Chapter 4
"Speech"
"Native Dragon Tongue"
-Time skip, 4 days-
'Four days,' Ravenwing thought with a tired huff as he rested on the entrance of the temporary abode. His ears were pressed against his forepaws as his head rested on the rocky outcropping the cave entrance offered as he tried to block out the sounds from inside the cave with good reason too. From deep within the cave came a pair of loud rumbling noises that were only separated by the sounds of deep inhales slightly off timed with each other. To the untrained ear, it would sound like the roars and groans of some massive beast hidden within the cave to detour any and all visitors, preditors, etc. However, Ravenwing knew the origin of the sounds all to well. 'Those two snore louder than a helicopter flying at rooftop level...how is that even possible?' He thought with a groan as tired eyes stared out into the pre-dawn lit horizon. Grunting a bit, Ravenwing flicked his tail in annoyance before uncovering his ears. Blinking a bit as the snoring reentered his ears, Ravenwing grinned a small bit as the sun crested the horizon and stared down the cave with a predentary glare. 'Time for a little payback.'Ravenwing thought with a grin. Arcing his body and legs back, Ravenwing sucked in a deep breath of air and roared into the cave. The loud and sudden outburst overpowered the snores easily, causing the owners to shriek in fear while Ravenwing tried to hold back a snort of laughter. Two smaller dragons emerged running from the cave, panting a bit as Ravenwing could barely contain himself from just laughing outright. The purple and black dragons looked around the area in a panic before both their eyes settled on the obsidian grey dragon in front of them. "You jerk." The black dragon, Cynder said with a huff as they realized they were woken up for seemingly no reason by Ravenwing. The taller dragon just chuckled to himself and stepped past the duo.
"Well maybe you should look over there and see what time it is else we might fall behind schedule." Ravenwing stated with his back turned to the due as he gestured his tail to the rising sun. Both younger dragons nodded a bit with slightly widened eyes and watched as Ravenwing stepped off the ledge of the cave entrance, spreading his wings wide, and began to glide away. Both Cynder and Spyro began to follow, taking off from the ledge, and following closely behind Ravenwing. "So you two hungry or are we good to fly for a bit longer?" Cynder shook her head no was interrupted by Spyro's stomach grumbling and a sheepish grin spreading across his muzzle. "Well good, cause I'm famished." Ravenwing replied after hearing the grumble of Spyro's stomach himself.
"I'll grab breakfast today." Spyro said, "Since you've done it the last few days Ravenwing." Ravenwing gave a small glare to Spyro of mixed emotions which caused the purple dragon to look away some. Eventually Ravenwing shrugged in reply. Flying over to Cynder quickly Spyro reduced his voice to a hushed whisper. "Keep an eye on him ok?" Cynder nodded before Spyro broke away from the trio and dove down near the short trees and grass on the slope bellow Cynder and Ravenwing. Spotting another rock to land upon, Ravenwing led Cynder a little bit away from where Spyro dived down.
"So Ravenwing..." Cynder began as the pair landed uneventfully. Ravenwing perked up at his name mentioned and looked down to Cynder, his long neck arcing down some so they could be just above eye level. "What was your home like?" Cynder asked trying to spur a conversation. "I mean outside of you, Spyro and I haven't seen any dragon quite like you before." She could see a pondering expression flash across Ravenwing's eyes before he turned to look at one of the snow crested peaks well above their current altitude.
"Home..." Ravenwing began with a twinge of regret crossing his face before they were washed away. 'Well time to lie like never before.' Ravenwing thought before replying. "Well home was cold, very cold. Snow would fall 7 months out of the year and then rain 3 of them. Only 2 months really felt normal. Well if you call normal when everyone would emerge from their dens for annual...annual..." Ravenwing began before trailing off. "Annual dragon race. Yep, that's it..." He finished quickly, a small worried expression flashing on his face but it dropped when Cynder seemed to buy the lie.
"Dragon race?" Cynder asked with a cocked brow, slight excitement filling her tone, "What was that like? Did you compete?" She continued questioning to which Ravenwing sputtered some.
