A/N: Hello again everyone, Immortal Drake here with the next chapter of Dragon and Hunter. This is Part 1 of a two-parter, though I won't say why.
Disclaimer: See Prologue. Without further ado, please read, review, and enjoy.
Zar watched as the Guardians immediately ordered the sentry to rouse the rest of the militia as they themselves told Spyro and Cynder to go to the walls, ordering Flame, Ember and Storm to go to the rest of the students and tell them to go and wait in the dormitories.
"I hate to ask this of you Skyclaw," Terrador said, "But will you and your mate assist us against the apes?"
"Of course," his father replied with a small chuckle, "In fact, I believe we can do more than that."
"What do you mean," Volteer questioned, his head cocked slightly.
"You'll just have to wait and see," Skyclaw answered with an impish grin. Zar found his own head cocking to the side, but he immediately shook it off.
"I will assist as well," he said, his parents nodding. The adult dragons and Yautja immediately left to help prepare what defenses they could before the ape assault, leaving the hybrid and the young dragons.
Spyro and Cynder immediately left for the walls as they were told, giving quick wishes of luck to Zar and the others. Storm quickly walked up to Zar, looking between the hybrid and the ground.
"Zar, uh, good luck," she said hesitantly, then gave him a quick peck on the cheek. The yellow dragoness then quickly turned and left with Flame and Ember.
It took Zar a couple seconds to acknowledge the kiss and then he immediately turned and left for his ship to get his armor.
During the trip he pondered his feelings, whenever he was around Storm, he felt like his feet could be swept out from under him at any time. As a Hunter he did not like this, uncertainty often led to death on a Hunt. She also caused his heart to become warm, especially when she was nuzzling him like earlier. He also thought back to the stories of infatuation from his father, he hoped this wasn't really "a crush" as his father called it; Zar didn't want to hurt Storm like that.
He used the pad on the side of his ship to unlock it, and immediately hurried to his quarters to don his gear. All other thoughts were pushed aside for now as Zar focused on his pre-battle meditations as he was taught.
Fully equipped except for his mask, Zar ran from his ship to the gardens and then took flight.
As Zar flew over the city, he circled to ascertain the direction the apes were coming from, and found them to be coming from the east wall, the opposite direction from which his parents had come. Angling his wings, Zar swooped downward and towards the wall.
Zar took a closer look at the apes, the dark mass stretching widely across the plains to the east of Warfang. The hybrid donned his mask and zoomed into the mass. He found several catapults and what appeared to be trebuchets, as well as a big battering ram being pushed by several apes under the whip of an overseer. The apes were big shaggy beings with long colorful faces; many different sizes ranging from nearly Zar's size to big enough to take on an adult dragon.
"Impressive are they not," Zar heard his father's voice to his left, the hybrid turning to find his parents standing beside him, both fully armed and equipped. Beyond them dragons and moles in various stages of putting on armor rushed into positions on the walls. Some cheetahs were also seen stringing bows or testing arrows.
Zar nodded to his father, "It will be quite the battle, but what did you mean earlier, by helping more."
Skyclaw grinned at his son, "You'll see Zar, you'll see," he said cryptically.
Zar heard someone call his name from his right, and he saw Spyro and Cynder walking up to him and his parents.
"You ready Zar," Spyro asked the hybrid, Zar nodding his masked head in response.
A rush of war cries cut off further conversation as the ape army gave a collective shout and the front ranks charged forward, various weapons of war flashing in the dying sunlight. The siege weapons of the apes swung their wooden arms, discharging their stone payloads towards their targets.
Along the walls, earth dragons discharged rocks of their own to counter the siege projectiles where they could. Catapults mounted on the city's walls launched their own volleys, squashing many apes into paste below. Cheetahs drew arrows and fired them down below, cutting down many apes before they could reach their target.
"Prepare yourself Zar," Skyclaw said, the hybrid taking his eyes off of the carnage below to nod. Mela'ra quickly leapt onto her mate's back, drawing her combi-stick, the weapon telescoping to its full length. Zar stood on his hind legs and flared his wings, wrist blades hissing into place. Out of the corner of his eye, Zar saw Spyro and Cynder flare their wings, Skyclaw taking a similar stance on his other side.
"ATTACK," Terrador's voice roared over the sounds of the battle, and Zar joined the rush as some dragons flew from the walls to attack the apes massed below.
Spyro felt the familiar rush of entering combat as he swooped down with Cynder and the other dragons that would be attacking the apes. He wondered why the apes would be invading Warfang now, but that thought was pushed aside as he opened his maw and breathed fire over the apes' ranks. The apes went up like torches, many trying to run and only ending up catching their comrades on fire. Cynder beside him blasted her targets with wind, the apes being knocked off their feet and losing weapons or shields or both.
An explosion to Spyro's left drew the purple dragon's attention, and as he looked he saw Zar had shot a fireball into a group of apes which had scattered them, many having limbs blown off.
The two dragons immediately landed and started attacking apes left and right, Spyro's claws and elemental attacks clearing groups of apes before they came close. Cynder's own elements reduced her opponents to nothing as she sliced them to pieces with her own claws and tail blade.
"Spyro behind you," Cynder shouted at him, and as Spyro turned there was a rush of air. The purple dragon found an ape with a deep bleeding gash across his chest falling to the ground.
"Be more aware of your surroundings Spyro," he heard Zar speak, and Spyro found the hybrid with his disc in his paw. Spyro could only nod in reply before turning back to fighting the apes.
