Chapter Six: Ice and Blood
"After the incident with the torch, I spent a lot of time in my study trying to think of where you might need the light the most. It was especially difficult, since you being a dragon meant you didn't need a substitute light source, you could make flame yourself. Then I remembered a place where no dragon can use his flame. Malefor's training cave."
Spyro smirked, "And when you went looking for me, you found out that I had already left for the cavern."
She nodded, smiling at the quickness of the young dragon's mind, "Yes. Sparx was the one that told me where you were going. He sees everything that happens in Warfang, so he seemed to be the obvious one to ask. After getting the location from your insect buddy, I practically flew-ran to the entrance of the cave. There you were, limping and bleeding a 'lot'. There was so much blood... So much..." Her eyes became wet with tears, and she looked away in shame.
Spyro moved closer to her, bringing his face to hers, "Don't be ashamed by your concern, it's heartwarming to see how much you still care about me." He licked the salty liquid from her eyes and smiled at her warmly until she returned the expression.
"Thank you." She sniffed, blinking away the remains, "Now, to continue with the story. I brought you back to the infirmary, and put you under a healing spell. Unfortunately, some one had switched my spell-books, and I gave you the 'long sleep' one instead! It was almost too late before I noticed, but when I did, I immediately searched for the right spell and added it onto the one that already was in place. Combined, they make a teenage dragon sleep for exactly four months. When you still didn't wake up after the predestined time limit, I got so worried, I-"
"Wait." Spyro interrupted, "You forgot to tell me how we got locked in 'here'."
Elice chuckled, "Oh, silly me. Sorry, it slipped my mind for a second there. When you were classified as officially in a coma, some one needed to take your position as head guardian for the time being. Naturally, Terrador being the eldest, took the position. I thought something was suspicious, so I snuck into his room at night. That was when I found something that would put him out of a job... And possibly his life."
Spyro was, 'on the edge of his seat', as you humans would say, "What was it?" His purple eyes begging for the answer like a little kid waiting for his mother to tell him the climax of a story.
But just before she could tell him, a guard burst into the room, "Shut you mouth you traitorous bitch!" He barked, placing a talon sharp-side to her throat.
Spyro felt something grab him and turned around to find another guard, "Let's get you out of here sir." It said, smiling as best it could under it's helmet.
"Spyro!" Elice choked, "Don't trust Terr- AGHH!" The guard who was threatening her, wrapped his paw around her neck and threw her into the wall.
"Eli!" Cried Spyro, trying to run to her. He was almost there, when the guilty guard knocked him out.
The purple dragon awoke with a nasty pain in the back of his neck. He looked around and found himself standing just outside the prison compound of Warfang. He spun around and asked the door guard to step aside, "Sorry sir, unless you've done something bad, you ain't setting one foot in here." Spyro growled, but knew he'd have a lot more trouble on his hands if he attacked the armored dragon. Instead, he turned tail and started charging towards the grand temple, revenge on the agenda.
The stairs seemed to just keep coming! Flight after flight after flight! Strange, he never had a problem with them before? Why now? Maybe because he wanted to get somewhere.
Finally! The huge doors that marked the entrance to the grand temple! Spyro dashed inside as quickly as he could, dodging other dragons and a couple moles here and there. He was actually relieved to see that the construction was complete. Eventually he ran into the door that sheltered the throne room. The purple hero took in a deep breath to calm his nerves, then entered, "Terrador?" He called. His voice echoed inside the high ceilinged room.
"Ah! Spyro, so glad to see that you're finally awake!" There he sat, larger than usual, and surrounded by servants, "What is it you need?"
"Why did you lock me and Elice away!" Spyro turned the corners of his mouth down into a menacing growl. This was something he'd 'never' do under normal circumstances.
The overweight green dragon only gave out a hearty laugh, "Didn't she tell you?"
Spyro nodded slowly, "Yes, but I want to know what she found in your room."
"That's not important." Suddenly the jolly dragon turned serious, and the servants backed away, "I would advise you to forget about Elice, and spend your time looking for Cynder instead."
This only made Spyro growl all the louder, "Okay fine, I'll forget about her for the moment. But why lock 'me' up too?"
This made the green guardian relax, "Well, actually that decision came from her. It was her final request; to be able to take care of you until you woke up." He waved off a smallish dragon that was fanning him, and stood up off his haunches to walk closer to Spyro. He moved in an ungainly manner, gigantic belly swaying back and forth slowly like a pendulum, "You should be going now."
"Where are Cyril and Volteer?"
"I said, you should be going now." He moved quicker, urging the little dragon out the door.
"I'll be back!" Spyro barked before having the large double doors slammed on his snout, "Ow!" He yelped, rubbing the bruise with a paw.
It only took him a few minutes to reach the outer wall. Strange, since it took almost half an hour in the opposite direction. Spyro stood there looking out at the beautiful day, not feeling anything. He lost it all. His love... His friend... His rank... His home. It was then that he felt something strange digging into the back of his wing, and realized that he had them folded. Opening them to the sun, Spyro heard a heavy thud and craned his neck around to see what had fallen. There on the ground, was the leather package containing the ice pick and green scale! "There is hope!" He thought out loud happily.
He turned around and picked it up. Unrolling it was easy, and the ice pick looked just the way he left it. Unfortunately, the green scale had disintegrated, "Now, where would you require an ice- Dante's Freezer!" He immediately pumped downwards with his wings and shot up into the air, "Cynder, here I come!"
