Chapter 21

Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever."
― Aristophanes (446 BC-386)

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."
― Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Malefor looked in front of her, eyes glaring at the rails separating her from the free world beyond the walls of this Withwara prison. The incredible urge to curse her luck was barely contained within the dragoness. This didn't meant that she wasn't visibly shacking in frustration or anger, but sometimes it was just better to let a small portion of the rage go.

The floodgates weren't opened yet, only partly and as long as it worked, Malefor wouldn't complain. To her utter chagrin, she had been placed in a cell with no one else than Authari, the feminine brother of Agilulf. The guards hadn't been to kind on them when they were captured. She had only awoken when they were already picked up, being dragged to the prison of the tribe.

The guards hadn't bothered to actually restrain anyone, instead opting for the easier route of just hoping for luck to be at their side and drag the unconscious bodies to their cell. Their frustration was, as expected, enormous when they were faced with the situation of one of them awakening. Malefor had fought them of for nothing more than a second. She was totally disorientated and her mind was still clouded with the clouds of confusion, or so it seemed. The guards hadn't bothered knocking her out again. No, that would have been too much of movement for the totally uninterested warriors. They had caught their prey, they were satisfied. Actually locking them up was just an afterthought not suited for the mighty soldiers that occupied these lands. Back in her old life, Malefor would have laughed at their superiority complex.

It amused her how one could place themselves so high in their own mind, that they simply refuse simple things that would normally benefit them only because they couldn't accept the idea that even they were nothing more than any other. It was so easy to use these attributes in her past, and she was afraid that Tenebris used the same tactics. You just had to put two tribes against each other, and their pride and refusal to coexist or back down would finish the job. Divide and conquer, it was as easy as that. The problem with this was though that sometimes, the tribes thought so highly of themselves that they were prepared to go against forces way too big for them to handle. This wasn't really a problem, but every dead potential ally could be missed, and so it wasn't the most desirable outcome. The Withwara were clearly of the last category.

Although she tried to struggle multiple times afterword's, she was too shaken to actually put forward a respectable defense. The most she could squeeze out was a half-hearted attempt at lunging herself at one of the guards walking behind her. His face had annoyed her to no end. It had been the same guy that had taunted her while she was running through the streets, and now he was following her like he had caught her, a fish in a pond. Like she was his hunting prize, and he wanted to make sure that everyone knew.

Her pathetic excuse for an attack was easily dodged by him, and the only reaction she got was a laugh and some insults in the Withwara language thrown at her. The guy hadn't wasted any time, kicking her in her face. She hadn't tried anything after that, to distraught to actually do anything. After what seemed like an eternity, they had arrived at the prison cells, and she had been thrown in with enough force to make her collide with the stone wall that would make up her cell. To her relief, none of the guards felt like it was honorable to kick someone who was already on the ground, and so they left her be. With Authari of course, and he wasn't the best company to be around. He had seemed pretty unlikable and aggressive when she first encountered him, but now they were locked up in the same room, he became unavoidable.

"Move it. I have barely enough space to move." The blue dragon growled at her. Try as he might, his voice was still that high pitched girl-like voice, making his threat sound more cute than dangerous. To Malefor's surprise and sadistic enjoyment, it became obvious that even her voice was heavier than Authari's, making the blue dragon even more on edge than normally. He desperately tried to hide it, but Malefor could clearly see how self-conscious this guy was, making his whole act even more laughable.

Spyro would be considered a hideous monster compared to how threatening Authari was, and she knew this all too well. Luckily for Malefor, this left enough space for her to get under his skin. It wasn't like she had anything better to do, and she felt like it was the only thing that could help her raise her spirit a little, after the disastrous escape attempt. Call it escapism, but Malefor wouldn't care. Everything was useful to not think about that horrid moment of utter defeat she had felt. A small voice in her head told her that one day, she would have to get over her clear running-away issues, but she figured it could wait. There were more pressing matters at hand. Like how she could reply to Authari.

"With a figure like that I could be obese and you would still have enough space to run around." She said, her eyes rolling in an exaggerated manner. As planned, Authari didn't see through the obvious bait to argue about, and he went in the defense.