"Did I compete?" Ravenwing asked in an incredulous manner. With a smirk Ravewing turned to Cynder and spread his wings wide. "You think I don't have these for nothing?" He asked with a coy tone. "Of course I competed." He replied. "In fact I won quite a few times. Me and my rival were always going at each other's throats so to say. I remember one race where he grabbed a big clump of snow and dropped it on my head to slow me down." He said acting like he was recalling some old grand tale. Cynder listened intently as Ravenwing continued on. "Even though he was pain in the ass...he was a good friend. Though I had to clobber him once or twice though." He said with a chuckled.
"What does clobber mean?" Cynder asked with a cocked brow. Ravenwing sighed a small bit and raised a paw to his head.
"It means like roughhouse, tussle...that sort of thing." Ravenwing said which earned more confused stares from the younger black dragon in-front of him. "Fight." He said with a deadpanned expression. Cynder finally nodded in understanding before snorting.
"You northern dragons talk so weirdly." She said to which Ravenwing snorted.
"You don't know the half of it." Ravenwing grumbled a bit.
"Anyways, why did you fight him? I thought you said he was your friend?" Cynder asked with a raised brow. "Did you hurt each other?" 'Do they fight their friends often?' Chuckling some to himself Ravenwing shook his head.
"Oh no no not like that...gave him a few pranks here and there...One day he woke up tied upside-down to the roof of his cave. We left him there for a solid hour before his mother came and untied him. He was so pissed, I found a icicle in my next fish I ate as a result." Ravenwing said, lacing truth with lies and adlibbing along the way. "As for why I did it..." Ravenwing began while trailing off. "He wanted to date my younger sister, and while she loved him and he her. I couldn't just let it slide without at least doing it once." He answered with a chuckle, grinning again as his eyes seemed clouded with the mental images of it, starting to believe his own lies as fact himself. A sitting down on his haunches and folding his wings back upon himself he sighed some and brushed some of the longer fur on his head behind his eyes again to clear his vision.
"That's sounds nice." Cynder said with a smile before giggling herself. "Well, she must've been upset at you if you did that to her would-be mate." Cynder told Ravenwing who chuckled quite a bit.
"Ho boy yes she was livid...chased me halfway around our territory..." Ravenwing replied with a mild laugh which caused Cynder to laugh some. The black dragon smiled up at Ravenwing before a pondering expression befell her face.
"So um...Ravenwing if I may, why are you here then near Avalar?" She asked, earning a downcast look from Ravenwing as he looked away. What Cynder saw as crestfallen emotions upon Ravenwing's face was in reality him panicking some, trying to find an answer to Cynder's question. "Ah shit this might make or break the cover story.' Ravenwing thought to himself.
"A major blizzard." He replied with a sigh. "I had joined the scout detachment and went to explore a warmer environment a few thousand links away. it was a long few years before I came back home." He said pausing. "I expected everyone to be waiting for me as I reported to our leader what I found. Instead I found the entire place covered in ice, the bones and frozen flesh of my clan appearing in-between ice walls." Ravenwing explained, trying to pull off a pained expression as his mind flashed with imaginary memories of the scene. "There was no trace of a struggle, they seemed to have not expected it to get that bad." He paused and took a deep breath and was about to go on untill he noticed Cynder's pained and down cast expression. Her eyes were wide some with a semi-newfound fear of the winter as she regarded Ravenwing's story in her mind.
"I'm sorry Ravenwing." Cynder began which caused Ravenwing to raise a paw to silence her.
"It's fine, it happened about 3 years ago. Ever since then I've been exploring, kind of have nothing better to do." Ravenwing replied with a shrug and sniffed the air some, his eyes widening a bit as the familiar smell of fresh-kill entered his nose. "Your boyfriend is back." He said which caused Cynder to blush some and begin to stammer off.
"He-he-he isn't my mate." Cynder replied, having the term explained to her my Ravenwing. The grey dragon chuckled a bit and rolled his eyes.
