I have three things I want to make clear to everyone:
Firstly: Dragons can take multiple mates if they choose to.
Secondly: SpyroXCynder is and will remain this focus of this story.
Lastly: I shall continue to write this story as well as I can.
I don't want to give you too many pieces of music at once, but I have three for you this time.
Protectors of the Earth, by Two Steps From Hell. If you liked the Two Steps songs from last chapter then I think you'll love this one. It feels like it has a more serious tone. Play it for Spyro and Cynder's fighting.
The Eternal Night: Main Theme, from the Legend of Spyro soundtrack. Thanks goes to Bout1banana for suggesting this one, I suggest playing it when Spyro and Cynder meet Malefor.
Thirdly is the theme song I've chosen for Malefor:
You're Not Me, from the Yu-Gi-Oh movie soundtrack. If you listen to nothing else then please listen to this, and please tell me what you think.
"Hold on to me." Cynder offered her paw to Spyro. Spyro felt a surge of love for the black dragoness in that moment.
He took her paw with a smile, then Cynder moved herself under him and Spyro wrapped his other paw around her slender waist. It was the same position Cynder had used when she'd flown the two of them at supersonic speed. Spyro held on to her tightly.
Cynder smiled, feeling Spyro embrace her. "I'm aiming for that ram, just so you know."
"I'll deal with the ram, and I can use dragon time to get us there."
"Thanks Spyro."
The world turned purple, Cynder focused on her wind and sent the two of them straight toward the ram. She casually swiped arrows that were barely moving from their path, the two dragons appeared as no more than a dark streak of colour to the world around them.
They reached the ram in a few seconds, and with dragon time not even a single second had passed around them. Spyro let Cynder go. He mouthed words that reached Cynder with a slight delay.
"You may want to keep your distance."
She nodded.
It was time to cut loose.
Cynder used the wind to throw herself to a safe distance, as Spyro stopped his dragon time and the world returned to normal. Cynder looked back to him just in time to see him silhouetted against the firestorm that he created.
The huge machine was shredded into scrap, pieces of metal flew everywhere and the entire battle paused for a few seconds.
Spyro landed in the middle of the destruction he had caused with a roar. Before any of the orcs could react he inhaled deeply and breathed another massive torrent of fire, razing everything in front of him for fifty metres.
Arrows were fired, Cynder used her wind to flick them away from Spyro and he gave her a quick nod and smile in gratitude. Knowing he was safe from ranged attacks Spyro looked back at the sea of orcs before him.
"Let's do this."
Spyro's magic swept around him like a storm, even from a distance Cynder could feel the power he was controlling. The air crackled with lightning and energy, Spyro stepped forwards as his power surged furiously, and then he charged.
Orcs were thrown aside before Spyro even reached them or died on the spot as he passed, he was a storm, a whirlwind on the battlefield. Everything around him was howling chaos; ice, lightning and fire lashed out wildly, uncaring of where or what they hit. There were only enemies in his way now.
Spyro left a trail of destruction in his wake; a path of scorched earth and the rocky remains of the orcs he had killed.
He fired hundreds of ice spikes carelessly, using massive amounts of mana no other dragon would dare to commit to such attacks. Orcs fell, first dozens, then hundreds as Spyro began to adapt to total freedom and discover that he liked it very much.
Spyro lit up the battlefield with a firestorm that was at least twice the size of his first one, damaging hundreds of orcs with the one attack; he followed up with a surge of lightning that finished off the survivors.
With all the orcs in his immediate vicinity dead Spyro's eyes raked over the battlefield for a new target. One of the golems detached itself from the city walls, intent on attacking him. Spyro whipped around to face it with a roar of challenge.
Arrows were aimed at Cynder and she deflected them with her wind instinctively. They were no threat at all. She flew low and fast, cloaking her body in shadows. Untouchable, uncatchable, every single one of Cynder's attacks claimed a life, her claws and every one of her scales were coated with lethal poison and she swiped and cut the orcs as she passed them. None of them were able to see her coming or stop her, and after the shadows passed they were all dead.
