Chapter 11

Spyro and Ember quickly followed Lateef straight into the woods without looking back. Hunter was about to protest, but saw that it would do no good for the dragons were already gone. He scratched the back of his head, hoping nothing had happened to their friend.

The leaves crackled as the three dragons ran in the woods. When Lateef began to slow down, Spyro and Ember did the same. Then Lateef began looking around.

"He should be here! Magnus!" Lateef called out.

Spyro looked around. There was indeed some sort of struggle in the particular area. The leaves on the ground told him that because they were scattered everywhere, there were spots where they weren't any leaves at all and in other places the leaves were broken up into pieces from being stepped on.

"Magnus!" Ember yelled.

Still no answer.

Then Spyro spotted a body of a giant spider. It looked bigger than usual. Then he spotted another spider body, smaller than the big one.

"How many spiders were there?" Spyro asked, still looking around.

Lateef was in thought for a short second before saying, "I think there was two . . . no wait there was four."

Spyro turned his attention to Lateef, "Well then. Where's the other two spiders? I only see two bodies."

Lateef heavily frowned, "Oh no. I only got one spider and Lateef only got one too. That means . . ."

"That there was still two of them left alive," Spyro finished.

"I remember injuring one of them but there was another who didn't even fight. I feel like slapping myself."

"Don't worry about it," Ember calmly replied. "It will be all right. What happened to Magnus?"

"He was poisoned. He needs help as soon as possible. Magnus!"

"He's fine," a voice emanated.

Spyro turned to look where the voice came from. The voice sounded familiar.

"Who said that?" Ember said out loud.

Spyro smiled when he heard another voice. "Don't worry, we took care of it."

"Where are you two at?" Spyro said, his voice sounded merrier than before.

Then two dragons emerged from beyond the trees. A red dragon and a black dragon. Spyro smiled at the sight of the two of them.

"Flame! Cynder!" Spyro exclaimed.

"You must have just missed us earlier," Flame said, making his way to Spyro. "We already took Magnus to the cheetah village."

"You don't have to worry," Cynder added. "They are already treating his wounds."

"Alright then," Spyro sighed in relief. "Let's get going."

Spyro began walking back to the village, followed by all of the others. When they exited the woods, the headed straight for the village in the same walking pace. Then Spyro asked, "Hey, where's Sparx?"

"He's, somewhere," Flame responded sounding unsure.

Spyro only stayed quiet in response.

There was still a few cheetahs at the front gate but not as much as before. It was easy getting by them. However Spyro saw a few of them taking glances at Flame and Cynder then return to their conversations or work. Then Spyro saw Hunter in front of his hut. He made his way over to him with everyone still behind him.

"Hunter, do you know where Magnus is being held?" Spyro asked, giving Hunter his attention.

"Magnus, the silver dragon?"

Spyro nodded in response.

"Inside my hut. I had the herbs to cure his poison, but I don't think they are done yet so please stay out of my hut until they say its alright."

"Alright Hunter, thanks. We'll just wait here until we can see him."

Hunter made a slight chuckle then turned his attention to Flame and Ember who sat at the back of the five dragon pack. "Ah, Flame and Cynder. It's been a while since I last saw you two here."

"Indeed it has," Flame replied. Then he nudged Cynder. "How long has it been."

Cynder shrugged, "I'm not sure. I remember being here with Spyro though."

Lateef looked the village from his spot then looked at Spyro. "I'm confused. Who are you exactly? You seem so familiar."

Spyro looked over at Lateef. "You look a little familiar to me. Lateef is it? It feels like I heard that name before but I can't place it."

"You look a little familiar too," Lateef remarked. "You a friend of Ember?"

Spyro nodded, "We met six years ago in a preschool. However, something happened and I had to leave. I had just returned to see what Ember's been up to." Then he pointed at Flame. "This is Flame. He was the son of the dragon that helped me out." He pointed at Cynder afterwards. "She's Cynder. Flame was her only friend when I met her. Both, Flame and Cynder, had helped me during my travels to find the cure for my fathers illness."

"Spyro?" Lateef said in recognizance. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere! I was in preschool with you! I remember now!"

"Hmm, I do remember seeing a blue dragon in that school. That must have been you. Well then, well met Lateef."

Ember butted in with persistency in her voice, "Well then now that you two have caught up then why don't you continue your story while we wait Spyro?"

Lateef cocked an eye, "Story?"

Ember turned toward him, "Yeah. Spyro's been telling me his story of why he was gone for six years."

"Sounds like a way to pass the time so I'm listening," Lateef said in a laid back kind of way. He was still worried about his friend, Magnus, but there was nothing he could do at the moment.

Everyone sat down to listen to the story. Everyone but Spyro noticed that Hunter was also listening in from his spot, interested of what he had to say.

