Cynder didn't snore, but she had been known to talk in her sleep.

To anyone who might have been watching her it would have been clear that Cynder was having a good dream, and that it involved her beloved purple dragon, Cynder was engaged in an extremely pleasurable re-run of the evening that had led to her being here.

"Here" saw Cynder lying tangled around Spyro amidst a thoroughly messed up bed, the two dragons looked opulently comfortable, and both had peaceful smiles on their faces.

Dreams were capricious by nature, and Cynder's pleasant dream gave her little warning before it turned into the most spectacular nightmare Cynder had ever experienced. This was no small claim, Cynder had suffered terrible nightmares in the past, but nothing had ever struck at her quite in the way that this one did.

Cynder's dream Spyro was crying, Cynder kissed away his tears until he shook her away and turned from her embrace. She felt sad that she was unable to help him, and she looked around. The heat hit her suddenly; the two dragons were lying beside a vast chasm of roiling fire. Cynder recognised the jagged basalt, scoria and deadened plains of The Burned Lands, the ashen trees, sheer cliffs and the vast volcano on the horizon, surrounded with dark power.

Cynder murmured unhappily in her sleep at the change, but was unable to waken herself. A watcher would have seen Spyro twitch too in response to Cynder, his dreams were a mystery.

The traitor moved silently through the room, bearing their stolen treasure to the sleeping dragons.

Cynder's dream self was much younger and smaller than her true self, this was no young adult dragoness, but the Cynder of years ago, before the defeat of the Dark Master. Dream Spyro looked out at the infernal fire and cried out in grief. Cynder recognised this scene; this was the moment after the death of Ignitus. The fire guardian had sacrificed his life to guide them safely through the Belt of Fire.

"Spyro, stop! It's too late…" Cynder said, just as she had done all those years ago. She was crying too, for Ignitus and for Spyro. "You can't do anything for him now…"

"No! He isn't gone!" Spyro cried.

"Spyro, let it go." Cynder said.

"No!" Spyro shouted, a dark aura of power surrounded him, and he rose into the air without needing to flap his wings. He gazed down at Cynder with grief driven rage.

"No! Spyro, don't!" Cynder pleaded.

"You can't stop me." Spyro said. His voice was twisted and changed by the darkness that had consumed him.

"You're right, only you can do that. Please Spyro, Don't do this. I love you Spyro." Cynder cried.

This was where, in the past, Spyro had been persuaded by her words, and allowed his anger to turn to sadness. Dream Spyro had other ideas.

"I can bring him back! His spirit isn't gone!" Dark Spyro insisted. He turned away from her and dove into the firestorm.

"Spyro, no!" Cynder screamed. It would kill him, she was sure of it. Then the magical chain that bound them reached its full stretch and Cynder screamed in terror and hopelessness as she was dragged into the inferno. She could feel the chain dragging her forward as strongly as if it was really around her neck once again.

Sleeping Cynder let out a small whimper as her dream self was burnt to death. The pain was dull, as if her dream couldn't quite remember exactly how it should have felt; Cynder's entire body was chilled cold as she turned into nothing but ashes. Then there was no Cynder, and she could only watch as Spyro flew, untouched and uncaring, through the flames. His tears turned to steam the moment they fell, but his body was unaffected by the fire.

A single tear ran down sleeping Cynder's cheek, the traitor looked at her with sadness.

Spyro stopped at a place of fire and hung for a long moment in the air, the darkness grew stronger around him, until he was barely recognisable to Cynder's floating gaze. Dark Spyro reached out and sank his claws into the air, or not the air but the very fabric of reality itself. Cynder couldn't describe how it happened, but she saw what Spyro did, watched him focus his intense gaze on nothingness and shred the air with his razor sharp claws. Blinding purple light spilled from the rift Spyro created, and he reached into its depths and drew out a dragon from within.