Spyro dominated the battlefield like a hurricane, Cynder stalked across it like a plague, both powerful, both lethal, both fascinating forces of nature. Nothing stood in their way now that they had finally been given a chance to show their true power. Malefor watched the two heroes fight, marvelling at their abilities as he hung peacefully in the air high above them.
Cynder stayed at the limits of the chain, circling around Spyro from two hundred metres away. If she got any closer she could risk herself getting caught in the massive attacks that he hurled around so casually. Even from that distance she was still using her wind to protect him from arrows and a small group of flying grublins that he was too distracted to notice and destroy.
Spyro tore his way across the battlefield until he reached the golem and he just kept tearing. The purple dragon created huge jagged spikes of stone and threw them at the golem, making the enormous creature roar in anger. Spyro matched its roar with one of his own and used more earth to throw the golem off balance. It crushed dozens of orcs as it fell, then Spyro leapt up onto it and in one quick movement drove three long lances of ice into its skull.
He kept going, not even glancing back as the golem began to rise again. One orc was lucky enough to get past Spyro's ice and fire, lunging at him with an axe. Spyro activated dragon time for a few seconds, swiping it's head clean off before continuing his charge.
Cynder used wind blades to finish off the golem before it could get back up, she didn't want to deal with it later. She left her shadows behind, flying upwards to hover above Spyro for some relief from the fighting. She may not have been in danger, but she couldn't rest. She kept using her wind to keep Spyro protected; she looked around the battlefield, trying to spot Malefor or Gracious. She saw the winged skeletal creature from before, it barely even seemed to notice the two dragons but was instead standing totally still, watching one of the orcs controlling a siege ballista closely.
Cynder too paid close attention to the siege ballista; several of their huge bolts were fired at her, now that she was high enough in the air for them to target. She deflected them effortlessly, wondering why it was only a few that were aiming at her. She looked around and saw that most of the others were pointed at the city walls or at the watchtowers on the mountain range.
Spyro kept hurling his massive attacks, he came across siege towers, ballista and the battering rams that had been brought at backups and he destroyed them all as he passed. He seemed to have no limit to his strength.
Cynder had never pushed herself this far, she usually preferred to conserve her energy and finish off her enemies as efficiently as possible, but now there seemed to be no end to the enemies and she found herself calling on more mana and strength then she ever knew she had, shrouding everything around her in clouds of poison.
How long had they been fighting like this? One minute? Ten minutes? She didn't know; she'd lost all track of time.
Malefor folded his wings and fell, the ground and the fighting rushed towards him. He did not spread his wings.
Time stopped, truly stopped. Everything was still and silent and purple.
Malefor's fall became a gentle touchdown, he landed softly on the ground amid his frozen army. His eyes flickered brightly as they focused on Spyro.
Spyro barely seemed to notice that the orcs were all frozen now, he kept cutting them down, stony pieces of orcs flew into the air before time stopped around them once again.
Cynder stopped fighting, she watched the purple dragon warily, Malefor radiated power and seemed to draw attention as if he was magnetic. It felt like Malefor was the centre of the world.
Nothing moved, at any speed. Cynder looked around, seeing that Malefor truly did have a stronger form of dragon time then her or Spyro.
Spyro was still storming, his powers roiling and whipping wildly around him. Malefor waited and watched for a long moment and the entire world seemed to be holding its breath.
Then Malefor accelerated forwards, shooting straight for Spyro.
"Spyro!" Cynder flew towards Spyro as fast as she could, but Malefor had a wind element too, and he got there first.
Malefor flew straight through Spyro's storm of power, and Spyro's elemental attacks were swept away as Malefor stopped just beyond him.
Spyro stood, panting hard, still crackling with magic. Cynder landed at his side just as Malefor calmly turned back to them.
"Spyro, Cynder, I am so proud of you both."
Spyro growled. Cynder saw a flash of yellow in his eyes. She reached out with her wing and touched his shoulder.
"Spyro, calm down."
Spyro looked at her and managed a faint smile.
"Sorry."
