Chapter: 14
Attack of the Giant Eagle
**** An Hour Later ****
Spyro and his group, along with Elora and her group, have now found themselves in the fields. No matter how far they look, it seems like the fields were endless in sight. But they have been in the fields for a while now. However, no one was complaining, well, except Sparx. "How long till' we get out of this freakin' field?! It feels like forever!" complained Sparx.
"Relax Sparx..." said Spyro with an annoyed look. But in his mind, he does agree with him. It does feel like forever. "Don't worry, Sparx. There's a forest not far from here now. But we won't be there till' dusk" said Elora.
"Spyro, let's go check out what's over that big hill" said Cynder when she noticed a large hill and ran to it.
"Cynder! Wait up!" said Spyro and ran after her. As Cynder reached the top of the hill, she stopped and stood there looking over the horizon. Then she said "Wow...". Then she turned her head to Spyro and Spyro can see her eyes was sparkling with impress. "Spyro! You got to see this!" said Cynder. Spyro then stopped running and finished by walking up to where Cynder is. Then Spyro looks beyond what Cynder sees. Then his eyes began to sparkle with impress too. Beyond the great open fields were great mountians covered in snow with a gigantic forest below them. When they looked left and right, they see more beautiful mountains going on for miles. "By the ancestors..." said Spyro smiling.
"It's so wonderful" said Cynder smiling as well.
"It's like we're in the Valley of Avalar again. Only more beautiful" said Spyro smiling.
"Those are the Ebony Mountains. The largest mountain range in all the Forgotten Realm" said Elora as everyone else walks up to them.
"It's amazing" said Cynder as she and Spyro turned to Elora and the others.
"Is there other landscapes like this?" asked Spyro.
"Oh, we have many. That's what the Forgotten Realm is like" said Elora smiling.
"Hey, instead of admiring things, can't we get out of these fields?" said Sparx still complaining. Then Cynder and Spyro frowned. "Great, thanks for ruining the beautiful moment" said Cynder frowning at Sparx.
"Sparx. Just be quiet. We'll be out soon" said Spyro frowning as well.
"Alright, let's get going" said Hunter. While moving across the plains, Spyro walks up to Elora and said "So how did you know Shelia?"
"She was one of the Sorceress's captive animals. We tried to do an infiltration in her castle. But we have failed horribly. But not before some of us escaped with the kangaroo which I named Sheila" said Elora.
"But the real question is: Do all animals talk around here? Like Sheila?" asked Spyro.
"No. The Sorceress was experimenting on Shelia when we got inside her castle. We managed to rescue the poor thing and escaped. But the Sorceress has already used her magic on her. Although she's fine, the magic experimentation left her with a new ability" said Elora.
"To speak" said Spyro.
"Correct" said Elora. Then they started moving until they heard a rush of wind above them. Hunter stopped when his cat ears suddenly pricked up and looked up at the sky around them. But he sees nothing. Everyone stopped and looked at him. "What is it?" asked Whirlwind.
"I hear something above us" said Hunter looking at them.
"It's probably just a gust of wind" said Ember.
"That's no wind" said Hunter with his eyes pacing around the atmosphere.
"Ahhhhh!" yelled a soldier from behind along with a sound of rush of wind. Everyone turned to where the soldier was and when they looked, he wasn't there. The only thing there was a sword and a helmet. "Wh-Where did he go?" asked Claudius who became startled by the soldier's sudden disappearance.
"He was just behind us, and now he's gone!" said Flame. Then they heard another rush of wind above them. They all quickly looked up and saw nothing. "What was that?!" said Cynder with a worried look on her face.
"I don't know what's here with us, but we should get out of the open" said Hunter.
