Do any of you readers who are also writers on this site know that feeling where, after writing a big action scene, the next chapter feels very boring while writing it? Yeah, I hate that...
Anyway, I hope this chapter didn't actually turn out boring, but you know how it is. After action, you have to get back to development. Hope you like it anyway.
Enjoy!
Chapter 13:
"Ah, good. I see everyone is already here."
Spyro looked up when he heard Terrador's deep baritone voice cut through the relative stillness of the morning to see the earth guardian, along with Cyril, Volteer, and Sirius, approaching down Warfang's main street that led up to the large northern gate. The small group drew to a halt and Terrador spent a moment in silence examining the group of travellers as they readied themselves to depart the city.
"All our preparations are finished," Hunter announced, stepping forward to address the guardians. He was dressed in the same red traveller's cloak that he had been wearing when Spyro had first met him in the catacombs of the Well of Souls, with a small travel pack slung over his shoulder and his falcon perched on his forearm. "We are ready to set off whenever you say."
"Good," Terrador said again in an approving tone, nodding his head. "I knew that we could count on all of you to be ready on time. And you all still feel comfortable taking on this assignment?"
Spyro nodded his head, then glanced around to see the responses of everyone else present. Cynder nodded her head straight away as well, as did Hunter. Beside the cheetah, Faren hesitated for only a moment before nodding her head as well, though the movement was considerably less confident than those of the other dragons her age and Hunter. She glanced toward Sirius quickly, who offered a reassuring smile despite the deep concern that still registered in his expression.
"Hey, why should we feel uncomfortable, right?" Sparx said sarcastically. "It's not like we're all heading out into grublin territory or anything. Oh, wait..."
"Sparx..." Spyro said in a tired tone. The dragonfly had kept him up most of the previous night complaining about having to leave the city. As he put it, they were important enough that they should have someone to do their work for them by this point. Spyro, however, found that he was a bit excited about the idea of venturing out into the unknown again. He enjoyed living in Warfang, certainly, but after a couple of weeks within its walls he was eager to explore more of the lands outside the city that he had never seen before.
"Alright, then I suppose this is goodbye for now," Terrador declared. "Travel safely, and remember that your mission is only to gather information. If you find yourselves in danger I want you to return here to Warfang so that we can return to the settlements in force. Understood?"
The dragons, cheetah and dragonfly all nodded their heads.
"Hey, running away from danger is what I do best," Sparx quipped. "Unless, you know, Spyro happens to be running toward it."
"Then I guess it's a good thing you don't have to worry about that on this trip, huh?" Cynder smirked.
"You got that right. You hear that, Spyro? Don't go getting yourself into trouble, because I won't be there to bail you out."
"How will I survive?" Spyro laughed. "I don't feel nearly as safe with Demetrius looking out for me as with you."
He glanced over his shoulder at the earth dragon that was standing just off to the side of the group, waiting patiently for the time to come to depart, and the earth dragon gave a very small grin at the corner of his mouth past his otherwise extremely professional manner. He was a young adult dragon, just barely reaching his prime like Sirius, and he was in the middle of advanced training to become a member of the Warfang City Guard. Terrador had assigned him to accompany Spyro during this journey, and while the purple dragon had felt a little slighted at first, like the guardians didn't trust him, he had to admit that he was probably going to appreciate the company. He'd only met Demetrius that morning, but he seemed to be a very level-headed and kind-hearted dragon. At the moment he was wearing a set of light scout's armour, coloured a dull bronze that didn't shine to make him harder to spot from a distance.
"Good luck on your journeys, young ones," Cyril told them.
"And the best of luck in learning all you can about the state of these settlements," Volteer added quickly.
"Whenever you are ready," Terrador said lastly, gesturing with his wing toward the gates, and as if it were a cue the massive stone gates began grinding slowly open revealing the flat, expansive plains on the other side to the north of the city. "Be safe."
"We will," Spyro assured the guardian.
All together, the travellers turned about and slowly marched out through the gate. As he left the high walls of the city behind him, Spyro felt a swell of excitement but also wariness inside him. He was now travelling off into the unknown, without the safety of the city around him. What adventures awaited him this time?
"Good luck to the both of you," Hunter said once the gates had swung closed behind them, waving with a paw at Spyro and Cynder. "Safe travels."
"You too Hunter," Cynder replied with a smile.
"And you Faren," Spyro added.
Hunter nodded, smiling easily, and Faren offered a small, "Thank you."
Sparx fluttered quickly over to his brother and for a moment just hovered there in front of his snout before suddenly darting forward and hugging the purple dragon on the side of his neck.
"You'd better not let anything happen to you," Sparx told him sternly. "If I go all the way back to the swamp and tell Mom and Dad that you're alright only to come back here and find out that I lied, I will kill you."
Spyro laughed. "Alright, Sparx. I'll do my best." Then his expression softened, a hint of longing appearing in his eyes. "Tell them I said hi. I miss them."
"You bet," Sparx nodded, patting his brother on the horn and giving a comforting smile. "And don't worry; I'll play up the stories so that they can know how big of a legend their son is now."
Spyro laughed again. "Just don't say anything too crazy."
