A/N: This chapter gave me so much trouble... But here it is, just in time for Christmas! Maybe you'll even get another chapter before the end of the year...
Before I forget again, because I keep forgetting, the term 'spiritseer', regrettably, does not belong to me. I borrowed it from the Septimus Heap series, because it just worked way too well and I couldn't help it. D:
Now, read!
37.
"I'm coming with you."
Spyro looked up from his satchel, which he'd been struggling to put on for the last ten minutes, and met Lumis's determined gaze. The words didn't come as a shock to him, but as a heavy silence fell over the surrounding dragons he figured he was the only one. Lumis's expression switched from determined to embarrassed in the blink of an eye.
"Ah. What I mean to say is… Can I come with you?" There was a certain hopefulness to his tentative grin.
Spyro couldn't help smiling back, and was relieved by how easily it came. Last night, had Lumis asked that same question, he'd have been tongue-tied and frozen, and every fibre of his being would have been screaming 'no!' But now, after speaking with him well past midnight, Spyro found he couldn't even consider denying his request. Lumis was lost and alone, just as Spyro had been when he'd left the swamp for the first time. But he had no Sparx to light his way.
"Of course you can," said Cynder.
Spyro blinked. Had he been lost in thought that long? Lumis was looking at Cynder now instead, a grateful smile on his face. He looked so disarming Spyro wondered how he'd ever mistaken him for Alta. There was none of that crazed madness and despair on his face; just hope and uncertainty. He opened his mouth to agree with Cynder, but another voice cut him off.
"What, we're letting him tag along?" Flame approached through the grass, his brow furrowed with displeasure. As his eyes fixed on Lumis, Spyro saw in them nothing short of disgust and suspicion. This wouldn't go well. "We don't even know him!"
"We don't need to," Cynder shot back coolly. "We'll get to know him. We didn't know Nadi when we took him along."
"And I still think that was a bad idea," Flame muttered under his breath. He raised his voice, his eyes still fixed on Lumis. "I think we've already got enough weirdos, thanks. Scram."
Spyro scowled. He knew Flame well enough that he should have expected something like this. It was that very suspicion that had cast them as enemies upon first meeting, after all. "Don't—"
"Wait, let him talk," Lumis cut in suddenly. His eyes were fixed on Flame with interest. "I want to know what he thinks."
Flame's eyebrow quirked upwards and he raised his head slightly. Abruptly, Spyro realized Lumis was taller by almost half-a-head. But he had nothing in the face of Flame's bulky muscle. "Do you? Think you can take it? Fine."
Spyro flinched on instinct as Flame lurched forward until his snout was almost pressed to Lumis's."I think you're a freak and a trickster just like your damn brother. I think the moment we turn our backs on you, you're going to show your true colours and someone's going to end up with a claw in the back of the neck. And let me tell you, it's not going to be me this time. I'm pulling the leech before it can suck us all dry."
His lip curled and he snapped his jaws in Lumis's face. The oracle flinched and Spyro saw a flicker of fear pass over his face. He clenched his jaw. That was enough. Flame had had his fun. Spyro stepped forward, but Flame's wing snapped out and caught him a glancing blow to the chest. He jerked backwards, startled.
"No. I want to hear his answer," Flame snarled without looking away from Lumis. "Go on, freak. Say what you're thinking."
Lumis licked his lips nervously, but didn't look away from Flame's challenging gaze. "He… He did something to you."
The snarl fell from Flame's face. "What?"
"Alta." Lumis's eyes seemed to search his face, and Spyro had a feeling he was seeing something far beyond Flame's anger. "He did something to you."
Flame's teeth crunched audibly and he snarled through them. "More than something. He used me. I let him use me."
A visible shudder passed over his scales and he jerked away as though he could no longer handle meeting Lumis's gaze. Spyro stepped aside to let him pass, but Flame only took a few steps. With his back turned to Lumis, he shook with what Spyro could only assume was anger.
"I'll never trust you, freak. If you want to hang around, you better watch yourself, because I'll be watching you like a hawk. One wrong step…" Flame stamped a paw, and the grass burst into flames. Fire raced up the grass stalks almost quicker than the eye could follow, and by the time Spyro realized what had happened it had already burnt itself out. A thin plume of dark smoke trailed skywards.
Flame shot a dark look over his shoulder and left, leaving a patch of smoking ash in his wake. Ember's face was disapproving as he approached her. Dazed, Spyro looked away from them and stared at Lumis. The oracle gazed at the patch of burnt grass, his eyes glazed over.
"He's still as much of a jerk as ever." Cynder moved over to smother the last of the smouldering embers under her paw. She rolled her eyes and smiled ruefully. "I hoped Ember might be able to fix that, but I guess that's too much to expect of anyone. It's like trying to stop Sparx from talking."
"Hey! I heard that." Sparx hovered over with three butterflies held in his grip. He stuffed one in his mouth and chewed unabashedly, glaring at Cynder as he did so.
Spyro couldn't hold back a grin. It faded a little as he turned back to Lumis, who still hadn't broken out of his stupor. "You shouldn't worry about him, anyway. He won't do anything unless you do something first."
"But what did he do?" Lumis murmured, and Spyro realised his glazed-over eyes were not staring at the patch of burnt grass but at Flame's retreating back. "What did Alta do?"
Spyro sighed and shook his head. It didn't feel right telling Lumis the mistakes that Alta had made. What he had done to Flame was one of the worst crimes known to dragonkind. It was no wonder that Flame still held suspicion towards any oracle, let alone Alta's own brother. Lumis knew his brother had done wrong, but Spyro didn't want to be the one who broke to him the full extent of Alta's felony.
"Nothing good," Cynder cut in grimly. She shifted closer and her shoulder pressed against Spyro's. He leaned into her gratefully and let her talk. "Maybe it's better that we forget what happened, but for the sake of understanding Flame… He became Alta's slave for some time. He did a lot of things that he wouldn't have done otherwise and hurt dragons that he cared about."
Lumis blinked and the glaze faded from his eyes. In its place was sadness, and perhaps a shred of guilt. "I see. I understand. Then your friend has every right to hate me."
"But you're not…" Spyro started, but Lumis held out a wing and he trailed off.
"I share his blood. And that is enough. I'll just have to prove that I'm not a threat."
"Yeah, good luck with that." Sparx gulped down his last butterfly, patted his stomach, and yawned. "So, we going?"
Spyro turned towards the sun, which was just barely hanging above the eastern horizon. The grasslands looked golden in this light, a stark contrast to the soft navy it had been at night. All of a sudden, he felt so much lighter. "We should. If we fly fast, we can reach Enrin in a matter of days."
"The forest of Enrin?" Lumis interrupted. "I've never been there. But I've heard stories about the fauns…"
"We're going to see them," said Cynder. "The Chronicler sent us. They're supposed to know where…"
She trailed off, her gaze fixed intently on Lumis, and Spyro had the feeling that she'd just had an epiphany. He nudged her, but she didn't react. A little worried, Spyro was about to speak, but she beat him to it.
"You said you're the last of your tribe, right?" she said to Lumis. He nodded. Cynder's eyes gleamed. "Were there other oracle tribes?"
Spyro rolled the words around in his head as Lumis started to respond, but he couldn't fathom what she was thinking. Why would she want to know about other oracle tribes?
"…but many of them disappeared during the war," Lumis was saying, his face grim. "Refugees were always finding safety with our tribe. We were easily the biggest by the time the war reached its peak—at least, that's what my parents said. I don't think any of the other tribes could have survived. Oracles are nomads, after all. We have no real place to call home, and therefore no true protection in times of war. When my tribe was killed…"
He smiled sadly. "I admit to considering that I might be the last oracle left in the world."
"Dude, melodramatic much?"
"Sparx…" Spyro groaned.
Cynder had started tapping her tailblade on the ground. Spyro had seen her do it countless times when she was getting restless. "Have you heard of the Magic Crafters?"
Brief surprise flickered across Lumis's face. "The bedtime story?"
"No, the… Bedtime story?" Cynder's eyebrow twitched upwards.
Lumis nodded, and there was something nostalgic about his smile. "My parents told it to us all the time. The Magic Crafters were oracles who could control elements. I mean, it was complete nonsense of course, but they were still cool stories. My brother and I used to pretend we could use elements. Why do you ask?"
