"He is going to kill them!" Aerea said, looking at Spyro. "Kallag is really going to kill the dragons!"
She was freaking out, and rightfully so. After what she had heard, it was clear that Kallag had all of the intentions of murdering the dragons who they had taken prisoners, the same dragons that King Gaul had already decided that would be set free, and he was gathering other apes to help him carry on with his plan.
This was enough reason for her to freak out, and so was for Spyro. The purple dragon was as horrified as she was, for knowing that Kallag planned to kill those dragons without giving them any chance to defend themselves.
Of course, Spyro knew that Kallag hated dragons, and he knew that he would probably jump at the chance of killing one. However, he was surprised that Kallag would go as far as to disregard his father's decisions. Gaul had already decided on freeing the dragons and Kallag was going to kill them anyway?
"We have to go find dad!" The purple dragon said, looking back at the dragoness. "We need to tell him what Kallag is gonna do! He will stop him!"
"We don't have time!" Aerea said to the purple dragon, "That savage is already gathering other apes to go in there kill the dragons! He will be there in ten minutes, maybe less! We won't have enough time to find Gaul and tell him while Kallag is already putting is plan in motion! Do you even know where Gaul is right now?"
Spyro stopped and looked at her.
He didn't knew where Gaul was. He knew that he was having a reunion with the generals, but he didn't knew exactly where it was. Spyro had never found out where exactly, because he never had many intentions of finding out. Well, he even had some curiosity of knowing, but Gaul had always told him that this was not important, that he didn't needed to know for it had to do with the war, and he wasn't part of it.
Now Spyro wished that he had asked his father where it was, anyway, at least so he would know where to come looking for his dad if there was an emergency. He knew that it was somewhere on the outskirts of the village, but that didn't helped at all, not when Kallag was already getting ready to start his murder plan.
"Until we find Gaul it might be too late." Aerea said, "We can't let Kallag kill those dragons!"
"M-maybe we can ask someone where it is." Spyro said, "My guards! Dad said to send one of them to call him if I needed something while he was in a reunion!"
"And do you know where you guards are now?" Aerea asked, and once more, the answer was no.
"Spyro, we can't waste time looking for someone while Kallag and his friends are out for dragon blood! We need to do something now!"
"But what can we do?" Spyro asked, and Aerea looked back at him.
"We can take action." She said, serious. "We can act like dragons and do something about it."
Spyro blinked, looking at her as she said that.
"Aerea... are you saying... that we should fight Kallag?" The prospect scared him. The people in the village already mistrusted and feared him, even though he never did anything to them (well, not directly, or on purpose, at least). If he attacked someone, even Kallag, he would pretty much be confirming to all of them that he was a dangerous monster, and then his life in the village would become impossible. Spyro had the feeling that even being the adoptive son of Gaul would not truly help him if he went that far.
Also, if Spyro was being completely honest, he was scared of Kallag. Something about the ape just scared the living lights out of him. The very idea of standing up against him scared Spyro, as if Kallag was a dangerous monster that would tear him apart if he tried anything. It was not only the fact that Kallag was bigger than most apes (and bigger than Spyro) or that he was a skilled fighter. It was as if there was something about Kallag that just awakened fear on the purple dragon, as if it was a memory seated somewhere deep on his mind...
"Yeah, that is not a bad idea." Aerea said, looking at the purple dragon, and she noticed the hesitation on his face. "But, I was thinking of something else."
"What?"
"Finding the dragons first." Aerea said, looking at the purple dragon, "And freeing them before Kallag can come for them."
Spyro blinked, looking at her.
"W-what?"
"You heard me." Aerea said, with a determined expression on her face. Spyro stared back at her. "You know where they are kept, right?" She asked, and Spyro nodded. While Gaul didn't let Spyro know where he reunited with the generals, he did let the purple dragon know where the prisoner dragons were kept, so he would keep far from that area.
"So none of them can catch a glimpse of you." Gaul explained, and Spyro just went along with it.
"What? The dragons are going to be freed tomorrow anyway, right?" Aerea said, looking at the purple dragon. "What's wrong with freeing them tonight?"
"B-but..." Spyro said, looking at her. "T-they are dragons... I mean... we are just going to let them out, just like that? W-what if they decide to use the chance to attack?"
