Lies

"Can you slow down?" Sparx was having an extremely difficult time keeping up with Ignitus. "I've already told you, I'm going a slow as I can without falling into the ocean."

"I can carry you if you want." Spyro asked. "No! Absolutely not!" Surprisingly, this was not Sparx protesting, but rather it was Ignitus. "If you were to hold onto Sparx, you wouldn't be holding onto my back, and you might fall into the crashing waves below." Spyro looked at Sparx, and Sparx shrugged.

"So… how far are we now?" Ignitus sighed. Spyro had clearly asked this question often on their trip. "Were actually not too far. In fact, I can see some icy pillars just up ahead." And low and behold, ignitus flew right passed one of them, and their numbers were increasing steadily. Pretty soon, they were flying through a chasm of ice, and a white fog began to form, making it increasingly difficult to see.

"So, uh… why's it called Dante's Freezer?" Spyro asked. Ignitus began the story without hesitation. "Well, It's original name was Dante's Fortress, but after all of its residents died, it was nicknamed Dante's Freezer. This was because while the king, Dante, may have been a warrior at heart, he did study some sorcery. And in a great war, the king's last battle, he accidentally set a curse over his land. A curse that brought the dead back to life. With his final breath, he swore that even after death, he and his subjects would continue to defend their land, and he was right. To this day anyone who enters Dante's Freezer will be attacked by Dante's undead army of knights. And that's why it's called Dante's Freezer. Because it is the place we're Dante's soul is cursed to remain, forever encased in an icy blizzard that is as cold as his heart. Dante's very own, personal purgatory."

"So, there are zombies? That's AWESOME!"

"Quick question…" Sparx interjected. "Why are we heading towards the danger again?"

"Oh come on Sparx. Stop being such a wimp."

"Actually, Sparx does have somewhat of a point. Dante's Freezer is a dangerous place, so we must be careful, and stick together."

"Yeah, but we're going their for a reason. We have to save someone."

"Yeah… right… look Spyro, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Well… it's just… I…"

Before Ignitus could finish his thought, a large obstacle appeared right out of the fog in front of him. He swerved violently to the side trying to avoid it, but his back legs slammed into it, producing a loud ringing sound, like metal. When he and Spyro looked back, they noticed that it was a large catapult, crafted from iron and painted red and black. It had been hanging dangerously close to the side of the chasm, but after ignitus had slammed into it, it was now slowly sliding down the side. And it didn't help much that it was resting on top of snow and ice. At this point Ignitus was staying airborne in one spot so he could watch it. It stopped right before it would have fallen off the edge, and Ignitus gave a sigh of relief.

"Why would that thing falling be a bad thing?"

"Well Spyro, if it had fallen, it most likely would have hit the ground with enough force to cause an avalanche."

"What's an avalanche?"

"An avalanche is when…"

Ignitus was cut off mid sentence by the sound of cracking ice. It continued for a good couple of seconds before stopping… Ignitus sighed. "Oh no." And that's when the ground beneath the catapult gave way, and it was sent plummeting down to meet the earth below. A few seconds went by as the catapult fell in silence… and then it happened. The catapult hit the ground and produced a really high pitched sound of metal clanking agents ice that was so loud it caused an echo that went on for ten whole seconds.

"We need to get out of here." After saying this, Ignitus started flying forward again. Just then, a loud rumbling sound emerged from every direction, accompanied by the sound of ice shattering. As Ignitus flew forward, columns of ice began to fall over. They were so tall that they would hit the other side of the chasm and get stuck, creating a bridge between both sides of the gorge.

"Hold on! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

As Ignitus flew forward, and the icy walls crumbled around them, Spyro began to see some things he hadn't noticed before. Their was actually a large number of platforms that had the same kind of catapults resting on them, but a lot of them were frozen within the wall or the platform itself, but still, some were usable. There were also very wide bridges, constructed of chains and metal planks, that were connecting the platforms together.

Suddenly, interrupting Spyro's train of thought, a stalactite fell from above and Ignitus did a barrel roll to avoid it. After which, he could feel Spyro's claws digging into his shoulder blades. Despite the discomfort, Ignitus didn't actually mind it, so long as Spyro was as safe as he could be.

