The Legend of Spyro

Warriors of the Fallen

Chapter 5 Patrols will Patrol

Spyro almost flinched as he drew his crime covered sword out of the most recent ape he had just cut down. This was the fourth patrol group they had ambushed, but definitely not the fourth they had encountered. That number was closer to ten, and the intervals between them were getting worse.

But the numbers and fighting are not what made him cringe. What made him flinch was the condition of his sword.

Spyro held the sword up to his eye and tried not to whine. The blade was covered in guts from its recent kill, that was alright. What was not alright was all the scratches and nicks it had up and down the blade. And that was not even getting into the near-permanent stains from when he had not been able to clean it in time.

Granted, his armor was just as bad. Like Cynder's, the difference was that his armor was looted after they were broken out of the Time Gem. They were from various stashes they had been able to find. Modifications had to be made later on so that the armor did not chafe, given they were from plainly different sets and thus for other sized creatures. So the fact that his armor was having issues was immaterial to him. He was used to lighter stuff anyway, only upgraded to the medium plate after the Time Gem.

His sword, on the other hand, this sword had been given to him by Ignitus. It was the first sword the Fire Guardian had made after they had managed to get the Dragon Temple's Forge running. Granted, that had been after freeing Cynder, for that fight, he had been using a random sword that had been left over the temple's armory. That sword had been destroyed from the power of the Aether used in freeing Cynder, a trade he was perfectly alright with.

Spyro had been careful with this current sword ever since Ignitus had given it to him. Even during the Battle of the Valley of Avalar and the Siege of Warfang, he had been using everything the Fire Guardian had taught him about taking care of his equipment. This sword was one of the last pieces he had of the first dragon he had ever encountered. And here it was, slowly falling apart.

He had not been able to do any proper maintenance on the sword since they ambushed the destroyer. Everything just moved too fast. And even after "defeating" Malefor (yes, quotations were necessary even in Spyro's mind; because he full felt he had not defeated the Dark Master; his and Cynder's final attack had only disoriented him long enough for what he could only assume were the ancestors to deal the final blow; but there was no way Cynder or himself was telling anyone else that, people thought they were strange enough already), he still had not been able to do any dedicated maintenance on his beloved sword. The reason was simple. They did not have the supplies!

They had set off from Warfang with the bare minimum, so of course, they did not have arms or armor care!

Spyro had to force out his sigh as he used a dirty cloth he had acquired from a previous patrol to whip off his sword before sheathing it.

"You should probably swap it out; it's not going to last much longer."

Cynder's soft and caring voice drew Spyro's attention. He turned to look at his partner in all but name. She was testing a crossbow one of the apes they had just taken out had. Well, she was testing it while keeping an eye on him.

Spyro sighed again, "I know. But I really don't want to...Ignitus...He…" Even though it had been several months, he still had trouble talking about his mentor. The grandfather he never had.

Cynder stood up from the dreadwing corpse she had been leaning up against, clipped the crossbow temporarily on her belt, and came up and hugged him.

Spyro took another breath as Cynder spoke softly to him, "I know. I miss him too. But you also know he wouldn't want you to suffer because you weren't properly equipped."

Spyro took another couple of breaths before sighing, "I know. But I can't just bring myself to just give it up."

"Then don't."

Both Spyro and Cynder turned their eyes to the third member of their group. Marshal was standing a short distance from, apparently watching them have their moment.

Spyro inwardly cursed at having forgotten just how good Marshal's passive perception was while he contemplated what the wind dragon had said.

Of the three of them, Marshal had benefited from their ambushes the most. He no longer was just covered in the rags he had on him when they met him. Now he had a couple of leather armor pieces they had managed to scrounge from the apes, which fit him. The most notable was a horribly mangled gambeson. The leather armor had been patchwork repaired with a couple of flash-formed-leather hides, said hides coming from some of the more significant kills they had acquired from two of the patrols they had ambushed. He also had some boots and gloves; they seemed only fit because Marshal had cut and then sewn together the pieces that did work.

The biggest thing in Spyro's opinion, though, was not the armor. Marshal had more than shown his Elemental Arming was up to the challenge of protecting him. It was the fact that Marshal now had a hand and a half longsword on his hip and a spear at his back. Both of them had been pilfered from dead apes, so the quality was low, but Marshal had not seemed to mind. He was happier to no longer needing to punch everything or use raw magic without a medium anymore.