"Look, unlike what you must have heard from the apes, dragons are not stupid and violent beasts that lunge at anything that moves." Aerea said, looking at the purple dragon. "We are reasonable, and I am sure that those dragons will be more worried with finding their way back home than trying to attack the village."
"B-but them they will know where the village is!" Spyro said, looking back at Aerea. "They might bring other dragons here!"
"Not if we take them to far before letting them fly away!" Aerea said back to him, "Ain't that how your dad normally does it? We can do just that!"
Spyro looked her, somewhat at loss.
"W-well..."He said, stammering, "Y-yes, we could, but that would... I mean... maybe we should... I-I guess that we shouldn't..."
"They are going to be murdered!" Aerea said, looking at him to convey all of the urgency of the matter. "Kallag is going to kill those dragons if we don't do anything now! We don't have time to go look for anyone! We have to do something now before Kallag can go on with his plan! We don't have time to think, we have less than ten minutes!"
Spyro was only staring back at her, and she repeated:
"We have less than ten minutes." She was calmer, but her voice still denoted urgency. "It is now or never Spyro. Those dragons' lives are at stake."
Spyro continued to look at her. He saw how serious she was at the matter, how urgent she was in spite of being seemingly so calm. She was really passing on to him the entire magnitude of the situation they were in, and how there was no time for hesitation. It was now or never, just like she said.
Spyro still had doubts, as his mind was thinking of all of the ways that this could go wrong. However, on that moment, looking on Aerea's green eyes, Spyro decided that maybe it really was not the time to think, but to act.
His own father once told him that there were times when a man should only act and leave all of the thinking for later. Spyro now had the feeling that this was one of these moments.
It was a moment to act first and worry of the consequences later.
Soon, Spyro and Aerea were both moving across the village. They wanted to be unseen, for they knew that they would be in trouble if they had to give explanations. However, that was not hard, once it seemed that the entire village was at the celebration. This left the space open for them to go as fast as they needed to.
They were moving away from the village, going at Southeast direction, in direction to an area covered in thick trees with yellowish-green bark and with purple leaves. Among the leaves, there were vines on the trees, vines that glowed on the dark, casting a glow on the area that eliminated any need for torches.
It was good, for those trees were far too close for comfort, as the glowing vines were hanging low, standing just above their heads, so low that their horns nearly brushed on them. As they moved forward, they could see something up ahead. It was a clearing, and in the middle of it, it was possible to see a big hut, much bigger than what one would expect for a hut meant for apes. It was also sturdier than the huts back on the village, which were made of wood and straw, as this one looked to be made of solid blocks of rock, built for maximum resistance.
The two dragons slowed their pace as they approached the hut, being careful as they threaded around it, until they stopped near the entrance. Looking over the corner and seeing the ones that they knew where guarding the place.
Two burly apes, both of them heavily armored and carrying big weapons, the kind that certainly helped them look even more intimidating than they were. Of course, at that moment, the two apes didn't really looked intimidating. It was hard to find anyone intimidating as they were currently out cold, sleeping on their seats as they had the jugs from which they were drinking wine spilled and drool leaking from their mouths.
It seemed that these two had really drank themselves to unconsciousness, just as Kallag said they would be doing.
"Gaul should get better guards." Aerea said as she and Spyro both approached. They were about to go in, but Spyro stopped her.
"Wait! They cannot see me!" Spyro whispered, and this confused Aerea. Spyro was soon explaining.
"Dad always said how important it was that none of the captured dragons ever saw me, so they wouldn't go back to the dragon army and tell them that I exist! He does want word of my existence reaching Malefor's ears!"
Cynder looked at him for a second, and she looked as if she was ready to say something in protest, but she then thought about it, and she seemed to realize that Spyro indeed had a point. However, this also left her thinking.
"How will we free them without them seeing you?" She asked, and Spyro said:
"Maybe you can free them."
"No!" She said, and then she added, "T-they might think that it is strange to have a dragon working along with apes, they might see me as a traitor for being in the village and not being chained along with them. They won't trust me in that case."
Okay, that sounded a bit odd, but Spyro went along with it. So, they could not see either of them. That posed a problem on their plan to free the dragons, and the two had to come up with a solution fast, before Kallag would finish preparing and come in there to kill the dragons.
Soon, Spyro had an enlightenment. He knew the perfect solution.
