Here is another instalment of TLoT! Remember to review please!
D.J. Scales owns Aristotle.
Chapter Seven
It took Talon, Nyx, Noir, Ash and Star a good twenty minutes until they found Cynder and the rest of the dragons sitting in a circle and chatting idly. At the sound of flapping wings, Stone, Arcane, Toxus, Venus, Aristotle, Spyro and Cynder lifted their heads to see the other half of their group landing by them.
A concerned look fell on all of their faces as the bruised and battered dragons all landed and ran up to them.
"What happened to you guys?" asked an incredulous Cynder.
"Yeah! It looks like you were all bowled over by a stampede of buffalo!" exclaimed Arcane as the group inspected their friend's bodies.
"We were ambushed by an elite orc while Noir was ambushed and surrounded by a few wyvern." replied Talon calmly as if it was not a huge deal.
"Really?" remarked Stone in surprise.
"Yeah… anyways, did you guys find that doorway yet that Meadow mentioned?" replied Aristotle, attempting to change the subject to their task at hand.
"No. Did you guys?" asked Noir.
"Actually, yes." replied the electric dragon with a smile as he pointed to a rock with a dragon's paw engraved on it to the left of a large waterfall.
"Can we get going? I want to get that key so we can help Meadow... It has been over two hours since we left him." said Cynder.
"You're right… let's get going." replied Talon as he followed the rest of the dragons to the stone door.
Spyro placed a paw on the engraving and used his earth element to slide the stone tablet out of the way, revealing a hidden passageway that lead into the cliff face. A few of the dragons gave each other nervous looks and stopped before entering the dark cave.
"We will stay out here and wait." said Aristotle as he, Stone, Noir, Venus, Toxus and Ash sat down and did not enter the tunnel.
"Be safe." replied Talon as he entered last.
When Talon finally entered, the stone door slid back into place, leaving the only source of light the opening at to other end of the tunnel.
The group of young dragons had to blink a few times to let their eyes adjust to the bright light as they entered a small canyon with a fast moving river cutting it down the center.
"The wind is to strong to fly in." called Nyx over the noise of the rushing river as she tested her wings, but pulled them in instantly as the wind almost took her.
"We will have to use those ledges then!" yelled Spyro as he ran and jumped over the river, flapping his wings once to be sure he would make it across.
The others quickly followed the purple dragon's example and made their way over to where he was testing the strength of some vines. "They should hold us!" he called as he started to climb the wall of vines and shimmied along the top until he had to jump to another set of vines, and then another. When he came to the end of the vines, the rest of the group caught up to him and Arcane called him.
"So what now?" he asked.
"We run!" called Talon as he made his way around the purple dragon and jumped.
Everyone watched in amazement as the silver dragon ran along the rock face and landed on a large ledge hanging over the river. "Come on! Dig your claws into the rock!" he called as he sat and waited for his friends.
Shrugging, Spyro did the same thing as the purple dragon and was surprised at how easy his claws gripped the rock and landed next to Talon. One by one, all of the dragons landed on the rock ledge and walked towards the next ledge, where Talon completed another wall run and waited for his companions to do the same.
The silver dragon then jumped up to another ledge, but let out a yelp as his claws slipped on the wet rock. His body slowly slid until his claws finally grabbed and he was hanging by his left foreleg and looked at the river with scared eyes. He quickly swung his other leg up and heaved his silver body onto the ledge and disappeared from sight.
"Careful! The rocks are wet!" called the silver dragon as he sat near the edge with his claws dug into the ledge and waited to grab anyone incase they slipped like him.
When everyone was safely on the rock, the silver dragon walked to the next ledge and peered down at the rushing water for a second before looking at the next rock. It was significantly father than the last few and he hesitated, thinking of a way across. Formulating an idea, Talon turned to the group.
"Okay… this one you will need to do exactly s I do! If you mess up one bit, you will be dragged away by the river!" he yelled as he prepared himself for the jump, but stopped when Star placed her paw on his tail.
"Be careful…" she trailed as he licked his cheek and backed away.
Analyzing his route, Talon backed up a few steps and ran along the closest wall. When he was far enough, the silver dragon kicked off the wall as hard as he could and barrel rolled onto the platform hanging on the opposite side of the canyon and landed hard on his shoulder. When he turned around, Talon let out a startled yelp and Star plowed into him and tackled her mate a few feet back.
"Oww…." groaned the silver dragon as his mate picked herself off his body and smiled an apology.
