Chapter 6
ELSEWHERE
"DAMN THAT BITCH!" A thunderous voice echoed. It startled a very much awake Siral, who tried to hide as much as he could away from the overview of his cell. He had awoken in a soft bed elsewhere when he heard someone talking and dashed to see who was talking. It was Malefor. An evil dragon his father had told about. But he was sealed in a crystal cage that no one could escape from. How did he get out of it? He gave a small squeak when he saw Teklania and her band of furred dragons. The very noise alerted them all and he tried running. Only to stare directly in the face of Malefor. He had fainted from such a face at close proximity. Now that he found himself in the cell, Siral would occasionally curl up and cry at the deaths of his entire family. He believed he was now the only dragon left. He saw Malefor pass by and pressed against the wall as much as he could. He didn't receive any attention. But he did see that Malefor was absolutely pissed. He heard the voice again, "Call every orc and ogre you can muster. I WANT THAT DAMN BITCH IN FRONT OF ME, AS WELL AS THOSE TWO! KILL EVERYONE ELSE!" A bit of stone fell and cracked against the floor on the opposite side of Siral. Siral nestled down and a million questions went through: Who was it that Malefor was pissed off at? Where was he? Where was his father?
Siral felt another sob. Why was life so horrible?
Whitacus
The townsfolk stared at the procession. The entire army of UNSC, Covenant troops, Teklania and the other dragons had evacuated the cave in order to keep a distance since the Drakemaster was going to be pissed and send every dude he had at them. Anders and Kilosomee had been in front in their personal Ghost and Warthog with Chief at the turret and Fred on the passenger side. Anders looked east of him and saw a large dust cloud and said, "Hornet Five, scout the east and check what that dust cloud is. If it's them, I want to know."
"Roger, Commander. Hornet Five moving out." The helicopter armed with dual 498 mil cannons and the old Sidewinder missiles and two snipers on each side took altitude and flew away. By the time Hornet Five radioed in, everyone was out of the city and at the foothills, "Hornet Five to Commander. It's them alright."
"How far away from Ghost Base are they and how many?"
"Well over fifty thousand, sir. And they are exactly Twenty kilometers away from Ghost Base and closing… Hold on…" Anders heard a loud buzz and a few cracks ring out, followed by an explosion, "Sir, permission to lead them away from your position?"
"Granted, Hornet Five. We're not in the mood to fight them." Anders replied and turned the radio off. He leaned back and sighed, he fingered the wheel to avoid a cart that rolled in the opposite direction. They stripped down everything they had back at Ghost Base in only twenty minutes. It was a good thing, too. A few more and they'd have to run like hell. Now, they could move comfortably, but they had to still get moving. The radio activated and Anders heard a Grunt saying, "Ghost Two here. It's all good up front… We don't have anything but hills and grass as far as our eyes can see." Anders picked up the mike and replied, "Roger that, Ghost Two. Continue scouting." Fred turned his visor to stare at Anders and asked, "Permission to speak sir?" Anders glanced back and replied, "Granted."
"What is the plan when we get close enough to the Drakemaster's position?" Anders thought about it for a good minute and responded, "For now, the plan is to bombard the place and search the place for this "Spyro" and "Siral", then kill the Drakemaster. That would certainly make his armies scatter."
"And if that fails, if Spyro and Siral or either of them are dead?"
"We glass the fortress and search the remains." Anders responded, "However, I'll take any other plans you and Chief can come up with." Fred looked at a nearby badger that was running a small store and said nothing.
"First, we need another base." Anders stated. The radio came on again and said, "Hornet Five to Commander, we are returning, the army has taken the bait, I repeat, they have taken the bait." Anders called back, "Good job. Activating HAVOC warhead now." The radio went dead once again as Anders slowed down for Kilosomee to come up beside him and asked, "Would you like to do the honors?" Anders held out the detonation button. Kilosomee said, "I would love to." The Shipmaster held the detonation signal and activated it.
A small sun appeared behind them. The city was well outside the radiation zone and obliterated the entire army. A loud OOOOM echoed across and hammered up the procession and hit them somewhat hard. The radio went up and said, "Sir? This is Hornet Five saying that was a bit close to us." Anders chuckled, "Sorry, boys. We wanted to get rid of that annoyance quickly, we took the first opportunity. I see you now." The Hornet flew by and was accompanied by two Banshees in formation. When the sun came down, everyone stopped and made camp where they were: on top of a cliff that had a waterfall nearby. Patrols were set up and everyone got some rest before they'd move again. At morning, they ate their morning rations, packed up, and moved out again. They continued this way until the 19TH day of marching when a Marine doing supply check came up and reported, "Sirs! Stocks are reporting low, we need to find more food." Kilosomee and Anders looked at each other and checked the map of where they were. Anders pointed, "There. We're near Warfang, that would be a good spot to refresh our supplies for now… A day's journey and it's close to our target," Anders slid his finger across and tapped a picture of a floating castle that was marked at the Drakemaster's hideout. Kilosomee folded his arms, "Yes, but that city isn't the best of friends right now. There've been reports of ambushes on our scouts in the general area around it. I'd rather take a different route to another city… What about Dragonforge? It's a bit more than a day's journey, but it had better relations with a scout that became separated from the party. He reported that the city was friendly and filled him with some supplies." Anders looked at the two reports, one concerning a recent ambush from Warfang, another concerning the lost scouts report. He leaned forward and said, "The Drakemaster will have some time to pull up a small army by the time we get close, but it's most likely nothing we can't handle… I would take Warfang." Kilosomee stared intently and asked, "What will happen if the locals give trouble? One of our men might think that it's a good idea to have an itchy trigger finger and have us forced to destroy Warfang… No, I go against your decision." Anders stared back and retorted, "You once said the same thing about the colony Sigma when they took down a few Seraphs that were gathering supplies. But it turned out that they had a malfunctioning planetary defense turret. I'd rather be closer to the target and get the information quickly, while we're moving."