Sneaking into the entrance, careful not to bump into the snoring guards (but making sure that they were completely out), the two dragons looked inside of the hut, and they were able to see that it was, indeed, not a place for habitation, but a place made to serve as a form of prison.
If the bars on the windows were not enough proof, then you just needed to look at the chains hanging from the walls and ceiling, some of them connected to the prisoners in there.
The dragons had shackles on their front legs, as well as to the collars on their necks. The collars had some gemstones and runes on them, which formed a special type of spell on them that prevented the dragons from using their elemental powers. Gaul used that precaution to make sure that the dragons would not be able to cause damage while they were keep imprisoned.
To the shackles and collars, the chains were attach, and they rattled as two of the dragons moved.
It were four of them. One of them seemed to be the feistier, he was a dragon with blue and white scales, and he looked like he was still trying to free himself from the chains, although his attempts were weak and half-heartedly, as if he was tired of trying to free himself. By his side, a green-scaled dragon seemed to be moving a little, although he didn't looked to be trying to free himself, instead looking like he just didn't wanted to keep stopped for long. There was also a dragon with scales of various shades of grey, he looked to be the biggest of them, and he just stood in there, nearly as if he was standing to attention, and he seemed to be the most serious of them, seeming peaceful and undisturbed. He certainly seemed different from the orange dragon by his side, and he too seemed like he was not trying to free himself, but unlike the grey dragon by his side, he was looking down and he seemed to be worried, Spyro had the impression that he had been crying.
None of them noticed the two dragons spying through the corner of the entrance. Spyro and Aerea shared looks, and they nodded.
"Attention, prisoners!" Spyro said, making his best impression of an adult ape that he could. Luckily, Spyro used to practice disguising his voice for fun, and Sparx said that he was rather good at it. Spyro was not sure that he was that good, but his voice certainly came out so deep and loud that the dragons would certainly think that it came from one of the apes.
The dragons all reacted as they heard this new voice, and their heads turned to the entrance.
"W-who's there!?" The fire dragon said, sounding as scared as he looked.
"My name is... Saggur!" Spyro said, saying the first ape name that he could think of. It was the name of one of the gatherers. "I am a general in here in orders from King Gaul. I came here because Gaul decided that there is no point keeping you here any longer."
The dragons all heard to it, and it seemed that they had interpreted the orders on their own way.
"Oh, Bahamut! They are going to kill us!" The orange dragon said, looking like he was about to start crying again. "They are going to kill us and drink our blood!"
"Let them try!" The blue dragon said, struggling with renewed vigor and looking like he was really trying to break the chains now. "Come over here, you ball of fur! I'm going to break all of your limbs!"
"Enough!" Said the grey dragon, causing the other two to stop. The dragon looked at both of them, and it seemed that this look was enough to tell them to cut that out. Then the grey dragon turned to the entrance, and spoke to the unseen owner of that voice.
"I am Nimbus Wingstorm. Leader of this squad." The grey dragon said, sounding very serious as he spoke that. "As their leader, I am ready to pay the price of having allowed my squad to be killed and captured. I am ready to die."
"Captain!" The fire dragon said, but was silence again with a single glare from the grey dragon.
"I have committed many actions in service of the one who I call my king." The grey dragon said, "I accept whatever price it is for those actions, and I'll take it with a raised head. However, I do request that what is left of my squad is spared, as it was promised to me by your king." He was serious as he spoke that, "I want Gaul to uphold his word of not bringing any harm towards my subordinates."
"Oh, come on! You think that savage will really let us live!?" The blue dragon said, struggling even harder. "He is probably going to watch as they torture us to death!"
"No he won't!" Spyro said, dropping the fake voice for a moment, but immediately correcting it and speaking again with that deep tune. "I-if King Gaul said that no harm would come to you then you can be sure that he has the intention of upholding this promise, if possible."
"'If possible'?" The green dragon asked. "I don't really like the sound of that."
"I am ready to accept whatever punishment Gaul and the rest of the apes desire in name of my entire squad." The grey dragon said once more. "All I want is for my subordinates to be spared any mistreatment."
"You don't have to worry about that." Spyro said, still remaining out of their sight, hiding just behind the entrance of the hut. "Because Gaul have decided that you are going to be freed. All of you."
The four dragons blinked.
"Say what?" Said the green dragon.
