TLOS: why we fight
Chapter 7
Hi again everyone! Sorry for the long wait on this next chapter. If you're still reading this, thanks! And I hope you enjoy!
It was morning and Cynder was woken by a beam of sun hitting her eye. She slowly stirred back to consciousness before noticing a weight on her shoulder. She lifted her head and looked down to see spyro's wing draped across her, and further down, their two entwined tails.
Cynder giggled quietly to herself before trying to find where his head was. She craned her neck around until she found it. It was only a few inches above where she had placed her head for the night. She smiled devilishly to herself before blowing small wisps of wind past his nose. Spyro grunted and snorted in his sleep before swatting at it with a paw. Cynder snickered quietly and began blowing the little gusts a little bit more frequently.
Spyro flailed a paw weakly at it and mumbled a few unintelligible words before rolling over so that he was facing away from her. Cynder giggled again and stood up softly before walking around to be in front of him again. She leaned in so that her face was only a few inches from his and stayed there, smiling evilly.
As spyro slowly came to, he noticed a blurry figure in front of him. "C-Cynder?" he muttered out questioningly. His question was met with a flurry of wind strong enough to make his scales feel like they were peeling off. Spyro jumped up and rolled backwards, still disoriented and not fully awake "What the hell!?" spyro shouted as he rubbed his eyes to clear the blurriness from them.
Cynder doubled over laughing at seeing his reaction. Spyro finished rubbing his eyes and looked at cynder with a frown on his face. "Cynder? Why did you do that? I was still sleeping!" he complained childishly. Cynder was laughing so hard she was crying. "OH! I got you! Y-You should have seen your face!" she said between fits of laughter.
Spyro smiled at her. "So that's how it is?" he asked her playfully "well two can play that game!" spyro yelled before diving over on top of her.
Cynder squeaked at the sudden weight before laughing lightly and playfully fighting for dominance. The two laughed and playfully fought and rolled around on the ground, turning their little campsite into a miniature disaster zone. They rolled sideways until finally they came to a stop at the base of a tree. Spyro was on top still and he had her pinned down. "I win Cynder! Accept defeat" he said playfully
Cynder struggled for a bit before slumping against the ground. "Okay spyro, I guess you win" she said playfully. Spyro smiled and loosened his grip on her a bit. Once cynder notice this, she surged upwards, knocking spyro onto his back and pinning him softly. "OR maybe not" Cynder said with a smug grin on her face.
"Damn it." Spyro said in defeat. "Ill get you next time though!" he said playfully before snaking his head up and kissing Cynder softly on the tip of her snout. Cynder blushed heavily and backed up off of Spyro quickly. "Well I see you two are up and about."
Spyro and Cynder both jumped and looked around before noticing swift. He was leaning against a tree, acting as nonchalant as he could. He pushed off the tree and walked slowly over to them, dusting his cloak off as he walked. "Not exactly what id expected two battle hardened veterans to do, but it was cute" Swift said sarcastically and playfully. The two dragons blushed furiously and looked away from him. Swift laughed loudly at that and sat down before pulling out a canteen of water and taking a drink.
"So, according to what you two have said, I'm guessing if we begin heading to warfang again within the next half hour, we should only be about a half days travel to reach the city tomorrow. Sound about right?" Swift asked the blushing couple. Spyro looked up and replied softly, "yeah, that sounds right. I think I'll fly above as our scout today." He then turned and licked Cynder on the cheek quickly before jumping into the air and flying away.
Cynder's blush grew even more noticeable when Spyro did this, and she coughed weakly to try and dispel the heat she felt on her face. Swift chuckled lightly and shook his head before standing up. He looked down to cynder. "You ready to go? Seems like Spyro is" Swift said while pointing over his shoulder. Cynder stood up and began walking, swift soon falling into step beside her.
As they walked, cynder and Swift talked about random things that came to mind or discussed things they had seen while walking. Spyro was high above them, keeping a watchful eye out for anything that might be dangerous. He didn't see much though.
There was a drop off they had to climb down a ways in front of them, but it still looked to be a good twenty minutes off. The forest extended out on either side of the two. To one side, a river and small lake were visible. And on the other side, a tall range of mountains acted like a guiding wall, leading them steadily towards warfang and the plains that surrounded it.
Spyro had made a pattern where he would fly ahead of the two a few hundred yards before circling back and turning about to come even with them once again. This pattern would take him in alternating semi-circles to either side of the two, making sure the surrounding forest was generally free of anything large or airborne.
The group stopped for lunch when they came across a reasonably sized pond. Cynder caught a few fish and Spyro caught a deer. Swift cooked the food and seasoned it with a few herbs he had been able to forage from the area. "Mmmm. The fish turned out great swift!" Cynder complimented as she finished her fish and began digging into her portion of the deer. Spyro grunted his agreement before quickly finishing his meal and rolling over on to his back and stretching "man, I feel like a good nap about now." He said lazily as he began to drift off.
