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Her father growls, and charges at the two, a wave of sand following his wake. ''Grrarrrll!'' He roared, lunging quikly at Hassan, tainted claws spread. ''Prides no longer live in safety because those set to leas them perish!'' He yowled. Cass staggere up, shaking badly.

Hassan dove to the side, but too late. The sand lion's claws raked across his chest, but he still had the presence of mind to swing his scimitar. With any luck he might get a piece of the sand lion.

"Protection? We thought you were extinct!" Murat shouted back, stumbling back to give room and avoid the raging sand lion. "The only sand lion we knew about was one that followed our Founder, and then I stumbled across Cassandra here by accident. Without her help, we would have both been killed by a sand bird!"

The scimitar gives the sand lion a nasty cut across it's forehead. Hard enough that he fell limp in front of them, knocked out and bleeding, and landing in a heap of dark fur with bone wings. Cass limped over to her father and lied down beside him.

''He was a kind old lion that lead us to our home..Not a vicious one that attacks everything. I bet his sadness over losing the pride overtook him and made him this..Thing.''

Hassan clutched his chest. "Um, well, I'm sure we can probably patch him up...but, do I need to worry about turning into any kind of tainted creature now?"

He pulled his hand away to show four thin lines of blood from where the lion's paws raked him.

Murat glanced nervously at Cass, and then at her unconscious father. At this rate, they were going to be lucky to make it to Madeena at all, let alone in one piece.

''Well, the tainted energy on effects those who lost something..'' She inquired. Her father stirred awake, groaning, rubbing his forehead.

Hassan sighed in relief. "Okay, good; I haven't lost anything...that I know of." He cringed as the sand lion stirred, and tightened his grip on the scimitar. "Don't attack me again, or I will finish you off--sand lion or not."

Her father snarls, staggering up, but backing away. ''You will pay for your faults....And you will pay for attacking a sand lion!'' He hissed, sand stirring up violently.

Hassan was not one to back down, however. "And you will not be forgiven of your faults for attacking one of the desert guardians; I am an Arabian Knight. If you kill me, or try to punish me, you will ruin the lives of many others. What testament shall that leave to our children--who have heard only wonderful stories belonging to the sand lions."

Murat grimaced. "Hassan, you should not provoke him..."

Her father lost it, and charged again, snarling. ''There are two kinds of sand lions. The pures and the tainted!''

Hassan didn't even try to dodge this time. He struck with the flat of his blade, not wanting to kill the sand lion. "And you're doing a remarkable job of giving a good name to the tainted ones everywhere."

Murat tried to intervene. "Would you two quite fighting? We kind of have more pressing matters on our hands other than tainted and pure sand lions. Like the fact there are giant sand birds that bleed water, and they're becoming more common!"

The sand lion yowls and falls beside Hassan, landing on it's belly, wings flailing. ''Sand birds are birds that gave life to the desert...'' He hissed.

Seizing his opportunity, Hassan grabbed the nearest flailing wing and held his scimitar near enough to threaten the fine feathers.

"Well, that's too bad. Because while they give life to the desert, they're also wounding my companions. Murat over there has his arm broken because of one."

Murat scowled and kept his arm tucked close to his body. "I tilted against it without realizing; it was my own fault, and it was threatening a village."

Her father yowled at the seeing his wings near the scimitar.

''Sand birds are usually beneviolent. They are born of sand, and if they were to die out there would be no more oasis. Sand cats used to be thought to be related to the winged sand beasts because we live in the desert, and sand falls off our wings. In reality, however, sand birds are created by the desert. It is deathly to challenge the behemoths to a duel.''

"Then who are you to attack us, injured and weary as we are?" Hassan demanded. He didn't move the scimitar any nearer the wings, but neither did he retract the blade. "Cassandra told us that you were tainted by a phantom of the desert. Is there a way to un-taint, to purify you?"

He yowls, and attempts to kick Hasssan, while trying to free his wings in the process. Strange, how tainted feline still cared about the wings that bore hardly any feathers but still held a few fine feathers and flesh.

"Cassandra, any legends of purifying tainted sand lions?" Murat asked, watching as Hassan grunted from being kicked and clawed. But if the sand lion was stubborn about trying to get away, Hassan was just as stubborn about keeping hold of the lion.

''There was one minor legend...How a tainted sand lion was purified by a sand bird.'' Cass replied. ''But that means there was a tainted lion in the past that someone made pure again.''

"So basically we're gonna need to find another sand bird." Murat sighed and then turned to regard the two struggling creatures.

"Alright, here's the new deal," Murat began. "You two quit fighting; Cass' father is coming with us until we can get properly healed, and then we're going to search for a sand bird in the hopes of healing the taint. How does that sound?"

He could only hope they were listening.

Her father was still trying to get loose when Cass got a string and tied his mouth shut, snd toed his wings to his side. Her father huffed, but stopped fighting, unable to talk or use his wings to strike.

Murat sighed as Hassan finally released his hold on the sand lion. "Thanks, Cassandra. Did either of you hear me?"

Hassan looked over, sweat plastering his hair against his forehead. "What? I was kinda busy not being eaten by a lion."

Murat shook his head and repeated his earlier statement.