Chapter 3: Rescue

"Well, Ignitus, can you see anything?" Terrador's normally level voice showed his concern. Since Spyro and Cynder had left the Temple a few days ago, the Elders hadn't heard anything to tell the fate of the young dragons, and Ignitus' visions were still refusing to shed any light on the matter.

"No," the Fire Guardian lifted his head, his hollow eyes showing that the strain of trying to force his powers for five days straight had taken their toll. "Nothing. It's as if they've fallen out of existence."

"Ignitus," Terrador stepped over to support his friend, "get some rest. You've been at this for almost a week."

"And I'll keep at it until we know something! I sent them out there, Terrador, and now they're lost. I won't fail them again, my friend, I won't—"

"You haven't failed them, brother. You've done more than any of us. But you won't help anyone by exhausting yourself like this. Just go rest until Cyril gets back…I will wake you up when he arrives."

"You're right," Ignitus stood up fully and started walking to his room for some much-needed sleep. "I remember when a week's vigil was just enough to get me relaxed… guess I'm not as young as I used to be."

"None of us are old friend. But we still have our parts to play, and that includes not killing ourselves with worry. We trained Spyro as well as we could, and Cynder is more than able to take care of herself. They'll be alright, with or without us watching over them."

Just then Volteer ran into the room. "Ignitus, Terrador, I was just out in the courtyard for some relief from this stifling room when a rather unusual visitor arrived. Well, the visitor himself isn't so unusual, he's here all the time, but the circumstances of his arrival and—"

"Volteer," Terrador was annoyed, as usual, by the yellow dragon's hyperactive (A.N.: more like spastic) attitude. "I have finally gotten Ignitus to step away from that pool of his long enough to get some rest. If you have something important to say, spit it out!"

"Really, is that any way to greet good news?" Terrador gave Volteer a withering glare, and the Lightning Guardian sobered immediately. "As I was saying, we have a visitor, and I believe that he can shed some light on our predicament." With that, Volteer moved his wing aside, revealing a barely-conscious Sparx resting on the dragon's shoulder.

"Sparx!" Ignitus' fatigue seemed to disappear as he moved up and scooped the dragonfly into his hand. "What happened? Where is Spyro?"

Sparx's eyes fluttered open for a moment, and he moved his mouth once or twice like he was trying to speak, but no sound came out. He swallowed audibly and then said one word in a croaking voice, "Help…" before he passed out completely.

OO

Spyro was sitting next to a small fire when Cynder woke up, groaning. The purple dragon grabbed something from out of the flames and walked over to her. "Here," he offered the dragoness one of the lizards he had been roasting, "I know it isn't much, but you need to keep your strength up."

"Thanks," Cynder said weakly, sitting up despite the pain running through every inch of her body. After she finished eating, she looked at the fire, then at Spyro. "Are you sure that's safe? There could be more troops out there looking for us; the fire may bring them here."

"No, I don't think it's big enough to give off much light, and there's hardly any smoke from those branches. Besides, I had to cook those things somehow; they're inedible raw."

Cynder looked around and noticed that something was missing. "What happened to those apes?"

"One of them was just out cold. After he woke up I chased him off, doubt he'll be back. I took the bodies out to a safe distance and burned them."

"You let him go?"

"He wasn't going to put up much of a fight; you should know they're basically cowards. I didn't see any reason to kill him when he was just going to run off anyway."

"You let him go…" Cynder closed her eyes and lowered her head.

"What's wrong? You think I should have finished him off?"

"No, Spyro, I'm actually…relieved. That shows that you're still good. Still you."

"I'm sorry about what I did earlier. I wasn't myself, and I know that I scared you."

"What happened anyway?"

"You actually had it right: Malefor was trying to control me. When I was asleep, the Chronicler met me in Dreamscape—"

"Dreamscape?"

"It's kind of like a spirit world. I've been there a few times, but I don't know exactly how it works, just that my body doesn't go anywhere, just my…soul, I guess is the best word. Anyway, when I was there the Chronicler warned me that the darkness is still in me, it's only dormant, and that Malefor can use it to get to me if I lose control of my rage. I guess that's what happened earlier; I knew what I was doing, but it was like I was just watching."

