The Way to the Mountains
#5 of Dawn of the New Era
Here is the next chapter of the saga of Spyro, Cynder and Malefor. Enjoy.
Chapter 4: The Way to the Mountains
The young dragons now flew over the land. The rocks, trees and other features quickly passing away beneath them. Spyro and Cynder looked determined to what was right in front of them, but Malefor felt very uneasy, and it was easy to see in his expression. Cynder quickly noticed this and asked "Malefor, is everything okay?"
The purple dragon was surprised by this sudden question, the thought of telling was everything okay passed his head, but he quickly thought better and shake his head "No, it is not."
Both Spyro and Cynder looked at him, and Spyro asked "What is wrong?" Malefor sighed heavily and said "I'm not sure if I should come with you to those villages." Both Spyro and Cynder eyed him as he continued "I only brought pain and suffering in the way I did as the Dark Master. They only know me as a monster, and the other dragons too. I'm afraid that if they see me with you and recognize me they will not trust us and the mission will be a complete failure."
"Yah know?I agree with him." said Sparx, granting the others to look at him "I guess that if the devil in dragon's shape appeared I would not exactly be inclined to trust him."
"Sparx!" said Cynder to him, and looking at Malefor, that had dropped a little his head. She assured him "Don't care about him, he is always like that."
"Hey!" said Sparx rather annoyed "Its a crime now to say the truth?" He didn't notice that the more he talked the more it seemed to make Malefor sad. The purple dragon now had his face down as he flew, and even Spyro was shooting glares to the dragonfly.
Malefor looked at the sun, that was now setting "We travelled a good afar for today!" he said in a rather sad voice. "We should stop to eat and rest."
The others looked at him. It was truth, they had flight for almost a whole day since they leaved Warfang. The sun was now setting, casting an orange colored glow over them, and in this moment their bellies growled quite loud. Cynder and Spyro shared a look, and Spyro said "Okay. Lets land."
And they started descending towards the ground in circles, not knowing that a set of eyes were glaring back at them from above, from where they could not see it.
They where just above a forest in their path, and they went to in between the trees, landing beneath them.
It was a beautiful forest. There were high trees everywhere, with a long carpet of grass covering everything around the ground, with occasional flowers next to the trees' bases. And the rays of sunset perked through the leaves in the branches, casting partial shadows over our heroes.
Malefor took over the place and looked around "Yeah." he said "This seems a good place to rest."
"And you're an expert in survival or what?" mocked Sparx. Cynder gave him another glare, Malefor only turned to him "This place is with shadow and covering, and there seems to have nothing that could attack us at night, and the grass is good for us to rest. And I got good grades on the lessons of survival in wild areas when I was in training with the guardians, thanks."
Sparx did not expect an answer, and was left dumbfold. Cynder giggled, and looked at Malefor, who winked back at her, even Spyro was now chuckling. none of them noticed the silently rustling of the leaves above them, easily mistaken by the wind, and the set of red eyes, of something in the branches, now staring at them, watching their every move.
Soon Spyro and Cynder were in front of a fire, kindled by Malefor with some dry wood. They were now wating for him to come back, he said he was going out to have some food.
"At least is what he said." said Sparx with a mistrusting tone, granting Cynder trying to hit him with her tail "Could you stop being a jerk for at least one minute?" asked a annoyed Cynder.
"What? Is just hard to me to trust someone that two days ago was trying to destroy the world." Sparx said inhis defense "And for all we know the bitter old cat could be right." Cynder and Spyro knew he was talking about Meadow "He could still be the bad guy. He could right now be waiting for we to be distracted to jump on us and bit off our necks."
"Or maybe." said a voice a bit mufled "He could be back from food shearcing."
The group eyes turned to the voice, and then saw Malefor, carrying a great slab of meat in his mouth, and in his back could be seem that was full of something.
He came closer and let go of the meat, letting it close to the fire, and he emptied his bag, that revealed to have fruits inside of it.
