Chapter 9

Choices

Spyro continued to fly on through what seemed to be an eternal night. He didn't have a clue where he was going, but it didn't mater. He would find Cynder one way or another. For no real reason he decided to land on a steep cliff off to his right. The purple dragon touched down almost silently on the soft grass and stared up at the giant pale moon in the black sky. He couldn't help but notice that he wasn't that far away from the temple. The night seemed eerie, and the moon was the only luminescence in the dark night. Suddenly a faint scream came from the direction of the temple and echoed off the surrounding hills. Spyro shuddered. Whatever it had been, it was probably dead now. It made him nervous to be this close to the temple, but he couldn't move from the spot. It was as if something was keeping him there, but he didn't have a clue what. The purple dragon merely sighed then continued to stare at the moon while chills ran up and down his spine. It wasn't an ordinary night.

Blaze gasped for air as Nita finally stopped running. "Are we done?" he panted.

" No," the brown wolf answered in a flat voice, keeping her nose to the ground as if she had found something.

The fire dragon couldn't help but stare at Nita as her brown eyes glittered darkly in the moonlight. He might have not known her long, but she was acting weird. " Are you O.K?" he asked quietly.

She stopped what she was doing and glared at him. " I'm fine," she snapped. " Stop looking at me like that. I'm just trying to find that stupid dragon so I can get my amulet back. The sooner the better." She muttered the last part.

Blaze was about to snap at her, but stopped himself. After all, he had forced her to do this in the first place. She was definitely right about the sooner the better part. Nita continued to sniff around, and Blaze couldn't help but ask one more question.

" What're you doing? I mean the sniffing around."

The wolf was calmer with her next response. " I've caught the scent of dragon. He's close."

Blaze froze. He hadn't expected this to happen so soon. He didn't know if he was ready. He didn't even have a clue how he'd capture Spyro. Mulgrath noticed his nervous expression and immediately had an idea. It was time to get the secret weapon. He ghosted off silently into the night back to the temple where Malefor would be waiting. He went through the ceiling of the temple and down into the cavern. The ghost ape floated slowly to the floor and looked at Malefor's back with dull grey eyes. The Dark Master wasn't at all surprised by the ape's appearance.

The black dragon turned around and smirked slightly. He held out his paw and suddenly two metal arm braces formed in his paw out of a dark smoke. His smirk grew a little and his red eyes blazed viciously. " Go," he said darkly, " the purple dragon dies tonight."

Mulgrath took the braces from his master and studied them for a moment. They were jet black with the symbols of Malefor engraved in a deep color of blood red, the same color as his eyes.

"Go," the dragon said again, his eyes looking like liquid pools of blood as he stared into the ape's dead ones. He was grinning wickedly now. Mulgrath didn't need to be told again. He flew out of the room without a second thought as Malefor began to laugh evilly. The purple dragon would finally be his.

The phantom was back in the forest where Blaze was in a flash. He hid in some trees as he began to pull a brown ratty cloak on to cover his appearance. It didn't take long. Mulgrath clamped the braces tightly in his hands and strode out to where Blaze and Nita were. Nita noticed the movement and faced him, growling ferociously.

Mulgrath held up his arms in a gesture of peace and said in a shaky and weak voice, " I wish to speak to the dragon. Alone." He added.

Blaze could tell he was an ape and nodded to Nita to let her know it was safe. She relaxed slightly, but when Mulgrath took another step closer she instantly tensed. Blaze saved her some anxiety and went over to him instead. Mulgrath pulled him a little farther into the woods. The dragon flinched a little at his touch. When the ape decided they were far enough, he finally spoke.

" The Dragon Master sent me. These are for you to help you capture the purple dragon." He held out the braces and waited for Blaze to take them.

The fire dragon stared at the braces. Instead of the jet-black color they had been, they were now gold, the engraving in green. They looked almost the same as the braces he wore on his tail and left arm. He tried to get himself to take them from the ape, but something stopped him. " What do they do?" he couldn't help but ask. He had a bad feeling about them.

Mulgrath grinned a little as he explained. " All you have to do is when you get close enough to the purple one, you snap them on his wrists like this." He opened the brace slowly then clamped it shut again. " Once they're on him, they will drain him of his powers, so it should be very easy to take him back to the prison. Now take them. You must."

Blaze only stared at them again. There was something about them that made him uneasy. He had to admit, was draining a dragon's powers really the best way to do this? The dragon sighed deeply, looked up at the ape, and growled, "No."

" Very well, then I'll make you take them." With that Mulgrath thrust the braces into Blaze's unwilling paws. Blaze's eyes grew wide with fear. The instant they had touched his skin, there had been a strange almost electric feeling go through his body. He held up the braces in both paws then glared at the ape. He was no longer there. A snarl unexpectedly escaped from Blaze's mouth as he fought frantically to throw the braces into the woods. But no matter what, they remained glued to his paws. He soon realized that he could move them around and adjust them, but they wouldn't come off completely. He growled quietly and went back to Nita, trying his best not to step on the two annoyances right under his feet.

She looked up at the sound of his approach. " I've got a trace on the purple dragon he's… What the heck happened to you?"

" Don't ask," Blaze growled. " You probably don't want to know anyway."

He expected Nita to lose interest easily, but instead she still pressed him. " What are those things? Why'd that creature give them to you?"

Blaze locked his claws around them. " It's nothing O.K? It's just something to help me capture the dragon."

"Chains? I don't think chains will hold him. They'd have to be magic."

" No not chains, but they are magic, I guess."