"I'd rather take the slightly longer way. We'd get more supplies since it's a bigger city, and have friendlier locals that treated the scout better than those ambushes near Warfang. You've been neglecting some of the lessons about patience back at Harvest." Kilosomee pointed at Anders chest, who pushed it away and muttered, "Don't touch me."
The Elite laughed, "You're arrogant and impatient! A Brute has more patience than you!" He went to push Anders when Anders grabbed his arms and kneed him in the stomach hissing, "I said, "Don't touch me"!" The Elite doubled up and swore. He bellowed and charged at Anders, knocking him to the ground. The two burst out of the commander tent kicking and punching each other as hard as they could. Anders had to somersault over a Jackal who had the misfortune to get between the two. Kilosomee swiped at Anders head. The fist connected and made stars appear in Anders vision. Anders growled and made a round-house to the Elite's head, smacking the helmet off of his head. A crowd gathered and cheered for their favorites. Fred and Chief split the two apart and had to hold them down as Teklania roared, "ENOUGH! This fight is over! Go back to your tents!" The crowd went away, grumbling from that the entertainment was lost. Anders and Kilosomee were hauled away from camp and pinned down by Teklania when they tried to make a go at each other again.
"What the hell started this and why were you two fighting like dogs?" Anders went mute until he felt Tekliana's teeth clack nearby his ear and said rather lamely, "It was about the decision of where to get supplies."
"And you two had such an argument about this that you started fighting? Are you that childish?" This made the two look away from everyone until they heard a pistol being loaded did they both nod curtly. Chief looked down at Anders, his emotions unknown, "Sir, I've been under service for a long time. But, I have never lost my temper as much as you did. It goes the same for you." Chief moved his visor to Kilosomee, who was struggling against Tekliana's claws. "I can understand the stress that we've been stuck here in this realm. But that doesn't excuse the fact that your tempers won't solve anything." Fred said, "Now, are you two going to lay there until things are solved later, or are you two going to talk this out and find a solution?" Kilosomee struggled again and gave up. He nodded a few seconds later. Anders took a bit longer, but nevertheless, he finally nodded. Teklania let them both up, but kept an eye on them should they charge. The two dusted themselves off and Kilosomee said, "We're going to Dragonforge. That's my final decision. And it will not change, and I'll take my men with me if I must." He went to his tent and disappeared. Anders stared long and hard, as if to burn Kilosomee's tent, but he grunted and went to his own tent.
The next day, the bitterness between each other melted slowly, but they still kept their distances away and only radioed each other in curt tones. Chief and Fred had split to keep an eye on both of them. Fred watched a trio of Ghosts zoom past to scout ahead of the hillsides in case an ambush should happen. No sooner than two seconds did an alarm blare and the radio turn on and yelled, "This is Ghost Six! I've got seven orcs on wolves on our tails! I need backup!" Anders answered the same time Kilosomee did and they replied, "Sending backup now! Hornet/Banshee Three and Nine! Go help them out!" The four aircrafts went out and accelerated their engines as they tried to beat each other for the first kills they had for a long time. Then Anders heard yelps and growls and saw orcs on wolves, ogres and five trolls armed with stone clubs approach them on their right and left. Anders yelled in his mike, "AMBUSH! We've got contacts on the nine and three! Let'em have it!" Anders stopped his Warthog and pulled out his BR55 and opened fire. The shots took down the orcs and wolves easily enough with only a casualty. The trolls, however, were another story. It took two rockets, a missile, a fuel rod cannon from a Hunter, and a thousand shots to take one down.
"Concentrate your damn fire!" Kilosomee barked. The shots were now aimed towards the key weak points of the trolls and they went down with groans and dull thuds that shook the ground. A Private exclaimed, "An honest-to-god turkey shoot. How much I love it!" A nearby Lieutenant said, "Stow it!" They started to pick up the wounded, buried a splattered Brute, and moved on. They had to call the Pelicans and Seraphs to land back at the ships that were in geosynchronous orbit with the planet. The aircraft went with them. Anders gave a silent thanks that the tanks and the LRVs didn't take gas and ran on stored solar power. The procession traveled for one and a half days before reaching the outskirts of Dragonforge. It was midnight when the usual scouting parties radioed in to say they had made it and had a perfect view of a recently destroyed volcano.
"So that's where the final battle happened…" Anders muttered, staring at the volcano that was leaking lava here and there. The sky above it was just nearly clear as ever. The only thing obscuring it was the occasional ash cloud. Cynder had flown ahead to tell Dragonforge of their arrival. Torches were lit up and makeshift searchlights, which surprised Anders that the city could make such effective searchlights, trailed around and laid light on Cynder's approaching body. The procession stopped and made camp once again and Kilosomee and Anders, both had decided to stop the childness between each other and became better friends again, had lead a supply party consisting four Elites, ten Grunts, and two Privates. They either drove Ghosts, Warthogs, or a Mongoose. Anders had driven the Mongoose and was the first one there when Cynder came out and said, "We're welcomed with open arms." Anders nodded and radioed in what happened. He heard cheers at the other end and smiled. They could at least sleep in comfort for the night. The supply party decided to get supplies in the morning, since the entire city was nearly asleep. The entire army came in and rented separate rooms, settled up methane tanks for the Grunts, and slept long and hard.