Vindicator

by The Wandering King

After the battle with Malefor, Spyro and Cynder try to find their way back to Warfang. Exhausted from their endeavors, they stumble onto an ape encampment and are nearly executed for their crimes against the ape nation. However, their vengeance is interrupted when a mysterious figure of terrifying power descends from the heavens to protect Cynder. Now it follows from the shadows.

2. Chapter 2-Vestige

Chapter 2-Vestige

I have arrived. I came to offer you deliverance from the damned who so appallingly lift praises up to the sky. Their unbridled yearning for vengeance was their undoing, their boundless arrogance the unraveling of the barest remains of mercy I might have afforded them. They sleep now, tortured by the perpetual retribution of the divine. It is ironic, how they shall forever pay for their transgressions when they believed themselves removed from the heretics and blasphemers they thought so littered the world. But they forgot the true nature of the gods long ago. By allowing their most sacred of lore to pass away into the annals of time, tainted by lifetimes of gradual corruption, they leapt into the abyss. It is not my duty to take delight in their destruction, but it is with a great deal of satisfaction that I draw the veil across their faces. For your safety, their penance is my absolution. I watch from the shadows now, keeping silent vigil over you and your companion. It is not my place to come before you, to point the way to your destination. I exist only for your vindication. But know this. Though you do not see me, I remain by your side, a solemn sentinel.

Nightmares tormented the young dragons. They huddled together, shivering in desperate fear of what was only echoed remnants of their previous night in the forest that had clung to their young, terrified minds. Cynder awoke with a start, still able to feel the sword an imaginary ape had plunged between her ribs, but the cold bite of steel was already receding. Spyro felt the violent jerk against his body and jumped to his feet, at the ready in a second. "What? What is it?"

"Nothing. Just a bad dream."

Spyro sat down and yawned. "So you didn't sleep well either, I take it?"

Cynder rubbed the sleep from her eyes and shook her head. Then she blinked. "Spyro, look."

Spyro followed her gaze and saw a cluster of green and red crystals. "Where did those come from?"

"I don't know. They didn't grow there. Someone put them here."

"Or something."

"You don't think—" Cynder looked around. To the right was an open field that stretched away into mountains that looked like oily waves on the horizon. To the left was the forest of unspeakable horror from the night before. All was silent. Cynder turned back to Spyro and nudged her head toward the crystals. "I say we take the gift. Ancestors know we sorely need it."

Spyro was quick to agree. They advanced toward the crystals and took care to share them equally. However, their efforts to make certain that neither of them received more than the other proved pointless, as there was more in the pile than they needed. Once Spyro filled the empty hole inside himself with the fresh wellspring of energy, he stretched himself out and lifted his wings. "That helped tremendously, but my wings are still too sore. I don't think I can fly for a few more days."

"Do you think that's the reason for the red crystals?" said Cynder. She picked one up and gently pressed it to his back between his wings joints. The crystal slowly seeped into his body and was gone, leaving only Cynder's lingering paw on Spyro's scales.

Spyro lifted his wings even higher than before and flapped them a bit. "It's better, but I still don't think I can fly. Should we use more?"

Cynder shook her head. "These crystals are meant for healing wounds, not sore muscles. They still ought to help, but only a little at a time. The best we can hope for is that they'll speed up the healing process."

"I suppose that's better than nothing." Spyro picked up one of the ruby red crystals and set it between Cynder's wings like she did for him.

"Oh, you're right. That does feel a little better. Even still, I don't think we should try flying for a couple more days. I wish we had a pouch or something to carry these with us. I wouldn't mind having a little baggage if it means having a good morning healing crystal for us."

Spyro looked to the mountains on the horizon. He watched as the tall grass between them and their destination swayed gently in the afternoon breeze. The scent of new growth drifted through the air. "Yeah, but we'll just have to be thankful for all this stuff we did get. We've got a long way to go, and I don't see any food or water out there."

Cynder stood next to Spyro and followed his gaze. "It'll take two days to get to those mountains on foot. If we could fly, we could get there before nightfall."

"There's no sense complaining about what we can't change. The best thing we can do is press on and hope we can find some resources to keep us going out there."

Cynder watched the grass swish back and forth for several more seconds before saying, "I don't think it would be wise to go straight through the plain. For one, I see no trees or water between here and the mountains. A healthy dragon can live for four weeks with no food, but no water for four days will kill us. We haven't had a drink since yesterday, so we've got three days to find water. Crossing the plain would leave us with no water for three days. I don't like that. Also, there's no cover out there. If there's trouble, we'll be totally defenseless. I like that even less than pushing our water limit. There's no telling what may be lying in wait in that tall grass. It would be much safer to follow the tree line. We're bound to find a river if we stick close to the woods. Where there's water there's life. Plus, if anyone tries to ambush us we can lose them in the trees if need be."

Spyro watched Cynder's eyes flit between the mountains, the plain, the woods, and him, analyzing their situation with ease. It was inspiring how she was able to deliberate their most hopeful course of action based only on what she saw around her and her wits. When Cynder was finished explaining her reasons for taking a roundabout path to the mountains Spyro could only think to nod slowly. But after letting everything she said sink in Spyro raised his paw toward the mountains. "I understand your concerns, and I agree with you, but who knows how long it will take to get to the mountains if we walk parallel with them until we find a river?"

Cynder pointed in the direction she indicated that they should take and said, "I know it sounds annoying, but I'd rather take the scenic route back to Warfang and make sure we actually get there than plow straight into danger because it's convenient. If worse comes to worse, we'll just have to wander the edge of the woods until we're well enough to fly again."

"But what if the apes come looking for us again? We can't just stick around next to their sacred land. They'll kill us for sure."

Cynder looked back at the woods and said, "Are you so sure about that?"

Spyro followed her eyes. "Cynder, I don't know if we can rely on that thing to continue to protect us, let alone trust it. We have no idea why it let us live. What if it's still in there watching us?"

"That's what I'm hoping for," said Cynder.