Malefor looked pleased at what had just happened. He took a nonthreatening stance; the aura of power that surrounded him seemed to fade slightly.
"You two have grown."
"You seem to have shrunk a bit." Spyro managed to joke. Malefor smiled.
"Perhaps I have, yes. The Dark Master had the ability to change my form, to make me more physically impressive if he chose to."
Cynder looked more closely at Malefor, the purple dragon had changed a great deal since they had last encountered him. He had become a much lighter shade of purple, almost the same colour as Spyro. Spyro was right; Malefor didn't seem quite as big any more. Perhaps that was because they had grown since they last met him, or perhaps he had indeed gotten smaller. She couldn't be sure.
Malefor's voice had changed too; it was no longer guttural and distorted but was much clearer and smooth. His eyes were different as well, pale purple and shining rather than flat and yellow. The purple dragon looked alive, and he looked powerful.
Cynder spoke up, trying to get some explanation.
"The Dark Master wanted to destroy the world, but we've heard that you don't, what do you want now? Gracious told us that you plan to make the world a better place by killing dragons like Magmar and Thoran."
"I told Gracious what he needed to know, that and the truth are not always the same thing. Look around…" Malefor looked around, Spyro and Cynder did the same, not sure what Malefor was getting at. "This siege, the golems, what happened at The Catacombs… It has nothing to do with killing dragons and it has everything to do with you."
Spyro blinked. "Me?"
"Both of you. The black dragon and the purple dragon; born together in one generation. You are extraordinary, both of you. Shattershelf doesn't matter to me; I created this entire siege and army for the sake of this meeting, with you."
"That's... not possible."
"Of course it is possible. That's not what you're asking yourself, and it's not the question that you really want to ask me."
Cynder was confused for a moment, then realised what Malefor was saying. She rapidly sorted her thoughts out.
"Why would you do all this because of us?"
Malefor smiled.
"Look at what the three of us can do. See all the things I've created for you to destroy. You are both more powerful then I was at your age, I've tested you to gauge your abilities. Think of how powerful you could be in ten years, in fifty, under my tutelage!"
Cynder and Spyro stared.
"What are you saying? Are you…"
"I'm offering to teach you, both of you, how to control your powers."
"That's why you did all this?" Spyro was incredulous. "To test us? The army, everything? We could have died!"
"If you hadn't been able to survive then I would have decided that you weren't worth making this offer to. Now, what do you think?"
"No."
Malefor didn't seem totally surprised, but he failed to completely hide his disappointment.
"Cynder… I understand your distrust, and I have no intention of forcing you to come with me…" Malefor looked slightly sad. "But believe me when I say that I only want to help you two."
"And when you had me imprisoned from birth and trained as a killing machine, did you only have my welfare at heart then?"
Malefor nodded once, using brutal honesty to outmanoeuvre Cynder's sarcasm.
"Yes I did. And I still do."
Cynder opened her mouth to make a sarcastic reply, and then shut it again. Something in Malefor's eyes made her hesitate, and as she hesitated she thought. As bad as her 'training' with the ape king Gaul had been, Cynder's life had been consistently getting better since then. She was powerful, she was free, and she had friends, Imperia, Miasma. She had Spyro too, and she'd suffer the pain of her childhood again in a heartbeat for him.
Cynder realised she had no sharp answer. Malefor looked at her, and she sensed that he knew exactly what she was thinking.
"No. I don't want…" Cynder shook her head, annoyed at herself for failing to speak. "I don't want to be your apprentice."
Spyro nodded. "I agree with her. We decline your offer, Malefor."
Malefor nodded. "Cynder, I'll leave my offer open to you. In case you change your mind." He looked as if he wanted to say more, but he didn't. He turned to Spyro instead, and his eyes glowed. "But Spyro, I'm afraid that you are not allowed to decline. You're coming with me."
Spyro was too surprised to respond for a moment. Cynder stepped in front of him.
"No."
Malefor sighed.
"You won't win."
"Try me. I won't let you take him."
"You won't have a choice."
