One Final Mission
Earthena was the first to awaken. After much adjusting last night, Blizarus's snoring had become a steady rhythm, allowing Earthena to lull into a trance of sleep. Her eyelids slowly slid open and she let a quiet yawn escape her maw. This was quickly followed by her stretching her legs and wings. She stood up and shook off the cold dirt that built up on her tawny underbelly from sleeping on the frigid ground.
She smiled when she realised that Charditus and Volterra had returned, sleeping soundly with smiles plastered on their faces. Then she rolled her eyes, amused at the regularly occurring sight of the white ice dragon laying indolently on his back, his quartz coloured belly facing upwards. She was glad Blizarus was her friend even if he had his obvious, aggravating flaws. Such as his tendencies to charge head first into underestimated danger, and the countless times he liked to boast. But he was by no means clumsy in battle, and could even back up his ego with the skills to boot, something many other dragons lacked.
She then turned her attention back to Charditus. Once upon a time, she did develop a crush on him. However, strict rules and Umbrafor's lingering threats meant she was forced to subdue those hidden feelings, and naturally they faded. But even if that fondness was to return, it was more than obvious that he had eyes for Volterra, and that she had the same for him. But Earthena wasn't unhappy about this situation; in fact, quite the opposite. She was happy that it was two of her friends getting together instead of with strangers...or worse. She even quite often imagined what those two together would be like.
This left her with the option of Blizarus. And although she liked him as a friend, she believed she wouldn't feel content with being in a relationship with him, or anyone in that regard. She had decided that being romantically involved was not her style. Instead, she preferred friends she could have a merry old chat with and who she could trust to watch her back.
"Perhaps I should get the last breakfast here for everyone, considering I'm the first awake..." she thought caringly. She headed towards their small food storage section in the corner, where supplies were kept in a barrel packed with chunks of ice to preserve them.
She lifted up the wooden lid from atop the barrel, but when she did, she was met with a powerful stench of decay and rot, filling her nostrils with a horrific smell.
"What in Ancestor's name is this horrid stench?!" Earthena thought to herself. She moved back a couple of feet and stared at the barrel disgusted.
She pinched her nose tight with one of her talons before braving the skunk of a barrel again and peered over the oak rim. Blackened meat chewed to pieces laid strewn across the surface in a mess as a couple of stink bugs (smaller cousins of fire bugs but more common) scuttled about the barrel chewing maliciously on pieces of infected salmon. It was obvious they were the source of the dreaded smell.
"Eurgh…" Earthena winced before picking up the bugs and dropping them onto the floor. "Go on, get out of here you pests," she grumbled as the little insects scattered and scuttled away. Even though the cause of the problem had dispersed, the wretched stench remained.
She then took another look at the barrel. At first appearances there looked to be nothing edible on the surface. The meat was now covered in bug droppings and would do more harm than good if consumed. Plus, the vegetables had been trodden on by tiny feet with a few nibble marks so they weren't an option either.
She sighed and dove her talon into the freezing barrel of ice. She dug around, trying to find something that wasn't completely decimated. Her talon touched something rough-feeling and easily moved, it felt like a woven bag. She grabbed the top of it and yanked it through the mounds of ice; sure enough, it was a fairly large bag made of hessian. She took the binding off and inside she found dried corn stalks, not very appetising or filling, but didn't expire easily and there was plenty of the stuff.
"Okay, I guess this is a start." She plunged her claw back into the iciness that was the barrel. She poked around a bit more until her claw came into contact with something smooth and circular – a jar. She reeled her claw back up and inside the jar was a smooth, golden liquid; honey.
"Honey? Is this all that we have…honey and dried corn?" Earthena sighed, annoyed at the lack of meat or any of the usual rations they were used to. She tried dunking her talon in once more in the vain effort of finding something more exotic. However, her searches turned up fruitless.
She gave up, grabbed both ingredients, and walked back to the others.
"What can we make with this? I suppose dipping the stalks into the honey is an option…" She picked the jar up and glared at it baffled. She remembered how last time they tried having this they couldn't take the annoying lid off no matter how hard they tried pulling. So, they shoved it back in the barrel and forgot about it.
Earthena tried tugging on the metal lid once more but without luck. "Damn moles and their contraptions… Why do they have be so confusing?" Earthena complained. They had received the honey as a thank you for saving a local farm's beehive from thieving apes.
She stopped trying; the lid wasn't budging no matter how much force she applied. So, instead she looked around and spied a wooden bowl on a nearby table. "The moles must have the honey in some sort of transparent crystal, so it must be breakable…" she thought smartly to herself.