"You're going to ride on the hope that that thing is going to save us again if we need it to? That's not like you. When have you ever hoped for anything positive?"

Cynder's scales bristled and she immediately set to work smoothing them down. "What? You mean ever? The first time I remember hoping for anything was when we were in the Fellmuth Arena."

"Oh," was Spyro's reply. "I forgot about that. You were the one who came up with the idea to work together to get out of there."

"I've lived through hopeless situations my whole life," said Cynder. "If I feel like there's a way out, even if it's the slimmest chance, I'll give it my all trying to turn things around. I know how to survive in the wilderness, and I know how to avoid enemy traps. I planned many ambushes in my day; I know where the best places to set one up are. If we avoid areas like that and look for food and water in likely places, we'll make it to Warfang no problem."

"Assuming we're going the right way," said Spyro.

"Assuming we're going the right way." Cynder looked left then right, clearly trying to decide which way they should go. After a few seconds of deliberation, she pointed to the right. "That way is south. If we follow the trees in this direction, we'll be making our way toward the ocean, which is convenient for a number of reasons if you think about it. Most rivers run out to sea. We're more likely to come across one if we go that way. Plus, Warfang rests in the south easterly portion of Avalar. If we're much farther north, which is very likely since I've never been in the northwest and I don't recognize the area, then this should take us much closer to our destination while we follow the smart and safe path. What do you think?"

"I think you're amazing," said Spyro.

"Oh." The compliment clearly caught Cynder off guard. Spyro watched as his words brought a smile to her face, which she hid poorly. "Well, um, thank you. So that's a yes?"

"Get moving and find water? That's the best idea I've heard all day. Also, I'm hungry. I'm sure you feel the same."

"I do," said Cynder. "I don't know if there'll be any good hunting along the way, but if you're willing to stomach some wild berries, I'm sure we'll find plenty of those by the forest."

"Stomach them?" said Spyro with a laugh. "I ate nothing else when I lived with my parents. Oh, my parents. Gosh, I wonder how they're doing. I haven't seen them since—well—it's been over three years now. Now that I think about it, I don't even know if they're still alive."

"They're fine, Spyro." Cynder cupped Spyro's face with her paw and lifted it until their eyes met. "If anything were wrong, you would know it."

"Would I? How can you know that?"

Cynder watched Spyro for a while. He could tell that she was thinking what to say. But after a long pause, all she said was, "Well, for what it's worth, I never knew my parents, and I'm fairly sure I never will. If something did happen to your parents, I'll be here for you."

Spyro lifted one corner of his mouth in a half attempted smile. "We should walk and talk."

"Oh, of course." Cynder took the first step and Spyro fell into place beside her.

"If you want to get technical, I never knew my parents either. That day, when the temple was attacked and our nest was raided—"

"The day they took me," said Cynder.

"Yeah. That day. Before the apes were able to reach the main chamber, Ignitus fled with my egg and floated it down the river. It was Sparx's parents who found me and took me in."

"You've told me this story before," said Cynder. "Why are you telling me again?"

Spyro caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his vision, but when he glanced at the tree line, all he saw were the branches bobbing in the breeze. He turned back to Cynder and nudged her cheek with his wing. "To let you know that you're not alone. You're not the only one who never knew your parents. But let me tell you something. It's not blood that makes a family. You may have gone your whole life without one, and there's nothing I can do about that. But I can do something about it now. I'll be your family. And Sparx, too. And my mom and dad would love to meet you if I ever see them again."

Cynder let out a snort. "Sparx for a brother, huh? So my family would be more dragonfly than dragon." She bit her lip and sniffed. "It's a start, I guess."

"Trust me, they'll be good to you. And the way Sparx talks to you all the time, that's just the way he is. He likes you; he's just not the greatest at showing affection. He's always giving me backhanded compliments and sarcastic speeches, too. You just have to take him in stride."

Cynder placed the tip of her wing over Spyro's mouth to quiet him for a moment. "It's more than I could have ever asked for. Thank you, Spyro. I'd be honored to be a part of your family."

"Well, I should certainly hope so considering we're going to be together now." Spyro tilted his head down to peer lovingly into her eyes.

Heat rose up through her cheeks as Spyro brought up their arrangement once again. Cynder laughed and rubbed her face against his neck, marking him with her scent while picking up some of his own with the movement. "I can't wait until we reach Warfang. You've really given me something to look forward to, Spyro. You'd better not disappoint me. Those who do always wish they hadn't."

Spyro glanced warily into her eyes for a moment before sharing a laugh with her. "I'll see to it that your future is everything you could possibly wish for."

Cynder wrinkled her nose at the idea and shook her head. "No, don't do that."

Spyro raised an eyebrow in askance at the rejection of such a lovely offer. "Why not?"

"Because," said Cynder as she slapped him playfully on the rear with the flat of her tail spade, "I want some excitement in my life. I'm used to adventure and danger and wild, outlandish scenarios. You can't pamper me until I'm a tame dragoness good only for nest games."

Spyro's eyes popped open at the insinuation and he immediately waved a paw between them to clear himself. "I don't think that about you, Cynder. I mean, we haven't even—"

The rest of his defense was cut off by a shout of laughter. Spyro looked Cynder up and down with a rapid sweep of the eyes while she collected herself enough to speak. "Oh, Spyro. You're adorable. I was only saying that getting everything I want whenever I want it sounds dreadfully boring. There's no fun in getting your way all the time."

Spyro smoothed his scales down and nodded at her words. "Yeah, okay. I can see what you mean. But still, I want to make you happy. Seeing you happy makes me happy, you know?"

"I know," said Cynder with a flourish of her tail and a beaming smile. "I feel the same way about you."

"So," said Spyro as he stared at the ground at his feet. "What sorts of things ought I know about you? You know. To make you happy? What would you want from me?"