Cynder stared at him, her mouth working wordlessly, and Spyro decided to come to her rescue. In all honesty, he was as confused as her. "The Magic Crafters were real; the Chronicler told us about them. I don't know about 'oracles who can use magic', but I do know they had different sorts of powers from us. They disappeared shortly before the first purple dragon was hatched. We're supposed to find them."
A grin twitched Lumis's mouth. "You're chasing fairytales? I would have thought that you of all dragons would have something better to do."
Spyro's scales grew hot, and his traitorous tongue tied itself into a knot. It wasn't a fairy tale, and it was important. Or so his mind insisted while his mouth refused to work. The slightest twinge of anger twisted his stomach.
"If the Chronicler says they were real, we're in no place to think otherwise," said Cynder, a little irritably. "Unless you want to question the knowledge of the wisest dragon in the realms."
Lumis backed off, grinning but looking a little worried by the glint in Cynder's eyes. "Okay, alright. Let's say they're real. How do you expect to find them if they disappeared that long ago? They might not exist now even if they did before."
"That's why we're going to the fauns."
"The Chronicler told us they're the last ones who saw the Magic Crafters before they completely disappeared from the Books of Time," Spyro added, shaking himself out of his embarrassment at last. He met Lumis's eyes evenly, waiting for him to say something else scathing. But the oracle just shook his head.
"It's not my place to question you or the Chronicler, so…" He spread his wings, inclining his head questioningly.
Cynder hummed agreeably and spread her own wings. "We'll find out when we get there."
Spyro cast a glance over his shoulder. The others were mingling in the grass nearby, engaging in private conversation and occasionally shooting glances towards them. As Spyro met Saffron's eyes, she started walking over with Roku and Nadi on either side. He offered them a smile and checked that the other four were ready. Flame was still looking bitter, but he nodded as Spyro locked eyes with him.
"Guess we're ready," said Spyro, flexing his wings.
"Aw yeah." Sparx stretched his arms behind his head. "Back on the road again."
The following days merged into a blur of constant travel and scarce rest. They passed the long hours of flight with a combination of conversation and silly games that Zannak invented out of nowhere. On the morning of the second day, his game of 'spot the spirit gem' lasted for three hours. Apart from giving the fidgeting electric dragon something to do, it had the added effect of reminding Spyro that natural groves of spirit gems were common in the wild. They became more frequent the closer the Midnight Mountains loomed.
There had been no more distractions or detours since leaving Concurrent Skies, and this came as a great relief to Spyro. He'd lost track of time since they'd left the White Isle, and the more days passed the more worried he became. Ignitus had told them there was no time to spare, and already they had wasted more time than Spyro could count. What if Warfang had already been razed to the ground?
But no, he had faith in the Guardians and the City Guard. It had taken the wrath of the Dark Master to penetrate the defences of Warfang last time. Surely they could hold out for longer now.
Spyro found solace from his worries in Cynder and, strangely, Lumis. The oracle, despite his shaky introduction, soon proved to be both friendly and an interesting conversation partner. Spyro soon found himself chatting with Lumis almost more than he did with Cynder, and it became a common occurrence that they would talk long into the night when everyone else was asleep.
He learned of the things that Lumis had seen in his travels—of lands beyond the Midnight Mountains, and strange species that had been hunted by the Dark Army. He learned of the far north, the home of snow leopards who had fled from Dante's Freezer in the wake of the invading apes, and of little winged foxes that had been hunted to extinction for their feathers and fur said to be imbued with flight magic.
Lumis also spoke of his brother, though only sparingly, and Spyro caught snippets of what Alta had been like as a hatchling. None of these stories quite matched up with the memory he had of Alta, and he would wonder if they were really talking about the same dragon. Eventually, one evening, Spyro thought to ask about 'spiritseers' and how Lumis knew he was one—and why he'd never known about this.
"You're the purple dragon. It only makes sense that you can talk to spirits," Lumis had said. "Some once believed that the purple dragon was the reincarnation of the ancestors in a single mortal body. But I don't see how that could be true since you and the Dark Master existed at the same time."
"You said you can tell when other dragons are spiritseers. Is that because you are one? Could I do that?"
"With some training, maybe. In my tribe there were a few spiritseers. They taught me how to train myself to see auras. That's how I can tell. Maybe I can teach you?"
That was an offer that Spyro eagerly accepted. For the next few hours they talked into the night, and Spyro learned many things about spiritseers. Apparently, most spiritseers had oracle blood, and it was rare but not unheard of for a normal dragon to be one. These non-oracle spiritseers, Lumis said, were even able to see visions with the aid of certain tools. Spyro had brought up the Pool of Visions with sudden inspiration, and surmised that Ignitus must have been one of these unique spiritseers. He couldn't imagine that Ignitus had oracle blood.
After yawning for the tenth time, Spyro had finally decided to sleep, but not before Lumis had given him something curious to think about.
"I won't tell you who—consider it a test for when you're able to see auras—but there are two of your number who are spiritseers." Lumis had looked over his shoulder at the sleeping dragons as he spoke. Spyro had followed his gaze, but hadn't been able to tell which of his friends the oracle was looking at. Lumis's eyes had twinkled. "Tell me when you figure it out."
Spyro mulled over that information for the next few days, but all he managed to do was conclude that both Cynder and Sparx were out. Cynder, because Lumis had already said she was not one; and Sparx because he was obviously a dragonfly. Then again, Spyro hadn't even thought to ask if other species could be spiritseers too. It could have been anyone else, and he had no way of telling.
So it was that the days passed by in a blur, Spyro's worries about Warfang faded to the back of his mind, and the Midnight Mountains loomed ever closer. On the fourth night they rested in a valley in the middle of the mountain range, and on the morning of the fifth day the Forest of Enrin came into view. It was a huge mass of dark green that stretched from horizon to horizon, as far as the eye could see. At midafternoon, without stopping for a lunch break, they landed at its edge.
A charged silence hung around them, and cold prickles crept over Spyro's scales despite the warm air. He had to crane his head back to see the tops of the trees, and they grew so close that only darkness could be seen beyond the edge of the forest. It was as though sunlight itself was being swallowed up by the trees, and they were standing on the threshold between day and night. But what made Spyro shiver was none of this, but something else; something unexplainable—an otherworldly presence that seemed to cling to the forest itself.
At first he thought to call it 'magic', but something more fitting came to mind. It was the energy of nature itself given form and presence in the physical world.
"This is…spooky," Cynder murmured in his ear. Spyro nodded his silent agreement.
"So this is the place?" Kazan took a few steps closer to the forest, but hesitated before he reached the trees. He looked back and Spyro met his eyes. "We made it? Like, for real?"
"I think so," Spyro replied, glancing at Cynder and hoping she had the answer. She just shrugged and Spyro moved to Kazan's side, gazing at the forest. "We just passed through the Midnight Mountains, and Ignitus said it was right on the other side."
"Yeah, I don't think there's many other massive creepy forests around here," Zannak cut in. "Unless you see one."
Spyro glanced over his shoulder in time to see Zannak making an over-exaggerated show of observing the surroundings while shadowing his eyes with a wing. He turned towards the forest's edge and his eyes lit up as though he'd only just noticed it. His paw shot out. "Look, there's one!"
Kazan snorted, and Spyro bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "I guess there's not much of a question about it. This has to be Enrin."
"I was further north when I was on this side of the mountains," Lumis offered, "but for what it's worth, I think this is it. Enrin is supposed to be one of the biggest forests in the realms, and this—"
"Easily the biggest I've ever seen," Flame cut in. Lumis didn't seem to notice the distasteful look that was shot his way, but Spyro did. Flame pawed the grass impatiently. "Enough with the history lesson, let's go."
"In there?" Sparx flitted over to Spyro's cheek, his eyes fixed on the trees. "We sure it's safe?"
"No, but we don't have a choice," Spyro reminded him. Sparx grumbled quietly and flinched as a gust of wind rustled the tree leaves. Smiling uncertainly, Spyro turned to face his friends. They stared back with a mixture of apprehension and impatience. "Stay close. We don't know what's in there. We don't want to get separated."
"No kidding," Sparx muttered.
