Chapter 8
"Got any sevens?" Ripto asked.
"Go fish," Brutus answered.
"Brutus! Ripto! Get this place set up!" Devlin yelled.
They were at the garden and it was an hour before the guests were supposed to arrive. Not a single decoration was hung nor were the tables set up. This was making Devlin very angry. He had come in expecting to see the party ready or at least almost finished. Instead, he had found Ripto and Brutus playing Go Fish.
"Boss!" they yelled at once. They lost their balance as they bolted out of their seats, so playing cards flew everywhere. They quickly picked them up. All this time, Devlin shook his head sadly.
"You two should be more responsible. I should fire you. Oh well. You two are fun to be with, in a way. Who else can I count on? Anyway, the guests will be arriving soon so you better hurry up. Remember. We need to show a certain dragon that we can be nice. Make sure you make it so that Spyro can be caught. See you later." With a toss of his tail, he left them to their jobs.
After he was back inside the castle, and out of sight of the others, he walked through the hallways, making sure that all the trap doors were invisible. I hope our plan on catching Spyro will work, Devlin thought worriedly. That little purple dragon can cause a lot of trouble. How else am I supposed to succeed in marrying Charisma if he gets in the way? Then a horrible thought crossed his mind. What if Charisma loves Spyro, and Spyro loves her, and tries to rescue her while the matrimony is going on? What if he is stealing my girlfriend? He stopped in front of the wall and hit his head against it. Why didn't I think of this before? No wonder Charisma was so close to him. A look of hatred came across his face. I'll teach him to mess with my girl! Just wait until he comes to the party tonight! He'll be surprised when the next he knows, he's in chains! (whoa…getting a little jealous? .)
At the thought of this, he silently laughed to himself, only to be cut short when he heard a knocking at the front door. He quickly sent a dragon guard nearby on patrol to open it. A sound of laughter and voices came to him.
"Frederick! Darling! How good it is to see you!" a female voice said.
"And how nice it is to see you, too, Matilda," the guard answered shyly.
By this time, Rex had come by to see that the guests are welcome and to show the way.
"Ah! Mr. and Mrs. Horacio!" he exclaimed. "How good it is to see you from the Dark Valley. Please, please come in! I want you to meet my son, Devlin. Devlin! The first of our guests have arrived!"
"Are we the first to arrive?" Mr. Horacio asked surprised. He was a big dragon with ivory horns, sharpened just enough to injure someone, but not to kill anyone in case something happened.
"Yes, you are."
Devlin finally arrived and Mr. and Mrs. Horacio made all the little comments that all adults make on children they haven't seen in a long time.
"I'm sure all the female dragons fall over you for you being so handsome!" Mrs. Horacio exclaimed. "The last time I saw you, you were only a hatchling!"
Oh, brother! Devlin thought. "Excuse me, there is some business I need to attend to." With a quick nod, he left them and headed toward Charisma's room.
"Are you ready, Sparx? Devlin will be here any minute."
Charisma was hurrying about her room, worrying about this and that and getting ready simultaneously. She was wearing a crystal amulet on a chain around her neck.
"Don't worry so much, Charisma. You heard Spyro say the plan was fool proof! What could go wrong?" Sparx said.
"Lots of things!" she cried.
"Name them."
"You could get caught, it could be a trap, Devlin might try to steal me, and . . . lots of things!"
"Come on, Charisma! You got to have faith in us!" Sparx exclaimed as he climbed into the flower.
"All right," she relented. "Get in the flower and if I dance with Devlin, go as far back of the flower as you can and hold on tight."
The door opened. "Are you ready, my dear?" Devlin asked in a sweet voice.
"I am," she answered. "Oh, and Devlin?"
"Yes?"
"My name is Charisma." With a swish of her tail, she trotted out the door.
"Not . . . so . . . bump-y!" Sparx whispered.
"I'll try," she answered.
"Hey, Charisma! Wait up!" Devlin yelled.
With a sigh, she stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Hurry up."
"If you're going to marry me -"
"I'm N-O-T, NOT going to marry you," she said icily.
"Anyway, we're supposed to come in together."
"Must we?"
"Yes."
Charisma gave another sigh. Will he ever give up?! she thought annoyed.
The party was just beginning when they entered. The once quiet field was turned into a giant, lit up ballroom. Everyone was talking and getting some refreshments. Everyone turned their heads when Devlin and Charisma came in.
"My! What a beautiful dragon!" the guests gasped.
"What's her name?" some others asked to themselves.
Where is he? Charisma wondered, searching for Spyro.
"I think he's by the refreshment stand," Sparx whispered when Devlin was talking to some guests.
"How did you know I was looking for him?" she whispered back.
"One, I saw you looking around. Two, I'm so close to your brain, I can actually hear what you're thinking."
"Okay, lets see if you can tell what I'm thinking now."
But before she could do that, Devlin had turned back to her.
"Do you want any refreshments?" he asked.
Perfect! she thought happily. "Sure."
They walked toward the table and got some punch and cake. While she was there, she looked around to find Spyro. This is going to be harder than I thought!
At the same time, Spyro was looking for her and thinking the same thing. I know I saw her come over here! It's not supposed to be that hard to find the only yellow dragon around. Of course, there were a couple of dragons that were not black. There were also some servants to some of the other guests that came and they were also yellow or another color. Great. There had to be some look alikes. At least there are other purple dragons. I was getting worried for a moment when the black clay came off. He had ran into a door on his way up and the clay had shattered. He had swept it under the carpet when no one was looking. Just then, an attractive dragon came up to him.
"Would you like to dance?" she asked sweetly.
For the first time, Spyro noticed that music was playing and the dance he was being asked to dance was a slow one. He gulped. Oh well. Maybe I'll see Charisma on the dance floor. "Sure," he answered hesitantly.
She smiled and they went to the dance floor. He was glad when he finally saw Charisma on the dance floor, too, but quickly got angry when he saw Devlin. Don't worry Charisma. We'll get you out, he vowed.
"So what's your name?" his partner asked.
He panicked. "You tell me yours first."
"Why?"
"It's more polite."
"Donna."
"Do I know you?" Spyro asked her. "Your name sounds very familiar." He thought hard. "Have you ever heard of the Artisan Dragon world?"
"Actually yes, Spyro," she answered him, emphasizing his name.
He was startled. "Um uh I think you are mistaken," he said nervously.
"You can't fool me, so don't try it! I won't tell anyone you know."
"Uh…" Guess I'll have to trust her…but what if it's Melvelle? Damn! Gotta trust anyway if I'm ever gonna get to Charisma! (I added that part . only place where he cusses . I think o.O) "Well how do you k
"Ever since you freed me from that crystalized cage, I tried to find out how to show you my gratitude."
"All you had to do was just come up and say thanks."
"Oh, I know better way to show my thanks," she said dreamily, looking into his eyes. By then, the song had ended and Spyro knew what was going to happen.
"Uh, we'd better get off the floor so the others can dance," he said quickly while pulling away.
"I guess you're right," she said disappointedly. Then, she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and walked toward some friends. He was stunned.
"Whew!" he muttered after he was back to normal. "Now I got two girls going after me, and one I like. Being a hero is tough!" He went by the trees and laid on the grass, waiting for Charisma and trying to be as far away from Donna as possible.