"Oh, pfft, of course not," Sparx snorted, waving a hand. "I mean, it's not like you single-handedly pulled the entire world back together or anything insane like that. Come on, that's just over the top."
Spyro grinned. "Goodbye, Sparx."
"See ya soon, big boy."
With that the dragonfly zipped back over to Hunter and Faren who were waiting patiently for him to finish his farewell. Then, once he had joined them, the three of them turned away and began their trek eastward. Sparx was accompanying the other two because their destinations were close enough together that for the first day they could both follow the same path before splitting up on the second morning. The trio gradually picked up speed until eventually they were speeding away from the city at a rapid clip, Hunter running as only a cheetah could and Sparx and Faren flying along just above his head, Hunter's falcon soaring off to scout out the way ahead.
As they faded into the distance, Spyro at last turned to face Cynder who was already watching him with a look of reluctance in her eyes.
"Promise me you'll be careful," she said as she slowly stepped closer to him, gazing straight into his eyes with a firm intensity.
"I will," Spyro nodded, smiling reassuringly. "And you too."
"Oh, please," she snorted. "If I see any grublins, what chance do you really think they have?" But then her smile softened, and she nodded. "I promise."
Spyro's smile grew wider, feeling at least a small sense of reassurance from her words even despite the worry and reluctance that still plagued him. Then she quickly moved forward and nuzzled him affectionately against his neck and chin before surprising him by pressing her muzzle against his in a brief kiss. When she broke away, as impossible as it seemed, he felt his heart flutter with joy at the same time as it fell with sadness with the knowledge that their parting was imminent.
He quickly shifted his gaze to the left toward an ice dragon that stood a few feet away, waiting patiently and pretending not to watch the two. He was the same age as Demetrius was, and carried a similar assignment. Like Demetrius, he was in training to become a member of the City Guard, and he had been assigned by the guardians to accompany Cynder just as Demetrius would be following Spyro.
"Look after her," he said to the ice dragon in a tone that clearly said he was serious.
The ice dragon nodded sharply. "I will. You have my word."
Spyro nodded thankfully before turning to look at Cynder one last time.
"I'll see you soon," he promised.
"Don't keep me waiting," she replied with a wry grin before turning and spreading her bright magenta wings wide. With a single flap she was airborne and racing off into the sky, the ice dragon flying just off her left wingtip. Soon they were nothing more than a pair of distant specs in the overcast sky against the grey background of clouds. Almost immediately Spyro felt a pang of loneliness within him and he knew that the end of this voyage couldn't come soon enough.
"Sir?" Demetrius said from behind him, and Spyro turned around to see the earth dragon watching him.
Spyro sighed. "Alright, let's go."
Demetrius nodded and opened his wings, waiting for Spyro to take the lead. Spyro did so, leaping into the air and angling himself to the west, hearing the larger earth dragon flapping up into the sky right behind him. Then, together, the two of them rapidly climbed high into the sky until they were just below cloud level, soaring over the land and leaving Warfang behind them, the massive city gradually shrinking until it was little more than a smudge in the distance.
By the time the day was up, the two dragons had passed the Valley of Avalar and had turned north into the mountain range. They stopped to rest there for that night, finding a sheltered cave halfway up one of the mountains without too much difficulty before descending into the valley to hunt. All this was done in relative silence. Spyro learned quickly that Demetrius was of the very silent type, but even so his presence helped to dispel the loneliness that clung to Spyro's heart. This was the first time that he could remember in his life that he didn't have either Sparx or Cynder with him, and without either of their familiar presences he felt almost lost.
I wish the guardians could have let us travel together, he thought wistfully. It's not the same without her here.
His unease and loneliness remained with him as the sky continued to darken and kept him awake long after Demetrius succumbed to sleep. Restlessly, the young purple dragon tossed and turned just within the mouth of the small cave as the earth dragon's soft, steady snores suffused the air with their peaceful rhythm. Spyro wished that he could feel as relaxed as his companion sounded, but it seemed as though this would be impossible for him to attain. He had never felt this way before, but now that Cynder was gone he felt empty.
Finally his weariness overpowered his unrest, and before he knew it Spyro found himself slipping into the realms of dreams. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he was unable to escape his anxious thoughts even there...
Spyro found himself surrounded by nothing but darkness. No matter where he looked there was only emptiness. The only thing he could see was himself, but even the light that revealed him seemed somehow wrong. It illuminated only him and absolutely nothing else, not even the ground that he could feel beneath his paws, and the light had a strange flat quality about it, as if it was illuminating him from every direction at once. The light bore a deep orange tinge as well, and as Spyro looked over himself he noticed that it flickered inexplicably.
At that moment a sound reached him through the empty void, and he immediately snapped his head up and whirled to face the source. It came again a moment later, and this time Spyro was able to distinguish it as the sound of a clawed paw brushing against the stony ground. It was barely louder than a whisper, but against the absolute silence that reigned within the void it stood out like a scream and seemed to echo in Spyro's ears. Steadily the sounds approached him, as if some unseen figure was stalking toward him.
"Who's there?" he called out in a frightened voice, squinting into the blackness and trying to pierce it with his gaze but having no success. "Show yourself!"