"Alright. I continued my life through my new school, with my new friends, with a new life that I didn't even recognized. Before I knew it, a year had already passed in Barkwood. I was really settled in Ignitus's home, not even worried about the life ahead of me."

Barkwood Five Years Ago

Spyro was sound asleep in his bed with Flame under him. The two of them shared a room and Flames bed was turned into a bunk bed, two beds on top of one another. There were a few things missing from Flames room than there was a year ago. Like his basketball goal that he had. Only an empty space took its place now. He was also missing a few toys from his toybox that he lost over time. He didn't really seem to mind, or even care for that matter. Everything else was still sitting in the same place with a bit less luster than a year ago.

Then Spyro woke up. It wasn't on his own, it was by someone else. That someone was Ignitus.

"Spyro, wake up," Ignitus quietly nudged.

Spyro twitched, stirred, then looked up at Ignitus with his half-asleep look.

Spyro, Flame, and Cynder were currently in 5K. They all graduated last year with no problems at all. They never got into any sort of trouble during that year either. All in all, it was a fun year for all of them. But the best part of that year was when Spyro first arrived and he first met Cynder. All the other boys of the class thought their friendship was "icky". But they didn't know what they were missing out on.

Today was the weekend so Spyro was currently free of school.

"What is it Ignitus?" Spyro yawned, rubbing his eyes.

Ignitus grinned for a short moment then said, "I've got a surprise for you. I'm going to teach you how to use fire."

Spyro was fast awake then, "Wow wee! Fire! But my dad already taught me some things about fire."

Ignitus made a happy short chuckle then continued, "Yes, I know he has, but he hasn't taught you everything you need to know. And he also said that you haven't even been able to use any flames yet. Do you want me to help you?"

Spyro childishly nodded, "Uh-huh!"

"Then come with me and I will teach you."

Spyro hopped out of bed then looked up at Flame. "What about Flame? Are you going to teach him too?"

"Of course," Ignitus replied. "But for right now, I would prefer that I could teach you without any . . . distractions."

"You mean that me and Flame would play around too much to learn anything," Spyro replied in a low tone.

"Yes, it seems I can't get anything by you these days."

Spyro grinned at the compliment.

As the day went on, Spyro soon found himself in a large empty place in the forest. He really didn't know where he was. He was standing on a patch of dirt that spread through the meadow. This was so he could have easy footing during his training meaning that the meadow was a perfect place to train.

Ignitus began teaching him the basics of how to let loose some flames. Ignitus demonstrated and Spyro tried to follow suit, but to no avail. Ignitus told him to keep on trying and he would eventually be able to let the flames inside him out.

The day came and went. Spyro felt that his first day of training didn't hardly do much of anything other than pass a perfectly good day away. He still had some time to play with his friend Flame, but Spyro often wondered if he was his brother now. Had Ignitus adopted him? It's been well over a year since he last seen his real father. He still had to find that cure before it was too late, but he was told to trust Ignitus. So he was doing that, but he wanted to look for the cure for his real fathers sickness.

The next few days came and went. After Spyro got out of school, Ignitus would train him. But he still couldn't breathe his own flames yet. When Spyro had the free time, he and Flame would play with their toys, eat their dinner, and they would sometimes find themselves napping even though they didn't intend on it.

Finally, after a few more days, Spyro was able to let out a puff of fire. It surprised him, but made him happy. Even Ignitus was surprised. He didn't expect Spyro to do something like that for another few weeks. Before Ignitus knew it, Spyro was easily breathing a controlled fire. Which led him to the second step of his training, firing fireballs.

This took a few more days before Spyro got the hang of it. Ignitus often found himself defending against Spyro's wildly thrown fireballs.

It took a week to be able to control the fireball technique, which was a bit longer than Ignitus had anticipated. Soon, Ignitus found Spyro helping out in the house with his fire by lighting the fireplace for all of them.

Then it was Flames turn to learn the element of fire. But this took a month of practicing, nearly twice as long as Spyro. But he did learn everything Spyro had learned from the same mentor, which gave them the same advice.

"Don't burn the house down and if you do, don't be there when I go looking for you."

In school, Spyro and Flame showed off their skills to their classmates, during recess of course. They knew better than to use their flame indoors. Everyone seemed astonished on how they could breathe fire, and that was all they talked about the rest of the day.

Back to Spyro and Ember

"I actually remember all that," Flame said. "Fun times those were."

"I agree," Cynder added, shifting positions. "Those were the fun days."

Then Hunter tapped Spyro on the shoulder. It made Spyro jump a little bit for he forgot that Hunter was behind him the whole time. "They said it was alright to go see your friend now. They already applied the herbs so he's cured and is going to be alright."

Spyro looked pass Hunter to see a few more cheetahs sitting down on the ground. Then he realized that they were listening on his story too. Spyro didn't know it, but he had an audience while he told his story.