FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 23

"I'M BOREEEED!" a shrill howl rumbled across the air, spooking a flock of birds occupying the nearby tree line

Cynder chuckled to herself.

"That whine reminds me of someone. Quite the annoying type I might add"

"Hey!" Sparx pointed at the girl who poked her tongue at him in return" I don't wail like that" he puffed his chest out "I only point out the flaws in our team spirit as every boss does" he spoke out, lowering his voice as best as he could

"Whatever you say crybaby. But I think if team spirit is your thing then you should really hook up with our siren. I'm curious to see who of you will be deaf first"

"Speaking of sirens and screams" Spyro leaned towards Orbis who walked right next to him, looking around the surroundings cautiously "This world is torn by war, aren't you afraid that your sister might draw unwanted attention?"

"We are taking a longer route around, not much traffic in these parts" the dragon replied bluntly

"That doesn't really answer my question"

"Look buddy" Sparx dashed in front of the earth dragon, sighing tiredly "What my bro here is trying to say is that you should get your sis in line and stop letting her walk all over you"

"I know what I'm doing" the drake grunted, avoiding eye contact yet the dragonfly still noticed an irritated spark cracking from the dragon's unnatural eye

"Of course you do, who of us didn't go on a suicide mission just to please our sibling and get her drugs" he waved his hand dismissively "Day like any other, forget that I asked"

"It's none of our business Sparx" Cynder cut in, putting a stop to the taunts of sarcasm

"Like hell it isn't!" he shouted, pointing to the side, the tip of his finger catching the silhouette of the prancing and telling electrical dragoness in the distance "As far as I know that chick there is a bell announcing dinner and since there is only two of us who like to chomp on sentient creatures guess who will have the majority if this bell keeps ringing?"

He thrust his fingers into the corners of his mouth, spreading it wide to display as many teeth as possible.

"Many fanged mouths" he slurred and slapped his stretched out lips back in place "And I've been inside a dragon's mouth already and I don't want to repeat it. It stinks in there, by the way you guys really should take care of your teeth, never seen so much rot in my life" he shuddered in disgust

"Well you aren't a delicacy either" Cynder snapped back, perfectly aware of the taunt he slipped in this story which was aimed at her, he was clearly referring to the moment in Boven where she his him inside her mouth "Dirty worker's boots taste better"

He folded his arms, grinning arrogantly.

"And yet you couldn't keep your tongue off of me"

"It kept jumping because I tried to hold back a barf"

"Next time I'll bring nails and pin it down for your comfort"

"I would rather lick mud of a cart's wheel then let you get close to my mouth ever again"

"Okay guys, enough is enough, I think you made your point" Spyro interrupted the battle of mockery

"I would advise that you solve issues among your group first before spreading your concerns on others" Orbis commented emotionlessly ahead

"They don't mean it,, it's-". The purple drake shrugged with a sigh "Complicated, but I assure you they love each other"

"Just like I do my sister"

Spyro opened his mouth, at first he wanted to say that this situation is not the same but when he spotted the dragon's concentrated look on the road he realized that pushing this issue further was pointless. Whatever roots keep the relationship between the siblings together Orbis' body language said clearly that he wasn't in the mood to unravel the mystery to strangers.

He could understand his reluctance, after all the beginnings of Sparx'.and Cynder's relationship weren't easy, Ancestors above, he had his own issues with Cynder when they became chained together but nevertheless when you start to grow on each other you begin to ignore the certain flaws each brings to the group and work around it.

Love only makes your eyes close tighter.

He wasn't naïve to believe that he would do any different if either Sparx or Cynder started to create ruckus for no reason. Just like Orbis he would have to adapt and he was quite certain that he would do it effortlessly just like the earth dragon.

And then with a flash that left a cracking trail of electricity on the land Cellsa zapped in front of the two walking boys, startling the purple one with her sudden appearance.

"Gotcha!" she laughed heartily "Told ya bro that I still got it!"

"There is nothing out of the ordinary in spooking the ones that are unfamiliar with your skill assets"

"Oh, pffrrt!" she snorted, flapping her tongue at the earth drake like a little, offended child "Nobody wants to hear your uptight speech, you need to relax bro, I'll hook you up with someone when we get back to the city" she tapped her chin seductively

"I'm not interested"

"Aaaaaaaaaa!" she whined into the sky, twisting her body so much back that Spyro instinctively hissed at the sight, imagining the pain he would go through if he tried such a flexible feat like that.

"You're such a bore!" her sparkling eyes turned towards the purple drake "What about you? You know how to have fun?" she cocked her head, twisting the still matted with blood hair around her claw "You're glum already, my stiff as a corpse brother must be getting to you but I know how we can cheer you up!" she grinned "Let's fuck!"