"I agree! Let's go!" ordered Elora to her troops. Then Spyro saw the ground covered in shadow. Then it gets bigger and bigger until Spyro realizes that something is coming at them from above. Spyro quickly looks and sees a gigantic, two-headed bird diving at them with talons open. "WATCH OUT!" yelled out Spyro to everyone. Everyone looked up and quickly jumped out of the way, but one soldier wasn't lucky enough as the eagle snatched him up and flew off with the soldier screaming. "Soldiers! Take action!" ordered Elora to her soldiers. Her soldiers grab their bows and placed their arrows on them. Hunter then did the same. Spyro and his group prepared to fight. But as for Sparx. "AHHHHH! GIANT BIRD! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" screamed Sparx who screamed like a girl and ran for his dear life. The giant eagle turned around and dived at them. "Wait..." ordered Elora as the eagle gets closer. Then as it got more closer, Elora yelled "...NOW!". Her troops and Hunter shot their arrows and Spyro and his group shot out their elemental powers of fire, shadow, and earth. The bird dodges the arrows, including the elemental shots. As it got closer, it inhales as it chest swells up, and then one of its heads spat out a yellow fireball. "Incoming!" yelled Hunter and everyone quickly jumped or rolled out of the way as the fireball as blasted to the ground. "It can shoot fireballs!" yelled Whirlwind.
"What kind of bird is that?!" asked Cynder. Then the giant eagle turned around and shot another at them. They got out of the way as the eagle dives closer, opens its talons, and snatches up another soldier, and flew off. "We can't fight it like this! We'll have to draw it away from here!" yelled out Spyro. Then he turned to Cynder and said "Come on! We have to get it away from here!".
"Then I'm with you!" said Cynder and then she and Spyro flew up in the air. Then the monstrous eagle noticed the duo and engaged them. "It's got its eyes on us!" said Cynder.
"Let's go!" said Spyro and then they flew off with the eagle chasing them. As it chases them, it shot out fireballs at Spyro and Cynder. Spyro and Cynder manages to dodge them and Spyro quickly turned his head back at the eagle and sees it zooming in on them with talons open and screeched. "Dive!" yelled Spyro to Cynder and both of them dived down, nearly missing its talons. Then the creature shot a fireball at Spyro, but he counter-attacked it when he turned to it while falling and shot a fireball at it. Both fireballs collided and exploded, stunning the giant eagle. Spyro then turned and regain his flight. But the eagle quickly came to and resumed chasing them. Spyro stopped and turned to it and shot a strain of electricity at it. The eagle screeches as it was electricuted and fell to earth. Spyro exhaled a breath of relief, thinking he won, but he quickly turned to horror when he sees it flying right at him at high speeds. Spyro quickly rolled out of the way in mid-air. Then it flies towards Cynder. "Cynder! Watch out!" yelled Spyro to Cynder. But Cynder was already prepared and covered herself in shadows and did a Shadow Dash at the eagle. She slammed it hard to the chest and ricochet off it as the eagle went flying backwards, but it regained its flight and flew at them as Spyro and Cynder flew off. "We can't fight it like this either!" said Cynder to Spyro.
"Quick! Into the clouds!" said Spyro and both of them flew into the clouds. They can still hear the eagle coming at them from behind as they entered the clouds. Its heads then shot out fireballs at them as they dodged and rolled out of the way. Then suddenly, they don't hear the eagle behind them anymore. Then they found themselves above the clouds, but the monstrous eagle was then nowhere in sight. "Where'd it go?" asked Cynder as their eyes looked around. They looked high and low, but they still couldn't see it. "Maybe we lost it..." said Spyro. But all that changed when Cynder was suddenly snatched by the giant eagle as it dives down to earth. "Cynder!" yelled Spyro and dived after the eagle. As the eagle flew, Cynder struggles to get loose from its grasp. She tries cutting its talons with her bladed tail, but the eagle only twitched from the pain she's giving it. Then she came up with an idea and began to fill her closed mouth with acid as her cheeks swells up. Then she sprayed acid all over its talons and it began to burn and melt the skin. The eagle screeched in pain as it suddenly lets go of Cynder. Cynder then finds herself tumbling down towards earth. She tries to regain her flight and momentum, but she keeps on spinning to much and tumbling head over heels. "Spyro!" cried out Cynder as she tumbles from the sky. As she falls and sees the world around her spinning as she does, she soon sees Spyro coming right at her and grabs her. "You okay?!" asked Spyro as he helps her regain her flight. "I'm okay!" replied Cynder as she regained her flight. Then they can see the eagle diving at them and quickly rolled out of the way. The eagle missed them by mere inches as it turns around and flew at them. "There's got to be a way to kill this thing!" said Cynder as they tried to get away from it.