Malefor flicked his paw, wind rushed around them, and it brought with it the cold. The temperature began to fall immediately. Malefor watched Cynder, waiting patiently for a sign of weakness as it grew colder.
Cynder kept meeting his gaze, knowing that she would need to attack him soon, before she was too weak to pose a threat. He was right, there was no way she could win against him. Malefor looked apologetic, suddenly his eyes flickered with surprise, and then he was consumed by a huge fireball.
A few lingering flames kissed Cynder's scales, Spyro stepped up next to her and she began to feel warm again. Spyro gave her a smile, she returned it.
Malefor touched down lightly about a hundred metres away, he looked at them silently.
"How do we beat him?" Spyro hissed quietly to Cynder.
"I don't know. If I can cut him then I can poison him; that might work."
Spyro nodded seriously. "I'll cover you."
Cynder swept forwards towards the purple dragon. He was more dangerous than any opponent she had ever faced, practically godlike. Cynder tried not to think about whether she actually stood a chance against him, she just had to hope. Malefor casually evaded her first attack, but was forced to dodge back towards her as a fireball streaked past his head.
Cynder's tail blade gleamed, streaked with poison, as she buried it in Malefor's side.
Cynder got something of a shock.
The Malefor she had struck was made entirely of light and electricity, it lanced up her tail, stunning her.
The real Malefor emerged from the ground right behind Spyro, reaching out for his head.
Spyro whipped around, instantly throwing a hard punch at Malefor's jaw. But have he wasn't quite quick enough, Malefor put his paw on Spyro's forehead and the younger purple dragon gasped as he felt energy flow through him. His punch still landed, but it had no power behind it and Malefor let it glance off his scales.
"So it's true that you haven't unlocked your wind element…"
Cynder struggled to get up; electricity was still running through her. She was suddenly terrified, seeing Spyro standing there quietly with Malefor's paw rested on his scales.
"Spyro!"
Spyro twitched slightly, Malefor didn't seem to care. He smiled.
"We both have one, allow me to help you awaken it." Energy flowed from Malefor to Spyro. Spyro's eyes snapped open as he felt power surge within him. This was just like what the Chronicler had done to restore Spyro's elements after his battle with Cynder.
Malefor seemed to be speaking for himself as much as for Spyro. He stepped back as the younger purple dragon rose into the air.
"Wind is the element of freedom. Feel it flow around and through you as it flows past all obstacles. Sense it, and control it. The wind is peaceful, fast, patient… but always ready to ROAR!"
Spyro slammed his paws down onto the ground, and wind howled around him. Malefor looked on, satisfied.
Spyro looked back up at Malefor, too amazed to attack. He spread his wings and wind whispered softly around him.
"So… wind is the fifth guardian element!"
"Yes it is. And there is now a fifth Guardian dragon, and the first wind guardian in history." Malefor smiled. "I know many things, I can teach you a great deal. Both of you."
Malefor looked over at Cynder.
"An advanced lightning technique. In effect it is an illusion created from electricity. Both Volteer and Thoran are capable of this too, but I have spent time perfecting the copy to be indistinguishable and leave no traces."
Cynder growled, managing to stagger to her feet.
"The copy has no mass; you can easily recognise it by using your wind to sense around you. It is simple to detect, but I knew you would not be looking for it, and would therefore be caught."
Cynder got ready to attack again. "Why tell me how to counter your ability?"
"Because I felt you deserved to know. I am not your enemy." Malefor frowned to himself before refocusing on Spyro and Cynder. "I have three minutes of Dragon Time left, have you reconsidered?"
Spyro glanced across at Cynder, and then he shook his head. "No. I'm not going with you."
Three minutes, they could hold off Malefor for that long. Cynder got ready to attack again. After three minutes… she wasn't sure what would happen then, but it would be an improvement to fighting in this still, silent, purple world.
Spyro spread his wings and the wind rushed around him, he raced towards Malefor. He didn't have very much control, but he had speed.
Malefor ran one of his paws across the ground. A wall of rock rose up before Spyro and he crashed into it. Malefor spread his own wings and floated towards him.