Cynder stiffened in the back, eyes widening in shock.

Sparx slapped his forehead in defeat, shaking his head to empower the sadness he just felt.

Spyro subconsciously followed in his mate's wake, his nose wrinkled by deep frowns of surprise.

"What?" he stammered

"You're stressed and I'm horny it's a perfect deal!"

"How can you be excited? We just fought for our lives a few moments ago"

"Precisely!" she bounced it place, her paws kicking with tremendous speed "It got my blood all boiling and I gotta vent it up somehow"

"Yeah, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with the stuff you're addicted to" Sparx rolled his eyes

"Dragons gotta drink, right? Nothing wrong with me preferring a little something more tasty than dull water, ugh" Cellsa spat her tongue out to emphasis her point "I mean, water is everywhere guys! You look at the sea, water! You look at the waterfall, water too! It flows in rivers and if you dig deep enough it will spurt in your face! Water is everywhere, it sometimes even falls from the sky! Booooring!" she patted her satchel affectionately "These dudes right here though are the true magic, they taste good, look good and everything! "So whaddya say cookie? Wanna roll in the grass with me? Gotta admit I'm kinda excited, never been with a purple dragon before" she licked her lips flirtatiously, eyelashes making inviting waves "All parts of you are legendary?"

Her sizzling voice still kept ringing in his head, he let the last question hang in the air for a while as he collected his thoughts and made sense of the torrent of words. He caught a breath of relief relatively quickly, spending time with Volteer really paid off.

The found sense however only made him feel more troubled, especially if he had both Cynder and Spyro watching them.

"Thanks, but I'll pass"

"Come on, don't be a spoilsport, I'll milk you dry before you know it"

"You're beautiful Cellsa but I was taught not to form casual, sexual relationships. It is simply not part of our culture, we live differently"

"Differently how?" she threw her head back in disgust "You jerk off all the time or what?"

"Nothing of that sorts, we dragons remain in sexual abstinence until we find our ideal partner with whom we connect also spiritually. It is quite common for dragons to remain alone for many years"

"You're shitting me. You want to tell me that you never drool over a girl, don't want to spank her ass or fantasize about doing some wild stuff to her?"

Spyro shook his head.

"I never said that, attraction is there, but it remains in imagination for as long as both partners do not match so to speak. What's the point of sexual relationship if you don't share the moment with your soul partner with who you plan your future with? We share this moment only with our mate and such a bond is formed for life"

Cellsa's cheeks puffed out as she jerked her head back, making Spyro cover himself behind his wing in fear she was about to spit on him.

Or worse.

"I'm going to puke" she swallowed deeply, shivering uncomfortably as the bulge traveled down her throat "Mate? Seriously? You wait all this time to fuck one chick for the rest of your life? Willingly throwing the pleasures of existence away? Damn you're dull! Your life could be finished next morning dude, who knows, maybe a thunderstorm hits you or something. Damn! You gotta grasp what is in front of you people! You never know if you're gonna have a next chance to do so!"

She clapped her paws mockingly. talked

"Gratz Orby, you just found someone as boring as you. I hope your kids will be only a little retarded. Kisses" she sent her brother a kiss "You guys are really mood killers you know? I'm not horny anymore, the blood boils still though" she spun around, her tail drawing a spiral of cracking light in the air "I gotta kill something" and with another zap she was gone, dashing away, a small ball of electricity was everything that she left behind

Ball that soon exploded, zapping everyone nearby. Surprised quips followed after the unexpected stabs.

Unexpected for everyone but Orbis.

The current didn't seem to have an effect on him as if it was unable to break through all the layers of thick muscle and scale.

Sparx wiped a fake tear from the corner of his eye.

"So touching" he hissed emotionally "My own little brother giving sex lectures to complete strangers in the middle of nowhere" he sniffed "I'm so proud"

Spyro blushed immediately after hearing his brother's tone, immediately realizing that it was kinda silly explaining such things. Not that it was not important, after all it was really how their culture worked, but rather he should come up with some witty remark that would dissuade the girl from her crazy idea.

Instead he lectured her like a professor does his students.

It will take several Veils to several different worlds to walk it all off.

"Don't listen to him Spyro, you did good" Cynder supported her mate, truth be told she would do that no matter what he would say, she was just happy that the insistent broad was gone

"Did you say that only to get my sister to leave or does your world really live with so much respect by its side?" Orbis spoke up, in all the times the dragon his tone remained a monotone, low bass, rough and lifeless as the element he wields

This time however that formidable shape grinded like rusted gears, out of its own breaking the chains that kept them together and letting true emotion out.

