Chapter 8

The tunnel continued on for a few miles before making a sharp incline. The vanguards kept their eyes on the walls and ceiling in case any more of the mutated cave spiders decided to ambush them. "It's g-getting colder." Twitch shivered.

"Y-yeah…we're getting c-closer to the exit." Leon said.

"There's a heat b-barrier separating the t-tall plains from the mountains, after we p-pass that it should get a lot w-warmer." Spyro stated.

"I d-don't I've ever been so c-cold in my life." Athena said, as she rubbed her hands together, hoping the friction would warm her up.

"Here," Leon put his arm around her and held her close so they could share their body heat, "b-better?"

"A little…at l-least I feel safer." She replied, giving him a smile.

"So d-do I." Leon said, smiling back. The male dragons of the group followed suit and draped their wings over their mates.

Flare made a move to wrap his wing over Crystal, but the ice dragoness said, "It's a nice thought, but I think that you're the one who could use the warmth."

"Oh, r-right." Flare said as Crystal wrapped her wing around him.

"Hey n-now…hold on a s-second." Sparx said, stopping the vanguards. The dragonfly flew towards Cynder and laid on her back and covered himself with Spyro's wing, "Okay, we're good." He said, relaxing. Spyro and Cynder shook their heads while the rest of the vanguards chuckled. They then continued up the tunnel until they were finally able to see a bright light. They emerged from the darkness onto a rocky mountaintop, where the sight of a series of large floating islands greeted them. Below them, a thick sheet of fog that stretched on for miles shrouded the foot of the mountains and the shadowlands beyond. The downdraft that had kept them from flying up the mountains still whirled around them, making the cold much worse.

"It's about t-time." Charlotte said, "I thought we w-would never get out of t-that spider-infested hell-hole."

"Hey…easy." Fang hissed.

"Oh," Charlotte then realized what she had said and she looked at Leon, "n-no offense…"

"It's f-fine." Leon said, "It's d-definitely not as p-pretty as it was so long ago."

"We really d-do appreciate the f-fact that you allowed us t-to see it." Spyro said.

"Don't m-mention it." Leon said, "And b-by that I mean, d-don't mention it to anyone…no one else c-can know of its location."

"Do you s-still not t-trust the dragons." Cynder asked.

"…I d-don't trust one d-dragon in particular." Leon said before looking at Fang, "Sorry…but I'm n-not going to p-put it past your father to d-desecrate my families tomb."

"I d-don't like it…but I c-can't disagree with you." Fang stated. "Don't worry, my l-lips are sealed."

The rest of the dragons nodded, "Thanks." Leon said, "Now…f-from here…I'm afraid I have n-no knowledge of where we're g-going."

"I t-think it's this way." Spyro said, indicating with his head towards the west. The vanguard nodded before following the purple dragon across the top of the mountain.

Two orcs escorted a mole from the Munitions Forge up Malefore's dark crystal spire, to the topmost chamber. The large purple dragon eyed the fearful mole as he entered, "I trust you have good news for me." Malefore said, maliciously.

"Um…y-yes sir…the automatons are a-almost fully functional." The mole stuttered.

"Almost?" Malefore said, narrowing his eyes.

"Y-yes sir…they should b-be done within the week."

Malefore let a puff of smoke escape from his maw, causing the mole to shirk back, "And what about the transport?"

"We need a f-few more d-days at the least."

"Hmm…do you have a family, mole?" Malefore asked. The mole stayed silent for a moment, "Well!" Malefore yelled, slamming his paw into the ground.

"Y-yes sir." The mole stuttered.

"Well if you want to keep it that way, you will tell your leader to pick up the pace…I want your work done within the next fortnight."

"B-but-"

"Get him out of my sight." Malefore ordered. The two orcs obliged and shoved the mole out of the room. "The moles are almost as useless as the orcs," Malefore thought to himself, "almost."