Talon smiled in return as he and Star moved so that the rest of the group could land safely. Soon, the other four dragons landed behind them and they made their way to a large dead tree trunk and pushed it over, giving them a bridge to the next ledge and jumped down to an open area that was worn down to dirt. There were a couple bushes here and there but nothing more and three dark caves in the rock faces.
"I don't like the looks of this…" said Nyx nervously.
"Yeah… is has ambush written all over it." replied Arcane.
A loud screech then caused all of the dragons to drop into a defensive stance and form a back to back circle as they looked for the source. In an instant, the group was surrounded by a large group of ape skeletons with glowing green eyes as they began to circle the group.
"There are so many!" cried Nyx nervously.
"Nyx, fly up to that ledge!" ordered Arcane without looking at her.
"Why?" she asked back.
"Because you are not the best fighter yet and I don't want you to get hurt!" replied Arcane. "Now go!" he ordered.
"Alright… be safe you guys." said Nyx as she retreated to a ledge above the battle zone and watched the proceedings nervously.
As the apes circled the group some more, Talon counted that is was fifteen apes versus the five of them, outnumbering them three to one… not the most comforting odds.
Choosing his three targets, Talon leapt away from the group and tackled one of the apes and lifted his claws to destroy the skull, but was immediately knocked off by another ape. The silver dragon was quickly surrounded by not just his three apes, but an extra four from the rest of the group. Talon glanced quickly over the ape circle to see Spyro freezing one of the apes solid with his ice breath before shocking another with his electricity.
Beside him, Cynder and Star were each fighting two of their own as well as Arcane.
Seeing that the dragon was slightly distracted, one of the apes charged Talon from behind and tackled him to the group with a giddy yelp of joy. Nyx watched with horror written all over her face as the rest of the apes converged on the dragon and shielded him from sight.
Following her gaze, Spyro too saw the pile of boney apes clambering over each other to get at the downed dragon. As soon as he made a step towards the pile though, every single ape was blasted away as bolts of electricity shot out in every direction. In the middle of the carnage, Spyro watched as Talon struggled to roll to his feet from his side and ran to support him.
"Now I remember why I never use furies…" said Talon jokingly as he smiled to the purple dragon to let him know that he was alright.
To everyone's surprise, the silver dragon did not have a mark on his body as he cracked his neck and stretched, awaiting everyone to gather when he picked up the distinct sent of a furred creature. Turning around, the dragon spotted an old gray haired cheetah appeared from the shadows and started to eye the six young dragons.
"Come closer so I can see you in the light." said the old cheetah.
"Tell me, why have you returned here?" he asked inquisitively.
"What do you mean? I have never been here before." said Spyro, confused.
"Not you, the silver male and the black female!" exclaimed the hermit as he pointed with a boney finger to Talon and Cynder.
"You must be mistaken," said Cynder.
"Yeah, I have never been here before in my life!" replied Talon after.
"Indeed, your appearances have changed, but not your eyes. Your eyes give everything away," said the hermit as he stepped closer, "You are the black dragon, Cynder, The Terror of the Skies and you are Talon, The shining death… the dark master's puppets!"
"We were… but… but we're not anymore! We are not proud of the things we have done." said Cynder, speaking for both herself and Talon, who nodded his head once in agreement.
"Oh… is it that simple… to turn your backs on Malefor? To forgot the faces that looked up at you in terror as you slit their throats after begging for their lives?" asked the hermit with an eye brow raised.
Arcane looked over and saw that Talon was looking at the ground, with his muscles visibly tensed and his claws digging into the stone.
"You don't have to listen to him guys." he said, trying to calm the two ex-evil dragons down.
Just then, the screeches of more apes were heard in the distance.
"Did you not recognize the creatures that moved in the shadows?" asked the hermit, "The apes too had served the Dark Master, but more for their own greed and thirst for power than any true loyalty to him. This is how Malefor repaid them… doomed to remain in the dark, feeding off the power of others… never being fulfilled."
"And Talon… do you remember the horrifying screams of the family of cheetahs as you entered their home? Leaving only one alive while killing the rest, including the young cub?" said the hermit as he turned square to the silver dragon who let out a loud snarl.
This finally broke the silver dragon. With his claws extended and his teeth barred, Talon lunged at high speed towards the old cheetah with a deafening roar. Not being phased one bit by the dragon, the hermit swung his staff he was holding and knocked Talon across the head, sending his limp form hurtling towards the river and landed with a hard THUD on the dirt halfway to the raging water.
"Talon!" screamed Star as she and the others ran to the dragon's side as he slowly rose to his feet and shook his head to remove the stars in his vision.
