A/N: Just to let you know, I am revising the size of the apes. It will follow this format: ape soldiers are five feet tall, ape leaders are six feet tall, and commanders are seven feet tall. Ignitus is an average sized dragon at seven feet at the shoulder. The top of a twelve year old dragon's head is level with an ape soldier's chest, about four-foot-six-inches at the top of the head, and three foot at the shoulder. To those of you who care, Syra wasn't using Phantom Fright in the first chapter. It was her special technique.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything or any character from the cannon Spyro franchise, I do, however, own my OCs.
Chapter three: A Tavern Brawl
The tavern was loud and raucous. The only way to find peace was to drown your sorrows in tankards of ale and whiskey. The inside was simple; you walk through the door and into the barroom. The bar is across from the door, with a staircase leading upstairs to the sleeping rooms on the right wall. The tavern sat in the swamp along one of the few roads that went through the area. Many travelers paid a fair amount to sleep here, for it was better than sleeping in the mud. The yells in this tavern were either of encouragement or entertainment; this was because of the crude circle of overturned tables in the middle of the barroom floor. In this circle was a wolf, which had dark brown fur that had thin streaks if grey through it, a testament to the many years he had seen, and was wearing worn brown leather pants and a plain shirt; the wolf was six-foot-six-inches tall. In the circle with him was a lion who was wearing only a pair of travelling pants. Both fighters were bruised, bloody, and panting. People cheered as the wolf stood warily, both of his arms raised in preparation for the next attack from the lion. The lion was a bit taller than him and was muscled, with bulging arms and chest. The wolf had a trim body, he was muscled as well, but it wasn't as obvious as the lion. The difference between them was that the lion had the body of a fighting brute, but the wolf had the body of a trained warrior.
The lion roared and charged with an over hand right. The wolf snorted, not liking the attack that was thrown at him, but it would work for now. He stepped forward quickly, his hands shooting forward, the left one grabbing his right shoulder and the right one grabbing below his left arm. The wolf twisted his upper body and released the lion, throwing him to the other side of the ring. The lion lost his footing and slammed his head into the tables. He stood back up and growled. The wolf returned to his fight stance, his weight on his left leg with his right one in front of the left; his arms raised and fingers loose. The lion shuffled towards the wolf, his fists held up close to his face. The wolf stared and waited for the attack. The lion threw a left jab at the wolf's face. The wolf stepped to the left, twisting around and slamming his forearms on the lion's arm. The wolf quickly followed up the strike by swinging his right hand in a backhand at the lion's head. The lion snapped his head back at the strike; the wolf slid his left hand down the lion's arm and gripped his wrist. He brought his right arm around again and palmed the lion's extended elbow, but he didn't stop there.
The wolf, one hand gripping the lion's wrist, the other gripping the lion's overextended elbow, leveraged the lion down by putting pressure on the lion's elbow and forcing him to the ground. The wolf stood up quickly and delivered a heavy stomp to the lion's back. But the crowd wanted more, and the lion still tried to get up. The wolf dropped his knee on the lions elbow, gripping the lions forearm with both hands and pulling it so the arm bent the wrong way. The crowd roared as the lion screamed in pain and refused to yield.
"Yield," the wolf said in a harsh whisper to the lion, pulling on the lion's arm a bit harder. "Yield you stupid cat!" the wolf repeated. The lion only glared at him.
"Go to hell, loner." The lion spit out. At hearing the insult, 'loner', the wolf's eye's dilated in anger. Snarling, the wolf gave a hard tug, throwing his weight into this pull. There was a sickening crack as the lion's arm became parallel with his opponent's leg, the lion's fingers now pointing towards the ceiling. The crowd cheered loudly at seeing the lion's arm broken. The wolf stood up and walked away, stepping over the tables and collecting the money from the bet's against him.
"Hey!" one of the watchers called. "Hey what's your name, wolf?"
The wolf turned and looked at the patron, saying simply: "Connor." Connor walked to the table closest to the entrance, where his stuff lay untouched. He reached down and grabbed the long coat draped across his chair and put in on. The coat was a light brown color; it fit snuggly around his upper body and chest, and extended down to the back of his knees. The coat had a split in front of the legs, so not to impede any running, and a split to the waist on the back half to allow for his tail and riding; it also had a hood. The coat had several buttons on the front, and Connor didn't care to button them.
A harness lay on the table. The harness was designed like this: There was a belt-strap with two straps attached to it that went up an over the shoulders and attached to the back of the belt; there were two straps on the back in an X shape: the last strap was on the front, and it was a buckle on the front in the middle of the chest. There was an array of weapons attached the harness. A medium-sized crossbow and a five-foot hunting spear were attached to the back straps. On the right side of the belt-strap was a small hand axe, useful for fighting or as a tool, and a small quiver of bolts. On the left side of the belt-strap were a short sword and a hand-and-a-half sword. Attached to left shoulder strap was a dagger; it was placed with the handle facing down. There was a pair of gauntlets, a helmet, and a buckler.
