Chapter Five: Sleep
The first hound came at Spyro in a single, hind-leg generated, bound. It caught him square in the neck, clinging to his flesh with it's razor sharp teeth. Spyro roared in pain, clawing at the dog's sides with his talons. While the first attacker was torn to shreds, the others surrounded Spyro. Just as the purple dragon finished carefully extracting the lifeless corpse's fangs from his neck, he was attacked once again. This time, it was a piercing pain that shot from his tail, all the way up to his brain. The other death hounds just started randomly biting at him, ripping whole chunks from his scaly skin, "Grahh!" Cried out Spyro in pain.
"That's it, 'feel' the anger! Fuel yourself with hate, and let it be your power! Let it burn you from the inside, and make it's way to your-" Gaul never finished what he was saying; because something large, heavy, and really smelly; hit him dead in the face.
"I never 'did' like monologues." Growled Spyro, who had just thrown a headless enemy at the talking monkey, "Now, to deal with the rest of you." One was clinging for dear life to his left flank. He grabbed it in between his powerful jaws, and sliced it in half with one powerful chomp. Another was on his tail. Nobody messes with an animal's tail! Spyro used his tail to fling it into the air, then he positioned himself underneath it. Horns aimed upwards. I'm thinking you can imagine what happened next.
Spyro didn't like getting his horns so messy, but in circumstances like this, you find yourself breaking a few personal rules once-and-a-while, "Damn you and your super-strength Spyro." Cursed Gaul after climbing back up to his perch.
Spyro only laughed as best he could with all the blood in his mouth and throat, "Damn Malefor; it's his blood line that gave it to me."
Gaul grumbled, then barked an order in his own language to a nearby death hound. The death hound then seemed to relay it to the others, and they stopped attacking Spyro. They still kept the tight circle though, "My turn." Gaul jumped to the ground, and brandished his sword in Spyro's face.
"You really think 'that' little thing is going to kill me?" Mocked the brave dragon.
Gaul only grinned, "Yup."
Spyro sent a ball of lighting into Gaul's hand, making him drop the weapon. Then, while the over-sized monkey was disarmed, he pounced on it, "I'm going to make 'sure' that you're dead this time." The Spyro did something you wouldn't think he'd 'ever' do! The purple dragon hooked his fore-claws, as his hind-claws were busy holding Gaul down, underneath the ape king's chin. Talon tore through bone and sinew, eviscerating all the muscles that held the evil creature's jaw in place. Then he yanked them out, releasing a gush of blood onto Gaul's scarred neck and chest. Needless to say, the monkey felt pain... Lot's of it. As the shapeless 'thing' tried to scream for help, Spyro shoved his muzzle into it's ripped apart throat, and bit down on it's spine. It only took one powerful tug, and the whole bone structure was pulled all the way out of his body, and held victoriously in the air.
Gaul was dead. He was 'so' dead. The death hounds took off at fast as they had appeared, yelping in fear the whole way. Spyro stood over his prey, maw and claws soaked in the slaughtered animal's life essence. He could 'feel' the rage building inside of him; he could almost reach out, and touch it. Then something reminded him of his true goal. Something soft, and kind. A small echoing voice in the back of his mind, telling him to wake up.
In a huge release of adrenalin, Spyro collapsed to the floor beside his victim, "What have I done?" Coughed the scared purple male before falling unconscious.
When Spyro awoke, he sadly found the corpse lying next to him still there. It wasn't all just a bad dream. He really 'did' lose control again. This time, it was on an enemy, but no creature deserved that kind of death, "I'm sorry." Whispered Spyro, before lifting the dead ape's body, and hurling it down into the abyss. Looking for the note, the purple dragon found something eve more interesting, "A green scale! What's 'this' doing down here?" He payed no mind to it right now, but decided that he'd keep it and look at it later. Spyro rolled it up, along with the ice-pick, inside the leather letter.
Walking away slowly, being careful not to open one of his luckily quickly healing wounds, Spyro noticed the blood that covered his usually shiny scales. He set the leather-wrapped package down next to a pond, and stepped into it. Feeling the cold water seep into the cracks on his armored body was heavenly, but he couldn't afford to stay any longer.