"What are you trying to imply, princess fuckface?"

"I think you know very well what I am implying." Malefor snickered. Authari was, just as predicted not too happy about this.

"You know what you need? A hard smack on the head or a good claw at your throat. That will learn you some manners. " he huffed.

"The only thing you need are some beautiful necklaces, some jewels, a good portion of body paint and a small dose of makeup. You could be one of the prettiest little things I have ever seen."

A dirty laugh emitted from the cell next to them, making Authari momentarily lose his interest in arguing with the female in front of him.

"Shut Agilulf. " he screeched. The only response was another hearty laugh.

"I said shut up."

"I think he doesn't hear you." Malefor said.

"Maybe scream a little louder. That way the whole tribe knows what's going here." She added. Authari's only reaction was a venomous glare at her direction, before returning his vision to the wall between him and his brother.

"I swear, I will kill you once we get out of, here." Authari screamed, loud enough to make Malefor regret that she hadn't put her paws over her ears. This guy was by far one of the most annoying things she had ever come across, and her previous enjoyment of taunting him began to make way for agitation. There was only so much high-pitched screeching she could take, and at this point Malefor knew for sure that even the screams of a dying pig would be more pleasurable to listen to then whatever came out of this idiot's mouth. The universe really enjoyed messing up her life didn't it? Damn the ancestors for that. Why did they always felt the need to place her with the worst pieces of life the dragon world had to offer? Or maybe it was all just a big prank by Ignitus. His jokes had never been that good anyway.

"Killing me? And how would you do that? Digging a hole in the ground is already too much to ask. I am very certain that a fight with me would be a very one-sided happening." The voice of Agilulf snickered.

"I swear to the gods, when I get to you I….."

"Hey Authari."

"What"

"Shut it."

Malefor expected another rant of tasteless threats and insults, but she became gleefully aware that Authari wasn't that good of an improviser and instead of insulting her, he laid down on the ground, trying to sleep the shame away.

"He is sleeping, isn't he?" Agilulf's voice came. Malefor wanted to answer, but she wasn't sure if she could trust this guy. It wasn't like her answer would really give anything away, but you could never be too cautious when dealing with this type of crowd. Trust and kindness were sore losers, and they would always come back to bite you in the ass someday, so being careful was the order of the day.

"Yah, he is. Say, your brother isn't the brightest of the bunch is he?" she remarked. Her question was , although a bit rude, a sad attempt at trying to prude the backstory behind these guys from Agilulf. To her utter amazement, he actually replied without seeing through it.

"He never was the sharpest tool in the shed. I guess dad punched his brains out one time too much."

"I am sorry to hear that."

"It was a joke."

"oh…"

Noticing that the conversation was going nowhere, Malefor changed to subject to something more...casual. Or as casual as a conversation with a savage smuggler in the prison of an ultra-nationalistic tribe could be.

"So tell me, what brings a fine mad lad like you so far from home?" she asked. Agilulf snorted, a small smile appearing on his face.

"You truly are awkward at normal conversations, but I will give you your sweet little reply. We have come here to smuggle some stuff to the southern lands. Probably some blood money for some rich bastard in Warfang. Who knows, and who cares. Whatever the case, we succeeded and were going back home when an interference came up."

"What interference?"

"You."

"Oh…"

Agilulf snorted again.

"And you're stuck again. Never been much of a talker, or are you just horrible around a fine piece of meat like me."

Malefor became an insane amount more grateful for the wall separating them, if only so he wouldn't see the raging blush on her cheeks.

"Damn female hormones. " Malefor cursed inwardly. How could it be that she, one of the most experienced and mentally powerful dragons of her day totally lost control when one self-absorbed jerk from the north made a comment. It wasn't even complimenting her of all things.

"Okay Mally. Breath in,breath out, breath in…."

"Hey, everything okay over there? I think you're hyperventilating."

"Shut up." She growled in a reply.

"Oh oh, the beast has a temper."

"I said shut up."

"…"

"Thank you."

"Nah, I ain't feeling it."

Malefor sighed. She was slowly wondering if the ancestors were just as annoyed with this as she was, but she refrained from believing it. They were probably having a laugh over this. Simpletons.