Cynder gave him a smirk and slowly lifted her face up to the sky in a thoughtful expression. "Well, let's see. I love sleeping until I wake up naturally. It just gives me the best start to the day. Plus, I don't get that luxury terribly often, so it's a precious one. Maybe now that I'm free of a life of constant warfare I can finally catch up on some of all that much missed beauty sleep."

"You seem to get all the beauty sleep you need, but okay," said Spyro with a suave grin.

Cynder rolled her eyes to meet Spyro's. "Easy there. I get enough cheese with your brother around."

"I'm serious," said Spyro. He spread his wings for emphasis and pawed at her foreleg. "You're gorgeous. And I'm not just saying that because you're the only dragoness my age I've ever met."

That got a snort out of Cynder. She immediately covered her snout and hunched her shoulders. "Shut up. You're making me laugh like a boar."

"I think it's cute," said Spyro as he pranced a few steps before settling down. "All right. So you want more restful sleep. What else? Anything I can do for you?"

Cynder appeared to think about it for a moment longer before finally shrugging her wings. "There's always nest games."

Spyro tripped over a rock in his path and reared back up to stare wildly into Cynder's eyes all agleam with mischief. "What?" she asked with an innocent air, turning her head away just a hair. "You look surprised, Purple Dragon. I am a young dragoness. Fifteen, in fact. The appropriate age."

She slowly turned back to look Spyro full in the face and said as though she were talking about the weather, "And I did say I want some excitement in my life."

Spyro swallowed.

Cynder was acutely aware of her heart beating in her chest. For a moment, she could feel it pounding away inside her, growing more and more rapid with each second that she stared into Spyro's eyes, which were beginning to cloud with some emotion she had never seen there before. She felt as though she were about to take flight devoid of the aid of her wings, but then a snick in the trees caught her attention and she tore her gaze away from Spyro's face.

The tree line was still, but her senses were on full alert. After the events of the night before, no sound was going to go uninspected. Cynder rose up and planted her forepaws on the ground, firmly facing the woods. "All right, we know you're there. Show yourself."

Silence was her only answer. Spyro turned toward the woods and began to press forward with slow deliberation. "Come on out or we're coming in after you."

More silence followed the challenge. Spyro looked back at Cynder and she began to follow him, though she approached from several feet away, thinking it better not to bunch too close together and make a single target. When they were a mere tail length from the edge of the trees, Spyro burst through the foliage with a low growl meant to scare away any unwanted trouble makers who may not want to fight a dragon head on.

Cynder leapt through after him seconds later and charged a few feet in the direction she heard the noise from earlier. She didn't have to go far. What she was expecting was a small group of apes, or perhaps a lone scout, trailing them to report their location back to a larger contingent. What she found was much more chilling.

For several seconds she just stood in place and stared. A moment later, Spyro lumbered through the underbrush and stopped next to her. There on the ground at their feet was an ape. He was a scrawny one, clearly no good for fighting all on his own. Cynder suspected he was in fact a scout. Or at least he had been before his neck was broken.

Spyro stepped forward and placed a paw against his throat. A few seconds later he came away and backed up next to Cynder. He leaned forward and breathed into her ear so softly he barely made the words. "Still warm. He's just died."

"Then that means…"

The scales all over Cynder's body bristled and she looked around frantically, trying to stay calm. It would do no good to panic. If they made too much of a fuss, then whatever had killed this ape would surely come for them next. It had to be near. The snap she had heard in the trees very well could have been the ape's neck. That meant the kill was barely a minute old. As it was, the killer was practically right on top of them. Perhaps it was already stalking them too, sneaking closer and closer, employing the same deadly stealth that had made its last kill so nearly silent, preparing to strike the killing blow.

Then Cynder felt it. A disturbance in the air, like a breath from behind, so subtle she would have sworn under any other circumstances she had just imagined it. She whirled around as fast as she could manage and stared with desperate intensity at the trees standing at the edge of the woods, the sunlight glaring between the gaps in the boughs and the leaves.

Spyro turned with her, but upon seeing nothing, whipped around and faced away from her, covering her rear. They stood tail to tail, still as can be, saying nothing in the silence while searching for the danger that their senses kept telling them was coming.

Cynder watched the spot that every ounce of her ancestral instincts was telling her to for a timeless span that could have been seconds or minutes. But all she could see were the leaves and the branches swaying in the breeze. Still, something seemed off about the movement, like what she was staring at didn't quite appear real. For several heartbeats she tried to figure out what was bothering her about it until it suddenly popped out at her.

Her eyes slowly widened in fear and her stomach plummeted as all at once she recognized the faint outline of something standing there. The branches and the leaves within the outline weren't perfectly matching everything on the outside. There was a slight delay in the movement, causing the leaves to become disjointed at the edges.

Cynder covered her mouth with a paw. "By the ancestors!"

The image suddenly blurred for a fraction of a second and a loud alien noise unlike anything Cynder had ever heard before split the silence. Spyro was in front of Cynder in a second, holding himself between her and any would be assailant, but the figure was already gone. Vanished into thin air.

Cynder fell to the ground and crumpled into a violently shivering ball. Spyro whirled around and grasped Cynder by the foreleg. "What's the matter? Are you hurt? What happened?"

Cynder got to her paws then, not bothering to brush away the tears streaming down her face. "I have to get out of here. We have to go."

Spyro was still pestering Cynder for details as he followed her out of the trees and back out onto the open plains a hundred feet or so from the edge of the woods. She stopped then and sat down, breathing in measured time until she was calm. Once she was able to wipe the tears from her eyes and shivered again with a glance at the trees, Spyro tried again.

"What happened?" he said, more controlled than before.

Cynder gestured at the trees and lifted her head up to the sky as if looking for something there to comfort her. "It was there the whole time. Just watching us."

Spyro's scales rose up and he had to smooth them down. "What do you mean? What was there?"

Cynder flapped her paw at the woods again. "That thing from last night. It was just standing there. I was staring right at it for a long time and I didn't even know it. It blends in with the background somehow. It was almost completely invisible. I only noticed it because I was certain something was there and watched that spot for a while. And even then I almost assumed it was nothing and turned my back on it."