Ignitus looked at Dark Spyro with amazement, and then the two dragons embraced. Cynder could only watch, and after a moment she realised it wasn't Ignitus but young Ember, who Spyro was holding in his arms, her heart tipped tail curled around Dark Spyro's belly as she held him.

"I love you, my hero. I would die for you." Ember said, and then Dark Spyro leant over her and the two dragons kissed deeply.

Malefor's voice exploded into Cynder's dream, shaking the entire world with its force.

"There is no escaping the destiny of the purple dragon. He cannot hide from fate!"

Cynder woke with a start. She felt chilled to the bone. She looked around, after a moment she realised she was in Spyro's home, the faintest hint of pre-dawn light filtered in through the high windows above her and through the open door.

The open door? The door hadn't been open when the two dragons had gone to bed. Cynder watched the door close with a barely audible click, that didn't seem right at all.

Cynder realised she couldn't easily disengage herself from Spyro without waking him, for a moment she was stuck. Then she recalled that she was a shadow dragoness, which made moving rather simple actually. Cynder slipped from Spyro's bed like smoke and crossed the room in a moment, she passed smoothly through the door without opening it; the sturdy wood was no barrier to her shadow magic.

Cynder was just in time to catch a glimpse of a dragon's figure at the far end on the tunnel. The dragon's head turned to look back and saw Cynder, even Cynder's sharp eyes didn't quite have time to see the face of the intruder because the dragon launched itself into the air in an instant and was gone from her sight.

Cynder used her wind magic to hurtle down the corridor in pursuit; she was at the entrance in moments, having covered well over a hundred metres in a few seconds, she shot from the entrance and went to fly upwards when she was jerked back by something closing around her neck. She choked for a second, even as she heard a startled yell from Spyro's room. Instantly she whirled around and flew back down the corridor, the unknown dragon forgotten. Cynder phased through the door as easily as she had left and stared at the purple dragon.

Spyro had been dragged out of bed and dumped on the floor. He got to his paws, his bed sheet had wound up over his head and he tried to shake it off.

"Cynder?" He said in a muffled voice.

"I'm here." She replied, quickly untangling the sheet from his horns. Spyro looked at her in confusion.

"What just happened?"

"There was someone in the room with us. A dragon, I chased them down the corridor, but…" Cynder looked down at her neck. A glowing snake charm appeared there, as if from nowhere.

The two dragons looked at Spyro's neck, an identical object rested there, glowing gently.

"Oh great. Here we go again." Spyro said.

"Are you taking this seriously?" Spyro asked. Cynder shook her head.

"No, I'm not." She replied. Spyro sighed, she clearly had a reason.

"Okay, should we follow the dragon that did this?"

"No, there's no point. They'll be long gone. I think that what we should do now is either buy a lock for your door and tell the guardians about this… or take a bath."

"Take a bath?" Spyro asked doubtfully. Cynder laughed in embarrassment.

"Yes, look at us, we're covered in each other's… ah… scents. Come on, let's bathe." Cynder nudged Spyro towards the bathroom. Spyro shrugged, the hot water would ease his muscles too, he was somewhat sore.

"That's a fair point. Okay then, Cynder." Spyro smiled, Cynder smiled back at him. The concerns she'd had the previous night, her little fears about how Spyro might treat her differently, or if what they had done together would damage or even ruin their friendship, it all disappeared. Spyro's smile gave Cynder the certainty that everything was going to be all right.

"Do you mind if I splash around?"

"Not at all." Spyro's smile turned into a grin.

"And why did it take you several hours to report this?" Terrador asked wearily.

Spyro and Cynder glanced at each other.

"General reasons…" Spyro eventually said.

Fortunately Imperia wasn't in the guardian's meeting chamber to make a comment on that. Terrador looked at them for a moment, before sighing.

"I thank you for considerately not waking me at an undue hour, to deal with something I couldn't have immediately helped with anyway." Terrador said.

"Thanks for the reason- I mean, thanks for your understanding." Spyro said with a grin of embarrassment. Cynder sighed at his behaviour.

