Legend of Spyro: Stormfront

Chapter 19

Sorry for the wait guys, but here is a nice long chapter for ya'll. Well long for me anyways.

Rey made his way to the back of the long column of dragons, walking past the multitude of colored scales that shone brightly in the midday sun. His thoughts however rolled over and over on the blackened lands that he had seen only a little while ago.

What could have done that? He thought. What could have blackened the earth for endless miles? It couldn't have been a volcano, it stopped too suddenly. He reasoned. It's as if a wall of fire was advancing and suddenly stopped without reason.

He looked down to his paw, where the bits of charcoal ash still clung to his orange scales blocking out their true color.

"Hey Rey what your dad call you for?" A voice yelled rousing him from his thoughts.

He lifted his head realizing he was approaching the end of the column. He immediately recognized a female dragon with bright golden scales, a light blue underbelly and straight golden horns matching her scales.

"We have to make a small detour in the route that's all. But you know we aren't supposed to call him that Electria. You remember that whole speech he gave us about military discipline.

She groaned loudly in response, "I'm never listening to your da— General Erwing give that speech again." She began imitating his father's deep, gruff voice, "You must keep discipline, blah blah blah, and prevent breakdowns in communication blah blah blah."

Rey chuckled, "Your pretty good, but it isn't easy for me either you don't have to live with the guy at least. I think he has lectured me on responsibility like fifty times now."

"Aren't you the lucky one then." She responded giggling lightly at his predicament.

"You two better not be laughing about me." A disapproving tone coming clearly evident from the unknown voice.

Rey turned to see Glacia walking towards him, a dark blue ice dragoness with, an even deeper blue belly and white ivory like jagged horns.

"None of your business you arrogant inflated windbag." Electria responded harshly.

"You to golden girl." She responded in kind.

"Will you two ever quit?" Rey responded hoping this wouldn't continue looking at each with a harsh stare. "I don't think I have had one moment of peace on this whole journey because of you two."

"How does an ice dragon have so much hot air?" Electria continued paying no heed to Rey's words.

"How have you not given the whole column away with that beacon that you carry around with you." Glacia retorted smiling.

"My scales are fine!" Electria yelled in protest.

"Will you two shut it? You are giving me a headache." Rey roared. "Ever since you two got the runner's position you have been at each other's throats, you've been driving me nuts! Now shut it!"

The pair of dragonesses stared at Rey in disbelief at the rebuke, and then looked back at each other with a disgusted glare before twirling in unison and going their separate ways.

Ever since his father had asked them to go on the expedition those two had been arguing.

What's gotten into them? This stupid runner's position has ripping their friendship apart.

His father had given them the job of runner. To carry messages back to the colonies as quickly as possible. His dad couldn't use military personal because they were needed as soldiers. They had already made two trips there and back. They were some of the fastest fliers in the city where Rey lived. Of course the pair truly wanted to fight and destroy the evil Warfangians. However his dad would not allow it. That is when Rey had the idea of letting them be messengers, and his dad agreed.

I think I'm regretting ever speaking up that day. He thought. He heard the cry of "Move out!" passed down the line. Rey made sure his satchel was secured carrying all of the important mapping equipment, and prepared to take off. When the dragons in front of him leapt into the air he followed suit and in mere moments they were once again amongst the clouds. He spotted Electria on the left side of the column flying lazily in line; Glacia was of course on the exact opposite side doing the same.

He tried to remember the days when they were younger when there was peace even though they spent constant days if fear of the Dark Master's minions. He remembered how they were told stories by their parents and in the small amount of schooling they could get. A few were about the beginnings of dragons, a few were about heroes and villains, but those never really caught his interest.

He only cared for the stories that dealt with Warfang. How the Warfangians captured their cities, and oppressed their people and the moles aiding them with their sciences and masonry. The followed that by declaring an empire and then making the colonies and their inhabitants' subjects of the capital city of Warfang. The even after they thought peace would finally rein however illusionary, all hell broke loose. That purple demon destroyed everything, all their work, all their lives down to the last brick and crop. They had been reduced to savages living off nothing but what they could scrounge and steal from others.

Rey felt a feeling of anger well up inside of him. He wanted to tear that purple dragon limb from limb for what he did to all those people. But of course that would never happen he was dead and gone. He snorted loudly in disgust at the purple beast, however there was that one report he overheard from one of the scouts.

Malefor had been killed, or so they thought a rumor had been going around at late that a scout had overheard a caravan of traders talking, that a purple dragon did indeed live on.

He thought about what would happen if he ever met that monster. He would of course kill him if he had the chance, but Rey wasn't one for delusions of grandeur. He knew he couldn't beat a purple dragon. He was never a lover of battle… like his father. Of course he had received training at an early age due to his lineage and was a decent fighter, but he still couldn't beat his father, let alone a purple dragon.