A shiver worked its way down Spyro's spine. Now he understood. They just as easily could have shared the ape's fate. Their lives had been in the hands of monster, and they didn't even realize it. The only reason why they were still alive was because it let them live.

But it had let them live. And that left questions to be answered. Spyro shook his head and looked Cynder in the eyes. She held his gaze, drawing on the reassuring look held there. He regarded the woods for a brief moment again, clearly thinking. "Why do you suppose it's following us? What is that thing?"

Cynder shook her head and rose to her paws, still trembling at the thought of how helpless they had been to detect such an immediate and imposing potential threat. She fought off that feeling by mentally repeating that it had chosen not to harm them when it certainly could have. "I wish I knew," she said slowly.

"It killed that ape," said Spyro, his voice filled with uncertainty. "Why? I feel like there's something going on here. Something we don't understand."

Cynder thought back to the ape lying on the ground just past the edge of the tree line. It had clearly been a scout, possibly on a mission to track them so that a larger force could take them by surprise when they were at their most vulnerable. She looked up, a thought stirring in her mind. "It's protecting us."

Spyro rolled his head around on his shoulders until he met her gaze with a sidelong glance. "You're not still on about that, are you?"

Cynder held her paws out and spread her wings a fraction. "Why can't you believe it? Is it really so impossible? I understand how improbable it seems, but we don't know anything about this creature. How else do you explain it letting us go twice? It killed everything around us last night, following us to the edge of the woods. It brought us crystals while we slept."

"You don't know that," said Spyro with a pointed claw.

"Oh, and you think the apes dropped them off for us, do you? Don't be stupid. It helped us escape with our lives and helped us heal and regain our strength last night, and now it's killed an ape that was tracking us."

Spyro was silent for a time while he processed the information. After a long pause he nodded his head slowly. "It sure seems that way. I just wish we knew what it wanted."

Cynder looked up at the sky and held a paw up between the sun and the horizon. "Me, too. But there's nothing we can do about that right now. For the time being, I say we get moving. There's only so much daylight left, and we're still a long way from Warfang."

For the rest of the afternoon they walked along the edge of the woods, making sure to keep their distance from that foreboding den of lurking horrors. No river ever came into sight and the only food they found along the way was a group of wild hares that Spyro complained took more energy to catch than they provided. Still, the food was welcome, but the lack of water was a concern that troubled Cynder. They would need to find some soon if they were going to continue their journey with ease.

The sun was low in the sky, washing purpled clouds in a sea of fire by the time they stopped for a break. They had walked for several hours and their thirst was beginning to become uncomfortable. White foam collected on Cynder's tongue as she licked around the inside of her gums to dispel the clinging sensation that nagged at her mouth. It was the beginning signs of impending dehydration. There was no immediate danger to their health as of yet, but it wouldn't take long to become more and more of a problem if left unanswered.

Though she refused to complain about something that they could do nothing to alleviate, Cynder knew that Spyro was all too aware of her discomfort. He kept casting sideways glances at her every few minutes and asking her how she was holding up along the way. It would have been annoying if it wasn't so sweet, but she always replied that she was probably faring as well as he was.

Now, however, she couldn't help but sigh wistfully at the thought of something to drink. Spyro wrapped his tail around hers and placed a paw on her foreleg. "Something the matter?"

"Just thirsty is all. A lake, a pond, a river, a rainstorm, I'd even take a blizzard at the moment."

Now Spyro slapped the ground with his tail and reared his head back with a frustrated groan just tame enough to fall short of a roar. Cynder reared her head back for a moment in surprise and narrowed her eyes at him. "What's the matter with you?"

"I'm such an idiot," said Spyro. He slapped the ground with his tail again for emphasis and held his paw in the air between them. A chill filled the space around him for a brief moment and all of the moisture in the air coalesced into a ball of snow.

Spyro held the snowball up for Cynder to see, an exasperated, yet pleased gleam in his eye. "What is ice, but frozen water?"

Cynder slapped a paw against her face and dragged it slowly down her muzzle. "Of course. Why didn't I think of that? Good thinking, Spyro. I forgot that you can literally pull water from thin air. That's got to be one of the most useful survival skills anyone can have."

They both bit into the snow, allowing it to melt in their mouths so that the cold, refreshing liquid could run down their parched throats. When the snowball was gone, Spyro made another. It was easy. It required barely any magic at all.

Cynder greedily chomped nearly a third of the second snowball in one bite and held it in her mouth to thaw. Her face then screwed up in an expression of agony and she opened her mouth to allow the snow to fall to the ground. "Ah!"

Spyro snorted and swallowed the tiny mouthful of water that he had so prudently measured out. After all, the water wasn't going anywhere. "Brain freeze?"

"Uh huh." Cynder nodded, her mouth open and her eyes clamped shut.

"Here, let me help." Spyro leaned in and placed his mouth against Cynder's, turning his head sideways so their noses wouldn't get in the way. He pursed his lips, and blew a flicker of flame up toward the roof of her mouth, careful not to touch her with it and burn her.

A few seconds later, Cynder opened her eyes and saw what Spyro was doing. When he inhaled to get ready for another flame, Cynder quickly licked his tongue. Spyro backed up and gave her an awkward look. "What was that for?"

"To thank you," said Cynder with a flick of her tail.

"Oh." For a moment, he didn't appear to know what to think. It was amusing, seeing the purple dragon of legend, the fabled hero of Avalar, perplexed by a simple act of affection.

Cynder half suppressed a giggle and turned her head to eye him coyly. "Would you like me to continue?"

Spyro laughed, though there was no humor in it. He shifted restlessly on his paws for a moment before looking back up into her eyes. "Yeah, I would."

They both leaned inward expectantly. Cynder felt her heart thumping against her ribs once again. The sound of it throbbed in her ears, and her face felt hot. As Spyro neared her, she closed her eyes and tilted her head up to meet him.

