The next morning Spyro went down to the kitchen even though his stomach felt as though it was about to burst after last night's incident. However that quickly became worse as he sat down with the guardian's apprentices who were all eating happily.
"Hey why is everyone so chipper this morning? Did the guardians announce there will be a test today or something?" Spyro joked as he sat down next to Flame.
"Even worse, Cynder has decided to transfer to a prep school after what happened last night. Apparently Cyril thought that it was too dangerous for Cynder to continue attending here; so Cyril pulled a few strings and had his daughter transferred to Arcania's Academy for Gifted Dragonesses." Flame said as he shoveled some scrambled eggs into his mouth.
"Oh no," Spyro whispered, "When is she going to leave?"
"That is the thing Spyro, Cynder is already gone." Flame said putting a paw on Spyro's shoulder.
"She…she did not ever say good bye." Spyro whispered sadly.
"I know, but I do not think she had a choice." Polaris answered gloomily.
"So what am I supposed to do now?" Spyro murmured dejectedly.
Much to their disgust Ember entered into the cafeteria, however she looked as though she had been attacked by something. Ember stomped up to the table Where Spyro sat and much to the surprise of everyone clawed Polaris's face.
"Is this your idea of a joke?" Ember shouted pointing to her wounds. "Well is it?"
"What are you talking about Ember?" Polaris growled angrily.
"Don't lie to me, you attacked me last night. You attacked me for no reason and my daddy will have your head for this." Ember screeched angrily.
"Ember what are you talking about I have not been anywhere near your room." Polaris said raising his voice above Embers. The pink dragon would have none of it and scratched the other side of Polaris's cheek.
"Ember, stop this right now." Cryo said deflecting Embers paw before she could make another incision. "Now why do you think that Polaris attacked you last night?"
"He is the only one who would think to attack me after what happened last night. Why else would he do it?" Ember demanded angrily
"Strange, because; Polaris had left last night for Arcania's academy to deliver a message." He returned not but a few hours ago." Cryo said giving Polaris a suspicious look. Polaris raised an eye ridge in his defense but said nothing.
"So you are saying that Polaris was not here? Then he had an accomplice, one of you most likely." Ember sniffed pointing her nose in the air.
"Well seeing as how we were all here…." Richter stopped midsentence, his whole body began to quiver as though he had been exposed to cold water. Spyro felt it too, as though a cold wind had blown through the entire cafeteria.
"Did you guys feel that?" Flame whispered through his chattering teeth. The lights suddenly extinguished themselves leaving only a dark void around the five dragons.
"There is something here." Polaris muttered cryptically
"Ok you guys you got me now cut it out." Ember said rolling her eyes angrily. Spyro looked at Ember as though she were crazy.
"Ember no one is doing anything." Polaris said softly.
"What in the name of the ancestors is going on here?" The loud voice of Cyril echoed throughout the halls.
The coldness instantly vanished as four large dragons entered into the room. Spyro could have sworn he heard a large whooshing noise as the lights flickered on once more. Terrador and the other guardians were standing in the center of the room. A look of bewilderment graced each of their faces as each guardian searched the room for whatever had caused the strange events that had just occurred.
"What in the name of the ancestors…." Terrador muttered softly.
"It was Polaris and his gang of cronies." Ember shouted shooting Polaris and the other guardian trainees a dirty look. Polaris rolled his eyes angrily in response but said nothing once more. "They also attacked me last night while I was in bed."
"Do you have any proof of this accusation?" Cyril inquired.
"Well who else would attack me?" Ember growled angrily.
"That does not suffice I am afraid Ember. Now I repeat once more, do you have any proof that our apprentices attacked you? If not then I am afraid that they are innocent until proven guilty." Cyril said impatiently.
"Well they did this to me, is that proof enough for you." Ember screeched pointing to one of the wounds with her claws.
"That still does not prove that Polaris or any of the other apprentices are guilty. You could have done that yourself to get some more attention." Cyril sniffed angrily.
"What you don't believe me?" Ember demanded.
"After what happened last night I think not. Not to mention Polaris was not here last night." Cyril pointed out.
"See I told you, Polaris was at Arcania's Academy. He left not long after last night's festivities." Cyro added tensely.
"That is it I am telling my daddy. You mark my words he will make you all pay for this." Ember shouted angrily. With that the pink dragoness stormed out of the cafeteria without as much as a backwards glance.
"You can try Ember, but your father will not get the best of me." Cyril shouted in a tone that made even Polaris shiver in fear "You are the only one is going to pay for humiliating my daughter you selfish…."
