Chapter 29: A Death in the Family

Six years...

The large Ape Commander was trembling violently as he delivered his report. Two slit-like eyes glared balefully at him from the shadows that enshrouded the twisted black throne at the end of the room.

"T-the p-purple dragon was s-sighted at Tall Plains just hours after you left, G-General," the Ape stammered. "He d-defeated the forces placed to intercept him. W-we've n-never faced anything like him!"

"The Ice Guardian?" The voice was like the crack of a whip and the Ape flinched visibly.

"Escaped with the purple dragon," he said hastily, shrinking back against the wall. "P-please, it's not my fault! I doubled the guard like you asked-"

"Asked?" the voice snapped.

"Ordered. I mean ordered," the Ape corrected himself in a panicky voice. "B-but it didn't stop him!"

A dreadful silence fell in the chamber. For a while, the Ape's trembling was the only sound that could be heard. And then the voice spoke again.

"The purple dragon. Earlier reports gave me the indication that he was a child. Is this correct?"

The Ape nodded mutely.

"And you are the commander of the Tall Plains garrison?"

Another nod.

Suddenly a scythe-like tail lashed out, stabbing through the Ape's burnished breastplate and sank into his chest. He didn't even have time to cry out. When he tried to croak something out, a cascade of crimson blood gushed out of his open mouth.

"You admit you were the commander of the garrison and you dare to say that you couldn't even stop a dragonet from freeing an important prisoner of war. The responsibility for this fiasco rests on your shoulders alone. Be grateful I'm feeling merciful or your death would be a lot slower," Cynder said coldly, stepping from the shadows and flicking her tail, sending the Ape's limp body crashing into a wall. He didn't get up.

"Somebody get rid of this," she said, indicating the fallen Ape with her still-bloody tailblade. Casting a last contemptuous glare at the Ape's corpse, she strode off to her room.

I'm going to have to do something about the purple dragon, she thought. The first reports had come in weeks ago when a patrol from the Swamps had reported back about a purple dragonet who had attacked them.

Since then he had been busy, freeing the Lightning and Ice Guardians from confinement and being a general pain in the tail. Everywhere he went, he unfailingly undid everything she had striven to achieve-giving the people of the Realms hope and stirring up rebellion against her rule.

But all that was about to end. There was a pattern to his appearances-he was freeing the captured Guardians and now he would have to go after the Earth Guardian,Terrador, in the Munitions Forge under Mount Boyzitbig.

This time, she would be there to confront him personally. With any luck, he would lead her back to the elusive Fire Guardian, after all, who else could have given him the training and information he needed to defeat everything she had arrayed against him so far?

She would follow the purple dragon and once he had led her to the Fire Guardian, she would-

No! A stab of pain shot through her mind like a hot, searing needle and she snarled in pain.

It seemed her better half hadn't been completely broken yet. Cynder was surprised. After all she had done, she was sure her good twin would've gone completely mad by now. She was strong. An admirable trait but she would break eventually. She forced her good twin back below her thoughts.

She gazed across a map of the Realms. She still held a vast swathe of territory on the main continent-only the dragon city of Warfang continued to resist her iron rule. She was already gathering her forces to lay siege to it, it was only a matter of time-

Suddenly someone burst into her room. She wheeled around, tailblade raised to defend herself. It was the Assassin. His face was downcast.

"Father," Cynder greeted, relaxing. "Is something wrong?"

"Cynder, it's about Albus," he began. Cynder felt the blood drain from her face even before he continued. It couldn't be...

"He's dead," the Assassin said somberly, confirming her worst fears.

Cynder blinked back the tears that came uninvited to her eyes. The cold reality set in. Albus, one of her best friends since childhood, her most reliable second in command, the leader of the her legion, was dead. Her mind immediately went to Barty. How was he going to react to this? How was she going to tell him?

"How did this happen?" she asked, trying her best to keep her voice even.

"He was on a mission to Pyrrhia," the Assassin explained, studying her features carefully. "His squadron was to scout out a human settlement along the west coast in preparation for a raid. I wasn't told of the details surrounding his death. The survivors are in the courtyard." He put a hand on her drooping shoulders. "Cynder, I'm so sorry. I know he was your friend and I can't imagine what you're going through.

"He was more than a friend," Cynder said, a single tear flowing freely now. "He was my brother, a brother I never had." She had always known that it was war and her friends could die any time. But Albus had always seemed so invincible-someone so permanent that nothing life threw at him could ever stop him.

But now it had and she didn't know what to do. Talking to the survivors of his squadron would be a start-a squadron she and Albus had led together all those years ago. The memories were painful and Cynder forced them to one side.

She leapt off the balcony, wings extended to catch the wind. She glided to a halt in the courtyard where a bedraggled-looking group of Dreadwings had landed. There was Barty, crying openly over a body. Cynder steeled herself and approached one of the soldiers.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"We were intercepted," he said, his glazed eyes wandering. "The settlement we were supposed to observe-it was under attack by dragons. They outnumbered us three-to-one. There was no way we could've won." Cynder nodded. Dreadwings tended not to do well in single combat against dragons. Numbers had always been their strength.