Of course this was all just a rumor the scout could have heard wrong or something of that nature.

No way there were two of them at the same time the odds are just unbelievable. He thought, finally looking forward again instead of at the distant ground.

Rey noticed he was falling behind the main body, and began to flap his wings harder to catch up. He heard another set of wings flapping somewhat close to him. He looked around not seeing any other dragons but the column a few hundred feet in front of him.

He dismissed it as the wind and continued trying to catch up to the rest of the force. When he heard the other set of wings flapping again.

This time he looked over his shoulder seeing nothing but white clouds in every direction. He was about to turn his head back when he heard the sound again.

They were being tailed! His mind screamed.

Rey powered up the largest fireball he could muster and fired in the above the rear most dragons of the column. He then killed his forward momentum and watched as a dark green earth dragon shot out of the clouds behind him wearing full armor.

Rey watched as the earth dragon blew past him only a few feet away. He could see the steely glint of determination in his eye. He dove beneath the clouds winging his way towards an easterly direction.

Rey winged down to follow him beneath the clouds; he was soon gladdened to hear the loud crack of his fireball exploding.

Surely someone heard that!

He spotted the quickly speeding away earth dragon, and pumped his wings faster to try and catch up. The wind whipped at his face as he began to pick up speed and his satchel flapping randomly in the wind sometimes smashing his side.

However his efforts were in vein, he began to lose hope as the other dragon began to out distance him widening the gap from a few yards to well over a several dragons lengths away. Rey desperately fired a more fire balls at him but at this range the dragon only tipped his wings to dodge them.

He began to lose hope as the dragon began to pull further away, the armored dragon becoming smaller as the distance grew and Rey only grew more tired as he tried to keep his air sprint alive.

If he gets away the whole element of surprise will be lost!

Suddenly he heard flapping of more wings behind him and turned to see Glacia and Electria closing fast behind him.

"What was that explosion for Rey?" They yelled in unison over the deafening wind.

Panting in between words. "Dragon…tailing us… stop him!"

The pair realized what he was talking about and pair and shot off after him much faster than Rey.

Rey slowed his pace somewhat trying to conserve his energy in case there was a fight. He watched as the blue and yellow dots slowly gained on the lone silver and green one.

He watched as the desperate scout tried to outpace the pair of dragonesses, but to no avail. The pair gained the upper hand and flew above the fleeing dragon and began to harry him down towards the ground with their claws and teeth. Glacia dived on him then pulled back for another run, Electria doing the same while Glacia recovered.

This process went on for a few minutes longer until the dragon was flying only a few feet off the ground, when Glacia froze his wings with a blast of her ice.

The scout panicked and tried to continue flying but his wings were unmovable. He stretched his legs out for what was going to be a rough landing no matter what he did and Rey saw him crash to the ground in a tremendous cloud of dust and dirt. Glacia and Electria whirled about and disappeared onto the ground out of Rey's sight.

Rey heard the sound of more wing beats coming from behind him and turned to see a squadron of ten or so multi-colored dragons closing behind him. A captain leading the bunch noted by the symbol on his satchel he was carrying.

The squadron and Rey reached the crash site in a field to see Glacia freezing over the dragons many cuts and bruises, while Electria stood guard. He was offering no resistance however; he was probably knocked out from the landing Rey presumed.

The squadron and Rey landed next to them. Rey looked closely at him seeing far less damage than he expected the armor taking the brunt of the force for the dragon.

Not some cheap crap that armor.

"Get away from him, he will receive no further medical treatment." The captain of the squadron ordered a tall light shade of green earth dragon.

"But he needs it!" Glacia said staring disbelievingly at him.

"I order you to not assist him in anyway these beasts are not to be treated like our own." He responded his temper flaring at her insubordination.

Glacia reluctantly backed away from the unconscious dragon, glaring at the captain ferociously.

"The General would think differently, sir."

The captain looked around eyes blazing for the dragon who continued to disobey him. Rey stepped forward from the crowd of dragons looking at him with calm expression.

Why the hell did I say that! He yelled at himself.

"You of all should know what must be done to this prisoner whelp." He responded angrily towards Rey.

"And what would that be captain?"

The captain whirled about to stare face to face with this other mutineer only to see the bright fox scales of General Erwing standing before him.

The captain let out an audible swallow.

The proud general looked over towards Glacia. "Continue treating him immediately." The turned towards the other soldiers who were all looking somewhat uncomfortable. "One of you bunch go alert the medical unit for a casualty, the others prepare the prisoner for transport."