He looked at the helmet and pair of gauntlets that lay on the table. His eyes settled on the right gauntlet. On the front of it was a symbol of a wolf's head, tossed back and howling, with two swords crossed behind it. It looked like someone had taken a dagger and gouged many deep scratches across the emblem. His ears pressed against his skull, his tail tucked between his legs, he dropped his head and said with a slight whimper, "Mhallacht náire." This meant 'curse shame' in the wolf language.
If a wolf, for Connor was the only wolf in the tavern, had seen this and heard him, they would have known by his posture and voice that what he was really saying was: "Curse my own shame and dishonor." His demeanor changed as he said in draconic "Hey! Bartender! I need a tankard of your strongest stuff!" Connor then pointed the lion whose arm he had broken. "He's buying!"
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Syra skipped along the swamp's path, humming a little tune happily, her tail swishing back and forth. She was oblivious to the ape soldier's that were following her. In their foolish minds they thought that they could succeed where the soldiers in Concurrent Skies had failed. They bared their teeth and howled, launching themselves at Syra. She didn't even blink. Her tail straightened out and shadows coved it, making a long blade from the tip. One of the apes impaled himself on her tail. Syra turned her body around and unleashed a torrent of flames, turning the second ape into ashes. She frowned after she unleashed the attack.
"Dang," she said. "That was supposed to be a Heart Stopper." She said, referencing the small concentrated balls of fear. Syra sighed and continued on her way. But she stopped dead when she heard a piercing shriek. Syra turned on her heels and stared in disbelief as the ape that had impaled himself on her tail was still alive, a large stab wound through his chest, but alive. She realized as she silenced him that she had missed the ape's chest, instead getting him in the gut and severing his spine. It was a fatal blow, but not an instant one. The ape still had enough time to alert the rest of the party that was with him. Syra looked up as she heard similar howls and shrieks coming through the brush.
I am not going back! Never! Syra thought to herself as she turned tail and ran. She completely forgot about being stealthy. She knew the only way to get out of this free was to run. The only reason that Syra was not sitting in a cell right now was that she had timed her escape perfectly, planning it so that the new, inexperienced guards were on patrol. Those apes underestimated her, and that coupled with the advantage of surprise it was too easy to dispatch of them. These apes, though, would have been briefed of all of her skills, and the warning call from the dead ape assured that she wouldn't be able to dispatch them by surprise. She knows that her two greatest assets are stealth, and her opponents underestimating her. Neither was available now.
Syra crashed through the brush. She could hear the apes, hooting and hollering, getting closer and closer to her. She stumbled and trip onto a path and, strangely, hears laughter. It was no the laughter of the apes, but one of drunkenness. She looked up and saw her salvation.
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Connor placed the tankard of strong liquor to his lips and took and drank a swig. This was his second drink, and he was already feeling the alcohol removing his reason and logic. Did he care? No, it would relieve him of his memories of his dishonor, if only for a little while. He was about to take another drink when he heard something. His senses were more tuned then most of the patrons, so could just make out a shrill scream over the clamor. He heard it again, but this time words accompanied the scream.
"Help!" comes the voice of a young one. Connor looked up as the door to the tavern bursts open, revealing a disheveled looking hatchling. She had dull black and gold scales with small streaks of red and orange dotting her body. Her whole body shook in fear as her eyes, a crisp and bright purple color, darted back and forth. She looked as if she never had enough to eat, and he could almost see her ribs. "Help me!" she cries out again, leaping to the nearest patron. Who just happened to be Connor. She rears up and places her forepaws on his chest. "Please, Please, Please! You have to hide me! The apes are coming and they killed my parents and my brother and their going to kill me! Hide me! Please don't let them get me!" The hatchling began to cry as she placed her head against Connor's chest. "Please, save me." She whimpered. Something about this hatchling stirred Connor's memories, and they came to him in flashes.
A young, black she-wolf smiles and laughs as she trots in front of Connor. She had on a coat, helmet and gauntlets just like the ones Connor wears. It was buttoned up with a harness and weapons identical to the ones Connor has put on over the coat. She yells "race ya'" to Connor. He just laughs as the young she-wolf runs off and disappears behind a tree, but his blood freezes as he hears her scream.
Connor grits his teeth as the memory comes to him. He moves the young dragoness off of him and crouches in front of her. "What is your name, young one?" he asks.
The hatchling says through snuffles "Syra, my name is Syra."
"Well Syra," Connor says "I swear by my warrior ancestors, by the blood that flows through my veins, by the fire in my heart, that as, long as the moon will rise and fall, no harm shall come to you when you are in my care."