The falling stalactite had confused Spyro, and when he looked up, he was surprised to find that they were no longer in a chasm, but rather, they were in a tunnel. Granted, it was a very narrow and tall tunnel, but it was still a tunnel nonetheless. Spyro was suddenly jerked to the side and realized Ignitus had just barely avoided a falling chunk of ice, but unfortunately, this sudden change in direction made it impossible to avoid the wall of the cavern, and ignitus slammed his side into the wall. The shear force of the impact caused Spyro to fly off Ignitus's back, and he plunged into the depths.

"Spyro!" Ignitus instantly dived down to catch him. Spyro frantically flapped his wings, trying to save himself, but it wasn't going to work. His wings were too small and he was going way too fast.

Right as Spyro was about to hit the icy water below, Ignitus swooped down and grabbed him with his back paws. "Nice save doctor I.!"

"What? But I'm not a doctor."

"Well it's… ya see I… oh, never mind."

This brief interaction brought Ignitus's attention away from his flying, so he was caught off guard by the giant ice pillar falling right in front of him.

"Pull up! Pull up!"

"It's kinda hard to with you shouting in my ear!"

"Oh, sorry."

Rather than take Spyro's advise, Ignitus dove down as close to the freezing water as possible, and tried to go under the ice. Tiny shards of ice fell on top of Spyro and Ignitus as the pillar came screaming towards them, and as it fell into the water, a giant wave push them forward and they just barely escaped the heavy weight of the collapsing ice. And by bairly I of course mean that Ignitus was crushed into the freezing water, but had the foresight to through Spyro up and through the air.

Thankfully, Spyro landed on an old ship, instead of falling into the freezing depths below. The ship he had landed on was made of wood, but somehow was still functional after centuries of being frozen in ice, due to the fact that it was speeding through the know flowing current of water.

The ship's rig consisted of the center mast, the red lanteen with a triangular red sail attached to it, the halliard for raising the lanteen, the parrel which was placed on the left mast side; a sequence of thin short ropes on the sail for shortening it, the tacking rig used for insuring the front lateen end, and the sheet for keeping in place the back sail end. (Authors note: a lanteen is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction.)

The hull of the boat had been painted black, but there were an outrageous amount of scratches and peelings in the paint. It had spiked metal bulwarks and a bowsprit painted gold, but they too, had been stripped of much of their paint, as well as being covered in rust. The sails were mostly intact, aside from having a single rip at the very top of the sail, but it was only half a foot long, so it probably wouldn't hinder the efficiency of the ship to terribly much.

"Ah, come on! If I was gonna land on a ship, couldn't it have at least been a ship with a steering wheel?" Spyro turned around when he heard splashing in the water behind him as Ignitus pulled himself up and over the side of the boat. "Oh good, you're still kick'n!… but wait, where's Sparx?"

"No time for that know! I must bring you back into the air!" But as Ignitus tried to stand, an incomprehensible sense of frigidness overwhelmed his entire body, forcing him back to the ground. He nearly fell unconscious, but Spyro slapped him in the face with his tail. "Your not pass'n out till you've taught me how to steer this thing!"

With painfully slow and erratic jittering movement, Ignitus lifted his head to look up at the large sail.

"Hmm… Ah, yes… It appears to be a bracera." (Authors note: bracera is pronounced, bratsera)

"Specifically, it's a single mast bracera with a lateen sail."

"Great! Cool! But how do I pilot it? Were not exactly in calm…"

Spyro was interrupted by a sudden jerking motion of the boat as a chunk of ice slammed into the right side of the hull, generating an awful grating sound, and it stripped away a large patch of paint.

"… waters."

"Oh, yes… let me just…"

Ignitus used all of the strength in his body to drag himself to the front of the boat so he could act as a lookout.

"Huh, okay… let's see…"

There was another sudden jerking motion as chunk of ice slammed into the left side, generating the awful sound again, and stripping away more paint.

"Any day now!"

"Um… ah…"

"Oh, let me guess, the writer couldn't figure out how to sail one of these things, so he's just gonna leave it up to me, right?"

"Uuuh…"

"I'll just pull random ropes till something works."

"Okay… turn right!"