She grabbed the bowl and placed it beside the corn stalks on the floor. Then placed the jar upright into the bowl. She raised her muscular grass green fist and pounded the side of the jar. A large crash of glass sounded around. The sharp glass lacerated itself into Earthena's talon and blood began trickling down her talon. "What in Malefor's name is this stuff?!" Earthena cursed hatefully to her. More of the shattered pieces sunk into the surprisingly large amount of honey that landed into the bowl, along with a few streaks of blood.
The sound of breaking glass had awoken the others from their slumber. Blizarus woke up mid-snore and promptly broke into a coughing fit. Volterra stood up on edge like a cat, arched back and all while Charditus's eyes snapped open like shutters.
"Sorry…guys, just this stupid mole device," Earthena admitted guiltily. She was now standing by a bucket of water, cleansing her wounds and wincing each time she picked out a shard of glass.
Blizarus recovered from his fit and stared intently at the bowl of honey mixed in with blood and glass. "What is this you're making?"
"Breakfast. But some moron forgot to change our food stock, so I had to make do," Earthena explained.
"And how do you expect us to eat something that literally has your blood in it," Blizarus continued. He was particularly grumpy about being rudely awoken.
"Please, calm down, Blizarus. I'm sure Earthena meant no harm from this…she was kind enough to get breakfast," Volterra said, trying to intervene.
"Bah, I can't eat something like this; I would starve! I need my meat!" Blizarus grizzled.
"Well, you know where the barrel is. Help yourself," Earthena sneered, knowing what was to come.
"I think I will," Blizarus scoffed. He calmed himself down slightly and headed for the barrel. And just like how Earthena was earlier, the foul smell charged up Blizarus's nose. His faced creased up in disgust as he tried forcing back down the queasy feeling in his throat.
Earthena grunted in satisfaction. "Now that my point is proven, why don't you get your skinny arse back here? If it helps silence your grumbling, I'll take first bite to prove I haven't spoilt it."
"Go on then, I'll watch from here," Blizarus commented, trying very hard to not let the stink bother him as tears began forming in the corner of his eye.
"I will." She plucked a stalk from the bag and dragged it through the honey in circular motions until it was glossy and sticky. By this point the blood has been absorbed into the honey and the glass sunk to the bottom of the sticky bowl.
She whipped it back out and stuck it in her mouth, unmeaningfully flicking some of the adherent honey onto the floor. She then bit down on the tip of the corn. It tasted very sweet and surprisingly not as bad as she first thought. She took a larger bite, finishing off the cob before licking the honey off her talons.
"Delicious…" she relished. The rest of them looked at her.
"Well, what are you waiting for? I said it tasted good, so it must be. Dig in before I change my mind," she joked, picking out another corn from the bag.
Charditus was the first to catch on. He grabbed one of the corn cobs and dipped it lightly into the honey to avoid getting his claws into a sticky mess. He then nibbled lightly on it, very sweet, but nice nonetheless, like Earthena had said.
Volterra also followed on, gently picking a corn from the bag and gracefully wiped it against the side of the bowl before nibbling slowly away at it.
Blizarus raced over, glad to simply be away from the horrid smell. He promptly took two of the stalks and jabbed them into the honey, causing it to splash over him and the floor. He then proceeded to swallow them whole.
"Do you have to create such as mess…?" Charditus sighed.
"Does it matter now? We're leaving in a moment and never coming back," Blizarus disputed, snatching up another unfortunate stalk...
"No, but I would rather not have Umbrafor mad at me for another reason," Charditus countered, rubbing his talons on the ground to remove the sticky liquid.
"He never goes in here anyway, but whatever."
"I would consider this breakfast a rousing success," Earthena smugly replied.
No one replied to Earthena's self-idolising comment. They were all too busy wolfing down into the rest of the corn. The once full woven sack quickly lost its filling as it slowly collapsed in on itself. They all relaxed and eased on their satisfied stomachs, cheerful smiles plastered to their sticky faces. However, Volterra thought it would be a good time to raise a very important point.
She turned her head towards Charditus. "Do we tell them, Char? Of last night, I mean?"
"Not yet..." Charditus answered.
"Volterra…what are you talking about?" Earthena asked, noticing the secretive tone in her voice.
"Tell about what?" A strict, menacing voice interrupted. It was then the familiar obsidian scales of Umbrafor stepped around the corner..
"Our plans of what we are doing about after we catch Spyro." Charditus replied unhesitantly. He may have his morals, but he was a good liar when he needed to be.
"Well then, I suppose everything is in order. You have your priorities straightened out at least. Would it not be best if you left then?" Umbrafor said through a grim stare, indicating with his wing for them to get going.
Charditus tried seeing through Umbrafor's blank eyes, but an undeterred stare masked all signs of him seeing through Charditus's eyes. "Then it's good timing, we were about to leave," Charditus replied back, keeping his slightly narrowed eyes on the deceitful dragon.