Cynder came down on him from above, her claws gleaming with poison. Malefor launched a fireball which went straight through her as she concealed herself in shadow. Cynder was almost upon Malefor when he flashed with blinding light and an explosive thunderclap sound.
Cynder was momentarily blinded, she cursed her carelessness, Volteer had demonstrated this technique ages ago, and she hadn't been expecting it at all. Wind swept around her and Cynder was hurled across the battlefield, knocking down dozens of orcs as she rolled to a stop.
Spyro lunged at Malefor; he was almost as surprised as Malefor was when he managed to hit him. Blood trickled from a cut above Malefor's eye. Spyro went for another attack, but purple energy threw him back and formed a shield around Malefor. A spark of brighter energy flickered over Malefor's eye and his wound healed itself immediately.
Spyro went to attack again, but Malefor spat a fireball at him and Spyro was engulfed in flames.
Malefor swept forwards into the fire, his shield disappearing. He gripped Spyro's horn and struck him casually on the head, stunning him.
"There is no need for that chain anymore." The snake charms disappeared from around Spyro and Cynder's throats. "It has served its purpose. And so have you, Cynder. You have my thanks, and my offer is still open to you."
Cynder furiously blinked her eyes back into focus; the charm connecting her to Spyro glowed brightly as it faded from her neck. She started to run, the wind swirling around her.
"No!"
Two minutes, she just had to keep Malefor busy for two more minutes. She wasn't running fast enough! Malefor was just watching her, standing above Spyro's groaning form. Cynder forced herself to run faster.
"I should teach you something about dragon time too."
"Stop it!"
Malefor looked at her with sympathy.
"Your powers naturally activate when another dragon uses dragon time, I let both of you join me, using my powers to keep you two here. I can stop doing that at any time."
Cynder was so close. Malefor watched her without any fear, but with a gentle look of sadness. Cynder spat poison; it stopped in the air before him.
"I'll see you again soon, Cynder."
"No! No, please no!"
Cynder forgot about Malefor and lunged for Spyro.
The two purple dragons vanished in a flash of light.
He was gone. Malefor had taken him.
Spyro was gone.
"No…"
She hadn't been strong enough. Neither of them had. She felt hollow inside. It felt like the world had been playing a cruel joke on her, making her think she'd been so untouchable, so powerful.
But she hadn't been strong enough.
Cynder rose slowly into the air. An army seethed around her. She looked at them with burning, hateful eyes.
Red energy filled her body, raging around her. Arrows fired at her were thrown down like they were sticks. Cynder was furious.
The energy surged. Cynder held it back until it was painful; it would kill her if she didn't release it soon.
Cynder dove, smashing her paws into the ground and giving a drawn out scream.
Her red energy exploded from her, a shockwave which rushed out and consumed everything around her.
All the orcs within twenty metres of her died instantly. The wave kept rushing outward, no longer with a force, but like a swift, whispering wind. It flowed through the entire valley, rippling off the walls of Shattershelf. Everything was still. Cynder landed gracefully but her wings were hanging on the ground and her head was bowed.
For a long moment the black dragoness stood, swaying. Then she collapsed to the ground with a gentle thud.
That soft sound broke the spell, and in a moment the army became a riot.
Orcs fought each other, cowered on the ground or turned their own weapons on themselves as pure fear surged through them. The sounds of fighting were deafening as around Cynder's still form an entire army began to tear itself apart.
All order was forgotten, all direction was abandoned; the fighting was random and desperate. The orcs died in droves as Cynder's terrible power hung like a thick mist over them. Within minutes the army was in ruins, unsalvageable. And all through this Cynder lay still, and nothing dared to approach her.
Imperia and Terrador watched from above, sitting atop the watchtower.
"I saw Malefor. He was there, but then he disappeared and so did Spyro. Cynder changed places, they must have fought while under the effects of dragon time." Imperia looked across at Terrador urgently. "We have to go and help her!"
"No. Imperia look, no orc dares go near her. She'll be safe until we can reach her. We'll assume that Malefor is gone, and continue with the attack we planned, Cynder is now our number one priority, but I will not endanger the lives of others to get to her."
