Chapter 2: Mountain of Mystery
SPYRO
I buckled my seat belt in the helicopter as Hunter did the same with his. Sparx perched on my shoulder and stayed silent. The pilot activated the air craft and I felt the vehicle lift off the ground. I peeked outside to see all the details on the land shrink below as the helicopter got higher. The craft moved forward in the direction to Midnight Mountain. After a few minutes in the air, I looked back to Hunter fingering the white star brooch on his cloak.
"What will we discuss up in Midnight Mountain?" I asked.
Hunter stopped fingering his brooch and faced me. "We'll only discuss the mission with Bianca's father," he answered.
"Oh, I thought you were going to Bianca's house just to get mushy-gushy with her before the mission."
Hunter laughed, "You thought I was planning to do that? I don't always get romantic with Bianca in the Forgotten Worlds, I have a job as a Patrol Ranger."
"Of course." I thought more on the mission ahead, and of the place where the attack happened. "Hey Hunter, are we going to investigate the crime scene?"
"Yes."
I felt my stomach twist into knots, "Will there be any of the victim's remains to look at?"
Hunter's left brow crocked up. "No, my men had the remains cleared out of the area. The Professor is examining them to find some information."
"Right." I scratched one of my forearms. "Besides us, who else will be tracking down this murdering thing?"
"Perhaps Agent 9 and Sgt. Byrd, it's better to have more than one team to cover the Forgotten Worlds."
"I see." I looked back out of the window to see that Midnight Mountain was no so far away. The Mountain stood tall in a shade of purple my scales were, even though the Sorceress was gone, Midnight Mountain still appeared menacing yet marvellous.
AGENT 9The last time I was here in the Haunted Tomb, I suffered the Snake Tail curse because of a joke I played on those crazy, Tomb Keeper dogs. The reason why I was here in this damn, dark place was that I heard reports of some beast crawling through the Tomb. My thought was that the reports on a mysterious beast had to be connected to the murdering of a civilian.
As I walked down the dark passage that had little torch light, I held a firm grip on my blaster that I charged to stung. If I ran into this beast, my blaster could at least knock it out for a week. Suddenly, I heard breathing and footsteps in the shadows.
"Who's there?" I demanded, pointing my blaster to where the noise was coming from.
"Only Tara the Tomb Raider," the reply came. Tara walked out of the shadows and I set down my blaster. "I was just looking for some artefacts as long as the dogs didn't mind. So what brings you to the Tomb?"
I relaxed knowing that a mouse version of Angelina Jolie was just wandering around in the dark. "I'm here to do some investigating. I've heard reports that a beast was sneaking around here, so I'm going to learn what's going on."
"Does this have something to do with the attack on the civilian?"
"I think it does. Right now, I don't see any beast here, but I'll be ready to blast it when I do find it."
"Sounds very interesting, let me help you with the search. I could do something if we run into trouble." She tapped one of the pistols strapped to her thighs.
"I don't see a problem there. Speaking of helping, have you heard or seen anything while you were looking for artefacts?"
She scratched her chin. "Hmmm... I do recall hearing some hissing sounds from one of the tunnels. I just thought it was a snake, but snakes don't make scraping foot steps."
I felt a chill shoot up my spine. "Scraping foot steps?" I asked.
"Yes," she nodded. "I decided not to bother with it, so I just continued with my treasure hunt."
"Can you show me where you heard these noises?"
"Sure, follow me." She turned back to where she was walking from, I grabbed a torch and I followed close behind her. I bit my lip, I was nervous about what I was in for.
HUNTER
The helicopter landed through the open roof of the port. Spyro and I unbuckled our seatbelts and stretched our legs.
"That would be 30 gems," the pilot said.
"Of course," I handed the gems to him. Spyro was standing at the entrance to the port waiting for me. I jumped out of the helicopter and caught up with Spyro.
"So what else do we have to do here besides discussing the mission and investigating?" he asked.
"We just have to travel around the Forgotten Worlds on foot to find the attacker. There are others who can help us out while we're travelling." I looked at his face to see that he was still not satisfied.
Spyro and I continued across the green ground and bridges over the lava until we found the gates to the Sorceress' old castle. The castle now belonged to Bianca and her family, the place stopped looking spooky after the Sorceress had her fat ass roasted by Spyro. Bianca's family did a great job in making the castle beautiful, the wooden gates were painted white, each pillar on the sides of the gate had a stone eagle statue perched on top, the castle itself was small and made of creamy stone.
I grabbed an iron ring door knocker on the gate and knocked three times.
"I'm coming!" the guard shouted. "Hold on!" The small window in the gate slid open, a face of a male Charm faery (a faery from Charmed Ridge) was peeking through. "Oh... hello Hunter, my lord has been expecting you!" He looked at Spyro. "I'll get the gate open so you and Spyro can come in."
"Thank you, Garith," I said. The left of the gate creaked open, Spyro and I were permitted to go through. We walked on a white brick path in the courtyard that lead to the castle front door. Hedges were neatly set in front of the castle.
"Hey Hunter, Spyro!" I heard Bianca's voice call to us. She stood in front of the castle door, wearing a long, lavender gown.
"Hi Bianca," I said to her. "Have you been waiting long?" Spyro stood by my side, not saying anything.
"Not really," Bianca answered. "Come on then, my father awaits you." She lead us inside and down the long corridor to the council chambers.
"What is Bianca's father like?" Spyro asked.
I looked down at him. "He's a nice guy, he does like you because you did impress him."
"Impress him?"
"He only likes kind and honourable warriors. I helped him move into the castle, that's how I became chief of the Patrol Rangers. He is impressed on how you defeated the Sorceress."
"Really? I can't wait to meet him myself."
AGENT 9Tara held the torch in front of the unlighted passage where she heard the sounds. I peered into the darkness, nothing was there.
"Are you sure that you heard something?" I asked.
"I have no doubt," she answered. "The hissing and scratching came from there."
"Maybe we should go down there," I suggested. "We could find something."
"That's a plan. When we find that beast, I'll shoot its frigging brains out if we have any trouble." She took out one of her pistols and she walked down the passage with the torch in front of her.
I followed close behind her. I shivered all over, this was all too scary for me. The dark always gave me the creeps. When I'm usually in the Haunted Tomb, I always see the usual dogs in their damn hats, and stupid critters like cobras and scorpions. A killer beast was the last thing I wanted to find in a dark place.
Biting my lower lip, I held Mr. Laser Blaster in a tight grip that I nearly pulled the trigger. I kept my eye on Tara and the torch light, I would really hate to get lost where a beast could eat me.
"Agent 9," Tara's whispers interrupted my thoughts, "I hear something. Listen, it's coming from there." She pointed to where the light could not touch.
I did what she said and listened carefully. At first, I could only hear my own breath, but then I heard hisses and growls. I peered at the darkness, staring back at me were two glowing yellow eyes.
"Holly crap," I muttered under my breath. Tara aimed her pistol towards the yellow eyes.
From where the eyes were, I heard an ice cold voice that hissed. "What are they, my preciouss?"
End Note: Sorry if I took too long to update. I did complete the website version but I was lazy about the FF.Net version. Oh yeah, those who are confused about the Tolkien twist, there is a Lord of the Rings movie that is still in theaters, but I have to wait until November for the DVD! Rats!