"Cyril," Terrador barked angrily. "Need I remind you that you are the guardian of ice? You are supposed to be an example to all the students here in this temple."
"Well how can I not be angry Terrador? First Ember humiliates my daughter in front of the entire school. Now that little pink whelp is accusing our apprentices of this preposterous crime. I think we ought to be furious with that girl." Cyril shouted earning no response from his fellow guardians.
"I understand you have a personal plight against Ember, but you must not let your emotions cloud your judgment Cyril." Terrador growled causing the ice guardians to shrink slightly.
Yes if we let this happen Govenor Blaze would undoubtedly emanate to this temple and demand your apprehension. Not to mention the apprentices as well. That would be most awful…horrible…terrible…" Volteer rambled.
"The point is for now we must keep this under control until we know what attacked Ember. Governor Blaze will be angry without a doubt. However if we are not careful he could try and arrest our apprentices for a crime they did not commit. Or worse he could take over the temple, and you know how that will end." Terrador said resting a paw on top of Cyril's shoulder.
"Fine what do you suggest we do?" Cyril conceded much to Terradors delight.
"For now we should contact the king. This event and the attack on Ember must be pulled under control before Blaze starts another civil war. That is the last thing we need after all that Malefor has done." Terrador said with a long drawn out sigh
The rest of the day went by rather slowly in Spyro's opinion. Teaching the new students how to use their elements for the first time was extremely difficult. The older students were the most difficult to train. During the war the older dragons had little to no time to train their hatchlings.
Most of the students could not use their elements, and those that could were crude at best. However that did not stop them from showing off to some of the females. By lunch time Spyro felt as though he would go insane. Yet the pain did not stop there, after lunch Spyro and the apprentices were forced to appear in the guardian's chamber. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the students; however that only gave Spyro an ominous feeling.
As he entered into the main hallway the sound of shouting could be heard forcing Spyro to wince slightly. Three of the voices Spyro recognized as the guardians'. The fourth however was brand new to Spyro.
"Oh great Governor Blaze is here." Polaris grumbled sarcastically as he and the other apprentices joined Spyro.
"Uh is that someone I should be worried about?" Spyro asked nervously.
"Not unless you supposedly attacked his daughter." Polaris replied as he walked pass Spyro towards the guardians chamber.
Cryo, Richter, and Flame followed though they looked about as miserable as Polaris was. Spyro followed last wincing as the shouting got much louder and violent threats permeated the air. As they reached the door Spyro could have sworn a fight was going to break out.
"Maybe I did not make myself clear Master Cyril, as governor of Warfang I demand that you surrender your apprentices." Governor Blaze shouted so loud that Spyro thought his eardrums would explode.
"And for the last time we are saying no. Your daughter has no proof that our apprentices attacked anyone. If anything your daughter most likely inflicted those wounds on herself. That Ember is dragging our apprentices into this is complete nonsense." Master Cyril roared angrily. The sounds of his clicking talons echoed from inside the chamber.
"You know what you're right, if anyone did this to my sweet Ember. It was that wretched daughter of your Cynder. She had a motive against Ember so it could have been the former queen of darkness. Or maybe she brainwashed one of your apprentices to do it for her." Governor Blaze said. Spyro snorted in anger at the use of Cynders old nickname.
"You dare bring my daughter into this you pompous peacock? Especially after what your daughter did last night. I would have you know that I spent the whole night comforting Cynder and she never left her room." Cyril snorted as Spyro and the others entered into the chamber.
"Not only that, but Malefor would never have considered giving Cynder the ability to brainwash someone." Spyro said his face grim with determination. The only surprise was as he entered Spyro discovered his mother and father were there as well.
"Hello son, how nice to see you so soon." King Ignitus said as he and his mated greeted their son.
"Spyro are you alright I heard about what happened this morning and I was so worried. What if you were hurt? What if that thing got you? Oh I would never be able to forgive myself." Queen Lumina wailed as she threw herself over Spyro.
"Mom it's alright, whatever that thing was in the cafeteria it did not hurt anyone." Spyro said trying his best to comfort his mother.
"Indeed it would appear the entity had no time to do anything. This is quite intriguing, perplexing, mystifying….." Volteer rambled causing Cyril to roll his eyes angrily.
"You know what I think? I think we should get back to the problem at hand. Punishing these hooligans for they did to my poor sweet Ember." Governor Blaze said shooting a venomous look at Polaris and the others.