"R-really?" The orange dragon said, sounding hopeful.
"Yes, really." Spyro said, "All of you will be let go so you can return home."
There was a few moments of silence, before the blue dragon spoke:
"Okay, I get it, what's the catch?" He said, looking at him, "Do we have to let you guys cut off our horns so we will go back in shame? Will you leave scars on our bodies so everyone will know you had us? Will you guys castrate us before letting us go so we can't have hatchlings?"
Spyro heard and felt disturbed by the questions. Especially the last one.
The dragons really thought that apes were that bad?
"N-nothing like that." Spyro said, trying to hide his unsettlement. "You will just be freed but... first, you all need to close your eyes."
"Why?" The blue one asked, his suspicion clear on his face and voice.
"Just close your eyes!" Spyro said, starting to get nervous because this was taking too long, and Kallag was on his way to come in there with armed apes. The dragons all shared looks, and the three of them had their eyes on the grey dragon, their captain.
"Do as he says." The grey dragon said, and soon, they were all obeying. The dragons all closed their eyes, with the blue one being the last one to do so, and it was clear that he was still suspicious.
As Spyro saw the four dragons with their eyes closed, he turned to look at Aerea, who had been working on getting the keys out of the passed out ape. She was able to get it without waking him up, as he had drank enough whine that he would be able to sleep through nearly anything. She had the keychain, as well as some pieces of cloth that she found on the nearby box. Spyro nodded at her.
"Keep your eyes closed." Spyro said, as he and Aerea walked into the hut. "No peeking!"
"What, are you going to throw us a party?" The green dragon asked, "Funny, I don't remember any of our hatchdays being today."
Spyro and Aerea approached, and Spyro looked at her as they nodded to each other. Spyro stood in front of the dragons, while Aerea approached with the keys and with the cloths.
"Okay, now we are going to unlock your shackles." Spyro said to them, as Aerea put herself to work on that. "But we will only free your front paws, don't try anything." He spoke, and the dragons stood still as the grey dragoness fumbled with their shackles. She struggled a little at first, but she soon was unlocking their shackles, until all of them had their front paws freed. They seemed quite relieved for having the shackles off, especially the orange dragon, who let out a sigh of relief. Apparently, his shackles were so tight that they were bruising his scales badly.
With this done, Aerea nodded to Spyro, and he nodded back to her. She soon was placing one of the cloths in front of each one of the dragons.
"Okay then." Spyro said, looking at the dragons. "In front of each one of you there is a blindfold. You will now pick them up and tie them over your eyes."
"What?" The green dragon asked. "You mean, like when we were walking to here?"
"Yes, just like that." Spyro said, "We cannot have you knowing the precise location of this place and telling it to the army. So you will be blindfolded and scouted to far from us so you won't know the location of the village."
"Village?" The orange dragon said, "The other apes told us that this was a settlement of their army."
Spyro's heart skipped a beat as he heard that.
"What, they lied to us?" The green dragon asked, and the blue one soon was saying:
"I knew it! I knew that these apes could not be trusted!"
"Hey! Hey!" Spyro said, raising his voice. "Hey, will you quit it!?" He said, starting to lose his cool with the dragon who tried to free himself from his shackles.
"Just relax!" The dragon said, "You will be free to go in no time!" He was getting nervous himself, as this was taking more time than he had anticipated, and he was already looking over his shoulder, as if expecting Kallag and his friends to come through the entrance at any moment.
"Yeah, right!" The blue dragon said, squirming harder now that his front paws were free. "You just want to get rid of us! Is that why you want to blindfold us, ain't it? So we won't see you coming with the big axes to cut our heads off!"
"W-what?" The orange dragon said, and he now sounded scared again.
"No! That's not it!" Spyro said, but the blue dragon continued to squirm and to shout out curses directed to the one who was talking to them. Meanwhile, the orange dragon was actually starting to sob, as if the other dragon had convinced him that they were going to be killed now. The green dragon started rambling about something, while the grey dragon was trying to get his subordinates to take a hold of themselves.
They were being so loud that Spyro was worried that the apes at the entrance would wake up. Not to mention the constant fear that Kallag could arrive at any moment.
Eventually, Spyro had enough.
"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!?"