Umbrafor stepped aside to allow Charditus and his friends to pass. Blizarus gave Umbrafor the biggest and cheekiest grin he could muster. But much to his creeped-out surprise, Umbrafor also did the same, in an almost eerie fashion. Blizarus dropped the act before hastily catching up with the others.
"That was close… But what was up with him…" Volterra whispered to Charditus.
"He's taunting us, that's all. Think of it as fear and warmongering," Charditus replied, still sceptical of Umbrafor's actions. "Come on, let's just go…I'm sure more will be revealed as we do this. Then we can make a decision."
They stood outside their tent - their home - for the final time.
"Are we all ready? Bear in mind, this is the last time we are living here. We are not returning, and we are not looking back," Charditus said.
"I'm good, just if you guys are here," Volterra replied.
"I'm pumped. Let's get this party going!" Blizarus added.
"Ready when you are. I'll be honest and say I never thought there was a remote chance of us leaving this place," Earthena admitted, she was breathing happily, like everything around her had just turned into a breath of fresh air.
"But remember, we got one last mission before we can go out on our own," Charditus reminded, "we need to rescue Cynder and capture Spyro. Then we are officially free."
The three others nodded sharply, and as one they took once again to the thunder-stricken skies and headed north. Charditus took note of the storm approaching fast from the west.
Half an hour in Earthena finally got impatient with Charditus withholding the information.
"Okay Charditus, I think we've all waited long enough. What is that information Volterra was going to share before Umbrafor showed up?" Earthena called.
"Alright, I will. We have a slight change in plan. If things go wrong, we are not giving Spyro to Umbrafor." Charditus said plain and simply.
Earthena came to a stop and hovered in place, followed in suit by the others who gathered in a tightly knit circle.
"Hold on, when things go wrong? What do you mean if things go wrong? And why would that stop us from handing Spyro over?" Earthena asked confused. She was especially concerned with his tone of voice. The same 'you may not like this' tone.
"Me and Volterra believe that Umbrafor is up to something evil, and as soon as we hand Spyro over to him, the final piece of his plan will be put in place and we will have put into motion a calamity that is irreversible," Charditus explained.
"Wait just a second, Char. Calamity? What calamity? You better not be thinking of screwing this all up for us now after our successful attempt yesterday," Blizarus warned.
"Of course not, but we shouldn't be the cause of another global threat just because we were selfish," Charditus replied, aware that his two teammates were getting increasingly agitated and hostile.
"How the actual hell are we being selfish? We have put blood, sweat and tears into Warfang for the last three years and they still think we're nothing but assholes," Blizarus hissed.
"I'm with Blizarus on this. Charditus, remember this isn't just about you. This is about what we all want as a team!" Earthena added.
"Please, stop fighting and just listen to him. You know Charditus wouldn't make assumptions like this out of nowhere. He has his reasons. So, please, hear him out," Volterra pleaded, unable to keep it to herself any longer.
"Oh, shut up Volterra, you're only defending Charditus cause you're in love with him. That's right, I know," Blizarus called out in a mixture of smugness and annoyance, like as if he had just discovered an award-winning revelation.
This stung Volterra deeply, as she quickly retreated into her quiet self, whimpering in her seclusion. This left a much fuelled Charditus to bare his teeth.
Thud!
Blizarus received a rather substantial smack on the head from Earthena, leaving him growling and holding his head.
"Shut up, Blizarus," Earthena snarled, "there are times you really can be inconsiderate...And I must agree with Volterra on this one. Charditus's doesn't usually base his ideas on nothing." She turned back to face the red drake. "But you better have a seriously good reason for posing such a thing to us." Earthena crossed her talons and looked at him warningly.
"It all stems from my conversation with him. He was talking about something to do with being fate's director. A person who disregards all personal emotions in order to change the planet. He also kept talking about preparing us for the new world. I think he plans on destroying the realm…"
"How does this involve Spyro though?" Earthena said in a calmer but still condemning tone.
"I don't know...But like I say, Umbrafor has said that he needs Spyro to accomplish his goals."
Blizarus decided to add his input. "If he wanted to destroy the world, why the hell did he waste so much time training us? What purpose do we serve to him?"
"I do not know that either…I can only guess that he simply couldn't be everywhere at once… So, with twelve other dragons, all of which trained effectively in hunting down and killing in a multitude of different environment, and will listen to his every command, he is able to accomplish his goals a lot more quickly and effectively. Which means I can only assume Ruby squad and Sapphire squad are working with Umbrafor in this."
"Charditus…what you are saying does sound plausible, but also outrageous. Umbrafor would hang us by the neck if we pulled a stunt like this. Let alone the humiliation we would suffer for being so damn wrong..." Earthena worriedly shot back.