Flare was the first of the other guardians to join them in the room; Cynder again found her gaze was drawn to the Fire Guardians' strange graceful movement. The dragoness looked at them briefly, then nodded and sat to wait for the other guardians.

Imperia was the next to arrive, Terrador looked at her silently, his gaze told her that she wasn't allowed to be there, she blew him a kiss. Flare smiled knowingly at the wind dragon so Imperia blew her a kiss too, Cynder thought she was acting rather flirtatious towards Flare. Imperia focused her attentions on Spyro and Cynder and opened her mouth to bombard them with questions before Terrador coughed meaningfully. Imperia took the hint and didn't speak as Cyril and Volteer arrived.

Cynder noticed a certain level of tension among the Guardians, Cyril in particular looked uneasy, and didn't even argue with Volteer. Spyro too noticed the atmosphere of the room.

"Is something wrong? Does it have to do with the break in at the Vaults?"

"Yes." Terrador said simply.

"And?" Spyro added.

"We believe that Malefor has returned." Volteer said.

There was a moment of shock from Spyro and Cynder; surely it wasn't possible for the Dark Master to return?

"Why didn't you mention this to me?" Imperia asked in surprise and annoyance.

"Because you're not a guardian dragon." Cyril said. Imperia glared at him.

"Explain what's happened." Flare said, before an argument could begin. She had heard most of the details from Volteer, but knew the other dragons would want a summary. Volteer explained.

"Two items were stolen from the Vaults. The Dark Master's snake charms have disappeared, but-"

"They've turned up actually." Terrador said. Spyro and Cynder both stepped forwards and the chain appeared between them.

"When did this happen?" Volteer asked in surprise.

"We suspect it was this morning, sometime before dawn." Spyro said.

"I saw a dragon leaving our room at that time." Cynder added.

"A male dragon, or are you not sure?" Imperia asked. Then she smiled playfully and mouthed two words to Cynder, Cynder heard the words on the wind: "Our bedroom" and squirmed slightly in embarrassment.

"I'm not sure." She said. "But they were adult sized, or near enough."

"We already believed there was a traitor within Warfang, this isn't a revelation, but it does change what we know about their motives. However we still know very little." Flare said thoughtfully.

"It also effects out next move." Terrador said.

"Next move?" Spyro asked.

"We planned to send you to Darkmire's tomb, Spyro. Now this is more difficult." Terrador explained.

"That's where the remains of Malefor were buried isn't it? Darkmire's tomb."

"Yes. You would have the best chance of finding out what has happened there, you understand the powers that Malefor wields better than any of us. We believe that the energy of his soul was contained within the crystal that was also stolen from the Vaults. We can only conclude that Malefor is once again free. We need to track him down and find out what he's planning. You were going to leave today."

"Going to? I want to go, why can't we?"

"Because now Cynder would need to go with you." Imperia realised. "What sort of secret plot is this? It seems self-contradictory."

"Malefor's traitor may have not wanted Spyro to go after him. So they arranged to keep Spyro in Warfang using Cynder and the chain." Terrador said. "That would explain the facts."

"Well that's easy. Spyro and I can go together." Cynder said.

"Yes."

"No."

"No!"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"We could be on our way by now." Cynder said to Spyro.

"I know, but this is still fun, isn't it?" Spyro replied. He was referring specifically to the cuddle the two dragons were enjoying while they waited for the Guardians' decision. Cynder thought that the argument was also somewhat interesting, not as interesting as the cuddle of course, but entertaining. The young couple waited patiently.

It annoyed Cynder that Malefor's servant might have attached her to Spyro in order to hold him back. She refused to be a burden to Spyro; she could and would help him, no matter what the others thought.

Imperia, Volteer and Terrador believed that the traitor had chained Spyro and Cynder to prevent them from leaving Warfang, and therefore reasoned that the two dragons should leave together, spoiling the plan. They somehow, despite being in agreement, still managed to argue almost as much with each other as they argued with the others.