Somewhere nearby a voice shouted, echoing across the empty plains over one of the rolling hills nearby. Though it was muffled by distance the words were clear and unmistakable in the quiet of the setting sun. "All right, men. We make camp here for the evening. Quamog and Xareb, you go gather wood for the fire. Ashnop and Velzok, you cook. Everyone else gather 'round and draw straws for the night watch shifts."

Cynder and Spyro stared at each other, their faces still an inch apart. They both winced at the sound of heavy gear falling to the ground and the vague drone of a small crowd milling about. Spyro formed a thin lipped look of frustration and clenched his claws before pounding the ground with his paw. They both got down low and crawled toward the hill, curving away from the woods. When they reached the top they could see down into a slight dip in the land where a group of apes stood in a circle around a much bigger one who had to be the leader.

All of the apes were some of the largest Cynder had ever seen, clearly elite forces bred for the most brutal missions demanding imposing strength. But the leader was even larger still, nearing the size of one of the dragon elders. This could only be an Alpha, one of the best of the best among the entire ape nation. Cynder relayed what she knew about them to Spyro in a hushed whisper.

"That one in the center is bad news. He's an Alpha. There aren't too many of them around. I always wondered where they were all hiding. After you rescued me in Convexity, I never saw any of them again except for Gaul. Maybe this sacred land of theirs is where they stay."

"How dangerous can he possibly be?" said Spyro.

Cynder looked at Spyro and shook her head. "You remember your duel with Gaul, right? That's as good a place as any to draw conclusions. I rarely saw them in battle when I ruled their armies. They didn't take orders from me. But when orders came down from Gaul, they participated in battle. The result was always bloody. They're much stronger than dragons. Their bodies are built for tearing limbs off like it's just pulling weeds. And some of them know the most powerful magic the ape nation has at its disposal."

"So he's like another Gaul?" said Spyro, tilting his head down at the massive figure.

"Pretty much," said Cynder. "Whenever the time comes for a new king to be appointed, the Alphas hold a tournament to compete for the crown. Gaul won last time, but that doesn't necessarily mean he was the strongest among them. Their challenges are varied, and I have to admit he was clever for an ape. That's how he secured his victory. Some of the others are far more brutal than he was. A few of them even possess magic that put his to shame."

"If that's true, then why did they never come out to fight in the war?"

"As I said, the Alphas only moved on Gaul's command, and he did not employ them lightly. Though they swore their allegiance to him when he took the throne, several among them hated him for working with dragons. They saw it as a crime and most likely view his death as a fitting punishment for his dealings with Malefor and me. Gaul went to great lengths to keep his closest subjects loyal to him despite all that. Though he technically had the authority to force them to battle, he preferred to pose his commands as imploring a favor from a respected member of the highest ranking individuals of his court."

Spyro looked back down at the mountainous ape sending the others around him to set up their tents. "Do you know him?"

Cynder squinted and looked the beast over for a moment until she noticed a mace nearly the size of an oak tree strapped to his back. "That's Maul, the Obliterator. He's known for his savagery and berserker battle rage. He's not all that smart, but he's not to be underestimated. Maul was one of the Alphas most willing to fight in the war. He single handedly slew hundreds of dragons."

Spyro peered down at the Alpha again with a new look in his eyes. Cynder could not help but recognize the anger there, but there was something else, too. Was it suspicion? No, his expression had the look of uncertainty to it, but it was more measured than mere skepticism. She blinked in surprise then and scuttled closer to hiss in his ear. "You're not thinking about attacking them, are you? We wouldn't stand a chance on our own. Don't be foolish."

With a frustrated flick of his tail Spyro let out a low growl. "If he's responsible for the deaths of so many of our people, we have to bring him to justice. When are we going to get another chance? Can we really slink away and let this killer walk freely? What would our ancestors think?"

"That you were intelligent enough to live to fight another day," said Cynder. She placed a paw on top of his. "I know you just want to do what's right, but you have to do what's smart. Sometimes the right choice isn't the easy one to make. Nor is it always necessarily a good one. But think, Spyro. We know Maul lives in this sacred land of apes now. Him and all these others. When we make it back to Warfang and recover our strength, tell the elders of this place and what we know, they'll send an army of dragons to stamp them out. Then, with numbers on our side, we can fly into battle and let our warrior blood sing."

Her words seemed to soothe him, if only a little. He still seemed eager for a fight and eyed the army down in the dip between the hills for a moment longer, then sighed and nodded his head in reluctant agreement. They crept away from the camp on their bellies, keeping low and working their way further around the hill they had climbed. Their goal was the opposite side of the camp. Once there, they could continue on their way and leave the apes to whatever business they had on these plains.

It was slow going, crawling the entire way, and nerve wracking the entire time as they were out in the open. All it would take was one exploring ape cresting the hill to spot them, bringing the whole contingent of apes rushing down upon them. Cynder had to fight back her rising apprehension at the idea that they would soon be discovered and that they needed to run while they still had the chance. But she was no fool. Either this would work, or they would have to flee at a much quicker pace when discovered. If they ran now, the apes might hear their paw steps and investigate immediately.

They had nearly circumvented the camp when an ape began to belt out to one of his companions. "What are you complaining for? Don't you realize how important the night watch is? If we don't keep our eyes open at all times the demon could attack us in our sleep. We're talking this whole platoon wiped out in a matter of seconds. Haven't you heard the stories? Last night a demon held in the prison of the gods escaped and clawed its way to the Gateway. When it got to the mortal realm, it wiped out the forces stationed in the heart of the sacred land. Not only that, its rampage allowed Spyro and Cynder to escape execution after they were caught wandering our sacred land. They are weak and lost and still out here somewhere. So we have to find them and bring their heads to Paul as proof of their demise. Or have you forgotten? So how, I ask you, are we supposed to do that, if we're all dead?"

Cynder stopped and stared wide eyed at the ground in front of her. After a couple seconds, Spyro stopped too and turned around. He inched closer and pressed his face against the side of her head. "What are you waiting for?"