With Lumis on one side and Cynder on the other, and Sparx clinging to one of his horns, Spyro stepped towards the forest. He heard the others follow, the grass crunching under their paws, but no one spoke as they were encompassed by the warm faux-dusk of the forest. The trees reached around them like welcoming arms, and every step took them further from the sunlight. Spyro glanced over his shoulder and saw the last sliver of golden light shining through the trees. He shivered and resisted the urge to turn back.
The grass had turned to leaf-litter, and it was cool and damp under his paws in contrast to the hot air that hung around his scales. Twigs snagged at his wings as he slipped through the closely-packed trees, trying to stay close to Cynder. Lumis had dropped back, and Spyro could feel him following close at his tail. Cynder pressed against his side as they slipped through a tight gap between trees, and ducked her head to avoid a low branch.
"This could take days, Spyro," she whispered. "You saw how big it is."
"I know," he murmured back, not daring to raise his voice in case he offended the forest. A moment later, he wondered why he had thought something so stupid. "But what else can we do? If we split up, we…"
Cynder fidgeted at his side and he recognised the look in her eyes.
"We are not splitting up," he insisted. Worry gnawed at his stomach. "What if something happens? What if we lose someone? We can't risk it."
"We could cover much more ground in one day. And I'm sure the fauns know this place better than us. If we lose someone, as long as we find the fauns we'll be able to find them."
"Cynder, no. I can't—"
"Remind me why we aren't just flying over this place?" Kazan's voice called from somewhere behind them.
Spyro flinched at the unexpected noise and turned his head sharply. Lumis jumped back.
"Watch it," Flame hissed and shoved Lumis to the side.
Spyro scowled, but turned his attention away from them. He couldn't see Kazan past Lumis and Flame, but he raised his voice to ensure he heard. "Because we're looking for the fauns. We won't be able to see them from the air."
"Why don't you fly up and tell us what you can see through this," Cynder added scathingly, jerking her head towards the forest ceiling. The barest scattering of sunlight broke through like tiny stars on the underside of the canopy.
Spyro thought he heard Kazan growl, but there was no angry retort as he had expected. He looked back at Cynder, suddenly unsure what to do. The forest was deafeningly silent around them, and for all he knew it could take days that they didn't have to find the fauns. She returned his gaze evenly, but he had no idea what she was thinking. Indecision ate at him. What if he made the wrong choice?
They could split into two groups—Flame was more than capable of being a leader for a little while. But then, what if they couldn't find each other? They could easily be lost for even longer than a few days if they got separated in a forest this big. Spyro rubbed his muzzle. Why couldn't decisions ever be easy?
A warm paw touched his, and he looked up into Cynder's eyes. She smiled. "It's okay, Spyro. We don't have to split up if it bothers you so much."
Half-relieved half-guilty, Spyro tried to return her smile. "I just… I don't want to lose anyone. It scares me."
"I know." She stroked his paw and looked past him, to Flame. "What do all of you think?"
Flame shifted his weight from one leg to the other, looking mostly bored and slightly thoughtful. "Dunno. There's safety in numbers, right? But I always work better alone."
"You do not," Ember muttered quietly. "You always get into trouble alone."
Flame pulled a face and made a non-committal noise. Rolling her eyes, Cynder turned to Lumis instead. He seemed surprised that Cynder wanted his opinion, but didn't hesitate to give it.
"We should spread out, at least," he said, gesturing to the line of dragons backed up behind them in the thin path between trees. "Keep each other in sight, of course. But it's no use going single file through the whole forest."
Spyro craned his head over his shoulder again and had to admit he had a point. Flame and Ember were squished together between two large trees, and he could hardly see the others behind them.
"We should split into pairs," Lumis suggested, "and keep at least one other pair in sight at all times."
"Who made you the boss?" Flame snarled. "I don't trust you alone with anyone."
Cynder gave him an exasperated look. "He can stay with us, then. Is everyone else alright with this?"
A first there was a pause and Spyro thought he heard the others speaking in low voices, and then followed numerous cries of agreement. He nodded, satisfied, as they began to spread out. Zannak and Kazan stuck together, picking through a small grove of trees nearby. Branching in the opposite direction, Saffron and Nadi followed Roku away from the thin path that they had taken thus far. Spyro looked back at Flame, and he nodded.
"I'll stick with Ember." So saying, he spread a golden wing around her and led her off the path.
"Guess that leaves us,' said Cynder, looking from Lumis to Spyro.
"So, does anyone want to hear my opinion?" Sparx raised his hand in the air, waving it about.
Cynder gave him a sly glance. "Let me guess, you want us to turn around and leave now, right?"
"No. …Well, maybe."
Spyro chuckled despite himself. "Come on, Sparx. It can't be that bad."
"You say that now," Sparx grumbled.
As Lumis and Cynder stood aside, Spyro took the lead again, feeling a little less claustrophobic than before. A flash of colour caught the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Flame and Ember walking together through the trees to his left. A glance towards his other side proved Zannak and Kazan were also within sight. He hoped the other three could at least see Flame and Ember.
Feeling a little braver, Spyro set a brisk pace through the forest. The leaf-litter grew steadily damper the further they went, and soon moss began to grow on the trees. At one point he thought he saw a flicker of movement in the trees above his head, but when he looked all he saw were branches and vines.
With Sparx bobbing ahead like a living lantern, Cynder close to his side and Lumis on his tail, Spyro almost began to enjoy the trek through the forest. There was an unusual lack of danger, and the air was warm and humid in a way that reminded him of the swamp back home. He thought his dragonfly parents would have liked it here.
Eventually, when the silence had grown too heavy to be fully broken by the rhythmic drumming of their paws, he tried to strike up conversation. "I never got to ask, Lumis, but when did you create the Poison Claws? You must have been pretty young when…you know."
Lumis had been wearing the claws ever since Cynder had returned them to him, and only took them off to sleep. They really did look like they belonged to him, blending with the silver of his underbelly and the green of his eyes almost methodically. "Most dragons in our tribe learned about artefacts as hatchlings. We started learning to make them by the time a normal dragon would start using elements for the first time. Not everyone wanted to, of course. Alta never really saw the fun in making things. But I did."
"And how do we know you're not lying through your teeth about them being undeadly?" Sparx quipped, turning his head.
"Undeadly isn't a word," Cynder muttered.
"You only have my word, I guess." A sad, wistful sort of look crossed Lumis face as he stepped over a protruding root and moved to Spyro's side. "I think I might have an idea why Alta said or even thought what he did, though. See, when I first made them we used to play games together. One of us would be the ape, and the other would be the brave dragon challenging the Dark Army alone. The Poison Claws were our only weapon, but they were deadly and unbeatable."
He chuckled. "Naturally, we paralysed each other a fair few times."
Spyro stared at him, trying to wrap his head around the image of Alta playing. "So, you think he…started believing it?"
Lumis's face fell into grim acceptance. "Either he was bluffing, or he was so far gone that he thought our little games were real."
Spyro nodded silently, unable to come up with a response. He couldn't very well tell Lumis he was sorry about what had happened to his brother. As much as he was, it sounded stupid in his head and he knew it wouldn't help anything. They lapsed into silence again, and Spyro checked to make sure the others were still in sight. Zannak and Kazan had stopped a little further back and seemed to be arguing about something. But even as Spyro watched, they started moving again. He was just checking on Flame and Ember when Cynder spoke.
"This…might be an intrusive question, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I'm curious." She was looking at Lumis. "Have you tried to talk to your brother's spirit yet?"
Lumis faltered mid-step and almost tripped over a tree root. He caught his balance awkwardly and gave a strange, nervous laugh. The grin he gave Cynder was just as nervous. "I… Well, you see, the thing is… I don't think he would—"
He froze. Spyro stared at him, confused, but Lumis didn't seem to be staring at him or Cynder. He was looking past them, his startled eyes fixed on a point somewhere ahead. Spyro opened his mouth to speak, but Lumis held up a paw.
"Spyro," he said quietly. "I want you to turn around and look. Don't make any noise. Just look."
Spyro gulped and slowly turned his head. What manner of beast was lurking behind him? He could already imagine it looming there, gazing down at him with sickly yellow eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Maybe he was thinking too much like Sparx.
"There's nothing there," Cynder hissed. But Spyro looked, and there was.