When no one moved from the group the general's tempered flared. "Move it!"

The group instantly responded each scurrying this way and that looking for materials to build a stretcher, while one of them took off back towards the main column.

Then he looked back towards the captain, who now was now about to lift off to extricate himself from the situation.

"Don't even think about." The General's voice rang out, the captain freezing in his tracks and slowly turning around to see the great general standing before him.

"If we treat them as beasts as well what better than we are than beasts ourselves. If I ever hear anything like this from you again, corporal, I'll have you tried by court martial, am I understood?"

"Ye—yes sir." He gave the trembling response.

"Get out of my sight." Rey's father repudiated.

The former captain quickly took off trying to get as far away as possible from the commander.

Rey had just finished eating dinner which was now reduced to bland rations, fearing the cooking fires would draw more scouts and spies to their position. He was walking back towards his tent at sundown, which he had set up himself to protect himself from the elements, when he saw his father standing before it.

He trotted quickly up to his father expecting a speech of some sort about responsibility or some other useless military topic.

"You just finish eating Rey?" He asked towards his son.

"Yeah, if you call rations eating…" Rey responded.

"Something's never change, rations being one of them." His father chuckled. "But now on too business, the prisoner just woke up from his little nap, would like to come watch?"

"Watch what?" Rey responded.

"We are going to ask him… a few questions." His dad responded tiptoeing around the subject.

"You mean interrogate him don't you?" Rey responded a little angrily.

"No, interrogation involves torture; we will not do any such thing." His father responded. "I thought you might want to see your first Warfangian."

"You mean he is actually from Warfang!" Rey asked excitedly.

"So far we have been able to gleam that from his markings on the armor. He has asked that the commander be brought to see him, and so I shall go."

"Okay I'll come with you." Rey responded trying to hide some of his excitement from his father. His dad was always so good at hiding emotion when he needed too.

They began their walk through the now sleeping column not speaking a word to each other. They walked past countless other tents all of the same size and color being standard issue holding two dragons each. Rey was given the luxury of having his own larger tent, to set up his maps and a table to plot the course. The downside being he had to carry the whole thing himself instead of it being split between two while flying.

They came upon a larger tent that was the only one lit currently in the whole camp. Two guards stood in front of the flaps, and saluted as the general approached. His father stepped through the flaps of the tent letting a little light spill forth. Rey soon followed and inner guard was lying on the grass inside the tent keeping watch upon the imprisoned earth dragon. His armor had been removed and his ankles and wings shackled together. All his previous injuries from the crash had apparently been healed, probably by the medical unit and the application of some red gems.

"Leave us, and tell the others to get out of earshot or there will be hell to pay." His father told the guard, who responded immediately with a, "Yes sir," and removed himself from the tent.

"What is your name Warfangian?" His father asked the alone dragon. His face showed a sense of surprise; he was probably expecting to be tortured or worse. However he found the courage to speak.

"What do you mean Warfangian? Warfang is all that is left of the dragon race." He responded.

"That is not the case, but you have failed to answer my question." Rey's father responded.

"Erde, I'm a scout and I have been out here for the past few months I haven't been home in a while." He responded.

"Well Erde since you answered my question, I will answer yours. Warfang is not the only surviving dragon city, in fact there are twelve that I know of not including your Warfang.

"You mean there are more of us out there." His face lit up. "We lost so many in the war… the Guardians will be delighted to hear there are more dragons in existence!"

"How many are left?" His father continued.

"Well we thought there was only about two-thousand or so in Warfang and a few hundred more living outside it, but this is wonderful news! If you would release me I'll tell the guardians immediately!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Erde." His father said looking down upon him.

"Why not…" He trailed off.

"Unfortunately we are not on a mission of peace." The general said somberly.

"You mean… you would attack us with surprise… you cowards!" He spat at the general's paws.

"Tell me, who or what defeated the Dark Master known as Malefor." Erwing responded ignoring the spite.

Rey simply stared on at what was unfolding before him; his dad had never taken something like that without reprimand.

"You mean you don't know…" Erde responded a slight smile growing on his face.

"I will release you if you tell me and everything about whatever happened, you have my word." The general stated.

Erde's face once again lit up, and then returned to normal as he mulled it over for a minute.

"But General Sir, we will lose the element of surprise!" Rey sounded desperately, almost forgetting to use his father's proper title. It would not be wise to let the enemy learn that information to be used against his father if he were kidnapped.

"Silence Rey that is none of your concern." His dad responded curtly.

"Deal, but I have your word correct and I will be released immediately." Erde's voice rang out sounding somewhat desperate.

Rey's father reached into his satchel and grabbed the key with his mouth. "The key to your bonds is right here." He dropped into onto the grass with a slight thud. "Now begin."

