The Blue Dragon
"As long as you keep those bandages on at all times, your wounds should heal in about three days." Said the doctor, a yellow dragoness with two brown bags hanging off her sides that were probably full of medical supplies.
"Thank you so much!" Said Katie, a great big smile across her face
Just as the painted dragoness was about to leave, the doctor said, "Oh! Katie, one more thing!"
She turned around, "Huh?"
"While I was operating on you, I noticed that you were covered in paint. Did you know about this or..."
Katie laughed, "Yeah it's fine. Bye!" She exited the room leaving the doctor quite confused. As soon as they caught sight of her, both Spenit and Carrie's faces lit up. She walked over to them, grinning the whole way, "Hello guys. Miss me?"
"How was it?" Asked Carrie, her eyes tracing the white outline of bandages wrapped around Katie's stomach and wing.
The white dragoness shrugged, "It was okay I guess. Hurt at first, but then the doc gave me some kind of medicine that numbed my entire body." She giggled, "I can still feel it in certain places."
Spenit looked past Katie, at a commotion that was brewing in one of the operating rooms. He got up and walked over to the front desk.
"Spenit? Where are you going?" Asked Carrie, following him.
"Excuse me," The red dragon looked up from his paperwork, "Do you happen to know what's going on in there?" Spenit pointed at the room that he was looking at before.
The red nodded, "You must've been asleep when he arrived. It's a blue dragon that some one found in the woods. He was in extreme condition. We had three of our finest doctors working on him from the moment he was set upon the operating table."
Spenit looked back at the crowd of stressed doctors and surgeons. He had a strange urge to push past them and find this wounded blue. Carrie was giving him a weird look, "Um... Spenit darling? What's wrong?"
"Huh?" Her voice snapped him out of his trance. He looked at her, slightly dazed.
"You look hypnotized, what's wrong?"
The male looked back at the crowd, but only for a second for fear of being put in another trance. He forced a smile, "I'm fine, let's get out of here."
Carrie wasn't convinced, but the smell of dead flesh hovering in the infirmary air told her to save the questions for a later date and just get out of there as fast as possible. She, Spenit, and Katie left the building gasping and moaning in ecstasy as clean, fresh air entered their lungs. Once outside of the town, Spenit made plans as to where they were going next, "Carrie, how were you in geography class?"
"Sleepy... Why?"
"Oh, that doesn't help..."
Katie piped up, "I was the best in my class!"
Spenit's eyes lit up, "Okay, so do you know the location of the closest temple?" She nodded happily, "Excellent. Now, after we visit the temple, I'll be heading south a little ways. I've got some business to take care of. While I'm away, you two travel to the next friendly town. I'll catch up to you in three days at the least."
"Why are you going south?" Asked Carrie, moving closer to him.
Spenit wanted to tell her, but it would jeopardize the point of going there alone in the first place, "It's not dangerous my love, you needn't worry." He kissed her cheek, "I just need to talk to some one, you'll see me again soon, I promise."
She hugged him with her wings for a few seconds, then pulled away and nodded, smiling. Katie interrupted their little moment with an alarmed yelp, "Hey! Get off me!" Spenit and Carrie spun around to see a severely wounded blue dragon leaning on Katie, panting heavily. Katie tried to get away from him, but he was too strong, "Let go! Help!" She felt a leathery wing wrap around her mouth, then tighten till she couldn't speak.
"Shhhh..." He whispered into her ear, then looked at the others with threatening eyes, "Don't any of you make a sound or I'll break her neck. Now, into the bushes, they'll be coming soon." All three of them did as they were told, and eventually they heard the sounds of many paw-steps pounding by. Once it was quiet again, the blue let go of Katie and fell to the ground in exhaustion.
Spenit was tempted to kill him while he was down, but something deep inside wouldn't let him. Instead, he turned to the others and asked, "What should we do now?"
Before anyone could reply, they heard a grunt from the wounded blue, "I suggest you continue on with your plan, no sense in dragging me along, I'll only slow you down."
"We never said we were going to bring you along..." Commented Katie with a stern expression.
Carrie, being the soft-hearted one, couldn't help but feel pity for the wounded male. She looked at the others, then at him, "I'll carry him." She said quietly.
Both Spenit and Katie looked at her in shock. The blue grinned from ear to ear. Spenit took a step towards her, "Are you mad? Do you remember what he almost did to Katie?"
She nodded, "He was obviously being chased, maybe he lied just to get us to shut up?"
"Maybe... Maybe not." Spenit glared at the blue dragon, who only smugly smiled back, "Either way, he'll still slow us down."
"I did not realize that we were in a rush." Retorted Carrie, giving Spenit an angry look.
That was the first time she had ever looked at him with anything but love in her eyes. It scared Spenit half to death, "Okay fine. But if he does anything, and I mean anything even remotely suspicious, I will be the one to rip open his throat."
Carrie immediately hugged Spenit tight, making him fill with a warm feeling of goodness, "Thank you Spenit."