"How many times is it going to take to get it through your thick head Blaze? They did not attack Ember, and neither did my daughter. You have no proof and quite frankly I am becoming concerned about your behavior of you and your daughter." Cyril said closing the gap between himself and Governor Blaze.
"Well perhaps you would like to tell me why your apprentices were trying to scare my daughter away from the temple then? Or why they attacked my daughter without cause?" Governor Blaze said taking a ready position.
"That is enough from both of you." King Ignitus shouted putting himself in between Cyril and Governor Blaze. "I had several of my guards check Ember's room and there was no sign of forced entry, therefore…."
"Therefore that leaves us with only one likely culprit, Cynder." Governor Blaze growled angrily.
"Did you hear nothing that has been said Governor Blaze? Cyril was with Cynder the whole time. Except for when he was arranging Cynders transfer to Arcania's." Terrador said clicking his talons impatiently.
"See you were not there before then, who is to say Cynder did not do something like attack my daughter or brainwash one of your apprentices." Governor Blaze insisted passionately.
"Oh by the ancestors not this again, look Blaze there was no sign of forced entry in your daughter's room." Terrador answered with a casual roll of his eyes.
"Besides, the ability to brainwash others was something Malefor kept to himself. Cynder told me so herself." Spyro hissed his patience running thin with the repetitive accusations.
"Indeed Malefor would not want to risk such a power being used against him." Terrador added with a gentle nod.
"In order for that to work Cynder would have needed an enormous amount of power….." Governor Blaze began.
"That could have been easily obtained via the spirit gems." Polaris said loudly so that his voice outdid Governor Blaze's. "With enough of them Cynder and Gaul could take over Malefor's mind. Or if that was not possible, use it to create an opening to kill their former ruler/master."
"Indeed, well put young Polaris." Cyril exclaimed happily.
"Fine have it your way, this is not over mark my words. I will avenge my daughter and see you four lot in a cell where you belong." Governor Blaze vowed. With that the governor turned on his heels and left. King Ignitus shook his head sadly and sighed.
"Good riddance to him." Cyril snorted angrily.
"Truly, but this will not be the last we here from that dragon." Terrador admitted with a long and tired sigh.
"What should we do Ignitus, if Governor Blaze should perform his threat, it could mean calamity for the temple. "Volteer rambled as he frantically paced around the room.
"Calm down you old coot, Blaze is not going to do anything. Not without any sort of proof. Now would you please stop pacing?" Cyril bellowed forcing Volteer to cringe slightly. With an affirmative nod Volteer went back to his place and sat down quietly.
"Thank you Cyril, now let us get back to business. We need to know what happened this morning." Ignitus said
"Well it is hard to really tell Ignitus old boy. The room was dark so no one could really see what was happening at the time." Cyril responded.
"Indeed, what about you five? I want to know exactly what happened this morning." King Ignitus said turning to Spyro and the apprentices.
One by one each member of the group gave their story on what had happened. Not much seemed to differ with each story though, Cryo attempted to make himself look tough by saying that he fought against the culprit. That nearly set off another battle between Cyro and Richter forcing the guardians to break up the two rambunctious drakes. Ignitus could only sigh; shaking his head slightly after Polaris finished his account of what had happened.
"This is not what I was hoping for. Instead of answers your stories seem to lead to only more questions." Ignitus said in a defeated tone.
"Well one thing is clear darling, that Ember girl attacked Polaris without cause." Queen Lumina said placing a wing around her mate.
"That is the only thing we seem to know my beloved." Ignitus said returning his mates affection with an affectionate nudge.
"This could not be it, there must be something more. Is there anything you lot may have forgotten?" Cyril asked looking at each of the drakes with a look of desperation.
"I am afraid what we told you are everything we know Master Cyril." Flame said dejectedly.
"Hmm or perhaps the answer is right in front of us." Terrador muttered looking into the pool of visions. "Perhaps we are dealing with a shadow dragon other than Cynder."
"Then again that would come as no surprise. After all look what her parents did to the shadow dragons after….." Cyril trailed off his face drooping sadly. "It would only make sense; we should see how many shadow dragons are currently enrolled in the temple then question them personally."
"That still does not explain how he or she managed to pull off that stunt in the cafeteria. Unless of course; he or she was not working alone." Volteer suggested.
"That is true but for now we should run a background check of every shadow dragon here in the temple. See if any of them have any sort of history with Governor Blaze." Terrador said, and then turned to the apprentices. "Polaris you and the other trainee's keep a close eye one Ember. I want you to contact us if anyone tries to attack her."