Slipping between the trees ahead of them was a pale dragon no bigger than a hatchling. At first he thought it was completely white, but then noticed it was more of a pale beige. He could see the forest through it, as though the little dragon was formed of nothing more than mist.
"Is that…?" he held his breath.
"It's a spirit," Lumis murmured. "It must have a connection to this place somehow. Maybe it even died here."
A cold shiver crept down the back of Spyro's neck. The spirit hatchling paused and turned its head, as though it had sensed them somehow. Its eyes pointed straight towards him, and he inhaled through his teeth. Its irises were strangely colourless, nigh invisible against the whites of its eyes. For a moment it seemed to stare straight through him. Then it turned around and continued on its way, passing straight through a tree as though it wasn't there.
Spyro exhaled quietly.
"Yeah, no, I don't see anything," Sparx muttered, folding his arms. "You sure you two aren't just losing your minds?"
"It is kinda spooky," Cynder agreed, and Spyro gave her a hurt look. "Come on, Spyro, you have to admit it's weird that you can see things we can't."
"I guess…" He looked back in time to see the spirit slip out of sight between the trees. Spyro sighed. "I can't believe I've been a spiritseer all this time and only now I'm seeing spirits."
"They're not exactly common," Lumis said, starting to move again. "And sometimes they can hide themselves from even spiritseers if they don't want to be seen. It might not be a good omen that there are spirits in here…"
"Don't say that," Sparx groaned.
But despite Lumis's worries, they walked in peace for the next short while. There was no sign of the spirit after that, and eventually they slipped back into pleasant conversation. Cynder regaled Lumis with stories of their adventures before Malefor's fall, and he repaid the favour by detailing the week he'd spent in the northern tundra more than a year ago. Apparently the snow leopards were every bit as hospitable as the cheetahs, if not more so.
He was still talking when Flame and Ember approached, but quickly fell silent. Spyro stopped to greet them. "Is everything okay?"
"Maybe. We're just wondering if you've got any plan; or are we gonna spend the rest of the afternoon wandering aimlessly?" Flame looked less than amused.
"There's not much else we can do," Spyro pointed out. Flame didn't seem pleased by that answer, but Spyro didn't know what else to tell him. Another glance at the forest proved it to be just as quiet and uninhabited as ever.
"Just keep looking for signs of the fauns," Cynder cut in, giving Flame a frustrated look. "Have you seen anything?"
Flame shrugged. "Ember thought she saw something moving up ahead, but I reckon it was just her eyes playing tricks. I didn't see it."
Spyro raised an eyebrow, suddenly interested, and looked closely at Ember. She gave him an odd look and he quickly averted his eyes, embarrassed. Cynder was shaking her head.
"Just keep an eye out," she said. "And watch out for the others! Where's Saffron and her team?"
"We saw them a little while ago," said Flame, waving a paw carelessly, "they're fine."
Spyro looked anxiously over Flame's shoulder, but couldn't see any of the others through the trees. He would have at least thought Saffron, with her bright yellow scales, would be easily visible. He hoped they hadn't strayed too far.
"You should keep closer watch on them," Lumis interrupted. Spyro gave him a startled look and shook his head quickly. Calling Flame out on something was never a pleasant experience, and Lumis was already on bad terms with him. But the oracle didn't seem to notice his warning. "There's spirits wandering in this forest, and that's never a good sign. Perhaps we should bring everyone together again."
Flame bristled. "I'm not their hatchling-sitter. Watch them yourself if you're so worried about some damn ghosts. C'mon, Ember."
He spun on his heel, his tail flicking irritably, and coaxed Ember away with a wing. She shot an apologetic glance over her shoulder before glaring at Flame.
"You shouldn't be so rude," she hissed. She likely would have said more, but before Spyro could stop him, Lumis had stepped forward and spoken again. His voice rang loudly through the silent forest.
"The wise dragon never ignores spirits, lest he becomes one."
Flame turned around with frightening speed and slammed his paw into Lumis's chest, sending the oracle staggering backwards into a tree choked with vines. His haunches struck the tree and he tossed his head back, looking alarmed. Cynder yelled in protest, but Flame ignored her. He pressed his muzzle close to Lumis's and snarled. "I don't much care for your creepy oracle mumbo jumbo, 'specially when it implies I'm an idiot."
Lumis turned his face away from Flame. "Old sayings always have an inkling of truth. I'm not trying to insult you."
A thin plume of smoke trailed from between Flame's fangs. "Funny. Guess you're pretty good at doing things you don't mean to."
Spyro shouldered into Flame in an attempt to knock him away from Lumis. It worked too well. His paws slipped on the damp ground and he slammed into Flame with more force than he had intended. Flame's haunches spun out on the loose leaf-litter and he hit the ground in an odd half-sitting posture, held up only by the tree he collided with. Smoke poured from his nostrils as he clambered back to his feet, his side smeared with mud and decaying leaves. The glare he gave Spyro was nothing short of venomous.
"What's your deal?" he snarled, and Spyro stepped back.
"I-I didn't mean to…" he started, but never got any further.
A strangled exclamation snapped his attention back to Lumis, and he spun around in alarm. For a moment he could only stare. The tree Lumis had stumbled against was hugging him. At least, that was what it looked like at first glance. Then Spyro blinked and saw that they were vines— thick green vines winding their way around Lumis's chest and neck. Lumis struggled against their hold and his claws left great gouges in the leaf-strewn earth, but the vines were constricting and pressing him tighter against the tree.
Flame swore loudly and jumped back, and Ember gave a tiny shriek. Spyro snapped out of his momentary stun and lurched forwards, spitting fire onto the nearest vine. Lumis yelled and tried to twist away as the fire ate at the vine around his chest. It began to wither and burn, and with a great yell Lumis broke free. The vines snapped back, still burning, and began to slither upwards like snakes into the canopy. Spyro stared.
"What the?" Sparx hovered a little closer, gazing up at the canopy where the vines had disappeared. "This place is getting weirder."
Lumis got shakily back to his feet, rubbing a paw across his ash-smeared chest. He winced and Spyro opened his mouth to apologize for the burn, but Kazan's yell cut him off.
"What happened? We heard yelling! Are you guys alright?" He cantered over with Zannak on his tail, frowning. The sound of paws thundering behind him told Spyro that Saffron and the other two were coming to see what had happened as well.
"We're fi—" Something latched onto Spyro's hind leg and yanked him off his feet, cutting off his words. He hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud, and all the air rushed from his lungs. Spyro gasped and received nothing but the smell of damp and mouldy leaves. Struggling feebly, he twisted around and found a vine was curling tighter around his hind leg. His mind froze, and panic exploded in his chest.
With a terrified scream, he tried to wrench his leg away from the vine. It clung tighter, and another began to curl its way around the tip of his tail. Spyro yelled and thrashed, but only succeeded in covering himself in decaying leaves and damp earth. Vaguely, he registered more screaming around him and panic solidified into a solid icy ball in his stomach. His heart thundered in time with the blood pulsing through his head.
"Let go! Let go!" he screamed, spitting fire towards the vines. He felt the heat lick over his scales, but it didn't catch on the vines. With a great, blood-curdling lurch, he was dragged backwards along the ground. Spyro twisted and dug his paw into the earth, but the dirt was too loose to halt his progress. He kicked and flared his wings, sending dirt and leaves flying into his face.
"Argh, Spyro!" Sparx howled from somewhere nearby, and Spyro looked around wildly. A flash of yellow filled his vision, and suddenly Sparx was clinging to his muzzle. All he could see was yellow, and Sparx's buzzing wings in front of his eyes. "I'm not gonna let them take you!"
"Sparx!" Spyro yelled, but the rest of his words were choked as he was lurched backwards and dirt filled his mouth. He spat it out and gasped for air. The forest was a blur around him, and the leaf-litter chafed his underbelly as he was dragged ever faster along the ground. Sparx clung like a limpet and didn't let go. Spyro shut his eyes as his body bounced and skidded painfully over tree roots and rocks. Dirt crunched between his teeth.