It was louder and the closest thing to a roar that Spyro had made in his fifteen years of life. It had an effect as well, as it caused all of the dragons around to stop. The four dragons were still with their eyes closed (surprisingly) and not saying a word. Even Aerea had stopped and was now staring at Spyro. The purple dragon needed a moment to breathe and recompose himself.
"Look, I know that you are all nervous and scared. You have all the right to be. I know that you certainly don't trust apes, with all of the things that you have heard, but I can assure you that th-WE are not as bad as they've told you." The purple dragon corrected himself on the last moment, not wanting to make things worse with another slip of his tongue. "You are going to be freed and will be able to return home to your families, but for that you need to do exactly as I am instructing you, otherwise I'll not be able to stop other apes of coming here to kill you all! So, if you could all just reach to the blindfolds in front of you and put them on, we will be unshackling you so we can take you somewhere else and just let you go!"
The dragons said nothing as Spyro finished, although the orange one whimpered when Spyro spoke of them being kill. They just remained in there, saying or doing nothing, and Spyro got worried that he had truly lost them now, and that he was not going to be able to help them.
Then, he grey dragon said:
"Reach out to the blindfolds and place them."
"What?" The green one said.
"But Captain-" The blue one tried to say, to which the grey one shot back.
"Do as he is saying, so we can all move on." He was feeling ahead of himself with his forepaw as he spoke that, until his claws came in contact with the cloth that Aerea had placed. As he grabbed it, he took it in both his forepaws and took it to his face, starting to tie it over his eyes.
"Do it now." He said, and soon, the other dragons were following suit. Soon, all of the dragons were placing the cloths over their eyes and tying them around their heads, effectively blinding them. Aerea and Spyro shared another look at this, and the purple dragon nodded at her, mouthing at her to "do it quickly", to which the grey dragoness obeyed, quickly moving around the dragons, fitting the keys on their bonds and unlocking them. She unlocked the shackles on their hind-legs, as well as the lock that held the chains on their torsos. She also unlocked the chains that connected their collars to the walls and ceiling of the stone construction, but she kept the collars, as well as the chain that connected them to each other. She also kept the bonds that pinned their wings against their bodies.
"Okay, we can get going now." Spyro said, as Aerea took hold at the chain that connected to one of their collars, and was ready to guide them.
"Wait, what about our wings?" The orange dragon asked.
"And what about those darn collars?" The blue dragon said, "Are you seriously going to keep them?"
"Yes, we will." Spyro said, "They will be removed when have taken you far enough so you can leave. Until them, the collars remain, and your wings will be bond. You just have to move along as we guide you, okay? Now we have to go."
It seemed that the blue dragon wanted to complain, but he was stop as the grey dragon simply told him to "obey their captors", so the dragon begrudgingly remained quiet, and accepted to by guide. But he mentioned that it made him feel like an oxen, or like a dog being taken by a leash.
Spyro and Aerea soon were guiding the four adult dragons out of the hut. Spyro was going ahead, to check on things, and Aerea was just behind him, holding the chain connected to the collar of the orange dragon. From the neck of the orange dragon, another chain extended, which connected to the captain's, and a chain from his collar connected to the green dragon, and finally one connected from his' collar to the blue one's.
They passed by the two apes, who were still fast asleep. Spyro was relieved to see that they were still out, even with Spyro's scream, but he was even more relieved to see that Kallag was nowhere to be seen. Soon, he was moving forward, with Aerea leading the four dragons by the chain she was holding, and the dragons followed, trusting in the one holding the chain to guide them.
They moved out of the clearing, coming through the same path they had come. On their way out, the dragons tripped on some roots and nearly got their heads and necks tangles into the low hanging vines. The blue dragon even let out a curse, another one as a branch tickled his bound wing. Eventually, they made out of the woods, and Spyro and Aerea both looked at the village at the distance. They could still see the lights that were coming from the celebration. However, there were other lights in sight, which seemed to be moving towards their direction.
Having a feeling on what and who it were, the two teenage dragons guiding the four adults decided to speed up. Aerea pulled the chain insistently while Spyro urged the dragons to move, which they did. They seemed confused on the sudden hurry, but they did as they were told, and started to rush after their guides.
Soon, the dragons were leaving the clearing behind, as they moved out of sight of whoever it was that was coming in there. Spyro then felt glad for the distance between them and for his naturally good eyesight, enough to be able to see in the dark without the need for torches, which the ones coming at the distance would have surely seen.