Spyro took a quick look at the ropes and grabbed one randomly in his mouth, then he tugged. The boat turned sharply, but unfortunately, it turned left. The front bow slammed into a small iceberg, but somehow, the boat was still afloat. Once it had smashed into the ice, it spun around on a pivot point, making the boat travel down the current backwards.

"That can't be good."

"We need to turn the boat around again!"

"Wait a sec, you can't fly because your cold, right?"

"Yes…"

"So just set the boat on fire so you can warm up!"

Their discussion was interrupted by another jolt of the boat as it slammed into another iceberg.

"I can't breath fire if I'm in a cold place and am not generating enough body heat, so just help bring the boat back to its preferred position!"

"O.K."

"Pull that rope again, but this time pull it much faster and with more force!"

Spyro grabbed the rope again and pulled the rope so quickly that he almost fell over, but he was able to stay upright. The boat turned left incredibly fast… too fast. The left side of the bow slammed into a sheet of ice, and the the boat stopped turning so abruptly, that Spyro was knock off balance and the rope fell from his jaws. Thankfully, the boat was know facing the correct direction, but unlike the times before, a small leek was created on the left side of the boat, however neither Ignitus nor Spyro noticed it, seeing as that it was so small.

"Great! Now turn right!"

Spyro looked for another rope and pulled the first one he saw. Thankfully, the boat actually turned right.

"Now go straight."

Spyro pulled the other rope again but this time he did it lightly, so the boat would return to its original position. Dragons may have dew claws instead of thumbs, but their dew claws are conveniently close enough to their paw that they can use them like thumbs. They may not be as dexterous, but Spyro was still able to grasp both ropes efficiently with his paws.

"Okay… now gently turn left… then make a sharp right."

Spyro pull the rope in his right paw over to his left side, and the boat slowly turned left.

"Turn right… now!"

Spyro instantly yanked the rope in his left paw over to his right, and the boat made a sharp right turn.

"Hey! I think I'm gett'n the hang of this!"

"Go straight again."

Once again, Spyro gently pulled the rope in his right paw over to his left, and the boat aubade.

"Okay, this might be a problem… see if you can go faster!"

Spyro took a few seconds to look over at what Ignitus was worried about, and he saw two sheets of ice that were about to collide right in their path. Instantly, Spyro tried looking for another rope to pull, and grabbed the only other one he could see. He yanked on it, but it wouldn't budge. Tracing the line of rope with his eyes, he noticed a pulley system attached to it that was rusted beyond belief. He continued tugging, and the rust started falling off like dust. His final tug was so strong that the pulley completely fell apart and the rope snapped.

"Oh no…"

The boat had know drifted right in between the two sheets of ice as they came together. Ignitus stood up with shaking legs and said "Spyro, come here."

"Oh , you can stand know?"

"Bairly."

Once spyro was next to Ignitus, Ignitus picked him up in his jaws and leaped off of the boat as the sheets of ice smashed into its sides, crushing it into splinters. He extended his wings to take flight, but they were still incredibly cold, so he only launched forward and landed on another sheet of ice that was speeding down the river. Spyro had fallen from Ignitus's grasp and slid across platform, coming to a halt with his head dangling dangerously off the side of the platform. Ignitus grabbed Spyro's tail and pulled him back to safety.

"That was a close one!"

Right as Spyro said this, they jolted to a sudden halt. Spyro looked up and saw that the sheet of ice he and Ignitus were resting on had slammed into the side of a set of docks. The docks were a little higher than he would have expected, until he realized that if he were on a boat, the docks would have been a few inches below him. "Land Ho!" Spyro shouted. Without a verbal response, Ignitus grabbed Spyro in his mouth and climbed up onto the docks. They were made of a very dark brown wood, and were covered in ice. Their were metal things jutting out of the snow and ice, wich Spyro assumed had been torches to help keep the docks from freezing. Some chain railing lined the docks instead of your typical rope railing. Barrels and crates littered the platform, some were open, others were closed, but from the look of it, most of them seemed to be filled with food that had frozen. Chained to the docks were three more of the braceras, their sails torn, and the bows shattered.

"Um… you can put me down now…" Spyro felt a little awkward just dangling from Ignitus's jaws, but Ignitus didn't put him down yet. He walked off of the docks and into the snow, only then did he slowly lower his head and gently place Spyro in the snow next to him. It was almost like a mother cat making sure they didn't hurt their baby as they set them down.