It was thinking of the quality of the weapons the wind dragon was now using that Spyro also caught on to the last thing Marshal had on him. Just as he also had to quickly catch the sword which had been tossed at him.

Spyro looked at the newly caught short sword, then back to Marshal with a raised eyebrow.

Marshal correctly interpreted Spyro's question and continued, "Keep your current sword but stop using it. If something is important to you, it's usually better to store it somewhere safe and only use it if you're sure it won't be lost. In the meantime, you use something more suited to every day, something you wouldn't mind if it gets broke cause it's easy to replace."

Spyro noticed Cynder smile lightly as she responded, "Like having a sword for practice, one for fighting, and one for formal events."

Spyro almost chuckled at the raised eyebrow, and barely confused look Marshal got when Cynder talked about having a different sword for formal events. The purple dragon figured Marshal had not thought about the idea of having quite that type of extra. What stopped him from chuckling, though, was the idea. He both did and did not want to use another sword. He did not want to lose the sword. But he also felt that by not using it, he would be disrespecting its creator.

Cynder put one of her hands on the one which was holding the sword, drawing Spyro's attention to her.

She had a soft, understanding smile, and as she talked, her tone was still soft and understanding, "You can still use the old sword. But like I said, maybe for formal events. I remember Igintus once said that 'Nothing lasts forever; no matter how much you work to maintain something, it will still break. But pieces of something old, can still be used for something new.' That's all we're doing. Instead of using the older sword for fighting, we're using it for something else."

Spyro closed his eyes, taking in what the female had said. He found he agreed pretty quickly. So with a couple of short nodes, he pulled away from the hug they were still in and started to strap the new sword to his belt. He had to position it in such a way that his first instinct was to reach for that sword and not the old one, but he knew his ensemble enough to do that easily.

As he did that, he gave a verbal response, "You're right. I'm just being dumb. Better to have it and then to lose it either way."

Cynder had a genuine smile on her face as she watched him. Marshal, meanwhile, had already shifted back to finish up their pillaging of the dead patrol. He was obviously still listening and paying attention, but he had shown multiple times he could easily do that and still do other things.

The Apes were originally mercenary soldiers but had, over time, transitioned to being considered dark creatures because of the magic they use and the jobs they do. Their appearance has been known to change depending on location. This is mostly down to their fur color as the ambient magic of said locations influences that. Otherwise, they still very much the brutish and harry creatures they have always been.

The forces themselves, of course, have internal rankings, from lowest to highest: Soldiers, Gunners, Cannon, Disciples, Leaders, Commanders, Generals, Specialist and lastly King.

Additional forces commonly found with Apes are: Dreadwings, Buffalo Beetles, Conduits, Death Hounds, and Snail Riders. Please note that outside of the Dreadwings, all additional forces are unit-specific, and their use has started to wane after the death of King Gual and the defeat of the Dark Master.

Buffalo Beatles were most known for the unit stationed at Munitions Forge.

The Conduits were machine-like creatures that act as security systems in the interiors of Concurrent Skies. It is unknown if the apes installed them themselves or by its previous occupants.

Snail Riders were most common amongst the swamp apes and fell out of favor due to their slow movement and difficulty in maintaining. This was sped up as the Dark Army moved out of swampy areas.

Death Hounds used to be exclusive to the personal forces of the Ape King Gual. Native to the Ancient Grove, the difficulty of finding and taming these creatures required the King's troops' discipline for large numbers. There have been reports of these creatures used by specialist forces in other parts of the Dark Army, but this has never been confirmed.

Notable Units of the Ape's forces are:

-The Swamp Apes; The best scavengers of the Ape Army, were also considered the most self-reliant. Defeated and whipped out when the guardians and the young purple dragon retook the Dragon Temple.

-The Snow Apes; Apes who specialized in cold environments and were best known for their sacking of Dante's Freezer. It is unknown if any of this unit still exists due to the known conflict between them and the Ghouls of the same land.

- The Jungle Apes. Known for their occupation of Tall Plains, these apes masters of their namesakes. This unit was first decimated when the young purple dragon arrived to free the guardian of ice and then later hunted to the last by the Atlawa natives.