Slowly, she turned her head and looked at him as more of the apes gathered around the one yelling and continued to tell various versions of what they had heard about last night. "Paul? They must be talking about Paul, the Illuminator. I've only ever heard vague half rumors about him whispered among the apes. They always stopped talking about him when they were aware that I was close enough to hear.

"Apparently, he possesses the most powerful magic the apes have at their disposal. Many times I'd hear my troops making claims that started with phrases like, 'If only Paul would fight…' I know rumors are just rumors, but the apes were always frightened to simply speak his name. If he's in charge of the apes now it could be bad news."

Spyro urged Cynder on and whispered vehemently as they continued to crawl. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, Cynder. You don't know that he's been put in charge, and even if he has, what does that really change?"

Cynder raised her head an inch or so, to listen to the sound of footsteps. When they moved away from them, she continued on and leaned toward Spyro. "They spoke of Paul as if he were the one who ordered this mission. And on top of that, Maul is the one leading it. That looks to me like an Alpha taking orders from an Alpha. Paul must be the new Ape King. And if he is, that really bites us in the tails, because Paul hates dragons more than any other ape out there. He's a fanatic from what I hear. If he's leading the ape nation, he'll be the type to wage war against dragons all over again. And if he's half as smart as Gaul was, then he'll do it soon while we're still recovering from the last war."

They had reached the opposite end of the camp and were starting to run now, occasionally looking over their shoulders for signs of pursuit. Spyro rushed alongside Cynder, his paws pounding against the grass beside her. "The apes need to recover from the war, too. It's not an opportune time for them to fight either."

It was a nice thought, though an uninformed one, thought Cynder with a thin lipped expression. "You don't know how many apes there are, do you?"

For a moment the only sound that filled the evening air was their paws padding against the soft ground and the heaving of their lungs. Spyro continued on, eyes ahead as they ran. "Not really, no."

"There are about a hundred of them for every dragon. And while only the Alphas can match our kind in battle, numbers like that can be overwhelming. If Paul orders an attack, it'll be devastating. They'll slaughter our people."

The setting sun cast a sheen on Spyro's scales as they ran, making him look every bit the legendary hero he was as he turned his head and regarded Cynder with an air of responsibility. "Then that just means we have all the more reason to get to Warfang, so we can warn them of the potential danger."

Cynder nodded wordlessly at his simple wisdom and turned to watch the path they took as the sun dipped below the tops of the trees, the last rays of light fleeing over the dark forest and deepening the shadows along with the dragons' fear of what sinister horrors lurked within. As night drew closer and closer, they both would occasionally cast wary glances at that foreboding place. Thus, it should not have come as a surprise when they were nearly discovered by a roaming group of apes out on the open plains.

Spyro had just noticed the lanterns of the leading edges of the party when one of the apes muttered that they thought they saw something moving in the darkness. The exact size of the group was difficult to determine in the dim light of the mostly cloud covered stars, but it seemed to be smaller than the one they had happened upon earlier. Still, a fight was the last thing Cynder wanted. There was no guarantee that they would be able to dispatch all the members of the platoon before one of them sounded an alarm, signaling their location to every hunting party within the immediate area.

At her direction, Spyro slunk low to the ground, back into the forest. Cynder was loath to seek cover there, but it was the only place to hide from the probing eyes of those who sought their heads. They ventured no further than a few tail lengths into the foliage at the edge of the wood, and hunkered down amid the ferns to wait for the apes to pass them by. What Cynder hadn't counted on was that this search party was a particularly tenacious one.

As Cynder waited silently next to Spyro, hardly daring to breathe, the voices of the apes sounded a few steps away, hushed but all too audible in such immediate proximity. "I'm telling you I saw something moving in the shadows earlier. It moved over here and then there was rustling just a few seconds ago."

"It was probably a deer, Forv. They live in the woods."

"Maybe," said the first voice, a step or two closer now. The uncertainty present there was nerve wracking. They had clearly been detected. Their only hope of going unseen now was that the skeptical ape who had spotted them in the dark gave up and did not venture any further into the undergrowth.

But luck was not on their side. The ape took another step forward and pushed some of the fronds aside to get a better view of what lay before him. Cynder could see the lantern cast shadows of the ape and the leaves silhouetted against a large leaf that stood between them, the only barrier protecting them from discovery. As the shadow of the ape stretched out his hand to pull the frond aside, a slight tremor and the rustling of many bushes sounded a few feet to the right.

The hand drew back as the ape turned away and the shadows slid as the lanterns held aloft by his fellows were adjusted. "Did you hear that?"

"Sure did."

"I knew I wasn't imagining things. All right, let's go check it out. We'll fan out and find whatever it is."

Cynder watched in disbelief as the apes lumbered toward the convenient disturbance, the sounds of their passage covering the tiny rustlings of their escape as they eased further into the trees. They could not return to the plains now with the apes spreading out and blocking their way. If they wanted their presence to remain unknown, they would have to outmaneuver their enemies.

Spyro gave her a tight lipped smile and leaned in to say, "Pays to have earth magic. Makes diversions easy to set up."

Cynder flashed him a wicked grin, impressed with his trickery. They trudged onward, trying to edge toward the plains to assess their chances of escape, but every time they got within twenty paces of the tree line, the sounds of the apes' filtered through the leaves and they had to turn back. They followed the edge of the woods as quietly as they could for a short time, but were quickly herded deeper and deeper into the woods. After little more than an hour of stealthily crawling about the forest floor, Spyro eventually stepped on a twig.

Pinpricks of lantern flame snaked across the gnarled roots that covered the ground here. "I heard something over there. Come on lads. Let's see what we've found."

That cinched things for Cynder. The game was up. She grabbed Spyro by the tail with her own and took off at a run deeper into the woods heedless of the careless signs of their presence they made. The apes took notice and rushed headlong after them. It wasn't a very hopeful tactic. Cynder knew that the apes would be upon them in mere seconds here in the woods. Their superior mobility in the trees would see to that. Still, the instinct to run until they had no choice but to turn and stand their ground won out while she desperately thought of a better strategy for survival.