As if in response to his words a dull glow suddenly grew out of the shadows ahead of him, appearing as though it was from a great distance. It had the same orange, flickering quality as the light that illuminated Spyro's body, and very slowly it began to expand around him, creating a sort of horizon that enclosed him on all sides but that still left the intervening space completely unlit. However this fact mattered little to Spyro now, because what the glow allowed him to make out was a silhouetted figure ahead of him, slowly drawing nearer. He easily recognized the shape to be that of a dragon about his age. Then, as the distant glow continued to grow in strength, the figure was slowly revealed.
"No one is here but you," a cold, mocking voice echoed from across the dark void, coming from the figure, and Spyro immediately cringed in surprise and dread at the sound because he recognized it immediately.
The voice was his.
The figure drew to a halt a few metres away from Spyro, and at the same time the glow illuminated his body enough for Spyro to make him out clearly. He felt a strange swell of horror when he realized that, just like the voice, the form that he was seeing was his.
"Who are you?" Spyro asked challengingly, though his fear showed easily in his voice anyway.
"You," the other dragon replied simply with a chuckle and a twisted grin on his features. "But at the same time not you. I suppose you could say that I'm basically you as you were meant to be."
While Spyro heard the dragon speaking in his own voice, at the same time there was a quality about the voice that he didn't recognize. It contained a tone of mocking superiority to it that Spyro knew that he had never used in his life, and that simple tone was enough to turn his normally gentle voice into something terrifying.
The glow around the two identical purple dragons was continuing to grow in strength, and while his attention was fixed on his mysterious double Spyro still noticed that the glow was starting to look strangely like fire. Dim shapes could now be made out against the flickering background light, but they were still too faint to begin to guess what they might be.
"What are you doing here?" Spyro demanded. "What do you want with me?"
"You'll find out soon," the other Spyro laughed, the dark lopsided grin still on his muzzle and a glint of sinister amusement in his eyes. Spyro cringed as he looked into those eyes, because they seemed to be his and at the same time not his. The light within them contained a sadistic edge that Spyro had never pictured on himself, and for just a moment Spyro frowned when he thought he saw a tint of red to the otherwise purple colouring.
"Whatever you want with me, you should know that I'll fight you," Spyro said, growing more unsettled by the moment. He could feel his limbs beginning to shake slightly from nervous energy, his battle instincts beginning to kick in and making it extremely difficult to remain still. "Whatever you're planning, I'll resist!"
"Of course you will," his twin chuckled dismissively. "But it doesn't matter. It's too late."
The distant glow surged in intensity without warning, and Spyro flinched and shielded his eyes with a wing, blinking to try and clear his vision. Squinting against the painful light, Spyro looked out past his wing and felt his breath catch in horror when he saw his new surroundings. There now was no mistaking that the light was from fire, for it now raged all around him. The indistinct shapes he had noticed were that of crumbled buildings, and the stone he had felt beneath his paws was revealed now to be some sort of courtyard. It was a city, and it was burning.
"What's going on?" he wondered aloud fearfully, spinning around to take in his surroundings while his double simply stood there gazing at him with that malicious smile.
A sudden sound behind him caught his attention, and Spyro slowly turned around to see that he and his doppelganger were no longer alone. He felt his chest constrict with pure horror when he laid eyes on the slim black figure that was stalking toward him with an air of cold purpose about its steps, its eyes blazing a bright crimson that sent a horrible shiver of fear down the length of Spyro's spine.
"C-Cynder?" he stammered weakly.
The dragoness didn't respond. Instead she continued advancing until finally drawing to a halt barely two feet away from him. Then, with a snarl of what could only be described as loathing on her face, she twisted her body and brought the blade of her tail up high.
"What?" Spyro gasped when he realized what was about to happen. "No, Cynder, wait! It's me!"
With a shrill roar of bitter fury, the black dragoness plunged her tail blade forward.
Spyro awoke and gave a strangled gasp of terror as he bolted upright in the dark cave, clutching at his chest with a forepaw and panting feverishly as the sharp, piercing pain slowly faded away. He was trembling violently, a horrible chill running through his body. He could have sworn that he could actually feel the dragoness's vicious blade sinking through his scales.
Thoroughly confused and frightened by the dream, Spyro slowly sank back down onto the floor of the cavern but didn't close his eyes, feeling too disturbed and unsettled by what he had seen to even consider sleeping at that moment. He knew in his heart that Cynder would never try to harm him like that, but the image of her with that expression of rage and disgust on her face as she delivered her killing strike was enough to fill him with terror.
And all the while, he was aware of an unwelcome pressure at the back of his mind, pressing against his consciousness and chilling him to the core of his being with its malevolent touch.
*.*.*
"Ugh! Hunter, how much farther are we going today? My wings feel like they're going to fall off!"
Hunter sighed and rolled his eyes at the sound of Sparx's plaintive voice, but inside he had to admit that he couldn't blame him for complaining. Their pace that day had been relentless, and they had covered a considerable distance since leaving Warfang that morning. He wouldn't admit it, but he was growing extremely weary as well. He hadn't run like this since the later years of the war against Malefor when he'd had to regularly cross through enemy territory in his search for Spyro and Cynder. Perhaps Sparx was right; maybe they should find somewhere to spend the night. No sooner had he come to this conclusion than a sheltered grove of trees came into view ahead, and Hunter immediately began slowing his pace.
