Chapter 7
The closest arachnid leaped for Gwar, who dodged right, and then stabbed with his sword. The attack hit its mark, and the sword plunged into the abdomen of the attacking arachnid. Green blood spilled from the wound and the arachnid fell dead next to the orc. "Thanks for the help." He said sarcastically shooting a glare at Leon.
"You killed it, didn't you?" Leon shot back, keeping his eyes trained on the approaching arachnids.
The orcs stepped in front of their commanding officers, ready to defend them. The arachnids attacked, taking down the first few orcs in a matter of minutes before being struck down with spears and swords. A few arachnids broke through the line of orcs, and went straight for Gwar and Leon. One of them leaped at Leon who ducked and thrust his javelin upward, catching the arachnid under the jaw. Its blood dripped onto Leon's hood before he threw its dead body to the side.
Another arachnid attempted to tackle Gwar, who leaped to the side. The arachnid swung its leg, but Gwar raised his sword, cutting off the sharp tip of the leg and spraying more blood across the ground. The arachnid shrieked and attacked with its other leg, the hit connected and flung Gwar into a large mushroom. The arachnid leaped on top of Gwar and attempted to sink its long venomous fangs into the orc's neck. Gwar held the arachnid back while with one hand, while feeling around for his sword with the other. Just when his strength was about to fail, he felt his hand brush against the hilt of his weapon. He grabbed his blade and thrust it through the arachnid's head. The arachnid shrieked again before falling to the side dead.
Two more arachnids ran at Leon, who raised his hand and shot dark lightning from his fingertips. Both arachnids were caught in the blast, and convulsed wildly as ten thousand volts fried them from the inside out, before they dropped to the ground dead.
Gwar attempted to wrench his sword from the dead arachnid. He had almost freed the blade when another arachnid tackled him from behind and threw him into the murky swamp water. He emerged coughing and spluttering only to have the arachnid come down on top of him and pinned him under the water. Water filled his lungs and his world began to blur before he felt the arachnid being yanked off of him. A hand grabbed one of his horns and pulled him to the surface. He coughed hard, expelling the water from his lungs. He then looked upon the battlefield, which was covered in red and green blood, before looking up at his savior, Leon. "Took you long enough." He growled.
"At least I helped this time." Leon said back as the orc got to his feet. He then turned to the rest of the orcs "How many did we lose?"
"Ten, sir." An orc in the back replied.
"That makes thirty left." He said to Gwar. "It could have been much worse."
"I say that we leave…now." Gwar said as he finally yanked his sword free from the dead arachnid.
"You're kidding. The dragonfly village is just on the other side of this brush, and you want to turn tail and run?"
"If that's what you want to call it, then yes. In case you haven't noticed, this entire place is trying to kill us!"
"You know what? I am sick of your constant bitching. Killing things is what you live for, isn't it?"
"We live to kill dragons, not to follow an incompetent leader and be eaten by giant bugs!" The other orcs murmured in agreement.
Leon sighed deeply "Fine, we'll go back," a sigh of relief came from the crowd of orcs "But, before we do, I must know; who here will tell Malefore that he's going to be stuck in his prison for all eternity, because it most certainly won't be me." The orcs shifted uncomfortably at the thought. "Will it be you? You maybe? What about you?" he pointed at each orc and they shrank back from the punishing finger. "Actually, Gwar" he turned to the orc general "since it was your idea, then I believe you should have the honor of breaking the news to him." Gwar stared daggers at Leon. "So what will it be?"
Gwar was defeated, and he knew it "We keep moving." He grunted, keeping his killing stare on Leon.
"I'm glad you see things my way." Leon said smugly. "Now, come on. We should get there by sun down."
"Orcs?" Spyro's mother asked bewildered.
"What would they want out here?" Spyro's father asked.
"We're not sure…but we to get everyone out of here, now." Spyro replied.
"Wait, how close are they?" Sparx asked
"We don't know, they might be three days away or they could be here in a second, either way, we have to get you to safety." Cynder spoke up.
"Okay," Spyro's father said sadly. "I'll make the announcement." He turned to the other dragonflies and raised his voice so they all could hear, "My fellow dragonflies, it seems our home has been set upon by orcs." The crowd murmured in worry. "We don't know what they want, but we know that they are coming this way. I know that you don't want to leave your homes again, after having just gotten back, but-"
A scream from the crowd cut off Spyro's father. The vanguards eyes scanned the area. Orcs appeared from out of the mushroom forest and surrounded the small village.
"Mom, dad, we'll make an opening! Get everyone out of here!" Spyro yelled. The orcs drew their swords and waited for their command.
Gwar looked at the young dragons, "Leon never said anything about fighting dragons." He said to himself, "Oh well, it's a nice bonus." He then turned to his troops, "We need that blue one and that red one," He said pointing to Spyro's parents, "no one else matters."
The orcs drew their swords and approached the dragons, the bloodlust clear in their eyes.
"Back off!" Flare yelled. He used his fire breath and the orcs screams echoed in the night sky as their flesh burned away.
Zephyr fired an earth bullet that struck the ground before exploding, sending several orcs rag dolling through the air. An orc swung at Crystal, who ducked and countered with her ice breath, freezing the orcs before Twitch used his tail mace to shatter them into pieces. Charlotte set two more orcs on fire, but a third attacked from behind and thrust its spear into Charlotte's hind leg. Charlotte screamed in pain as the orc raised its spear to finish her off.
"Get away from her." Fang yelled. He thrust his tailblade through the orc's back before flinging his dead body to the side. "Are you okay?"
"It's just a scratch." she replied.
Sting used his venom breath, causing three orcs' flesh to melt, exposing muscle and bone.
Cynder took a deep breath before blowing gap in the line of orcs..