Syra's eyes widen "Y-you will protect me?" the young one stammered out. Connor nods simply. Syra's face breaks out in a smile and she tackles him. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you!" She says, hugging the wolf tightly. Connor just pushed her off and stood up. He then picked her and tossed over to the bartender.
"Keep her quiet and out of sight." Connor says to the bartender, a stout looking mole. The bartender catches Syra and sets her behind the bar. Connor then buttons up his coat, pulling on his harness and weapons. The next thing he put on was his gauntlets, slinging his buckler over his back, and then he pulls on his helmet and steps outside the tavern. He heard loud hooting and hollering as the apes that were chasing Syra crashed through the brush and onto the road. There were fifth-teen apes in all, one commander, four leaders, and ten soldiers. They all got stuck in the mud banks that formed on the sides of the road. One of the leaders worked his way out and walked up to Connor. Connor, who had taken out his dagger with his right hand and was twirling around to all of the different positions he could hold it, noticed that all the apes were wearing similar armor; leather armor dyed a black with a red colored trim. The color was hard to make out because it was so faded and caked with mud.
"You, wolf." said the ape leader that had gotten out of the mud. "We are looking for a black dragoness, around ten years old." the ape said, handing Connor a hand drawn picture of Syra. It said on the bottom Wanted for the murder of General Spyro Corvo, King Gaul, and Lady Cynder Jessamine's personal assassin, as well as the murder of many of the guards in Concurrent Skies. As soon as Connor had finished reading it, he tossed his head back and laughed
"You expect me to believe that a hatchling did this? Killed their personal Assassin? Either you're more pathetic than I thought, or you all sleep at your posts." Connor said after he was done laughing. The ape growled and took a step closer to Connor, puffing out his chest. The ape never got a chance to say anything. Connor twisted his body and punched the ape in the gut, causing the ape to double over. Not even blinking, Connor flipped the dagger to the reverse position and stabbed the blade into the base of the ape's skull. The ape's body jerked once and fell down at Connor's feet. The apes stuck in the mud stared in disbelief for a while, before yelling loudly and struggling to get out of the mud that held them entrapped.
The struggling only made it harder to escape the mud, but the apes didn't care, only wanting to taste the blood of the one who had killed their comrade. They stopped for a second when they all heard a kachung-thunk! And one of the leaders dropped dead, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his eye. Connor had shrugged off his buckler and used his crossbow to kill one of the apes. Before he could reload the remaining two leaders escaped the mud and charged him. Connors only had enough time to drop his crossbow, put on his shield and draw his hand-and-a-half sword before the apes were upon him.
Connor raised his shield and tilted it to the left, deflecting the sword blow from one of the apes. The other had an axe and slammed the blade against Connor's side. The wolf grunted as he felt at least one of his ribs crack, retaliating with a slash to the axe wielding apes side. The axe wielding ape didn't expect the wolf to survive that hack; the axe should have gone right through the coat! So surprised was he, that he didn't noticed Connor's attack until too late. The ape stumbled back from the slash, giving the second ape room enough to attack Connor again with a downwards slash. Connor parried the blow to the right and slammed the edge of his shield against the ape's neck. The ape yelped in pain as Connor brought his sword arm around again and slashed out the ape's knee. He fell over, and Connor took advantage of the situation and stabbed the ape in the chest. Before he could pull his sword out, the remaining ape jumped at him and swung his axe down. Connor jumped back and pulled out his short sword. The ape swung his axe to hit Connor in the shoulder. Connor took the full brunt of the blow on his shield, grunting as the heavy hit sent shockwaves through his limb. He easily pivoted his body and drove the tip of the blade deep into the ape's neck. Connor pulled the blade out of the corpse. He looked up and saw the other apes getting out of the mud.
All Syra could hear was the clash of metal and gurgles of blood. She was concocting a plan on how to elude the apes when all sound of fighting stopped. She heard the wolf say "It's alright, you can come out now." Syra peeked her head up and gasped. The wolf was covered in blood, as well as all his weapons. He took off his helmet and dropped on his table, taking a drink from the tankard that was still on his table.
"B-b-but how did you fight off all of those apes?!" Syra asked
"Simple," the wolf said. "I fought without honor, and I hate myself for it."
A/N: I finally got that chapter done. Sorry it took so long, but I am sure that with time my updates will smooth out. A rough, emphasis on rough, guess of when I will update seems to be every nine days. Sorry for that. If you care, I gave Spyro and Cynder last names, those last names are based off of another video game's characters. Guess who they are and you will get a cake.
Syra: The cake is a lie
Shut it Syra! Also a quick reply to a guest review
Guest: That was the whole point of not revealing who Syra was until the end, so one thought Cynder was running and Malefor was the one who confronted her. I thought that it would be a nice hook for the story.
I noticed after I finished this chapter, that I forgot to say that Connor's coat has a hood. It has been corrected in the story.