"You two can run… but you cannot hide Talon and Cynder!" cackled the hermit as he broke into a crazed laugh.
"Come on guys, let's go!" said Spyro as Star helped Talon walk away from the hermit, following the purple and black dragons around the corner.
"The Dark Master will find you two!" called the hermit before breaking into another fit of laughs.
Arcane looked at the two ex-evil dragons concerned. "Are you two okay?" asked the fear dragon.
Talon only nodded while Cynder snapped "I'm fine! I'll be fine!"
"Well, I'm not!" stated Sparx, "Was I the only one who was freaked out be that guy? Sheesh, at least it wasn't a complete waste of time… tadaa!" finished the yellow dragonfly as he pulled out a grey key.
"The key!" exclaimed Nyx joyfully.
"Come on! Watcha waiting for?" announced the dragonfly as he flew down into the canyon and out of sight.
Talon just silently took off and followed Sparx. Star turned and gave a concerned look before following her mate, leaving Spyro and Cynder to take up the rear. The exit soon appeared to the six dragons as they did not bother landing and just flew to the door. Spyro once again used his earth power to move the door aside and walked out to the surprised faces of the other dragons.
"So how did it go? We heard Talon let out a roar… are you guys alright?" questioned Ash as he walked up to the dragons.
"We are fine… the hermit is a complete arse-hole though." replied Arcane.
"Really? Well, did you guys at least get the key?" asked Stone.
"It's right here green dude!" said Sparx as he held the key.
"Nice, and you guys are in luck!" said Venus with a smile.
"Why is that?" asked Star.
"Because well you guys were gone, we found the supply cave!" said Toxus, finishing what Venus was saying for her.
"That's good. Lead the way!" said Talon.
The second group nodded and took off, leading the group to the other side of the valley and into a small outcropping of rocks and trees. In the rock was a large metal door with a lock on it. The only thing standing in between them and the weights was a few flying grublins and a large orc that were guarding it.
"We need a distraction…" whispered Talon as he watched the guards from the edge of a bush.
"Leave that to us!" said Toxus as he and Ash ran out of hiding and faced the guards.
"Hey you ugly monsters… want some fresh dragon meat?" yelled Toxus as he shook his rear at the guards before taking off running into a nearby crevice and out of sight.
The guards let out yells of anger and excitement as they all ran after the two young dragons.
I hope they know what they are doing… thought Talon as he and the rest of the group stepped out from behind the bush and walked up to the cage door. Sparx slowly inserted the key and allowed the silver dragon to turn it with a twist of his head. The gate slid open easily as only Talon, Spyro, Cynder, Nyx and Arcane entered while the rest kept watch.
Talon allowed Spyro and Cynder to lift the weights after they insisted and started to walk out of the cave. A loud scream reached their ears as a shadow passed over them. The group looked up to see a large wyvern carrying a white dragoness in its arms before they recognized who it was.
"NYX!" screamed Arcane as he, Talon and Noir took off after the dragoness.
"Meet us at the raft!" yelled Spyro as the dragon flew away.
Hearing the scream, the wyvern turned its fly eyes onto the three dragons following him and hissed before it let out a shadow and fear blast towards the dragons. Even though Talon and Noir were able to roll out of the way, Arcane was hit directly in the chest and oared in pain before dropping limp out of the sky.
Both Noir and Talon screamed, "Arcane!" as he fell towards the ground below. Inches from the ground, Talon grabbed the unconscious fear dragon and turned his body so that he would take most of the impact as the two dragons hit the ground. They both rolled a few feet before coming to a stop. Talon was lying on the ground with all four of his limbs sprawled out sideways and his head flat on the ground while Arcane lied motionless on his side.
"Are you alright?" asked Noir as he landed gently beside the silver dragon.
"I've had worse…" replied Talon as he slowly stood up and shook his head with his eyes shut tight.
"And Arcane?" asked Noir as he and Talon looked over to the fear dragon's limp form.
"Let me see…" replied Talon as he limped slightly over to the fear dragon's body and placed a paw on his side. The silver dragon's paw began to glow white as he examined the dragon's body and slightly stumbled when he released the power. "He'll live, is there any green crystals around?"
"Over there." said Noir as he pointed to a gem cluster a few feet away.
Talon walked over and placed one paw on a red crystal while placing the other on the green, both healing and reenergizing himself before walking back to the fear dragon, breathing his pink healing mist on the large wound on the dragon's chest and sealing it.
The dark red fear dragon soon opened his eyes to see Talon and Noir looking down on him with grim faces.
"How are you feeling?" asked Talon.