"Now's our chance!" Sparx yelled to the rest of the dragonflies. They took off towards the opening and shot through the gap, "Keep going!" Sparx screamed. He neglected to notice the orc general emerging from the woods with a glass jar in his hand.
Gwar swung the jar catching Spyro's parents and swatting Sparx to the ground. He put the lid on the jar, sealing the couple inside, while the rest of the dragonflies scattered in fear. Gwar gave a loud bellow signaling for a retreat.
As the orcs disappeared into the woods the vanguards stood dumbstruck. "Why are they leaving when they had a clear advantage?" Crystal asked skeptically.
"It's either because we scared them off, or, more likely, they got what they wanted." Flare said. He then noticed the blood around his sister's hind leg, "Charlotte, your leg!"
"Its fine." She said.
"Here let me see." Zephyr said. She studied the wound before placing her paw over the bleeding hole. She began glowing green with energy as she concentrated on the wound. When she removed her paw, the dragons saw that the wound had closed up. Zephyr looked up to see the other vanguards looking skeptically at her. "I get it from my mom." She explained.
Sparx's head spun as he watched the orc general carry his family away. When he felt like he could fly, he lifted himself off of the ground, and immediately flew back towards the village. The vanguards were still pondering the orcs' quick retreat when Sparx popped into view. "Spyro! Spyro! Spyro!" He called.
The dragonfly stopped in front of the group of dragons and tried to catch his breath. "Sparx, where's mom and dad?" Spyro asked.
"The…orcs…took them." Sparx gasped.
"What?" Spyro exclaimed before turning to the other dragons, "I've got to go get them!"
"We'll be right behind you." Fang assured him.
Spyro nodded before him and the vanguards gave chase to the orcs.
Leon sat on a mushroom cap and gazed into the night sky. The rustling of bushes in front of him broke his concentration. Gwar emerged from the brambles, his troops followed behind, some of them, Leon noticed, had bleeding wounds and broken bones.
"What the hell happened?" he asked as he rose off the cap.
"There were dragons." Gwar replied.
"Dragons? What did they look like?"
"It was too dark, we couldn't see."
"Did you kill any of them?" Leon asked. The orcs shook their heads. "What about the dragonflies?"
Gwar approached Leon and handed him the jar with the two dragonflies huddling close to each other. Leon took the jar and examined the two dragonflies inside. "Hmm, I wonder" Leon thought to himself.
"So what now?"
"Get behind me, and wait." Leon said plainly. The orcs took a glance at each other before lining falling in line behind Leon. "Ready your weapons." The orcs drew their shields, spears, and swords and readied themselves behind Leon.
Gwar approached Leon and asked; "What's happening?"
"You'll see." No sooner had he spoken had the vanguards entered the clearing. Leon drew his javelin and charged it dark energy. The crystal began to glow brightly, casting an eerie purple light that illuminated the area. He stabbed it into the ground so it would not move before he studied the dragons before him. His eyes immediately fell on Spyro. "You've been quite illusive up until now, young dragon."
Spyro glared daggers at the Leon before Sparx said "Last person who said that, got his ass handed to him."
An evil laugh escaped from Leon, and it made the vanguards' blood freeze in their veins. "I assure you," Leon started "I am not so easily beaten like Gaul was."
"Wait," Gwar interjected "so this puny dragon defeated the dark master?" The orc began laughing hard. Leon kicked his foot behind him, catching the orc in the gut, and causing him to drop to his knees.
"I apologize for him. He has not yet learned respect for others."
Spyro looked at his parents, who were still trapped in the jar. "Let them go." He said.
"Hmm? Oh yes of course." Leon said, before twisting the lid of the jar off and set the two dragonflies free. "Now that you're here, I won't be needing them."
The dragonflies flew to their sons. "You guys okay?" Sparx asked.
"We're fine." His mother assured him.
"Sparx, I want you to take them, find the other dragonflies, and get to Warfang." Spyro ordered
"Bro, I'm not leaving you again." Sparx said, giving his brother a worried look.
"Look, they need you more than I do right now," he then looked his brother straight in the eye "please."
Sparx shrugged his shoulders in defeat "Okay, but this is the last time I'm leaving you, got it!"
"Deal," Spyro said, "now go." Sparx gave him one last worried look before flying into the woods with his parents. Spyro watched them disappear before turning his killing gaze back to Leon.
It was then that Leon noticed the black dragoness next to Spyro. "Cynder, It's been awhile."
The vanguards looked at Cynder, who was very taken aback by Leon's words. "Who are you?"
"Aww, you don't remember me, of course that might be because Malefore had me wipe your mind before he corrupted you."
"You were a servant of the dark master?"
"I serve no one, I'm his partner, and I wouldn't use the past tense yet."
Spyro and Cynder both wore looks of shock, "That's what this is about," Spyro began you're trying to bring him back."
"What did he promise you? Power? Gems?" Cynder asked as her temper rose.
"Oh please." Leon scoffed "My goals are not so single minded."
"Then what?" Cynder's voice was becoming more furious by the second.
"The destruction of your race." Leon said plainly
"Why?"
"Justice."
"Justice?" Cynder's had reached her breaking point "Where do you get off calling anything the dark master does 'justice'?"
"You wouldn't understand."
"What's to understand?" Fang spoke up, his temper beginning to rise as well. "Many dragons have died because of the dark master."
"A fact I'm quite proud of." Leon said coldly.
"You still didn't answer my question!" Cynder yelled, "Who are you?"
"Oh where are my manners?" Leon said. He then threw back his hood revealing a white face with jet-black hair and a pair of cold, convicting eyes with purple irises "My name is Leon, Leon Lovidico," He bowed deeply "last human prince of Avalar."