Emotion in the form of pained jealously.

If Orbis was aware of his broken defenses he made no sign of it, continuing on his path with eyes set steadily ahead.

Spyro tugged at his fins nervously, already rising an uncomfortable topic with Coriza and now her brother asks about respect when he is in a relationship with a dragoness that this respect seem to avoid.

And he knew that honesty was a difficult matter here since Cynder really wished for that respect to finally notice her. Last thing he wanted was to kill the dreams of his partner with a dose of merciless honesty.

"We have some small troubles but then again nothing is perfect" Cynder answered the risen question, brushing her tail inconspicuously against her mate's back leg, he didn't have to speak for her to sense his discomfort

Those are the moments she is here for.

"But yeah, excluding immature comments once in a while, like everywhere I suppose, people are good to each other. I mean people know that you will be here the next day and the city we come from is a tight knit community where we dragons live among other races in harmony"

"Together in harmony?" eyes of the earth drake rose up towards Sparx meaningfully

"Dragonflies like Sparx prefer to live in more muddy terrains, but there are still some around that took a liking to the city. We also got moles and cheetahs, generally speaking there are three races that live together in the main city and of all of them we are the only ones that walk on four legs"

"And you all live in peace?"

"More or less, tensions happen, our world has also a bad history and trauma can be a bitch but it was always about one or some other power thirsty bastard that turned the world around, it was never a full fledged battle between one race and the other. Besides those small issues of today, you can say that yes, we live in peace"

Cynder's detailed explanation was met with surprising silence, her mouth remained open, ready to serve information but for some reason Orbis became unnaturally silent. Spyro sensed the unusual discomfort of his friends and infused by his own uncomfortable position he managed to steal a shy glance at the earth dragon.

He was no longer looking ahead, instead his eyes kept following his restlessly, prancing sister. The sight stole a breath from his lungs, there was something fatherly about that look, both of his fathers used to look at him like that, his draconic dad when he was getting beaten up by dummies and his dragonfly one when he taught him how to glide.

It was a look of determination, one that swore that whoever is on its end will have a future one might like to look up to.

Orbis eventually blinked, the frown that wrinkled his snout formed a crack across his regal nose, forming a dash almost like a tectonic move does across frail earth.

"Let's speed up" he announced, immediately listening to his own command, his sight once again focusing on the destination ahead

"So you better find some sledge we can attach to you big guy cause I don't see that we will be going anywhere faster anytime soon" Sparx pointed behind the group

They were so engrossed in their talk that neither of them noticed that they were lacking the member this whole ordeal was set up for in the first time. Iris was walking some distance behind them, the longer they looked in her direction however the more it became clear that perhaps waking is a wrong word to use here. She shambled forward, from their perspective it was hard to tell if her legs even moved, she looked small and it had nothing to do with distance that separated her from the group.

Iris was dragging her tail and wings, her splattered feathers obscured the movement of her legs, without the wings in the air her majestic aura was gone and due to the gore covering her up from top to bottom she didn't stop to clean there was not even a cinder available that might have sparked that aura into life again.

In normal cases, that is when it came to every other dragon after a fight, they would suspect Iris finally becoming tired, fatigue catching up to her. After all she put it all into brutality not so long ago, and pairing that with a short skirmish with Cellsa and the Veil swallowing up nearly her entire life force, well, it would put even the most resilient on their butts.

Iris was no ordinary case however, she was too close to her goal to be beaten down by physical limitations, if she had any after everything she went through that made her into the girl she is now. The only thing possible of holding her back, and all three companions that traveled with her were aware of that, was her own head.

Whatever was gnawing at her was sucking life put of her like a slowly killing poison.

Spyro immediately jerked forward, his heart skipping a beat in fear, it was him who put his friends in this situation, he felt responsible for them whoever they might be, besides it was not in his nature to ignore someone in need of help when he is around to offer assistance.

However invisible chains pulled at his tail, not letting him move even a bit. He felt the unnatural metal wrapping itself around his neck, with a single twist forcing him to look upon his mate. His heart bled, torn apart by the desire to help and not hurt at the same time. It knew instinctively that without Cynder's permission it would have to opt for only one option, letting the other die.

His mate felt his asking gaze on her soul and to his surprise at first she recoiled back in disbelief, before the shock could settle in and wound him she glared back at him with scolding care

Her gaze seemed to scream only three sentences. .

What are you doing? You're the boss here! You shouldn't be asking me for permission!