The roots grew even denser here as they ran, becoming so entangled with one another there was scarcely enough room for the undergrowth to take hold. Moss coated everything instead, clinging in ever growing clumps the further they went. It was not long before they were sloshing through the stuff, their paws sinking into the spongy green carpet with every step. It would not be long now before the apes caught up with them, Cynder knew, their pursuers no doubt soaring unhindered through the air from branch to branch.

Her fears were stoked by the ever brightening flickers and crashing sounds that followed them. "I see something up ahead," said one of the apes, as Cynder rounded a tree, Spyro on her heels. And before she realized what was happening, her body was halfway through the moss and falling further into empty space. Everything went dark and she tucked her head, wings, and tail in as she was battered this way and that for several long seconds before landing on rough, cold stone. A second later Spyro landed on top of her.

The purple dragon scrambled to his paws and hissed an apology to her, asking if she was okay, but she merely muffled him with a paw to his muzzle, listening intently to the night. A few echoing shouts emanating from somewhere Cynder could not pinpoint drifted through the air before fading away into silence.

All was quiet. The darkness was absolute. Cynder felt around with her tail until she found Spyro's and held it to assure herself that she was not alone. They sat there in the blackness, waiting.

After a time, Spyro's horns lit up with a soft roar of flames and the shadows receded. They stood at the base of a well worn shoot that led up to the moss covered aperture between the roots of the trees two stories above. The cavern they found themselves in now was no larger than the bedrooms they had become accustomed to back at the temple while they lived with the elders. The stone floor was shaped like a basin around the outside before funneling away toward the far end of the room where a tunnel plowed further down into the earth.

"Where do you suppose that goes?" said Spyro once they had taken stock of their surroundings.

"I don't know, but I know how to find out." Cynder pressed onward, unwilling to return to the forest up above and the prowling apes.

Spyro followed her into the crumbling tunnel, the crown of flames adorning his horns lighting the way. "What is this anyway?"

Cynder leaned away from the path to avoid sliding too far uncontrollably, her claws scrapping the damp stone under paw. "I'm not sure, really. If I had to guess, I'd say it's an old aqueduct designed to collect and channel rainwater from above down here."

"I wonder who could have built such a thing," said Spyro. He peered forward, down into the dark depths of the tunnel.

Cynder studied the stone for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know. It's too old to be sure, I think. The stonework doesn't seem to boast the craftsmanship of the moles, but it could just be too worn to tell. Oh, wait. Hold up a second."

Spyro stopped as Cynder got down and inspected the stone at her paws for a moment. "Yeah, this place is ancient. Look."

Spyro leaned down to stare at the stone, nearly nose to nose with Cynder. She extended a single claw and traced a groove an inch deep in the stone. "You see how the middle of the shoot has been eroded here? It goes all the way up and down. That's formed from the water running down this channel for thousands of years."

"Huh," was Spyro's only reply as he flicked his gaze up at Cynder.

She looked up and saw the look in his eyes. "What?"

"You're so smart. How do you know all this stuff?"

Cynder felt her scales ruffle at the compliment and smoothed them back down before straightening up and pressing forward once more. "When you live the kind of life I've lived, you either get smart or get dead real fast."

Spyro nodded quietly and continued after her. The slope was not too steep, but they still made steady progress down into the earth as they went. The air took a chill and became musty and earthy further down. Lichen covered the floor before them, their claws flaking off pieces with their passing. Cynder began to feel uneasy in the confined space. The tunnel was not quite two wingspans wide. There was just enough space for them to walk side by side.

A shiver worked its way up her tail forcing her to look over her shoulder, but all she could see past their radius of light was a yawning darkness stretching back up toward the surface. She turned back around and thought of something to say to stir the eerie quiet. "I wonder where this leads."

Tiny shadows in the imperfections of the stone swiveled as Spyro turned his head. "I was thinking that, too. I don't think the apes know about this place. If they did, they should have followed us down here by now. The entrance was pretty well hidden."

Luminescent algae began to light the way forward with a ghostly pale blue aura. Spyro responded to the new development by dimming the flames atop his head. Cynder idly flicked the top of the first of several mushrooms growing from cracks in the floor of the channel with her tail as she passed by. They had been walking for just a few minutes when the slope started to level out.

"I think you're right," said Cynder. "In other news, it looks like we're getting closer to the end of this tunnel. It's a good thing, too. If it had gone down much farther, I might have considered turning back. As it is, it's a good walk back if there's no other way out of here."

"I hope there's some food to be found down here," said Spyro, his stomach growling in protest. "Those wild hares wore off hours ago. I'm starving."

Cynder covered her mouth with a wingtip concealing a smile. "I very much doubt that, but I can also appreciate your concern for a decent meal." Her belly grumbled back in agreement and her face grew hot as Spyro laughed softly, his voice whispering off the walls.

Up ahead the tunnel suddenly opened up to a much wider space. They exchanged brief glances before cautiously inching forward, Spyro's head flames now completely doused.

The walls of the waterway came to an abrupt end and the two dragons found themselves standing atop a ruined aqueduct at the edge of a massive underground cavern. Everything was illuminated by the soft glow of the algae and mushrooms. A great deal of dragon crystals grew up from all over as well. The sight was unlike anything Cynder had ever seen.

The entire cavern housed an ancient city easily half the size of Warfang. The buildings were mostly in shambles by now, but it was obvious that this had once been the thriving hub of an ancient civilization. The aqueduct they stood on had once stretched to the center of the city, its now broken bridge still spanning across the sky a hundred feet in the air in fragmented segments. Strange, misshapen figures stood frozen in time on the ground below, their purpose indecipherable from such distance.

"By the ancestors, this place is amazing," said Cynder after she had regained her breath. She stepped up to the crumbling edge of the waterway and looked down into the ruins below. "Come on. Let's take a closer look."