"Ok sure, what every you say..." He said with a smirk as Spyro appeared over the ledge and dropped two skilled goats on the rocks between the two dragons. Spyro then landed next to Cynder and the two nuzzled each other briefly. "And you say you aren't...mates.." Ravenwing teased a small bit which cause the two to pause and look away from each other. Chuckling, Ravenwing took the smaller of the goats and ripped off a hindleg, begging to eat quietly.
"Sorry it took a while, they were pretty sparse this early in the morning." Spyro said with a sheepish look after recovering from blushing. Shaking his head some as he cut a bigger piece of meat and handed it to Cynder. She smiled and purred in appreciation, taking the meal and eating it quickly while Spyro began to eat his own fill. "So what did I miss?" He asked looking between Cynder and Ravenwing with a curious expression. Cynder was the first to reply.
"I was just asking about where Ravenwing was from." Cynder replied quietly before looking down a slight bit. Spyro raised a brow at this and turned to the grey dragon who just finished the leg of the goat, taking the other leg and beginning to consume it. Ravenwing turned up some from his meal and looked at the duo.
"You know...I never asked." He began as he looked at Spyro and Cynder who perked up. "You never mentioned your stories to me. All I know is what people say about you from what I heard. I'd like to hear it straight from the horse's mouth if you don't mind me inquiring." He took another bite from his leg as he lifted is gaze a small bit. Spyro and Cynder looked between each other before Spyro began.
"Well I can't say to much outside of what I was taught besides what happened during the war against the dark master." Spyro began. "I guess my story started when me and my bro were out playing in the mushroom forest about 3-4 years ago. He got his dragonfly butt caught by some of the ape forces and I kind of snapped in my panic and torched his captors." Spyro stated before being cut off by Ravenwing.
"Wait your brother was a dragonfly?" He asked with a raised brow and a chuckle. "And here I thought turning into a dragon was the craziest thing I'd see/hear." Ravenwing thought out-loud with a small growl. Spyro and Cynder both raised a brow at their seeming inability to understand what Ravenwin said before Spyro nodded to answer the grey dragon's question. "Huh, strange world, anyways continue. Sorry to cut you off."
"It's ok, I got that a lot when Cynder and Hunter figured out my origins." Spyro said with a small dismissive wave of his paw. "Anyways, after that. I realized I wasn't what I thought I was in terms of being a dragonfly..." To which Ravenwing snorted a bit and interrupted the story. Spyro chose to ignore the snort and continued. "...and I left home to see if I could find out what I was. My bro, Sparx, came with me and there we met Ignitus in a cave not to far away. We fought some more apes before we reached the old dragon temple, where Ignitus taught me how to use the element of fire. After that he mentioned the other Guardians being trapped in various locations around the world and sent me off to find them." Spyro said before pausing as the memories of his mentor came back to him, causing him to freeze some what and shake his head sadly. Cynder put a paw on Spyro's shoulder for comfort to which Spyro smiled a small bit.
"I assume he didn't make it?" Ravenwing asked, acting like he didn't know the fate of the dragon while curious how Ignitus ended up in his position. Spyro gave a surprised glance at Ravenwing before nodding a bit. "Sorry for your loss." The grey dragon said taking no note of the surprised expression on the purple dragon., gesturing for Spyro to continue said purple dragon shook his head some and coughed before continuing.
"Well...after finding the other Guardians, they taught me how to use their respective elements. Cyril taught me how to use ice, Volteer taught me electricity, and Terrador taught me earth." Spyro said earning a small snort from Ravenwing before he looked as if he wanted to ask another question of the younger dragon. Taking this as a go ahead to continue, Spyro kept going. "Eventually Ignitus was captured and I had to save him from well..." He said trailing off as Cynder put her head down in shame which confused Ravewing.
"From who?" Ravenwing asked with a cocked brow. The grey dragon took note in the hesitancy of the two dragons in-front of him before Cynder finally spoke up, breaking the silence as the trio just finished their meal.
"Saving Ignitus from me." Cynder said in a soft voice, causing Ravenwing to raise a brow.
"You?" Ravenwing asked genuinely confused. Cynder was slightly taken aback by that reaction while Spyro just blinked confused. "I mean no offense, but you don't look strong enough to contain an assumingly fully grown dragon..." He said trailing off. The two younger dragons huffed a bit and sighed as Cynder continued.