Cynder's voice echoed inside his skull, cracking like a loving, yet lesson teaching voice of a mother who slapped your nose away when you wanted to snap a piece too many from the dinner's table.

He knew his mate though and despite her protest he managed to catch a flicker of gratefulness in her eyes. His hesitation might not be worthy of a respected leader perhaps, but it was worthy of a mate and seeing Cynder appreciate it only fueled him with strength for whatever Iris was about to bombard him with.

With a determined inhale Spyro pushed towards the shambling girl, the moment he moved a great dose of unexplainable pride overwhelmed him. He didn't like feeling defenseless, when stuff happened and he knew that he had control over it, this is when he thrived, be it a seemingly impossible feat like saving the world or a more mundane one as comforting your team member, both required his own skills and decision to pull off, nothing else played a role here.

He had control and if this is what being a leader means than perhaps Ignitus and Terrador were right, there was some potential for him in all of this.

For all the screaming he did in the past about being put on the pedestal of attention against his will, it seemed that it might not be so bad after all.

He approached the ice dragoness with a light, yet careful step, putting up an inviting smile that could warm up even the most saddest of hearts. At least he hoped so, it worked on Cynder after all, but he might have lost the touch after binding his soul with hers.

"Hey Iris, a gem for your thoughts?" he asked warmly

Iris did not respond, her body not even showing a spasm that you at least announce that his presence was recognized. Her eyes were absent, they might have been opened and the blue pupils inside might have been looking in the distance, but there was no recognition in them, whatever world they were seeing right now had nothing to do with the one they are currently in.

Due to her flattened wings only now he noticed that Iris' tempo was not only influenced by her thoughts but also by the legs that were pressing against the ground.

There were only three of them, the fourth one was tightly gripping the medallion around her neck. Several, thin lines of blood squeezed through her tightly clenched paw. The jewelry had many years and some ugly experiences behind its belt, he remembered that its structure was rough and sharp on the edges, having bumps and spikes that would hurt anyone who was not careful when handling it.

But they made sure to polish all the rough edges together with Flare, the medallion's surface was as smooth as an baby's butt.

But the jewelry had still a round shape, it was still possible to hurt yourself against it if you gripped it with enough force.

And judging from the fresh pumps of blood that kept pushing from her toes it looked like Iris tried to cut her paw in half. He hissed painfully at the thought he was through some serious pain before, but he would still flinch from purposely impaling his paw on a standing nail.

"Iris, it's okay" he whispered, instinctively reaching out and grabbing the bleeding paw tenderly, applying gentle pressure to lessen its pressure on the jewelry

Her head snapped in his direction, making him gasp when he looked into her practically glowing white eyes. Piece of his heart cracked when he noticed the practically palpable anguish in them, he once again had the opportunity to meet the girl behind the prism of the cold hearted creature Iris was usually and the sight of her tightened a rope against his throat.

The twinkles of tears in them reminded him of a small girl bashing against the eyes as if they were an unbreakable glass, the girl was writhing and screaming silently in what could be only a throat tearing wails of pain, he could spot a small bushes of fire devouring her paws, the trapped girl in the prism was being burned alive.

"What if she won't recognize me?" Iris' voice boomed weirdly underneath her healing mask, her whisper, paired with the withering in heartbreaking ache tears in her eyes made her sound almost demonic

Spyro yelped when he was suddenly tugged forward, Iris locked herself on her hind paws while the free foreleg pinned his paw against the bleeding one. There was so much force in the press that several bones in his toes cracked.

"Iris, calm down, you're bleeding" he pleaded, with difficulty maintaining contact with her pained gaze

She only intensified the press further, with a hiss Spyro had to adjust his position to spare his bones the torture.

"She won't know me. I can't be her daughter"

His held paw flared up with higher temperature, he felt a slick substance gashing against his palm, blood, lots of it. By now her paw must look like a sliced bread.

With the splash of blood came a quick realization that she was talking about her mother.

"She is your mother Iris, deep down she will know who you are"

She smacked her masked forehead against his, making him balk in shock. He could see the silently screaming teary girl in the diamond eyes having her limbs torn apart by the flames.

"I'm different. The daughter she knew is no more. Can't you see me dying?" she shook him, trying to pull him closer, his scales splashing against the mask so uncomfortably that they started to sting. He was so close that he felt her eyelashes batting against his face, their touch as vicious as that of heated thongs.

He stared back into the white eyes, watching the small girl struggling behind the prism, eaten alive by the flames, but no matter how many limbs were torn apart and how much muscle devoured by the heat she kept on screaming, struggling with at least one claw beating unrelentingly against the eyeballs.