Blaze wanted to slap himself. Here he was trying to get her to stop asking about the braces, and instead of keeping his mouth shut, he was solving the problem by telling her. Ugh, he had to get better at lying. It wasn't any of her business anyway. Then again…

" Then what are they? C'mon, you can tell me."

Blaze shook his head to clear it. She'd knocked him right out of his daze. " O.K. Fine. Whatever."

Nita grinned winningly at his defeat and gently put her paws on his, trying to encourage him to open his paws. Blaze sighed and released his grip on them as much as he could slowly. Nita stared at them much like he had. But as she stared her look turned from one of amazement to one of worry. " They look like the ones you wear, except they're different…"

Blaze unlocked his gaze from the braces to look at her. " What do you mean? They look exactly the same. They're not different."

Nita continued to gaze at them, her brown eyes wide. " No," she said in a completely flat voice, " no, they're different. You said yourself they were. They're evil. Get rid of them."

The fire dragon jerked at the last part. " What? No way. Even if I wanted to I can't. Why are you acting so weird?"

Nita turned to him slowly. Her eyes were distant. " Destroy them." She commanded. " If you don't, I will."

Blaze backed away from her, hiding the braces from her sight. Without thinking he stuck out a paw and slapped her hardly across the face. " Get a hold of yourself!" he yelled, his voice cracking slightly.

The wolf shook her head for a second and took a few deep breaths. " I'm sorry." She finally managed. " I don't know what came over me. It's just those braces. I have a bad feeling about them. It's like I can see beyond their outside appearance, and there is dark magic in them. It probably would be best if you got rid of them."

Even though Blaze barely knew Nita, he trusted her. He knew she right about the bands and thinking about them made him remember the strange feeling he had gotten when he had touched them. He sighed, " I wish I could, but as soon as that ape gave them to me, I couldn't get them off my hands."

Nita looked shocked, " You mean you actually took them? Didn't you even feel that there was something wrong with them?"

" Well I did, but he forced them in my hands, and I know the only way to get them off, is if they're on someone else. Someone else's wrists."

Nita knew exactly what he meant. She nodded slowly. " You're probably right. Even though I feel like this is wrong, let's just find the dragon and get him back to the prison."

Blaze couldn't agree more. With that, Nita took off, her thin brown body quickly disappearing into the foliage. Blaze took to the air after her, but stayed low to the ground. It would be easier than running at the moment.

Spyro had been on the cliff for what seemed like hours. In a way he was surprised none of the Dark Master's forces had seen him. It didn't matter even if they did. Let them come, he could handle them. He continued to gaze at the giant moon; it seemed to have a hypnotic effect on him. He let a sigh escape his throat. Sometimes it was so hard being him.

Blaze crept up on Spyro quietly. Nita had stayed behind since she was afraid that otherwise she'd blow his cover and suddenly charge after him trying to destroy the bands, Blaze along with them. He got slowly closer, inch-by-inch. He was so close, all he had to do was just leap out, snap the bands on, and take him back to the prison. He kept going over and over the simple plan in his head, but something seemed to be stopping him. He didn't know what, but as he focused on Spyro, he realized he just couldn't do it. He couldn't hurt him that way. Even if he was evil. But as that thought popped into his brain, so did many others, about what Spyro would do to others if he got away. He couldn't let that happen. It was the perfect moment, and he was going to use it. Just as the red dragon took another step closer, a sharp snap sounded from somewhere underneath him and echoed around the cliff. He looked down and saw that he had stepped on a long branch and broken it. He cursed silently under his breath just as Spyro turned around and saw him. Without thinking, he blew a blast of fire at him. Spyro leapt off the cliff edge and flew around to the other side, taking Blaze off guard and knocking him over. Spyro landed furiously as Blaze stood up again.

" You again? I thought I lost you back at the prison," Spyro commented as Blaze blew another stream of fire at him. He easily countered it with a few sharp ice shards.

The red dragon smirked, " Dreams die hard, and you're not going to get rid of me so easily. I'll never give up until you're back behind bars."

Blaze charged toward the purple dragon and used a comet dash. This time, he rammed right into him. Spyro breathed a stream of ice at him until he retreated quickly. " Just who are you anyway?" Spyro challenged.

" That doesn't matter, but what does is that you never hurt anyone again!" With that Blaze jumped into the air and landed on top of Spyro perfectly. He pinned him firmly to the ground and without a second to lose, clamped the bands down onto Spyro's wrists. He immediately got off of him, and watched silently. The purple dragon stood back up quickly, and suddenly an evil laugh sounded and echoed around them. It came from the braces. Suddenly with a flash like lightning, the braces changed colors from gold and green, to black and red.

" You are mine now," a voice said in Spyro's head. Blaze didn't even seem to hear it.

" Malefor," Spyro snarled. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his wrists that caused him kneel down in agony. It quickly shot through the rest of his body, leaving Spyro a twitching heap on the ground. He tried to get up but couldn't as a thick blackness started to surround him. The last thing he saw was Blaze lean over him and grab his tail. He didn't even feel it. All he was conscious of now was Malefor's voice in his head saying, " You are mine now. All you have done has been for nothing. You will die tonight, you pathetic excuse for a purple dragon." His laugh echoed through Spyro's head as it lolled to one side. His eyes rolled up into his skull, and the blackness hit him like a hard punch in the jaw.

Well that's Chapter 9. Sorry it's taken so long.  I've been pretty busy between volleyball, high school and everything else. Hope you liked it.  Anyway Dotd is out! Whoo! I'm already on the part where you fight Malefor. It's definitely a great game. Good job Sierra!