Erde then spilled all the doings of this purple dragon named Spyro how he had saved them all from the Dark Master and put the world back together.

"Hard to believe a dragon your age saved the entire world, right Rey." His father asked him.

Rey simply nodded only wanting the story to go on, if he had a quill on him he would have been writing it down.

"That would explain what happened about a year ago. A great earthquake ripped through the land, soon followed by a purple energy." His father hypothesized. "Were these occurring's about that time."

"Yes, that's about right." Erde responded.

"Sounds as if we owe him a favor…" His dad responded.

"We all do, him and Cynder saved all our lives." Erde responded sounding idolizing.

"I thought you said Cynder worked with the Dark Master and it was her fault he returned." Erwing responded.

"She was but when Spyro defeated her, she returned to normal and fought on our side, she even went with Spyro to destroy Malefor in the volcano." Erde responded he was now staring at the key on the ground.

"A volcano is that what the devastation we saw earlier was?" His father continued ignoring the pleading look in Erde's eyes.

"Yes and no, what you saw was called the Burned lands, which were destroyed because of the Belt of Fire. Malefor created an unending burning wall of fire that ate the land with an unquenchable hunger."

"You mean to say that all that destruction was caused by Malefor…"

"Yes."

"Ancestors help us." Rey thought he heard his father say. "You may go." His father kicked the key towards him.

Erde promptly hooked the key with his claws and fumbled for a minute before unlocking both his leg's shackles.

"Help him with his wings Rey." His father said tersely.

Rey did so and quickly had the Warfangian free. He promptly stretched his wings making sure nothing was broken.

"One more thing." Erde started. "If I were going up against Spyro and Cynder, I wouldn't want an army with me, more like the Ancestors themselves."

"I see… very well. You are free to go as you please."

"Guards!" The general yelled.

A moment later three prompt, "Yes sirs," were heard as they hurried over to the tent.

A sense of fear crosses over Erde's face.

"The prisoner is to be left in impeded; he is free to go, understood?"

"Yes sir!" They replied in unison.

Erde quickly cantered out of tent. The sound of wing beats was soon heard that faded off into the night.

"I know what you're thinking Rey." His father quickly responded.

"Why'd you let him go? Won't we lose the element of surprise?" Rey asked curiously. His father never did something without reason, but he couldn't figure this one out.

His father turned to look at him with his bright intelligent orange eyes. "In truth it was a gamble. I gave up the element of surprise for information, information that was desperately needed. We now indeed know there is a purple dragon still in existence and that he is powerful."

"What are we going to do about it?" Rey asked he felt a small pain of fear cross his heart.

Are we all going to our deaths?

"I don't know son… I don't know." His father replied somberly before leaving the tent, leaving Rey alone as the breeze buffeted the canvas.

Spyro stared incredulously at Cynder as the fire crackled particularly loud at that moment.

Did she just ask me to marry her?

"I—I need a moment to think." Spyro stuttered truly shocked at the situation he was in. He removed his wing that had been draping over Cynder protectively, and walked away from her.

Cynder stared worriedly at Spyro desperately hoping for the answer she wanted.

Spyro walked out into the beaches calming waves until he was ankle deep and looked up at the rising moons and star lit sky.

Cynder couldn't have picked a worse time for this! He screamed at himself. Why now Cynder? I would have said yes the moment she asked had she not done this now… What am I supposed to do? I don't want to tell her no… but then I can't tell her yes either. I really want to, but I just can't lie to her like that. What am I supposed to do?

Cynder looked on through the flickering flames of the fire as the purple dragon she so desperately hoped would say yes. She began to fidget in the sand with her tail blade repeatedly stabbing the ground with the edge.

Spyro turned around and walked back towards the anxious Cynder. Apparently ready to tell her his decision.

Spyro stood before Cynder looking down upon her praying he didn't screw this up.

"Yes."

Cynder pounced upon him. "Thank you, thank you thank you Spyro!" She screeched joyfully into the night, eventually planting a kiss to his snout.

Spyro felt mixed up inside. A part of him wanted to enjoy the moment with Cynder to its fullest, yet he knew it would not last. He had chosen the lesser of two evils his heart and mind had said, but it still didn't help the empty feeling he had. It felt so wrong to lie to her like that.

Cynder nuzzled his head gently and cooed into the night. She felt an overwhelming since of joy in her heart, she couldn't remember the last time she felt like this.

I felt kinda mean sticking last chapter's cliffhanger at the end of the story but ohh well. I just couldn't stop writing about the "other" dragons. As always please review all opinions, thoughts, takes on the subject, angles, meanings, and whatever else you want to call thme are greatly appreciated thank you.