"That looks like a good place to camp for tonight," he called out. "We will rest here."
"Really?" Sparx exclaimed. "Oh, finally!"
As Hunter had expected, the group of three travellers were quickly able to find a sheltered clearing within the grove and they eagerly settled in to rest. Hunter moved over to the thick trunk of a nearby tree and sat down leaning against it, gratefully setting down his small travelling pack and bow by his side before stretching out his legs. His falcon companion, which had been flying high overhead as they travelled, made a low pass over the clearing before disappearing into the trees in search of a meal. Nearby Faren flopped down on her belly with a weary groan and stretched out flat on the ground, her wings sagging limply at her sides.
"And I thought I was tired," Sparx chuckled weakly, and Hunter glanced upward to see the dragonfly reclining heavily in the crook of a tree branch directly above him. "Are you alright over there?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," Faren replied breathlessly. "I'm just not used to flying so long."
"Then how did you and your brother get to Warfang?" Sparx asked sceptically.
"We took three days."
"Well, if what you have already told me is correct we should be a little more than halfway there," Hunter said, rubbing one of his legs to relieve some of the tension in it. "Tomorrow should go easier, then."
Faren nodded quickly before laying her head down in the grass once again, letting out a long, tired breath. A moment passed in silence before Hunter pushed himself back to his feet.
"Where are you going?" Sparx asked.
"It will be dark soon," the cheetah explained, gesturing at the darkening horizon. "I'll be back soon with wood for a fire."
With that he turned and slipped silently into the trees in search of firewood. To his mild annoyance he found that there seemed to be very little in the way of useable wood in the small grove, but he wasn't in any kind of a rush that evening. The simple task of searching through the trees gave him an opportunity to relax his body and mind after the day's long journey, and he had always been one to enjoy the simpler work involved in surviving in the wilds. Whether it was gathering wood, foraging for herbs or food, or even hunting, it was at times such as these that Hunter felt the most at home, and now he was truly enjoying the chance to live off the land for a short while. Of course his stay in Warfang had been comfortable—the guardians had made certain of that, for which the cheetah was grateful—but big cities, no matter how magnificent, had never been Hunter's area of comfort. He preferred his small, simple village in Avalar or no village at all, surviving simply by what the land had to offer and by being self-sufficient.
He had been gone nearly an hour before he finally returned to the trio's makeshift camp with a bundle of dried wood in his arms. It looked as if Sparx and Faren hadn't moved at all during the time that he had been gone, though Hunter did notice that while he was reclining in the exact same position he had been in before, Sparx was now nibbling lazily on a small butterfly that had mysteriously appeared in his tiny hand. Faren, meanwhile, was still lying on the other side of the clearing with her head resting heavily on top of her crossed forepaws. However she looked up when she heard the cheetah approaching.
"That took you a while," Sparx remarked from his perch in the tree. "Had a tough time catching those tricky sticks, did you?"
"Indeed," Hunter chuckled.
"Well, at least you're back now. It's starting to get cold out here."
"I'll have this fire up in only a moment," Hunter assured him.
True to his word, Hunter had the wood arranged in the centre of the clearing in only a couple of minutes, using the larger pieces of wood to construct a compact frame before filling the centre with kindling and tinder. Then he withdrew a hunk of flint from his pack before kneeling down beside the pile of wood and pulling out the dagger from his belt. Of course Faren could have easily lit the fire with her fire breath, but Hunter felt that it would be wrong to take advantage of her abilities when she was this tired, and he had the fire lit within seconds regardless. Soon a healthy blaze was burning in the centre of the clearing and the three travellers savoured the comforting glow and the warmth of the flames. Faren especially seemed drawn to the fire, and within moments of it being lit she had shifted over until she was barely a metre from the blaze, sighing contentedly as she lay with her back and right flank soaking up the heat. Hunter chuckled to himself. Clearly fire dragons liked their warmth.
It was too dark out to hunt easily by that point, so instead Hunter rooted about in his pack before withdrawing a cloth bundle and unwrapping a hunk of smoked meat that the moles had prepared the morning of their depart. He hadn't been planning on using it except for an emergency, but after a long day of running and flying he felt it was reasonable for them to have a proper meal even if they couldn't hunt. Within two minutes he had two pieces of meat cut and skewered before he sat down easily by the fire's side and warmed the meat over the flames. As the meal gained heat Hunter directed his gaze upward to watch the few stars that were visible through the cover of clouds overhead, enjoying the complete silence.
It was at that moment, however, that he realized that the silence wasn't complete. His ears twitched as a soft sound reached them, and confused Hunter began searching about for the source. It took him several seconds to determine what he was hearing, but finally he realized what it was.
Humming.
It was so quiet that Hunter doubted many other people would have heard it, but his hearing was sharper than that of most others. Intrigued by the sound, Hunter looked over to the other side of the fire pit to realize that Faren was the source. She was still lying beside the fire with her head rested on top of her forepaws, gazing out into the woods with a faraway look in her green eyes. He spent a moment in silence just listening, and he found that the tune she was humming had a soft and soothing air about it, but he also detected a melancholy edge to her voice.