"Commander Albus, he told us to flee while he held them off," the Ape continued. "He managed to down three of them before... It was awful, General. This huge SandWing came out of nowhere. It was covered in scars and gashes. It tore Albus' head right off before he could even raise his sword to defend himself... It was horrible."

Cynder's gaze wandered over to the body. Her stomach twisted in knots when she noticed that its neck ended in a ragged, bloody stump. "Big SandWing? Covered in scars and gashes? Anything else you can tell me about it?"

"One of the soldiers addressed her as Queen Burn."

Burn? Cynder knew that name. Burn was the dragon who tried to have her killed. Trying to murder her was one thing but killing her best friend and mutilating his body was where he drew the line. "Get some rest," she said to the shaken soldier who nodded and left with the other survivors.

She put a claw on Barty's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I miss him too," she said quietly.

"I'm going to kill whoever did this," he sobbed. But there was steel in that voice, leaving Cynder with no doubt that he wouldn't rest till Burn was dead.

"No, you're not," Cynder told him forcefully. "I can't lose a second brother. I won't lose you. I'll go after her and when I'm done, I'll bring you her head."

Barty wanted to argue-to say that Albus was as much a brother to him as he was to her but the fire in Cynder's eyes told him all he needed to know. Instead, he conceded and said, "Give her hell, Cynder."

"I intend to," she replied. Never before had her two selves been so united in purpose. Whatever good she had left within her, all of it was now focussed on one thing; killing Burn-something her inner darkness was more than happy to agree with.

"Take care of him while I'm away," Cynder told the Assassin. He met her eyes and nodded. With that, Cynder took flight, her powerful wings cutting through the air.

A storm was heading for Pyrrhia. But it was a storm unlike anything it had ever seen before. A storm of hatred, grief and wrath made manifest in the form of a terrible, dark SkyWing hell-bent on revenge.

Author's Note:

And so, one of the closest friends Cynder has meets his demise at the hands of the vicious Burn. But Cynder isn't one to simply mourn her friend's passing. Beware Burn, for death on swift, black wings comes for you. And Cynder is the dark scythe that will reap your soul. As dragons long thought dead return to haunt Pyrrhia, the NightWing invasion draws near and the Dark Master's return looms nigh, what hope does the world have? Who will save it? Who can save it?

Autumn-Hmm, about her becoming a regular SkyWing? Perhaps not. Not just yet. But we shall certainly see:)

Brandon-as I told you in the PM, Malefor has a perfectly good reason for doing what he does-it's not just 'his opinions'. However, being crafty about it, he hasn't chosen to reveal it yet. With regard to destroying the world, this doesn't follow the story exactly so it remains to be seen whether Malefor actually does anything like that. Also, some of the readers haven't played the game so would you mind terribly not handing out spoilers?

glorybringer-Alas, I hath not the time, for duty calls and draws me away from my writings. NightWing and animus powers... You wouldn't so happen to know a friend of mine, Queen Glory of the RainWings? She had a character with almost exactly the same thing XD coincidence? Glad you're liking it! Anyway, referring to your reviews in the Spyro fan pledge, I'd like to hear more about your idea. Is there any way you could make a fanfic account and PM me there (any other mode of communication)?

Minecraft-Many thanks to you too. What's wrong with your Internet? Mine's been rather haywire for the past week

Amanda-By the Ruinous Powers and the Emperor's new clothes! What a thing to suggest?! I will concede to some parallels in appearance of the dragon in Shrek and our SkyWing protagonist but that's as far as I'm willing to go. Though keep your eyes peeled-he might make a cameo in future!

Zoe-Why thank you! And congrats on your prediction-NightWing ancestry like Glorybringer? As for McDonald, well, haha. I look forward to our confrontation.

the guest of 23rd of August-Firstly, thank you for that extremely long review! I haven't had such a fun time answering critics in a while. Nitpicking's your hobby? Speaking of said review, you may want to post it again, because it didn't turn up in here although I saw it in my mailbox-glitch possibly? To answer your slew of questions, firstly, as I told Brandon, this story doesn't follow the exact events of the actual series-I've made changes here and there where I've deemed it appropriate so in this case, they've started early. Secondly, I never said anything about Cynder only having two siblings (Ruby and Vermillion). What I said was that they are the only two she knows about. If your problem lies with how Scarlet seems so sentimental over Cynder in spite of killing so many of her other daughters, it's because(in this story at least) Cynder was 'killed' before Scarlet even got a chance to see her and hold her in her claws-Scarlet's not that heartless. Furthermore, Scarlet hadn't just laid Cynder's egg. She had laid it a while back but she was still recovering from it. It's sort of how after a mother gives birth, she needs quite a while to recover. Well it was the same thing with Scarlet. By that time, Cynder had already developed sufficiently to look like a SkyWing. I didn't say anything about being fully developed which is part of the reason why the Assassin needed to get her to Malefor pronto. I did however talk about how Malefor needed to speed up her growth process so she would live. Hope that clarifies any lingering doubts you might've had!