Chapter 12
Cynder found herself flying across an open field but she found herself unable to feel the wind, or the sun, or anything. She shot straight into the air before barrel rolling down to the earth below. As the ground closed in on her, she tried to pull up only to realize that she had no control of her body. She finally pulled out of the dive, but it was to late. She heard a popping noise as she hit the ground and skidded a few feet. She rose to her feet and immediately held her left foreleg in front of her. It was clearly dislocated, but that's not what caught her attention. She noticed that she was younger…much younger. It was then that she realized that this was one of her memories. "Daddy!" she screamed as tears ran down her face. She looked up to see that Leon had appeared from the shadows next to her. "Run!" She thought to herself, but instead of running, she held up her broken forelimb and let Leon examine it.
"You need to pull up sooner." Leon said in a kind voice that surprised Cynder. He then held his arm out and said, "I want you to bite down on my arm."
"But, I'll hurt you." Cynder protested.
"Good, try to draw blood."
Cynder did as she was told and tried to pierce Leon's flesh. Without warning Leon grabbed her injured forelimb and gave it a hard jerk. The bones realigned with a loud pop, causing Cynder to bite down harder from the pain. When the pain subsided, Cynder released Leon's arm. Leon then fumbled around in his satchel and pulled out some bandages. He began wrapping Cynder's forelimb before Cynder gasped. She had left several deep puncture wounds around his arm, and they were bleeding quite badly.
"Daddy, I'm sorry!" She cried as she began to sob again.
"Don't be, I'm fine." He said as he wiped away her tears. She looked up to see he had a reassuring smile on his face, "Now please stop crying. You know I always hate it when you cry."
"Done." Leon said, snapping Cynder from her sleep. He examined the completed device before walking over to Cynder and strapping it around her muzzle. Cynder didn't fight it, as she was too busy wondering if her dream was really one of her memories. "You'll feel a pulling sensation, but not much else." Leon pulled out the three crystals from around his neck and held the nozzle of the device up to the small hole at the top of the empty small crystal before pressing the small switch on the side of the mouthpiece. Cynder felt suction in the back of her throat, it wasn't painful, but an odd sensation nonetheless. A small drop of black liquid dropped into the small crystal, followed by another a couple of minutes later. "This could take a while." Leon sighed.
Little did he know that the vanguards were crouched in the bushes a few yards from the entrance to his home. Spyro studied the four orc sentries that guarded the entrance before turning to the other vanguards and whispering "Alright, Fang. The other entrance is a few meters that way, just follow the wall. Sparx, go with him, he'll need you to light the way. When you hear the signal go in, grab Cynder, get out, and signal us."
"Got it!" Fang whispered back before disappearing into the brush with Sparx.
"That should do it." Leon stated turning off the device and unstrapping it from Cynder's muzzle. He walked back to the work table and examined the black liquid before pouring its contents in the larger crystal. He then added the blood, turning the liquid from black to a rust color. "One last thing." Leon stated. Cynder watched as Leon removed the glove on his left hand and gripped his dagger in his right. He ran the blade across his ungloved hand, cutting the flesh. He held his bleeding hand to the hole on top of the larger crystal and allowed a little bit of his blood to enter the crystal. The liquid inside turned from rust colored to an eerie purple. Leon examined the crystal, satisfied with his work. He grabbed a healing herb and wrapped it around his hand before stashing the glowing crystal back under his armor and putting his glove back on.
"So, what happens now?" Cynder asked.
"I go to the burning plains and release Malefore." Leon said plainly.
"I meant, what happens to me?"
"Well," Leon said kneeling beside her, dagger in hand. "Malefore and Gwar both would probably have me kill you…" A slight sense of fear gripped Cynder "but, I'll offer you a choice…join us, or die."
"You expect me to betray my friends and my mate?"
"They're all going to die anyway."
"No! I'm not going to turn my back to everyone I care about and I'm certainly not going to join the dark master again."
Leon sighed deeply "I figured you would say that." As fast as lightning he grabbed Cynder's head and faced her mouth away from him so she could not use her breath attacks.
"You don't have to do this!" Cynder screamed as Leon raised his dagger above his head. "Father, please!" Leon stopped mid-swing, his eyes looking questionably at Cynder. It was then that an explosion shook the cave. Leon looked up to see several orcs run by his door towards the cave entrance. He glanced back down at Cynder, who looked back at him with pleading eyes, before releasing her and retrieving his javelin and shield.
Fang stuck his head out of the hole to see a long hallway lined with doors, "Great, now I just need to find the right door." He said to himself. He saw Leon emerge from one of the doors on the right, he didn't notice the black dragon glaring at him from the hole and headed towards the cave entrance. Fang emerged from the hole with Sparx close behind. "This way." Fang whispered. He led Sparx to the door that Leon had come from. Cynder lay faced away from the doorway, tears running down her face.
"Someone call for a rescue?" Sparx said.
Cynder snapped her head around to face him and Fang "Sparx! Fang! You came!"
"Well, I was getting bored without you around." Sparx said playfully.
"I missed you too."
"We need to get out of here." Fang said as he began cutting the ropes around Cynder's feet with his tail blade. When he had finished, he looked at Cynder's wings, which were still in Leon's cast. "Who put that on you?"
Cynder was about to answer when Sparx interrupted "Who cares? Let's get out of hear before that one guy comes back."
"I don't think that Cynder will fit with her wings like that."
"Well, cut it off her."
"It'll take time. Sparx, watch the hallway."
