Welcome back, I present to you Chapter 10. Yes, it really is great that I managed to get so far into this, most stories I've written have at least three really short chapters, and then I'm done with them. At least now I have a good chance of finishing this. Next chapter will be 11, so that would make me 1/3 into this, and then 22 would be 2/3. I'm pretty far into this, although enjoy.
10
Spyro waited well after midnight before going on a walk to the lake's end. His tail blade dripped down into the water, and a sigh formed between his lips. The watery splashed against his forepaws and hind paws, and the gentle squish of mud was plastered all over Spyro's legs. After Cynder had gotten angry, Spyro left her alone for a little while to rest. He already knew not to bother an infuriated dragoness, twice as bad when it was Cynder.
Spyro waded out into the water a bit and looked at the moon's reflection on the surface of the lake. A gentle breeze stirred at his insides, and Spyro felt more at home than he had when he first arrived back at the Dragon City. Spyro remembered all too well the sight of the place mostly burned down to a crisp, teenage hatchlings guarding the city walls to make sure that there were no more groups of stray apes to burn the whole place down.
Spyro padded forward in the splashing of the water until his body was covered and only his head, neck, and wing tips were poking out of the water. As the muddy floor vanished beneath him, Spyro spread open his golden wings and let the water drift him towards the surface. Letting out a relaxed sigh, he flopped down on his back and sank his horns into the water. Closing his eyes, he continued to drift downstream until something crashed into the back of his head.
Spyro's eyes shot open and realized through a splash of bubbles, that all air was gone. Thrashing violently, Spyro reached his forepaws out of the water in order to reach his attacker. But massive paws held him under, threatening to drown him while he had only moments before been relaxing. The massive paws pushed him so far down that his back spikes were painfully smashing into the earth underneath him, making him writhe in pain.
The purple eyes of Spyro could not make out his attacker's features, so he had no idea who was doing this. For a moment, Spyro made out a something that looked black, and Spyro thought irritably, That must be Dark doing this to me! Spyro yanked his head out of the water and snapped his sharp white teeth over his opponent's paw, and the figure growled in pain, before smashing the savior purple dragon back underneath the water with a hiss.
The purple dragon sprang both wings free from his sides and clawed his attacker's snout, digging his white claws into the scales guarding the muzzle of all dragons. The attacker snarled before whacking Spyro in the back of the head with what the purple dragon thought might have been a tail, and an extra force pressed him back down again. Spyro felt terror as well as horror, that he may never get to see his friends back at the city ever again, and that Cynder would think he ran away.
Determination set Spyro straight, and the purple dragon sank his teeth into one of the forepaws holding him under the water's surface, sending skitters of bubbles in Spyro's eyes and face. Smoke clouds wreathed around his head. Spyro snapped at fought ferociously, until his attacker backed up and Spyro's head bobbed up over the water and air flooded over his jaws and snout. Happiness strangled him, but it was short-lived.
There was a tall, white figure standing overhead of him, and its lips were drawn back in a snarl. It was wearing a coat of armor over its muscular frame. It immediately spread open its wings and flapped off into the shade of the moon, entirely hiding its identity to Spyro. The purple dragon was tempted to fly after it and slam it into the trunk of a tree and demand why it had chased him, tried to kill him.
Spyro wheeled around and sprinted as far and fast as he could, skirting the trees that threatened to slam into his face and leave a bloody trail behind him. The purple dragon knew that whatever have tried to kill him would be back soon, so he knew that he needed to warn the others in case that dragon, if it even was a dragon, maybe would try to harm his friends just to make sure the savior of the world would feel some grief and remorse.
The purple dragon noticed the shade of the trees covering the glare of the moon, and the city walls popping into view. Spyro skirted the corner and was left panting on the hard rocks ahead. After catching his breath and drinking from a puddle nearby, the purple dragon leapt into the air and hovered over the city walls, passing by a patrol of guards that were possibly in Zanvior's Guard. Spyro dashed over the wall and stood still, locating his friends.
They were all curled up and asleep on the side of a nearby building, under the watchful eyes of some teenage guards being led by the two ice dragons that Spyro knew Vendall and Henves, who were both wearing the blacksmith's armor closely related to Flame and Ember's. Spyro landed on the ground besides a sleeping Shattering, who threw her wings over her head at the sound of footsteps. Spyro felt some sympathy for the griffoness, who was still getting used to the city.
Spyro padded over to Poison and prodded her awake. The green dragoness peered one purple eye open, and she saw Spyro standing overhead of her. Getting to her feet, well, more like sitting up straighter and curling her green tail and ivory tail blade around her slender paws, the dragoness turned her full attention to Spyro, purple eyes squinting at him as if to say, Well, what do you want? Why do you wake me from my sleep?