"What song is that?" he asked at length.
Faren gave a small gasp of surprise and jerked her head up to look at him, a deeply startled look in her wide eyes that was quickly replaced by embarrassment. She quickly averted her gaze, pawing at the ground uncomfortably.
"It's...something my mother sang to me when I-I was hatchling," she said finally in a small voice without meeting the cheetah's gaze. "She would sing it whenever I was sad, or scared. I don't remember any of the words anymore, just the tune, but I still sing it sometimes..."
Hunter nodded with a small grunt of understanding, glancing away thoughtfully for a moment. Then he looked back toward the dragoness.
"So which is it this time?"
"What?" Faren said. She finally met his gaze, a puzzled look in her eyes.
"You said that your mother sang the song whenever you were sad or scared. That's why you sing it to yourself, isn't it?"
Faren looked away again, her expression clouding slightly, and after a moment she gave a tense sigh and nodded.
"Is something wrong?" Hunter asked, his tone gentle.
Again Faren hesitated, and that alone was enough of an answer for Hunter. Then the dragoness glanced up toward the faintly glowing spec of golden light that was Sparx up in the tree, as if worried about him overhearing their conversation, but when Hunter looked over his shoulder toward the dragonfly he heard a soft snore and knew that Sparx was already sound asleep. Faren seemed to relax just slightly when she also realized this.
"I just...I feel alone out here," she sighed meekly. "I've never been away from my brother like this..."
"Never?" Hunter asked in mild surprise.
Faren shook her head, her gaze turned toward the ground. Hunter had noticed already that Faren seemed to be a dragoness that very rarely met the gaze of another because of her extremely shy nature, but it seemed that when talking about herself she became even more evasive and reserved.
"Not since...that day...when our mother died."
Understanding immediately struck the cheetah, and he nodded absently again as he looked out thoughtfully into the dark woods.
"But I'm not mad at Cynder," Faren said suddenly, almost as if she had done something wrong. "I know she's your friend, and I don't want you to think that I blame her. Not after hearing what she went through—"
She cut herself short when Hunter held up a paw.
"It is alright," he said reassuringly. "I understand. I was the same when Ignitus and the guardians first told me the truth behind her enslavement to Malefor's will. After witnessing the atrocities the Dark Master committed and seeing her true nature, it is hard to think of her as guilty and not as a victim as well."
Faren nodded quickly. "Yeah. It must have been horrible..."
"Indeed."
A long silence passed between them, the red dragoness taking care to avoid the gaze of her feline travelling companion, and Hunter noticed that in that time where no one spoke Faren seemed to retreat into herself again. Though he didn't entirely understand why, it caused a fleeting pang of sadness within him to see her always trying to isolate herself. It was as if she was terrified that any contact with another could cause her pain, and that she was afraid of allowing someone to get to know her. He decided to see how deeply this feeling ran, and whether or not he could draw her out of it.
"So your brother always looked after you?" he offered.
Faren glanced briefly toward him before nodding.
"My father did too, of course, but ever since the attack he was always busy trying to look out for the other refugees from our village. After we got to the eastern city and he became an elder there, he just got busier. Sirius always made sure to look out for me, though."
"He must care for you very much."
The faintest of smiles touched the dragoness's lips, and there was a brief glimmer of warmth in her eyes as she nodded.
"Yeah. He's a good brother."
"Is that why you came with him to Warfang?" Hunter asked. "Because you two are so close?"
"Partly, but partly because our father thought it was a good idea."
"Did he?" Hunter said with interest. "Why is that?"
Faren frowned in thought for a moment, almost as if she didn't fully know the answer for that question, and when she again spoke it was with an air of uncertainty.
"I think he might have been worried about how I would do without Sirius," she said. "I'm...not good at meeting people, so I don't have any other friends in the city, and he's always so busy with elder matters. I would be alone all the time."
She gave a sad sigh, and Hunter again felt a small swell of pity. Clearly this dragoness had not had an easy childhood, growing up during a war, and now it seemed to have left a terrible mark on her.
Perhaps meeting Spyro and Cynder will turn out to be a good thing for her, he thought. Knowing more dragons her age can only help her.
"And also, he thought that it would be good if I was there to see Sirius's training," Faren continued a moment later. "He said that the chance to learn under the guardians was worth moving to Warfang for a while."
"Indeed," Hunter nodded. "Your brother has been granted a high honour, especially now that he gets to learn under all three guardians. I'm told that traditionally, when a guardian takes an apprentice to train as their successor that trainee learns from that guardian exclusively. I suppose that means the training is more focussed, but I cannot help but think that learning from only one teacher for years and years would lead to a much narrower mindset. This may not have been a problem with Ignitus as a teacher, but learning from all three guardians will no doubt be beneficial. He will do well, I'm sure."
"Yeah, Sirius was always a good learner," Faren nodded. "Everyone in the eastern city says he's gifted with fire. He's already mastered techniques that a lot of adult dragons haven't. Father was always extremely proud of him, and all his other teachers were too. I think they already think of him as a guardian of sorts because of his skill."
"He has advanced quickly, has he?"
