Happy Thanksgivings everyone. Here's the next chapter as you might have guessed. A lot of fighting so it should be enjoyable. R&R.
Chapter 4: Push to Freedom
A shadow spawn screeched as it fell to the ground on fire. Spyro jumped over the blazing hulk and blasted another one with his fire. Cynder was ten feet away from him and was cleaving the head off a shadowling. She turned to see Firecurse trying to fight his way over to her. She quickly looked away and made her way to Spyro. Spyro finished off a shadowling and turned to she approach.
He gave her lick on the cheek and asked, "How are you doing?"
"Better than the first prison attack last week," Cynder replied.
"Has Firecurse been bugging you recently?" Spyro asked.
"A little bit," Cynder replied, "I would feel so much better if you just told him to back off, instead of letting Shadedulath give him stuff to do. It's giving him an excuse to talk to me when he is running messages for him."
"Fine," Spyro replied, "If it makes you feel better I'll talk to him."
"Thanks," Cynder said as she gave him a quick kiss.
Firecurse was watching the whole thing from a good thirty feet away. He spat on a corpse of a shadow spawn and said, "Spyro is almost as bad as you are." He looked down at the morbid corpse and said, "At least he smells better than you do." He charged over the body and engaged the next shadow spawn.
Several of the freed prisoners from the first camp were freeing the prisoners of this camp adding the size of the forces they had. They broke the locks on the cells and handed out light armor pieces and weapons. Once they were all ready the mob charged at the dark forces taking the creatures by surprise. They are barbaric fighters, brutal and wild, crazed fighters that killed plenty of enemies. They do their part off the battlefield as well, mostly healing our wounded and creating useful tools. But they are necessary for the battles to come and for life after the war.
With the aid of the freed prisoners the battle ended rather quickly. There were several wounded men due to the large force of enemies and their toughness, but all would live, thankfully. Everyone was needed in the upcoming battles. The war against Marthaeter will be hard and many lives will be lost paying for this freedom. They moved out of the camp and headed to the next camp, far in the south. It would be a long travel, but it would be necessary for the future.
The next morning they continued to their target. Suprisingly the large group moved quickly over the snowy terrain of the north. By midday nearly all the snow had vanished and they were walking on dirt and grass.
Cynder was walking next to Spyro and he asked, "Did Firecurse bug you last night?"
"No, but he will continue to soon," Cynder replied, "Why do you ask?"
"Well when something is bothering my lovely dragoness, I would like to know what I'm up against," Spyro said.
"Thanks," Cynder said as she gave him a lick, "You are going to talk to him, right? He doesn't seem to get it."
"Anything for you baby," Spyro replied, "I'll talk to him once he make camp for the night."
Cynder smiled and asked, "Baby? When did I become your baby?"
"Since we have been going out," Spyro replied.
Cynder rubbed her head against his.
They continued on with the rest of the group, but Firecurse was watching them and wasn't happy. "Enjoy your time with her while you can Spyro, She will be mine soon enough," Firecurse said coldly. Shadedulath just happened to walk by and heard this.
He turned towards Firecurse and gave him a look of disapproval and shock. "You must be crazy," Shadedulath said, "Cynder and Spyro are strongly connected, I doubt anyone can keep them from each other, not me, not Delrothban, not Marthaeter, and most certainly not you, Firecurse."
"We will see in time Shadedulath and I will laugh at you when you are wrong," Firecurse said as he turned away and left.
Shadedulath signaled for a few men to come over. He pointed to two men and said, "Follow Firecurse and remain unknown to him," he pointed to the other two and said, "Each one of you choose Spyro or Cynder and watch over them. If anything happens intervene and bring Firecurse to me." The four men bowed and went after their targets.
Night fell and the group stopped for the night. Cynder was back at her tent with a guard about five hundred feet away watching for Firecurse while Spyro looked for Firecurse to straighten things out. He searched for several minutes, but found nothing. He headed back to his tent. He was nearly at his tent when he noticed something to his right. He turned and saw Firecurse.
He quickly headed over to him and asked him, "Firecurse what are you doing over here?"
