Chapter 8

A New… Friend?

Blaze flew on over hills and valleys, not even bothering to look back at Cynder after he had made his escape. He had liked her, but he wasn't going to risk his life talking to her and end up with fifteen arrows sticking out of his chest. He had a hopeless expression in his eye as he gazed at the beautiful scenery below him. How would he ever find the purple dragon? The world was so big, and he was so small. He let out a long sigh as he banked to the right and landed with a thud in a small, grassy clearing. The fire dragon simply lay there, not knowing what to do.

Mulgrath noticed his strange behavior and became annoyed. How hard was it to find the purple dragon anyway? He could easily do it himself, but the Dark Master had insisted on Blaze finding Spyro. The ghost ape watched the dragon as he plucked a blade of grass and twirled it in his claws, his focus completely on it. Just as he was about to go over and give him a kick in the side, something rustled in the bushes nearby. Blaze drew his attention away from the grass and looked around. An ape approached from the shrubs and strode up to Blaze without hesitation. The fire dragon dropped his grass blade and watched the ape intently. It stopped in front of him, waiting for a report.

Blaze didn't really know what to say and ended up blurting out, " I don't have any important news."

The ape stood like a statue for a moment, his expressionless gaze fixed on the dragon. A few minutes later he spoke, " The purple dragon has been sighted near the Enchanted Forest. You are to go there." With that he turned and left as fast as he had come.

Blaze flopped over and groaned. He didn't want to leave the soft grass. Plus, he had just been in the Enchanted Forest not long ago. Mulgrath finally couldn't take it anymore and walked over to him. The phantom ape kicked the dragon hard on the thigh a couple of times until he finally got up. He stretched and took off into the sky once more, the clearing becoming a small speck. He knew the direction the forest was in, but not exactly where it was. Mulgrath helped him somewhat, and after a while Blaze could make out thousands of trees and hills that made up most of the Enchanted Forest. He saw a good spot to land in a gap between the trees and landed there quickly.

By that time the sun was setting and Blaze was exhausted. He found some wood quickly and built a small fire. Unknowingly, a pair of green eyes was watching him from the woods behind him. The dragon curled up in a ball and began to fall asleep, when he heard a twig snap close by. He quickly stood up and turned around. A large female brown wolf was standing not far from him, an angry look in its eye.

Blaze tried to seem friendly. " Hello, who are you?" he asked. He doubted the wolf would respond. It probably couldn't even speak. To his shock, it did.

" You are on my territory. Leave before I kill you," it growled at him.

Blaze couldn't help but laugh. "I'd like to see you try."

The wolf smirked. " Very well."

With that the wolf lunged forward, catching the dragon off guard and knocking him down. She tried to claw at Blaze's face, but he breathed a stream of fire at her, causing her to retreat. It was then that Blaze noticed a necklace hanging around her neck. It was in the shape of a howling wolf, standing on a blue orb. The wolf barred her fangs and howled as she charged at him again. This time, the fire dragon was ready. He got out of her way just in time, and she crashed into a tree.

Blaze tried to reason with the angered wolf. " Look, I'm just staying the night to rest. I mean you no harm."

The female snorted. She spoke with venom in her words, " That's what all you dragons say, then you turn around and attack us. Well, not this time," she declared, coming slowly towards him.

Blaze realized this hadn't worked, but he had another plan. He knew how to get her to stop. The wolf was right next to him now and scratched his side with her claws. The dragon roared in pain and collided with her; the two become a living ball of claws and fangs. The wolf managed to escape his grip and backed away into the burning fire, putting it out and singeing the tip of her tail. She whined pitifully.

Before she had recovered, Blaze was on top of her. As she clawed and bit him savagely, he managed to rip the necklace dangling around her neck straight off. He pushed her away from him and twirled it in his claws. The wolf easily noticed.

" Give that back!" she growled.

The fire dragon smirked. "Or what?"

The wolf leapt at him again and continued to plea as she chased him around. " That's been in my family for generations. Every alpha wolf in my family has worn it since my great-great grandfather."

Blaze stopped and managed to dodge her as she ran past him. " You want it? Well unless you stop attacking me, I'll burn your precious necklace into a pile of melted metal."

The wolf glared at him for a second. Blaze was serious. She sighed, " Fine, what do you want?"

" The purple dragon, have you seen him around here?"

" Yeah, I've seen him, so what?"

" I need you to help me find him," Blaze stated.

She snorted again. " Why would I?"

He held the necklace just out of her reach. She grabbed for it weakly. " You want it back, you'll help me."

The wolf grabbed for the necklace again. Seeing it was pointless, she finally consented. " Fine, but you're gonna have to keep up." With that she began to run into the forest.

Blaze darted after her. He caught up quickly. He looked at her and yelled to be heard, " Just don't push it, or your necklace goes bye-bye. So, we never got to introduce ourselves. I'm Blaze, and you are?"

" Nita," she gasped, then added sarcastically, " Do you always talk so much?"

The dragon laughed nervously, " Sometimes." He could tell Nita hated him. Why wouldn't she?

With that the two ran through the forest in the dimming light, Nita gracefully, but being occasionally tripped by Mulgrath, and Blaze crashing into trees constantly.

That's Chapter 8. Sorry it's kinda short. It gets a lot harder for me to write after school started up. So a note about Nita, if it seemed like she kinda likes Blaze, she doesn't. Anyway I have exciting news! I would usually just put it on my forum, but since most of you don't read that, I'll say it here. They have a new video on videogamers of Spyro and Cynder flying. Not the one from the comiccon. They also have some new images on gamespot, including ones of the guardians and Hunter. Last they have a video on darkspyro that is said to be the official trailer. That's it for now, please review!