"You're still fighting Iris, don't think otherwise. We are so close now"

"What's the point if I lost everything she taught me? Body is the same, but my mind? It is shattered, she won't recognize me" she squeezed his paw tighter, making him flinch, his jerk gave her enough room to bury her cladded nose into his shoulder

He felt a tear dropping on his scales, the splash making him flex, it was as hot as melted iron.

"Do you want her to recognize you?"

This time it was Iris who stiffened, for a second he had to dig the claws of his free paws into the earth to gain enough strength to support her suddenly going numb body.

"I do" the whisper that whizzed through her mouth this time had nothing to do with the demonic touch of before, in it he could hear the weak cry of the trapped girl

"Dedication is what matters Iris. You have it, it will be okay, you'll see"

"What about her?"

The quick question caught him unaware, that and the speed with which the wounded girl seemed to be gone from her voice. He didn't know why but he started to feel fear.

"Your mom?"

"Will she want to recognize me?"

"Why wouldn't she?"

"Queens are beautiful, they surround themselves with beautiful things and I'm a disgusting, dirty creature"

"Iris, you're the most beautiful dragoness I ever saw. You know it very well yourself"

Spyro gasped when he felt her sniff strongly, her pressed against his scales nose inhaled his scent with such a force that his paws were slightly lifted from the ground.

"You've made me into who I am. You dirtied me"

He shivered.

"Who did? Me? I always respected-"

"Males did" she cut him off with a fierce snarl and threw her head back

His eyes widened when he noticed her sharp fangs pushing through her curling lips, he did not had the time for any other reaction.

Iris sunk her teeth into his shoulder, the chomp so strong that it made his legs bend, his crushed paw sending a pulse of pain across the bones when it was unnaturally twisted.

"FUCK!" Spyro howled in pain, his muscles flexing, his roar was so loud that it muffled the shouts of his worried friends

Iris pulled her head back, ripping away quite a hefty chunk of meat, blood sprayed everywhere from the recently opened wound.

Spyro instinctively snarled and bit Iris' foreleg in turn, his fangs did not sink deep since only nib was enough for the girl to release her hold of him. He twisted sharply, smashing his side into her to shove her away. Iris spat the held piece of his body put, dropping on the ground, the push to strong for her two hind legs alone to keep her steady.

Spyro smacked his paw against the bloodied hole in his shoulder, the muscles pulsing, pumping more blood onto his paw. He stared at the bite mark in disbelief.

"What the fuck Iris?! Why did you bit me?!"

Iris ran her paw across her mouth, she blinked in surprise when she realized that she fed her maw with more blood instead of cleaning it. She looked back at her paw and her eyes widened when they spotted a deep gash across the palm, a small red crater that kept spitting blood.

Her head for a brief second snapped in his direction, he could see honest regret and shock in those eyes. Even fright perhaps.

"I'm going to tear you apart whore!" Cynder roared at the top of her lungs, cutting huge distance just with a few kicks of her paws

Diamond eyes blinked, and once again Spyro looked back into the cold, heartless orbs of the girl that if only could would pierce you through with sight alone

"Cynder! Wait!"

Spyro's shout reached deaf ears however, with a fierce roar Cynder lunged at the lying blue dragoness. Iris kicked her paws up, stopping the surprising spring of the black dragoness, letting the claws dangle in the air. What Cynder couldn't reach with her claws she easily reached with her teeth which she sunk into one of the extended front legs.

Iris screamed, spitting a mist of ice into the black face.

Cynder backed away with a snarl when the chill started to bite at her snout. Iris rolled on all fours, pulling herself up with a growl, despite the adrenaline kicking in she held her wounded leg in the air as she bent on her paws and faced Cynder in a showdown of malicious growls.

"Girls! Please! Stop it!" Spyro pleaded, frowning in pain when she fresh bite mark started to burn annoyingly, despite the discomfort he was ready to throw himself between the females if need be, feeling that if he would interfere with his Time powers to pull them apart it would only make things worse in the long run

They have to stop this skirmish on their own terms.

Black veins thickened all over Cynder's body, giving her a look made out of a horror story.

Suddenly thick, brown roots sprouted from the earth, tendrils of which wrapped themselves around each girls paw jerking them back in place just when they were about to throw themselves at each other's throats.

Spyro heard the familiar song inside his soul when he observed the roots, feeling familiar Earth Magic radiating from them. His paws glowed briefly green, one of the roots sprouted a branch that curled in the same way one of his claws did.