Over the course of the skirmish, Spyro was able to catch glimpses of how Zar and his family fought. His mother had since leapt off of his father's back to engage the apes at close-quarters, the Yautja's weapons often defeating her opponents before they could touch her. Skyclaw kept close by his mate's side, burning apes with rivers of flame or swatting them away with his claws or tail. At one point he saw an ape jump on Skyclaw's back, and Mela'ra quickly leapt to her mate's defense, swinging around his neck and kicking the ape away.
Zar was a force to be reckoned with all on his own, the hybrid was either battering armored apes away with the backs of his blades, or slicing limbs with them. Often the purple dragon observed the apes breaking their weapons on Zar's, similar to how Prowlus' knife had earlier. Many apes fell to the hybrid's assault. Spyro thought it was his imagination, but Zar and his family seemed to be enjoying the battle as they fought.
"We need to take out the ram before it reaches the gate," Spyro heard Skyclaw bark. Looking at Cynder, the two dragons nodded and leaped into the air towards the construct. Looking back, he saw Skyclaw and his mate had increased their fighting twofold, drawing the apes' attention to them. He could also see Zar was joining them.
The trio quickly reached the ram, dodging arrows fired at them and stones flung from both sides. Making a quick landing, Spyro took charge.
"We'll take out the ram's wheels, it can't do anything if it can't move," he said.
The three dragons quickly charged to the ram. The construct was much bigger than them, with four wheels on each side and various hides decorated the roof, likely soaked to prevent fire being effective. This was unlikely for the wheels and frame underneath however.
Out of the corner of his eye, an explosion rocked the back half of the ram, courtesy of Zar, the hybrid taking out a single wheel and half of the one in front of it with a single fireball. The apes pushing the bars between had been engulfed with them.
Cynder disintegrated another wheel on the left of the ram with her poison element, apes trying to attack her facing her fierce fear powers. Shrill screams marked whenever a new barrage would send apes running away.
The purple dragon quickly launched a fireball of his own; the projectile exploded and ignited the front right wheel and the inner framework.
The apes quickly abandoned the wooden ram to the flames, running and hooting before being set ablaze as well with it. Zar quickly cut down any apes that came in reach, the hybrid simply slashing them to pieces or dismembering them with his bare paws. Impressed with the hybrid's strength, Spyro and Cynder followed his example, attacking and killing any apes that came too close.
Zar wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he found the battle enjoyable, even invigorating. The apes' armor gave as much resistance as paper against his blades, and their weapons might as well be made of glass for all the good they did. He and his family would have few worthy of being turned into trophies, but a good fight did well to release pent-up frustrations the hybrid had found.
When compared to the Kiande Amedha, these apes were hardly worth considering as a threat to the hybrid, but he refused to let his guard down. His teachers had taught him that any opponent, no matter how weak they appeared, could have hidden abilities and skills that were dangerous.
This lesson was proved correct when an ape that towered over Zar charged forward while swinging a massive claymore. The blade whooshed over the hybrid's head as he ducked. In retaliation, Zar leapt and slashed with his wrist blades. The weapons made contact and cut deep gashes in the ape's gut, red blood seeping forth. This didn't seem to bother the ape, however, as a quick punch forced Zar to temporarily disengage.
The hybrid quickly drew his combi-stick, the weapon telescoping into being, sunlight glinting off of its metallic points. The ape drew his blade back in preparation of a slash, and Zar stabbed forward with his spear. The ape was unable to block, and the point of Zar's weapon was driven into his chest, under the rib cage and into the heart. Zar was able to withdraw the combi-stick before the ape fell over, dead before he hit the ground.
Having cleared the space around him, Zar was able to take a small breather. The fight, while not overly difficult, was beginning to draw out. Taking this moment to observe the rest of the battle, Zar knew that the dragons would ultimately lose. From what he observed, the dragons simply didn't have the numbers to repel the massive army of apes. Even as the hybrid watched, a dragon fell to the ground screaming, riddled with arrows like a hedgehog. They may have powerful dragons on their side, but even Zar knew that numbers would eventually take their toll.
A harsh cry caught his attention, and he found that Spyro and Cynder had regrouped with his parents, but it seemed that an ape had landed a lucky blow on Spyro; the purple dragon was gingerly nursing a bleeding foreleg. Even as Zar charged to help, he saw Cynder blast the offending ape with acid. Zar quickly finished the writhing ape with a stab from his combi-stick.
With the addition of Zar, Spyro was able to withdraw into the center as the four other fighters created a circle around him. The next few minutes became a whirlwind of blood and gore, as apes crashed into the group and being repelled with missing limbs or mortal wounds.
"We cannot keep this up forever," Mela'ra called out over the battle even as she tore an ape's head from its shoulders, and Zar agreed with his mother.
"Where's that assistance you said was coming Skyclaw," Cynder yelled.
"Soon," was the older dragon's only response.
Zar was beginning to think his father's plan wasn't going to work, then a harsh whistle drew his attention, and it seemed everyone else's, since ape, dragon, mole, and cheetah alike stopped fighting to figure out what it was.
Looking upward, Zar noticed the clouds parting at the passing of several objects, each trailing fire. As he watched, the objects crashed onto the battlefield, often sending apes flying at their impact. Zooming in on the closest one, Zar noticed the barbed shape of a Yautja drop pod. There was only one possibility, his clan was marching to war.
A/N: Wow, so now Zar's clan is going to be assisting the dragons, wonder how that's gonna turn out. And I'll see you all next time!