-The Gold Hunters have two names to fame. The first was the original sacking of the Dragon Temple under the command of King Gual. The second was Munition Forge's Garrison unit. It is unknown why Gual used this unit for the sacking of the temple instead of his personal company, but the most common theory was that the Gold Hunters could hide their dark energies better. This unit was wiped out when the volcano the garrisoned erupted due to over-mining.

-The Bone Apes. These apes were under the direct command of the Terror of the Skies while she was under the control of the dark master. They nearly exclusively served as the guard force of Concurrent Skies but were known to carry out specialty missions when needed. This unit was assumed to be wiped out by the young purple dragon when he assaulted the fortress to free the fire guardian, but this was never confirmed.

-Lastly, the Shadow Wraiths. This unit was the personal guard and forces of the Ape King Gual. The majority of this unit was wiped out during the Night of Eternal Darkness and the destruction of the Well of Souls

After the return of the Dark Master, the apes were cursed to become Shadow Apes. They appeared as skeletons covered in a mist-like shadow. They were forced to dwell in the darkness and strike stragglers from the shadows. After the Dark Master's defeat, this curse was lifted, and the Apes returned to service under the Dark Army's alternative commands.

After multiple wars and much back and forth, these creatures now exist in low numbers at the edge of civilized lands. Adventurers and armed patrols regularly keep the more aggressive portions of their population in check.

-The Dark History: The Dark Army - The Apes

Cynder forced herself to breathe lightly as she scrunched herself more into the canopy of the tree she was hiding in. She did not want to give away their position as the large patrol of Apes and grublins moved past them.

They had been forced to do something like this more and more. Every time they ambushed a patrol, the next one they encountered would be bigger, more diverse, and more heavily armed. The grublins were relatively new. They'd seen one or two before but never in extensive patrols with apes.

They had not attacked any grublins. Spyro and herself were well used to their kind's ability to respond to attackers instantly. Their magic and minds at least partially connected to each other in a partial hive-mind manner.

She had hoped that with the defeat of the Dark Master, they would have all died or something. But according to Marshal, the magic used in their creation was not only self-sustaining but also self-replicating. Basically, Malefor had created a whole new species, one dedicated to the Dark Army and able to self sustain themselves to some degree. And it was not just grublins, but their orc and troll cousins were similar, even if in fewer numbers.

Looking back, it did explain some of the difficulty in fighting the annoying creatures. Their ability to spawn anywhere and in groups, she knew that had always been magic-based. She just did not realize that it had not been entirely based on Malefor's will!

Cynder almost jumped when a hand tapped her shoulder softly. The only reason she had not was the knowledge that doing so would give her away. When she looked at who had tapped her shoulder, she saw Spyro, who was pointing at something.

It was in the sky, instead of on the ground like the patrol she had been watching. When she looked, she saw another patrol flying through the sky. This one was made up of dreadwings and wyverns.

She looked back at Spyro, who had a slight smile on his face. He whispered to her, "I think we might have pissed them off?"

Cynder rolled her eyes good naturally since she could not chuckle and responded at the same level of a whisper, "Whatever gave you that idea? It's not like we killed off several patrols over the last two weeks."

Spyro's smile came out in full force at her response. They both knew they were joking. While they had not killed a patrol every day over the last two weeks, they had killed quite a few. Of course, they had started to get into fewer fights the last couple of days simply because the risk was becoming too much.

Cynder looked between the patrol on the ground; it was getting further away but still within sight and sound range. She turned back to Spyro, "We need to think of something new. Maybe try and get closer to the edge of their patrol range instead of keeping the direction we are going in."

Marshal's voicing caring on the winds next to their ears damn near made both of them jump. Marshal was a few trees away, so the fact that not only was he listening but was able to respond was a shock to both of them. "I think we are already on the edge of the patrol range. I've noticed several other patrols further out from us."

Cynder noticed Spyro catch his breath after recovering from the shock of hearing the wind dragon. He turned his head to look towards where he was hiding. "While mildly annoyed, you did not share this earlier, I can understand. Either way, if we are on the edge, that was a large ground patrol."

When there was not a response instantly, Cynder was worried something was going on. She was dissuaded of this worry when she noticed Marshal had climbed down from three he had been hiding in and moving towards them.