Imperia nodded.
"You're right… I'm sorry."
"You do not need to apologise, I know how much she means to you. You can help her; the next stage of the attack requires your skills."
"My skills?"
"We need a storm for cover, a large one, as soon as possible. I believe that you and Volteer have been working on combination attacks?"
Imperia began to smile, rolling to her feet; she bumped Terrador with her tail. "You could have told me that earlier. I could be done by now. Seriously, summoning storms is not easy."
Terrador smiled slightly. "I'm telling you now; I hadn't expected the situation to be so urgent. Are you going to get started?"
"The mountains make large scale cloud manipulation tricky, I doubt we'd get many storms with electrical potential here… You know anyone else could need as much as half an hour to summon anything at all." Imperia posed slightly. "It's lucky that I came along; it'll take me about five minutes. I'll get Volteer now."
Imperia leapt off the tower and gained height, the wind rushed around her as she whirled a lazy circle. She spotted Volteer and fell down, laughing softly. It was only seconds after she'd taken off that she landed lightly on Volteer's back, making him jump.
Volteer whipped around in surprise, then realised who it was and smiled.
"Hi there, handsome."
Imperia kissed him, she made it quick, they were short of time, but she closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment while she could. She tapped her paws on Volteer's back, and then leapt down to land next to him, adding an additional spin for the sake of showing off.
"Imperia! You startled me."
"I'm sorry. You were looking lonely." She laughed again, rubbing herself along his side like a cat. Volteer struggled to take his eyes off her.
"We're being stared at. And I could have attacked you with lightning by accident."
"Now you're staring at me, stares aren't always bad. And as you know…" Imperia winked. "Lightning makes my scales quiver."
"Ehm… ah, Imperia…" Volteer looked terribly embarrassed.
"No, I'll focus; this is a bad time to play around. Terrador asked us to create a storm; he wants us to have total control of the sky before we attack. You can take down the siege ballista from a safe range."
Volteer nodded, still blushing.
"It appears that Malefor's extraordinary temporal manipulation ability has altered the situation on the battlefield unexpectedly. Cynder is on the valley floor now, alone."
"I know; and I want to get to her. I need to get started on this storm; Terrador isn't going to want anyone down there until we're ready. I want to be done in five minutes."
"We had better get ready then."
Gracious was stunned. He sat silently on the walls of Warfang, the huge shadow of the last golem cast him in darkness. It had been a matter of pure luck that he had been above the range of the red energy attack, even from such a distance he had been caught off guard by its power.
Cynder was out of the fight now, clearly her attack had taken a lot out of her. Gracious had not expected anything like that from the black dragoness. Malefor hadn't warned him, but he must surely have known. Malefor had to have known she was so powerful.
And now the Warfang dragons were preparing to move down, and his army was in ruins. The orcs could not stand up against the dragons any more. Everything had failed him.
The General stood beside Gracious, tall, skeletal and silent. It too had been out of range of Cynder's attack. Gracious looked out over the battlefield, his mind could barely process what was happening. The General spoke to him in its rasping voice.
"The attack has failed. Malefor advises you to flee; there is no further purpose to saying here."
"Why did he go?" Gracious looked furious. "He must have… I don't understand." He looked at the General. "What is happening here?"
The creature was silent for a long moment, deciding what to say.
"Malefor was not concerned with the result of this siege. He was here for Spyro only. The power of a second purple dragon is of greater importance than Shattershelf."
"Impossible."
"As you wish. Malefor extends his sympathies. He says that if you can forgive him then he will continue to aid you. But he understands that you will be displeased."
"Displeased?" Gracious looked at the General with venom. The skeletal figure considered him without emotion.
"I request that you do not attack me."
Gracious sighed. There was no point, and he was not certain that he could kill the unsettling creature even if he tried. The Warfang dragons would be here soon and a retreat was necessary.
"I'm not going to attack you. I'll go to the ice dragon city abandoned in the mountains near here."