"My chest hurts a little but other than that… fine I guess." replied Arcane as he stood up, wincing the whole way, "Did you guys get that wyvern?" he asked.
Both Talon and Noir lowered their heads, "No, it got away after it hit you with that attack." mumbled Talon.
"No… Nyx… where did it go?" said Arcane.
"We don't know…" trailed Talon, "I know that this is a weird time to ask, but are you and Nyx related?"
"Yes, she is my younger sister." replied Arcane calmly.
"Oh." was all Talon replied.
"Come on… we should head back." said Noir as he took to the air, followed by Talon and a depressed Arcane.
Toxus and Ash checked their backs as the grublins and orc followed them into the narrow crevice. It was so tight that they had no room to spread their wings if they wanted to take off and they were both starting to see that is was a bad idea to run into the small opening. Soon after they lost sight of the grublins, the dragons were forced to come to a sliding stop as a large wall rose in front of them, signaling a dead end.
"Oh great! Now what do we do?" fumed Ash as he turned around to see a grublin spot them.
"Well… we either try to fight or climb. Your choice…. and make it fast!" replied Toxus as the rest of the guards appeared around a corner and started to make their way towards the dragons.
"I say… we climb! Come on!" yelled Ash as he began to claw his way up the side of the cliff.
"I agree!" replied the green poison dragon as he closely followed his friend up the rock face.
As they were climbing, Toxus looked back to see one of the grublins pull out a bow and arrow as it aimed at them and released it. Before either dragon could react, the black arrow pierced the red scaled of Ash as the dragon yelped in pain, but hung onto the rock face. The grublin then fired another, hitting Ash in his back again, causing the dragn to slip, but not fall.
"Ash!" yelled Toxus as his friend's blood dripped on his face.
"I'm fine! We are almost there!" replied Ash through gritted teeth as he continued to climb.
Toxus wiped the blood off his face before continuing behind his friend.
After what felt like an eternity, the two dragons clambered over the top of the cliff and rested. Toxus immediately walked over to check on his friend's condition as the fire dragon lied down on a patch of grass, groaning.
Before Toxus could open his mouth, Ash turned to him. "Can you get these things out of my back please?" he asked.
"I don't know…" replied Toxus with a joking tone.
"Just do it!" snapped Ash, obviously in pain.
"Calm down… I was just kidding." said Toxus as his walked up and pulled out the two arrows from the fire dragon's back.
"Thanks," said Ash, testing his wings, "Come on, let's get back to the group."
Spyro watched as Talon, Noir and Arcane landed from the south while at the same time Toxus and Ash landed from the west. Instead of walking up to the rest of the group, Ash and Toxus ran to Talon and Ash lied down in front of him. Star cocked her head as Talon used his healing ability on Ash's back.
When they finished and returned to the group, Star confronted them. "What was that about?" she asked.
"Ash and I ran into some… complications… while running." replied Toxus with a smile.
"Let me guess… dead end?" asked Star with a smile.
"How did you know?" asked Ash.
"I just know your guys's luck." replied Star, matter-of-factly.
"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Toxus.
"Nothing, come on. We need to launch the raft." said Star as she walked away to where the other dragons were sitting and waited for the others to join.
When Talon and the rest of the dragons approached, Venus walked up to the group and hugged Arcane tightly. "I'm so sorry about Nyx." she cried.
"We will get her back, I promise." stated Spyro, trying to raise the dragon's mood.
"Thanks." said Arcane. "Come on; let's get the show on the road so we can save Meadow!"
"Right." said Cynder as she placed the weights on the pressure plates, releasing the raft into the river. She then flew onto the raft and grabbed some metal supports. "Spyro, start flying… maybe we could use this stupid magic chain to pull the raft."
"Good idea!" replied Spyro as he took to the air. The chain glowed into sight as he started to fly away from the raft and to everyone's surprise, especially Spyro's, it easily moved against the current of the river.
The rest of the dragons flew down onto the raft and sat down, enjoying the free ride. When they got about halfway back to the cave where Meadow was, a large squad of flying grublins appeared and closed a gate, trapping the raft in between two large fences.
"We have to open that gate!" yelled Talon, "Noir, Ash and Star, jump onto the bank and head for the tumblers. Me, Venus, Spyro, Stone and Aristotle will cover you with ice, earth and electricity. As soon as the gates are opened, fall back to the raft and Spyro can pull us free." ordered the silver dragon as he readied himself on the edge of the raft.