Faren nodded again. "Really quickly. All of his teachers loved having him as a student."
Hunter studied the dragoness's expression closely at those words, because something about them seemed to bear a hint of jealousy. He decided to put his suspicion to the test.
"It must be difficult at times, growing up in his shadow."
Faren glanced at him closely for a second, as if suspicious of what he meant by that, but then she simply shrugged and said quietly, "I guess."
"You do not ever resent him for his skill?"
"What?" Faren said in surprise. "Oh, no! No, I know that I can never be as good as he is. It's just...something I've accepted, I guess. He never rubs it in or...or anything, and he's always supportive. My father too. Even if I'm never going to be as strong as Sirius is, my father has been training me like him for a while."
This caught Hunter by surprise. He didn't know why, but Faren just never struck him as the type of dragoness that would be training in the type of advanced elemental uses and combat that a future guardian would be. She looked so...delicate, and he simply couldn't picture her sparring or battling with elements no matter how hard he tried.
"Really?" he said.
Faren seemed to notice the way he was looking at her sceptically, and she seemed to wilt slightly under his gaze. Immediately Hunter felt guilty for judging her.
"And if you are living in Warfang now, who will continue your training?" he asked finally in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence. "Your brother?"
Faren shook her head, still not looking up at Hunter. "No, the last message we got from the guardians before leaving said that they would teach me."
Again Hunter was caught by surprise, but this time he made a conscious effort to keep it from registering too much in his expression. Instead he simply said in an even voice, "That is quite the honour."
Faren gave a small nod. "Yeah, I guess..."
Hunter frowned in puzzlement when he caught the edge of uncertainty in her tone.
"You are worried about learning under them?"
Faren was silent for a moment as she considered her response. She shrugged. "I...I don't know. What if...they don't think I'm good enough? I mean, they're so powerful, and I'm not strong like my brother. They're used to teaching future guardians, and Spyro, but I'm just a normal dragon..."
"If you think that matters in the slightest to them, you're mistaken," Hunter told her reassuringly. "I have known the guardians for several years now, and never once have I seen them look down on another dragon. They are excellent teachers, and you should be proud to have the chance to learn from them. You will see."
Faren nodded slowly but looked away again, unsure of herself and his words, and Hunter gave a small sigh as he realized that he wasn't going to convince her easily. He felt confident that the guardians would be able to boost her self-esteem, however. They seemed to have a way of bringing out the best in the dragons they interacted with.
Nothing more was said between them that night aside from the occasional couple of words. When their meat was ready Hunter rose and handed one of the pieces to Faren, who consumed it with obvious hunger even though she was delicate with her handling of it. After that Hunter returned to the tree he had been leaning against earlier before leaning back against it and devouring his own meal. Then, with full stomachs and a calming fire to warm them during the night, the two quickly slipped away into sleep.
The following morning the trio rose early and prepared to set off on the next leg of their journeys. After they had caught their respective breakfasts and had their fill, Sparx bid his fellow travellers a reluctant farewell before anxiously setting off on his own in a general northerly direction, heading for the swamps where he would find his childhood home. Shortly afterward Hunter and Faren resumed their own journey to the east, travelling at a slightly less demanding pace than that of the day before. The journey was uneventful for the morning and most of the afternoon. Then the landscape around them began to change. The grasslands to the north were replaced by scattered patches of forest that grew gradually more marshy in appearance, while the land to the south became more rocky as they drew nearer to the coast. Eventually they began coming across some small coastal mountains, no more than a couple hundred feet high and formed of jagged rock while on the other side the land fell sharply away in a high cliff that plunged into the sea.
"The city isn't too much farther," Faren declared as they began passing the first of the low mountains. "You see that mountain ahead that's a little bigger than the rest? It's around on the other side of that."
"We should make it within the hour, then," Hunter said, glad to be close to their destination. "This is good news."
They quickened their pace, eager to reach the end of their journey, but no sooner had they done so than Hunter's falcon suddenly dove down toward them emitting a string of insistent shrieks and cries. Puzzled, both the cheetah and the dragoness drew to a halt as the bird circled Hunter's head, still keeping up its squawks and shrieks.
"What is it?" Faren asked anxiously, for there was an unmistakable note of alarm in the falcon's cries.
"There appears to be danger ahead," Hunter replied as he listened to the falcon. "Just ahead, to the north-west of the mountain."
"But that's right around the entrance to the pass that leads to the city," Faren said nervously. "What do we do?"
"We investigate," Hunter replied simply. "But cautiously. Perhaps it would be best if you remain by my side on the ground for the time being."
Faren nodded quickly and edged a few steps closer to the cheetah. Hunter paused for a moment to pull his bow over his head and off his shoulder, then turned to the falcon.
"Keep watch from above," he instructed.
The falcon gave a sharp, high-pitched chirp of clear acknowledgement before soaring off into the sky, climbing until it appeared as nothing more than a dark spec against the cloudy sky to the keen eyes of the cheetah and dragoness.
"Now, stay close to me," Hunter told Faren before setting off in the direction the falcon had reported the disturbance to be.
