The doors in the training room opened. Ember, followed by a small, green gnorc, entered. She stopped suddenly, staring at the twelve dead guards scattered around the room. She walked around, examining every burned, shot, or beheaded carcass. "What happened here!" she demanded, turning to the gnorc that followed her in.

"Uh...uh...we don't know! There were some intruders in the building and..."

"And you didn't alert me!" Ember shrieked. "What were you thinking? Never mind, I want to know exactly who was in here and how many there were." She was about to say something more, when she heard a groan. She turned to see one of the burned gnorcs moving slightly. Ember hurried over to him. "You! Who did this?"

The gnorc coughed. "Spyro..."

"Spyro?"

"Hunter."

"Spyro and Hunter." Ember muttered. She looked up to see that the doors to the dungeons were opened. "No, they didn't..." The dragon pointed at the green gnorc. "Go down there and see who's missing!" she ordered. The gnorc quickly saluted and hurried to follow orders.

"No need for that Ember."

She turned around to see Flame walking towards her. "I already know what's going on." he said. "Spyro and Hunter came in with their two friends. Their two friends went and led the night watch on a wild goose chase while Spyro and Hunter snuck in and rescued Elora and Bianca."

Ember stared, mouth agape. "How do you know that?" she asked. Flame smirked and motioned for her to follow.

"The question is, how do you not know this? Eh, Miss Commander-in-Chief?"

She glared at him as they walked out the door. "Look, just because I'm a higher rank than you doesn't mean I can pay attention to everything! Oh, and the guards told me that there was only one trespasser they were after, not two."

"I'll tell you what happened." He said. "Those two...whatever they were...that you ran into this morning? Well, the green-furred one dyed himself white, and they took turns distracting the guards."

Ember slapped her forehead. "Don't tell me that those bums didn't notice that the person they were chasing kept changing genders!"

Flame nodded. "It appears so. Those guards are currently being, er, reprimanded in a way, for allowing this to happen." he stopped walking. "Now, what are we going to do about this?"

"I'm not sure." Ember shrugged. "But for now, let's just hope the boss doesn't find out about this."

"Hope I don't find out about what?"

Meanwhile, in the storm shelter, they had taken Elora and Bianca to one of the first aid rooms. "They're messed up pretty bad." Sabina observed. "Look at all those scratches and scars! Some of them are still bleeding!"

"We'll have to get them cleaned up." Hunter said, getting a box of bandages down from a shelf. Akiro found some clean washrags and soap, and he began cleaning the wounds. Hunter began bandaging the largest and freshest scars. Sabina left the room to find some decent clothes for the two girls. Spyro rubbed an ointment into the older scars and bruises.

After a while, Elora and Bianca began to look a little better, now that most of the dirt and blood covering them had been cleaned off. Sabina came back with two cotton nightshirts and, being the only other female, was in charge of getting them dressed while the three other guys waited in the hall. After a while, Sabina emerged from the room carrying the shredded remains of the girls' clothes.

"I guess now we can only wait," she said. "And I think they'll be needing some new clothes if they get better."

"Whaddaya mean 'if'?" Hunter asked, looking worried. Sabina stammered for a moment.

"Um...uh...I mean when they get better."

Akiro turned to Spyro. "So, how long had they been prisoner exactly?" he asked. Spyro sighed.

"Elora was there for about two years, Bianca was only taken one year ago."

"So we just need to wait a while and they'll recover?" Hunter asked. Sabina nodded, patting him on the back.

"Yes. It may take a while but they'll get better. In the meantime, why don't we make this place more livable?"

"Okay." Spyro replied. "If we can free everyone, they'll need a more sanitary place to stay."

Ember and Flame turned to see who was speaking to them. He was a tall man, with long, ratty brown hair and red eyes. He wore a tan shirt and brown pants under a knee-length black jacket, and he had on leather gloves. Around his neck was a gold medallion with the initials 'VU' carved in bold script letters.

"Well, go on and tell me. I'm waiting." he hissed.

Ember began to slink backwards, but Flame nudged her forwards. She shot him a glare, and then turned to Vokrath. "Well master, you see, um...Spyro and Hunter have...ah...these things happen..." Vokrath continued to gaze sternly at her. She gulped and explained. "We've lost them. They've broken our control and removed their tracking chips. And now they've just broken in and took the rabbit and the faun with them."

The man nodded. "I know. Now come here." Ember took a faltering step forward. "Closer." he repeated. Ember stepped again. Vokrath reached out and grabbed her by the neck. "If this happens again, it'll be your tail down in the dungeons!" he yelled. "I want those two back under my control, or else!" He then punted the small dragon across the hall.

"Flame." he snapped. "While Ember sorts this mess out, I want you tracking those two. Find where they are and report to me."

"Yes sir." Flame said. Vokrath turned on his heels and walked briskly down the hallway. The red dragon walked over to where Ember was lying on the floor and helped her up. "Nasty temper he's got, hasn't he?"

She was shaking all over. "Yes. I'd hate to be Spyro when Vokrath gets his hands on him." Flame looked at her quizzically.

"Why?"

Ember looked around, checking that no one was within earshot, and then leaned closer to him. "I really shouldn't say anything about this, but he's got some kind of grudge against Spyro."

"How do you know that?"

"I heard him talking to himself."

Flame looked confused. "Talking...to himself?"

"Yeah, sometimes he goes into that room of his..." Ember trailed off. "Nevermind. We've got work to do. And if anyone asks, I know nothing of this."

The foursome spent the next week cleaning up the storm shelter. It was hard work, since there was a good six inches of dust on everything and because all the supplies needed to run the shelter were either on the floor in the big room or still in the crates. They managed to restock the kitchen and stack clean blankets on the cots in some of the other rooms, and they found the rest of the medicines that needed to go in the medical rooms.

Spyro and Hunter took turns staying up with Elora and Bianca. The ointments they had used on the girl's wounds proved effective, as many of the scratches and bruises had faded away. Akiro and Sabina didn't say much about them, not wanting to upset their hosts.

It was around noon on the seventh day when they were standing in the big room, wondering what to do with all the empty wooden crates. Akiro heard a noise. He turned to see what it was, and stared. "Uh, guys?" he began. As the others turned around, he didn't need to continue. There, huddled in the doorway, clutching a blanket around her was...

"Bianca?" Hunter asked.

She stood on shaky legs. The rabbit tried to take another step forward but fell instead.

Sorry for the long wait. I've been a little busy. But here's the question:

Who else has wanted to see Ember drop-kicked across a hallway?