He decided that a flying form was best, but not one that could be blown about. So he assumed the form of a ghost. He wasn't a true ghost, of course, because he wasn't dead; he just looked like one and acted like one, and the wind couldn't touch him because he wasn't solid enough.

He floated through the border. The wind tried to take him and hurl him about, but it couldn't get a grip on him. It howled with exasperation.

This might once have been a nice region, but the wind had scoured the soil from the land and the clouds from the sky. Probably it had also blown away the stars of the night. But he wasn't here to appreciate the view; he had to find Che, if he were here, and to be sure he was somewhere else if he weren't here.

He floated around just inside the border, picking up speed. He would spiral in toward the center of Air, looking at everything; he didn't dare miss one spot, lest that be the one where a poor injured foal lay waiting for rescue. Actually, since Che had been foal-napped, he probably wasn't alone, but captive of some other creature. Still, that creature or creatures could be holding him here, so it was best to look for a house or shelter too, and inspect any he spied.

This was a dull region, once he allowed for the violence of the wind. There was no vegetation at all, just sand, and the wind was constantly whipping it up into sandstorms. If anyone sat on the ground long, he would be buried in sand. A captor shouldn't take Che here for that.

Then Dolph had another bad thought. Suppose someone were mad at Chex or Cheiron and wanted to make them suffer? He could steal their foal away and dump him here, and they would certainly suffer! He wouldn't care that the foal could not survive in all the wind and sand; that would be the point.

Did he really want to find Che, if that was the case? A dead foal buried under sand?

No, that was too horrible! Nobody would want to do that to the winged centaurs. The regular centaurs didn't like them, because centaurs had very strict notions about species purity, but all centaurs were creatures of honor who would not stoop to any such malice. The other winged monsters certainly wouldn't, because all of them were sworn to protect their own; Dolph had crashed Chex's wedding ceremony and knew how the Simurgh had impressed this on them, and on Dolph too. Of course the land monsters weren't bound, but most of them lacked the wit to foal-knap him; they would simply eat him and be done with it. So the chances were that this was a more organized effort and that the foal wouldn't be left in a place like this.

Little dust devils sported among the moving sand dunes, being watched by their parent tornadoes. They had fun sucking up the sand and throwing it around. This was one big sandlot, for them. But there was no sign of Che or any other living thing. Dolph was glad.