"Again."

Genserik wheezed, the air having been blown out of his lungs by one of Huneric's ruthless attacks. Although they were nothing more than training attacks, the general didn't hold back one bit, making Genseric almost believe that this guy was going for the kill. It wasn't uncommon for teachers back at his tribe to kill their students at training if seen as to weak or pathetic to become real warriors that could make their people proud.

Although it was quiet rare, warriors being not a not one of those things you could afford to lose as a tribe, some things just happened and a dead student wasn't the end of the world. Back at his village, he had personally never seen it happen in person, and he was happy for it. His brother had come dangerously close though, but his father had always kept careful watch over his teachers so they wouldn't kill him. A luxury he couldn't, or wouldn't waste on Genseric. His second son had always experienced the full blow of reality and it had been something Genseric had despised at the time. Still, he would do a lot if his father only appreciated it for once. But that was back at home. Here, the rules were way more complicated. Fighting was still fighting though, and at the moment he was sucking at it.

With a painful gasp, Genseric tried to stand up after yet another heavy beating at the hands of his self-proclaimed teacher. He was barely able to stand on his feet, and he became more and more convinced that one of his wings was broken. Huneric didn't care though.

"Your speed is lacking. Your balance is off. Your technique is that from a savage raised in the bushes. I would almost believe you weren't trying, but I don't think you're that simple minded."

Genseric could only shake his head, unable to speak from sheer exhaustion. Everything hurt. His head, his ribs, his wings, all of it. But most of all, his pride. There was no honor in losing like this, no gain or lesson being learned. It was just total and ruthless violence. How could this have happened? Genseric could think about more than one reason actually.

As a tribesmen he had been raised to be a warrior according to the traditions and the rules his tribe bestowed upon said class of citizens. The Kriviches were famous in the swamp area for being the last big tribe that still used pure hand to hand combat compared to the claw-extensions of the Withwara or the enormous arsenals employed by the Artisan Empire.

Their fighting style was focused heavily on disarming your opponent. Most of the training revolved around this element of battle, most Kriviches assuming that soldiers from other cultures weren't trained to fight without weapons. Killing them after their weapon had been taken away was seen as a piece of cake and so not much effort was put on this aspect.

Genseric needed to pay for that poor judgement. Huneric may have looked like an older general, he fought with the aggression and agility of a young assassin. Genseric had no response to something like this. The older general used everything he could use, honor and rules be damned. Every punch, every hit, every scratch was meant to kill. Mercy or restrictions did not exist in his fighting style, but what frightened Genseric the most was that it actually worked. Like he had been trained for this his whole life, he managed to turn everything he grabbed into a weapon and he wielded it like he had been doing it for years. The biggest surprise had yet to come though.

Genseric's last resort was to attempt hand to hand combat. It was the only thing he knew his opponent wouldn't have been trained on, or so he assumed.

He assumed wrongly. Huneric proved himself to be a master in hand to hand combat, and Genseric could only stay and catch the punches. With a broken pride he realized that if this beating continued, he wouldn't last for another minute. His body was aching for rest and care, but he couldn't lose now. Normally, he would have argued that there was no honor in losing a fight, but now he had only one reason to fight. It was survival. Huneric wouldn't spare him and he knew it.

And he didn't. Five punches later, he was laying on the ground, totally unable to move a single muscle. He had failed. He could already imagine his father's looks of disapproval. Huneric's emotionless stare wasn't that much better though.

"Why do you fail?" the older general bellowed.

"I don't know." Genseric whispered.

"Then you have learned nothing. Stand and fight."

The beating arrived before he even had a chance to get on his paws.

Malefor felt like beating her head against the wall. She had been thinking about her situation for the biggest part of the day right now, and the only solid conclusion that she managed to create was that she knew nothing. She had no idea how late it was, how they could manage to escape, were Cynder was and how to combine all these things to get herself out of this situation without putting the attention of other interested parties on her.