Flare suggested that this was actually a double bluff, designed to make Cynder and Spyro more likely to go to Darkmire's tomb together, and that Malefor could actually be hoping for that. She wasn't believed, because her logic was confounding and she had no solid proof. Eventually she sighed and gave up and just stared into the distance while the others argued. She was trying to put a theory together, they were distracting her.

Cyril simply didn't want Cynder to leave Warfang as she had just been placed in the Dragon Academy the previous day and immediately caused a great deal of trouble. Cyril felt that Cynder was unstable, had no respect for authority and was possibly untrustworthy. He didn't mention that he suspected her of being the traitor herself, but Volteer knew he was thinking it.

Eventually it was agreed that Spyro and Cynder would travel together to Darkmire's tomb together, unless the chain could be removed within the hour.

The chain proved stubborn; clearly it had been modified since the last time by someone who knew a great deal about runes and magic. The old way they had removed it didn't work, neither did twisting it, to Cynder's amusement. Cynder didn't mind the chain now, it would let her go with Spyro, she wanted it to stay at least for a while, and Spyro confided in her that he also hoped it wouldn't be broken too soon.

Neither the moles nor the dragon craft masters could remove it. Nothing worked. The actual length of the chain had fortunately been extended, it allowed the two dragons to move around in an almost two hundred metre radius from each other, and curiously there were also a number of new symbols added to the chain that appeared to have no function at all.

They were unable to remove it, so Spyro and Cynder were given another hour to prepare to leave. With Cynder reluctantly in tow Spyro spent ten minutes searching for Sparx to tell him that they were going, but they couldn't find him, to Cynder's relief. Spyro didn't search quite as hard as he could have.

Before they left Cynder wanted them to say goodbye to Seizo and Miasma, she also wanted to try to apologise to Ember, Flora, Feyer and the electric dragon whose name she still couldn't remember.

They encountered Cyria on their way to the infirmary, where Cynder guessed the others might be. Cyria told her that Flora was there, but that the others were actually in the Dragon Temple classrooms and guided the couple there. She did her best to give Cynder advice on the way.

"Ember is terrified of you now, she may try to hide it, but she's scared. Try to be nice to her for my sake, please. As for the others: Nero is the electric dragon-"

"I'd forgotten his name." Cynder admitted.

"Did you remember my name?" Cyria asked with a perfectly straight face.

"Your name is Cyria, niece of Cyril and apprentice Ice guardian. The ladylike one."

"Okay you remembered. So continuing: don't mind Nero, he's nice enough once you get to know him, just don't be smug and he'll come around. I wouldn't bother with Feyer, he'll get over it on his own eventually, and he's a bit of a jerk anyway. You can deal with Flora later, I don't think you'll have much chance with her, she's upset, really upset, and I expect she's scared of you too, so maybe just give her some time."

"Thanks." Cynder almost felt like she was going for round two against the same opponents, but the rules of the match were rather different this time.

Cynder and Spyro walked into the classroom and the dragons fell silent immediately, it was only the four of them, three dragons she'd fought plus Flame, who were in the room. Not a huge crowd, Spyro gave her confidence, his tail touched hers. "I love you, Cynder" echoed in her mind.

"I want to apologise to all of you." Cynder said.

None of them spoke immediately; Cynder looked around the room, waiting for a response.

"I accept your apology Cynder." Cyria said, she walked around the edge of the room to join the other dragons.

"Why?" Ember asked Cyria, her eyes were fixed on Spyro.

"Because we were the ones who did the wrong thing Ember, and we both know it." Cyria said. Ember's eyes flicked to Cynder's, then she looked away quickly, Cynder realised that Ember really was afraid of her, she felt bad for that.

"I did things I shouldn't have done and I'm sorry that I hurt you. I just wanted to defend Spyro" Cynder said to Ember. The pink dragoness looked at her in surprise.