"Waiting for you to come back," Firecurse replied, "I'm being followed by two men. I haven't approached them yet, but I was wondering what you thought of it."
"Not sure," Spyro replied, "I could ask Shadedulath about it for you if you do something in return."
"Name it," Firecurse said.
"Leave Cynder alone," Spyro replied.
Firecurse sighed and looked at the ground just staring at the ground for a minute before he answered with, "No deal. I love Cynder too much to do that."
Spyro grew irritated and pushed him to the ground placing an ivory claw against his throat and warned, "Cynder and I will never be apart. You have no chance in hell with her. She is way out of your league. You will never be good enough for her."
"And as if you are?" asked Firecurse coldly.
"I may not be good enough for her, but she loves me and I love her too. As long as she loves me I'll never stop loving her back," Spyro replied, "Instead of stalking us, you should deal with your problem like dragon would, not a coward."
With that Spyro turned and went into his tent. Cynder was waiting inside. She seemed a little uneasy, but immediately perked up when she saw Spyro. She ran over and embraced him lovingly and he returned it.
"Did you tell him?" she asked a whispered voice.
"Yes," Spyro replied just as quietly, "I told him and hopefully he will stop."
"Thank you Spyro, thank you so much," said Cynder.
"Hey that's what I'm here for," Spyro replied, "I'm here to love you and take care of you."
She looked at him with a smile and kissed him.
Firecurse growled, "You will not keep her from me," from his spot.
A week passed and the small army found themselves near their target. A large prison camp surrounded by small palisade walls and wooden platforms. Shadedulath devised a tactic to take down the walls in a matter of seconds. It called for a weapon known as the rocket. They had several of these for special tasks and this was one of those times.
Night came quickly again and everyone prepared for the attack. They broke into three groups. The first was lead by Shadedulath, the second was lead by Spyro and Cynder, and the third was lead by Walker and Firecurse. Shadedulath's group had set up three rockets to be fired at the wall. He ordered them to be fired and the fuses were lit. After five seconds the three projectiles sped off towards their destination with a screech. The fireworks hit the wooden walls and exploded, knocking the wood wall over and setting it ablaze.
Spyro and Cynder fired a fireball at the their section of the wall, doing the same as the rockets. Firecurse followed and did likewise a minute later. Spyro and Cynder charged through the gap in the wall and saw that a portion of Shadedulath's forces where inside the camp firing fire arrows at evil warriors and platforms.
Spyro and Cynder attacked the nearest enemy. On one of the nearby platforms stood a grotesque creature. It was six feet tall and had several human characteristics. A noticeable difference was that its skin was rotting and ready to fall off. It bore a large sword that was easily five feet long. A Shadow of Katsumoto quickly drew an arrow, lit it, and fired it in front of the creature.
"Zeks are what we call those spawns," said the warrior. The fire caught on the wood and grew in front of the creature. It screeched as if it was dying from the fire. "They hate intense heat or light."
Spyro looked at Cynder and asked, "Thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah," Cynder replied.
They charged towards the mass of enemies and allies. They each fired a large stream of flames into the enemy forces. The roar of the flames was barely audible due to the harsh screaming and screeching of different spawns dying or being harmed from their attack. Many started to cover their eyes and run while others were blinded and wondered aimlessly as the warriors of Shadedulath's group cut them down. Cynder noticed something unusual and watched Walker who was swing around his whips. The interesting thing was that he set his whips ablaze, striking fear and pain into the hearts of the enemy.
Several zeks engaged Firecurse's group. Three warriors fired their arrows into the sickly creatures, but only slowed them. They fired a second volley and managed to kill two. The other four continued to charge forward.
Firecurse dove into one and bite at its neck, but not without having getting his own wound from the charge. He was struck on the shoulder with the heavy blade as the zek dropped it. He ripped the throat out of the zek, silencing it.
One of the veteran warriors drew his katana and gracefully sliced through one of the zek's arms and smoothly continued by driving the blade tip into the zek's neck. The zek fell to the ground and the veteran continued on to the next one.
