Chapter 4
Lunar squinted her eyes against the harsh winds of the north, snow swirling around her ankles as she trudged through the dismal environment. She was beginning to regret starting this journey but her determination drove her on, making her impervious to the cold. A black, inner fire burned in her gut, warming her, fuelling her. She needed neither food nor drink as long as that fire was there.
But the fire was dwindling, along with her strength. She wanted to lie down, even just for a moment, and let go of her body. She needed rest, and quickly. Despair welled up inside her, quenching the fire. She fell to her knees, panting, dark power swirling around her, darkening her indigo colour further.
For the first time since starting her two-week journey, she was exhausted. She pulled breath after labourious breath into her lungs, throat stinging from the ice-cold air. She coughed, and dab of red blossomed on the snow, bringing colour into her otherwise dull surroundings. Her throat was raw from the air, her strength was failing, her eyes ached from all the white and nothing else, her limbs stopped moving, and she collapsed onto the snow. The last thing she saw was the silhouette of a dragon flying towards her, through the never-ending, blinding, freezing snow.
XxXxX
When she next woke up, she was lying in a cave next a fire with a thick slice of meat lying beside her nose. Her tongue snaked out of her mouth and gave the meat a tentative lick. It tasted ok, so she pushed herself onto her haunches to get a proper bite. Before she could, though, a gentle paw pushed her back into a lying position.
'Stay down,' a gentle voice said. 'You need rest after that little journey you took through the Wastelands. You were suffering from exhaustion, frostbite and hunger.'
'Wh-where am I?' Lunar rasped, her throat still sore from the harshly cold air of the North. 'Who are you? Why did you save me?'
The paw shut her mouth, and the voice said, 'Your throat is still raw, so don't talk. I am Elemnestra, but you can call me Elm.'
Lunar looked up at her rescuer, and saw a small golden dragon with blue eyes. She had ram horns on her head and a diamond-shaped blade on her tail. She grinned at Lunar. 'Where are you going?' she asked.
'I- I'm going...' Here Lunar paused to cough and hack. Elm waited patiently until her charge had stopped, then nodded encouragingly. Lunar began again. 'I'm going to the northern Dark Temple. Do you know where it is? If so, can you lead me?'
Elm's eyes widened in horror. 'The – Dark Temple? D-Did you say the Dark Temple?'
Lunar nodded. 'Are you insane?' Elm squeaked. 'Are you suicidal? YOU CAN NEVER COME OUT AGAIN IF YOU GO IN!'
Lunar back-pedalled a few paces. This dragon's a little bit loopy, she decided. I should avoid annoying her.
XxXxX
Cynder sat, head in paws, on the battlements at the top of the Temple. Sobs racked her body and her slender shoulders shook, her wing-tips rattling on the stone paving. 'I shouldn't have been so hard on her,' she whispered to herself. She looked at the crumpled piece of parchment in her paw, the note Lunar had left, and broke down into fresh sobs. 'My own daughter hates me. How long before the other two follow? How long before Spyro...?' She collapsed on the pavings, unable to finish the thought or control her own emotions.
Several hours later, after several hundred similar thoughts, Spyro passed on his patrol of the Temple grounds. He had started doing these soon after Lunar's disappearance. He told people it was so he could see straight away if she returned, but it was really so he could get away from the sense of despair around the Temple since then.
He spotted Cynder, and walked up behind her silently. He was about to call her name, when she turned and lashed out, her claws raking a groove in his cheek. Her paws went to her mouth when she realised who it was she had nearly de-eyed. Is that a word, she wondered to herself. Then she remembered Spyro and immediately fell on him with apologies and hugs. He fended her off good-naturedly with a paw, and then he looked her in the eyes. They were very ernest, very purple and full of worry.
'Cynder,' he said. 'Are you listening to me?' She nodded. 'Good. I think we should have a chat. I know you feel responsible for Lunar's disappearance but it was her own decision. She wanted to leave, and I think if we had tried to stop her, it just would have made her even more determined to leave. So stop blaming yourself before you drive yourself - ' Here Cynder lashed out again, striking him in the chest. He staggered from the weight of the blow, righted himself, and went down again under the fury of Cynder. She scratched and bit, hissing and screaming.
'You would never understand!' she screeched. 'You barely ever contributed to the raising of our offspring! You don't even know their middle names! You don't understand what they're going through!' As these harsh accusations reached his ears, Spyro decided he had had enough. He knocked her aside, sending her skidding over the paving of the battlements.
'ENOUGH!' he roared. 'I am sick and tired of this pity-me act, Cynder, and so is the rest of this Temple!' Cynder just gazed at him in shock. Her green eyes were wide with shock. A long pause followed this statement.
Eventually, and very quietly, he murmered, 'I don't want to fight you again, Cynder.'
He angrily brushed at the crner of his eye, and walked away. Cynder looked after him, her eyes, which had previously been full of anger and self-resentment, were now filled with tears. She stood up. I'm going to find my daughter, she thought. And nothing is going to stop me.