Paws hit cold ground, and snow crunched noisily. Spyro's tail shivered, as it wasn't receiving enough blood to keep it warm like his wings or the rest of his body. He scanned the area, and found not a single enemy, "Strange." He muttered, taking a few cautious steps forward. Extra crunches in the newly fallen snow made him spin around.
There stood a grublin grunt, shaking in fear, "Don't shoot!" He cried, holding his hands up in defense at the sight of a fireball generating inside Spyro's maw, "You're Spyro the dragon, right?" Spyro nodded, "Then you can help us! There's a gang of apes rampaging through our homes, and killing everyone in sight!"
Spyro carefully let down his guard, but kept the tension in his legs in case of a trap, "Why should I help my mortal foe against another of my enemies?"
The grublin sure was small, he just barely fit the standard for most of the grublins he had fought. It went onto it's knees, hands held tightly together in a praying motion, "You're Spyro! The nicest dragon in existence! Please! I'm begging you!"
The purple dragon thought about it, but the image of Cynder being tied up and knocked out by the little bastards made him snort, "Never." He stalked away, leaving the small creature to ball it's eyes out. A few minutes later, Spyro arrived at the throne of the ice king. It, sadly, held no clue, "Hmm... What if the clue is in the grublin village?" He thought, fighting the hero urge slowly building inside his heart. The purple dragon started at a close trot towards the nearest source of noise. It sounded like screaming women and children! This made Spyro turn his trot into a full gallop.
He was too late. Bodies lay strewn about a bunch of tents made from animal hides. Some tents were aflame, "The bodies... They're grublins." He was standing in a massacre. Spyro started slowly walking through the mess of gore. He stepped over the screaming faces of females as their long dead arms held tight their also dead offspring. Males with spears, or without, lay in piles that burned. The ones that the apes were either too lazy to pick up, or burn, had their heads and limbs sliced off. What the monkeys would need with such things, Spyro would never know.
"Why..." Spyro's head snapped to a crumpled form lying with it's back to the wall of a tent. He ran over and found that it was the same young-ling that had come to seek assistance from him. It looked up at him with pain in it's small eyes, "Why..."
The purple dragon felt something generate in his throat. Something hard, that bobbed from bottom to top quickly as he swallowed, "I... I... Don't know..." He couldn't seem to bring himself to speak without creating a tear in one of his eyes.
"So... Cold..." Then nothing. A gasping breath, was the last sound that this grublin child would ever make.
Spyro's bottom jaw shivered as the guilt erupted forth from his heart, "No!" Screamed the purple male, claws unsheathing into the ground angrily, "What is wrong with me!" He slammed his head into a nearby tent, knocking it over. Then, his rage quelled, the male sat on his haunches and felt himself cry.
The ape camp bustled with life. A commander, marked by his large body and extensive tattoo work, sat at the head of their party. He chewed on some meat stolen from the grublin camp, and laughed as a smaller jester ape danced in front of him. Music and joy flowed from the place as the apes merrily enjoyed themselves. It wouldn't last. Not if 'he' could help it.
Spyro hid behind a chunk of ice nearby. He had been watching this group for quite a while now, and the smell of fresh food was beginning to coax him closer, "Remember Spyro, always go for the leader first." He told himself in his head, "You can do this. Believe in yourself. Avenge them." He crouched so low, you'd think he was a snake. Then his feet began moving. One after another, until he was within range of the boss. All it would take, was a quick dash and slash, then the stupid creature's head would just fall off like it wasn't even attached in the first place.
"Sir! We've hunted down and captured the rest of the grublins that had run away!" Saluted an ape officer.
"Good, send them to me at once." The huge monkey's voice was deep. 'Very' deep. It waved the dancing jester away, and placed his food down. Spyro noticed that the dancer was heading towards him, and grinned. He was probably going to relieve himself or something. This was good. The purple dragon kept his movements silent, as he followed the small animal over to a private corner. Spyro had guessed right, and the monkey started peeing on the snow.
"Careful now" Spyro warned himself, "Can't let the little bugger hear me." He crept up as best he could, but the ape heard him. It was bound to anyways, and Spyro knew that, so he was ready for it. As soon as the hominid's mouth opened to probably scream for help, the dragon shoved his tail into it.
"So, you thought you could escape eh?" Chuckled the big commander, looking down on the ugly pitiful grublins, "You deserve punishment. Officer!" The medium sized ape stood to attention, "Cook these tasty treats, and then feed them to the dogs!"
"Yes sir!" The monkey saluted and grabbed the arm of the oldest one first.
"No please! Don't!" Those were the last words he'd ever speak, because soon afterwards, he was plunged into the nearby campfire. All the apes cheered, which gave one of the grublins a distraction! It started running as fast as it could, but the officer noticed and shot an arrow. This arrow drove itself in one side of the grublin, and out the other; skewering it to the ground.
"Nice shot!" Complimented the head general.
Spyro stood a few feet away from the dead ape, blood covering his teeth. He had eaten the monkey, giving him strength to last until the end of the battle yet to come. The purple dragon then headed back to his old hiding spot, only to find it covered in grublin ooze. Peeking over at the other side, he found the one who had tried to make an escape. This was it, now or never, Spyro was going to attack. While everyone else was occupied with savoring the fear that emanated from the last grublin, Spyro snuck around behind the head ape's chair.
"Push hi-" He was cut off... In more ways then one,
End Chapter Six: Ice and Blood