Two younger warriors were engaged in a contest of swordplay with a zek. The zek was able to block everything that they threw. One warrior swung his blade low while the other swung at chest level. The zek blocked the chest strike and allowed its foot to be cut off. The first warrior continued by bringing his blade up and taking off the leg, making the zek fall to the ground. The second warrior quickly drove his katana into the head of the zek.
One of the bowmen quickly drew an arrow as the last zek charged at him. He ducked to the side and fired his arrow into the side of zek's head, killing it.
The enemies were all taken care of and the prisoners were released. Surprisingly there were ten Shadows of Katsumoto in this camp and they said about a hundred were in one section of the main prison camp alone and thought there would be more in other parts of the camp. They knew there were five sections to the camp so they could easily increase their numbers. They abandoned the camp and pushed back north as quickly as possible for the night.
The days seemed to blend together as they repeated themselves. Spyro and Cynder were both happy that Firecurse, for some strange reason, stopped bugging Cynder.
Unfortunately they were overdue. They stopped earlier than usual to step up camp. Spyro and Cynder were walking around the massive camp when they both heard the voice they hated the most.
"Hey Spyro," Firecurse shouted.
They both turned around and saw Firecurse approach them.
"Yes?" Spyro asked.
"I challenge you to a fight?" Firecurse answered, "Winner gets Cynder, as the old ways of dragons says. Winner of fight gets their mate."
"Cynder is not a prize that you can just win. She is a dragon, she has feelings and thoughts. You can't just decide for her who she is going to love."
"Enough talk, fight or die," Firecurse said with a passion that matched no other.
Spyro sighed and readied himself. Firecurse leapt forward at Spyro ready to claw his heart out. Spyro fired a current of electricity at Firecurse and threw him to the right. Firecurse landed on the ground and slowly got back up. He fired a jet of flames at Spyro. Spyro countered with his own fire. Spyro's flames were more powerful and pushed Firecurse's back. Firecurse stopped and charged at Spyro again.
Spyro remained were he was and waited until Firecurse was right on top of him before he threw his head up into the air, knocking Firecurse into the air. Spyro jumped into the air and whipped him with his tail and Firecurse crashed into the ground. Spyro landed and looked at Firecurse. Firecurse shot up and slashed Spyro's shoulder. Spyro gritted his teeth and thrust his head forward, stabbing a horn into Firecurse's side. Firecurse yelled in pain and stabbed his tail into Spyro's side.
Spyro started to bleed, but not as badly as Firecurse. Firecurse swung his tail at Spyro's feet. Spyro jumped up and unleashed a green wave of energy, which threw Firecurse back ten feet. Spyro created the Earth Flail and swung it at Firecurse. Firecurse had no time to react before the ball of earth energy smashed into him. Firecurse slowly stood up after the attack and fired a fireball at Spyro, which was short by two feet. Spyro laughed to himself thinking that Firecurse was losing his ability to fight. Firecurse rocketed through the smoke from the fireball and landed on top of Spyro. He immediately slashed Spyro's face with his claws, drawing blood. Spyro tried to force him off him but failed. Firecurse stabbed his claws into Spyro's chest. The claws penetrated his scales and drove deep into his chest.
Spyro roared with pain and bite down on Firecurse's claws. A digit fell off Firecurse's paw and he now roared in pain. Firecurse swung his claws at Spyro's neck hoping to kill him. Spyro thought he wasn't going to survive, he thought of Cynder and what would happen to her. He thought that Firecurse would mistreat her because she would hate him for killing him. He couldn't let that happen.
His eyes glowed intensely and Firecurse was taken by surprise from the flash of purple light, which blinded him. His claws sliced into his chin and left a deep cut. Spyro threw him off and stepped on his chest readying a blast of Convexity.
He was about to fire it when he heard Cynder yell, "Don't do it Spyro!"
Spyro turned and faced her. He spoke, his voice sounding distorted and unnatural as usual when he triggered Convexity, "Why not, he has been irritating us and nearly killed me."
"Because it isn't right," Cynder replied.
"Why not kill him? He will only cause more problems for us," Spyro said, "You have feelings for him don't you?"
Cynder shook her head, "No Spyro, the only one I have feelings for is the dragon right in front of me."