Sparx's high-pitched scream hurt his ears and forced him to open his eyes. Spyro twisted around to see what had happened, and almost screamed himself. Looming in front of his eyes was the biggest flower Spyro had ever seen—it was as big as Terrador, with greenish petals and great yellow spines at its heart. As the flower twisted towards them, the spines spread apart and Spyro saw them for what they were. Teeth. Great big yellow teeth.
He was being dragged straight towards them—towards the reddish chasm that opened at the flower's heart, ready to engulf him tail-first.
Spyro screamed. He had never heard his voice sound so high-pitched. Twisting onto his back, he angled his head towards the flower and expelled the hottest plume of fire he could manage. It met the flower's mouth head-on, and it reeled back as its petals began to burn. The vines slackened on his hind leg and tail, and Spyro skidded to a stop at the foot of the giant flower.
Without stopping to catch his breath, he jumped up and half-ran half-staggered away from the deadly plant. Sparx was still clinging to his muzzle, sobbing and mumbling into his scales. Before he'd taken more than a few steps, something slammed into his ribs and sent him crashing back to the ground. He rolled once before he managed to dig his claws into the earth and stop his momentum. Gasping for breath, he rolled over and blindly spat a barrage of icicles into the air.
A soft thump reached his ears, followed by an otherworldly hiss that sounded like an ejection of steam. Something wrapped around the base of his tail with a vice-like grip, and he was yanked backwards for a second time. In a terrified blur, Spyro rolled over and spat a fireball in the direction he was being dragged. It collided with something with a terrific explosion, almost drowning out the following alien hiss of pain. Kicking the thing off his tail, Spyro staggered to his feet and ran, blind to everything.
He didn't stop until his legs gave out and he hit the ground, skidding in the damp leaf-litter. Spyro rolled onto his side and curled into himself, gasping. He half expected the vines to take hold of him again, or the fanged flower to come bearing down upon him at any moment. But there was silence, apart from his gasping breaths and Sparx's uncontrolled sobbing.
Several seconds passed before Spyro calmed down enough to uncurl and raise his head. He tried to look around, but the forest was largely obscured by the yellow form clinging to his snout. Frowning, Spyro shook his head roughly. Sparx refused to budge.
"Sparx, get off. I can hardly see."
Sparx's wings started buzzing, and he pried himself away from Spyro's muzzle. He had stopped sobbing, but his eyes were wide and terrified as he turned this way and that. Evidently finding no danger, he sank onto Spyro's head with a shaky sigh. "Oh man."
With his vision unobscured, Spyro at last took stock of their surroundings. In every direction he saw trees and more trees, some with low-growing branches and dark leaves, and others with unmoving vines wound around their trunks. Spyro eyed them suspiciously, but they showed no sign of coming to life. Only then did he realise something that made the icy claws of panic return.
There was no sign of the others. He was alone.
Pawing dirt from his muzzle, Spyro turned a slow circle, trying to keep his panic under control. "C…Cynder? Lumis? Flame?"
There was no answer from the surrounding trees. Sparx shifted on his head and hovered into his line of sight. "Dude, I think we're alone."
"No…" Spyro swallowed hard, double-checking for signs of his friends—pawprints, claw marks, anything. The forest floor was undisturbed but for the shallow muddy trench where he had been lying.
"M-maybe the flower got them." Sparx shivered and shrank closer to Spyro.
The thought made Spyro's mind reel, and fear and panic merged into one. But he shook himself and forced those feelings to the back of his mind. He couldn't afford to panic now. "No. Cynder and the others can take care of themselves. They're probably looking for us right now."
"What if they don't find us? What if…" Sparx gave a great, melodramatic gasp and clutched his face, "we're lost in here forever?!"
"That won't happen." Spyro took a deep, calming breath and checked himself for injuries. His underbelly was raw from being dragged along the ground and his hind leg throbbed a little, but the pain was already fading. Otherwise he seemed unharmed, albeit covered in smears of mud. He turned in a random direction and began to walk. "Come on. We have to find them."
"Wha, buh… Spyro, wait! How do you even know you're going the right way?" Sparx buzzed over to him and tugged on his horn.
"I don't," he replied, shaking Sparx off. "But we're never going to find out by just standing around."
He knew Sparx couldn't argue with that, and he didn't. Feeling a little braver for his company, Spyro continued further into the forest and hoped against hope that his friends were alright. He wouldn't know what to do if something had happened to Cynder.
Cynder snorted and spat out the foul-tasting vine, but the bitter tang lingered in her mouth. Glaring at the damn flower that had tried to devour her, she tensed and waited for it to make a move. But the plant was lying limp over the bough of a tree, its colossal stem still smoking in the wake of her acid shot. Satisfied, Cynder straightened up and glanced over her shoulder.
Ember was sprawled not far away, her body stretched out across the leaf-litter, surrounded by limp vines. A rush of fear froze Cynder to the spot. She had rushed after Ember when the pink dragoness had been dragged gasping into the forest by a vine around her neck. She hadn't even had a chance to help Spyro. Forcing her legs to move, Cynder hurried over to her listless friend, praying she was alright.
A quick glance assured her that Ember was both breathing and unharmed, albeit unconscious. The vines had slackened from around her neck, leaving only a faint stress mark on her pearly scales. Cynder placed her paw on Ember's shoulder and shook her gently, eliciting a groan and a feeble twitch. She stepped back as Ember picked herself up and rubbed her eyes.
"What…what happened?" she mumbled, turning unfocused eyes towards Cynder. With a blink, her eyes focused and widened. "Cynder! The vines!"
"You're fine," Cynder said quickly. She wasn't in the mood to deal with a panic attack at the moment.
Ember swayed on her feet, her eyes searching the surrounding forest, no doubt for clues as to what had happened. She stared at the giant flower that Cynder had killed, and then at the vines at her feet, and sat down with a bump. Then a flash of realization crossed her face and she jumped up again. "Flame! Everyone else! Where are they?"
Cynder scowled and looked around, but she'd already come to the conclusion that the others were nowhere nearby. "We've been separated. They were probably attacked by those stupid vines too. Are you hurt?"
"Mm…no," Ember shook her head and raised a paw to her neck, rubbing it. Her eyes traced over Cynder briefly. "Are you? I don't remember what happened."
"Peachy," she replied irritably, and sighed. There was no use getting annoyed. Spyro and the others were out there somewhere, maybe even separated from each other. The sooner they sorted out what had happened, the sooner they could look for them. She glanced at Ember's worried face and tried to smile. "Don't worry. You were dragged away by the vines, and you must have passed out. I followed and killed the thing that was controlling them. We can't have gone far from the others… Unless they were dragged away too."
"Do you think they were?" Ember bit her lip and placed a paw over the heart-shaped gem in her necklace.
Cynder wondered if she did so to reassure herself. She shook her head. "I don't know, but I do know we need to find them. Coming?"
Ember nodded, and Cynder bade her to follow as she turned back in the direction she thought she'd come. All of the trees looked the same, and in the scuffle with the flower her pawprints had been dashed. But she was vaguely sure of the direction.
"I'm glad I'm not alone," Ember murmured.
Cynder smiled half-heartedly. The last she had seen of Spyro, he had been on the ground writhing against one of the vines. She had been about to jump to his rescue when Ember had been dragged past her, and a split-second decision had been made. What if Spyro was hurt? What if one of those hideous flower creatures had gotten him? She didn't want to imagine him lying in the leaf-litter, wounded and bleeding—alone. She had to find him.
They'd only taken a few steps when Ember stopped abruptly. Cynder turned back when she realised she wasn't following, and opened her mouth to tell Ember to get a move on. But the words died in her mouth when the pink dragoness suddenly spun away and took off through the trees.
"Hey!" Cynder yelled, breaking into a run. She leapt over a moss-grown rock and slipped on a fallen tree trunk, landing awkwardly on the other side. Rolling back to her feet, she saw a flash of pink out of the corner of her eye and gave chase. "Ember!"
"Flame!"
Cynder heard Ember calling, and frowned. With an extra push, she forced her limbs to carry her faster and almost crashed into Ember when she suddenly skidded to a stop. Cynder twisted her body to avoid her, and skidded to a halt at her side. She wrenched her paws from the mud and glared. "What's your deal? Don't just run off like that!"
"I…" Ember was staring into the distance, her eyes filled with confusion and fear. Cynder looked, but all she saw was trees, moss and shrubbery. "I thought I saw him… I saw someone!"
