Hunter was in the darkness as he waited for someone to show up, "Come on. I've fallen asleep as quickly as possible for you to show up," he tapped the ground nervously. His arms crossed. He gazed at his surrounding. There was nothing beyond himself.

"I am here. We had a bit of a situation, so it took longer," the leader of the Dream Weavers appeared. He approached him. He noticed that the cheetah was nervous or afraid. He wasn't certain yet.

"Finally. Listen there… I…" he scratched the back of his head nervously, "I got some bad news."

"What is it? It's best to be quick. The others won't be asleep forever," Lateef replied.

"Yes. Sorry… A- Anyway. I am in a bit of trouble. After I saved an egg and hid it for later. I've been hit at the back of the head and I was out. When I came back, I was in a cage and the Sorceress was there."

"The Sorceress!" the blue dragon growled.

Hunter knew it wasn't about him that a spike of anger came from the dragon, but it still made him nervous. Spyro told him that Lateef wasn't a dragon who was only calm all the time. He nodded, "Yes. I've been in jail for a while and you need to tell Spyro that I'm in trouble."

"Did you learn anything about the Sorceress?"

"Nothing. I couldn't ask her anything. She said that I was a fool to come here and 'steal' her possessions. I'm… I'm condemn to death! She will kill me in three days!" he was on his knees and whimpered.

"You don't have to worry about it. You friend and his fathers will make sure that you are out of trouble."

"They cannot enter in the castle. She said that it was pointless. The Sorceress wanted to keep me here. She hoped that my execution would be public, if the dragons showed up."

"She is a heartless monster," the dragon muttered furiously to himself, "I'll warn the others through their dreams. Anything else?"

"No. Just that I don't want to die while I'm still young."

"I'm old and I don't want to die early either. Don't worry, they will make sure that nothing happens. I just hope that Spyro won't do anything reckless."

"I'm sure he won't. He stopped Ripto and defeated many nasty evil bad guys when he was in Avalar. He can do it with the extra help and-" he was suddenly gone.

Lateef realised that the cheetah suddenly woke up for some unknown reason, "Maybe the Sorceress spot the connection through our dreams," he immediately went to warn the other dragons.

Chapter 49: Hunter The Prisoner

Hunter woke up as he put his hand on his forehead. He grumbled as he stood up. Something pocked his back again. He hopped up and spun around himself.

"You're finally up," someone whispered.

"You-" he stopped when he recognised the apprentice sorceress.

"Bianca," she quietly presented herself.

"Hunter. What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I'm here to check if you are fine," she replied before crossing her arms. She approached the brown metallic cages. She was near it, "You didn't listen to my warning and you are going to pay the price Hunter," the bunny girl declared, "The Sorceress condemned you to death and no one will get you out of this. The dragons cannot even enter in here."

He knew it wasn't the time to blush or find her pretty. He was in a dire situation. That was easy to bring focus in the mind of the cheetah, "You're right. Still, you stole the children of the dragons and you put their lives in dangers. The Sorceress obviously doesn't like the dragons, if she was ready to kill Spyro. He is still a kid you know."

"It doesn't matter. You broke the laws and came here. It is illegal and you put your life in dangers. We need the eggs," she turned away as she said those words.

"Why do you even need the eggs anyway? It doesn't make sense. You are just kidnapping children. You have no reason to do so except for evil purpose."

Bianca played with her arms, "We have no choice," she turned towards him. She admitted, "We need dragons. Magic is running dry in the realm. There is less and less magic. The portals stopped working and many magical artifacts stopped working."

Hunter mouth dropped, "That's… That's bad. Still, you shouldn't have done that. You could-"

"There is no other way. The source of magic in our realm comes from the dragons. Since the dragons has been chased away from the realm, magic was only doing down. It's getting worse. It's not just portal. Some of the place has been dying out du to lack of magic. My realm is completely dried out of magic. That's why I came here and serve the Sorceress. We need the eggs Hunter. We need dragons," she gazed down, "I know… I know it's horrible, but I will not let my family… my home, everyone just lose everything! Getting them is the only way," she put her hands on the bar of the cage, "The only way. There is nothing else we can do. We cannot just create more magic out of nowhere."

Hunter had little to no argument to counter this. The death of a land was horrible. He couldn't just tell her to give up on it. It would be heartless and cruel. He closed his eyes. He wondered what he might say or do to convince her otherwise, "Why is there no other way?"

"Because the dragons would never accept to help us and you know the Sorceress won't let any of their kind come back here. There is no point in trying to find a way for everyone to negotiate."

Hunter searched for something to say, but he couldn't disagree. The Sorceress obviously wouldn't negotiate and from what he saw, she was downright evil. She would never let anyone strong enough to oppose her to be around. He dreaded at the thought of her real power. He didn't taste it and only heard his sentence from her when she was far away, "If she doesn't want dragons, then why get the eggs?"