Spyro's eyes faded a little bit, but continued to glow. "I'm not the dragon that you use to love," Spyro said as through he was ashamed, "I'm not the same dragon you fell in love with four years ago. I'm corrupt and evil and darker than I was."
"No, no you're not," Cynder replied grabbing him, "You are still Spyro. The same Spyro that rescued me from the Dark Master in Convexity, the Well of Souls, and his fortress. You are still the Spyro that I have slept with for four years and the same Spyro that I have spent time with everyday. You are still the same Spyro who is trying to save the world from great evils and keep peace," a tear ran down her cheek, "You are still the Spyro that my heart desires and loves."
Spyro's eyes continued to fade and he said, "I have failed though."
"No you haven't," Cynder replied.
"Yes I have Cynder," Spyro argued, "I'm unable to control my own powers and I'm losing myself. I don't feel the same as I use to."
"Spyro, I will always love you no matter what happens to you. We will be able to fix any problem we run into," she said optimistically.
Firecurse was barely standing when he said, "Ha, see how long that will last for."
Spyro whipped his tail at Firecurse's head and knocked him unconscious. Cynder looked at him with disapproval, but Spyro gave her an 'It's not my fault' smile. She shook her and head and laughed.
Spyro gave her a kiss and whispered, "Thanks for not giving up on me."
"I'll never give up on you," she returned.
He pulled her into a loving embrace and whispered, "I'm sorry for all of this Cynder. I'm not worthy enough to have your love."
Cynder looked at him with disbelieve and said, "Don't you ever say that again. Of course you are worthy of my love. I choose who I give it to and that person is the most worthy of all and that is you."
"Thanks," Spyro replied.
"Why did you even say that?" asked Cynder.
"Sorry, it's something that Firecurse said," Spyro answered.
"Like?" Cynder questioned.
"He told me that only he was worthy of your love and I told him that he was no where near worthy of your love. He countered with, 'And you are?' I told him that I may not, but since we both love each other we will continue to be together, no matter what happens," Spyro shared.
"Well you are worthy," Cynder repeated as she gave him a passionate kiss to prove it. They broke and Cynder looked him over. "My God, we need to clean you up," she said, "Let's head back to the tent and I can deal with you there."
Spyro smiled and said, "I like where this is going."
"You will," Cynder replied.
Night ended and morning began and the camp was being taken down. Spyro and Cynder got out of their tent and Spyro was doing well. He and Cynder started to move out with the rest of the warriors that were ready to leave. Firecurse had his side bandaged up and was several hundred feet ahead of them with his head hung low in defeat.
Shadedulath came up to them and asked, "I heard you got into a little scrap with Firecurse last night. You both are alright?"
"Yeah," Spyro replied.
Shadedulath looked at Spyro's chest, face, chin and side wounds, which weren't wrapped with a questionable look and asked, "Are you sure?"
"I'd rather let them be shown and not hidden," Spyro answered.
"Unlike Firecurse?" Shadedulath asked.
"Not really, more like to show what I would do for Cynder, to warn others of what to expect," Spyro answered. Cynder gave him a lick on his unwounded cheek for the comment.
Shadedulath smiled, "Showing the enemy that you mean business and that you can sustain a fight with such injuries. I like the idea." He bowed to them and left.
"He is one of the strangest people I have ever met," Cynder said once they were out of earshot. Spyro nodded in agreement.
This time the journey was much shorter and they reached the last camp in three days. This camp was huge and more heavily defended. Luckily night fell quickly giving Shadedulath an opportunity to send several warriors to scout out the defenses. All the men returned later that night and informed Shadedulath. He ordered that we head away from the prison base for half the day and then turn back so we could take them by surprise.
Shadedulath led a team of ten warriors excluding Spyro and Cynder. They were at the wall and Shadedulath started to climb the wall with two men following him. They quickly and silently made their way up the old stonewall. Shadedulath reached the top of the twenty-foot tall wall and climbed over the ramparts. The two warriors followed him and there was the soft sound of metal stinking into flesh. A large black object was then thrown over the wall. It landed a few feet away from them. It was the corpse of a shadow spawn. One of the men signaled for the rest of the men to come up. The eight warriors started to climb the wall, as did Spyro and Cynder. They quickly followed Shadedulath to a building that was connected to the wall. They entered it and went inside. They were on the second floor of the building. Shadedulath exited the room and looked down over the railing of the hall. There were six shadowlings. Shadedulath made his way back to the others.
