Chapter 3
"Any luck?" Charlotte asked as Fang, Twitch, and Zephyr emerged from the bushes, into the now well-lit campsite.
"See for yourself." Fang said, turning to the side so Charlotte could see the multi-colored berries in his makeshift satchel.
"Hey, where're Spyro and Cynder?" Twitch asked.
"We don't know." Athena said.
"I'll bet I know what they're doing." Sparx stated haughtily
"Hold your tongue." Leon said, "They wouldn't be so desperate to do something like that when Malefore's troops could be right under out noses…they're more intelligent than that."
"You never know man."
"In any case, I'm beginning to worry."
"I'm sure they're fine." Twitch said, "They know how to deal with a few apes and orcs."
"Not to mention, Cynder had a great mentor." Athena said.
"Hmm…I suppose." Leon said.
It was then that the vanguards heard a rustle in the bushes. They immediately prepared themselves for an attack. A few seconds later, two young dragons burst from the leaves and skidded to a halt in front of them.
"Oh, thank the ancestors." Crystal sighed when she saw Spyro and Cynder, struggling to catch their breath.
"That's a fantastic way to get yourself killed." Leon stated.
"What happened?" Flare asked.
"There's…an encampment... near here." Cynder breathed.
"We…need to go." Spyro said.
"Aw, but we just went through the trouble of getting food." Twitch said.
"I'll bet we can take 'em." Fang stated.
"There's way too many," Cynder said, "it's an entire hunting battalion."
"And it's looks like your orc friend is leading it." Spyro said to Leon.
"You mean Gwar?" Leon asked.
"The same."
"Who?" Athena asked.
"Malefore put him under my command when I worked with him…I also owe him one for stabbing me when I wasn't looking."
"You're not paying him back tonight." Spyro stated, "Kill the fire and let's go."
"Ah, damn it." Flare cursed as he used his tail to sweep dirt over the fire.
"Okay, let's go." Cynder said. The vanguards nodded before taking to the skies, Athena with Fang and Charlotte, and Leon with Spyro and Cynder. None of them saw the black furred ape that sat in a tree and lined up a shot with his crossbow. Flare heard a twang followed by a shrill scream. He looked behind him to see his mate falling out of the sky.
"Crystal!" The fire breather yelled as he made a U-turn and dived toward the ice dragoness.
Twitch also saw the scene and he turned to Zephyr, "Whatever you do, don't stop."
"Be careful." Zephyr said. Twitch nodded before turning around and heading back to help Flare.
The wind deafened the fire breather as he closed in on his mate. He reached out with his paws grasped Crystal's foreleg. He then opened his wings to slow their decent. Twitch dove towards the two of them and managed to grasp Crystal's other foreleg, and, together, the two male dragons climbed back into the air with the ice dragoness.
Twitch helped situate Crystal on her mates back. The ice dragoness had fallen unconscious and the arrow protruded from her side. Blood ran from her wound, down Flare's flank and dripped to the ground below. "We've gotta get her to Zephyr." Twitch said.
"Right." Flare nodded before the two of them rushed to catch up with the other vanguards.
Gorrak watched them from the ground below, along with Gwar and the rest of their battalion. "You didn't kill it." Gwar said, "Guess you're not as good of a general as Master thought."
"Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want to kill it?" Gorrak asked as he grabbed one of the torches from an ape. He then held the torch close to the ground where he began searching for something that Gwar was unsure of. He was about to question the ape before three more orcs emerged from the bushes to their right.
"We found their campsite." One orc stated.
"Did you find anything useful?" Gwar asked.
"Just this." Another orc said, before handing the orc captain a dagger with a gold hilt
Gwar recognized the blade he held in his hand, "Leon won't be too happy about losing this." He then put the dagger under his belt, "I'll just hold onto it for him."
"Over here." Gorrak said. Gwar and the other troops looked over the black ape's shoulder to see a drop of crimson blood against a patch over a patch of white snow. More red drops led away from them and deep into the woods, "They're heading southeast."
"The tall plains." Gwar stated.
"You four…" Gorrak pointed to two apes and two orcs, "go back to the burning plains and tell master of the situation." The messengers nodded before disappearing into the darkness of the woods.
"And what about us?" Gwar asked.
"We follow the trail." Gorrak stated, "I thought that would be obvious…but, then again, I am talking to an orc." Gwar and the other orcs grumbled distastefully at the ape's remark before following him through the forest.
Flare and Twitch saw the rest of the vanguards and landed near them. "Zephyr!" Flare called.
The vanguards trotted towards them, "Oh ancestors." Zephyr said when she saw the arrow in the ice dragoness' side. Fang and Twitch helped lower her gently to the ground.
"She'll be okay, right?" Flare asked, worriedly.
"Not with that arrow still in her." Zephyr stated.
"I'll pull it out." Twitch stated.
"It may be a good idea to let someone with experience do that." Leon suggested, "Lest we do more harm, than good."
"Yeah…good idea." Twitch said. Leon knelt beside Crystal and examined the wound. He reached out and grasped the shaft of the arrow. All of a sudden, Crystal's eyes shot open and she began thrashing around and screaming in pain. Leon jumped back in shock before yelling, "Hold her down before she hurts herself!" The dragons obeyed and leapt onto the ice dragoness, being carful to avoid agitating the arrow. Leon once again grabbed the arrow and began firmly tugging on it. Crystal screamed again and struggled against the vanguards.
Leon could not coax the arrow out. "Stop, you're killing her!" Flare yelled.
"It's too deep, we have to cut it out." Leon said before reaching for his dagger. His eyes jumped when he realized that it was missing.