Swift reached over and poked Spyro's exposed belly with a wooden fork he had carved. "You can't sleep now, we need to keep moving. Besides, you slept for a good four months inside that crystal" Swift joked as he finished the rest of his food. Cynder giggled lightly and spyro rolled over with a growl of annoyance. "Yeah, but that's not the same! That kind of sleep doesn't reenergize me. It just leaves me feeling drained" he whined. Cynder looked at him with fake pity. "aww. Is the legendary purple dragon tired? I'm sowwy" she said jokingly. Swift started laughing and spyro looked away embarrassed. "Fine, let's get moving then" Spyro said as he stood and looked back, waiting for the other two to get ready again.
"Alright," Swift said after re gathering his things, "let's go." The group began walking again. Spyro and cynder in the lead, standing side by side with their shoulders brushing lightly, and swift only a few feet behind doing his best to give them a bit of space.
Spyro was enjoying the time with Cynder; her scales brushing against his and their intertwined tails relaxed him. As they walked spyro looked over at cynder and draped a wing across her back, pulling her close. "So what's the first thing you wanna do after informing the guardians that we are still alive?" Spyro asked. Cynder walked in silence for a bit "Honestly I don't know. A better question is will the guardians be okay with us being together?" She said in return.
Spyro looked at the ground in thought for a few moments before replying "I really don't see why they would disapprove. But if they do, well, I could care less about their opinions. I've done enough running around for them, and you don't deserve to be treated as anything less than the amazing dragoness that you are." He said confidently.
Cynder blushed at hearing this "thanks Spyro. That means more than you know." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, causing spyro to blush too. He quickly glanced over his shoulder to see Swift looking at anything but them and whistling a little tune. He had clearly seen and heard the whole conversation and was trying to act like he hadn't.
"Come on Swift, you don't need to sulk back there." Spyro called jokingly. Swift looked at him, feigning surprise at being called on, before catching up to them and keeping equal with them. Spyro kept his wing placed over Cynder's back and began talking to Swift.
"I can't tell you much about the city, other than its HUGE! But I know that the main inhabitants of the city are moles. There are a few other dragons, but I don't know how many, and I do believe there are a few Cheetahs scattered around the city. Hunter should be there unless he decided to take the tunnel back to Avalar" Spyro said. Swift looked down at Spyro before looking forward again. "I haven't met any moles, and even fewer dragons, so this should be interesting. It will be nice to see my uncle again too. I haven't talked with him in a very long time." Swift replied
Spyro looked at Swift surprised "Hunter is your uncle? I didn't know he had any family." Spyro said. "Well what did you expect spyro? We were at war and hunter's main job seemed to be keeping us alive! It's no surprise he didn't tell us about his family. So is he Meadows brother or….?" Cynder trailed off. "No. my mother was his sister" Swift replied "she and Meadow were married for five years before they had me, and she passed away nine years after that." He finished. "Oh, okay. Thank you for sharing" Cynder said. "it's no trouble. It's a story I've told often enough" Swift replied.
The trio kept talking and walking at a steady pace for a few more hours. The sun was nearing the horizon when spyro spoke up. "Let's stop for the night guys. We will pick up the pace again in the morning. Cynder, see if you can find us something to eat. Swift, would you go gather firewood? Ill circle around in a fifty yard radius and make sure nothing dangerous is out there" Cynder and Swift both nodded before walking off in their own directions. Spyro took to the skies and zoomed off before coming back at a glide and landing in a tree near their campsite. He stared at the bags Swift had dropped before scanning the area around the clearing with a sweep of his eyes.
After a few minutes of waiting, a shadow crept out from behind a few bushes and approached their bags. Spyro's eyes instantly locked onto the shadow and watched it approach. The figure looked around before crouching down and started rummaging through their things. Spyro took this chance and lept into the air and landed on the figures back, knocking it and their bags and stuff sprawling across the ground.
Spyro quickly jumped on the figure to pin it down. He heard a faint grunt as he landed on the figures back before he placed a claw to the hooded figure's neck. "Don't move or try anything. Answer any question I ask and answer truthfully and maybe I'll let you live, clear?" spyro asked. There was a muffled "Mmhm" from the figure, which was definitely female, before swift walked back into the clearing with a large amount of wood in his arms.
Seeing spyro and what was happening, Swift dropped the wood and ran over. "What happened and who is this?" Swift asked. "She was going through our bags when I found her. I thought I had smelled something earlier, but let it go. I smelled it again, so I thought to set a trap of sorts." Swift looked down at the person before removing the hood and recoiling in surprise "Heather!?" Swift yelled. He pushed spyro off of her and sat her up. "What in the hell are you doing here! Aren't you supposed to be back with reed in Avalar?" Swift scolded. Heather winced before looking up at him determinedly. "I don't have to be anywhere! I'm the same age as you and can choose what I do! I was looking through your things for a spare water skin because mine ran out." She said as she crossed her arms in a childish way.