"You mean we have to babysit Ember? Oh come on that is the last thing I want to do with my spare time." Cryo whined with a stomp of his paw.
"I know I also want you to watch her behavior and report anything suspicious. We still have not ruled out the possibility that Ember did this to herself. However until we can prove it those accusations are no more than words." Terrador said then turned to Volteer. "Volteer when you are not teaching classes I want to begin work on a way to monitor and record events as they happen."
"I will begin exertion right away Terrador, however it may take me a while to create such a device. What you have entreated is so afar anything we have ever conceived." Volteer rambled as he began to wrack his brain for a solution.
"Well perhaps the moles can help you," Cyril suggested.
"Certainly, and I think it would be best if we try and keep this project and what happened in the cafeteria quiet for the time being." Terrador said glaring at both Cryo and Richter.
Unfortunately that did not happen; by dinner time all the newspapers contained some article about what had happened inside the temple. Even worse many of them sympathized with the governor who repeatedly blamed Cynder and even had a full investigation done. The part that angered Spyro the most was when the ones doing the investigation announced that they had found blood covering Cynders room. Master Cyril was furious, as were the other Guardians, but in the end they were forced to relent or be arrested for helping Cynder.
So it was with great anger that Spyro walked down to the cafeteria where the other students were happily eating dinner and chatting about who knows what. Others were pouring over the evening newspaper with the headline Cynder Hero or Menace?
Oh that is just great, Spyro thought angrily, not only had Ember managed to turn all of the temple against Cynder. Now the whole city is against her.
"Hey Prince Spyro are you feeling alright?" A voice asked snapping Spyro out of his stupor. Spyro turned and saw the voice belonged to Flame who was standing behind him with a look of fear and concern.
"I'm fine," Spyro grunted angrily as he trudged to get his food.
"No you are not," Flame said sharply.
"Yes I am" Spyro snapped as he spun around to face Flame.
"Hey Spyro," Ember called from the other side of the cafeteria.
Spyro snorted a puff of black smoke from his nostrils, but otherwise ignored the pink dragoness. Flame followed close behind silently as Spyro collected his food and moved to a secluded table. Spyro was not surprised however when Ember came over and shoved Flames tray onto the ground.
"Hey," Flame shouted angrily.
"Get lost loser," Ember said pointing her nose in the air.
"No," Flame replied firmly.
"What did you just say to me?" Ember asked shooting Flame a dangerous look.
"You heard me Ember," Flame replied coolly. "Usually I am a really nice guy, but these last few days you have been really pushing my buttons."
"Oh not this again, why do you guy have to be so mean to me? What have I ever done to deserve this?" Ember asked placing a paw against her forehead as though she was distressed.
"Hmm let's think Ember, "Spyro spat angrily causing Ember to shrink slightly, "First you humiliate Cynder in front of the entire school. Then you pretend to be attacked by some unknown assailant and blame it on Cynder and the apprentices. Then lastly you frame Cynder by putting fake blood all over her room and writing in her diary. So you tell me why we are being mean to you."
"Spyro stop" Flame snapped angrily.
"Why should I Flame give me one good reason?" Spyro shouted, but Flame did not budge or even react.
"She is not worth it that's why" Flame replied, deliberately putting himself in between Spyro and Ember. "Look I know what Ember did was wrong and for that I can sympathize, but this is not the way to handle her actions."
"Then what should I do?" Spyro demanded angrily.
"Nothing I have not done anything wrong." Ember huffed pointing her nose in the air. "If anyone is the innocent victim here it's me."
"You, Ember do you even realize how your actions are affecting other?" Flame asked.
"No and I don't care." Ember said as she walked away with humph. Flame could only roll his eyes as the pink dragoness rejoined her friends.
"Look let use handled Ember. That is the only way she is going to stop." Flame said returning his attention to Spyro.
"I don't like this." Spyro snorted angrily.
"No one does Spyro; neither do we want to make things worse than they already are." Flame replied placing a paw on Spyro's shoulder.
Things did get worse however, over the next two days Ember made a point of sharing her tale of woe with anyone who would listen. Even worse was that over those two days several more claw marks had mysteriously appeared on Embers body. This of course was met with the response that it was the doing of Polaris; who was in leagues with Cynder. Governor Blaze encouraged these rumors and passed a decree to have the temple hallways guarded at all times.
"Oh man I do not like these guys." Flame muttered as he passed one of the guards. The guards glared at Spyro and Flame as they passed sending an involuntary chill down Spyro's spine.