The dragons all moved quickly, but silently, in the night, and as they did, they moved around a few corners, and moved farther away from the village. As they moved further away, the sight of the village was farther away from them. By now, the lights of the village were out of sight, and the two dragons actually relaxed a little bit.
Spyro and Aerea looked at each other as they felt like they had really pulled something. In a way, they had. They had saved these three dragons from being kill. Kallag would arrive in there intending to free the dragons and see that they were no longer in there...
Kallag would...
He would see that the dragons were no longer in there...
And what would he do then?
Spyro suddenly realized that he hadn't thought what would happen if Kallag had gotten in there and saw no one. He would see that the dragons that were supposed to be in there were no longer on the hut. He would immediately assume that they had escaped, and he would go after them.
Spyro heard many things about Kallag during the years. Not only that he was a fighter as skilled as Gaul, but also that he was one of the best scouts and trackers among the apes.
Kallag would certainly be able to track the dragons once he saw that they were no longer in there. And he would consequently find Aerea and Spyro helping them escape. And then...
Ohhh, Spyro really didn't thought that through.
Soon, the purple dragon was urging the whole group to move faster. It was a bit hard, with Aerea leading the dragons by the chain, and said dragons being blindfold. The dragons actually thought it was strange.
"Why are we going so fast?" The blue one asked, his mistrust still clear. "Are you in a hurry to see us go?"
"Yeah, in a way." Spyro said, looking over his shoulder at them.
"Does it has anything to do with these bells in the distance?" The grey dragon said, and Spyro looked at him.
"What bells?"
"These bells that have been sounding for nearly a minute now." The captain answered. "I have been hearing them from a distance, along with what seems to be angry voices."
Spyro looked at him, and at Aerea, who looked back at him.
"Air element. Enhanced hearing." She mouthed to him without making a sound. Spyro got the gist, and he then looked back at the dragon.
"How are the bells sounding?" He asked, "There is a pattern?"
"Yes." The grey dragon said, "Four short rings, followed by two long ones, one very high-pitched one, and two more short ones. Then it repeats.
Spyro felt blood draining from his face.
He knew that specific sequence of bells.
It was part of the system of alarms of the village. More specifically, that was the sequence that meant "great emergency on the village, all females and chimps get to safety and all of the soldiers get your weapons and be ready to fight".
Spyro had no doubt that there was Kallag's hand behind this.
"And there is also a lot of angry voices." The grey dragon continued, "And it seems that some of them are coming this way."
It got worse by the second.
Spyro was now practically urging the dragons to run as fast as they could. They were even more suspicious by this, but they did as they were told, moving as fast as they could on their current predicament.
Each moment seemed to last far too long, as Spyro was already seeing the mob of angry apes catching up to them, weapons on their hands and murder on their eyes.
Oh, boy. Why did he thought that was a good idea?
Then he remembered that he hadn't. However, it was too late to think of that. He could only keep moving and finish his thing as fast as possible.
After what felt like an eternity, they reached an open plateau, out of the forest and far from the village. Not as far as Spyro probably thought, but far enough.
"The key, now!" Spyro said, and Aerea soon was handling him the key. He turned to the dragons. "All of you keep your blindfolds." He said, and soon he was going to the dragons. He fit the key on their collars, starting with the grey one. The collar came off, followed by the thing that was binding his wings. The wind dragon let out a sigh of relief as he spread out his wings.
"Go flying, now!" Spyro said, and the dragon did as he was told, flapping his wings. They were a little numb after they time they had been bound like that, but soon he was flapping them enough to take flight. Spyro was already passing to another dragon, the orange one. This one was not able to fly immediately, for his wings felt too numb, and they actually seemed a little bit bruised from the tight restraints.
Spyro then decided to proceed free the green dragon, who was faster on recovering, and he was soon flapping his wings and taking to the sky, going to the same direction as the grey dragon. Next it was the blue dragon, and he didn't wasted time to spread his wings and fly away, ripping the blindfold from his face as he took to the skies and not even bothering to look back.
Now, only the orange dragon was left. He was still recovering, spreading his wings and flinching a bit from the soreness in them. Spyro was urging him to try to take flight soon. At that moment, they now could actually hear the apes that were coming after them. They were distant, but they were closing in quickly.