Once they were done hugging, Spenit helped the blue onto Carrie's back, and they finally started on their long trek towards the nearest temple.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" Cynder shouted at a small guard who looked like he was just about to shit himself.
"Yes your majesty, but the king said he won't be having-" He was cut off when Cynder blew a cloud of black smoke in his face from point blank distance. After swallowing nervously, he continued, "Any... Visitors... Today."
The black she-dragon backed up, sat on her haunches, and rolled her eyes, "Isn't there any possible way of getting an audience?"
The pathetic guard nodded, still shaking in fear, "If you are a member of the royal family, or some one is attacking the city and you simply must tell him."
Cynder sighed and turned around. She faced an absolutely massive cityscape, pulsating with life and activity. The Ractile capitol is the largest trading post in the world, and it's all thanks to the destroyer ploughing through the ground and creating a humongous river that circles the entire planet. Since the city was only barely missed by the destroyer, it now stands right by the edge of the water, allowing for excellent dock-age. The only problem with being where it is, is that there is no way to expand since the the only land surrounding the city is extremely fragile volcanic rock. There have been attempts, but every single one has ended in tragedy. So instead of expanding outwards, the king just started building buildings so closely packed that roads became as small as hallways. Then, when they became so crowded that they couldn't build any more buildings, the king declared that they start building upwards off of the pre-existing creations. Now the city is an intensely crowded, extremely tall, column of rock and cement. Everyone flies around now, and just uses holes in the buildings to enter and exit, so no one knows what goes on down below on the old streets of the city. The castle, which Cynder is currently looking away from, was never renovated. It was simply lifted off the ground to match the height of rest of the buildings. Truly a magnificent sight, it's hard to believe that such a warlike people would live here.
The black dragoness looked down. About a thousand feet beneath her, the surface of the earth looked back up at her, shadowed by the towers that sprouted from it's soil. She felt something touch her shoulder and spun around to face it in battle-stance, "Woah! Is that any way to greet a friend?" Laughed Drane.
Cynder immediately resided back into her normal self, "Finally! A friendly face!"
"You said you wanted to get into the castle right?" Cynder nodded happily, "Then follow me." He walked up to the guard and whispered something in his ear.
The guard's expression suddenly brightened. He looked at Cynder and nodded, "Your majesty would like to see the king?"
She looked confused, but went along with it anyway, "Uh, yeah but you said before that I-"
"Come right this way." The guard opened the massive gates and walked through.
The black dragoness had no idea what Drane said to get the guard to let her in, but she had to thank him for it. She turned around just as she set the first paw into the palace to find that Drane was gone, "How odd..." She said to herself before turning and following the guard again.
"Sorry to bother you your powerfulness, but the queen of Warfang wishes to speak with you." The guard bowed before his tyrannical ruler.
Cynder was honestly very intimidated by the king. He was about three times her size, had huge muscles that covered the entire expanse of his body, and was a menacing dark red colour. Oh, and he also stank of sweat and blood. She took a step back just so she could get his entire form into view, and then spoke, "I want to resolve this conflict we have between our kingdoms."
The red dragon grunted, then was silent for a few seconds. He was probably thinking or something. Then he nodded very slowly, saying, "I'm glad you want to resolve this peacefully, our troops are needed elsewhere anyway."
She was intrigued, "Some one else attacking you?"
The king shook his head, equally as slow as the nod, "More like, a sudden outbreak of vicious animals that require subduing. A mysterious force of black dragons has been pouring out of the mountains lately. We're holding them back successfully at the moment, but I don't know how long we'll last if we have to fight two enemies at once."
"How about as a sign of our friendship, I help you defend yourselves with some extra troops and supplies?" Offered Cynder, raising an eye-ridge curiously.
The king shook his head, equally as slow as the nod, "More like, a sudden outbreak of vicious animals that require subduing. A mysterious force of black dragons has been pouring out of the mountains lately. We're holding them back successfully at the moment, but I don't know how long we'll last if we have to fight two enemies at once."
"How about as a sign of our friendship, I help you defend yourselves with some extra troops and supplies?" Offered Cynder, raising an eye-ridge curiously.
The king's casual and laid-back demeanour faded a bit as his diplomatic juices started flowing. He thought about her offer for a good three minutes, then answered with great pride, "I would accept your offer, queen of Warfang, and thus binding our two kingdoms in peace for at least another two years." He then held out his tail in a sign of agreement.
Cynder dittoed him, wrapping her tail around his, then shaking it like a human would shake another humans hand. As she walked out of the palace, she thought to herself, "That went surprisingly well, I think. My advisers will be proud."
The black dragoness set down in the courtyard and was instantly met by three guards led by Rugle, "Your majesty." He greeted her.
She nodded politely, "I have resolved the conflict with the Ractiles, in exchange that we help them in their efforts to repel a threat to their cities. Have the legion commanders send their expendables to the Ractile capitol to meet with their king, he will be expecting them."
