Chapter 11: dawn
Cynder opened her eyes. Crawling out from between spyro's wings, the dragoness got to her feet and stretched. Flying down to the edges of the forest at the cliff's base, she foraged for about five minutes. Returning to the camp atop the ledge, she woke Spyro and got him to light a fire, before cooking a light breakfast of two bush eagle eggs and a chunk of bread for each of them.
After finishing their meal and briefly admiring the sunrise, Spyro tested the updraft whilst Cynder and Darkspyro packed up the camp. Extinguishing the fire, the three of them strapped on their bags and left the ledge behind them.
Flying upward on the enormous morning updraft, the trio cleared the cliff face and slope behind as easily as they normally would a small hill. Flying on as the dawn grew brighter behind them, they travelled four miles without a word, thinking only of the journey ahead and the amazing view of the lush grassy plain they were flying over.
After a few hours of flying straight in the direction of the temple, they came to a region of dense heather. Having flown a few hundred metres over it, Spyro glimpsed a glint of light in amongst the bushes. Squinting, his eyes widened as he realised what it was.
"Bloody hell, it's a fucking cannon!" he shouted to the others, instantly veering off to the left in order to avoid the first shot. Looking around as he continuously changed direction to avoid its shots, the purple dragon realised that there was not just one cannon… but five!
With so many firing on them at once, the trio were soon shot down, almost simultaneously. After hitting the ground hard, the three regained awareness and sprang to their feet. Assuming battle stances, they slowly span around back to back, watching the bushes for any sign of movement. After a few seconds of rustling, the heather around them suddenly disintegrated in a mass of dancing orange flames. Once the heather was well and truly gone, six apes of medium size extinguished the circle of fire with buckets of water, revealing a female human, two huge wagons, and the five cannons which had shot them down. Advancing, the six apes moved in to capture the dragons with chains, cuffs, and clubs.
Kicking one of her foes in the face, Cynder ran up the body of another, launching herself at the captain and latching on to her. As she took her foe down in a whirl of fists and claws, Spyro made a break for it in order to assist her. Seizing their opportunity, the apes temporarily turned their attentions to the purple dragon and beat him to the ground. Having bound Spyro in chains, they pinned Darkspyro and cuffed him before he could help his friend.
As Cynder continued her assault on the captain, she failed to notice how her opponent was slowly rising to her feet. Just milliseconds before Cynder could throw another punch, the female pirate threw her to the ground, winding her badly. Pinning the black dragoness by the throat, the human cuffed her hands and feet before she could retaliate. Calling over one of the apes, she got him to hold Cynder still whilst she backhanded her across the face.
His blood boiling, Spyro waited until the pirate was about to strike Cynder down for the third time. Breaking free of his captors, the dragon charged right into the captain at such a speed that she had no time to react; his horns pierced straight through her stomach and came out the other side.
As the female fell, Darkcynder walked out from behind the apes, sarcastically clapping…