Ember stamped a paw, her face crumpled, and she sat down. "I swear I did. Where did he go?"
Her anger bleeding away, Cynder stepped a little closer to her friend and looked around. An eerie, cold feeling was creeping over her scales. She hadn't seen anything, and even as she looked there was nothing to be seen. The forest was essentially deserted.
"It's alright," she said, brushing Ember's back with a wing. Ember jumped and gave her a frightened look. "Maybe it was just the shadows."
"But…" Ember bit her lip and looked away, clutching her necklace.
Cynder nuzzled her shoulder. "Let's go. We'll find them."
At last, Ember nodded and slowly got to her feet, casting a final look into the trees. As Cynder turned around, she realised something that made her stomach clench. All of the trees really did look the same, and now she wasn't sure which way she'd come. Her pawprints were nigh indistinguishable against the leaf-litter, and thanks to the darkness of the forest she couldn't see more than a few strides in any direction.
"Cynder?"
"Don't worry," she said, stepping a little closer to Ember. "We'll find the way."
She hoped her false bravado was convincing, but Ember didn't look any less worried. Cynder couldn't deny it. She was worried too.
Darkness.
Saffron shuddered against the body pressing her into the ground; all she could smell was old leaves and damp earth. Someone's elbow was pressed into her ribs—it was either Roku's or Nadi's, she couldn't tell. Her heart was hammering madly against her ribcage, and she could hear someone breathing beside her head. She couldn't see. Fear shuddered through her and she tried automatically to spread her wings.
Someone drew breath in sharply, and the form on top of her shifted a little. The noises from outside had stopped. Saffron heard a low grunt, and suddenly her prison melted away around her. Pieces of stone shrank back into the earth from whence they had come, and light returned to her eyes.
The weight on her back lifted, and she saw a pale bronze paw beside her head. Saffron lifted her head and stared. The forest was silent. Roku and Nadi stood on either side of her, unspeaking, and she knew they were staring just like she was. The others were gone.
"Oh no…" Saffron whispered.
She pushed herself to her feet and looked around at the trees, but there was no sign of her friends or the vines that had attacked them. When they had heard the commotion earlier, they had rushed to help just in time to see Spyro yanked off his feet. More vines had sprung up out of nowhere—from the trees, the undergrowth, even under the leaf-litter. She remembered Nadi throwing himself on top of her—then Roku had been there, there had been a great shudder in the earth, and suddenly they had been in darkness.
"They're gone," Roku said blankly.
Saffron glanced at him. "What did you do?"
His jaw tensed and he looked away, as though ashamed. "I protected us with the earth. I was rash. We should have helped them."
Saffron swallowed. A shield of earth—he had protected them with it while the others had fought with the vines. They had abandoned their friends to their fates, and now they were gone. She felt Nadi shift at her shoulder, but couldn't bring herself to look at him.
"It can't be helped," he said. His voice was so calm that Saffron almost thought it uncaring; she looked sharply at him, but he continued before she had a chance to speak. "You made a choice; this is the outcome. You can't always be a hero."
"But we could have at least helped them!" Saffron insisted, appalled both by her failure to protect her friends and brother, and by Nadi's calm acceptance of that awful fact.
"And then what?" he shot back, his vibrant eyes freezing her to the spot. "We'd have been dragged away just like them! At least we're here, we're safe, and we're together."
Saffron opened and closed her mouth several times, but failed to come up with a retort. The thought of her brother at the mercy of whatever had attacked them—had they really been vines?—made her stomach churn. She had failed to help. In fact, she hadn't done anything at all. She'd hidden inside Roku's stone prison while they had fought; she might as well have abandoned them. Saffron clenched her paws in the damp earth.
"How do you know they were dragged away?" she asked after a moment.
Nadi's paw pointed past her, and she followed it. The leaf-litter had been disturbed in a number of places, and there were shallow trenches in the dirt that looked as though something heavy had been dragged over it. Saffron's eyes widened and she cantered over to the nearest mark.
"We can follow it!" she exclaimed, wheeling towards the boys. "It might lead us to one of them!"
Nadi and Roku exchanged glances. The earth dragon nodded and moved to her side, but Nadi hesitated. Saffron eyed him pleadingly. Why was he hesitating? Maybe he was afraid… A moment later, he sighed and stepped over to them. "Alright. We'll try."
"And if we can't find them, we'll just have to find the fauns," Roku said. "They can help us look."
"That's if they want to help," Nadi muttered under his breath.
Saffron turned around and stared at him. "Why wouldn't they?"
He looked surprised, as though he hadn't expected her to hear that. Saffron felt a twinge of suspicion as he stumbled for an answer. "We're…we're intruders on their territory. We're dragons. Why would they?"
"You don't have to be the same species to help each other," Saffron shot back, frowning.
Nadi set his jaw and looked away, as though he couldn't come up with a response. Shaking her head, Saffron turned away and started through the trees, following the skid mark. Nadi had only grown up among dragons, she reminded herself—isolated on a little island, no less. Of course he would be confused around other species. She could worry about him later. Right now, her friends needed her.
They followed the tracks through the trees for a few minutes, but though she listened closely, Saffron heard nothing but her own steps and that of her two companions. The very atmosphere of the forest was oppressing, like a weight upon her shoulders. It called for silence, and Saffron hardly dared to breathe as they travelled deeper and deeper into the trees.
She pressed against Nadi's side absentmindedly, and jumped away when she felt his scales against hers. He gave her an odd look as she caught her feet. She looked away, her face burning.
All of a sudden, her legs were swept out from under her. Before Saffron even had a chance to yelp, her body hit the ground with a painful thud and her vision was filled with leaves and dirt. She opened her mouth to gasp in the breath that had been stolen from her, but something grabbed her around the stomach and she lurched backwards.
Saffron struck the ground again, hard enough to make her bones rattle, and rolled several times, shutting her eyes against the sickening blur of green and brown. Vaguely, she could hear Nadi and Roku yelling and wanted desperately to answer their calls. She kicked out against whatever it was that had grabbed her, and rolled onto her back in time to see what was looming over her. Long yellow fangs suspended in the middle of a flat green face. Saffron screamed, and instinct took over.
Her bolt of electricity caught the monster straight in the face, and it reeled backwards as the volts rendered it paralysed. Whatever had grabbed her suddenly loosened, and Saffron rolled away from her assailant. A spike of earth shot over her head, and she ducked with a yelp. There was a crunching sound, a heavy thump, and then silence.
Shaken, Saffron slowly lifted her head and looked behind her. The biggest flower she'd ever seen was lying broken on the ground, pierced straight through by a javelin of stone. Limp vines surrounded it, trailing like dead snakes on the forest floor. Saffron didn't try to get up; her legs were still shaking and she knew they didn't have a chance of holding her. Her heart had never beaten so fast.
"You okay? Saff?"
She turned, coming face to face with Nadi. His muzzle was so close it was almost touching hers, and she could see every detail in his vibrant red eyes. Her mind froze, and she scrambled backwards with a sudden yelp. Nadi drew back equally as fast. Saffron placed a paw over her chest and released the breath she'd been holding. Her heart had just about leapt out. Through the haze of steadily easing fear, something niggled at the back of her mind.
He had called her 'Saff'.
"Are you hurt?" Roku interrupted.
Saffron flinched and turned away from Nadi, trying to smile. It felt weak and shaky, just like the rest of her body. "I, uh… Yes. I mean, no. I'm fine. What was that thing?"
"A flower," Nadi muttered. The corners of his mouth twitched as she gave him an exasperated look.
"Some sort of carnivorous plant," said Roku. He stepped carefully over the corpses of the vines towards the broken flower. "I'd wager this was what attacked everyone earlier. There might be more than one."
Saffron's blood ran cold as an awful thought came to mind. "You…you don't think they were…"
"Eaten?" Nadi snorted. "I doubt it. Look."
She followed his pointing claw to one of the nearby vines. The end of it was charred black, as was the leaf-litter around it. Only fire could have done that. Saffron glanced towards where Roku was inspecting the flower; some of the petals were charred at the edges as well. A bubble of relief replaced the worst of her fear.
"Kazan or Flame… Maybe Spyro." She took a deep breath. Her shaken nerves were steadily settling. "They must have got away. But where did they go?"
