I was about to take off when cries for help distracted me. I gazed towards three burning buildings. Each contained moles. The doors were blocked with fire, so they could only lean out of windows high off the ground and cry for help.
"The fires are too big for ice breath to do anything for!" I said. "And there's no way we could carry them down from there."
Just then, a bunch of flying gremlins swarmed from who-knows-where and surrounded us.
"Wonderful!" I said, burning all of them with a wave of fire. "Now, how do we put out the fire?"
We looked around for a few moments, before Spyro said, "Over there! It's some sort of water pump! But it's too far away from the buildings." The plan seemed doomed to failure. But, just then, I noticed a not-so-neatly-stacked stack of buckets laying in the corner of a building.
"We could use these?" I asked.
"Worth a try," Spyro replied.
The buckets were heavy; it was even more so when they were filled with water. But, we managed to repeatedly fill the buckets with water and throw it on the houses, and finally the fire died down.
The moles reluctantly managed to get out the houses. A few of the buildings were nearly about to collapse on themselves, so it looked like we got there just in time.
The moles approached us. One of them spoke. "Thank you... thank you... you-you saved our lives." He was shaken.
Sparx spoke almost immediately. "It's no big deal. Risking out lives, saving people, dodging danger..." I rolled my eyes. Spyro grinned at him. "...taking it to the man. It's an occupation."
"Look out! Siege engines! They're sending in their war machines!" a mole called over the wall. Of course, I had no idea what any of that was, but it didn't sound pleasant.
I stared at a mole piloting a cannon-like contraption. He blasted out a ball. Explosions and cries of pain were enough to signify that it had hit its mark.
Spyro, always the leader, spoke up. "Listen to me! Everyone who can still fight must go to the ramparts!"
"The rest of you run! Get under cover!" Cynder called out. The moles complied. Most of them ran for the ramparts, but the others, parents with children or those who were wounded, ran. Spyro, Cynder, and I ran towards the ramparts.
"Okay, putting out fires is one thing, but—Hey! Wait for me!" Sparx flew after us.
We ran up some long stairs, passing through a gate, and arriving on the wall of Warfang. Just narrowly I missed being hit with a flaming ball of fire. What wasn't being catapulted at me was smashing into the wall.
As I gazed out into the scene below me, I was filled with dismay. Out there were thousands... millions even... of the gremlins... and tall towers that blazed red fire and shot it out. Siege machine, I perceived.
Some of the flying dragon-like gremlins flew up to the wall. They were harboring normal walking gremlins on their back. Immediately they went after the cannon. The moles rushed quickly towards the gremlins, trying to fend them off, and we flew forward, knocking them away.
Of course, as soon as they were dead, more appeared. It was amazing how easy it was to kill them. Yet, they came in swarms, which made it not-so-easy.
I stopped and gazed out towards the battlefield. The situation looked bleak. There were five or six of these siege machines, and the battering ram which probably was to... well, batter the large, strong gates that lead into Warfang. Also, there were, as said, hundreds of thousands of gremlins. And the volcano, spurting off in the background, only made the situation look worse.
I sighed and threw a gremlin that had jumped on me over the wall. It shrieked as it fell. Finally, the gremlins stopped dropping.
The mole manning the catapult called out to us. "Quick, we have to reload!" A snap from a lever nearby signified this. We ran over to the lever, and Spyro and I pulled down on it. It was heavy. I was not sure how this reloaded the catapult, but so be it.
The siege tower was coming fast now. "It's going to shoot!" the mole called.
And it did. It shot out a flaming ball that smashed into the top part of the wall and nearly broke it in half. The top part was completely ripped off. The tower then rolled quickly over to the wall, and out of it hopped many, many gremlins.
The dire... seriousness of the situation astounded me. Always, in some way, there was some hidden joke, something for me to rebuke at with a sarcastic comment, just something that could cheer us all up... but here was nothing. It suddenly struck me how much older I was. I had grown so much ever since I left the Swamp. By surviving, I had become wiser, but I would always be the curious little nine-year-old at heart.
This revelation was bittersweet.
I sighed and ran over to the siege tower. Immediately I felt weakened and hopped back. It was another of those dark crystals, the ones that sapped my lifeforce.
I felt myself weakening fast. I stumbled over to the crystal and hit it with the little strength I could muster. It was cracking slowly but not breaking. Cynder and Spyro joined me. Finally, it broke, and my strength returned to me. With a crash, the siege tower fell over. Panting heavily, I glanced up, only to see the dismal sight of more siege towers.
"We're not out of it yet! Just keep it up!" the mole manning the cannon called.
I suddenly wondered for a moment why there was only one cannon, and what in the world we would do if the enemy attacked from any other side. I sighed with relief, though, as I saw dragons flying over the walls to fight the siege towers before they arrived. The cause was not completely hopeless! With a sudden burst of strength I roasted a group of gremlins coming our way.
That's when the siege tower sent a shot at the cannon that sent the mole in it flying. He was obviously shaken, and when finally managed to get up and run, another shot almost squashed him. If he was left alone, he would either be squished, fall off the wall, or get a serious case of death by gremlin.