"Defend Spyro." Ember repeated Cynder's words as if she was in a trance. Cynder felt the named dragon shift uncomfortably beside her. "I can't… didn't really think you cared about him like I do, you were always so… quiet about him." Ember trailed off.

"I love Spyro." Cynder said automatically. Ember looked at her for a long moment, and then she rose and rushed out of the room without looking back, Cynder heard her start to cry, wind dragons had sensitive hearing.

The remaining dragons looked at her. Cynder caught Feyer's gaze, and watched the dragon sneer at her.

"You cheated, bitch, what you did was against the rules. In a fair fight I woul-"

"It was all fair, and that you were defeated so easily was your own fault." Spyro interrupted. "Also Feyer, if you don't think you could defeat me, then don't imagine you could beat Cynder. She's at least as skilled as I am. Would you fight me, Feyer?" He looked like he wished the fire dragon would agree to fight him, Spyro would make anyone regret calling Cynder a bitch.

The big orange dragon glared, but didn't continue. Feyer had the advantage of height, weight and arguably strength, Spyro was tall but fairly lightweight in dragon terms, but none of the dragons in the room gave Feyer even the slightest chance against the Purple Legend. Nero was stirred from silence by Spyro's defence of Cynder.

"I'll admit, you're powerful." The electric dragon said. "I didn't really care one way or the other who won, so we're fine."

Cynder nodded in acceptance, this was as good as she had hoped for.

She looked at Spyro, who gave her a nod of respect. The two dragons left the others in the classroom. The infirmary was next, Cynder had to try.

Flora lay on a ward bed, her slender waist wrapped in white bandages and red crystals. She looked awful, sick and weak. She glanced up when Cynder, Spyro and Cyria entered the room, her eyes narrowed and she deliberately looked away.

Flora was not a creature of emotion in the same way that Ember was, but she felt a great deal of fear and anger towards Cynder, there would be no forgiveness from her. Cynder recognised that Cyria had been right, reasoning was pointless, so she just said a few simple words.

"I'm sorry Flora." Then she turned and left again, Spyro followed, placing his wing over her body to comfort her. Cyria stayed until Flora looked back and gave the wounded earth dragoness a sad, gentle smile, and then she too left.

"So you two are going on a trip?" Cyria called after them. Spyro and Cynder looked back until she'd caught up with them.

"We're going to track down the most evil dragon in the world and defeat him… again." Cynder said.

"The Dark Master? But he's dead is he not?"

"Apparently not." Cynder said.

"Oh. I was wondering if you were having a honeymoon. That's unfortunate then."

"We may have time for both." Spyro said, sharing a smile with Cynder.

"I hope you do. Good luck either way." Cyria said. She gave Cynder a wink. The two dragons thanked her.

Saying goodbye to Seizo and Miasma took longer, but was also much more enjoyable. Cynder wondered how Miasma was dealing with dating Seizo, the two dragons were shyly touching tails, and Cynder felt that was a good start. Seizo didn't seem to be pressuring Miasma; not that Cynder had expected him to, he seemed to really care for her.

Miasma looked content. The dragons talked about Spyro and Cynder's date, Seizo wanted to know how it had gone. Spyro asked him if he was looking for tips, and suggested he try Volteer. They laughed about that, and then started discussing Volteer's dating history. Cynder found this was an entirely new and interesting conversation; it turned out that Volteer had dated both Imperia and Flare recently, much as Cynder had guessed, as well as another lightning dragoness almost a year ago. Between the four of them they found that they actually knew most of what Volteer had done, where he had taken the dragonesses, if they had or hadn't kissed and so on.

Volteer had become guardian not long before Spyro and Cynder were born; he was now approaching his quarter century in guardianship. Twenty five years as the electricity guardian, not many compared to Terrador's hundred and ten years or Cyril's eighty. Twenty five was still a lot more than Flare's two and a half, for comparison's sake.

