Chapter 12: Wounds

"Have there been any sightings yet?" questioned Terrador. His gruff voice rumbled ominously towards Pyrus expecting an update.

"No master, I have every single guard in this city searching every street, corners and courtyards for that orc," answered Pyrus expressing his faith in the guards.

Seyrus stood beside Terrador musing on some troubled thoughts. The three met and assembled at the infirmary after receiving the warning knight Valera issued of the attack. The news unsettled the guardian but nowhere near as it unsettled the council dragon.

"We must find that orc at once and determine how they got into the city in the first place," Seyrus expressed, a hint of concern ebbing from his voice.

"At once, councillor," bowed Pyrus, agreeing with the robed dragon "I'm heading back out to spearhead the search. We will discover how they entered the city undetected".

Terrador and Seyrus nodded their approval as the yellow dragon walked away, stampeding towards the infirmary atrium. Seyrus stared into the wall, being halted in his thoughts by what this could mean.

Terrador pondered the ramifications of this attack. It might be possible this is the beginning of the end of the short peace the world has experienced for two years, yet in another way relieved him it happened after all this time and not straight away.

"I fear for all of us Terrador," exclaimed Seyrus, uncertainty overwhelming his thoughts "This attack… was it just the start and are worse things yet to come for the citizens of our city".

"I'm afraid we don't know the answers yet Seyrus. It could be the dark remnants have bigger intentions than we suspected," concluded Terrador.

"Indeed, old friend, for them to attack the city is a bold move," suspected Seyrus, the council dragon invigorated in curiosity as his expression narrowed "I'm assuming we can safely conclude that they are behind these mana explosions, how they are doing we are yet to determine?"

"I'm afraid I can't confirm that yet, I haven't seen Spyro and the others yet or even what condition they are in. All I know at the moment is the grublins attacked them by surprise but held them off. Right now, they are my priority," declared Terrador, more concerned with the wellbeing of the young dragons.

Seyrus paused for a moment, remembering Terrador's predicament from his answer and made a small nod "It was frightening to hear of the purple dragon's predicament. Hopefully, it isn't too serious".

Terrador concurred with the council dragon's statement. He struggled to imagine a small group could harm the purple dragon so significantly from what he heard from Pyrus and Valera, but it is something he will assess for himself.

"Come, let us not delay any longer," Terrador proposed, gesturing towards the inner infirmary for the council dragon to follow.

It was a lot for the earth guardian to ponder on. He knew the remnant were continuing to nuisance the guard in the nearby territory; he like many others naturally assumed it was just what remained of the dark army clinging on to why it came into existence, to destroy all life in the legacy of the former dark master.

Terrador felt a wave of unease, for the grublins to come into the city somehow unnoticed must represent something worse. All these thoughts rumbling through the dragon's mind, questions only the young dragons could shed light on given the experience they endured.

Arriving in the main corridor with moles rushing past into all the separate rooms, being careful not to trample one of the small creatures while he walked on through. Breaking through slowly he spotted Flame being tended to by a mole applying healing red crystals to his wounds. Flame sat gently with his eyes closed as the soothing aura of the healing washed over his body, removing the small injuries and bruises he had sustained.

"Flame!" voiced out the guardian, capturing his attention, shifting his head round to meet the guardian's gaze.

"Terrador," speaking his name with a sense of reassurance to see the big green dragon "Am I glad to see you,".

"Are you all right?" Terrador questioned.

"Yes, I am fine, especially now that I have had these crystals," answered Flame, the glow and power of the magical red crystals reinvigorating him.

"Miss… I must insist we tend to your wounds at once…" the trio of dragons veered off, hearing a mole struggle to spot Cynder refusing crystals.

"I'm fine. He needs those crystals more than me," urged Cynder, pushing her paw against the crystal, rejecting their power. They saw beside her three moles next to a cushion with two of them holding an extensively wounded Spyro and the other pressing the healing gems against his wounds as he struggled extensively from the extreme pain he was experiencing.

The sight of the purple dragon left the two elder dragons silent. Shock radiating over faces which was not something often seen on the earth guardian, to see the purple dragon in such a state was alarming.