With one last heave Gorrak hefted himself onto the top of the mountain with his legion of apes close behind. They had lost a number of his men to the mountains as the rocks tended to be unstable and easily sent unwary travelers to their deaths. Gorrak knew, however, that the orcs would have it much worse, as they didn't have thick coats of fur to shield them from the biting cold. "It's about time." One ape said as he reached his arms into the sky in a stretch.

"Yeah, I thought we would see the heavens themselves before we actually reached the top." Another ape said.

"Shh." Gorrak hissed, "get down, now." Gorrak and his apes dropped almost simultaneously into a prone position. Gorrak listened hard and he could hear the faint voices not too far away. He motioned for his troops to follow him and they slowly crawled towards a small rock formation. Gorrak turned to his troops and told them to stay down. He peeked over the rocks and saw a group of dragons, a cheetah, and the creature that both Malefore and Gwar had spoken to him about. "How the hell did they get up here so fast?" The ape asked himself.

"H-here it is." Spyro stated as they reached a rather long and rickety rope bridge.

"Wait…that's the b-bridge?" Twitch asked.

"What d-did you expect?" Spyro asked.

"Well, at l-least something doesn't look like it'll c-collapse at any m-moment."

"We'll b-be careful." Spyro then turned to Sparx who still lay on Cynder's back, "Sparx, your s-small enough that the winds c-can't affect you too b-badly…scout ahead and make sure we d-don't run into any surprises."

"Oh right," Sparx said, sarcastically, "send m-me over their f-first as cannon f-fodder."

"At least you f-finally get t-to do something useful." Cynder said.

"…That's a l-low blow." Sparx stated, "F-fine…and then m-maybe I'll stay with the Atlawa…I did, after all, save them f-from the apes."

"No…p-please…what would we d-do without you?" Fang said in a sarcastic tone. The vanguards laughed at the black dragon's remark.

"Alright, we'll s-see." Sparx said before flying towards the floating islands.

"What's an A-Atlawa?" Leon asked.

"You mean you d-don't know?" Cynder asked, surprised.

"They're a tribe that populates the tall plains." Crystal said.

"Cyril isn't to f-fond of them, though." Spyro stated, "He thinks that their s-savages."

"Are t-they?" Leon asked.

"No…they j-just aren't as advanced as the d-dragons and they h-have their own religion."

"I s-see."

"C-can we go now," Flare whined, "I'm freezing my t-tail off."

"Yeah, l-let's hurry." Spyro said. The vanguards started to cross the bridge being careful to spread their weight evenly on the planks. Step by step they slowly made their way across the long bridge. The boards creaked under them and as if warning them not to take the next step. They never stopped to looked behind them to see the legion of apes that now stood at start of the bridge.

"We can make quick work of them." An ape said as he raised his blade over his head and aimed his swing at the rope that suspended the bridge.

"Hold." Gorrak said.

"Why?" The ape asked, "We have the perfect opportunity to-" The ape did not have a chance to finish his sentence. In one smooth motion Gorrak unsheathed his dragon tooth blade and lopped off the ape's head. A gush of blood covered several of the surrounding apes and they watched in horror as the headless body of their companion fall off the mountain and disappeared in the mist below.

"How many times must I say it?" Gorrak asked, "Do not question me." He looked at his legion and he could easily see the fear in their faces, "We need that purple dragon, alive…They have to come back through her, so let's set up camp and wait for them…perhaps Gwar and his sorry excuse for warriors will catch up by then...but I won't hold my breath."

The vanguards continued to walk across the bridge, shivering with each step as the cold cut through their bodies like the sharpest steel. Flare's coughing grew worse and worse as it became colder and colder. Then, about two-thirds across the bridge, it suddenly became much warmer, as if this part of the world was stuck in permanent spring weather. "Oh wow." Zephyr gasped.

"Thank the ancestors." Flare said.

"Well…I'm glad that it's not cold anymore," Leon began, "but now I'm afraid I'm going to get an infection." His wound had clotted but still remained at the mercy of the elements.

"I'm sure we can find something to help on the way." Spyro said.

"Then let's hurry." Leon stated. The vanguards continued across the bridge and they saw Sparx waiting for them on the other side.