Spyro leaned forward towards the green dragoness to make sure that the nearby Vendall wouldn't listen in. "I've got something to tell you," Spyro whispered lowly. "Wake up the others, okay?"
Poison nodded and got her feet, prodding each other dragon and one griffoness awake. As they all got assembled, Poison led them all back to the spot where Spyro perched, waiting for them. Cynder was the first one over there; she seemed to be in a better mood. Flame and Ember got to their paws and padded heavily over. Shattering and Dark walked together towards the back of the group, and the final Icy slipped over from where she slept to sit positively beside Poison and Cynder.
"Okay," started Spyro. "I brought you all here because I needed to tell you something. No, that's understating this whole thing. I brought you here to warn you about something." As all the other dragons exchanged a glance, Spyro raised his voice, but not to the point where the closely watching Henves and Vendall were curiously blinking in their direction. "I nearly got killed just twenty minutes ago, because of a murderer."
Cynder raised her snout to speak before anyone else could put in their input. "Who was the murderer, Spyro? How did they try to kill you?" There was a note of worry in her voice, but Spyro overlooked it.
Spyro looked down at his mate, who stared right back at him with beautiful emerald eyes. "I do not know who tried to kill me. They were wearing a suit of armor that hid their face. I do know the color of the dragon or beast, however. They were as white as the moon themselves, with eyes the color of a dove. And they tried to kill me by holding my head underneath the water and watching me drown under the water."
Cynder gasped and held her tail blade with her paw, stamping it to the ground. "They tried to drown you? What kind of murderer does that? Why could they not have tried to slash you with their claws, or stab you in the throat with their teeth? Why was drowning the solution?" Cynder turned her head around to watch as the other dragons murmured to one another in thought, and then the black dragoness twisted back around to stare directly at Spyro.
"I have no idea why they would drown me, Cynder. Understand that, please," Spyro informed her. "But I came here to tell you that you need to be on your highest alert, or we'll either be drowned or killed, like Talloness. I feel horrible for her, I really do, but since we've already be attacked too many times, I feel that this is the only way we would be able to survive, and if I lost any of you, my good friends, then I wouldn't know what to do." The purple dragon lowered his snout to the ground.
Cynder got to her paws and slithered over to her mate. "Its fine, Spyro. We'll be careful. Just get to sleep, because Vendall, Henves, and their great team will be here to look after us." She glanced back to the two ice dragons peering over the side of the enclave with startled expressions. "And don't stress about too much. We've gotten this far, and just a little while longer until we settle things straight, such as 'Where are the Guardians?'"
Spyro nodded, glumly. "Okay," Spyro agreed, getting back to his paws and slipping past his mate, then wiggled by a startled Icy and Poison, who were both blinking in astonishment. Shattering was muttering things to Dark, who was nodding his head vigorously in agreement, and flopped down in a barren patch of sticks and nettles the others had made for him. Curling his legs up and folding his wings over him, Spyro fought for peaceful dreams.
The morning air was stale and misty, and the thin layer of dust that was swarming up over the city was disgustingly everywhere. The sun was hidden by a patch of clouds, so no sunlight was visible. The only dragon guarding them now was the older Henves, who peered down at the dragons sprawled on the ground. Spyro raised his head up and turned to look at the ice dragon who was watching them carefully with brighter sky blue eyes.
"Good morning, Spyro," agreed the ice dragon Henves as he curled his paws up underneath him and flared open his wings, letting all the frosty purple bits exposed to the gray gloom of the morning. "I hope you eat breakfast, because it's all served up for you. You like mallard and red-winged robin eggs?" As Spyro nodded, Henves closed his wings and mouthed, " Good. Wake up your friends and call me whenever you're ready to go."
Spyro got to his paws and trotted to where Cynder slept closest to him. Her black eyelids covered her pretty blue eyes, and Spyro poked her with his paw. The dragoness stirred beneath him, and she opened up one eye to see her mate standing over her. She lifted her head up and got to her paws, and Spyro whispered, "Get up, breakfast." Cynder nodded and crawled to a niche in the side of the enclave.
The next he woke up was Icy, who glumly got to her paws and itched the base of her tail. After that she slithered to where Cynder was and they conversed for a moment. Next was Poison, who immediately bounded to her paws and woke up Dark with a friendly nudge. As Dark woke up, he accidently ran his paw into Shattering's ribcage. The griffoness woke with a shriek.