Cynder slid off the edge and glided lazily down to the floor at the edge of the cavern, still several hundred feet from the first outlying buildings. She touched down as quietly as she could in case they were not as alone as they appeared. Spyro landed next to her soon after and looked around at the field that stretched before them. All the way to the beginnings of the city there lay scores of rusted out hulls of some sort of machinery. Some of them were hunched over as if they had stopped working in mid movement, others were knocked over on their sides. They resembled beetles and were roughly three times Spyro's size.

He looked around with wonder and whispered close to Cynder's ear. "This place reminds me of Dante's Freezer. Everything here looks like it was destroyed in battle maybe? I don't know. It's hard to tell what these things are or what they were for. They don't even look damaged apart from what the ages have done to them. What was this place? What could have happened here?"

Cynder shook her head with uncertainty. "One can only guess. It looks like this place hasn't been anyone's home for thousands of years. Let's go into the city."

"Okay, but be careful. There could be traps."

"You really think so?" Cynder stopped and thought about it. "I suppose it's possible. But what are the odds that any that were laid are still active?"

Spyro lowered his head to look down his muzzle at Cynder with a pointed gaze. "Even so. Be on your guard."

"You needn't worry about that," said Cynder. With a flourish of her tail she turned and stalked toward the city.

As they tiptoed between the ruined machinery, Cynder noticed trees growing up out of the ground for the first time. She inspected one of the closer specimens as they passed, and was surprised to find that it had been completely petrified, the roots becoming one with the stonework. It almost looked as though the tree had been carved from the stone itself, but the detail in the grain was too immaculate to be artifice, she felt.

She half expected the machines to awaken and challenge their journey to the center of the cavern, but none stirred. All was still in this dead, forgotten place, perfectly preserved, a monument to an age lost to time. It became clear that they had instinctively chosen a road winding through the mechanical sentinels when a decrepit archway loomed ahead of them. Perhaps it had been an official entry point back in its day, the name of the city proudly declared in stone. But now half of the arch was missing, and what faded remnants of engraving remained were too damaged to decipher.

They strode through the gateway and made their way through the outlying structures that had perhaps been dwellings. They were too small to be of any use to dragons, so some other sort of beings must have lived here. Though, anything small enough to make use of these buildings had to be far too small for some of the structures towering in the center of the city to be remotely practical.

A smile slowly spread across Cynder's face as she surveyed her surrounding with a keen eye. Taking in every little detail and extrapolating theories from her observations. "I think this city was home to more than one species. The architecture doesn't make any sense otherwise. Those buildings in the center look like they were made for dragons whereas these out here are big enough for moles. And look at those a little further in. Those aren't much bigger than the huts the cheetahs in Avalar Valley live in."

Maybe it was the ruined state of the structures, maybe it was the humdrum monochrome grey of the stone, maybe it was the apparent lack of anything remotely edible, but Spyro did not appear as enthused as Cynder felt. He scanned the scene before him as they progressed toward the center of the city, a worrisome look on his face.

She nudged him with her rear and nuzzled his neck to get his attention. "Hey, what's the matter with you?"

He shook his head and muttered something under his breath. When she asked what he had said he stopped and looked over his shoulder back the way they had come. She followed his gaze and saw the first buildings behind them stretching toward the gate in the distance. There was nothing there. Spyro turned back around and kept walking. "I said something's not right about this place. Aside from some crumbling here and there, most of the buildings are still pretty much intact. Everything's too perfect. It's weird, don't you think?"

Cynder nodded in understanding and curled her tail around his for comfort. "Yeah, it can be a bit unnerving. It's like we're the last living things in the world here. You keep expecting to see someone else. And when there's no one there, you maybe get the feeling…"

"That you're being watched?" Spyro looked over his shoulder again. Cynder followed his gaze again. Again, there was nothing there.

"Yeah," said Cynder as they turned back around and pressed forward.

After several more minutes of walking they reached the town square, which was in surprisingly better shape than the exterior. It was as though the further toward the city they went the less severe the ruin was. Here in the center of the plaza there was a large circular monument that rose up about twice their height. Sculpted, black stone wrapped all the way around the wall of the raised section, and covering it in somewhat crude, yet fitting glyphs and carvings was a mural that was mostly preserved despite the ravages of time.

"Look at this," said Cynder. She waved her paw over the surface of the drawings, refraining from actually touching them. "It looks like a story maybe?"

They found a segment of the mural that showed faded images of dragons and cheetahs coming together. As the mural continued it showed the cheetahs riding the dragons into the skies and hunting with spears and bows and arrows. The cheetahs built a village and grew crops while the dragons stood guard and chased away shadowy figures that lurked at the edges of their territory. The dragons stayed in the caves nearby and lived off of the hunting while the cheetahs enjoyed the fruits of their labor in the fields, the two races apparently living together in harmony.

The next segment showed moles meeting the two races that had lived together. And the following pictures showed the construction of the city that they most likely stood in now. Figures resembling the machines out in the fields stood guard outside and chased the frightening things away in the night with the dragons. There were many other segments showing the wonders that had been wrought with the union of the three races, their society apparently advancing with each addition to the union.

As Spyro and Cynder walked around the structure slowly they discovered another section in which apes met the three races. Cynder was surprised to see that the next segments of the mural did not depict the war and battle that she expected, but all four of the races standing in a circle together, their arms and wings lifted skyward, their heads thrown back in some chant, the stars shining down on them from above with lines connecting them in strange constellations she was not familiar with.

When they finished walking all the way around the mural back toward the beginning, they stopped. The next segment was like staring at something in a dream. The four races all bent low, their arms thrown before them in what could only be worshipping gestures. And there, in the center of the throng of reverent citizens, was a being that stood on two legs, appearing to hover in the light of the heavens, delivered to the world by the lines connecting the twinkling stars in the cosmos. It was too tall to be a mole. It did not possess the bulky upper body of the apes, nor did it look anything like the cheetahs. Its body appeared to be covered in armor. And there, in the center of its head, was a single red eye.