"I am aware of that. That is why we would only disobey if we are hundred percent sure what he is doing is wrong. I know I am going against everything we have done up to this point; but deep down, we still need to protect the innocent. To let them die would only make us as bad as Ruby squad, and I know how much you two hate being compared to them," Charditus answered.
"True…last thing I want is to be mistaken for those assholes…Alright, you have me convinced…but you better be right because if Umbrafor or Blizarus doesn't kick your arse, I will," Earthena warned.
"By all means, do so," Charditus replied. "However, Blizarus, we still need your verdict."
"Fine!" he yelled. "But don't blame me if we all wind up dead because of our 'leader' here…"
"I'm glad that didn't come to violence…" Volterra sighed; she was still feeling a little hurt from Blizarus's comments. However, she brushed them aside.
"So, what now Charditus? Do we just abandon the mission or what?" Earthena asked.
"No, we continue the mission. But at the same time we try to earn Spyro's trust, so if I do turn out to be correct, we can rely on Spyro to help us in stopping Umbrafor."
"Why and how would we help Spyro? He's a villain for crying out loud!" Earthena threw her talons up, groaning frustration while Blizarus forced his down his annoyed face. With each word he came out with, it was just painful how ridiculously bad they're risking their chances. Volterra, while uncertain at this suggestion, waited patiently for Charditus to explain.
"No he isn't, everything Umbrafor has said about him were lies... Plus, I don't think Spyro meant for anything to happen. Even now I bet he is trying to find a way to fix all this. Let's not forget without him, none of us, not even Umbrafor would be alive right now. To me, he's a good guy. He doesn't deserve the fate Umbrafor has for him...he deserves to be free…"
"Charditus. Sorry to interrupt, but how does this relate to helping Spyro? If Umbrafor saw us helping him…" Volterra piped up.
"I am aware of that, Volterra . That is why we need to help him covertly, " Charditus replied, giving off a small sly grin, ready to reveal his cunning plan.
"And how do we do that, oh smart one?" Blizarus sarcastically replied.
"Simple… We find Cynder," Charditus replied.
"Cynder…?"
"If we can reunite Spyro and Cynder, it will give them reason to trust us."
"Good…But what do we do about Umbrafor?" Earthena asked.
"This is the real stroke of genius. Umbrafor has asked us look for Cynder, correct? Meaning after we retrieve her, just liked he asked. He will then tell us where Spyro is. We can then reunite them. After that, we confront Umbrafor. If it turns out Umbrafor did indeed plan to destroy the realm, we stop them with Spyro and Cynder to help us. If it doesn't then Spyro and Cynder 'escape' us. But since we technically held up our end of the bargain, Umbrafor will have no choice but to let us go free as well. Spyro and Cynder are good enough to continue avoiding Umbrafor and we can go free," Charditus cleverly added.
"Well, I got to admit, that is brilliant. Being able to stick to a plan while providing a second route out..." Earthena approved.
"I can't believe I'm saying it as well, with all the crap you have just spurted out...but I'm only agreeing because I'm still holding onto the faint chance that we are going to become legendary after this and not wind up dead..." Blizarus growled.
"Anyhow, while on the topic of Cynder, where do we start searching?" Earthena asked.
"I was thinking of the island were we first encountered the snow golem. It seems like a good place to start as any."
They flew on for another half an hour, the storm above had begun crashing down on them like many before, with the usual bright jags of lightning and loud crackles like a menacing version of the Northern Lights. But this didn't bother them; they were trained to survive in this weather, of course. They were gliding low over the burnt lands this time. They didn't want to make the same mistake as before. The rain fell like drizzle and turned to steam before even touching the ground. The area was dead like always - a molten graveyard. Scatters of orcs and wyverns wandered through the desolate landscape with no goals like igneous zombies.
The four dragons landed on the centre of the circular burnt island. indents from when the Frost golem squeezed the land still looked fresh and potent.
"So, now we are here. Now what?" Earthena asked.
"Well, from the looks of things, the only way out is through that ravine. It's the only logical way the golem could have taken," Charditus said, indicating to a point where the lava flows out of the lake, bending slightly to the left where the high blackened cliffs conceal the route from view.
"Well, considering this is the only way, I guess we follow it?" Earthena said.
"Indeed, we do." Charditus added.
"Alright! Round two with the snowman!" Blizarus eagerly rubbed his claws together, like he was ready to dive onto a tasty bit of meat.
"Here we go…!" Volterra sighed, severely wishing she was anywhere else but this dark, dark land...
Well, another chapter done. But I have a confession. I'm afraid you won't be seeing Cynder for another 3 chapters. We'll be going back to Spyro after this for a couple more chapters. Also, the times have finally caught up so both parties are on the same page . And I can tell you know…next two chapters are going to get dark.
Thank you all so who have followed. You have given me a lot of support and that is what helps keep me writing. So, for that you guys are the best.
Adios :D