"Something wrong?" Twitch asked.
"Shit, my dagger must've fallen out of its sheath when we left." Leon then thought of another plan, "Cynder, let me borrow your tail."
Cynder nodded before getting beside her father and turning around so he could manipulate her tail. Leon grabbed her tail and looked at the tailblade before reexamining the arrow. Spyro looked up at how the male vanguards stared at Cynder's hindquarters as Leon manipulated her tail. He whispered to them, "Hey guys…I suggest you keep your eyes down…cause while I might be forgiving when it comes to my life-mate…Leon might not be when it comes to his daughter."
The male dragons blushed deeply when they realized they had been caught and they immediately looked back down and made sure that Crystal would not move. Athena let out a short giggle that caught Leon's attention, "What's so funny?" He asked.
"Nothing." Athena lied.
Leon raised a brow at her before returning to his work, "This will hurt." He then quickly made a small incision around the arrow. Crystal screamed again, but this time she also released blast of cold air. The sudden rush of cold air on her hindquarters made Cynder jump, snatching her tail up and slicing Leon's hand open. "Ow, son-of-a-bitch." Leon cursed. At this point, he was becoming slightly impatient, so he grasped the arrow and yanked hard. Crystal screamed again as the arrow was finally freed from her flesh. She gasped hard before falling unconscious once again.
"Crystal?" Flare craned his head down and looked at his mate worriedly.
"She passed out." Zephyr stated.
"Will she...be okay?"
Zephyr put her paw over the wound and healed it, "She'll be fine…but we need to find a secure place to rest."
"We will." Spyro stated.
Leon looked at the arrow in his hand, "Hmm."
"What is it?" Charlotte asked.
"This arrow is…odd looking." He held it up to the faint moonlight. It had a black shaft with a wicked looking, serrated, head, which still had pieces of Crystal's flesh attached.
"It…looks familiar." Athena stated.
"You know who did this?" Flare asked somewhat forcibly.
"I…don't know."
"Are you sure?"
"She said she doesn't know." Leon stated.
Flare looked at him for a second before turning back to Athena, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay…she's your mate, it's only natural to be angry." Athena said, sympathetically.
"I just…want her to be safe."
"It's understandable." Leon stated, "Especially in these times."
The fire breather nodded in agreement, "Thank you for taking care of her."
"No problem." Leon stated.
"Your hand says otherwise."
Leon looked down at the long bleeding gash across his palm, "With family like mine…who needs enemies?" Leon joked.
"Sorry, dad." Cynder apologized, "She just surprised me."
"I've had worse." Leon said passively. Zephyr placed her paw on the cut and healed over it, "Thanks…now then, you guys should find a place to rest."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Spyro asked.
"I need to go back and find my dagger." Leon stated, standing to his feet.
"Are you serious?" Twitch asked, half hysterically.
"You can't fight an entire battalion." Cynder said.
"I need that blade." Leon said.
"It's out of the question." Spyro said, defiantly, "We're pushing on."
"I'm not leaving my father's dagger behind." Leon said, raising his voice slightly.
"Leon," Athena began, gaining the human's attention, "you don't need that dagger."
"Yes…I do." Leon said.
"It's just a piece of metal."
"It's the one of the only things I have left of my family," Leon argued, "it's important to me."
"More important than me or Cynder?" Athena asked, becoming slightly hostile.
"Oh, don't pull that on me." Leon said.
"I guess I have my answer then." Athena stated.
"Goddamn it, Athena, just because you don't care about your parents doesn't mean that…" Leon didn't realize what he was saying until it was too late. He didn't have time to blink before Athena had slapped him across the face, leaving four small cuts across his face with her claws. She then silently walked away from him and headed into the forest.
"That…wasn't good." Twitch stated.
"I know." Leon said, sadly, "I screwed up…again."
"I'll go follow her," Charlotte said, "you guys catch up when you can."
"Thank you, Charlotte." Leon said. The fire dragoness nodded before chasing after Athena.
"Look, we can't risk losing you…you're the only one who knows how to shut off those machines," Spyro stated, "and I think your father would be more worried about saving everyone than about that dagger."
Leon sighed; he could not deny the truth in the purple dragon's words, "I know."
Leon then reached up and traced one of the cuts Athena had left on his face. "Lean down so I can heal that." Zephyr said.
"No thanks," Leon said, plainly, "I deserved this one."
"Let's catch up with Charlotte and Athena." Cynder stated. The vanguards nodded before heading into the woods.
About thirty minutes after the vanguards had disappeared, the forest came to life with dark figures and torches. Gorrak came to a stop at a splatter of dried blood, "The trail stops here." He announced.
"Alright, let's set up camp here." Gwar stated.
"Why?" Gorrak asked.
"What do you mean 'why'?" Gwar asked, "The trail's gone cold."
"We still know where they're going, if we hurry we can beat them there."
"Look at our troops, they're exhausted." Gwar stated. The rest of the orcs grumbled in agreement.
"Your troops maybe, but my apes look like their about to get their second wind…Right?" Gorrak asked the apes. The apes hooted in excitement.
"Then, here's an idea…how about you take your apes and get to the tall plains, and we'll catch up when we can?"
"Hmm…" Gorrak thought for a moment. While this strategy would weaken their brute force, the apes could easily gain ground on the dragons without the orcs slowing them down, "That may be the smartest thing you've said, orc."
"Well, go then…you don't want to keep the dragons waiting."
"Fine…we'll meet you at the tall plains." Gorrak said before he and the apes left the orcs behind and headed into the darkness of the woods.
"Damn dirty apes." Gwar grumbled under his breath.