Part 8
Later that night, after the battle between Spyro and Flame, the stars were twinkling above the hills of Artisans as night had settled over the realm. The Death Hound emerged from the tall grass of the rolling hills and looked to the Artisan Temple after having planning to attack.
The ten, young dragons were all resting outside the temple to have some fresh air for their new freedom and await the next morning to clean up the temple. After the fight, Spyro was exhausted and slept close to Ami while Ember, Rikki, and Ruby slept together in a warm bundle. Halvor, Bruce, Coltrance, Grayson, and Flame stayed apart from each other to have their own space to sleep.
The Death Hound had a wicked smile on his muzzle as he saw that the dragons were sleeping soundly, and knew it would be the perfect opportunity to kill at least one of them without the others knowing.
"Flame..." The weary voice called out, echoing softly from the hills as it was unheard by the sleeping dragons, but it caught the hound's attention for a moment as he turned towards the dark hillside, "Answer me..."
As the young dragons were still resting soundly, the Death Hound had quietly approached the Artisan Temple and stalked towards the dragons until he stopped in his tracks for a moment.
Upon hearing soft movement, Ruby creaked open her eyes for a moment and instantly caught sight of the Death Hound standing in the soft moonlight a few feet away. The little Dream Weaver then widened her eyes and screamed aloud with fright, "AAAAEEEEEE!!"
Instantly, the other dragons woke up from their sleep, and Flame, being the first to wake up, lifted his head from the ground only to spot the Death Hound in his sights.
The Death Hound growled softly as he widened his eyes slightly at the sudden alarm.
At that same moment, Flame uttered a furious roar before he suddenly hurled himself at the Death Hound and tackled the beast away from the other dragons, sending both of them rolling backwards away from the temple in a tangle of paws, legs, and tails.
The Death Hound snarled ferociously at Flame, as the red dragon stood in front of him, expecting to fight the young dragon. However, the hound glanced away from his opponent and scowled when Spyro, Coltrane, Halvor, Grayson, and Bruce appeared and stood alongside Flame, glaring and growling at the hound to join in on the attack. Not being stupid, the Death Hound turned around and fled back into cover of the hills, knowing he was greatly outnumbered.
As Ember and the other girls hurried into the temple, Flame called out to his friends, still glaring at the fleeing hound, "Pull back to the temple!"
The male dragons then moved away towards the entrance of the temple until they were completely inside, their eyes still facing the dark hills, just in case the Death Hound tries another attempt to attack them.
"One by one, I get you, dragons." The voice of the Death Hound snarled sinisterly from the darkness of the hills after he took a safe distance from the temple; his tone revealed his true intent before he disappeared into the night, "One by one..."