The last thing she needed at the moment was a visit by soldiers form Tenebris his legions. It was already enough that she had to share her immediate surroundings with two barbaric criminals who had ruined her day twice already, and if her calculations were correct, she had been unconscious for the whole night, making their ruin-Mally's-day count rise to three days. Or was it two? Malefor didn't know for sure, sighing in frustration when she was remembered of the fact that she had spent most of her days since the killing of Cyril unconscious.

It was rather ironic that she had been more alert and active while under mind control than she was when freed. It faced her with how vulnerable she actually was, and how long ago it had been that she had been a mere mortal. Not some dark master above them, nor a slave beneath but just nothing more than a mere mortal. It reminded her of her times before being the dark master. Before she tried to finish her destiny, the feat she had made her single life goal. She had been an innocent soul back then, as far as she could remember.

She had friends, although not that many. Most of their names were long forgotten and the few she could remember were vague and unclear about what their precise role had been in her life. Sometimes she felt a memory flowing back in her head, mostly in the form of dreams, but these dreams came without context and dates so they were mostly just uninteresting side notes in her long life. Still, she couldn't deny that even as trivial as they were, the dreams were filled with longing. The return to a time when she hadn't known that the earth was a rotten and merciless place. Before she had received her personal enlightenment, as she had been promised when she had been introduced to her destiny.

She had seen the light, but before light could come, darkness needed to exist and so she would plunge the world into the dark abyss so they could let the light of a new era shine upon them. But no, Spyro had ruined it all. The insolent brat. There were only few who could match him on her kill-on-sight bucket list, and he was still number one without a doubt.

She could easily forgive others for their roles in this, because they couldn't know better. They were just normal dragons, but Spyro had been kin. He had been a purple dragon as well, and so his victory was nothing short of a betrayal to everything the purple dragon stood for. It had been a knife in the back and an emotional jab that Malefor hadn't expected at al.

If this was because of the betrayal or just because of her defeat in general she hadn't figured out yet, and she didn't really felt like actually discovering what it was. Some emotions where just too confusing to get into, and she had already enough on her plate at the moment. Personal problems and an impending identity crisis could wait.

She had pushed those away so many times that it didn't matter if it happened one time more or less. Or so she hoped. She couldn't know how long she could stretch her mental strings further, but it was a risk she had to take. Her life depended on it. Cynder's life depended on it. She had to succeed, if only to give Cynder the peace she deserved. That was all. Malefor herself had already done too much to deserve such mercy herself, but her sister wasn't wasted yet. She still had a chance, a choice. Malefor had wasted that one when she accepted her destiny. A destiny that kept nagging on her mind with every passing minute.

Luckily for her, the ancestors decided that it was time that Authari, after minutes off stubborn silence, decided to open his mouth again to unleash the idiocy that had been building up inside of him since his earlier encounter.

"So? What now? Are we just going to wait for the gods to come and save us? What the hell are we waiting for? " he exclaimed in a tone that made it very clear that he had been contemplating his situation for some time. There was some clear pent up frustration in is voice, although barely noticeable under the usual exaggerated screaming that he used to communicate.

"Time brings wisdom." Agilulf simply stated, totally ignoring the underlying truth that his brother had uttered. Malefor had a feeling that the blue dragon knew damn well that his younger brother was right, but as brothers do so often he wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that. It surprised Malefor a little that even in a situation like this, the brothers still found it necessary to have petty arguments about the most mundane of things. Most of the arguments seemed one sided though. It was mostly Authari going bonkers against a calm and mischievous Agilulf. What Alboin did, she didn't knew, and it was only now she realized that the third brother was nowhere to be seen.

And so was Cynder.

Where Cynder was, Malefor didn't knew, but she hadn't been totally blind . She had noticed a certain dragoness standing rather close to Cynder, when she stood there at the ceremony and Malefor had a gut feeling that this dragoness knew more about where Malefors other half was. It was nothing more than poor speculation, but it was the best guess she had, and it wasn't too bold to assume that she would encounter the dragoness soon enough.

This tribe, although being big, wasn't bigger than let's say a small city and so it wasn't that big for a dragoness raised in the enormous city of Warfang. She knew how to find people. If necessary, violence would be involved. It wasn't like she hadn't seen enough of fighting yet, but she would go to the end of the world for Cynder. She was all she had left. It was all she ever had to be blunt about it. Maybe in her first life she would have had things that were more dear to her, but those things were long gone, in this reality as well as in her old life. None of her old friends had lived to see the day of her defeat at Spyro's hands. Even Ignitus, who had lived the longest of all hadn't seen the defeat of the person that had caused his death.