"Howling peak."
"Yes, that's the name. Malefor can find me there, and if he wants any chance at forgiveness then he had better come personally."
"I shall inform him."
The ice dragon turned, launching himself off the city walls and flying away. The General looked down at the remaining orcs; even now they were still barely functioning due to the effects of Cynder's attack. Now the General had no further reason to be at Shattershelf, so it too left the city behind.
Magmar's red eyes were fixed on Cynder's still form. He had left his throne to watch the battle from the windows. Flare stood beside him.
A fire dragon ran into the room.
"There are dragons on the mountainside, the entire orc army is in chaos after some sort of wide area attack!"
"It's Warfang." Magmar said. He turned and paced the room, and then his eyes glowed as he hit upon an idea. "How many are there?"
"Approximately two hundred. We have positive identification of the Earth Guardian dragon Terrador."
"The other two have to be here as well. The guardians have rules about when they can split up; the other two will be there." His eyes glowed even brighter. He looked around at the messenger dragon, who stepped back nervously.
"Yes, lord?"
"Get me Cynder. Send out an attack team, right now. Retrieve her and bring her to the main meeting chamber immediately!"
"At once!" The fire dragon fled the room.
Magmar turned to Flare. She looked at him quietly. Magmar casually hurled a fireball at her.
The fire turned into a bird as it flew, and the bird flapped its way to Flare and perched on her wing.
"Bird…" Flare stared at him.
Magmar growled, launching another fireball. This one too became a bird and perched on Flare's back.
"Are you attacking me?"
"I am, and I intend to kill you."
"That would be an act of war. We are so close to peace between our cities, you agreed to the treaty after Spyro defeated you in combat."
"And Spyro isn't here anymore."
"This war shouldn't start again, we were getting nowhere! It's pointless."
"But now Warfang's army is here, in our territory. And they will be crushed."
"No! They came to help! You… I beg you not to do this."
Magmar lunged forwards. Flare's two birds flew at him and dived at his head. Magmar swatted them away and lashed his tail at Flare. The fire dragoness bowed deeply and his tail swept over her head. Immediately Magmar struck again, but Flare politely stepped aside to let him pass, evading again. Fire flickered over her scales.
"Your dancing is most impressive."
Flare nodded, then sat down sharply, barely getting her head out of range of a swiping claw. Magmar surprised her with a lunge, catching her by the throat and slamming her against the wall.
"I'll kill you."
Flare flicked fire into his eyes, making him snarl in pain. She whipped her claws up, going for his eyes. Magmar howled in anger and hurled her across the room.
Flare landed and was on her feet again immediately.
"GUARDS!" Magmar roared. Seven armoured fire dragons hurried into the throne room, unsure what they had been called for. They took position between Flare and Magmar.
"You, get the Warfang dragons. All of them! To the main meeting chamber, right now. Make sure Cynder is taken there as well."
"It will be done." One of the guards left the room.
"Why are you doing this?" Flare looked at Magmar, trying to hold his gaze. He looked back at her with burning eyes that had no mercy.
"The Warfang dragons will attack Shattershelf, and we will destroy them. They have no hope of taking the city, but they will try anyway. All four of the Guardians will die, Warfang will be crippled!"
"Stop this, I beg you."
"Kill Flare, I don't care how you do it, you have half an hour. Make sure she's still recognisable when you're done with her. Take her remains to the high tower; we're going to throw her down to the Warfang dragons below, and hers won't be the only corpse we give them."
The six guard dragons advanced on Flare, the fire dragoness backed away warily.
The messenger who had first brought news of the new dragon army came back, panting after rushing around.
"We have Raze, Flame, Ember, Feyer and Spark gathered in the main meeting chamber! The other Warfang dragons are fighting at the main gates."
"Leave them; I'll deal with them later. Do you have the black dragoness? Do you have Cynder?"
"Yes my lord, she's been retrieved. She is still unconscious and she's being taken there now."
Magmar's eyes burned as he started to walk from the room.
"Good. Keep them there until I arrive. I want to kill her personally."
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-4Dragons