Rugle bowed and hurried off, but the three guards stayed with her. She started at a quick trot down the hall toward her bed chambers; the guards following her the entire way. When she finally got to her door, she turned to them and ordered them to leave. But instead of going into her room, she morphed into a shadow on the floor and slid out the window. Once she was a good ways into the forest, she turned back into a dragoness and stretched her wings, "Always gives me cramps." She complained to herself. Absolutely sure that no one was following her, Cynder started running. The running, she felt, set her free. She needed this every once and a while to relieve her of the stress of the day, since Spyro was no longer around to do it. The thought of Spyro made her run in certain direction. The place where he was buried.
She gradually slowed to a stop as she neared the headstone. She felt every bone in her body go limp as she read out loud the name at the top, and the words below it, "Spyro, Our saviour and king." Memories flooded her mind, blocking out everything around her, and forcing her to the ground with forceful hand. As the terror of the skies sobbed like a hatchling, some one approached from behind.
"When a dragon dies, he does not truly leave this world. His spirit lives on, binding itself with nature, offering hope for the future."
Hoping for the best, Cynder slowly turned her head around. Unfortunately, all she got was Drane. For a couple seconds, she was disappointed. Then she realized something, "Hey... Spyro was the only one who ever heard that quote. How do you know it?"
The green dragon moved so that he was beside her, and looked down on the grave, "How long has it been since he died?"
Now Cynder was really suspicious. She stood up and glared at Drane, "You're avoiding my question."
Cynder watched the edges of Drane's mouth slowly curve upwards, "I'll let you figure that one out for yourself." He turned his head and looked at her, an obvious grin of slyness on his face that annoyed the black dragoness like a thorn in her flank.
"Why not just tell me right now?" She whined, sounding like a little dragonette denied something of interest.
The green dragon did not reply, just stood up and walked away. Cynder wanted to follow him, but her legs wouldn't move, almost as if they were glued to the ground. Once he had completely disappeared behind a bush, her limbs freed and she dashed in his direction. Crashing through the plant-life, she was shocked to find an empty grassy field, "What on earth? Where did he go?" Thoroughly confused, the black dragoness decided to head back home and rest her head on her pillow for a few hours. Maybe it would ease the incredible headache she had.
On the way back, she let her thoughts flow freely inside her mind, hoping that maybe things would reveal themselves to her eventually. They never did. She returned to her room still asking questions that needed answering. Cynder lay on her bed of velvet crimson, and fell into an exhausted sleep.
Spenit, Carrie, Katie, and the mysterious blue dragon walked into the abandoned temple even though they could all tell that something bad had happened there. Maybe it was curiosity that drove them? Maybe stupidity? Either way, they were already to far to turn back now.
"There's blood on the floor!" Exclaimed Carrie, leaping about four feet into the air in fear.
Spenit kept a calm head and approached the slowly drying red liquid. He leaned down and took in a long sniff, "It's fresh. Probably happened last night. Smells like medium-aged male."
Katie watched him with astonishment, "You can tell all that from just smelling it?"
The blue dragon on her shoulder chuckled, "He actually missed something, but I'm impressed." He motioned towards one of the hallways leading away from the grand entrance, "The dragon who lost this blood headed down that way."
Spenit nodded confidently, "Okay everyone, follow me." They headed into the dimly lit hallway with legs shaking in both fear and readiness.
After a few minutes of dead silent eerie walking, the party found themselves in a very dimly lit room. Every one of them had been inside of a temple before, and all temples were built the same, but no one could tell which part of the temple this was. Spenit huddled close to Carrie. It was either out of fear, or an instinctual urge to protect her (I don't know about you, but I'm putting all my money on fear), "I don't like the smell of this place." Said Katie, her nostrils closing up in disgust. Everyone else silently agreed.
Just then, there was a massive blast from behind them, and their only source of light was doused in one terrible crash! The hallway was barricaded with rubble, so there was obviously no turning back now. The three teens were scared for their lives. The one adult in their party was alert and ready. For what seemed like the longest seconds in their entire lives, the dragons stood solidified with fear. Eventually their nerve came back, and they were able to move again, "What just happened?" Whispered Spenit.
"Some one planted a trap, and we just walked in and sprung it wide open." Replied the blue dragon, "The only thing that's surprised me so far, is that we weren't attacked right when the blast went off. It either means we're meant to proceed further because they've got something even worse up ahead, or that there's no other way out and we've just been trapped."
Carrie held close to Spenit, "Let's hope it's the former eh?"
Spenit nodded, then looked around, "It seems we're in some sort of library. There are books all over the walls, but I can't make out the titles since it's to dark in here."
Katie chuckled, "We're dragons silly." And breathed a fire ball onto the nearest torch. It lit up the entire room in an eerie luminescent red glow. A mix of awe and fear washed over the group as bookshelves, lined with hundreds of multicoloured books, appeared all around them.
"It's... It's a library." Stuttered Spenit, slowly looking around with a stunned expression on his face, "We're in a library."
