Three weeks later. . .

Brian's POV

Amber and the others made it to Warfang without problems and settled in pretty easy. I resumed my duties of guarding the city at night. I guess the mercs decided to back off because we haven't had any more trouble with them until the other day.

One of Hunter's birds came to him with news that the mercs had sent an expeditionary force to the volcano. Terrador dispatched me and Cynder to ambush them. I tried to predict what route they'd take. Thankfully, I found only one safe path, the rest were all dead ends. Literally Cynder and I took shelter in a nearby creavese.

"Brian, I need to ask you something." Cynder said as she laid down, "I understand why Terrador would want you here, but why me? I mean, Why isn't Spyro here? What makes me a better choice?" Cynder asked.

"I honestly don't know Cynder." I replied, " I can think of two reasons right now. One: your scales are a darker color allowing you to hide better against the ashes. And Two: This ambush is to strike fear in the mercs. Your fear element can do that without a problem." I explained, "Other than that I don't see. . ." My voice drifted as I got another Idea, Better not spoil it then.

"Yes?" Cynder asked, I had to think fast.

"Unless maybe it's a test to see how well you can work without Spyro's aid."

"Why? I thought I proved myself!" Cynder started crying.

"Look, Cynder, Spyro, Terrador and the others are more than willing to trust you with their lives, Myself included." i comforted, "But i'm not gonna lie to you: A lot of people still think that you haven't fully been freed from the dark master and are still loyal to him, just waiting for the moment to strike the killing blow on one of us. If that was so, You'd already have killed me and be on your way to free him now." Cynder sobbed some more I walked over to her and sat in front of her.

"But you didn't." I continued, "You did not strike me or Spyro or anyone else! That is undeniable proof that you are not Cynder, terror of the skies. You're just Cynder, a brave dragoness that fights for good, nothing less." I finished. "Although, I don't know how you've managed to resist trying to give Sparx a swat every now and again for being that annoying." I chuckled, Cynder giggled at the joke. "What, and ruin how fun it is to watch you try to eat him?" She joked back. We both started laughing. "Tell you what, Remind me when we get back and I'll try again." Now we laughed even harder.

After a while I watched the path that the mercs would find by trial and fatal error. An hour passed as I vigilantly sat and waited. Cynder on the other hand, was bored out of her mind. "Ah! How long until they get here?" Cynder asked me as she paced back and forth.

"Don't know," I replied, "Could be 10 minutes or ten hours, we just need to be ready."

"You have GOT to be JOKING!" Cynder yelled, If she had any hair, It'd be long gone now.

"Keep making all that noise and they won't come at all." I warned her, Cynder lowered her head shamefully. "Sorry, I can't wait like you can." She muttered.

"Then get up here." I ordered. "Time for me to teach you how to hunt a new way." Cynder jumped up onto my rock and laid down similar like I did.

"Ambushing is a lot like hunting prey," I began, "Instead of you going to your prey, in an ambush you let you prey come to you. However, some prey can tell if something's tampered with the environment say the answer to that is camouflaging yourself, it helps but not enough. In setting up an ambush, time and environment are your friends. The more time you wait the better. Look at the ashes falling down on you for example: In a short amount of time, you will be covered in ashes giving you the same color, shade, and texture as the ash coated ground." Cynder nodded, she's a fast learner, or I'm a fast teacher. One or the other. . .

"Now thanks to the constant movement of the ashes, we can move without giving ourselves away. Not to mention they don't expect us"

"Brian?"

"Yes?"

"Look" Cynder pointed the mercs out as the walked carefully beneath us. I was expecting a bigger number, Oh, right, they had plenty of "Dead ends" until now. Time to convince them to make a U-turn back to mommy. Cynder was exited.

"Now?" She whispered.

"Not yet." I whispered back.

"Now?"

"Not yet."

"Now?"

"No, I'll tell you when."

"Now?"

"Cynder, what did I just say?"

"Sorry."

"Hey, Cynder?"

"What?

"Just about. . . Now."

Cynder disappeared with her shadow element. She reappeared in the middle of the party scaring most of them to death. The captain however wasn't scared at all. In fact he laughed as he pulled out a sawed off shotgun and pointed it at Cynder. I was on him in a second. He tried to shoot me in the face but before he could react I grabbed it with my mouth and yanked it out of his hands before spitting it out into a nearby lava flow. As it melted I stared him in the eyes, I knew I did my job. and it wasn't the smell coming from his pants that gave it away. I roared in his face for the finale before flying away with Cynder.

As I looked back, he wasn't moving at all. The look trapped on his face was one of "Oh S*****" Suddenly the shells in his melting shotgun exploded startling him out of it. The whole party turned tail and ran.

"Cynder." I spoke in a disappointed tone of voice.

"Yes?" She replied timidly, I sounded a bit too harsh.

"Nice work, especially for your first try." I congratulated her. She looked at me confused for a few seconds before smiling.

"Come on, let's go." I climbed into the air, Cynder suddenly shot past me.

"Last one to reach Warfang loses!" She called out, I grinned.

"Oh, It's on Cynder, It's on." I thought out loud as I sped up. Was she in for a surprise. . .