"Yes me...I was corrupted as an egg by the dark master and made into a weapon of his leasure. I hurt so many..." Cynder said with a strained voice trailing off and covering her face with her wings from the unreadable gaze of Ravenwing. Spyro nuzzled Cynder to comfort her a bit.
"But I mean...that's not you now right?" Ravenwing asked with a neutral voice. Cynder and Spyro both blinked a bit in surprise. "I'm assuming you were what people I've met called 'The Terror of The Skies?'" He asked to her with a raised brow, crimson eyes locking onto green ones. Cynder shrank back some under the gaze in fear with a small sad nod. If dragons had tear glands, Cynder would be beginning to cry just by being under the stern gaze of the grey dragon. Sighing a small bit, Ravenwing's gaze softened a small bit. "You know...someone once told me. 'You can't judge those by what they did in the past. It is only an indicator of where they were, not where they are or where they are going. Determine based on the merits they give you and not the ones that they once held.'" Cynder looked back up to the grey dragon with hopeful eyes. "So in my mind, since I guess you've clearly chosen a different path, whether by your own volition or otherwise. I don't see a reason to hold it against you, especially since I didn't know you back then." Cynder nodded a bit, resisting the urge to break down a bit and show her thanks for Ravenwing's point of view. Spyro smiled a small bit and looked to Cynder, picking up on her emotions and decided to leave some of her issues out of the story as he continued explaining what led the purple and black dragon to this point. Detailing the events where Cynder left the temple and his quest to find her, their final confrontation with Gaul, how they were frozen within the time crystal, meeting hunter, before ending it off with explaining the final days of the war against Malefor. Ravenwing was skeptical throughout the tale, asking questions left and right about little details and events, causing Spyro and Cynder to either look surprised or a sigh directed at the grey dragon.
"After Malefor was resealed in the crystal, I had to use what little strength I had left to pull the world back together." Spyro said finishing off the tale that had eaten up most of the morning and some of the afternoon. Ravenwing nodded some and cocked a brow.
"So this dude...Malefor basically said, 'If I can't have the world no one can.', and tried to blow it up...sheesh talk about a greedy son of a bitch." Ravenwing said with a disgusted flick of his tail. The two younger dragons nodded some, chuckling a bit and turned back to the horizon. Their eyes opened wide as the trio realized just how much time they spent discussing the recent history of the Dragon Realms. The sun light was low in the air, filling the sky with pinks and reds of the approaching dusk sky, the rocks shone orange as the fading light collided with the greys and browns of the rocks bellow their paws. The trio took to the air and began to fly again, ducking into a canyon a bit to avoid the glare of the sunlight. A smirk crossed over Cynder's face as she flew forward a bit to catch up to Ravenwing, which caused the grey dragon to cock a brow at her challenging glare she sent him.
"Why don't you show us a bit of what you did in the dragon races you mentioned you had growing up?" Cynder asked with a semi-playful grin. Ravenwing blinked a bit surprised and smirked in response. Spyro looked between the two confused a bit before Ravenwing slowed down a bit so they could keep pace easier together for the briefest moment. Staring at the backs of the two darker colored dragons in-front of him, he failed to hear any sort of indication of a speed boost from the two and instead blinked in surprised when both Ravenwing and Cynder rocketed ahead of him.
"Hey wait up!" Spyro called after the speeding duo, flying as fast as his wings would carry him thought the air, but due to his more bulky build he failed to gain any distance on the pair. Ravenwing and Cynder had also failed to notice they left Spyro behind and were racing through the air, ducking and diving between rock formations with ease. In some cases the duo would have to split up due to pillars of rock in the middle of the canyon and other times Cynder would notice small tunnels that Ravenwing dived headlong into like a crazy thrill seeker and appear a few seconds later from another opening in the wall. Though the last time it happened, Cynder decided to boost her flight speed with her wind element, forming a steady tailwind to form behind her and accelerate her further along, causing the black dragon to grin as she passed by Ravenwing with ease causing the grey dragon to flap his wings harder to keep up. With a smirk the grey dragon caught up to Cynder who looked at him a bit surprised before regaining herself a bit and pressing on after the grey dragon who quickly zoomed up high into the sky, the speed of the dragon causing a wave of air displacement that disturbed the grassy edge of the canyon as he flew past with another dragon hot on his tail.