"I see," Cynder was silent for a moment. That had happened to her before, the few times that she had defied Malefor, he had been…insistent.

"Cynder," the black dragon looked up at Spyro's voice. "I don't like being out here in the open. We should probably find some shelter soon. Can you move?"

"I think so, but we shouldn't go very far. At least not until we know whether the Elders are coming." As they were talking, a cold wind had started blowing, and Cynder shuddered and moved a little closer to the fire.

"Look, we need to get you out of this wind. There's an outcropping a little west of here. It's not much, but it should do the job. And I can light a fire for a signal if we need."

"Alright; lead the way." Cynder stood up, but she stumbled with her first step, and Spyro had to catch the dragoness before she fell.

"This time, I'll carry you." Spyro carefully lifted Cynder onto his shoulders, and began to walk towards their shelter.

Wow, Cynder noticed that Spyro was having little trouble with carrying her, even though she was just dead weight, I never realized he was this strong.

It took about twenty minutes for them to reach the rock formation Spyro had mentioned, by which time the wind was howling around them, and the cold was so intense that it bit into their bones. Cynder was shivering uncontrollably by the time Spyro set her down out of the wind, and the purple dragon quickly set about gathering up any nearby brush, igniting the pile with a short burst of his fire breath. He then sat down next to Cynder and draped his wing over her. "You need to stay warm. And get some rest."

"What about you?"

"I'll be alright. But you need to save your strength. You're hurt badly."

"I've had worse…"

"Unlike Malefor, I care about you; take care of yourself, for my sake if not your own."

"Alright Spyro." Cynder nestled in next to Spyro, and soon she was asleep.

After Spyro was certain that Cynder was asleep, he quietly got up and walked outside, seeing that the clouds over the horizon seemed be getting darker. "Looks like a storm coming in…" Spyro looked upwards, "Ancestors, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, we could really use some help right about now."

Spyro walked back over to Cynder and felt her forehead; her skin was ice-cold, and she shuddered at his touch. "Hold on," the purple dragon whispered, "I'll get you out of here. I don't know how yet, but I'll find a way, I swear." He added more brush to the fire before lying down next to Cynder and wrapping his wings around her. There was a rumble of thunder and the sky faded from a misty yellow to gray and then black as the storm hit full force, and the two dragons huddled together under the meager protection of the stone ridge.

OO

Several miles from the young dragon's shelter, Ignitus and Volteer were flying top speed over the misty wasteland.

"Sparx are you sure that this is the right way?" Ignitus turned his head to the dragonfly on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I can see exactly where we're going in a blank wasteland from a couple hundred feet in the air," Sparx replied sarcastically.

"Sparx…"

"Yeah, I pretty much flew in a straight line, so we can't be off by much."

"Ignitus," Volteer called over the rushing wind, "there appears to be some inclement weather ahead. Might I propose that we increase our altitude in order to evade the turbulence?"

Ignitus looked ahead at the black clouds on the horizon. "No, if we go over the storm, we might miss them. We have to go through it."

"Are you sure?" Sparx asked. "Those clouds don't look too friendly to me."

"We don't have any choice."

"Ignitus, do you realize that if that storm is anywhere near its apparent size and strength, the wind force will make flight virtually impossible before we are even a fraction of the way through it?"

"Then we'll land. We should search on the ground anyway; there's a good chance that wherever they took cover we'd miss it from above."

With that, the elder dragons flew on towards their goal, everyone present silently praying that they were not too late.

OO

A flash of light and a deafening crash jolted Spyro from the deep sleep he fallen into. It was actually a good thing because the fire was dying down. He rekindled it with a blast of fire, but there was no more fuel, he couldn't keep it going much longer, and as long as the storm was still raging he wouldn't be able to go search for more brush; even if he could see through the rain, he couldn't leave Cynder alone, not even for the few minutes he would need. She was still asleep; if they hadn't been huddled close enough for Spyro to feel her shallow breathing, he might not have even known she was alive. Right now, he was her only chance of survival, and he wasn't about to leave her here.