The bruises he saw over the purple dragon's body turned the once rich purple or golden scales black and blotchy along with the deep lacerations on his leg and body. The mole administering the gems gently placing them against the injuries. Breaking down into liquid and riveting into his body.

Glows of red covering him for milliseconds and all his wounds slowly receding bit by bit. Cynder sat herself near the cushion refusing to budge only content to stay near the purple dragon's side struggling in the pain he was continuing to experience from earlier.

"Cynder, your wounds?" spoke Terrador alerting the dragoness to his presence who noticed the couple of gashes on her back and left side of her chest.

"I'm fine Terrador, Spyro needs the crystals more than me," asserted Cynder in no mood to compromise comparing her state to the purple dragons.

"That I'm well convinced on, but the moles have the infirmary well-stocked with enough crystals to treat dozens of dragons. Spyro will be fine, you get yourself checked over," replied Terrador, insisting on the dragoness to get herself tended to at once.

Cynder hesitated looking back to the purple dragon, the amount of red crystals being pumped into his body was scary just for these wounds, she wanted nothing more but to remain "But…"

Opening her maw ready to protest only being stopped by Terrador walking over and calmly ushered her "Come Cynder. Spyro is in good hands and he will be fine. You need to get yourself tended to".

Ultimately Cynder left with little choice and steered herself away to let the moles do their work uninterrupted and sat herself with a mole coming to her "Don't worry miss, lets get these wounds tended to".

Cynder tried her best to relax, slowing down her breathing and wrapping her wings down her sides as they administered the gems into her body. The gentle relief washing away the pressure of any pain and tiredness she was briefly experiencing letting out a content sigh.

Her wounds were not extensive so it wouldn't take more than a moment for her to recover once the mole applied a few more of the red gems. She closed her eyes and emptied her mind, zoning out of the moment. The soothing effect of the healing process, one every dragon is very fond of helping to settle not just their body but their spirit too.

Her thoughts turned to the events that lead to this predicament they were in. These grublins that attacked them, she wondered on many things. Starting with how they got into the city without detection with how well guarded the walls were. What were they up to? Why were they here? Why did they pick now to attack? And the big one circling through her mind; Were they responsible for the mana explosions? Wondering on the possibility if these grublins were more organised than they were all led to believe. Knowing they too were the creations of the demon that had made her suffer wouldn't assume anything so little of anything he created.

The last red gem seeping into her body glowing one last time as the last of her wounds disappeared. Feeling full of vitality once more lifted her spirit, raising a paw and twisting in every direction and closing it into a fist. Satisfied, she settled it back down and thanked the mole. Walking over and sitting beside Flame to see the continued work being done of the Spyro.

So many red gems funnelled into his body and the process looked slow. The multitude of injuries were receding and slowly Spyro was calming his movement, laying still and his breathing settling to a more natural pace. The signs were looking positive for everyone present.

"Cynder, Flame. If you are ready young dragons, please… we need to understand what happened earlier," Terrador's gruff voice hinted to the two dragons.


#


Explosions firing off left, right and centre. The tranquil forest now a battleground as Seraph slashed away an attacking bow orc. Following up with a barrage of blobs of acidic poison crashing down onto helpless grublins and burning away what flesh they had.

The poison dragon took a moment to look around after he ordered his group to retreat. A few of his fighting dragons injured, the three moles in the group hurt and a few of his dragons hurt to the point they had to get dragged away. Xavi among them heavily injured, covered in cuts and bruises and a stab wound in his chest. Laid on his back as one dragon gripped his fore legs around him and used his hind legs to pull backwards.

They had been fighting for a while and some of them were running on fumes for mana; it was a matter of time before what remained of their stamina would give out and they would fight a losing battle. There was no end to the numbers of the remnant forces.

"Keep moving. Aresh, Retrax! Cover those flanks! Dargus and I have the centre. We can't stay out here!" Seraph ordered out to his team of the only dragons left fighting while the rest injured or assisting the injured, moving as a unit backward to stay protected.