She also noticed that he had started to motion them to come down. She trusted his passive wind sense way more than her active one. As such, she followed his advice and began to work on silently getting down the tree.

Once the two of them were down, Marshal had already started to move in the same general direction they had been traveling. With no better option, two moved to follow him.

Still quiet, Marshal turned to them, "Sorry for not telling you, I did not want to worry either of you over the fact that there were far more flying patrols nearish to us."

Cynder waved his worry off; the wind dragon had more than proven that he knew what was doing. Spyro sighed but said nothing.

Getting no response, Marshal apparently decided to continue. "As for the patrol, yes, that was large, but I have a feeling that while they were searching, they weren't searching for us specifically."

Spyro's head shifted to the side, "How so?"

Marshal smiled slightly, "Because if they were, it wouldn't just be apes or grublins. There'd be something more powerful than those guys."

Spyro's eyes widened and then smiled as he came to understand.

Marshal nodded, seeing Spyro understand. He turned his head back to see where he was going. As he kept talking, "They know something is out this way which can take on their smaller patrols. They probably think it's several stragglers or something along those lines. If we're lucky, they'll think their patrols had encountered other patrols for a different army."

He held up a hand, stopping either of them from responding, before continuing, "I know, we know there isn't another army. But they don't."

Spyro nodded, he knew Marshal could not see him, but they knew the wind dragon seldom dropped his wind sense, so he probably knew about the response tether way. "The Fog of War. We know they don't."

Cynder spotted Marshal nodding before he responded, "Right. But remember, that goes both ways. We might want to try and actively avoid patrols."

Both Spyro and Cynder nodded in agreement before Cynder noticed that Spyro had a thought, "If we use Elemental Sense right, we could probably do better at avoiding them instead of hiding."

Cynder thought for a second before she shook her head. She noticed Marshal had started to shake his head as well as she responded, "That won't work. Both apes and the Grublins are sensitive to magic. At least in some form, so they'll be able to notice even the small amount of magic needed for the spell."

Marshal nodded as he continued, "I knew the apes were at least a bit sensitive, didn't know about the grublins."

Spyro sighed, then his head pricked a bit, "What about our own magical sensitivity? Can we use it in a passive manner like elemental sense?"

Marshal stopped walking and turned to look at Spyro in shock. Cynder did similarly. She had not thought of magical sense like that. Typically magical sense was very much an active thing. When sensing for Magic, you were always looking for the pulse of active magic. Spyro had just said that instead of looking for the pulse of active magic, it was instead more akin to listing for the whisper of magic in general.

As Cynder was contemplating if it was even possible, Marshal recovered from Spyro's suggestion. He stood up straight and put a hand to his chin. "Passive Magic Sensing. It's….not impossible. I've done similar when trying to sense wards or enchantments."

Spyro nodded, "Exactly. We've done the same, but until you taught us Elemental, we didn't think it could go beyond your immediate area."

Marshal hummed before he responded, "The problem comes from the how." He closed his eyes as he leaned back slightly and raised his head. "Normally, just sensing in general means you're opening your mind to the magic around you. You're feeling for magic. We normally look for the active, be it a spell, a ward, or an enchantment. But what you're thinking of…" He went quiet for a few seconds.

Cynder almost expected him to start glowing or something. She quickly threw that thought away, realizing how dumb it was. What they, Marshal really, was trying to do was not a spell per se, more a skill. She had to return her attention as Marshal kept talking.

"...What you suggested was to sense the environment itself. To sense that small bit of magic in all things."

Spyro nodded, "Right. I'm pretty sure I've done something similar a few times. I know groublins have a rather unique feel of magic."

Marshal seemed to understand, "Not just groublins, Apes aren't too different. Both are practically covered in Dark Magic." He fell silent again but quickly started back up, "Dark Magic, like all the other types of magic, leaves after images. I've been able to sense that without too many difficulties, but like you said, it's been close. To sense further, to sense more. That's harder. I start sensing the trees and plants pretty quickly." He shifted his head slightly, "But if done carefully, you can toon those out. And extend your sense range by opening your mind more, basically concentration."

Cynder smiled, was again amazed at what the dragon in front of them seemed to be pulling off. Despite how little academic knowledge he had, Marshal's practical experience seemed to enter areas beyond what Spyro and himself knew.