"Hey, pick up the pace!" The dragonfly called.

"Find any unwanted company?" Spyro asked

"Nope, just tall grass and rocks." Sparx replied.

"They must be deeper in the plains." Leon stated.

"Let's keep going." Spyro said. The vanguards nodded before heading into the bronze colored grass. The grass had grown much taller since Spyro's visit almost four years ago. The dragons found navigating the grass to be difficult, as only Leon and Athena were tall enough to see over the blades, and even they had to stand on their toes to get a good view.

Sparx took the initiative to fly above the grass and scout the path ahead, "There's a clearing straight ahead with a bunch of boulders."

"Alright, now we're getting somewhere." Spyro stated. The vanguards emerged from the grass into the clearing where they found stacks of stones about the size of a healthy cheetah warrior.

"Huh, that's weird." Sparx said, "Was someone doing something with these?"

"Do you think they're markers?" Cynder asked as she closely examined one of the rock piles.

"Who cares, it's a great place to rest." Twitch said as he lay near one of the rock piles.

"I need a break, too." Leon said. He wasn't tired but his wound was causing him a severe amount of pain.

He sat on the ground and Athena sat beside him and rested her back against one of the rock piles. It was then that the sound of grinding stone caught their attention. Athena jumped when she felt the rocks shift behind her back. The vanguards watched as the rocks rolled over each other and formed arms and heads with red, glowing eyes.

"Oh crap!" Twitch exclaimed as the one of the stone brutes raised a massive arm over its head. Twitch leaped backwards to avoid being crushed but as soon as the Brute's massive fist landed, a pillar of stone sent the young lightning dragon into the air. Twitch regained his balance in mid-air before firing a lightning bolt that blew off the Brute's arm, sending small rock shards in all directions.

Athena rolled forward as the brute that she had been resting against swung at her. The other vanguards also backed away from the brutes and huddled together in a defensive circle. The brutes began sliding towards them, ripping up the grass as they moved. Zephyr fired an earth bullet that smashed against one of the brutes' chest and cracked it into pieces. The rest of the brute fell into a pile of rubble and it's red eyes faded away. "They're big, but not indestructible." The earth dragoness stated.

Spyro ducked as another arm whizzed over his head before using his lightning breath to blast the brute's head off. Twitch eyed his one-armed opponent as it stalked closer. The lightning dragon fired another lighting bolt, but the brute dodged to the side with surprising speed for a creature of its size. The brute then charged the lightning dragon, but Twitch leapt over the attack with a mighty flap of his wings. He then turned and fired another lightning bolt that crashed against the brutes back, leaving a massive crater and taking down the brute.

Crystal fired flurries of ice spikes at the brutes, but only succeeded in chipping off small pebbles as the spikes shattered against their stone bodies. Cynder took notice and stood in front of the ice dragoness before letting out a concentrated blast of sonic energy. The brutes began cracking and fell into chunks on the ground.

Flare used his fire breath on the remaining brutes, heating them up and melting their bodies. Leon then used his dark lightning to finish off the weakened brutes.

"Thank the ancestors that's over." Twitch breathed.

"I had forgotten how dangerous this place was." Spyro said.

"Uh guys?" Sparx said, pointing.

The vanguards turned to see that the grass had caught fire, and the inferno was spreading rapidly. "No problem." Fang said, leaping into the air.

"Wait, don't…" Leon began, but Fang was too distracted. The black dragon sent a wave of wind across the plain, but only succeeded in strengthening the blaze.

"Oops…" Fang said once he realized what he had done.

"This way." Athena said. The vanguards dashed through the tall grass and ran towards an unknown destination. Eventually, they reached the edge of the grass and ran into a wooded area.

They stopped by a tall tree to catch their breath, "Do you…do you think it'll stop by itself?" Zephyr asked.

"I certainly hope so." Cynder said.

"Come on, let's..." Spyro began, but he was cut short by a rustle in the bushes.

"What's that?" Crystal asked, becoming nervous.

Another rustle caused the vanguards to take defensive positions, "It's getting closer." Charlotte stated.