"I think I know how! Cynder, have you been practicing your mind communication?!" asked Spyro.
"Yeah! But why?!" asked Cynder.
"Because I got an idea! I need you to communicate to Hunter and tell him exactly what I say!" said Spyro.
Back at the ground, everyone was looking up at the clouds, wondering where Spyro and Cynder are. "You think they're okay?" asked Elora.
"Gosh, I sure hope so" replied Claudius. Then Hunter felt a slight pain within his head and placed his hand on his head. His head twitches as he felt the jolt of pain. "Hunter? You okay?" asked Flame. Hunter said nothing. Then strange enough, he began to hear echoeing voices in his head. "Hunter...you there...if you can hear this..." said the voices. Hunter can already recognize the voices of who they belong to. "It's Cynder. I can hear her in my head" said Hunter.
"She's trying to communicate with you telepathically! What's she saying?!" asked Whirlwind. He already knows what happening to Hunter. Then Hunter listened closely to Cynder's voices. "We can't fight it up here...it's too fast...We need you to shoot it and kill it...Get your arrows ready...we'll be bringing it to you" said the voices.
"Cynder and Spyro are bringing it to us. I have to shoot it" said Hunter and grabs his bow. Then he pulled out two arrows and placed them on his bow. Then he looks up at the sky waiting for them to show up. "Where are they?" asked Elora.
"Ma'am! I see 'em! Coming in from the northwest!" said one of Elora's soldiers. Everyone then looked where the soldier pointed and they can see Spyro and Cynder coming out of the clouds and heading right for them. Then the monstrous eagle appeared out of the clouds right behind the two dragons. "Oh, jeez...I hope they know what they're doing" said Ember. As the two dragons and the monstrous eagle got closer, Hunter then aims right at the eagle, but Spyro and Cynder are in the way of his sight. "What are you waiting for?! Shoot it!" said Flame.
"I can't! They're in the way of my sight!" said Hunter. As the two dragons and the eagle got even more closer, Claudius yelled "By the ancestors! Just do it!".
"NO!" yelled back Hunter. Soon, the two dragons and his target were even more closer. "Come on..." said Hunter. As the eagle was in his shooting range, he released his two arrows and it went flying right at Spyro and Cynder, who were in the way.
Spyro and Cynder can already see the arrows coming right at them. "Duck!" yelled Spyro to Cynder and they quickly dived out of the way as the arrows flies over them. The eagle couldn't dodge them and each arrow pierced both of its heads and went into their brains. An excellent shot. A bullseye. The eagle screeched in pain and agony as falls down towards earth. The entire group at the ground can see it coming down at them like a meteor from space. "Get out of the way!" yelled Hunter which knocked the sense into everyone and they all moved out of the way as the eagle crashes down to the ground, leaving the ground exploding in a large cloud of soil and dust. Spyro and Cynder came flying to the ground and landed, but when they did, they collasped to the ground from exhaustion. They've spent a lot of their energy trying to fight, dodge, and trying to get away from the two-headed, monstrous, giant eagle. "You okay?" asked Spyro to Cynder while trying to get a breather and while lying on the ground in exhaustion.
"I'm fine" said Cynder who spoke in exhaustion.
"I will say this and I will say it now. Trying to evade and get away from that thing is one heck of a adrenaline rush" said Spyro.
"I'm with you on that" said Cynder. In no time at all, everyone was walking up to them. "You alright? Anyone of you hurt?" asked Hunter who took a knee to them.
"Shooked up, but we're okay though" replied Spyro.