"They are that way!" Said a voice that, even from a distance, could easily be recognize as Kallag's, and that made Spyro's blood run could from the sheer rage that was in it.
"Let's go in there!"
"Get your weapons ready! Kill the dragons as soon as you see them!"
"Don't let any of them escape!"
"You have to go now!" Spyro screamed, completely dropping the false adult ape voice. "If you don't go they'll kill you!"
"But my wings..."
"They will kill you!" Spyro said, "You have to fly away now!"
"Here they are!" Someone says, and Spyro looks in horror, to see a few apes coming their way, torches on their hands, as well as weapons. All of them seemed like they were truly ready to kill someone.
As they tried to go their way, however, Aerea acted, and she opened her mouth to let out a blast of wind in their direction. It pushed them all back, and in this, one of them had the torch fly out of his hand and land just near Spyro. In this moment, the orange dragon, who was scared, ripped the blindfold from his eyes.
"What's going on?" The dragon said, scared. "Why all of this-"
He trailed to what he was saying in the moment he looked back, seeing a dragoness in there, looking like she was using her wind to keep the apes away. It was obvious that this scene surprised him, by the shocked expression on his face.
However, that surprise paled in comparison to the one that he had when he turned to look at Spyro.
The teenage male dragon would never forget the expression of pure shock and bewilderment on the face of the orange dragon as he looked at him. Looking at him as the light coming from the nearby fallen torch reflected on his scales, its light causing the purple of them shine even more than the moonlight.
"Y-you..." The orange dragon said, looking at the younger, purple-colored dragon that was standing before him. "You are... you are a-"
Suddenly, the orange dragon was cut off as an animalistic yell cut through the night, making both dragons turn their heads to Aerea, who was still using her wind breath to push the apes away. It was possible to see an ape among them who was advancing in their direction, fighting his way through the current of strong wind with strong and firm steps, a spear on his hands as the fur ruffled his crimson fur, and he had a look of pure determined rage on his face.
"You have to go!" Spyro said, turning to look at the dragon, looking away from Kallag, who looked to be dying to get to them. "Fly away now! NOW!"
The orange dragon hesitated for a moment, but he certainly didn't needed to be told twice. Turning his head, the dragon looked at the sky, seeing the faint shadows of his friends at the distance, and he soon was flapping his wings and taking to the sky, leaving the purple dragon behind.
In that moment, Kallag, with a powerful show of strength and skill, made a powerful jump, passing over Aerea's head, what surprised the grey dragoness. He landed a few feet away, and he locked eyes with Spyro.
At that single moment, Spyro could feel a beam of hate directed towards himself, emanating from those eyes. However, they didn't locked on Spyro for long, for soon he raised his head to look at the dragon that was escaping.
The last one that was still within reach.
Changing his stance, Kallag got ready to throw the spear and hit that dragon right on the back of the head, and he had the perfect chance, as the dragon lifted his head, probably looking at his friends at the distance.
At that moment, Kallag was already throwing, but he suddenly lost his footing as something slammed into him.
Spyro didn't even thought of what he was doing. He was merely acting in an impulse. The impulse of preventing Kallag from killing that dragon. The impulse of saving a life.
It was that impulse that caused the purple dragon to run to him, plant his forepaws on the ground and spin his entire body in place, slamming his hindpaws and his tail on the ape, catching him off guard and causing him to fall at the same time that he let go of the spear. As a result, he didn't had the aim that he intended. Still, the spear flew through the air in the direction of the dragon.
Spyro immediately looked over, his ears hearing the sound of the spear flying through the air and then hitting something. His heart froze as he saw the dragon flinch in the air and nearly fall.
Had Kallag hit him?
However, this horror would soon turn into relief as the dragon recovered, and was once more flying away, getting smaller and smaller as he left the purple dragon behind.
He was okay.
Kallag had missed.
They were all safe.
They were going to live.
This was enough to make Spyro feel a great relief.
However, that relief cut short as a sharp blow sent Spyro reeling to his side.
The purple dragon didn't even had time to get up, as he suddenly felt a foot being pressed down against his neck. Causing him to choke and immediately take his paws to the foot, but it was pressing so hard against his neck that it took Spyro a great effort just to keep himself from suffocating.