Bianca raised her finger to answer, but she hesitated. Now that she thought about it, there was something that didn't make that much sense. She shook her head, "The situation is that bad. They won't be like the other dragons."

The cheetah wondered if she lied to herself. He didn't know what was the answer. Still, he knew the why she helped the Sorceress. He wondered what would come if the situation was that bad in Avalar. They had been attacked by Ripto, but it wasn't the realm dying out of magic. It was a different case, "Bianca…" he decided to change the subject, "Why did the Sorceress taught you magic?"

"Because I have the capacity to cast spells," she simply replied, not wanting to get into the details.

Hunter tried to ask a few more casual questions. He crossed his arms and went on calmly. He hoped to get a few things that might help Spyro when he felt back in his dream. He was also interested in learning more about Bianca. She was cute and he knew she wasn't evil.

The dragons were in a dark room. They looked around.

"Where are we?" Spyro asked. He felt like it was something that happened to him last day or the day before. He tried to remember what it was, but got nothing in his mind. The purple dragon asked his dads, "Did the Sorceress put us here?"

Zantor replied, "No. We are in the dream world. One of the Dream Weavers wishes to speak with us."

"Where is Malefor?" Titan asked searching around.

"I cannot connect with him for a long time. You won't find him here. He is blocking his thought and I can't reach him in the dream world," Lateef answered as he manifested in front of them.

"Where is my blood dad?" Flame asked as he looked around.

"I'm sorry, but you will meet him later. I have an urgent news to tell you," he put his hands together as he sat on his tail.

The three leaders of three realms were serious. Nestor was the one who asked, "What happened?"

"Hunter has been captured by The Sorceress," the Dream Weavers told them.

Spyro was the one who gasped and approached him, "What happened to my friend? How did that happen?"

"He has been knocked out and brought to the Sorceress Castle he said," he crossed his arms and went on, "He has been sentenced to death in three days. I didn't get everything because he woke up. I thought it was the Sorceress who used her magic to end the dream, but someone simply woke him up."

"We need to help him," the purple dragon declared.

"We still need to reach the castle first," Astor reminded him.

Nestor didn't like this at all. He didn't want to try and confront her, but Hunter helped them and was in danger. It would be terrible if they left him behind. They weren't that kind of dragons. Also, he knew the little dragon wouldn't leave him behind.

Flame scratched the ground, "You can count on me. We just need to reach Midnight Mountain. That's where her castle is."

"Midnight Mountain… that's where the castle of the dragon king was," the Mauve Dragon taught back before he sighed.

"Dragon king?" Flame asked curiously.

"That's a story for another time," he replied to the child.

"Do you know anything else?" Titan asked.

"No. You know where he is and you need to reach him. Then you can focus on saving the other eggs," the leader of the Dream Weavers told them.

Their objective changed. Still, saving Hunter and defeating the Sorceress would help them.

"We'll do it," Spyro clenched his paws and smirked. He raised his head, "We won't let him in trouble."

Nestor sighed, "Yeah."

"By the way, what do you mean with Malefor?" Lateef asked.

"Malefor is with us. He came to the Forgotten Realm," Titan grumbled.

Magnus nodded, "He followed us in the portal."

"That explain the flash of black I saw," the blue dragon muttered to himself. He crossed his arms, "Be extremely powerful. I'm certain they won't hesitate to fight dirty against you."

"We know," they replied.

"I should let you to your dreams. You need to recover and be at full energy for tomorrow. You have a lot to do. If Hunter gives us a few more information's, we will warn you in your dreams," the Dream Weaver concluded.

The dragons suddenly returned to their dreams. They would think more about it when they woke up.

Hunter concluded his normal conversation. He tried to find something else. He needed to talk with her. He needed to find something more to stir something. Maybe even checked if she might be interested in him.

He had an idea, "You know. Maybe you can let me out of here. Maybe I can talk to the dragons and find another way. There might be a way to prevent all of this without kidnapping the eggs," he pressed his hands on the bars. He pointed at the lock that kept his in his cage.

Bianca considered her options. She raised her wand for a few seconds. Many things went in her mind at that moment.

Hunter was mentally asked her to do it. He knew she wasn't evil or she would have done worse things.

She dropped it, "I'm sorry. I can't. There is no other way. The magic here is way too low and everyone's life is on the line. We cannot go to another realm. The diplomatic relationship with the humans is terrible. They pretty much trapped us here as The Sorceress said."

The cheetah wasn't certain the humans would let that happen, "Wait-" he saw her leaving.

"I shouldn't stay any longer," she ran away from the room where he was in.

Hunter sighed and sat down, "Damn. I was hoping for something better," he played with his crystal to reach the Dream Realm. He put it back and activated it again, he had to tell the dragons what transpired.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: The Yeti.

Spyro and his group hurried up to save Hunter while the humans kept searching for the eggs. They crossed a Yeti who was imprisoned for helping the rebels to save the eggs.