"There are only six, which should be easy for me," he said, "I'll be back in a few minutes."
He left again and came to the railing. He jumped over the railing and landed twenty feet below. He quickly charged up to a shadowling and drew his katana, cutting it in half. He swung the blade over his head in a swift arc and brought it down on another shadowling. Shadedulath managed to draw his dagger in time to slay a third shadowling before the other three noticed. The three charged at him hoping to tackle him to the floor where they would have the advantage. He dodged one and swung a katana at the second one, catching its head. The third flinched seeing the second get slashed in the face. Shadedulath took advantage and sliced into its gut. He spun around and slashed the last shadowling as it was going the swipe its claws at him. He called up to Spyro, Cynder, and the warriors to come down.
They came down and Shadedulath was looking out the window trying to see what was going on outside. He noticed that everything seemed normal and that they haven't been noticed. There were no more guards outside on the wall, courtesy to Walker and his warriors.
He had two warriors head back up stairs and to bring more warriors through the route they just took. Shadedulath crept out the door with Spyro and Cynder. They made their way to the next building and hid against the side of the building they were going to enter next. Shadedulath ran back the way he came and tapped on the window of the building signaling his warriors. They ran back to Spyro and Cynder and Shadedulath told his warriors to wait until he, Spyro, and Cynder finished inside. The three quietly made their way to the door. Shadedulath was first to enter and dive rolled in, whipping his katana out, cutting through a zek's leg. He continued and brought it up through its skull.
Spyro and Cynder entered and attacked. Spyro plowed into a shadow spawn, digging his horns into the black creature. He threw him off and thrust his tail through a zek. Cynder pounced onto a shadow spawn pressing her claws deep into the dark creature causing dark blood to come forth from the wound. She jumped off of it and slashed a shadowling with her tail blade.
Shadedulath drew a shorter katana and threw it at a shadow spawn and continued his graceful dance of death and killing. He thrust his blade forward through a zek and finished the last creature by kicking it and snapping its neck.
Firecurse was brought up with the next group of warriors and prepared to storm the camp. A group of shadow spawns made their patrol and they decided this was a good time to strike. Several warriors fired their arrows into them as the rest charged the patrol. Firecurse launched a fireball into the middle of the patrol and charged. He crashed through the dark creatures with his horns and claws. The warriors where beside him swing their extremely deadly katana, drawing blood after each stroke. The patrol was small and was quickly destroyed. Shadedulath, Spyro, Cynder, and their group came out and joined with the reinforcements. Shadedulath signaled for the men to follow and everyone pressed deeper into the camp.
As they came closer to the center of the camp the enemy presence increased. Shadedulath could see at least forty enemies. He had only twenty-three men, plus Spyro, Cynder, and Firecurse.
Shadedulath told Spyro and Cynder, "When the fighting begins make your way to the caves that is where the prisoners will most likely be. Free them and rejoin us."
They nodded and Shadedulath charged out into the enemy. Spyro and Cynder waited until more warriors followed and charged, trying not to engage any enemies. Luckily all the enemy forces were concentrating on the humans so they were able to seek past them.
The caves were not lit and the two dragons were forced to rely on their sense of hearing and smell. They picked up the smell of a dragon and followed it. For two minutes they ran down twisting tunnels until they reached a large cavern with touches lit. There were about fifty cells down in this cavern. They quickly began to break the locks and let the prisoners out. Most were locals and there were two hundred Shadows of Katsumoto. The last cell they came to had a silver dragon inside. They broke the lock and rushed into the cell.
"Chromius! Are you ok?" they both asked.
"Spyro? Cynder? How did you get here?" Chromius asked.
"Shadedulath brought us here to save you," Cynder said.
"Thank you," Chromius said.
They gathered everyone and made a raid on the armory just down the tunnel and armed everyone. They made their way back to the surface and joined the battle. Spyro and Cynder led the charge and crashed through the backs of the enemy. Firecurse saw this and purposely broke his engagement and ran around the conflict and joined Spyro and Cynder's forces.
