something devious lurked. A tiny, wrinkly brown creature with large ears and beady eyes, called a gremlin, scurried from his hiding place amongst the rocks. He could sense the power of the stone was near. He growled softly at the black Pegasus that laying sleeping on the floor of the cave. His cave. He hadn't yet noticed the one standing outside.

     Quietly and cautiously, he crawled up to the Pegasus. 'This must be the one who's holding the stone,' he thought rubbing his stubby little hands menacingly. He crawled around behind the Pegasus and scurried up his back and under his wing.

     Diablo’s eyes darted open, seeing the ugly gremlin as he jumped to his feet and whacked him off with his wing, stomping his hooves as a display as dominance and strength.

     The gremlin let out an squeaky, evil, little cackle as it easily dodged the Pegasus’s flailing hooves. He scurried out of reach. "Give it to me Pegasus," he demanded.

     Shadow heard the commotion from inside the cave and trotted inside. "What's going on? Are you okay Diablo?" she asked.

     The gremlin eyed the second Pegasus that walked in. This one had a pouch around her neck. The stones vibration of power pumped into the gremlin's sensitive ears and he leapt at the Pegasus’s neck.

     Diablo kept his head facing the gremlin, snapping at it while his hooves scurry about. "Yes!”

     Shadow shrieked as the gremlin landed on her neck and felt it trying to pry the stone away from her. "Diablo get it off of me!" she cried and reared, her wings flapping desperately.

     Diablo quickly reached his neck out, grabbing the gremlin by its ear and pulling it off, shaking it wildly.

     The gremlin screeched and swatted the Pegasus with its tiny claws. “Let me go you big beast!” it cried out.

Diablo snorted and threw the gremlin at a sharp rock.

     Shadow looked away and pinned her ears when she heard a sickening snap. When she dared to look, she saw the gremlin dead on the ground. She trotted up to Diablo. "Nasty little things," she commented then she added more guiltily. "I'm sorry, I should have been watching in here too," she shook her head; "I suck as a guard."

     He sighed, walking up to the gremlin and sniffing it, poking it with his nose and nodding. "It was your first time."

     "Still I could have done-Ew! Don't touch it!" she exclaimed when she saw Diablo go over and investigate the gremlin's body.

     "I'm making sure it's dead." He walked away from it.

     "Are you okay? The filthy thing didn't scratch you up too bad did it?" She looked at the gremlin again, a look of disgust crossing over her face. "Do you think that's the kind of demons that the wolf warned us about?"

     He nodded, looking perfectly okay besides some blood that dripped from his wing. "Yes. And probably not, I’ve seen worse."

     Shadow rolled her eyes. "Great," she said sarcastically.

     Diablo giggled, walking outside and then rearing as he overlooked the sky. "Wanna’ go now?"

     "I guess unless you want to stay and have another gremlin crawl all over you," she snorted and shook herself.

     He laughed, spreading his wings as he galloped off the ground and flew into the air, heading north. "Heck no!"

     Shadow laughed with him and took off into the air. "I didn't think so," she said.

     Diablo slowed down, letting Shadow go ahead as he stood guard, occasionally thinking about the long adventure ahead.