Cynder mentioned Volteer's attractiveness just to see what happened; Miasma agreed that he was indeed rather good looking, and demanded that nobody mention that she had said so. Seizo acknowledged that Volteer was good looking with amusement. Spyro looked away awkwardly, and then agreed.

Cynder's wind magic allowed her to sense a small figure just outside the room.

"Found you. Imperia's been looking for you two."

Cynder looked around; Spark the young fire dragon sat in the doorway.

"Apparently it's time you were going." Spark added.

Cynder and Spyro said farewells to Seizo and Miasma then Spark led them to the square before the city gates. Cynder would have preferred to fly over the wall and away but someone, probably Cyril, had felt that this wouldn't be enough of a ceremonious exit. Nadder joined them as they travelled.

"So you met my big sister?" The little poison dragon asked.

"Miasma, yes she's nice. She said your name was Myria." Cynder said. The green dragon huffed.

"It is, but I gave myself a better name."

"Why?" Cynder asked.

"Because our parents gave it to me, and now they're gone. I can't even remember them, just our names. We're orphans, see?"

"How can an orphan have a big sister?" Cynder asked, then realised that it was a tactless question. Nadder answered it anyway, not seeming to care much about tact.

"She's not that much older than me, she was about six or maybe three or something, too young to properly remember them too. She raised me on her own until we were taken to Warfang. She's cool, I'm glad you met her." Nadder said as the dragon group arrived at the city gates and met Imperia. The young dragons didn't hang around but went looking for the young wind dragon that completed their trio; Cynder recalled his name was Stratos.

Cynder hadn't really thought about it until now, but when she saw that Spyro was the same height as Imperia she realised that she was nearly that tall too. She shook her head in amazement, thinking about how much they had grown. Imperia came over to them with her usual smile.

"How was your night?" Was the first thing she asked.

"Perfect?" Spyro said, looking to Cynder for confirmation.

"Perfect." Cynder confirmed. The two dragons stepped closer together and Spyro nuzzled Cynder.

"Brilliant! I… yep… wow, I'm so happy for you both!" Imperia babbled.

"Are you here to say goodbye and good luck?" Spyro asked.

"Yes, well no. I wanted to hear details but we are short of time. I think I'll instead say "Goodbye and have fun" because it's more positive."

"We need more positivity." Cynder said. Imperia sighed, taking a more serious tone.

"I have faith in you both, but we know nothing about Malefor and what he might be up to, so try to be careful." She focused on Cynder and said three simple words, words Cynder had heard unusually often lately.

"I love you."

Cynder couldn't find her words; they had abandoned her, which also seemed to be happening rather often lately. She just nodded her head and tried to force herself to not be tearful.

Imperia turned to Spyro. "Look after her for me, will you?"

"I will, I promise." Spyro said.

Imperia looked into Spyros eyes for a long moment, then suddenly leant forwards and took Spyro with a full on kiss. Cynder stared at the scene; Spyro's eyes closed at the kiss, and then snapped open in astonishment and he staggered back

"Waah! Tongue!" He yelled. "What was that for?"

"Tongue?" Cynder repeated incredulously, glaring at Imperia.

The wind dragoness laughed at their reaction and licked her lips. Spyro looked like he was wishing he was invisible.

"I couldn't help myself. Spyro don't look at me like that! I was only teasing." She caught sight of Cynder's glare. "Oh come on Cynder! I was just lightening the mood."

Cynder continued to glare.

"You two are so fun to mess with. You can't make me feel bad." Imperia laughed. After a moment Cynder couldn't glare anymore.

"I can't believe you did that." Cynder said.

"Neither can Spyro." Imperia laughed. "It's just a little something to remember me by. Take care you two." Imperia turned tail and began to walk away. After a few seconds Cynder ran after her.

Imperia looked back in time for Cynder to grab her in a tight hug. The two wind dragons held each other, Imperia stroked Cynder's head.