"They probably ran away in a panic," said Nadi, but there was no trace of derision in his tone.
Saffron turned back to him just as he offered her a wing. Trying not to appear too eager, she placed her wing over his and let him help her to her feet. A tremor shivered through her legs, but she willed it away. "Thanks."
He smiled; a roguish sort of smile that made her want to grin back. A second later, she realized she was. Very aware of his presence at her shoulder, she forced herself to look away. The forest around the dead plant was torn up and burnt in numerous places, but there was nothing to suggest which direction whoever had been there before them had gone. Roku let the damaged flower fall back to the ground and walked over to them, his face grim.
"They could have gone anywhere," he said, "but they obviously didn't come back towards us. We'll just have to pick a direction and try to find them."
Saffron bit her lip and nodded. There was no sign of blood on the flower or anywhere around it, and that likely meant whoever had come across it hadn't been hurt. She hoped it was Zannak and Kazan and that they had merely fled, as Nadi had suggested, 'in a panic'. They'd find them soon enough with the amount of noise Zannak always made.
At least she wasn't alone. She couldn't have chosen better companions if she'd tried. They hadn't known each other for long, really, but there was something about her companions that Saffron cherished. She'd never really gotten along with drakes, if Kazan was anything to go by, but something about these two made her comfortable. She wanted to be around them. She wanted to be by Nadi's side.
And Roku. Roku too.
She was grinning stupidly again. Roku was already walking away, and Nadi was starting to follow. Shooting another glance at the creepy dead plant, Saffron hurried after them. Side by side with Nadi, she stepped into the trees. For some time they walked in silence, the leaf-litter crunching under their paws, and the underbrush became thicker and greener with every step.
But with every passing minute, it also got darker. It had been midafternoon when they had entered the forest, and without the sun visible Saffron had no way of telling how much time had passed. From the feel of it, dusk was quickly approaching. The thought of being lost in the forest at night sent a shiver down her spine, and she stepped a little closer to her companions.
Nadi's wing shot out over her head and she flinched, ducking. She stared at him, frozen to the spot, and he grinned. 'Sorry. You were about to walk into a branch."
He lowered his wing and Saffron saw, to her mortification, that he was right. The low-growing bough was just at horn-level, and another few steps would have carried her straight into it. She hadn't even been looking. If that wasn't stupid, she didn't know what was.
Clearing her throat awkwardly, she flashed him a smile and hurried under the branch to Roku's side. Roku glanced at her. "Are you worried?"
Saffron started. "Huh? Oh… I'm sure they're fine. My brother's an idiot, but he can take care of himself. Especially if Kazan's with him."
Roku grunted agreeably. "Let's hope the others managed to stay together."
She smiled weakly. If anyone was alone out there, with night fast approaching—well, she didn't want to think about it. To take her mind of those thoughts, she instead watched Roku out of the corner of her eye. His black scales were becoming slowly invisible in the fading light, but his green eyes remained bright. There was a kind of steady determination on his face that was there more often than not. She had become accustomed to seeing it these last few days.
When they'd first met him at Ethra, Saffron hadn't really paid him much attention. But Nadi had taken a liking to him, and Saffron had found herself doing so in kind. His steady calmness was something she had never experienced in her brother and his friends—it was a welcome change, and she wondered why she hadn't noticed it sooner. Zannak could do with learning a thing or two from him.
He was loyal, too. The protective big-brother instinct was something Saffron had always known, thanks to Zannak, but in Roku it was magnified tenfold. There was no one else she felt safer with—not even the purple dragon. But then, Spyro had been unstable and unpredictable lately. She worried about him.
Saffron blinked, wondering how her thoughts had switched so rapidly. She cast a cursory glance at the forest and was disturbed to find it even darker than before. There was no sign of any of the others; even the forest was quiet. A shudder crept over her scales.
A sudden flash of colour caught her eye, and Saffron turned her head with a sudden surge of excitement. But it was not a dragon—it was a plant. She couldn't tell if it was a flower or just leaves, but they were bright red and arranged in a cone shape vaguely the size of her head. It protruded from the green underbrush at about eye-level. She thought she could see a splash of sunny yellow down its throat.
"What do you think this is?" she said, stepping over to it. The strange flower was almost as vibrant red as Nadi's eyes.
"Probably nothing good," said Nadi. "I wouldn't touch it."
"I'm not going to." Saffron squinted at the cone flower and, upon deciding it was only a plant, turned away. She'd hardly taken a step when something thin and wiry curled around her neck. She started in alarm and, just as she reached a paw up to feel what it was, it began to constrict. With a strangled gasp, Saffron tried to pull away and it pulled back.
Pain lanced through her neck as it constricted tighter, and her breath was almost cut off. Panicked, she reared and tried to claw at her neck at the same time, but it only pulled her backwards.
"N-Nadi!" she choked out, her vision blurring with tears.
A low growl sounded in her ear and Roku shouldered into her, his jaws snapping shut on something. The pressure dragging her backwards cut off abruptly, and Saffron fell forwards onto her stomach. She gasped and rolled over, tearing the wiry thing away from her neck. It twitched for a second, and then fell still—like the severed tail of a lizard.
Roku grunted as though in pain, and a spike of stone tore out of the earth beside her. Saffron yelped and shied away, staring at the spike. It speared straight through the cone-shaped flower, and Roku staggered away.
Panting, Saffron got back to her feet. The wiry thing in her paws was a tiny thin vine that Roku had bitten straight through. She dropped it to the ground and stared at the cone flower. One of its leaf-shaped petals drifted to the ground, and a trickle of bright yellow liquid rolled down the spike that had impaled it.
"Gross," she muttered.
"You guys alright?" Nadi stepped closer without giving Saffron a chance to respond, and touched his paw to the side of her neck. "Let me see."
"I-I'm fine," she stammered, but didn't shy away as he leant closer and squinted at her scales. Her face suddenly felt very warm, and it felt like every one of her nerve endings was suddenly connected to that little spot where his paw touched her neck. She shivered as he stepped away.
"You'll live," he said, shooting her a smirk. The blood rushed to her face and she tried desperately to think of something witty to respond, but Nadi had already turned his attention to Roku. Saffron suppressed a sigh.
Roku was pawing at the side of his neck, scowling. There was something bright yellow protruding from his dark scales, and he was having no luck getting it out. It looked like a splinter. Nadi frowned, and Saffron slipped past him to inspect it.
"Looks like a thorn," she said, peering at the tiny yellow spike. It was about as long as one of her claws, but thin as a blade of grass. "You must have brushed against something."
"Can you get it out?" Roku asked, turning his head to give her a better look.
"Maybe…" Feeling a little embarrassed, she moved her muzzle closer to his neck and tried to fasten her teeth around the tiny spike. It took a few tries before she was finally able to pin it between two teeth. With a jerk of her head, she pulled it from his scales. He didn't make a sound; not even a hiss of pain. Saffron spat the spike onto the ground and looked closer. Almost half of it had been buried in Roku's neck, and it was smeared red with his blood.
"Feel okay?" Nadi asked. He sounded worried, and was looking at Roku as though he was going to collapse at any moment.
Roku rolled his neck and shoulders. "I'm fine. We should get moving again."
Nadi considered him anxiously for a moment longer until finally turning away. "If you're sure. And try not to go near any more brightly coloured things."
He shot a grin at Saffron and she smiled sheepishly, mortified. When he turned away, she slapped a paw to her muzzle and cursed herself. Checking to make Roku was indeed okay—he seemed completely unbothered now that the thorn was gone—Saffron hurried after Nadi.
They walked in single file for a short time, Nadi ahead and Roku behind, and Saffron wracked her brains for a conversation topic while still keeping an eye out for the others. She considered asking Nadi what he planned to do once this whole 'adventure' was over and done with, but thought that might sound inconsiderate or prying. Still, it would be nice if he chose to go back to Warfang with them. She could introduce him to Zephira and show him that he wouldn't be the only wind dragon in the city.
At some point, Saffron noticed Roku was lagging behind. She turned and waited for him to catch up, and he did so with slow, sluggish steps.
"I'm sorry," he said when he caught up to her. He was breathing heavily and one of his hind legs was trembling. "I seem to be getting tired. Perhaps we should take a break."