Spyro suddenly looked up. What was that? The sound had been so faint over the roar of the storm that at first he wasn't sure if he had heard anything at all. Then he heard it again: he still couldn't identify it, but that was the same noise, and it wasn't from the wind. Slowly, the drake got up and took a few steps forward, putting himself between Cynder and whatever was out there. He strained his eyes, trying to get even the faintest glimpse of the mysterious sound's source. A massive shape suddenly loomed out of the mist, causing Spyro to take a step back before he took a fighting stance and challenged the figure. "Alright, who are you and what do you want?"

"Spyro?"

The purple dragon's heart nearly burst through his chest with surprise, and a wave of relief washed over him as Volteer stepped close enough to see Spyro.

"Ignitus," the yellow dragon bellowed into the storm, "I found him! He's over here!"

A moment later, the Fire Guardian strode into view, his eyes shining with joy to see Spyro alive. "Thank the Ancestors we found you in time. When Sparx told us what had happened we feared the worst."

"It's good to see you too Ignitus, I was starting to lose hope."

"You were starting to lose hope?" Sparx flew down from Ignitus' shoulder and hovered just in front of Spyro. "For a while there I didn't even know if we were going the right way."

"Spyro," Volteer broke in, "where is Cynder? Is she alright?"

Spyro's head dropped at the mention of the dragoness, and he looked behind him to where she still lay motionless. "She's hurt badly, but I don't know exactly what's wrong. She hasn't woken up in hours and she's barely breathing."

"Volteer…"

At Ignitus' word the lightning dragon went over to Cynder and started moving his hand slowly over her, just a few inches above her body, his eyes closed as he focused on the task.

"What's he doing?" Spyro whispered.

"Volteer has a gift similar to my own. He has the ability to 'see' wounds that the eye misses. He can even pick up the slightest trace of poison or illness in a patient."

"So, are there any dragons that don't have really convenient super powers?" as usual, Sparx was trying to break the tension with his wit, and failing.

Volteer's eyes opened and he walked over to the trio.

"Well," Ignitus' concern was obvious.

"Her wounds are severe," the Guardian's voice was grave, and for once he was restraining his flighty nature. "Her wing and shoulder are broken, as well as several ribs and her left hip. On top of that, she has several deep slashes over her body, most likely from some sort of large blade. She also has exhausted herself several times over, and seems to be sickening from a combination of her condition and exposure."

"I'm sorry," Spyro hung his head, "I came here to help her, and this happened because of me."

"You did nothing wrong," Ignitus said in a comforting tone. "Only what you thought was right. I do not believe for a moment that this is your fault, and you should not either."

"Look, instead of deciding whose fault this isn't, we need to figure out something important: is she gonna be okay?"

Spyro looked at his brother in shock.

"What, I'm not allowed to worry about her? Come on, she saved your life. Even to me that counts for something."

Volteer had taken off his backpack and was searching through it. After a moment his eyes lit up and he pulled his fist out of the bag. "I think that these will help her chances somewhat." He opened his hand to reveal several red crystals. He walked over to Cynder and touched the gems to her wounds. Slowly the light in the crystals faded and the gashes on her skin began to close. "All we can do now is wait, but she should recover in time."

"Is it safe to move her?" Spyro asked.

"Yes, I believe so."

"Even so," Ignitus looked outside, where the storm had not yet subsided, "I think that it would be best to wait for the weather to break before we go anywhere."

OO

The next morning the storm had moved on and Cynder had woken up. Because her wing was still healing and she was still too weak to fly, Volteer carried her as the group returned to the Temple. When they arrived, Cyril and Terrador were waiting to welcome them home.

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Okay, that about does it for the 'prologue', let me know what you think. Next chapter will be the start of the 'real' story.

Just a note: as far as I know, Volteer does not actually have that power in the games, but I thought that it was an interesting ability. Now I didn't want to give Spyro yet another "special talent," and since Ignitus already has his visions it fell to the Lightning Guardian.

C U L8r!