"I love you too Imperia." Cynder said.

"What's not to love?" Imperia said. "Also you're crushing me. You have a tight grip, clingy Cynder."

"Sorry." Cynder released her. Imperia nuzzled Cynder for a moment, and then the two dragons parted.

"She has no idea." Spyro said quietly. Cynder heard him, wind dragons had excellent hearing. She jabbed him in the side playfully, then allowed him to put his wing over her.

She wasn't really clingy, was she? Compared to Miasma she certainly was clingy, but not compared to Ember, perhaps she should get a dating advice book from Seizo to read a proper comparison. Actually she decided not to bother, she wasn't about to pretend to be a dragoness she wasn't in order to make Spyro care for her more. He loved her for who she was, supposed clinginess included.

Imperia had been gone for only a few seconds when Volteer arrived.

"Ah! You're early, not late, an excellent start to a stupendous adventure!" The electric dragon said cheerfully. "I have examined several comprehensive maps with which I have determined a suitable course you might choose to take. I myself have tried my hand at cartography in the past; in fact mapmaking is a wonderful skill to have. I can't help but-"

"And which path do you recommend?" A new voice interrupted. Cynder hadn't noticed that Flare was walking up behind them. Her strange walk messed with Cynder's wind senses, the way she moved her wings made her difficult to detect. Also Spyro had been in the way, Cynder reasoned, so it wasn't her fault she hadn't fully noticed the fire dragoness.

"Ah, em, eh…" Volteer replied wisely.

"The north road past Dante's Freezer." Flare prompted.

"Yes, that path, exactly the one I was going to suggest! It's a three day journey by any road but traveling this way should mean that you only spend a single night above the snow line. I've been told the scenery is spectacular, the volcano, the ice valley, the rift lake, really it's quite amaz-"

Flare interrupted with directions and advice, making sure the conversation stayed relevant.

"Basically you fly north across the plains of Warfang towards the volcano. You'll know that bit pretty well. From there its east for almost a full day, try to go east exactly for a shorter flight and better places to spend the night, but you'll hit the rift lake even if you don't fly straight, it's huge, like an inland sea, you quite literally can't miss it."

"We probably could." Spyro joked. Flare shook her head.

"You can't, trust me it's a very big lake. Fly east along the lake until you reach Dante's Freezer, it isn't too hard to find really, follow the icebergs. From there its one hundred and sixty six degrees true north bearings, pretty much southeast, use the dragon constellation's tail tip star to be exact. Get this bit right or you'll reach the mountain range and get stuck. I've been to Darkmire's tomb before, and if you miss the ice valley between the mountainsides then it becomes a real nightmare to get there. You'll need to stop for the night in the mountains, there are no deep caves so I'm afraid all I can say is "suffer" but you should reach Darkmire's tomb by noon on the third day. It's built on a cliff on the side of the mountain range."

"That fortress is a marvel of engineering, precariously perched above icy oblivion. I would simply love to go with you and see it for myself." Volteer said.

"I would guide you there personally, but I have to go away to Shattershelf as part of the treaty with the fire dragons." Flare finished.

"Terrador told us we can't come. Is Sparx not going with you? He can sketch, I want to see Darkmire's tomb myself, but a drawing would do until I can go." Volteer said.

"I couldn't find him." Spyro said. "He doesn't know we're going."

"Fortunately" Cynder muttered, making sure nobody heard her.

"I'll look for him." Volteer said immediately. He turned and left, Cynder crossed her claws that Sparx wouldn't be found. Spyro looked at her and shrugged helplessly.

"All his lightning has fried his brain. He is socially inept." Flare said absently, she was still thinking about other things, there was something big happening, and she wanted to work out what it was. "Two's company, but three's a crowd."

Cynder hadn't heard that saying before, but it was simple enough to work out what Flare meant. She filed the phrase away in her memory for later use.

Flare glanced around, seeing that they were now alone she spoke urgently to Spyro and Cynder.