"I know if I did not know better I would say the Blaze is up to something." Spyro whispered as they headed down the next hallway. Thankfully the guards there were not as bad as the ones before, but they were quite intimidating.
"Yeah how much do you want to bet he is trying to make sure no one is trying to oppose him?" Flame whispered as they passed the second pair of guards.
"Hey what did you just say?" The guard demanded angrily.
"Oh nothing," flame replied pretending to sound innocent.
"Yeah right, repeat what you said by order of Governor Blaze." The guard growled angrily releasing a puff of black smoke.
"Why Flame did not say anything bad." Spyro said trying to defuse the tension that had formed.
"Then perhaps Flame would like to repeat what he said. For all we know it could have been something to do with killing the governor." The guard said continuing to give Flame an evil glare.
"I said that Governor Blaze has no right to put his snout into our business." Flame shouted drawling the attention of the nearby students. "What is next is he going to have you read our mail next?"
"Flame stop," Spyro said shoving Flame's side.
"That's right listen to your prince, after all the temple belongs to the government not some aristocrats like you're so called guardians." The guard snorted as he returned to his post.
Flame opened his mouth to say something, but with another shove Spyro managed to get the young fire dragon to stop. That did not stop Flame from giving the guard a dirty look though.
"Why did you stop me?" Flame demanded as soon as they were out of earshot.
"You were making a scene, remember what you said about not giving more ammunition to Ember and his father?" Spyro whispered as they headed towards the dormitory.
"Oh come on Spyro you heard what they said, the temple belongs to the government that is not true." Flame hissed angrily.
"And you were about to do something that would have gotten yourself killed. Go to the guardians and tell them about this, if anyone will know what to do it is Terrador." Spyro instructed.
"And why should I obey you, you are one of them." Flame hissed angrily.
"Flame what is wrong with you all of a sudden?" Spyro asked.
"My temple is about to be taken by your government that is what is wrong." Flame growled angrily. "And it is clear that you are on the same side as Governor Blaze."
"Are you crazy why would I want control of the temple? I am not the one who sent these guards remember? That was Governor Blaze, he is the real problem." Spyro snarled irritably.
"Or here is a thought; maybe you are trying to trick us into believing that you are the good guy. For all we know this could actually be your fathers scheme." Flame barked furiously his voice echoing though the stairway.
"Fine go to your precious guardians anyway and tell them whatever you want I don't care anymore. Spyro hissed as he shoved passed Flame. "You know maybe Governor Blaze really does have the right idea after all."
Spyro gave Flame no time to respond as the purple dragon climbed the stairway to the third floor corridor. It was not until Spyro was in his room and slammed the door that the young purple dragon gave a loud and angry roar and collapsed onto his bed.
"I cannot believe Flame did that, I mean what is his problem?" Flame growled as he grabbed one of his pillows and threw it against the wall. "I mean all I did was tell him to go to the guardians, but no that little ingrate had to shove it back into my face."
Now was one of the times he wished Sparx was back. The dragonfly would have at least been a good laugh. However he was in the swamp with his mom and dad. Pushing these thoughts aside Spyro decided to send a letter to Cynder instead. In spite of everything she was a really good listener and might be able to give some good advice about what to do.
Grabbing some ink and a piece of parchment Spyro wrote his letter. It was brief but then again what Flame had said about reading everyone's mail did concern Spyro. By sunset he was finished and placed the letter into the floors mailbox.
Upon returning Spyro felt a little better and decided to nap for a while. His dreams were filled with visions of him and Cynder in some romantic getaway alone, a tropical island from the looks of things. The two played for what seemed like hours. Then the dream turned darker, a golem sized Malefor appeared and raked the island apart with his large talons. The dream then changed again, this time Spyro found that he was on a path in a dark foreboding woods. Cynder reappeared again beaconing to him, but as Spyro approached, his beloved Cynder become an old haggard looking dragoness. With a powerful leap the old dragoness attacked clawing and beating Spyro with an almost unnatural strength. Finally the dragoness raised her claw for a killing blow, and as the final stroke fell everything went dark.
Spyro awoke with a jolt, his face and body drenched in sweat. To Spyro's horror his entire body was covered in bruises and claw marks and all of them in the same places where the old dragoness from the dream had scratched him.
"What just happened?" Spyro asked as he looked out to the setting sun.
Sorry for the long wait this chapter was a real pain to write. Anyway remember to read and review. Polaris out.