Spyro told everyone that they needed breakfast, and at last Spyro called down the impatient Henves who was watching them with round, blue eyes. As Spyro told the ice dragon that they were ready to eat, the mood-swing that went from Henves was impatiently bored to excitedly happy. The ice dragon spread open his wings and bounded to the side of the enclave and dipped off the side of it, leading the dragons with the beckon of his tail.
At long last, the sunshine started to starburst through the canopy of clouds, sending vibrant rays blasting over the city. Shattering squinted her eyes beside Spyro so she could see better, and blinked in surprise with her brighter gray eyes. The purple dragon wheeled behind the ice dragon that was leading the way for them, spiraling down the tight loops between buildings getting fixed and remade, dragons as small as teenagers ordering groups around to fix their city.
Spyro climbed up the dip where Henves started to fully hare up, spreading open his large purple wings and towards a slope in the currents of air. The confident ice dragon let his massive wings into the current and it carried them for a while. The view of the city was massive and vast. All sorts of bright lights were being turned off, and for once the place looked better. Henves led them to a place that was being kept clean on the side of a tower.
The group landed on the platform and raised their wings up to the sky. Vendall greeted them all with a bow, before he motioned to Henves to follow him. With that, the two ice dragons vanished. When Spyro was about to ask Henves where the food was, a smiling green earth dragon came forward and politely introduced herself as "Viper." Viper led them to a station that was served up with indeed, mallard and red-wing robin eggs.
Spyro took two plates of the meal for himself and Cynder, and they found a spot on the edge of the platform where they could dine. Finally, Spyro wondered to himself. I and Cynder could have a few moments to talk to one another and not have to worry about anything other than having a good day. Cynder climbed up into the chair and sat down, curling her ivory tail blade over her paws and digging her teeth into the mallard before her.
Spyro noticed how enticing the mallard looked as well, so he decided to have a fair share of that. As the two dragons ate, they talked also. They talked about how nice the day was, and they also mentioned their great spot they had selected right on the edge of the platform. They talked about the rebuilding of the city, and how Flame and Ember had left in the middle of the night to help with the recreation. They talked about where they would finally get their dinner together request.
Spyro looked to his side and saw that Poison and Dark were eating the nice meals together. Spyro felt happy that the two of them had formed a friendship together, and that they felt more comfortable with each other. Shattering sat close by to them and joined the conversation as well. Spyro didn't want to eavesdrop on them, so he turned back around to face Cynder, and continued to talk about where they might eat that day.
Cynder had suggested Tony's, like Spyro had on Trading Day. But the purple dragon didn't want to go to a place he knew she didn't like, so he turned the idea back around. The purple dragon talked about the newest place on the far side of town where Baltimore's library was, a new place called, The Dragon Diners. Cynder said she would suggest that as well, but she also included that she wanted a nice place to eat, not a brand-new place.
After they decided on something, one of the richest, most popular diners in the Dragon City, they talked about how they were going to get their house back. Just two days before Rust of the Burn had told them that the place had been burned down in the raid. He didn't want to believe that, but he had to. She had also been right, as well. The dead remains of ape bodies were sometimes seen about there, and once a frightened rat caught its eye it would scream and scurry away.
After breakfast, the group decided to pack up and stay with each other for a while, just in case that murderer wanted to come back and pick on them, or even kill one of them. Spyro said they would be able to explore later, when midday was around and attack on the city wouldn't be so easy. As the group agreed, Henves and Vendall appeared back again from their own breakfasts. "Let us lead the way down," Henves offered friendlily. "It's trickier the way down."
As the group lifted off from where they were perched, the soared easily down the side of the cliff and watched as the beauty of the city folded back on top of them. Every corner of the Dragon City was visible from that point on, because they were so high up. But dragons didn't need the air pressure to be so high, so they could float as high as they wanted to, for all Spyro cared. Besides, he loved to hover beside Cynder and gaze around the city in unison.
The floated back down to the floor of the city with Dark and Poison landing on the ground first. They tossed their wings back behind them and paced forward for a talk, and every once in a while Dark of Poison would laugh at what the other one said, or they would playfully butt each other on the shoulders. Spyro and Cynder trailed to the center of the group and watched as the people talked with each other happily.
The group scanned the townstead where many people were buying, giving goods to one another. Spyro and the group padded towards the main center, where dragons and moles were dancing about in the glory of the sunshine, smiling and laughing. Some visiting cheetahs from Avalar to help with the making of the city were dancing and playing some bongos and drums and lighting fires to cartwheel around with.