Meanwhile, the other vanguards battled the orcs outside the cave. Zephyr fired an earth bullet that struck an orc in the gut, breaking his ribs and sending him flying into three other orcs. Another orc leaped at her from the side only to get zapped by Twitch and fall to the ground, dead. Sting his wind breath to blast a group of orcs into the air and incinerated by Flare and Charlotte's combined fire-breath. Crystal froze several orcs in place while Spyro fired an earth bullet, shattering them. Leon ran out of the cave and locked eyes with Spyro. He raised his hand and fired dark lightning at the purple dragon. Spyro dodged and fired his own lightning at Leon. Leon raised his shield and the lighting bounced off his shield and struck a tree a few yards away.
"Shit, what do I have to do to kill this guy?" Spyro thought to himself. He leaped at Leon who dodged and swiped at Spyro. Spyro ducked as his javelin whizzed over his head before head butting Leon in the gut. The wind rushed out of Leon, before Spyro smacked him with his tail, sending Leon rolling across the ground. Leon managed to use his momentum to roll onto his feet, before sinking into shadow and coming up under Spyro. He punched hard and connected with Spyro's muzzle and sent him flying into the air. Spyro regained his balance in the air, but Leon created a swift downdraft that brought Spyro crashing into the ground. Spyro slowly picked himself up off the ground and glared daggers at Leon. "Fang, you better hurry up." He thought to himself.
"Got it!" Fang exclaimed as the cast fell away from Cynder's wings.
"Great, can we go now?" Sparx asked.
"Yeah, come on Cynder."
"Wait, I'm taking this with us." Cynder said grabbing the black book up in her mouth.
"What is it?" Fang asked.
"No time, we gotta go!" Sparx interjected.
"Right, let's go." Fang said before he, Cynder, and Sparx dashed out of the room, back down the hallway, and into the small hole. The hole zigzagged until they came back outside. "Can you fly?" Fang asked.
Cynder took the book in her paws and tested her wings. "Well enough." She stated.
The dragons took to the skies and Fang let out a pillar of shadow fire directly into the air.
"That's the signal!" Crystal called out when she saw the black fire.
"Retreat!" Twitch yelled.
Spyro looked between the shadow fire and Leon who still had his eyes fixed on him. He took off away from the cave with the other vanguards close behind.
A line of orc archers took a kneeling position next to Leon. They readied their bows and awaited their command. "Fire!" Leon yelled causing orcs to released their arrows.
"Look out!" Flare yelled as an arrow whizzed by his cheek. Several more arrows flew by the vanguards, one hit and lodged into Twitch's hind leg and two pierced the thin membrane of Crystal's wings. She screamed as she began losing altitude. Flare flapped hard and managed to catch the ice dragoness on his back.
"Thanks." She said looking down at him.
"No problem. Now just relax, we'll land soon."
Leon looked on as the dragons disappeared over the trees. A small chuckle broke his concentration.
"Cowardly dragons." Gwar stated as he continued to smile.
"How many did you count?" Leon asked.
"Seven, why?"
"Because I counted nine last time, in the mushroom forest."
"So?"
"So, if there were nine, and we kidnapped one…" Leon waited patiently for Gwar to complete his sentence while they began walking back down the hallways.
"I'm still not following you."
"Nine minus one equals what?"
"Um, eight?"
"Good."
"But what does that matter?"
Leon had to hold himself back from slapping some sense into the orc. "If there were only seven, then what happened to the eighth one?"
Leon could see realization in the orc's eyes as they approached Leon's room. Leon stepped through the doorway, and his eyes immediately fell upon Cynder's broken cast.
"She's gone!" Gwar exclaimed.
"No shit!" Leon spat. "It doesn't matter, we got what needed. We're leaving, now."
"But what about supplies?"
"Pack only the essentials. We have to release Malefore now, before those dragons come back."
"Will do." Gwar nodded before taking off back down the hallway.
Leon sighed before walking over and picking up the broken cast. He thought about what Cynder had called him. "Father…" He whispered to himself, "She is no daughter of mine…she's a monstrous dragon and I'm a human…end of story."
Spyro and the other vanguards flew to the rendezvous spot to meet with Fang, Sparx, and Cynder. As the trees cleared Spyro could see the two dragons and his brother on the ground waiting for them. They landed and Spyro immediately ran over and embraced his dragoness. Tears of joy flowed from both their eyes as they continued to embrace each other.
"Did he hurt you?" Spyro asked looking straight into her eyes.
"No." She said returning his gaze.
"Thank the ancestors." He let out a relieved sigh. "Did he get what he wanted?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Then we have to go after him."
"But we don't know where he's going." Flare interrupted.
Spyro looked at the ground and thought. It was then that he noticed the book between Cynder's paws. "What's that?"
"Oh," Cynder had almost forgotten about the book. "It's a book from the Chroniclers library."
"Where did you get it?"
"Leon gave it to me."
Spyro looked skeptically at his mate. "Why?"
"I'm not sure. I just asked him why he wanted to kill us, and he gave me this book and said that it should have the answer."
"We should take it to the Ignitus. Maybe we can find out where they're going."
"But where do we find him?" Crystal asked.
"At the moon temple. It's a day's travel over the ocean if we fly through the night."
"Then let's hurry." Twitch said. The vanguards nodded and turned to their captains.
Spyro looked back at Cynder, who stared at the ground deep in thought. "Fly ahead." He ordered, "We'll catch up." The vanguards nodded again and took off. Spyro nuzzled Cynder under her chin. "You okay?"
"I'm not sure." She replied sadly.
"What happened?"
"Leon, he…he…"
"He what?"
"He gave me my memories back."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
" Maybe...but I'm not entirely sure."
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe we should catch up with the other's, I'll tell you then."
