Chapter 4 - Preparations and Departure
Blind considered what the elder male dragon had just asked. Vidalus was still gushing over this 'guardian,' so he would actually have to consider it rather than just dismiss it out of hand. Unless this was going to happen. That thought made him frown, and he decided to get more information before deciding. "Temple? Why?"
He grabbed another pawful of the rations, as he waited for a reply. Eventually, Vidalus replied. "The Temple is…"
Words apparently failed him, as he stopped, and grumbled something unpleasant to himself, leaving this 'guardian' to continue for him. "The Temple is a place of training and instruction, where the best and brightest of our kind gather to learn and expand their abilities to their absolute limit. It is the most prestigious institute of its kind, and attendance is the highest honor a young dragon can achieve without including royal recognition. However, because of its recent pattern of admitting almost only wealthy disciples, we guardians have been sending out four members of our order every half year. They are each to search for up to two young dragons to come back and be included in the student population. I am offering one of those slots to you."
The black scaled dragon simply continued chewing his rations, thinking as Terrador finished, going over what parts he had understood. He shifted his sitting position, and tilted his head toward his two oath siblings. "All. Together."
He heard Terrador open his mouth to reply, but Vidalus cut him off. "Ancestors, you aren't actually so stupid as to turn this down, are you?"
Blind slowly turned his head toward Vidalus, and bared his fangs slightly, before he turned back to Terrador. He heard Sanyla cuff Vidalus, as Terrador replied. "I can only choose two. Otherwise there would have been years when I returned with more than a dozen new students. You are getting one of those two spots, and these two can join the others that will compete for the last one. Or you can pass on this likely once in a lifetime chance, and give them both a CHANCE to get both slots. Considering there are at least two dozen of age dragons in the town, they will merely have a slim chance."
The blind dragon held himself still in his sitting position, considering very hard what he had just heard. He eventually sighed, and shook his head. "Pass. Others. Better."
He yelped as something hit the back of his head hard, and snarled at Sanyla. Before he could reply, Vidalus spoke up. "Sir, can we have a moment to speak to our clearly insane oath-brother? And can you pretend to be deaf for the last… half minute or so?"
Blind yipped as Sanyla bit his tail and dragged him off, her own tail slapping his head whenever he tried to speak. She didn't drag him far, but he did have a headache from her tail-slaps when she finally released him. "Ancestors damn you, you… you… Ughhh! It is bad enough I have to deal with Vidalus' stupidity, but I thought you at least had a brain. Did you miss the beating those guards gave you? You need to get out of here before you get caught again, and I doubt that next time anyone will be there to save you."
Blind only half listened, instead focusing on the sound of someone flying closer, but Vidalus saw his head turning and spoke up. "It is Lady Commander Pyra, back from delivering those miscreants to their proper justice. Now pay attention, you idiot. Much as I hate agreeing with Sanyla, she is right. WE will be fine; you, however, are going to get killed if you don't go."
He was listening, and hard, as he was more interested in the conversation the older dragons were having. His oath sibs were just insulting him, so nothing he hadn't heard before. Terrador was the one he picked out first. "...never had a refusal before. And I am not sure he really understands what I offered. If he truly is a feral, at least. He seems to understand us just fine, can talk somewhat normally if haltingly, but seems to prefer using the absolute fewest words."
The one named Pyra snorted. "He isn't stupid, not if he can take on that patrol like he did. And the guards are likely learning where his lair is, so he has to leave, one way or another. Actually I just had a thought. You could just declare him a ward of the... feral re-education plan, I think it was called."
"The what?"
"Lord Spyro's pet project? Remember, about ten years back, we found those four ferals outside Earth Ward, and we tried to turn them into proper dragons? All four ran off and vanished back into the wilds within a year, huge scandal. Well, the thing is, that project was never officially closed, but it lacks a feral to try again with. Well, good news, we found one, and this one seems smart enough to know not to run off."
Blind could practically feel the Earth Guardian's distaste at the suggestion. "So you want to dragon-nap him?"
He lost track of the conversation as Sanyla tried to hit him again, but he managed to dodge this blow. "And you are lost in the clouds again, aren't you? Why are we even trying? Fine, stay here, get killed, lizard brain. I hope the guards catch you and turn you into dragon steaks."