"Oh!… oh! It's really cold!"

Ignitus snickered. "Yeah… wait, shouldn't you be accustomed to the cold by know? We've been in Dante's Freezer for a while."

"Yeah… b-but I've… n-never set foot in… a-ankle high snow b-before."

"Ah, yes…"

Spyro did a little dance in the snow as he tried to warm up his paws, and Ignitus just watched in amusement. After a few seconds Spyro said, "O.K., I think we can get going again."

"Whatever do you mean?" Ignitus cocked his head in confusion.

"You know, we're gonna save one of your guardian friends… Volteer was it?"

"Ah, yes… yes…" Ignitus looked down at his paws.

"Well, let's get go'n already!" Spyro turned away from Ignitus and began to trot off.

"Spyro?" said Ignitus, holding up his right paw as if to prevent Spyro from moving any further.

Spyro stopped walking and turned around to face Ignitus. "I have to tell you something." Ignitus seemed reluctant as he said this.

"What's up?"

"I… didn't… I didn't bring you here to save Volteer…"

"What do ya mean?" Spyro squinted his eyes in confusion.

"I lied to you." Ignitus bit his lip.

"I don't understand… don't you want your friend back?"

"Of course I do! I just… don't want you to get hurt." Ignitus nervously fiddled with his paws.

"Then why'd ya bring me along?" Spyro furrowed his eyebrows in contemplation.

"Remember those apes I drove out of the temple? I deliberately let them go so they would tell Cynder where we were. Once she got their, we would be gone and she would assume we had either left, or were never there, so she would come to the conclusion that we would never go back to the temple, thusly making it a safe house."

"O.K. That's smart, but… why didn't you just tell me that's what you were doing?"

"Because if I told you, you would have wanted to stay at the temple and fight Cynder when she got their."

"So what if that's what I would've done? We could've taken her!"

"My point exactly." Ignitus sighed. "Look Spyro, I am responsible for you, and I thought I had failed long ago, but the fact that your still alive is like the ancestors are giving me a second chance, and I don't want to mess this up again."

"Look, I appreciate the gesture, but I don't need someone like you to look after me."

"Someone like me?" Ignitus lifted an eyebrow as though he were offended.

"Well… I only just met you, and now your acting like my dad." Spyro averted his gaze from Ignitus's eyes.

"Well, I am the only parental figure you have." Ignitus stated, matter-of-factly.

"I have a dad, thank you very much!" Spyro shouted indignantly. "and I decided to leave, which means, I no longer need someone look'n after me."

"Your only twelve years old, and I am not only a government official, but I happen to be the leader of the guardians." Ignitus lifted his head and spoke sternly with his chest puffed out.

"Oh! You mean the 'friends' you so desperately want to rescue?"

"I don't need your sarcasm right now!" Ignitus sighed and went limp, hunching his back and lowering his head. "Look, I know how hard being an orphan can be, but whether you like it or not, you need guidance in your life. Everyone does."

"I'm not an orphan!" Spyro spat back.

"Do you know who your parents are?" Ignitus lifted an eyebrow.

"Of course, they're…"

"Your real parents." There was a long silence.

"Well… no… I guess…" Spyro began twiddling his claws.

"I want to be the one who helps and protects you. I want to be there for you." Ignitus said in a comforting tone as his expression softened and he lowered his head to Spyro's level.

"I don't need protection! I'm perfectly capable of going it alone."

Ignitus snapped, drawing his head back up and standing tall and unmovable. "No your not! You may think you can do anything you want, but you can't, okay? You just can't, so whether you like it or not, I decide what you can and can't do, and I decide how to protect you, and I will protect you whether you like it or not!"

Spyro was left speechless, but he still had a scowl on his face. Ignitus let out a long sigh. "We will stay the night here, then in the morning, I'll take us back. In the meantime, I can teach you how to read and write." Spyro was so surprised by Ignitus's sudden outburst that he didn't even protest.

"He my dudes!" Sparx suddenly appeared out of nowhere, his smile fading after seeing Spyro and Ignitus's expressions. "Wahda I miss?" Sparx looked to Spyro for an answer.

"Where were you man? You were barely even in this chapter!"