Arcing his wings a bit, Ravenwing quickly spun over the cliff of the canyon and remained low to the ground while Cynder, not expecting the move flew right by with her wind element keeping her a bit more sluggish when it came to turning. "Hey! No fair!" Cynder said with a smile as she dived after Ravenwing, turning back slightly to see Spyro round the corner of the canyon the duo passed a while ago that lead to the sudden climb in altitude. Cynder then dashed off after Ravenwing determined not to loose the race she challenged him too. She watched as Ravenwing climbed high into the sky above her, confusing her at first before he quickly dived back down. At first it seemed like a normal dive, but soon a banshee like screeching sound echoed in the canyon scaring Cynder slightly and causing her to loose concentration on maintaining her speed. Turning to the source she saw as Ravenwing dove with speeds she'd never seen a dragon go before he rolled upside down, opened his massive wings to brake in the air and flew up to Cynder.
"You ok?" He asked the black dragon with a small concerned look on his face. Cynder snapped free from her daze a few seconds later and turned to Ravenwing, shaking her head.
"Y-yeah I'm ok, w-what was that sound you made?" She asked in response while panting a small bit from the race, to which Ravenwing shrugged.
"I don't know to be perfectly honest." Ravenwing replied as he looked at Cynder while they hovered in place. "Something to do with air resistance but I'm no expert on the matter." Ravenwing said as the two heard wingbeats not to far away from them.
"I guess we should find a place to land and rest." Cynder suggested as the wingbeats got closer. "I'm sure Spyro's gonna need it." She began as she turned to the source of the sounds behind her. Though while expecting a purple dragon, instead she was met with a flash of bright pinks and red as a fire blast out of no where came from in-front of her. She yelped in sudden pain as the fire engulfed her in its embrace.
"Cynder!" Ravenwing shouted as he watched the black dragon writhe in the air a small bit and shaking the unknown fire free of her scales. Growling to himself he took a quick sniff of the air and identified a foreign smell in the air his primal instinct told him was a dragon. Gritting his teeth, his eyes opened wide in surprise as he felt the source behind him and heard a stream of fire being blasted his way. Ducking out of the way, Ravenwing shot back with his own stream of jet white flames. The two streams of fire passed harmlessly by each other as both shots failed to connect to their intended target.
"Intruders I give you one chance to leave less you want to end up like the purple one." The unknown dragon seemed to grunt causing Ravenwing to grit his teeth a bit in annoyance. His eyes widened some as his brain processed the grunts and growls of the dragon into words. Craning his neck, Ravenwing saw a faint ripple in the air as if a wing just flapped, but shook it off as Cynder began to search around for the attacker as well. Another blast of pink and red from bellow earned retaliatory shots of black and white fires respectfully. 'Damn it, where is this thing...' Ravenwing thought with a growl and sniffed the air, his ears perked up a bit as he heard wing beats right behind Cynder. The black dragon was scanning the sky hurriedly, not relying on her senses outside of her eyes to see her foe which allowed the assailant to sneak up with-in striking distance of the black dragon. Gritting his teeth, Ravenwing dashed forward with claws outstretched at the air behind Cynder, causing the unknown dragon to fly back to avoid the obsidian grey dragon who just zoomed between the two.
"Where is it?" Cynder asked in a panic as she saw Ravenwing fly by.
"Must be invisible...or able to hide very good, I can't see it." Ravenwing said as his head slowly turned in the sky, guided by his nose and ears. "Use your nose and ears, it's your best shot at finding it." Ravenwing stated as the two dragons hovered back to back. The two hovered still for a few minutes, each trying to track the unknown and unseen dragon. Occasionally a fire blast would erupt from thin air, causing the two to dodge and fire back, but by the time they fired back the dragon had moved on to a new attack position. Both Ravenwing and Cynder were growling angrily at the fact they could not seem to hurt the unknown attacker and were merely reacting to its strikes.