She turned and stomped off, as Vidalus opened his mouth. Blind was done listening to his siblings, however, and reached out, pushing Vidalus' head down into the ground. He stepped over Vidalus, who yelped as the smaller but still heavy dragon walked over him, and approached the Guardian. "Accept."
Both adults shifted, likely turning toward him, though it took a second for Terrador to respond. "Did those two talk you into accepting the my offer?"
"No. Reed...acuetom?"
Despite him stumbling over the new word, there was another pause, and then Pyra made several deep coughs before she spoke. "You mean re-education?"
He nodded, and then waited a moment, before Terrador sighed and spoke. "Fine, I will allow it, though he is going in under YOUR name, Pyra."
Blind stepped back as she whirled toward the male, anger quickly filling the air around them. He waited, wondering what he was missing, before Pyra spoke. "Fine, but first…"
Blind suddenly felt something swirling in the air around him, and then it washed past him, like a sudden breeze. He froze, and it happened again. "What?"
He could feel Pyra's stare on him, before Terrador spoke. "You leave in a couple days, the tests will take that long. Commander Pyra will spend some time teaching you…"
He was interrupted by the female. "Lady Commander Pyra will NOT. I have a new investigation to finish, some thugs to dishonorably discharge, and still have to finish the rest of the investigation that brought us here, on top of dealing with whatever else I find."
He could feel her eyes on him, cold as a predator. He simply turned his head to her, eyes still closed and completely relaxed as he sat. She snorted, before moving away. "I will be back in three days, at dawn. If you are not in this clearing, you are left behind. Bring whatever you have with you, though I will remove anything I don't like."
He snorted, before grabbing another pawful of rations, as Terrador stood up. "Your two friends will come with us. Will you be alright for a couple days on your own?"
He shrugged with his wings and swallowed, before grabbing the sack with the rations in it. He tossed the sack onto his back, to rest between his wings, and headed for the tunnel into the mountain. He had things to gather and pack, sleep to catch up on despite it being sometime before midday, and he needed to say goodbye. He had no idea how long he would be gone, but she needed to know he would come back to see her. That she couldn't hear him wasn't important.
He heard Terrador huff at his departure, but Vidalus spoke up. "He does that sometimes, sir. Gets bored with a conversation and walks off."
Blind entered the tunnel, and was just barely able to make out what Sanyla said as the other four left his clearing. "Honestly, I'm surprised he was that talkative. Most of the time, getting words from him is like trying to get water from a rock."
He had finished packing, it didn't take long, it was really only a pawful of clearish rocks that glowed with inner light. Too soft to hurt his eyes, but he used them to see when exploring the deeper tunnels. He had the only piece of jewelry he owned around his right forepaw, where it almost always was. Other than the rocks, he had a couple skins he used to keep things off the ground. Everything else he could leave behind, the bone and rock tools, the extra skins and hides, the simple rock bowl.
Leaving felt strange, but he didn't need anything else. If he needed more, he could make it when he got to this 'Temple' place. All that was left was saying goodbye. He took a deep breath, made sure the glowing rock was around his neck, and shoved a large rock out of the way. He padded down the revealed tunnel, following it for a while. Time didn't mean much to him. Not here, visiting her. He took a deep breath, before stepping into the room. He immediately winced as the rocks in the room nearly blinded him. They had grown up around where she lay, four growths that were larger than him.
He walked around the growth nearest to him, and stared down at her, ignoring the pain from the light of the rocks. He came here at least once every few days, but most of the time he didn't have the words to tell her what he wanted. Since he was leaving, likely for a long time, he had to try though. "Leaving. Long time. To... Temple. Not sure. When back. Miss you. Try find… you... things."
He hated this, he couldn't talk as he wanted, but maybe at this 'Temple' he could learn words to speak his thoughts as he had them. He sighed, knowing he was only messing it up, but also knew she didn't care. He leaned down and gently nuzzled the small beak, ignoring the slight scrape as they touch. "Find. Good things. For you. Sleep. Well."
He turned and left, leaving the small dragon in her throne, heading for the surface. He was done, now he just had to wait for that Pyra female to return. As he left the room, though, he paused, and turned back to the small throne. After a moment, he sighed, and shook his head, before continuing upwards, mumbling to himself. "Some. Don't. Good. End."