Spyro and Cynder got separated and Firecurse came along side Cynder. She didn't notice him at first, but she did when Firecurse rubbed his side against hers. She spun around and was ready to kill her enemy and noticed Firecurse who had a grin on his face. She swiped her claws at him and he moved back.
"So where is Spyro? Not defending his love?" Firecurse said.
Cynder glared at him and shouted, "You sick bastard, I ought to kill you. Spyro and I got separated. He would never intentionally leave me."
"Cynder?" Spyro shouted, "Cynder?"
"Spyro, I'm here," she shouted in return. He found her and smiled. She smiled back at her love.
A shadowling came up behind Spyro and stabbed him in the side. Spyro roared in pain and he unlocked Convexity. His eyes glowed a bright purple and he clamped his jaws down on the shadowling and threw him across the battle. He continued his rampage and gathered Convexity energy onto his claws and swiped them through enemy after enemy.
Cynder fought her way to him, hoping that she could get there and save him before something truly bad might happen. She reached him as he breathed purple flames onto a group of enemies before him.
"Spyro," she said softly.
Spyro defeated him enemies before him and turned to Cynder. He looked at her with piercing and empty, glowing eyes.
"Spyro, don't do this again," she pleaded, "Resist this evil, you can beat it, I know you can."
Spyro seemed to relax and return to normal when a zek screeched and swung its blade down on Spyro's back. The blade bit deep and sent Spyro back into the rage. His eyes glowed brighter and Spyro spun around biting deep into the zek's neck and threw him over his head, despite the fact that the zek was a good three feet taller than Spyro, who was four feet tall, and at least three hundred pounds heavier.
The zek slammed into the ground and Spyro opened his mouth and let out an ancient and powerful roar causing the battle to cease and all looked towards the source. Spyro slowly made his way to the zek that was trying to flee from his enemy. Spyro pressed a claw down on the zek's back and the zek made the mistake of looking back at Spyro. Spyro opened his mouth and fired a blast of Convexity through the zek and roared again.
Every shadow spawn, shadowling, and zek retreated into the caves. Spyro gathered more Convexity energy to him and fired another Convexity beam into the cave. Screams and shrieks of pain could be heard from the cave. Spyro aimed at the cave's walls and made the cave collapse on the dark creatures inside. Spyro grinned with pleasure at what he had done. He felt something wrap around his tail and he quickly turned his head to see Cynder. She looked concerned and was hoping that he would respond. He didn't, he just continued to stare at her.
"Spyro?" she asked, "Come back, please."
Still there was no response.
"Spyro, don't do this to me," Cynder pleaded, "I need you, I love you, please."
He remained motionless. Cynder looked down and began to cry. This seemed to bring Spyro back it himself. He had no idea what say so he just wrapped his wings around here and let her rest her head on his chest, still crying.
Shadedulath signaled for everyone to return to camp, seeing that all his men didn't need to see this.
After a minute she looked up at Spyro's face and asked, "Spyro? It is you right?"
"Yes," he said sadly, "Cynder…I'm sorry that you have to keep going through this. I just can't control it. It overwhelms me so easily I feel like nothing to it." He was forced to take a deep breath and continued, "I hate this. How I'm not in control, that I'm causing you pain that you shouldn't have to deal with. I'm becoming just like the Dark Master."
"No," Cynder quickly replied, "You are nothing like the Dark Master. He has no one, he cares about nothing. You have me and you care about the world and its fate. You will never end up like the Dark Master Spyro, I know that."
"Thanks," Spyro said, "What do you think would happen to me if I didn't have you?"
"You would be in a huge mess and you would have no one to bail you out probably," Cynder replied, "Or you would just go on without knowing love, living a semi normal life."
"Thank God for the third door then," Spyro responded.
"What's the third door?" asked Cynder.
"The life I have right now," Spyro said. Cynder smiled and gave him a kiss. "I would never trade your love for anything."
"I know you wouldn't," Cynder replied. She gave him a kiss. When they broke they remained where they were holding each other close.
