Sparx zipped back into the cave.
"Hey guys! We may have a problem!"
The other dragons had been sleeping but their heads popped up immediately at the alarming tone in his voice.
"What's going on?" Cynder asked, already on her feet and making her way to the mouth of the cave.
"Candice said she spotted something outside." The dragonfly led her and the other guardians to where the ice dragoness had been sitting. "She was pointing to the sky and then she disappeared."
"Did you see which way she went?" Tremor asked as he scanned the skies.
"No. She took off and was gone before I could even pick myself up," Sparx grumbled.
"We should get back inside," Flame suggested. "If it's trouble we may have to move Spyro in a hurry."
"We may also have to fight our way out," Cynder added. "Come on, we'd better get back inside." The dragons all headed back into the cave but Tremor stayed where he was. His scales rattled irritably as he pondered on what he should do himself: should he go off and try and find Candice, or wait for her to return? The other dragons needed him to help with Spyro who was already in terrible shape to begin with. But if Candice had found trouble then she might need his help. He was about to take off when he heard Flame's voice.
"Tremor, we could use your help." The fire guardian noticed the way his friend stared up at the heavily overcast sky. "Hey." he jabbed his friend in the shoulder with an elbow barb, getting his attention. "She'll be alright. Candice is a smart girl and you of all dragons should know how good of a fighter she is."
"I know." Tremor answered, the anxiety was very thick in his voice.
"I'd feel the same if it were Ember out there," Flame pointed out. "But we need your help right now as a guardian. Without Candice here we need to be able to secure Spyro somehow."
Tremor sighed and reluctantly turned back inside. "I understand."
Flame smiled seeing his friend was still keeping his cool. "Good, come on. When she returns, we leave." Flame moved to the back of the cave but Tremor hesitated. He gave one last look over his shoulder and disappeared inside out of view from the outside world.
Candice beat her wings through the dense fog of the early morning. The wind was to her back but her vision was still very limited. Up ahead she could hardly make out the flickers of movement against the fog. What ever that thing was, it moved fast. The only way Candice was able to keep up with it was by sensing it through the icy vapor. "Dear ancestors!" She huffed as she pushed herself harder. "What in the world is this thing? It's too fast to be a dragon."
Suddenly the object dove. Candice banked hard after it. She squinted against the stinging wind but forced her watery eyes to stay open. As she broke through the fog she got her first look at what she had been chasing as it spread its blue wings to pull up over the tops of the jagged rocks that spread across the mountain range; it was a yellow dragoness. She had two blue horns sticking out of the top of her head with two additional horns extruding from those; one towards her back and the other towards her forehead. She had odd, spade-like spines down her neck before ending with blue zigzag patterns. The dragoness was smaller than Candice, but by no means feeble-looking. The yellow dragon shot like an arrow through the air, barely beating her wings at all as Candice struggled to keep up.
"No way," Candice gasped as her vision began to clear.
The yellow dragoness jolted in surprise upon hearing the guardian's voice. She whirled around to see Candice steadily gaining on her. She hissed and took off in a sharp dive.
"Hey wait!" Candice called and followed. The yellow dragoness was almost out of ear-shot as the wind rushed by. "Damn it," Candice growled and beat her wings harder. There was no way she could let her get away; not when the fate of her friends depended on it.
The two dragons became blurs as they whistled over and in between the mountain tops. All the while the yellow dragoness continued to look back over her shoulder each time she took a dive or sharp turn to try and lose the ice dragoness pursuing her. Candice pushed herself to the limit and began to gain more speed. The yellow dragoness squawked in fright and dove into a deep canyon. Candice hesitated for a second before tucking her wings in and diving into the darkness between the walls of ice-encrusted rock. Down here her vision went completely dark but the wind and water still stung her eyes.
Suddenly she sensed something up ahead. A brilliant light lit up the canyon as the yellow dragoness unleashed a storm of lightning bolts. Candice shut her eyes against the harsh radiance leaving her vulnerable. Several bolts struck her and burned against her soft, pale-blue scales. She screamed as the energy coursed through her body before falling into the darkness.
The yellow dragoness flew back towards the surface and stared down at the shadowy gorge below her. "That was too close," she breathed. She was out of breath herself. The move she had made was a last ditch effort to escape and it had worked. She landed on the ground and took several minutes to catch her breath. "I knew I was good at flying," she wheezed. "But that dragoness... she was something else." Her thoughts reflected back to their chase. "She was actually able to keep up with me." After a moment of silence she scratched her nose. "I wonder why she was chasing me though." She looked towards the edge of the canyon and shrugged. "Oh well."
The yellow dragoness got up to leave with a pang of despair lingering in her chest. Something about the situation had left a bad taste in her mouth. She paused to look over her shoulder again. "Perhaps she survived that attack?" She turned back and started towards the edge of the cliff.
Just then a claw reached up and grabbed the ledge. The yellow dragoness yelped in surprise as another paw came up to pull Candice out of the cold darkness. The ice dragoness nearly collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion.
"Please, wait," she whimpered. Her legs were shaking beneath her as she struggled to stay standing. The electrical burns across her body seemed to taint her overall beauty and the yellow dragoness couldn't help but feel guilty. "Help..." Candice gasped.
"Help?" The lightning dragoness echoed and took a couple cautious steps towards the guardian.
Candice nodded. It was then she noticed the dragoness wore a pair of leather goggles over her eyes to protect her from the wind and water. "Please. My friend... he's going to die if he doesn't get some help soon."
"Die?" The dragoness repeated. That word seemed to strike a chord with her. "Where? How? Why?"
Seeing that she was getting through to the stranger, Candice began to feel slightly better. "I will explain on the way there." She tried to force a gracious smile. "But we need to hurry. I'm not sure how much time we have left."
"Lead the way." The dragoness nodded. Candice spread her wings and with an agonizing leap was airborne and taking off towards the cave where she and her fellow guardians had taken shelter.
Night time fell across the dragon city of Warfang. Its inhabitants slept while the guards went about their rounds. The moles had been informed of the current situation and had gotten out their heavy weapons and armor. The moles, now dressed like medieval knights clanked along the city walls; their armor shining in the light cast by the torches.
Far away from the city, shadowy figures crept across the plains. Tuerto and his horde of wolves darted into the adjacent forest in search of Hunter's scent. After a short time of sniffing around they picked up the warrior's trail. Scraunch nodded approvingly giving Tuerto the cue to be off. After the rustling footsteps disappeared he turned to the black dragon who stood at the edge of the trees. Liun stared hatefully up at the high wall. Deep inside, even Malefor felt a sense of resentment towards the city and its citizens. They had foiled his plans so many times before; it was beyond irritating to him. But resolve stayed his anger; Warfang would be dealt with, and soon.
Liun sighed and took in a deep breath before turning to Scraunch. "Alright. Let's get this show on the road.
Scraunch didn't utter a word. Instead he drew his weapon and raised it high. The crude metal seemed to cast an eerie glow in the moonlight. Then without warning, he struck Liun.