Spyro led Cynder down to some sort of aisle that was holding a few cheetahs that were dancing to the beat of the music and letting the rhythm go to their hearts. One of these cheetahs was blue, and was clapping his hands along to the beat. Some other cheetahs, one red, one golden, joined along with him and raised their paws up to the sky and cheered as some sort of blast of fire streaked across the sky, letting them know that another building in construction was done.
Since the city was full of life, Spyro, Cynder, Dark, Shattering, Poison, and Icy galloped down the slope of the city on the cobblestone streets and laughed when they saw some dancing dragons sliding around and looking like a bunch of fools playing in the streets and gliding along. Dark took Poison and Shattering to the other end of the street to watch. Spyro stared off after them, and he sighed, loving life for once since the last week and a half had happened, when they got captured.
Those were not good memories at all, but now Spyro knew, if they kept a good lookout, they would be fine for the next couple of days, and life would be a fine, ravishing one to live. Spyro climbed up the cobblestone pathways and watched as some red dragons danced about and played merrily together. They tossed their wings up in the air and spiraled up in the sky, clinging to one another with the claws they had on the end of their feet.
Spyro decided to get something for Cynder. "Stay here," he warned her. "Get with the group. I want to get something to eat."
Cynder looked downbeat. "How come I can't go?" she asked as she watched him trailing away.
"Because, I'm getting your favorite!" This was not entirely true. Yes, he would get that as well as something special, such as a new bracer that she could keep around her wrist.
Cynder smiled. "Okay."
As Spyro walked down the street, a familiar yellow dragon crossed paths with him. Lightning sprang up in the air and crashed into his purple dragon friend. "Hey, buddy!" he cried. "It's been a week! I was expecting it to be a year, like the last time."
Spyro shook his head. "It's great to see you, as well. I'm trying to get some sort of bracelet for Cynder, do you know any sort of good shops around here that I can get one for her at, Lightning?"
The yellow dragon beside Spyro nodded his head. "Of course! Everyone knows Lightning, and Lightning knows everyone! Follow me." With that, the yellow dragon turned and dashed away down the clumps of dragons crowding the street.
The electricity dragon brought Spyro to a cave under the earth, in a small shop that was strung with beads and artifacts as links to the past. There were some heads mounted on the walls of the small shop, and some ancient tombs were littered on a table not too far to the purple dragon's right. Of course, sitting not too far near them, an elderly dragon was added some more leg bracers on the walls, and noticed them come in, the elderly dragoness smiled.
"Hello, young dragons," said the dragoness with a grin, but since she had only a few teeth left in her mouth it was more of a gummy smirk. "Ah, Lightning. It's good to see you again, as well as our savior, Spyro the Dragon. Is there anything I can assist you young dragons with while you're here?" she added as she placed the last leg bracelet on the wall and left it hanging there. It was designed with some short of spiral, pretty, but Spyro saw some better ones.
"Of course, ma'am," Lightning added politely. "The Big Man over here is trying to get his mate a bracer. Do you think you have any that he might be interested in?" The yellow dragon nodded his snout towards the dirt wall that was hung with all sorts of bracelets, and armor sets, as well as necklaces and tombs and stones that were all sorts of glistening. The elderly dragoness cocked her eyes towards it and nodded her head and smiled.
"I believe so," she wheezed. "Spyro, young lad, you're free to get anything here. And because there's no rules in this place, you can take anything for free. I have always more than one copy of something, and losing one set I won't mind too bad, huh?" The dragoness winked. Spyro smirked and padded towards the wall. He felt like he was stealing, and he didn't want to be rude, but he looked over the wall until he found what he was looking for.
One of the many bracers being hung on the walls was a pearly white bracer, with a huge tooth of a dragon curled over the sides of it. There was a spot on it, a circle that glowed all sorts of different colors. The colors faded from reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and purples. It was something he knew Cynder would love. Spyro unhatched the bracer from its spot on the wall and padded to the elderly dragoness. "Can I get this?" he asked her politely.
"Of course, young one, take it. But that's the only free one that you can get here, so don't keep pestering me if you want some more." She laughed and clicked her talons on the floor of the cave that she had set her shop at. "Good luck, Spyro, dear!"
Spyro retreated from the depths of the cave with Lightning not far behind him. "Nice, nice." That was the only thing Lightning said before a deep voice rumbled behind the yellow dragon. Lightning turned to Spyro. "That's my dad," whispered the yellow dragon. "See you sometime, soon, huh Mon Ami?" The purple dragon besides Lightning nodded, and then the yellow dragon and his dad disappeared from sight.