"The others disagree, but I think that Malefor is smarter then we give him credit for. He was brilliant once, before he went mad. I feel that Malefor actually meant for you two to go to Darkmire's tomb together, and had the traitor in Warfang chain you when it looked like Cynder might have to stay at the Dragon Academy."

Spyro frowned thoughtfully. What Flare said made some sense, but why would Malefor want Spyro and Cynder to go after him together, not Spyro alone? He didn't have anything to gain.

Flare didn't add the final… inevitable… conclusion of her logic. Everything that had happened would be explained, if Cynder was still in league with Malefor.

Cynder made the perfect traitor.

Cynder had returned to Warfang in time to open the Vaults for Malefor, after Imperia had fallen asleep. They only had the black dragonesses' word for it that she and Spyro had been visited by a strange dragon last night, she could easily have lied about that.

Cynder seduced and bedded Spyro, so they were together and suspicion was deflected from her, it was a common tactic for females in espionage. Then Cynder put the charms on Spyro and herself to ensure she was sent with the purple dragon.

Spyro would be alone among enemies; he wouldn't suspect a thing, and even worse he wouldn't be able to hurt Cynder if she betrayed him, now that she had made Spyro fall in love with her.

The only piece of evidence that made Flare doubt her solution was simply Cynder's eyes. The black dragoness looked at Spyro with such love and warmth that should have been impossible to fake. Flare could see how much the two dragons cared for each other; she really hoped she was wrong about Cynder.

Flare hoped she was wrong, but she knew that she usually wasn't.

The fire guardian quickly shook herself out of those thoughts, the young dragon couple was looking at her strangely.

"There isn't anything we can do about it, but if Malefor at any point says the phrase: "This is exactly as I planned!" or words to that effect, then come back to Warfang immediately, and get help. Don't play into his hands; stay on your guards, both of you."

"We will." Cynder said. Flare looked at her for a moment; Cynder sensed she was being judged. Eventually Flare gave her a smile; Cynder returned the smile, unsure.

That was goodbyes for and from two of the guardians, plus Imperia, which left just…

"I see you two haven't packed armour or anything. Have you at least eaten?" Terrador approached from across the square, Cyril walked beside him.

"Eaten? No." Spyro admitted.

"So I assume you plan to hunt your own food on the way?" Terrador asked wearily.

"It just slipped my mind." Spyro admitted. Now he felt hungry, he hadn't until Terrador had mentioned it. How typical.

"We'll hunt. I've been to the rift lake before." Cynder said. "I've been to lots of places; we can get food, no problem."

"I've been to Dante's Freezer." Spyro said. "It's where I saved Volteer from."

"I guess that means I've been there too, but I don't really remember it." Cynder said quietly, only Spyro heard her. He squeezed her slightly and smiled to cheer her up, it worked of course.

"So you at least know where you're going and how to get there?"

"Yep." Spyro said proudly.

"And what you're doing once you arrive?"

"Umm… Sort of."

"May the Ancestors help us all." Cyril said to the sky.

At last the traitor makes their next move! It only took nine chapters.

I'd say interesting things here, but I have to pace my authors notes or I'll run out of nice stuff to say. Sorry about that.

I look back at the earlier chapters of this story on occasion. It's a motto of mine that "The past is in the past" but I treat it a bit differently to the norm. I look back at my past with amusement, if I was given a chance to meet a past me and give them advice I'd probably just give them a very condescending pat on the head and say "You'll be fine, just have fun." Because I am immature like that. The best bit is that the past me would most likely accept this with similar amusement, and maybe make a sarcastic quip. I know that future me will look back at this me in exactly the same way, and I don't mind at all.

Hi there future 4Dragons!

Nobody around me can understand why I'm irrational and I don't know either, but for today this is my philosophy, and it makes me happy.

"Being cheated out of money is in fact good value, in a stroke one purchases prudence."

-4Dragons