Chapter 10- Dungeons

Spyro made his way down a dark hall. He knew that the dungeons were always in the deepest, darkest parts of a castle. Now all he had to do was find his way.

When he reached the end of the hall, he saw two large wooden doors. He walked over to them and pushed them open. It was hard, as not only were they large, they were very heavy. After a minute of pushing as hard as he could, he finally succeeded in doing so.

He entered the dark room and looked around. He then realized that he had made it to the dungeons.

Hooks and other torture instruments were on the walls. Many of them seemed to have dried blood on them. Spyro hoped none of it was Cynder's.

The dungeons were lit just barely by a few torches that hung from brackets on the walls. Spyro could not see very well. He knew that he had to find Cynder soon, and he had to do so before Zyla came down here. Or was she already down here? Spyro cringed at that thought.

He looked in the cells, hoping to see the small black dragoness he loved, but he was soon halfway done and he had still not found Cynder. Where was she?

He did his best not to think of the worst things that could have happened, but they still continued to creep up on him.

A few minutes later, Spyro had looked through all but two of the cells, and still no Cynder. He braced himself for whatever he would see in the cells, and then looked in them both. But Cynder was not in either of them. Tears began to form in Spyro's eyes. Where was Cynder?

Then he saw the wooden door in front of him. It had a metal lock on the side, but the lock was not in place. Spyro, curious, went over to the door and slowly opened it.

When he was done opening it, he looked around. He saw more and more meat hooks. One of them was dripping with fresh blood. Spyro was now alarmed.

Then he heard the whimper. He looked down and saw a small black shape moving. Whimpers could be heard, as could groans of deep and terrible pain.

"Please, stay away! No more torture, please!" the dark shape said. Spyro sighed with relief. It was Cynder.

"Cynder, it's just me," he told her. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Spyro?" Cynder whispered, her voice rasping with fatigue. She looked up at him and then hugged him softly.

Spyro looked her over, and was alarmed even more when he saw the wound on her shoulder and the scars on her face. "Cynder, your shoulder! And you also have scars on your face! What happened?"

"Zyla tortured me. She put one of the meat hooks in my shoulder and scratched me across the face. Just before you came, she was about to do it again, but then she heard that there was a disturbance. Was that you?"

"It was. Me, Terrador, Hunter, and the new leader of the cheetah tribe from Avalar, Mara. We all came to rescue you," he explained. "We're going to get you out."

Cynder's eyes shone with tears. She hugged Spyro again softly. Then she said, "What if we come across Zyla?"

"Then we'll have to fight her as well as we can. There would be no point in trying to run, she would just go after us again. And we can't risk you being injured even more, Cyn. Do you understand?"

"I do," she told him. She looked down for a second. "Should we start getting out of here now, do you think?"

"I think so. Do you need any help walking?"

"Because the meat hook was in my shoulder, I'm unable to put too much weight on my right leg. I'll be needing some help."

"Alright, that's understandable. Just lean on me."

She did so, and with help from him, they began to move out of the dungeon.

But just as they were rounding another corner, ten guards came into view. Both Spyro and Cynder stopped.

"Oh crap," Spyro whispered.

"I agree," Cynder said back.

"Trying to escape, eh?" hissed one of the guards. "Well, that's not gonna be happening at all!"

"That's what you think!" Cynder hissed back at him. She breathed deeply, then released a torrent of shadow flame that went right through his armor.

The guard screamed. He ran around the others for a second, and then fell to his knees, gasped for breath and died.

Spyro looked over at Cynder. She was wheezing. Obviously that attack had taken most of her strength. Spyro moved closer to her to protect her.

He breathed a torrent of fire that caused most of the guards to jump back. Spyro realized that most of the guards didn't want to fight. They had either been forced by Zyla to do this, or they were enslaved.

One of the guards had been killed by the flames, and another was wounded. That left seven to fight. Spyro looked over at a pillar and channeled his earth breath. He shot it at the pillar. One of the guards ducked as it whizzed over his head. The blast of earth hit the pillar and broke it. The ceiling above was about to collapse. Spyro could see that because of the dust and the pieces of rock that fell from it. He knew both he and Cynder were in danger, and they had to get out of there before the ceiling collapsed and they had to get out of the castle before Zyla could find them and then kill them.

Spyro breathed ice onto the guards and watched as they froze in place. None of them could move, and when they finally could, they would be crushed by the collapsing ceiling. Then he hurried out of the hall. Cynder was still wheezing from using up some of her energy. If Cynder had no energy left in her and Zyla confronted them, Cynder would be powerless and that would make her an easy kill for Zyla. Spyro did not want that to happen to Cynder at all.

Spyro could see a small bit of light ahead of them. That gave him a small bit of hope. He looked over to Cynder. She was still breathing slowly.

"Cynder, I think we're almost there! Just keep holding on, everything will be okay!" he told her.

But just as they turned the corner, Zyla stepped out of the shadows and stepped in front of them. Her eyes were a wildfire.

"If only life were that easy, little dragon!" she snarled at Spyro. "It's time you learn how complicated life can be!"

Spyro saw Cynder raise her head a little and then heard her say, "Bring it."

Zyla's lips twitched and got into a defensive stance. She said, "With pleasure."