An axe-wielding orc charged directly at Seraph. Responding in kind, lunging his claws sideways the orcs chest. He followed up, tail whipping the dark creature away. Spotting more orcs rushing at them at a fast pace prompting him to whip up splotches of poison, spitting them into the grass in front of him.

The dangerous substance burning and sizzling into the grass forcing the orcs to stop in their tracks to avoid. Seraph looked back, the injured being helped away with one dragon leading the way. Checking his right to spot his electric dragon ally unleash a whirl of lighting from his horns and wings spiralling upwards and throwing down onto helpless grublins.

The orcs in front of him working their way around the pools of poison towards them. He growled baring his teeth ready to attack again, his teammate Aresh whipped up a breath of fire overwhelming the orcs left with no room to manoeuvre thanks to the pools of poison.

Trampling on backwards to make their way out of the danger zone. The orange fire dragon Aresh looked ahead of them, spotting a natural formation of rock with a hollow entrance "Seraph! A cave!"

Seraph looked to where Aresh was pointing and spotted the entrance "Everyone into that cave now!"

Hearing the command throttled the group into action carrying the wounded towards the entrance. Aresh spotting a mount of small grublins rushing at him in numbers unleashed a torrent of icicles raining on the grublins bashing and slashing through their bone armour.

Seraph watched as the injured were coming upon the entrance "Keep at it everyone… we are almos… huh?"

He stopped in tracks, hearing a loud thud rattle the ground; he turned and watched a tree fall and collapse to the ground. A savage roar echoed out as a massive green creature trampled over the fallen tree towards them.

Seraph's eyes widened in alarm and caught a breath in his gasp "A troll?" whispering to himself as the massive bulky creature stomped towards them with nothing but primal snarling towards him and the other dragons.

Leaping up onto a pedestal of stone, the troll grabbed a massive boulder, lifting it up with in the grip of its forelimbs and raised over its shoulder. Seraphs eyes widened in horror as lines of red ignited over the boulder and the troll lunged forward throwing the boulder shooting straight towards the group with a tail of smoke lit up behind it.

The emerald shaded dragon spotted the trajectory and shouted to his left "ARESH LOOK OUT!"

The fire dragon turned to the source of the voice and only looked in time to spot the smouldering bolder crash into him erupting a horror gasp on impact and flinging the dragon down to the ground flipping before coming to a stop laying on his side.

"ARESH!" screamed Seraph witnessing his teammate taking on that terror blow and looked back to see the troll rushing towards them. He peered back at his team "Hurry! We can't keep this up for long!"

A few of the injured, mainly the moles entered the mouth of the cave entrance. The few dragons being pulled in behind them. Seraph released a glob of acid at the enormous green troll running on all fours at the group, scoring a direct hit onto its chest, scowling in pain, thrashing and shaking to remove the deadly substance from its body.

Seraph veered over the Aresh laying in agony on the ground, separated a short distance from the group. The pain from such an attack was overwhelming he struggled to move. Just trying to get manoeuvre onto his underbelly was tough enough. He placed his paw at the side of his chest on the huge wound. The scales blackened from his natural orange colour and just small contact made him wince, sure that it broke several ribs.

He gasped a breath and forced any pain into the back of his mind and lifted himself up on all fours. But just looking at his legs were shaking, his body still shocked from the force of the attack continuing to wince with long breaths to manage himself.

"Can you mov…" Seraph shouted but feel interrupted with a clobber to the face almost collapsing to the ground after falling backwards but just kept himself on balance. Shaking the disorientation away to see the troll having recovered from the poison attack at him stretching out its forelimbs and closing the grip before spinning itself on its hind-legs scraping the ground directed at Seraph.

With a leap upwards to dodge the attack before coming down and slashing his claws across the trolls back repeatedly almost knocking the troll of balance when it now took a few blows across the jaws.

More grublins charging from every direction, looking to surround the battered group. The electric wielding Retrax lunged his front paws into the air standing on his hind-legs with sparks of lighting scrambling all over his paws and crashed them into the ground in front of him sending shocks of lighting all in front of him firing into the pack of grublins electrifying every single one.

