Chapter 2: Something weird

The sharp edges of the iron collar cut into her neck and shoulders painfully. It was too big and dropped down on her chest whenever she moved her shoulders, yet not big enough to get it over her horns if she pushed it up.

„This is unnecessary," she moaned and tried to pull the collar open with sheer force. „I can't go anywhere with your wodgy guardians watching me anyway."

The orange dino massaged his temples and let out a loud sigh. Why was this one so noisy all the time…

She bit the chain in order to demonstrate her point and instantly regret it.

„This is imprisonment. They won't let you get away with that!"

„And WHO are THEY?" he hissed and lifted up his hands into the air.

„There is no THEY. No council, no previous king, no army. NOBODY will come and question my reign over this place."

She felt disarmed and sat back down on the floor.

Stupid dino with his stupid ego, he wasn't the type to argue with. And she honestly was too afraid of him hurting her worse if she revolted any more.

Time passed of him mumbling to himself and her checking out the chain. It was heavy. Really heavy to be precise. She wasn't chained up onto anything yet but even like this it would have a huge impact on her mobility. She might reach the entrance of the room or maybe even the castle exit but that would be the maximum before she'd break down from the effort.

The silence was cut by a silent rattle noise and she took a sharp look at Ripto who was probably tapping his foot again. But he was standing perfectly still, lost in thought.

The rattling grew louder and she assumed it to come from the neighbouring room. And then there were voices.

„I'm not sure Sparx. Do you really think this is the right direction? I think Elora might have miscalculated…"

There were other creatures present at the castle no doubt. Mina took a deep breath and screamed from the top of her lungs into the direction of the strangers voices.

„I'M HERE! PLEASE HELP ME I'M BEING HELD CAPTIVE!"

Ripto flinched at the sudden noise and spun around, at the same moment the wall next to them burst open and it rained down dust and rubble.

The faun was blinded from the dust in her eyes and too busy coughing to realize what was happening.

She heard the dino shout something and then she was lifted up in the air by something warm and gooey that carried her out of the room.

A huge flame lit up the room behind her and from what she could recognize through her blurry sight it looked like a tiny purple creature was jumping at the blue lizard.

She tried to shout for help again but the metal chain was suddenly putting a lot of strain on her neck, afflicting her ability to breathe.

That was when she first realized that Gulp had picked her up with his mouth to carry her away, but not the chain that was fixed around her neck. She reached out and got to pull up the chain just far enough to wrap it around Gulps tusk next to her. But when she looked back they had already left the castle behind and trotted through the now moonlit Summer Forest.

ooo

„He had one bloody job! ONE!! And he couldn't do it now look at this mess I'm in."

Ripto stood on the seat of a humongous throne he had found at the new castle in Autumn Plains. Gulp had carried the faun through forests and fields for hours during the night and now spat her out on the floor before the steps to Riptos new throne.

„You'd never disappoint me like that now would you, Gulp?"

The green creature sat down on the floor and shook the entire room by doing so. It then wagged its tail like a happy dog and looked up to its master. Mina had a hard time crawling out of its reach.

„And as for you…" Ripto said in a more sinister voice and pointed at the wheezing faun sitting on the floor, „you get up here and tell me what I already know until I'm certain there's really nothing more I can learn from you."

„Yes…" she gasped and shouldered the chain. Taking the steps was harder than she thought it would be but she eventually made it up there alive. She dropped the chain in front of the throne and looked up.

„Shall I just sit down on the floor again like a pet?"

„Just...ugh I don't care stay there whatever. Tell me about how reign in this world is managed. And HURRY."

Mina wasn't an expert on monarchy and she knew it, so she tried to present her smattering about previous kings of Avalar as embellished as she could. She didn't think she'd get this far expecting there should have been multiple chances to escape the place by now. Riptos eyes got narrower with every new chapter in history she jabbered about until he finally had enough.

„STOP!" he shouted and covered his non visible ears with his hands. „This is unbearable and an utter waste of my time. Why did I think a goat could be of any use to me…"

Once again he cursed his naivety for thinking someone else would actually help him out.

Mina knew she'd screwed up but by now her fear of him was fading. He actually seemed kind of pathetic considering he had just lost one of two allies and just accepted it like that.

„You know I'm also useful for other things. I can sing, dance-„

„SHUT UP," he cut her off and looked over to Gulp.

„Remove this pest from my throne and don't go easy on her!"

She looked back at Gulp just as the giant creature took her chain into his mouth.

„Wait no no n-" she stuttered and grabbed the chain closest to the collar with both her hands before Gulp pulled the other end zestfully. She fell down the few stairs she just had climbed and hit the floor in front of Gulps feet with a loud smack.

„Ou," was all she could say when her fall came to a stop. Her ankles hurt a lot and she had hit her head on the stairs. She instinctively touched her forehead to see if it was alright and felt blood running down her face into her hands.

„Now that is interesting," Ripto chirped and jumped down the stairs himself to pick up something from the floor. Mina was still holding her head and forced herself to open up one eye.

„I didn't think these would come off THAT easy."

He giggled and his giggle turned into lunatic laughter as he presented the blood covered object he just had picked up from the floor.

It was one of her horns.

Back at Summer Forest…

„So you said there was some girl at the castle screaming for help before you arrived?" the deerlike faun tilted her head to get a closer look at the purple dragons face.

„Yeah, but when I confronted Ripto and Crush she was nowhere to be seen. There is something weird going on there. I really searched the whole castle Elora, she was nowhere to be found. I feel terrible…" the small dragon looked down at the grass where he had dug his claws deep into the soil. „What if he hurts her?"

Elora took a deep breath and pat the Dragons head.

„It's not your fault, Spyro. You can still save her. We just heard from Moneybags that Ripto took over the castle in Autumn Plains. Maybe he took her there."

Spyros eyes lit up and he raised his head again.

„What're we waiting for?"

ooo

Authors note: I'm sorry for the o's marking time/stage cuts. I'm working from the Fanfiction App and it doesn't accept punctuation marks standing alone