Saffron eyed him with concern. It wasn't like Roku to get exhausted; if anything, he was the one who never seemed to tire at all. Maybe the thorn had done something to him. She nodded and turned to call to Nadi, only to find him standing rigid not far ahead. He was staring away from the narrow path they had been forging, and his eyes were wide and startled.
"Nadi?" Saffron approached slowly and followed his line of sight. There was nothing there; just more forest.
"I…" He blinked and shook his head. "Never mind. What's wrong?"
Saffron eyed him suspiciously, wondering what he'd seen—if anything—but let it drop. She shook her head. "I think we should—"
A disconcerting thump shuddered through the ground, and she spun around.
Roku was no longer standing. He'd hit the ground on his side and look to be trying to get up, propping himself up on one elbow. Even as she stared, his head swayed and his eyelids fluttered, and with a soft thump his chin hit the ground. Startled, Saffron dashed to his side. His eyes were unfocused and glazed, but she could see nothing obviously wrong with him. There were no open wounds, no constricting vines…
"Roku!" She stamped a paw in front of his face. "Roku, what is it?"
His glazed eyes flickered over her face, but he didn't seem to see her. His mouth moved sluggishly, but no words came out. A shudder racked his body and he coughed, his body convulsing with a sudden violent spasm. He took a great, raspy breath that sounded as though it didn't get any further than his throat.
Horrified, Saffron looked him over desperately for whatever had injured him. Then her eyes fell on the tiny wound in his neck, and a horrible thought came over her. It hadn't been a thorn. It had been a dart—a poisoned dart. The flower must have shot him when he'd come to her rescue and only now was the poison taking hold. Saffron's chest constricted and the breath stopped in her lungs. Poison. He was poisoned.
Roku's paw clenched and unclenched in the leaf-litter. With every second that passed, the tremors that wracked his body grew more frequent. His breath was coming in short, sharp gasps. What could she do? "Roku! Roku, can you hear me?"
"Dammit," Nadi hissed beside her, reaching for Roku's neck and pressing his paw over the wound. Roku twitched and shuddered feebly, his eyes half closed. "I knew that damned thorn was suspicious."
"H-he's been poisoned, hasn't he?" Saffron clenched her paws in the damp earth, her mind on overdrive. Poison was deadly. Poison required an antidote. Where on earth would they find an antidote in a forest like this? If only the others were here, they might know what to do. Red gems; were there any red gems around? Did red gems even work on poison?
"Saffron, I think we need to get help." Nadi's paw touched hers and she suddenly remembered to breathe. Her heart was beating so fast she could feel it hammering against her chest.
"But…but… Who? Where?" She grabbed his paw and gripped it, staring at him hard, begging him to have the answers. "We're in the middle of a damn forest!"
"I know!" Nadi pulled his paw away from hers and slammed it into the ground. Saffron flinched away, startled. His eyes were blazing with frustrated intensity.
She swallowed hard and tried to quell the trembling of her paws. "W-what do we do?"
Nadi's eyes slipped from her to Roku and then to the forest, and Saffron bit her lip. He couldn't seriously be thinking what she thought he was. She reached for Roku's paw and held it tightly between her own. It was cold and clammy, but his talons curled weakly around hers. He was still conscious, if only barely. Saffron took a deep, shuddering breath. They couldn't very well leave him here. But if they didn't do something, he was going to die.
Death. Saffron couldn't wrap her head around it. She'd already lost a friend. If that happened again, she didn't know if she could take it. And to lose him to something so small; so stupid… Saffron clutched his paw tighter and stared pleadingly at Nadi. He had to know what to do.
"Y-you know natural remedies, don't you?" She was begging now, pleading for him to know something, anything. He looked away, and the claws around her stomach tightened.
"Every poison is different. There's no way I could find, let alone make, an antidote for it in time."
"So…so, what?" This couldn't be happening. She hugged Roku's limp paw to her chest. "We just have to sit here and watch him die? I c-can't do…I can't do that! I won't do that!"
"Saffron!" Nadi's paw flew up and she flinched away on instinct. It collided firmly with her cheek and pulled her towards him, forcing her to look into his eyes. She almost dropped Roku's paw in surprise. Swallowing hard, she tried to focus on his gaze. She could hardly breathe.
"Calm. Down." He said slowly, breathing through his nostrils. "We're not going to sit here and do nothing. I need you to do something for me."
Saffron trembled. His claws were digging into the base of her jaw and it was starting to hurt, but she didn't try to pull away. "Wh-what?"
"Stay here," he said, holding her captive with those dark, blood-red eyes. "Stay here, and watch over him. I'll be back as soon as I can."
She stared, uncomprehending. His words rolled around in her head several times before she fully understood. Panic latched cold claws around her heart. No. He couldn't leave. "No, Nadi! I-I can't! What if you don't come back? What if you can't f-find us?! I…"
His paw pulled her face even closer, until his muzzle was barely a scale's breadth from hers. Saffron inhaled sharply and shut her mouth, her heart thundering. She couldn't look anywhere but into his eyes.
"Saffron, listen to me. Roku needs help. He needs you to take care of him until I get back. I will come back."
No. No. She couldn't be left alone here; she didn't even know what to do to help Roku. What if he died while Nadi was gone? What if he didn't get back in time? What if she never saw him again? There were so many things that could go wrong, and she couldn't bare it if this was to be the last time she ever saw him. She tried to shake her head, but Nadi's paw held her in place.
"Saffron."
"No!" She tried to wrench away, but his paw held her fast. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, and anger flared in her chest. He was stupid. Nadi was stupid. He couldn't just leave her. How could he even suggest something like that? "I said no! I will hurt you if you try to leave!"
Saffron raised a paw and tried to smack his away from her face, but it didn't move an inch even when she sank her claws into his wrist. She snarled and tossed her head, but his claws dug into the back of her jaw and held her in place. Through an angry, terrified mist, she glared at him. "I told you no! Y-you can't leave! I…I will…!"
"Just stop." There was no anger in his words, only firm composure. With a yank of his paw, he pulled her face closer and touched his muzzle to hers.
Saffron froze. His eyes had never been so close before, separated from hers only by the bare length of their muzzles. The thoughts in her head ground to a halt; her mouth opened, but no words came out.
Nadi pushed forward, brushing their scales together, trailing his muzzle along the line of her jaw. Rooted to the spot, Saffron could only stare wide-eyed into space. As his muzzle reached her neck, she couldn't help closing her eyes. Her heart felt as though it had skipped several beats and left her robbed of air. She was trapped between his paw and his muzzle, with nothing to focus on but the damp warmth of his tongue as it trailed along the side of her jaw.
Her legs trembled and almost gave out. She was surrounded by his scent, cloying and sweet like camp-fire smoke, just as pleasant as it was engulfing. His warm breath travelled to the tip of her snout and with gentle pressure he nuzzled those soft sensitive scales.
As they parted, the heat remained on Saffron's face, but she missed the warmth of his breath on her muzzle. She opened her eyes, her head spinning, and stared straight into his. There was nowhere else to look. She could see every pale red fleck in his rich spirit-gem eyes; every bronze scale on his face. It was a moment before she remembered to breathe.
"I'll come back. That's a promise." Those eyes held her for another moment, but it ended too soon. His paw slipped from her cheek and left her cold. Before she could say another word, he had disappeared into the undergrowth and left her reeling.
Saffron staggered and fell to her haunches. A sob rose in her throat and but she held it in. All her anger had evaporated, but cold fear took over where it had once been. She could hardly wrap her mind around what had just happened.
Wheeling away from where Nadi had disappeared, she draped herself carefully over Roku's prone form. Her body trembled and her eyes burned, but she didn't cry. She wouldn't cry; there was no use in that. Roku was unmoving beneath her.
"Stay alive," she whispered, clutching his listless body. "Just stay alive."
A/N: Plz don't hate me Kaz/Saff supporters. Or Roku supporters. Or people who are scared of carnivorous plants.
Thanks for the reviews everyone! :'D I do believe the next two chapters are going to be with Spyro and Co. too, but no one's complaining, right? We'll be back at Warfang in chapter 40 (ermagherd, 40 chapters, what the hell).
See you next tiiiime, and have a very merry Christmas. :3