"We must quicken our pace this instant!" Orbis commanded, his low voice rumbling like thunder, his artificial eye was glowing brightly, his unusual scars following the same pulsing path "You get only one chance to decide if you go freely or if I need to drag you behind" the roots let go off their grip, they did not sink back into the ground however, remaining stretched out near both of the dragonesses, swinging slightly like likes of an angry mob

"DAWN!" he roared, the tremendous blare that rumbled from his throat caused a small earthquake on a nearby rise

In the distance a zap of electricity shot into the sky, Cellsa announcing that she heard the command hidden behind her name.

Sparx observed the siblings and came to an conclusion that this was not the first time they cut the party short. Besides it didn't take a big brain to figure out that something fishy was going on and the siblings were preparing for something, if the thundering roar wasn't enough, then the unexpected obedience of the electrical dragoness ahead should be hint enough that there is a risk that some shit will hit the fan soon.

"What's going on big guy?" Sparx looked around hectically, his heart beating faster, sensing trouble ahead

"We are in Moonborne territory, their striders can pick up the scent of fresh meat from many kilometers. They travel in packs, if any is nearby they will soon pour on us. Dragon meat is nutritious, and we are worth much during the war that's going on between our race, warriors and information are needed and there is always someone from each side of the conflict visiting the tribes to buy off their alive warriors from the pens or to secure the fighters of their enemy for information that could be extracted via torture. Whatever the case may be, dragons are a big business opportunity for the Moonborne tribes"

"Damn dude, you couldn't tell us sooner that we are walking into a death trap?!"

"It wouldn't be a death trap if you wouldn't jump at each other throats! The Moonborne don't attack so close to the border, but if their beasts sense meat there is no stopping them, fresh meat in this world means battle and battle means spoils. So move if you do not want to become a trophy!"

Spyro looked at his bleeding shoulder, with a deep breath he channeled his fire magic and breathed a stream of blazing heat upon the wound. He hissed painfully through the ordeal, sweating profusely, yet in the end he managed to heat the wound strong enough to stop the bleeding.

The scent of burnt flesh rose into the air.

He gasped loudly, tongue rolling out of his mouth as he began to pant.

Cynder stared at her mate with a mixture of worry and fury. Spyro was no stranger to pain but it still pissed her off that he had to go through it just because some crazy chick can't control her own teeth!

"Your resistance for pain is admirable, but it is already too late. If they picked up the scent then they are headed in our direction as we speak. Perhaps your feat stopped a few of the packs but unfortunately that doesn't make the situation any more safer" Orbis explained

"You fools are pathetic!" Iris screamed at the group "Moonborne, the name sounded familiar but only know I remembered who the fuck they are. No wonder they slipped my mind, unworthy thrash usually does" she looked at her bleeding leg, the wounds on her foreleg and draconic palm surely counted as a source of fresh meat that pathetic tribe seemingly is addicted to

"You are lying you blind fool" she growled menacingly

"I assure you my lady that I am not" the earth dragon rumbled back

"Moonborne are Pups, flee riddled muts, primitive as a brat and less interesting than shit. You are running from worms like that and you have the audacity to call yourselves dragons? In my time those primitive fuckers were wiped out, the scraps that remained were put to the pens, used only to lick filth from dirty feet"

"This times are different than yours"

"Exactly!" Cynder chimed in "And besides, look who's talking here, you too were wiped out like thrash. You have some nerve to call some other race filth when you were also the ones that got their ass kicked. At least the Pups were defeated with honor and accepted their fate as the losers of the war. Slaves perhaps, but they had the determination to rebuild like any other enslaved race that remembered freedom, you on the other paw? You are nothing compared to them, pretending to be someone when in the end you hid in caves and paraded as a whore to keep any shred of past privileges clinging to you. Between the Moonborne and you, you are the joke here Iris, you clueless, stupid bitch"

Sparx slapped his hand against his forehead.

"Cyn you dumb, possessive dork" he mumbled to himself

Iris' eyes flared up with cold flames of pure hatred, her battered wings pulled themselves up, stretching out intimidatingly, aura of frost surrounding the bone. Her entire silhouette burned with chilly flames as if someone would pluck her out directly from the cold planes of the Dark Realms.

The roots acted first before both girls did, they were once again grabbed by their legs but now two more tendrils sprouted from the ground, one thinner and it went right into the female's mouths to prevent them from spouting more venom while the other tendril, more thicker made a twirl around their frames before sliding in between the held legs.

With one pull both girls were lifted up and turned upside down while the entire woody structure burst from the earth, rising in the air with the girls strapped to both ends with their paws tied like rabbits being roasted over a campfire. The length on the woody branches stretched all to the earth dragon, sprouting from the end of his tail tip, being a magical extension of it.