For several minutes the pair made their way closer to the mountain, scanning their surroundings intently for any signs of danger with every sense they had available to them. As they began to circle the mountain, Hunter felt a sense of wariness and foreboding growing within him. It was a feeling he often got when there was danger nearby, and it rarely had misled him. Something wasn't right.
It finally clicked what the source of his trouble was a moment later. As they approached a rise in the terrain where a ridge of stone jutted out from the base of the mountain, almost like a root from a tree, Hunter thought he heard something and immediately motioned for Faren to stop.
"What is it?" she whispered nervously.
"Do you hear that?" Hunter replied, pointing with a claw to his ear.
Both of them remained dead silent for a moment, barely breathing as they strained to make out any kind of noise over the faint sound of waves against the cliff on the other side of the mountain. It took some time, but eventually they both noticed a sort of strange rumble coming from over the ridge, like that of countless voices mixing together.
"What is that?" Faren asked.
"Come, let's see if we can't spot whatever the source is," Hunter replied, turning to face the ridge again.
Slowly and without a sound, the pair of travellers crept toward the lip of the ridge. When they were only a few feet short of the edge Hunter dropped onto his stomach and carefully crawled forward on all fours, inching his head gradually closer to the sharp lip in the rock. Eventually he managed to get his eyes past the edge, and a second later Faren crept up beside him and looked as well, both of them peering down into the small valley below. When they saw what lay ahead, they both felt a chill run through them.
There below them, like some kind of growth that had sprouted up in the rocky valley, was a massive host of grublins.
The camp was enormous, stretching from the foot of the mountain to the edge of the swampy forest to the north. Several small fires were scattered about the camp, grublins clustered densely around them. Hunter couldn't tell from this distance if the fires were meant for cooking meals or some other unknown purpose, but at the moment he didn't care. His only concern at the moment was the sheer number of the dark creatures. There must have been at least two thousand of them down in the valley.
"That's the pass there," Faren said weakly, pointing with a talon at a point below them and slightly to the right where a pair of sheer rocky walls rose up from the valley floor between mountain peaks, creating a sort of natural gateway that would funnel any travellers through the narrow pass. "The village is on the other side."
"There's no way past without getting spotted," Hunter said grimly, examining their surroundings. "It seems as though the grublins don't want anyone getting in or out unseen."
"What are so many of them doing here?" Faren whispered fearfully. "I thought the guardians said there were only a few sightings."
"Indeed, that's what we were told," Hunter nodded. "Apparently there were many more grublins than those that revealed themselves. They look as though they are preparing to march on the city. We must warn them, but I don't see how we can do that if we can't get past this army."
"There's another way in," Faren said quietly. "A trail that leads around the other side of the mountain. It's hidden, and dangerous, but it should get us to the city without being seen."
"That seems to be our only choice," Hunter nodded. "Can you take me there?"
Faren nodded. "Yeah, it's this way. Follow me."
She quickly spun around and began creeping back down the slope of the ridge, keeping even lower to the ground and moving considerably faster than she had on the way up. Hunter glanced once more toward the grublin camp before slipping silently after her. Once they had gone a few dozen feet and were confident that no grublins from the camp could spot them they rose to their feet and began running along the foot of the mountain, Hunter following Faren as she led him around toward the coast.
Hopefully, they could reach the city before it was too late.
*.*.*
"Okay, we should be getting close now," Spyro declared as he scanned the long valley below them. "Keep an eye out."
Demetrius merely nodded and began searching the low, winding recess in the land formed between two parallel chains of mountain peaks with his gaze for any sign of a village entrance. So far in their journey that day the two dragons had detected no signs of any hidden villages, but Tarrador's map and the reports from all the earlier scouts and messengers indicated that the village shouldn't be too much farther ahead.
"Maybe we should land and have a closer look," Spyro said a moment later. "I doubt we're going to see anything from up here."
Again Demetrius nodded, so Spyro led them both on a steep glide down into the valley, touching down at the base of the mountains a minute later and gratefully folding his tired wings against his sides. It had been quite some time since he'd undertaken a journey this long, and the fact that he'd gotten hardly any sleep the night before wasn't helping.
"So where is this cave entrance supposed to be?" Demetrius asked as he examined the landscape surrounding them, which consisted of sheer rock slopes on their right and lightly forested valley to their left.
"It should be at the base of the mountains on our right," Spyro replied, looking around at their surroundings with a light scowl on his features. "But Terrador said it was pretty well hidden. Come on, let's start looking."
Demetrius agreed, and together the pair of dragons began making their way along the bordering area between the lightly wooded valley below them and the steep mountain slopes above them. All the while Spyro kept a sharp eye out for any sign of a cave entrance, but also for movement in the trees. The plan was to check on the village first and determine its status before moving on to the surroundings and seeing if they could locate any evidence of grublin activity in the area. So far there hadn't been any sign of the dark creatures, but Spyro wasn't about to let his guard down. After all, this was reported to be the area where two dragons around his age were attacked.
"Wait," Demetrius said suddenly. "I think I have something."
"What is it?" Spyro asked curiously, turning around to face his companion.
"I feel an opening in the earth ahead," the earth dragon replied with a distant expression, as if he was looking through Spyro and at the landscape beyond instead of at him. "It feels large..."
