A.2.2. Reconnaissance

The four of them had flown through the night. They knew they were close to reaching dragon territory. Two reasons had prevented them flying through the day. The first, and most important, was that Hunter had woken up.

"I'm going to kill them."

Spyro stared over at the cheetah, very glad that he was between him and his weapons. "Would you please settle down?"

"She knocked me out!"

"You were being difficult."

"Of course you'd side with her."

"You said it yourself. We had to get to Warfang as soon as possible."

"I'm still going to kill them."

As dawn had approached, they had landed on a mesa in the middle forest, from which, they had a perfect view of a town in the forest below. It was this town that Cynder and Cirion were now creeping towards.

"Why are we doing this again?" whispered Cynder from behind the fox.

"Two reasons;" he replied. "First is the fact that, unlike you, I am unable to sap energy from crystals when I feel tired. I actually need to now and then. Second is that if we take food back with us, and I mean something not found on the forest floor, we just might get back in hunters good books."

There was silence behind him and he grinned to himself. He felt he was really starting to like Cynder. Within one day, he could see that she asked the right kinds of questions. This also led her to find the right answers when she needed them.

"What do we do when we get there?" The question jolted back to reality.

"First, we need to see if it's gryphon or dragon."

"I know that much;" came the reply, dripping in sarcasm. "I meant how will we go about buying supplies? We don't have anything to use for money."

"Who said anything about paying?"

"You know, I thought you might say that."

"Any objections?"

She shook her head and the two of them kept going to the edge of the town. Several feathers were blowing through the streets. "Gryphons, right?"

"Looks like they're all out tending to the fields. That should make our job easier."

"You find something for me to carry it with. I'll get what food I can and we'll meet back here when we're done."

They split up as they move between the houses. Cirion went straight for the warehouse and, when he was sure it was empty, he grabbed a sack and began pilling food into it. He saw a flask and was just reaching for it when something grabbed his foot.

"You took your time." He whispered as the black dragon rose up through the shadows.

"There is no way you heard me coming."

"Never try to sneak up on a mind reader. We'll hear you, no matter what y…"he found himself unable to finish dew to a paw over his mouth. Fortunately, this allowed him to hear the footsteps outside. He motioned for Cynder to hide herself whilst he moved to the far back and threw himself under a pile of blankets just as a key jangled in the lock.

"We don't get many of your kind this far south of Aviadis and you still haven't told me why you're here."

"Since you insist, the dragons have recently opened negotiations. I was chosen by Queen Vithis to go to Warfang and conduct them as ambassador of our people."

"Heh, Well then, I'll wish you good luck with it. Better you than me. Now what do you need?"

That was all he heard before he felt a great chill around him. Suddenly, light blinded him. As his vision returned, he saw he was back in the forest, a bag of food on his left and a smirking dragon on his right. "Hear them coming?"

"Ha, ha. Well done. Now come on."

"What's with the sudden rush?"

"The gryphon ambassador was there. Being seen doesn't matter anymore." With that, Cynder grabbed the sack while Cirion made sure he had a good grip.

Hunter's anger had grown by the time they made it back but was soon appeased as they handed him the sack of food. As he ate a loaf, Cirion explained why they needed to hurry. Hunter started to protest but fell to the ground unconscious before it got to serious. Spyro turned to the black dragoness. "What did you do this time?"

"I didn't do a thing." She said, a confused look covering her features.

They both turned to the fox who was packing a small vial into his pack. "We've got eight hours till that wears off. Let's make the most of it shall we."

As Cynder helped tie the cheetah onto Spyro, the vulpine walked over to the cliff and took one last look back at the village they had just left. He could just make out the ambassadors retinue, three carriages over by the far border. Despite the fact that he was flying, he still wasn't confident about beating them to Warfang.

"Come on, Cirion. You're the one that said we needed to rush." With a sigh, he turned his back on the view.

Cynder was smiling at him. "You'll have to tell me how to make that stuff some time." He found himself unable to return the smile. "There's another reason for hurrying, isn't there?"

"I happen to teleport us into a situation where we have to travel their road before them." he said, motioning back towards the convoy. "We'd better be ready for anything on the road."

"What would be stupid enough to attack an armed convoy?" said Spyro, an unconscious hunter sprawled unceremoniously across his back.

"How many things were stupid enough to try and kill you?" he countered.

The sun was just reaching its zenith as Warfang appeared on the horizon. The four of them had made good time in returning to the city, enough so that there was still about it two hours before hunter was due to wake up.

Which is why they were surprised to see the gryphon retinue ahead of them on the road. "How in the name of the ancestors did they get in front of us?" cried Cynder in shock.

"It was all those detours we took that helped speed their progress."

"We never took any detours."

Really? Then what do you call stopping to eliminate all those goblins, grublins, death hounds, dread wings."

"I even think there was a troll in there somewhere;" added Spyro.

"It doesn't matter now;" said the fox shaking his head. "In fact, this should allow us to make an inconspicuous entrance. We'll just sneak over the wall when the guards are focused on the gryphons and meet the guardians back at the council chambers."

"Why can't we just go in the gate?" said the amethyst adolescent.

"I would rather not be mobbed by the crowd, nor do I want the gryphons to realize there's a fox here just yet. Also;" he said, motioning towards the cheetah with a slight smile. "I don't want to have to explain his state."