The part holding Iris moved closer to Spyro, her bleeding leg floating right in front of his draconic face.

"Cauterize her wounds, please" Orbis asked politely, yet his tone clearly noted that there was no room for argument here

Spyro looked apologetically at Iris who glared at him with her burning eyes, thrashing and snarling like a rabid beast. He channeled his magic and immediately started to breathe flames at her wounded leg. Iris screamed into the branch in her mouth, her entire body flexing, letting muscles push through the curved frames of her silhouette.

He felt terrible doing it, he know that he shouldn't be, after all she attacked him and this was like a perfect payback, not only he got to injure her in turn, but this action also helped the entire group, and giving assistance freely was not something Iris liked to do.

Still he simply couldn't help himself, he felt guilty about it all, perhaps he was a fool thinking so, but there was nothing he could do about it. Iris was a part of his team now and he simply felt responsible for her like any other member of the group.

Vengeance was not his style.

He finally finished, her wounds weren't as serious as the bite on his shoulder, the two cracks in the scales were still smaller combined than the torn piece from his body and yet he still felt as if it would be taking forever.

"I'm sorry" he whispered with pained honesty, unable to look into her eyes

Iris snarled at him through the branch in her mouth, her sharp fangs glistening with saliva. Despite her visible irritation she didn't seem to want to break free, otherwise he was sure that one way or the other ice would be already stabbing him by now.

She was pissed, most likely she would scratch his eyes out if she had the opportunity to do so and while he didn't see regret in her eyes about what she did, he could easily say that the bite was not entirely something she wanted to do. Her docility is an effect of realizing this, or she is simply aware that her goal is close and it would be better to shelf hatred for now and let things play out on their own.

There was no way Iris would leave an attack on her without reaction, not to mention her rather uncomfortable position that didn't really fit someone of her highborn stature.

Whatever the case may be, Iris decided to bottle her anger, averting her gaze from him she threw her head back, allowing her muscles to become numb, her eyes looking into the sky. Deciding that this entire situation is not worth her time.

"Let's make haste" Orbis commanded, lifting his magical cage and pushing forward, making the other two brothers follow him

Off all the creatures present in this group Sparx was the only one who sincerely seemed to enjoy the outcome, something he didn't try to hide as he flew next to the tied black dragoness with a huge grin stretching his lips.

"Hey there Cyn. How's it hanging my girl?"

She mumbled something into the branch in her mouth, whatever it was the dragonfly was certain that it was no friendly greeting.

"You know what? I'm proud of you, my bro always kept blabbing that we should get closer and so on and you know how bad I am at breaking the ice. And then you come with the initiative! And you know what?" he squeezed her cheek "I really like us hanging out like this, we should do it more often! You're really good at this"

"Whelly funhhy" her voice came out as a rasp, a small strap of bark got glued to the corner of her lips

Sparx immediately snatched it with an evil twinkle in the eye.

"You know..." he started to swirl the end of the bark across the black nose, tickling it "I'm glad you decided to tighten up our relationship" he grinned as he seen her struggle, head twirling from side to side in very short jerks, desperately trying to keep the tickling thing away

"We have our differences, but we get through this, you just need to hang on!" he chuckled, speeding up the tickling, Cynder began to groan, all of her tied paws curled, claws poking at her own scales

"IIIIII'm hlonna iiiit luuuuuu" her voice came with a tortured rattle, eyes getting wet with tears

He threw away the bark, putting his hands on the nose as he turned towards the earth dragon in the distance.

"Orbis my man! You think you can keep her like that forever? I kinda like it" he gave the nose the long desired scratch

Cynder exhaled into the branch with relief, her body becoming numb from pleasure.

"It is a vital, yet temporary solution" the drake responded with all seriousness

"I know that" the dragonfly sighed tiredly "I was kidding" yellow hand giving the black cheek a affectionate rub

The tied girl winked at him.

"Be useful and help my sister Sparx. Scout out the area and let us know if anyone is closing in on us. There will be time for frivolities later" Orbis barked our another order

The dragonfly threw his hands to the side indignantly, with a deep frown of mixed irritation and surprise he looked at his brother.

"Who made him the boss?"

Spyro shrugged.

"It doesn't matter, just help out please before we get in trouble"

"Like always" he let out a tired sigh "Sparx here to save the day" he pointed at the dragons below, finger jumping between each one of them "You better remember that you guys are blind without my great skills"

Spyro took the advantage to speed up towards Cynder, his heart unable to swallow any idea of comfort, always in fear that he was in fault for not intervening in her protection, recklessly as he believed relationships demanded.