Finally, the dragon hero found his way back to the entrance. In it, patiently waiting, was Elice, "Spyro! You're hurt!" She ran to him, and circled him, worrying more and more by every cut or broken scale she found.
"Eli, please." Spyro trembled, and collapsed to the floor. He was bleeding out, and needed medical attention fast if he was going to survive. The last thing he heard, was the sound of Elice's frantic voice screaming his name.
Warmth. Light. A soft, kind voice. He opened an eye, but could not see. He opened his nostrils, but smelt nothing. Flicking his tongue out quickly, he couldn't even taste the air, "Am... Am I dead?"
Above him, a motherly smile appeared, "No, and if I have anything to do with it, you never will be."
Spyro reached weakly up with his claws and rubbed them against his eye-lids. To his satisfaction, they cleared up. That smile belonged to the one and only Elice. She was the last thing he had seen before falling unconscious in Malefor's tomb. At least his memory was returning; his senses didn't have as much luck, "How... How..." He coughed, vomiting a small amount of liquid onto the pillow beside him. Pulling his head to the side to look at it, he was shocked to find blood, "Wha-?"
"Don't worry yourself Spyro, it's part of the healing process. We need to get all the blood out of you from your internal wounds, before we can work on sealing them."
Spyro stopped moving completely, he was scared. The purple male tried to remember another day when he was scared; he found one. It was when Cynder turned back into her evil self. Thinking of her brought him strength, "O... Okay." He stuttered, still unable to speak properly.
"Sleep Spyro... Sleep." Her voice was hypnotizing. Before long, he found himself drifting off into a world of dreams. Most of the dreams, were about that dark purple dragoness and her wonderful face. Cynder, where are you?
"How long has he been in there?" Terrador stood strong. He was having trouble containing his happiness that Spyro was incapacitated for even longer than he had planned.
Elice looked at the ground sadly, "Three weeks... I wonder how his mate Cynder is?..."
Terrador chuckled, "She's not his mate you know."
"What are you getting at?" She sneaked a peek up at his face to see if he was serious or not.
The green dragon started to walk away, "That he's available." Elice stood there quietly for a few minutes. She needed the time to collect her thoughts.
"Spyro... Spyro... Wake up please!" He heard the voice, but didn't know who it came from until he opened his eyes. There, crying next to him, was Elice. He couldn't recognize her voice, because it was being obscured by tears, "I need you Spyro... Just, wake up. I wont ask for anything else. Just wake up."
"Eli?" He croaked, turning his head to match the direction of his eyes.
As soon as he had uttered the last letter, she sprang from her spot on the ground and wrapped her wings and fore-limbs around his limp weak body, "You're awake! Oh Spyro, you're finally awake!"
Later, during a lunch of roasted lamb and various vegetables, Elice answered all of Spyro's questions, "So, how long was I asleep?" That just 'had' to be the first question, didn't it.
The yellow dragoness looked at her purple companion weakly, "Please, don't freak out when I tell you this." Spyro's expression turned from content, to worried in the blink of an eye, "Four... Months." He dropped his food.
"Cynder!" He cried, dashing towards the door, which to his disappointment, was locked, "Why is this door locked! Who in their right mind locks a medical room!" He roared at it, hoping that some one would hear and come open it.
Elice sat where she was the whole time, waiting patiently for Spyro to calm down. When he finally did, she told him, "We're not in a medical bay Spyro."
"Then, where am I?" He slowly pawed over to her, taking his time.
"A prison cell underneath Warfang." She looked at the ground warily, wondering if this was such a good thing to tell some one right now.
The purple dragon exchanged his slow movement, for a fast-walking pace that repeated back and forth across the room, "Okay, start from the beginning. Why are we down here, who put us here, and how are we going to get out."
She was impressed, Spyro sure knew how to take command at times, "Well, I can answer your last question right off the bat. 'I' can't, but you'll be released at noon."
End Chapter Five: Sleep