"Weaklings, you thought you could come into my territory with the pitiful strength on display here?" The unknown dragon said in a mocking tone. "It's of no matter, once I deal with you. I can finish off the purple on-omph!" The voice said before Ravenwing rammed into the unseen source of the growls. The act caused the dragon's camouflage to drop and reveal brilliant pink, red, and white scales with matching pink tuffs of fur on the edges of its knees and neck. Surprised by the act of the sudden attack, the dragon failed to see Cynder line up a shot with her fire. Ravenwing pulled back in-time to avoid the fire blast of black fire from Cynder just as a pained wingbeat sounded from next to Ravenwing.
"Took you long enough Spyro." Ravenwing commented as said purple dragon let loose a torrent of yellow lighting where Cynder had fired her black fire. The lightning hit the pink dragon, who all but writhed in pain and anger flashed over it's face.
"Look, I don't know what you want with us, but you're outnumbered." Spyro said with a tone ringing out a sense of authority that caught both Cynder and Ravenwing slightly off guard. To this the dragon growled either not understanding the meaning of the words or not caring.
"Now isn't the time to taught fledgling." The dragon said to which Spyro and Cynder cocked a brow as Ravenwing snorted. "I should just roast you all alive for even being here!"
"Oh and like that's mature to call someone." Ravenwing replied with an equally agitated growl, causing Spyro, Cynder, and the pink dragon to open their mouths surprised. "We didn't know this was your turf ok? Me and my friends here," He continued gesturing to Spyro and Cynder, "...were just racing though the canyon. I don't know what you got against us but if you don't back down I won't hesitate to burn you to the bone!" He said in a commanding roar as white fire leaked though the edges of his maw causing the pink dragon to narrow it's eyes.
"You call me immature yet you clamor to elementals like you are perfectly fine what they did. Of all the dragon kinds I know and was told of, shouldn't you Sky-Screechers hate them the most?!" The pink dragon roared back as it's own flame threatened to escape it's maw again. This caused Ravenwing to cock a brow at the pink dragon and snort.
"And why should I? At least they didn't attack me out of the blue like you did pinky!" He roared back. Spyro and Cynder looked between each other and the two arguing dragons and noticed that Ravenwing's form looked ready to pounce again on the pink dragon with intent to kill. Quickly, the two flew between Ravenwing and the pink dragon which caused the pink dragon to raise up defensively.
"Ravenwing..." Spyro said to the grey dragon who snapped his hate filled gaze from the pink dragon to Spyro and blinked. His adrenaline fading a small bit to allow reason to shine again in his mind. Taking a deep breath Ravenwing snorted a bit and looked to the pink dragon which looked at the scene with semi-disgusts and surprise.
"Sorry bout that...lost control for a second." Ravenwing told Spyro and Cynder before turning back to the pink dragon who's face had conformed back to an angered state. "Look we are just passing through. All I ask is safe passage for us and you wont have to see us ever again, alright?" Ravenwing said in a neutral tone to which their assailant blinked in surprise.
"You expect me just to let an outsider and two 'elementals' go just like that? After you invaded to begin with?" It asked incredulously. The grey dragon shrugged a bit.
"Either that or we continue fighting pinky." Ravenwing replied with a huff. The pink dragon paused and pondered the information given to it for a minute before coming to a conclusion within itself. It looked to the trio of dragons realizing it couldn't win this fight and sighed in annoyance.
"On the condition I travel with you to my borders to ensure you leave then you may pass." It said. "But...if you make any moves to claim this land as your own, then I'll have no choice but to eviscerate you." It added dangerously. Ravenwing relayed the message to Spyro and Cynder who gulped and nodded a bit. After seeing Ravenwing nod as well the pink dragon took a relaxed defensive posture and sighed.
"Well pinky, you lead then. this is 'your turf' after all." Ravenwing said in a taunging manner, earning a dangerous growl from the pink dragon.
"It's days like these I'm glad the Sky-Screechers are extinct." It said as it flew off with the trio in tow. Following their guide past this section of the mountains with great speed.
Chapter End