Cynder waited for a bit, but Marshal did not say anything else. She looked at Spyro. Her partner appeared to be deep in thought himself. If she knew the purple dragon as well as she knew she did, then he was probably trying to see if he could do what Marshal had explained. She knew she would be unable. While she was not completely worthless outside of combat, her magical abilities, mostly her magical sensing, was nowhere near as good as Spyro's. He could sense at range. She, unfortunately, needed either touch or darn near for her senses to be any good.

Cynder was broken from her musing, and Spyro from his partial attempt at magical sensing as Marshal suddenly opened his eyes and rapidly shifted on his feet. The two of them watched as Marshal started off in a direction at an angle from where they had been traveling. He stayed like that for a few seconds before he turned to the couple.

He said one word before he took off in a near run, "Follow."

The legendary couple looked at each other for a second before bolting after the rapidly moving wind dragon.

They almost lost sight of Marshal as they rushed through the forest. Thankfully, even with Marshal in what seemed to be a near trancelike state, he still seemed to consent to make sure the two of them could keep up with him.

Cynder was almost ready to call, wanting more information when Marshal suddenly stopped.

Specifically, he stopped in a small clearing. A clearing, from what Cynder could tell, which had been created. There was also evidence of a fight. The biggest hint was the downed trees and scorch marks.

Marshal was kneeling next to one of those scorch marks, hand outreached and glowing slightly.

Spyro and herself were huffing lightly to catch their breath. They were also looking around the clearing taking in what must have been a magnificent fight.

After catching her breath, Cynder walked up to Marshal. He was still leaning and examining the same scorch mark when he noticed her. "Sorry for the rush. I barely felt the echo of this, and…" He caught himself seeming to fumble his words; whatever he was doing was either problematic or affecting him.

Cynder placed a hand on one of his shoulders, "It's alright. Walk us through."

Marshal nodded, took a breath, and responded, "It's easy to tell there was a fight. I feel...the echo of some ape magic, very faint, not many of them. "

Spyro moved closer, "I can see what looks like a few marks indicative of their weapons. And it looks like there might have been a few dreadwings."

Marshal indicated agreement to Spyro's observation, "The apes were one thing, but it's the other side. I can sense several dragons." That had both Spyro and Cynder's attention, but it was what Marshal said next that almost floored them. "I recognize the magic of these dragons." He said that line with a hint of airy surprise. The next line was she could hear his smile and relief, "They're alive. And if I'm right…" He stands up and points in a direction even more off the direction they had been traveling, "They went off in that direction."

Spyro smiled and slapped a hand on the older dragon's shoulder, "Then let's go find your friends." And with that, he started to walk in the direction Marshal had invaded.

Marshal stood there staring, Cynder guessed in shock. So she walked a bit ahead of him before turning around, "Well? Didn't you want to meet up with them?" She smiled and started to follow Spyro.

She heard a light chuckle from Marshal as he started to follow them.

AN: Yes, I did work on this instead of TDJD, but hey, that's just how it worked.

I went a bit deep into the Legend of Spyro Wiki for parts of this chapter, and that's not even the additional research I looked at. There are parts of the lore I did not know existed until now.

Before anyone asks why I didn't create a "book" entry for Grublins. Two reasons, one the last chapter already partially explained my view on them (power-wise), and two, there really isn't much more than what Cynder thinks. Even looking at the wiki, the information on them is a tiny amount. The biggest thing is "Malefor with an unknown dark spell that generates groups of ten to fifteen from the earth. The members in these groups consider each other as brothers. Each Grublin seen generally has this number of siblings. They serve as soldiers for Malefor's dark forces, and are his replacements for the Apes."

After that, there's a bit more explaining what they are, but again I had Cynder summarize it a bit, so I did not want to repeat myself. Additionally, while I never talk about the "hero grublin," that's mostly because I see them as more orc in appearance and ability. So they got roped into that category of creatures.

I almost stopped the chapter when Marshal ran off. But the next bit was so short; I figured it worked better at the end of this chapter.

I got zero promises on when the next chapter for this will come out. At this point, I'm fighting my motivation more than my muse, but I'm trying here.

Either way, until we meet again, Happy Reading.