Terrador, Guardian of the Earth, Duke of the Dragon lands, and friend and confident of the legendary Spyro, Cynder, their children, as well as King Ignatius and a dozen other nobles, among many other illustrious, important titles, reflected that a mere three days of flying from dawn to dusk shouldn't make him hurt this much. Even when arriving to the aftermath of an ape raid, spending all night calming the locals, surveying the damage, and then the next day trying to hunt down a young feral that didn't want to be found.
He grumbled to himself about spending too much time in meetings, not enough in the training yard, as a dragon of his mere one hundred ninety three years shouldn't feel this old. The last Guardian of Flame had been over three hundred, and had gone out fighting against Malefor without ever showing his age, though his friend had been half bluff about how much age was not slowing him down.
He shook off that line of thought, and tapped on Pyra's door. Though after checking that there was light coming through the crack. "It's me. May I enter?"
He heard her sigh, and grinned to himself. "Of course, sir. Though this long after sundown, you should be resting, especially after the pace we set to…"
He pushed the door open and half glared at the fire dragoness, though he couldn't hide his amusement. "I will not be lectured on what I should or should not by a dragoness almost a third my age. I know my limits well enough, and unlike you..."
She grinned at him, and shifted some paperwork to the side of her desk as she waved off his speech with her other paw. "Yes, yes. I heard that speech often enough when we worked together during the war and afterwards. So the local commander is on his way back to explain why he failed to report years worth of ape attacks and raids, the five goons are out, I am keeping an eye on the ones left, and several old squaddies are on their way to whip this place into shape, at least once that idiot commander gets to Warfang with my report and letter."
Terrador nodded, before lying upon a plush cushion. "I thought you and the former local commander knew each other in training?"
She hissed her displeasure, but kept her tone and face civil, though he could see steam snort from her nostrils as the room started quickly warming. "That was before he got lazy, stupid, complacent, and incompetent. He failed in his duties, so he is going to be punished as my uncle decides. I don't make exceptions for the rules, Terrador. No one is above the laws and regulations. No one."
Terrador gave her a wry smile. "Nice to see you haven't changed."
Pyra just snorted, though the room was starting to cool back off as soon as her temper was back in check. She shook her head, and rubbed at her eyes with a paw, before looking back at him. "So, any whelps here worth taking? Other than our feral, I mean."
"Three, maybe four, though Blind was correct in that his two friends should be tested. Sanyla is going back with us, no question. I want Spyro to take a look at her element, but she can speed herself up and slow others down with just her breath weapon, so definitely a sub-element at least. Not sure who is getting the second spot, either Vidalus, a dragon named Gust, or one named Frost."
Pyra laughed at the names, before shaking her head. "Glad I am not choosing, or else I might choose Vidalus just for not having such an obvious name to element association. Who are you leaning towards?"
"Frost or Vidalus, the former because of his considerable talent with his element, the latter because he takes hits and laughs them off, no matter how many or hard. Not sure why he wears that leather helm of his, but put him in full plate, and he could spearhead any charge you put him in. Once he grows bigger, of course. I definitely see Vidalus in the Guard at some point, and Frost would do well with the mages. I plan to have the two spar against each other for the final spot, though I might include Gust if he shapes up."
She nodded, and glared at the paperwork she had shuffled to one side, before shaking her head. "Well, if that is all, sir, I am for bed. Two days, and then back to the Temple."
Terrador nodded, eyes on the window for a moment, before standing with a sigh and grunt. "I wonder what he is doing."
"Who, the feral? Sleeping probably, like most sane beings, and we should follow his sensible example. Too dark tonight with the clouds to do anything. Tomorrow I plan to ask around and learn what I can about that feral. I expect a lot of rumors and stories, but it will give us an idea on what the town thinks of its neighbor."
Blind woke with a start, quickly freezing as he listened carefully. He was in his lair, and couldn't hear anything nearby. He let out a soft growl of annoyance, before unwrapping his wings from around him, and flipped his tail back over to hang down his back. He shook his head, clearing the dream from his head, trying to get his heart to slow and his body to relax, but it was no use. The dream, or whatever it was, was getting clearer.
His left forepaw was numb, he could barely breathe, he had a pounding headache, and his entire chest felt like someone had been beating him for several minutes. Since that described what the guard had been doing, he knew it wasn't related to his dream. So he instead focused on the dream, forcing the pain from his mind, focusing on the newest details. He had seen this 'dream' many, many times before, it haunted his sleeping periods, when he wasn't reliving the Failure. Six beings of light, so bright they burned his eyes just trying to look at them, three on the ground, slowly dimming.