Aresh found grublins supported with an axe-wielding orc to pressure him with his serious injury, a thankful fact for him was a dragon's durability. Unleashing torrents of fire from his maw left and right to keep the creatures at bay while he could.

Seraph continued his assaults smashing his claws into the jaws of the troll not giving the beast a chance to counterattack with fast endless attacks on it.

"DARGUS! Get in the cave, get ready to throw up a wall when everyone is in," Seraph shouted out to his earth-dragon teammate, obeying his directive and falling back towards the cave with all the wounded now inside "Retrax, get in and cover our retreat".

"Yes, sir," answered the electric dragon having dealt with the grublins at his direction retreated towards the entrance.

Seraph did not let up inflicting blow after blow onto the troll, not letting up and casually burning through his stamina, grunting from every single blow to take the beast down and conserve what energy he had left. Knocking the creature left and right repeatedly keeping up the attack.

One final built up strike stuttered the troll to lose balance on one leg and trample, Seraph left slowly panting from the endless attacks to catch his breath and recover. The troll recovered ignoring any stints of damage, lunged its solid heavy fist across slamming the dragon away walloping down landing sideways on the ground. The troll picked itself up and strode towards the downed dragon.

His fire forcing the pack of grublins back sprinting around covered in flames, Aresh grunted from the wound he picked up, clenching up his muscles throughout his body searching for any small relief he can find.

His attention turned spotting the danger about to befall Seraph his eyes widened in fear for his teammate, looking to his wound and back gritting his teeth and contemplating himself.

The troll stood tall over Seraph who watched as the Troll raised one of its huge fists above him. The poison dragon curled up covering his wing over his head and body waiting for the blow. The troll roared triumphantly in a superior stretch.

About to drop on the poison dragon, stopping at the last moment from the sound of a scream "NOOOOOOOOOOOO".

The troll spotted Aresh shooting through the air covered in powerful licks of flames in a dash towards the troll. He crashed point blank into the beast's upper chest, knocking it back with huge cracks manifesting on its chest like the fire dash had shattered its bone armour. The troll howled in a roar of agony and crashed to the floor engulfed in flames from the attack. Aresh landed in front of the beast sliding upright to a stop groaning.

Seraph removed his wing realising no attack took place and hearing the commotion to look upon Aresh laid before him struggling to move with his limb's half curled up. Raising to his feet and struggled over to the fire dragon and curled his foreleg underneath his underbelly and lift him up.

"Come on Aresh, we got to move before more show up," Seraph consoled with desperation in his tone, forcing the fire dragon onto his legs, curling his back and struggling with his wound.

Wrapping his wing around and turning him to face the cave and guide him towards Aresh groaning and muttering the entire way. He could hear more growls closing in, prompting haste from the dragon and driving for quicker movement to the throbbing protests of the fire dragon.

"Come on, come on hurry," yelled Retrax standing within the arch of the cave entrance with Dargus stood behind him with a green outlining of power building up around his entire body ready to use at a moment's notice.

The electric dragon peered behind the two dragons retreating to them to notice bowman orcs and grublins emerging around the persisting flames advancing towards them. One orc roared triumphantly, pointing towards the dragons for the other dark creatures to charge.

Retrax gritted his teeth, tensing with a single grunt at the incoming threat. Leaping out of the cave electricity fumed over his scales and gathered around him crafting slowly into multiple spheres of electricity and yelled to the retreating dragons "Get inside now!"

Watching Retrax's reaction he peered to his right looking backwards to spot the incoming wave of grublins, giving him cause to hasten himself to get Aresh to safety. Retrax lifted his body upwards, holding his fore limbs outwards, the electricity purring over his scales violently.

Pushing one paw forwards and opened his claws, the spheres one by one shot at the grublin force. The electric balls blew up on impacting the ground around the grublins electrifying or knocking them down. Firing a second volley of the intense lighting balls to put a further stun and finish a few of the small grublins off allowed the time for Seraph to dragon Aresh into the cave.

Retrax took his opportunity and retreated into the entrance to the rest of the group, his claws skidding across the ground bringing him to a halt behind Dargus "Now Dargus!"