"Look! We need to get him back to the catapult!" Cynder exclaimed, running for him and bringing us with her.
"Alright, let's hurry! The tower is closing in!" Spyro yelled over the audibly increasing roar below.
We arrived just in time. Moles were not considerably strong species, although they are hardy, but a swarm of gremlins would surely kill an unarmed one. As it was, we managed to save the mole and began to lead him back to the catapult. I was watching the back, and Spyro and Cynder guarded the front, making an effective shield from the gremlins, as they could not come from the side.
As we frantically ran towards the cannon, I swear I caught sight of Terrador flying past us.
"Terrador!" I cried, but he either didn't hear me or ignored me, for he kept flying. Even so, I was very relieved at that point. Somehow, just knowing for sure there was a familiar face here gave me a little more courage.
Finally, the mole managed to get into the catapult. I heard the annoying snap noise again, and I knew it was time to reload. The lever was pulled, and another siege tower destroyed.
But another one arrived on the other side of the wall. I groaned and ran for it. The first priority was the strength-draining Spirit Gems. Somehow, they were connected to the towers and without them, the towers were nothing. I hated going near those things, much less touching them, but I had to.
The moles that had followed us up here were either dead or had left to defend other areas, as we and the cannon-mole were the only ones on the wall.
"I can't fire anymore!" the mole called over to us, just as Spyro landed a final blow on the crystal, which caused it to shatter. We ran over and reloaded, and another siege tower was taken out.
The battering ram was coming fast, along with two other towers. We couldn't let them it overtake us... but our forces were diminishing. The dragons and moles were outnumbered tenfold, at least.
"Follow me!" I heard a familiar voice yell. Out of the bushes below the wall hopped Chief Prowlus, followed by a large band of cheetahs.
"AVALAAAR!" they called, rushing out onto the battlefield. All at once I knew that I respected Chief Prowlus a lot more than I had felt before.
Two siege towers hit the wall at the same time, both releasing swarms of gremlins. I knew now how to destroy them easily, so it did not take too long to dispatch them both.
The mole shouted something at us, but it was hard to hear, as the roar had become deafening by now. I perceived it as that he wanted us to reload again, so back over we went.
The battering ram began to hit the gates, almost opening it all the way, when the mole in the cannon aimed down and shot it so that it exploded. The moles and dragons inside the walls cheered, but the happiness was soon dampened. A large green, giant... troll-like thing was running straight towards the gate.
"Close the gates! Close the gates! Don't let it in!" Sparx yelled. Needless to say, they let it in.
And, of all people, Hunter was suddenly there. He just barely managed to escape a punch from the troll. Spyro, Cynder, and I jumped over the wall and flapped into the air. The moles were closing the gate, and the lock system was being put back into place.
The lock worked like this. On either side of the door was a vat of lava. When the gates were closed, the lava seeped in to an indent in a wall. The two sides of the lava met at the middle in a large circular depression. The lava can't get through to the middle when the door is partly open, but if the lock is working correctly, it would be harder for enemies to get into the city.
Back to the situation at hand, Hunter was distracting the troll, but when it saw us, it completely ignored him. I breathed a blast of earth at the troll and flew away. The earth blast had little effect to stop his rampage, so I decided it was best to stay in the air.
I quickly came to the conclusion after that that staying in the air was not a good idea, when the troll jumped into the air and grabbed me. He slammed me into the ground repeatedly, me screaming all the time. Finally, Spyro discovered that fire worked best on the troll and managed to set it on fire, causing it let go of me. Cynder's poison also worked wonders to bring it down. The troll was stubborn, but finally, it died.
The great gates began to bang open from the weight of gremlins on it. They could just barely fit through, but they were coming.
"Okay! Alright, team! We've got to keep the gates closed. So go keep the gates closed. I'm gonna watch and make sure you're okay," Sparx said.
I rolled my eyes. "Great speech, Sparx. I feel driven to the cause."
We approached the gate and began to push on it. Slowly, we were overpowering the gremlins that were attempting to shove their way in. But a moment later I lost my footing and slipped. The gremlins began to overpower us again. Although I scurried to my feet and began pushing, it was too late.
Just then, I got an idea. I breathed electricity through the crack of the gate. The gremlins that had been hit howled with rage, and our party managed to slam the gates closed and hold it there long enough for the lock to seal. I breathed a sigh of relief and slumped on the ground.
"They're retreating!" a mole called from the top of the wall. Cheers rang out through the crowd. Bewildered, Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, and I flew to the wall and landed, where Hunter was standing, and looked over the edge. They were retreating! But, why? I felt compelled to let out a shriek of joy, but I quelled my euphoria and wondered to myself what had compelled the army to retreat.
"This is odd. Why are they retreating when they were so close to taking the city?" Cynder asked. I nodded in agreement.
"'Why are they retreating when they're so close...' Oh, who cares?" Sparx said mockingly.
"I feel it too. Something's... not right," Hunter said, gazing out over the wall, deep in thought.
"They're turning around! Look!" Spyro cried. The happiness that I had felt a moment ago cleared, and was replaced with a sense of dread.
Something was coming. Something big.