He didn't even manage to say a word and he already made contact with his love's wonderful eyes as if she would feel his worries. Eyes that radiated no sort of blame only support, telling him that everything was alright.

His heart made a flip, by the Ancestors he didn't deserve her.

While his draconic brother fought with his worries Sparx was concentrating on his task, he flew into the crown of a nearby thick tree, pushing out the leaves to gaze into the valley ahead. Not so far away from him he managed to catch the glimpse of a sliding, orange tail, Cellsa laid pressed onto the ground, covered by bushes, scouting like he was.

Cellsa who had a concentration span shorter than a blink of an eye.

This was serious.

The terrain above the valley they were in lacked the lush, green touches, nature grazed this part of the land with a more subtle touch, placing more rocks and sandy land on this specific canvas. It was good, there weren't many places to hide, whatever the striders were he guessed they were some specific transport creatures, probably big ones, they had no chance to obscure their movements in an open terrain like that.

Time passed and nothing was happening, he wanted to make things interesting by switching positions at least but he noticed that the dragoness didn't move a muscle, that was enough of a sign for him that if those things will be coming then they will be pushing through this direction.

It was not his first time doing scouting job, he had experience in this matter, but despite the popular opinion he also had a brain and that little thing told him that it was better to listen to the natives of this world instead of completely trusting his own gut.

There had to be a reason that Cellsa remained so idle.

Too bad he didn't ask what to look out for, but now it was too late, if there was anything observing them from across the plain it would surely notice the unusual movement in the tree crown if he would back away.

So he stayed and if really felt like he wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Empty space stretched out in front of his eyes.

He started to have funny thoughts about their new companions, having doubts about this blood smelling thing from kilometers apart, after all it wouldn't be the first time the siblings would set them up. But then again there was Iris who confirmed that the Moonborne exist, besides they would be idiots if they tried any funny things around Spyro.

No, this has to be serious.

Patience.

Patience Sparx.

Losing concentration is what the enemy would like to see.

He rubbed his eyes, giving his head a smack to reorganize his thoughts, eyes blinked, renewing their vigil with fresh vigor.

Open space.

Desert ground.

Scarce grass.

Plain earth.

Many small rocks.

Once more.

Open space.

Desert ground.

Scarce grass.

Bumpy earth.

Many small rocks.

Again.

Open space.

Desert ground.

Scarce grass.

Plain earth.

Many small rocks.

Ag-

Sparx' eyes widened, heart pounding in alarm, something didn't feel right. Something changed. He squinted his eyes, remaining perfectly still in the crown, when everything was still he focused on the earth below.

Having no troubles spotting that it puffed out in many places as if there would be bodies buried below that just exhaled a prolonged breath only to flatten a second later.

There was something there.

Something was moving under the ground.

And it was heading right at them.

"IN THE GROUND!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, his hand shooting past the leaves to pinpoint Cellsa

The dragoness acted with the speed of light, she thrust her paws into the earth, hair standing on end as arcs of electricity surrounded her, the huge ball of lightning vibrating only for a second before it was cast across her forelegs and into the ground.

Sparx could see part of it stretching on the surface as it traveled across the earth, forming a huge electrical fence.

Explosions of green light soon followed, they cracked the earth and sent mechanical bits flying in the air. The fence caught so many things moving under the earth that the flashing lights could be mistaken for some sort of festival from the distance.

Scrap and dirt was not the only thing that was sent in the air, the things that were moving underground burst from the earth, they moved so fast that Sparx could barely catch a glimpse of them, but the things looked like brown, fat leeches, but made out of something metallic, or something, whatever it was it was definitely not skin and meat completely.

He would pay more attention but his eyes got blinded by a ray of light, in time he managed to spot a menacing blink in the distance. His wing kicked top speed immediately, he dashed to the side quickly.

A small ball of light blasted into the spot he was occupying just a moment ago, it exploded on impact, spitting a bright green shockwave that rendered the slice of the tree into bits.

Bark and leaves were flying everywhere.

"Fleshcrawlers!" Cellsa blared out, sending a blast of electricity before she too backed away, avoiding the crash of a magical projectile that was sent flying at her moments later

Orbis smacked his tail into the ground, shattering the cages that held both girls.

"Take to the sky and prepare! They're here!"

The last three dragons lifted themselves up, channeling their powers and flexing their muscles, whatever was coming better be prepared because they won't go down without a fight.

If Ancestors will be willing their coming enemies will flee like the last ones did.

Despite their confidence they all wished that the intimidating force of a purple dragon will work again.

Otherwise much blood will be spilled.

There's hoping that the Moonborne value their own as much as they do theirs.