Spyro happily succumbed all of Cynder's favorite treats, before he came padding back in her direction where she sat underneath the gaze of a few peach trees, shaded by the glare of the fierce Dragon City lights, especially with a high moon so set in the sky. Spyro dropped all of the items at his mate's toes, and she looked at them all with her muzzle showing her expression, pure pride. She wrapped her tail around the remains of food, which varied from water birds, to all sorts of huge ground elk and moose.
"Enjoying that feast?" Spyro questioned her, and as the black dragoness nodded, the purple dragon gripped the swan closest to him with his stubby white claws. "Without me, even?" he dared, lowering his head to the swan in a pretend bite. Cynder leapt forward to protect the swan and its white feathers, and she curled her tail blade over its limp wings that flopped on the cobblestone floor. Spyro raised to his fullest height to look threatening, but playfully growled, "It's mine!"
Cynder talked into Spyro with a daring hiss, and swung her talons in a confusing ark. As Spyro wondered where her claws were, she slammed her forepaws into him and sent him crashing to the ground. She playfully pretended to cut his throat with her claws, but she refused to do so with a smile. "Maybe you'll understand from either Icy or Poison that a dragoness will always get what she wants to eat, even if going against the purple dragon of destiny."
Spyro lashed out at her, but she dodged his claws and padded up the hill where Dark was standing a few feet away talking to Shattering in a low whisper. The black dragon looked up in surprise as the two padded over, with the moose and the swan and the other options clamped in their jaws. Spyro looked particularly hungry, and his eyes widened when he saw some blood dribble off the chin of a nearby fawn, although, as he dropped his jackdaw to grab it, Cynder guarded it with her tail and hissed at him as he was sent tumbling in a shrub nearby.
"So, you guys have some food?" Dark asked as he got to his massive black paws, that were almost just as large as their father's. Cynder spat out a few white glistening swan feathers and cleaned them from between her teeth, hissing as they were caught between the gums. Drawing over her wing blade to reach it, Dark turned to Spyro to see if he would answer instead. But when the black dragon spotted the purple one, Spyro just shook his head.
"It's all for Cynder. I know she has a lot here, let me count. One… two… three… four… five… Yeah, five items here, doesn't mean she was sharing. Sorry Dark, Shattering." The purple dragon thrust his muzzle in the direction of the griffon that had paused a few feet next to them to inspect what exactly was happening. Spyro just shrugged it off before he turned back to look at Cynder, who was already done cleaning her teeth out of feathers and other sorts of downy fluff.
"You two can spare the birds," the beautiful black dragoness hissed at the two of them, whisking her tail in spirals. "They're just being nuisances now." The black dragoness wiggled her tongue with her muscles, then she dragged the swan that was laying askew of the ground beside her and dropped it at the legs of the two male dragons. "Feast away," she snorted. "Oh and yes, you can have the duck as well, Shattering. You can eat more then they can."
Just as Dark was about to make a rude comment, Poison and Icy clawed their way into the clearing with twisted smiles on their faces. They didn't carry food, but all they wore was slim jewels around their arms and necks. Just as they showed up, Spyro realized that he had forgotten all about Cynder's bracelet with the swirl of rainbows, but he wanted that to be more private than straight out in the middle of the street where all dragon snouts –or moles- were peeking about to watch.
"Hey, Poison, hi Icy," Dark greeted the two as they padded up to join the others. Spyro watched as they climbed up the slope towards them, displaying their nice decorative surroundings to the male dragon ahead of them. The black brute paused when he saw some of the things wrapped decoratively around their necks, but he shrugged off the thought or something because he started to compliment a few of the things they were wearing.
Spyro helped Dark eat the swan as Shattering feasted quietly on the duck, ignoring the looks that the other dragons nearby where giving her. Spyro licked at his tongue when he was done, and picked up the bony remains to where a deposition pile was hoisted nearby. Spyro dropped his bones on the hill before he nearly ran into Dark on the way back. The black dragon paused in surprise, then he spotted Spyro and merely waggled a wing.
Spyro paused to look at the black dragon, but he had already twirled around to go back to where Icy and Poison where flashing him their pretty, twined scales. He applauded them, and nodded his head sometimes when he said stuff. But most of the time he looked troubled or bothered, as if he were worried about something most of the time. Spyro could not help but glance his way to see his friend's troubles, but the dragon just ducked from reach.
That's when the rocks came crumbling down on the city.
"Hello, purple dragon!"
What did you think of this chapter? Did you like it? Questions or comments? Review below to ask, do not PM me. And I always read my reviews so don't bother asking me if I do. If you do end out PMing me a question, do not expect it to be answered. All questions go to the review box, where both questions and comments will be indeed answered. Enjoyed writing this for you. So long for now, and I'll see you next chapter.