Spyro frowned in concentration and focussed on his earth element, directing his attention toward the ground beneath his feet and gradually expanding his senses, trying to feel the very makeup of the rock and soil beneath him. Only a moment later he encountered something several dozen metres behind him and to his left; a strange void where he thought solid rock should have been. He grinned wryly at his discovery.
"I can't believe I didn't notice that," he chuckled.
Demetrius grinned as well. "Well, for earth dragons it's instinctual to always listen to the earth, but when you have so many other powers as well I suppose it isn't as natural."
"No, I guess not," Spyro nodded. "I guess it's a good thing you're here, huh? Come on."
"Right behind you, sir."
Spyro quickly turned around again and jogged in the direction that he had felt the opening in the earth, using his earth element to guide him directly to it. Just ahead he could see a group of small trees at the base of a mountain on their right, and it was right where those trees were that Spyro could feel the void. He quickened his pace and brushed through the tangles branches and needles a few seconds later.
"Looks like this is it," he declared as Demetrius came up beside him.
The earth dragon looked at the recess in the earth before them, his eyes widening slightly with surprise. "It's sealed."
"Yeah, it's strange," Spyro agreed. "Maybe the grublins they said they were seeing made them nervous."
"So do we just go through?"
Spyro hesitated only a moment before nodding. "We had better see how they're doing in there. If they're nervous enough to seal off their cavern, it only makes our mission here more important."
He stepped up to the edge of the recess and rested a forepaw against the thick stone barrier that had been erected in the opening. Calling on his earth power, he focussed on the barrier and began pulling it apart. The rock groaned for a moment before a fissure appeared down its centre, gradually expanding until it was large enough for both dragons to fit through. Only once he was sure they could both pass easily did Spyro relax and allow his power to abate.
"Let's go see who's home," he declared before stepping through the opening.
The cavern inside was much larger and much darker than Spyro had been anticipating, and for almost a minute he was hardly able to see anything of the interior as he waited for his vision to adjust to the dim light that was filtering through cracks and air shafts in the cavern ceiling. When he was finally able to make out the village ahead, though, he immediately faltered.
"What happened here?" Demetrius gasped.
Spyro could do little more than shake his head, stunned silent by what he was seeing. Whole blocks of stone buildings within the village were collapsed and burned, and there wasn't a single sign of life anywhere within the cavern. Absolute silence reigned, so total that it felt almost like a physical presence that pressed down on the two dragons. It was clear to Spyro that something terrible had happened here.
"Come on," he said grimly. "We'd better have a look."
Slowly and warily, the two dragons began descending the slope that led to the western edge of the village, every sense straining for the slightest hint of danger. Much to Spyro's confusion, there wasn't a single indication that anyone inhabited the cavern. The streets were completely deserted, every building they checked empty. Their footsteps on the dusty street were the only sounds within that enclosed space, and the absolute silence was making Spyro extremely anxious.
"Where is everyone?" he muttered. "It's like they all just vanished."
"There was clearly a battle here," Demetrius remarked, examining a crumbled wall on their right as they passed it. "Maybe they all evacuated and tried to find refuge somewhere else."
"If any of them even made it out," Spyro grunted.
"Some of them must have. Otherwise who cleaned up the bodies?"
Spyro paused thoughtfully at this, and he realized that the earth dragon had a point. The signs of a struggle were all around them, as well as scattered, dried stains of blood, but not a single body was in sight. But why would the villagers take the time to clear away the bodies if they weren't going to stay? As he and Demetrius entered the western side of a small village square, Spyro was unable to come up with any kind of explanation.
"What was that?" Demetrius said suddenly.
"What?" Spyro asked, immediately going rigid and looking around, searching for signs of danger.
"I thought I heard something," the earth dragon replied. "I think it was over..."
A sudden, sharp crackling sound reached their ears, and both of them immediately realized what it was. Spyro felt fear and surprise explode through him, but there was no time to react before a supercharged bolt of electricity suddenly slammed into him from the left, sending a surge of current through every inch of his body. He gave a startled, painful cry before collapsing limply to the ground.
"Master Spyro!" Demetrius exclaimed in horror, and he immediately settled into a battle stance, his gaze whipping in every direction to try and locate their attacker.
At that moment Spyro was suddenly aware of movement all around them, and with a tremendous struggle he managed to lift his head past the dull, weakening pain that still coursed through him from the electric charge and gasped when he saw several figures moving in the shadows of the surrounding buildings.
"Go," he grunted weakly to his earth dragon companion.
"What?" Demetrius blurted.
"Go!" Spyro ordered more forcefully. "Tell the guardians that—"
He was suddenly cut off as another bolt of electricity consumed him, and he screamed in pain as the extreme surge felt like it was going to tear him apart from the inside out. The jolt of energy surged through his skull, obliterating all thought from his mind. The current suddenly increased sharply in strength, and Spyro could no longer fight it. With a weak groan he sank limply to the ground, blackness creeping around the edges of his vision. He was barely aware of Demetrius taking to the air and flapping as hard as he could for the cavern entrance before the darkness completely consumed him and he slipped helplessly into unconsciousness.
Oooh, cliffhanger. What have I done to Spyro? I'm not telling! X)
You'll just have to wait and find out. Until next time...