He looked up at the owner of that foot, and it felt like a block of ice had been drop on his stomach as he looked at the scowling face of Kallag, which looked at him with more contempt and anger than Spyro had ever seen in anyone's face before. With a dash of disgust on the side.
"You know, this don't surprise me in the slightest." Kallag said, his voice dripping with poison as he looked down at the purple dragon, who felt petrified before the pure hatred that emanated from the crimson ape.
"I have always knew that something like that would happen." He said, pressing his foot harder against Spyro's neck. "I have told Gaul for years that you could not be trusted, no mattered how much he thought he had tamed you and made you loyal to him. Well, maybe now he will finally start to listen."
The foot on his neck was pressing so hard that it was actually blocking Spyro's windpipe, making the dragon gasp and squirm under the ape. He would probably have suffocated if Kallag were not fling off him by a blast of wind.
Spyro gasped for air as the foot that was killing him was now off his neck, while Aerea ran to him, asking him if he was okay and urging him to get up, which the purple dragon was doing, albeit shakenly.
Meanwhile, Kallag was quickly recovering and getting back at his feet, while other apes were coming through the woods.
Voices resounded around Spyro and Aerea, as the apes asked questions. Soon those questions were answer, and these answers turned into affirmations. These affirmations soon became accusations and then cries of outrage, and such cries soon were turning into threats, all aimed at the two dragons, who looked around at the many armed apes that looked at them with anger.
Among the apes, was Kallag, who simply batted the dust out of his fur as he looked at the two dragons.
"You know, Gaul always said that my hatred for dragons would keep me from thinking clearly when it was needed." Kallag said, his voice strangely calm as he looked at the two dragons. No. He was looking at Spyro.
"Perhaps he was right."
Spyro looked at the calm face of the ape, and he saw that his eyes did betrayed what he was really feeling at that moment. That beam of hate once more aimed at the purple dragon.
"When I first saw you, I knew that you were trouble of the worst kind, and I knew what I had to do." He said, looking at Spyro. "I should have killed you right then and there, but I let my hatred get the best of me. I thought that only killing was not enough, I wanted to savor it. More than that, I wanted for everyone to see."
"That was my mistake." Kallag concluded, giving one more step in Spyro's direction, causing the purple dragon to retreat and Aerea to get between the dragon and the ape.
"I drew a crowd for myself and made of it a game, deciding just the most painful way to end you." Kallag said, still looking straight at Spyro. "This was what gave Gaul time to come and save your worthless purple hide. If I had just sliced your neck the moment I saw you, you definitely wouldn't be here today to do what you just did."
He finished looking at Spyro.
"Well, I won't make the same mistake twice." He said, reaching out and drawing an axe from his belt. "Time to finish what I started fifteen years ago."
That sounded more threatening than any of the explicit threats of the other apes around them could possibly be. It was enough to make Spyro cower in fear. Aerea was not as intimidated, though. She looked like she was ready to fight all of those apes in Spyro's behalf, and the wind was already building up around her wings, at the same time that all of the apes seemed ready to jump at her.
Spyro felt like he was sitting on a pile of gunpowder, and that a single spark would cause everything to blow up.
"ENOUGH!"
The booming voice was the explosion. An explosion followed by silence, as everything had come to a halt. Everyone turned in the direction from which the voice came, and they could see that the crowd of armed apes was opening to allow a much larger ape to pass.
Gaul seemed even more imperial and intimidating at that moment.
As he walked, he looked at what was before him. The two dragons, and past them was Kallag, with an axe in his hands.
The two apes locked eyes for a moment, with Kallag's hands tightening around the handle of the axe, while Gaul's hands moved to the handles of his scimitars. For a long moment, they both looked at each other.
Then, Kallag lowered his axe, what caused Gaul to let go of his swords. Then, he looked away from Kallag, instead looking at the two dragons.
Once more, it seemed that Spyro was the focus of attention between the winged reptiles. Even though Kallag was certainly the most intimidating of the two (to the purple dragon), Spyro was taken aback for seeing Gaul so serious. More than he had ever seen before.
"What has happened tonight?" Gaul asked. His voice was calm, but very serious, much like his face. As he spoke, though, Spyro noticed something on his voice. Something that he had rarely ever heard on the voice of the king of apes.
Disappointment.
Spyro would prefer if he was screaming in anger.
The purple dragon could do nothing more than lower his head, unable to face his father.