A small hint of guilt scratched at Malefor's stomach, making her feel a little bit uncomfortable. She didn't want to think about those thoughts and deeds. It confused her. Keep avoiding it was the message.

"You're a fucking wankstain, you know that? I bet our dad made you with whatever leftovers he had after shooting sky-high to produce Alboin." Authari screeched. With a shock, Malefor returned to the land of the living, realizing she must have spaced out very heavy to be this clueless to the situation. At least nothing of value had been said, judging by the useless bickering that had started again. Just another useless fight between siblings with anger management issues. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

"A pain in the ass. That's all I can come up with to describe you, dear brother." Agilulf moaned in a tired sigh. Deciding that this was going nowhere, Malefor decided to step in.

"Can someone please tell me the time or at least what day it is. I am a little bit shaken by our last….escape attempt and my senses are clueless."

Authari send her another annoyed glare, although way less intense than some hours ago. It seemed like he was getting tired of the bickering as well, but he wouldn't let his brother have the final say.

"Idiots." Malefor thought.

"It's nearing the evening again. You woke up somewhere after midday. You slept through the whole night of your escape attempt. Clear?" Agilulf responded. Malefor simply grunted in acknowledgment, thinking about what this info meant to her.

So she had wasted almost the entire day napping away after that fiasco the previous day. In the end this didn't really matter, but nothing could stop Malefor frustration with her situation, even if she could have done nothing to stop it.

Purely logically speaking, she had done the best she could, but nothing is more illogical then emotions like frustration and anger, leaving little room for her otherwise calculated mind to calm her. The years of torment had probably already destroyed much of that focused demeanor to begin with, so the floodgates were open for every curse, insult of profane sentence that the former dark master could come up with. This all to great amusement of Agilulf, and even to Authari to some extent although he really tried to not show it. The last thing he could use was this purple dragoness remarking on the fact that he could indeed, when the situation called for it, smile. The ancestors may wipe him from this realm when that happened. Luckily for him, Malefor had little to smile about, let alone being in the mood to pay the blue dragon any mind.

After uselessly walking around in her cell, Malefor groaned a little, slightly startling Authari, before she looked up to the roof.

"Can this day get any worse?" she whispered.

"Famous last words." Agilulf snickered. His brother was quick to add to that.

"Ow, shut it."

The time had come. Cleph wouldn't wait a second longer. Tonight, this evening the tribe would burn.

Alright,so firstly I want to say that I am very sorry for not updating earlier.I have my reasons though. I messed up my exams for Maths and French, and because my school is a rather high-profile one , I was forced to do my year over again. This means that I lose one full year of my life to a small misstep. This isn't that uncommon though in Belgium, but it is still shit. Next comes the fact that I have traveled a lot in August and June. I left for the small city of Lier (Belgium) for ten days, followed by eight days of Italy. Afterwards, I returned by plane back to Belgium, were I took a taxi in Turnhout to a buss stop that would leave for Prague (Czech Republic). Next, I spent the whole of September trying to settle in my new school environment and to work hard on my French and my German. The issues I have with my parents now is of course also rather unfortunate. I also stopped my studies of Norwegian and Swedish, although I try to keep my Norsk alive by reading stuff in that language. My other project has also been deleted thanks to my computer dying. Hooray. Right now, I am trying to find my place, so the next chapter may take some time. I am sure it will settle down though.

Ik wens jullie allen een fantastisch schooljaar toe. Ik apprecieer het ten zeerste dat jullie blijven lezen wat ik hier neertype.

Goe dagske nog verder.

Ik meen het deze keer.

Cuwaert Den Duvel

(My new name comes from an old-dutch story called Reinaert De Vos (Reynaert The Fox). Cuwaert is a character in the story. Den Duvel is the Flemish dialect way of writing Den Duivel, which means 'The devil' in Dutch. Duvel is also an awesome Belgian beer.)