As soon as the first dragon left the raft, Talon, Venus and Spyro stated launching ice shards at the flying grublins with deadly accuracy, knocking them out of the sky one by one. Ducking under the volley of projectiles, Noir, Star and Ash quickly made their way to the tumbler mechanism and started to turn the giant wheel, slowly opening the gates.
After a few faced paced moments of covering fire, the gates were finally opened. As the three dragons finished though, Talon's eyes grew wide as a large orc started to sneak up behind them.
"Fire on the orc!" yelled Talon, causing all of the dragons on the raft to focus on the one target.
The orc quickly raised its metal shield and started to rush the three dragons, who just noticed the creature's presence. Thinking fast, Noir used his shadow element ad teleported to charge the orc, but it saw that attack coming and batted the black dragon across the side and knocked him away effortlessly.
"Noir!" screamed Talon as he teleported to the dragon's side and tried to help him up. "Are you alright?"
"Y…yeah…" replied the dazed black dragon.
"Come on." said Talon as he teleported both of them back to the raft and lied the injured dragon don on his side. "Spyro, get us out of here!" yelled Talon as he started to fire at the orc again. There was no telling what kind of damage that thing could do if it got on the raft. "Ash, Star, come on!"
The two dragons looked to see the raft start to pull away and ran as fast as they could on the river bank before jumping on the raft, away from the orc, which had just given up the chase.
Soon, the raft with all of the dragons on it finally came to a stop near where Meadow's cave was. The orange furred cheetah was leaning heavily on a stick near the river as he waved to the dragons. At first he looked shocked by the size of the group but a warm smile crept onto his face.
"You've come back! Thank you! I was beginning to think that you would have left me in there." said Meadow with relief in his voice.
"Oh yeah… It was really no problem at all. I did all the work… I'm just kidding," said Sparx putting his hand to his mouth and whispering, "I really did." causing all the dragons to roll their eyes.
"Let's get you home." said Spyro as he watched the cheetah limp onto the dragon filled raft.
They all exchanges introductions as the river carried the raft to the cheetah village dock where they all departed. The dragons, minus Spyro and Cynder, sat down on the grass and waited for the two to return. When the purple dragon confronted Talon on why he was not coming, he just said he wanted to stay and catch up with his mate.
Shrugging, Spyro followed Meadow and Cynder back into the village, where they were spotted by a blue cheetah repairing his home.
"Meadow! You are wounded… how-" he was cut off by Meadow.
"I will be fine…"he said, "Thanks to these two dragons." causing Sparx to frown.
Prowlus then approached him. "Meadow, please forgive me," he said, "These dragons willingly sought to help you when I chose not to."
The chief then turned to Hunter. "I do not share your faith in these dragons Hunter… but by putting you in chains, I committed an error."
Of course you did! You chained us up for no reason! thought Spyro.
"We all make mistakes." replied Hunter.
Some bigger than others… thought Cynder to herself.
"Yes, and I shall try to atone for mine… if you will permit me." He handed a paper to Hunter, "Use the forbidden tunnel. It will lead you directly to the dragon city. If this dragon is indeed our last hope, then I bid all of you safe passage… and good luck."
"We could use your help…" said Hunter, leaving an open offer.
Prowlus did not reply, ut just stared at the cheetah.
"Very well, the invitation shall be left open." finished Hunter as he walked to Spyro and Cynder before the three left the village.
The orange cheetah stopped in shock as his eyes fell upon the other 10 teenage dragons, which all looked back at him.
"I see you made some friends." said Hunter as he turned to Spyro.
"I'll explain and introduce you on the way to the forbidden passage." said Spyro in return.
Hunter nodded and led the group of dragons to the tunnel. Along the way, he learned all of the dragon's names and how Talon had a mate. Before they arrived, Talon turned to the group of dragons and stopped them.
"Before we go any further… I need to know the real reason why you guys left Shattered Vale to travel to Warfang in the middle of the war."
Star stepped forward to explain. "Well the only reason I came was because I wanted to find you, Talon. But as for the others, Arcane came because he had no family other than Nyx in Shattered Vale, Noir and Toxus just came for the adventure. Meanwhile everyone else came because they are all related to the guardians," she explained.
"Really?" asked Talon.
"Yep… just like you are." replied Star.
This time it was the groups turn to be confused. "What are you talking about Star?"
"Talon is Cyril's son."
So there you have it! Chapter seven is in the books- no pun intended. So Talon is Cyril's son eh? And all the original element dragons are related to the guardians?
Poor Arcane... Where did Nyx go? Is she okay?
I can't wait to write the next chapters now that i am FINALLY done with the Valley of Avalar! Now things can really start to develop!
Until next time... PEACE!