"Can you get up?" asked Hunter.
"I don't know. We're so exhausted. We spent up a lot of our energy" said Spyro.
"Here, they'll help" said Hunter as he reaches into his bag and pulled out two green crystal. As he held them, the two crystals glow with a neon-green aura filled with energy. He held them out to Spyro and Cynder and both of them grabbed each of the crystals and the crystals began to glow brighter as the crystal's energies began to coarse and flow into their bodies. Spyro and Cynder began to shake a little as they can feel the energy rising in them. Soon, they can feel the energy to stand up. Elora was somehow amazed of how the crystals worked on the dragons. "What kind of crystals were those? We've never seen any of those around here" asked Elora as Spyro and Cynder gets up.
"Those were Dragon Gems. There are two types actually. Red and Green crystals. The red ones heal our wounds while the green ones, that you just seen, gives us energy giving us the strength to move or fight back" explained Spyro.
"It was amazing. You dragons can absorb health and energy from your crystals, giving you the ability to continue or fight back. Your race was very fascinating" said Elora who became intrigued.
"That's what I thought too about them" said Hunter.
"Wait...where's Sparx?" asked Cynder.
"No idea. Last time I saw him he was screaming like a girl and ran" said Ember.
"Well, we have to look for him" said Spyro.
"Um, I don't think that will be a problem" said Whirlwind looking off in the distance. Everyone then looked right at him. "Why would you say that?" asked Cynder.
"You don't see that glow over there?" said Whirlwind still looking over a distance. Everyone looked to where Whirlwind was looking and not far from ten feet away from them, was a yellow glow coming from a ground. Everyone went to where the glow was and discovered that Sparx has down in an abandoned rabbit hole. Of course, they can hear his voice muttering in fear. "M-Mommy?...b-b-b-b-b-big...b-b-b-bird..." muttered Sparx deep within the hole
"Sparx?" called Spyro down in the rabbit hole.
"Who's that—who's there?" asked Sparx's voice.
"It's okay. It's over. You can come out now" said Cynder trying to calm him.
"Is it—is it safe now?" asked Sparx from the hole.
"It's alright. It's dead" said Ember. Soon enough, the glow from within the hole grew brighter and then Sparx was out of the hole. "Thank goodness, that's over" said Sparx.
"Wait! What about the eagle?" said Flame. Everyone then looked to where the creature crashed and ran. When they got there, the corpse, whose blood was oozing from the head and mouth, was lying before them in a small crater it made when it crashed landed. "I know you have beautiful landscapes in all, but do you have any like these around here?" asked Spyro to Elora.
"Yeah, what kind of animal is this?" asked Claudius.
"That's just a normal animal. Only...transformed" replied Elora.
"Transformed? What are you talking about?" asked Cynder.
"The Sorceress is known for turning captive animals she has and transformed them into monstrous creatures. Abominations, actually. Me and my soldiers have encountered and fought many of her monstrous animals" said Elora.
"Have you faced bird creatures before? Like this dead thing?" asked Flame.
"No, this must be her first aerial creature she sent. But if she sent it, that would mean that she knows that you and your group are here. She knows that you're after the eggs now" said Elora.
"How can you be sure?" asked Hunter.
"If she sent those rhynocs to retrieve your dragon eggs, she would likely know about the Dragon Temple. And second, she has spies everywhere. And last and not least, she can see what is going on through her magic mirror. Whatever she sees, she knows" said Elora.
"So you're saying that she knows where we are and is watching us right now?" asked Claudius.
"That would highly be possible that she is right now" replied Elora.
"Well, that's just great! How can we be safe if she is always watching us?" asked Claudius.
"Lucky for you, she doesn't want to spend to much time on you guys. She already has enough problems with my rebellion right now" said Elora.
"Hey, I love to chit-chat and all but, can we leave before she sends more of those things after us?" said Sparx.
"I think that will be a good idea" said Cynder.
"Alright, let's go. We'll reach the forest by sundown" said Elora.