Swift looked at her sternly before rolling his eyes. "you know that reed won't accept that answer considering he sees you like his own daughter." Swift retorted angrily. Heather shot him a withering glance "well it doesn't matter what reed thinks because I'm here and he isn't. so what are you guys going to do about it?" heather asked halfheartedly with some fear in her eyes. Swift looked back at spyro, who was thinking quietly to himself. "Well we can't send her back all alone and we don't have the time to escort her. I think our only option is to bring her with us, at least until warfang. Once there we can try and find a way to get her home without letting her go alone." Spyro said after a few minutes of thinking.
Swift looked at the ground in thought before snapping his head up and looking off to his left. Cynder was standing there, a large deer held by the neck in her jaws, and she had stepped on a stick. She looked surprised to see heather before looking questioningly at Spyro and Swift. "I'll explain in a bit." Spyro promised before going over and helping her drag the deer closer to the fire pit.
Swift looked back to heather and sighed "I guess spyro is right, but why were you following us in the first place?" he asked. Heather gave a light shrug of her shoulders "When my parents died, Meadow took care of me until prowlus convinced reed to take me in. I was with you guys for almost a full year, and I've always considered Meadow to be my father since then. When he was…taken….. I was just as scared and horrified as you were." Heather said quietly, her shoulders shaking softly as she hugged herself for comfort and warmth.
"But if meadow was caring for you for that long, how come I don't remember you?" swift asked puzzled. "I wondered that too until I remembered that meadow cared for me and kept me in your mothers old house. She would stay with you while he came to care for me. I was rather independent by the time two months had passed. He only needed to drop in to give me groceries and the like." She said to Swift. He looked off to his right in deep thought. "I don't remember him saying much about you. He would tell me he was off to collect herbs and would be gone for a few days. I guess he was visiting with you on a few of those huh?" Swift said with a light chuckle. Heather giggled quietly "yeah, but only on a few. Sometime he would take me herb hunting with him. we would be up all night looking for flowers or mushrooms and moss. I didn't realize until a few years later that most of those plants he had me chasing were either not real or didn't really do anything" Heather said fondly.
"haha yeah. He had me with a few of those too. The one he had me after most was cl-" "Cliff root." Heather cut in. Swift smiled and sighed "yeah. Never did come close to finding anything like it. What did he tell you it did? He told me it helped strengthen eyesight and sense of touch." Heather smiled "he told me it was good for bones and sore feet. Guess he couldn't keep those right could he?" She said jokingly. Swift laughed at this. They continued talking for another five minutes or so before Spyro approached to let them know the deer was ready.
Swift stood and offered a hand to help Heather up, but she shook her head and stood up on her own. The two walked over to see that spyro had cut the cooked deer into equal portions and was waiting for the others to take theirs before he took his. Once everyone had their food, spyro looked around briefly before digging in to his portion unceremoniously. Cynder shook her head softly before she began taking small bites of her deer. Swift went over to his bag and grabbed out two roughly hewn forks and two buck knives. He brought these back and gave a pair to heather before sitting down and digging into his own cut of deer.
Heather looked at it cautiously before taking her knife and fork and cutting a chunk off and bringing it to her mouth. She chewed the chunk slowly and carefully. To her surprise, it was very tasteful and juicy. She was more accustomed to eating part of a loaf of bread with some cheese and maybe a piece of salted pork if she was lucky. The meals reed gave her were never much, but she had grown to accept it and was able to thrive on so little. Seeing this much meat without bread or something else to back it was something she was very unaccustomed to and it wasn't what she had expected, but she was happy with how it had turned out and gladly finished her portion of the deer.
There was a lot of idle banter during dinner, and the finished after about ten to fifteen minutes. After dinner they took some time to talk about where they planned to go the next day, and made sure to remind themselves to slow the pace a little bit for heather, who hadn't been trained to march at such an unrelenting pace. It was Spyro's turn for watch duty, so he jumped up and flapped his wings a few times to carry him into a nearby tree's upper branches. He made himself comfortable and began scanning the general area with his eyes, turning his head only when he needed to.
Cynder looked off in the direction he had flown and sighed before curling up a few feet from the fire. She looked over to see Swift wrap himself up in his cloak and fall asleep quickly, or so it seemed. Her eyes trailed over to Heather who had also watched Swift and was attempting to roll herself up in the same manner. It didn't work so well, but her loos bundle of a cloak would suffice for the night. Cynder chuckled lightly at the failed attempts and closed her eyes, begging for sleep to come quickly. As unconsciousness began to creep in, she smiled knowing that she was safe with Spyro on watch.
So that's it for chapter seven. Tell me what you think of how I brought heather in to this! If enough people don't like it, ill think up something else and repost this chap with the edits. Don't know when the next chapter will be done, so until next time! Jvuk out.