The green dragon wasted little time and for a split moment the green mana radiated furiously around his body before slamming his paw into the ground and the ground rumbled. A wall of earth, rubble, dirt and stone erupted out of the ground climbing upwards before slotting to the ceiling sealing off the entrance.

The shaking subsided, and the cave settled back to normal with bits of rubble dropping to the floor and coming to a still. Light creeping in from the ceiling through small openings to keep everywhere lit with the entrance now sealed.

A sense of ease passed through the cave as Seraph breathed a sigh of relief, finally being able to catch his breath. He turned his attention to Aresh still clinging to his body and helped him over to the cavern wall and laid him down beside it.

"How are you feeling Aresh?" asked the concerned knight.

"I've felt better, I can guarantee you that Seraph," answered the orange fire dragon wheezing through the discomfort of the huge wound on his side. The scales were all blackened, bruised badly and tears within the scales.

"We'll get you some healing crystals, but there are many of us hurt and we don't have a lot," reassured Seraph although he couldn't soothe much when looking around to see the four injured dragons and all the moles hurt, the remaining dragons doing their best to support them. Even though they held off the attacks, it felt like a defeat to the knight.

"Retrax!" Seraph called out, bringing the electric dragon's attention to him "Get the healing crystals and distribute them as best as you can with the others".

Retrax acknowledged and set about collecting one of the neck pouches off another dragon to begin his work as Seraph turned to Dargus, pressing his claws into the wall, the green mana permeating from his claws

"How long do you think you can keep that wall up?" questioned Seraph, presuming it would take a tremendous amount of mana and concentration to maintain.

"For a while… this will drain my energy quick unless you have any more mana crystals" Dargus answered, keeping his focus set onto the wall he lifted. Seraph acknowledged the response given and breathed a deep sigh. But his mood quickly dropped at the prospect of so many injured.

He looked over the dragons injured including Xavir with multiple lacerations whether across the chests, necks, backs or legs and bruises blackening the scales in the affected areas. Seraph stepped up to the young dragon and knelt down beside him placing a paw on his shoulder "How you feeling?"

Xavir convulsed and produced a few coughs, placing a paw on a wound across his lower chest. His eyes blinking and deep heavy breathing to relieve himself of the pain and discomfort. He nodded back to Seraph laying back against the cavern wall expressing in pain with a shout. His breathing settled and let his muscles relax in the position.

"We will be here for a while. Get some rest, you'll have some healing gems soon," Seraph suggested to the young dragon, Xavir accepting the proposal nuzzled his back against the wall breathing a huge sigh to make himself comfortable.

Seraph lifted himself away, looking to the ground at his paws, so many injured and Valus still missing before the remnant attacked. His teammates injured and tired threw feelings of guilt being the leader and responsible for them.

Knowing they can't afford to get caught in another firefight like that, especially being low on mana to continue the battle. It was not something he could contemplate the sudden rise in the remnant numbers compared to the previous encounters. Being forced onto the defensive frustrated the poisonous dragon, after all their superiority to keep the forest secure to now being pushed back.

For now, his thoughts turned to the hope this cavern afforded them respite to lick their wounds for a while being trapped in the Tranquil forest.

Finally, it is here, so glad to see the back of this chapter. I figured it was time to unveil more of the small side characters within the world regardless of how small their roles may be in the long-term project of this arc of stories I have planned. That was something I felt was lacking a bit so trying to look at it.

Anyway, I'm going to respond to reviews from chapter 11:

IllusionMaster17: Thanks for liking the cover, my friend is pleased with how well it has been received. Glad you're enjoying the chapters and the story so far.

RioloverBardenBellaforlife: Yes, it was a long chapter the previous one. Took me ages to put together that one and looking forward to moving along, and thanks for point out my blinder mistake. Corrected quickly.

Az0tAc: Glad your enjoying the story so far and I'm looking forward to see how you perceive it all as we go on.

Void Reader: Indeed, the dark remnants are behind all this. Let that intrigue fester and discover as this story progresses.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to your feedback. See you next time.