Not much new, but now he knew what the largest of the shapes looked like now, instead of being an indistinct blur. Snake-like, but it now had four powerful legs holding it up, and its eyes were black pits that stared at him with barely contained fury. No wings, none of the bright forms seemed to have them, but this one had terrified him like an adult dragon did.
Not finding anything else new from the dream, he shook his head, and looked up, though he was checking the dim ground below him. Nothing had shifted there, so he let go with his hind paws, and flipped forward, landing on all fours. He knew from experience that further sleep was not possible, so he decided to go hunting. Maybe some fresh meat and blood would help clear his head; the exercise certainly would.
He was sitting in a tree, a couple days later, dozing as he listened to the clearing outside his lair, when he heard someone flying. After a moment, a thud resounded through the clearing, and he heard the dragon looking around. "Blind. Time to go. If you are not out here in two minutes, I am leaving you behind."
This time it was Pyra, so he jumped down, and walked toward her. "Here."
He heard her turn to look at him, and she snorted, though didn't speak for a moment. Finally, she broke the silence. "Alright, if that is all you have. We can make the flight to the temple in four days, taking it easy so you don't get lost. I have rations for both of us so we can skip towns. Though I am a bit curious as to how you are going to follow me."
He shrugged, before scratching his head, right at his ear holes. "Can. Hear. Ready."
Another uncomfortable pause, before she spread her wings. "Fine, though I am not going to make too many concessions for you. Ferals are supposed to be strong, so try to keep up."
He bared his fangs at her, and turned around. He sprinted to the tree he had just jumped from, and quickly scaled it, using it to get in the air faster and higher than the adult. "Slow."
She laughed at his display, and took to the air with a couple powerful wing strokes, before turning towards the sunrise. "Fine, 'impress' me, feral. You get tired and we have to stop early, I am not going to be happy."
Pyra glanced at the form concealed in the branches of a tree across the clearing from her. Two days done, and they were making good enough time she knew they would reach the temple late tomorrow. Terrador was likely done with the tests now, the replacement guard commander and guards had probably arrived, and he would be heading back to the Temple soon with his selected students. Though his path back would follow civilization to the Temple at a more leisurely pace, rather than take the more direct path she had chosen.
So far, this Blind was impressive for such a small dragon. At least assuming he was the same age as the others. He didn't talk much, a good trait in her opinion, and he was strong enough to keep up with her, though she wasn't trying to lose him. He even managed to do a quick hunt each time they had landed, so they had fresh meat, good and bloody, at the end of the day.
However, she couldn't shake the feeling there was something… off about him. She had done a simple detection spell on him several times, and each time the spell just washed over him like he wasn't there. And it shouldn't do that, it should at least register his presence. His body build was odd, heavily muscled back legs, tail and wings, but his forelegs were almost underdeveloped in comparison, despite being as strong as the other limbs. And that wasn't even touching on the unnatural way he slept, or the fact he slept in short spurts rather than a single long period.
She might believe the latter was due to him being feral and alone, but the hanging upside-down was just... wrong. She couldn't think of a single dragon sub-type that did something like that, and she had been reminded of the stories the townsfolk back in Long Pass had told her about him. Demon spawn, they had called him, blood thirsty, vicious, wholly evil, ate children when he could get them and the town livestock when he couldn't, used foul sorceries and blood magics.
They even had 'proof'; a single case of him taking a child, a young female named Leena, though no one would admit to actually seeing either the abduction or the corpse. She couldn't help but wonder if it was the same Leena as the daughter of one of the teachers that had gone missing about a decade earlier in the same area. At first she had simply assumed it was ignorance and coincidence, but after him not registering to the detection spell, and seeing him hanging like that…
No, she would trust her instincts; there was something very wrong with this Blind, and she would be damned to let anyone, feral or not, get past her just for being young, feral, or for ANY reason. At least once she got him to the Temple, she could easily get the rest of the guards to help keep an eye on him, probably a couple of the Guardians, definitely a few of the teachers. If there was any truth to the stories, they would find out there. She just hoped she wouldn't get her answer in the form of another small, crumpled lifeless drake. But if so…
She took a deep breath, and another look across the fire at the small dragon, this time her expression hard as rock; she would give him the same mercy she gave all her opponents. Absolutely none at all.