"Wow. You really are good to find food in the wild." said Cynder admired. Malefor couldn't help but blush at her compliment "Yeah, thanks." He said as he blushed and Cynder smiled at him. Spyro noticed this, and suddenly he felt a bit awkward between them.
Malefor was now breathing fire over the meat to cook it, and put the fruits aside. Soon the three dragons were eating the roasted meat while Sparx served himself of butterflies.
"You're right, Malefor." said Cynder after swallowing a chuck of the still smoking meat "It really gets better when cooked." Malefor smiled at her "Thanks." He said "I learned it from my mother. She said it made the meat better, and also prevented from getting sick." Cynder smiled at him "She was right."
Malefor blushed a few and smiled back at her. Spyro remained silently as he ate, and looked over to how Malefor and Cynder were interacting.
The had finished eating, and Malefor thrown earth over the fire to turn it off. Soon they all leaved good night as they slept. NBot knowing that a set of red glowing eyes were watching them.
Spyro and Cynder were having dreamless sleep, and were very calm at their slumber, while Sparx was over a place, in a bed made of rests of spider webs, snoring slightly, having a peaceful slumber. Malefor, on the other paw, was not quiet or calm. He did not stopped moving from one side to another, his expressions were heavy "No." he muttered in his sleep "No."
Malefor was surrounded by dragons of several different colors, all glaring angrily at him.
"What a boldness." said a white dragon, coming to our villages asking for our help after all he done."
"Such a cynic!" said a green coloured dragon "Thinking we would welcome him after all he did to us."
"Its all a trick!" said one orange coloured dragon "He just wants to make us drop our guard so he can stab us in the back!"
"NO!" said Malefor "Please, believe me!" he said desperate at the dragons around him "I mean no harm. I came only to help you." as a answer the dragons snorted, some actually giving fake laughs.
"It is true!" said Malefor "My friends can say it for you!"
"You mean the black serpent and the other purple freak?" asked another dragon "Well, we can see what they have to say."
As he said those words, the dragons opened way for Malefor to see what was in between them. And he gasped as he did.
There were Cynder and Spyro, both seemed badly beaten, bruised and bleeding through several wound in their bodies. They're held by thick and heavy chains that made then down, they seemed to be on the verge of consciousness and in deep pain.
"Spyro! Cynder!" he screamed at seeing his two friends "What you did to them?!"
"Just a proper welcome of our villages."
"You can't do that!" Malefor said with a few tears crappling down his eyes "They're innocent, they did notthing wrong-"
"Nothing wrong?! Hah!" said another dragon "They're the black serpente herself and another purple monster like you. Anyway, if they came here with you they just can't be better." He said approaching them. He looked over to Malefor and said with a cold tone "This is what the ones that travel with you deserve!" He turned back to Spyro and Cynder, and Breathed his element over them, enveloping their forms.
Malefor eyes widened as his two friends screamed in pain "NOOOO!"
Malefor woke up in a startle, gasping for air as he frantically looked around. He calmed down as he saw Spyro laying next to him, still seemingly asleep. He was panting and taking big gulps of air to catch his breath again. There was still a few tears trickling down his cheeks.
"Malefor?"
The purple dragon turned around meet Cynder's worried face. "It's okay." he said before she could ask anything "It was just a bad dream."
"It doesn't seem it was just a bad dream." she said looking over at him. He was sweaty and was crying. "You were moving a lot and you almost screamed before waking up. I'm surprised Spyro did not wake up." she said looking at the other dragon.
"And Sparx?" asked Malefor, Cynder rooled her eyes "He can sleep even if a meteor crash right on his side." she looked over to the dragon "Sorry for waking you up." said Malefor "I'll go back to sleep." He hoped she would drop the matter. But she did not.
She instead laid right by his side "Malefor." she said "What is wrong?"
Malefor looked over to her, and then looked away, and sighed deeply, staring at the nothing in front of him "What if Sparx is right?" he asked with a hint of fear "What if they do not trust us if they see me? What if they think that you are monsters too just because you're with me?"
Silence remained for a few moments, and Cynder said "It is a risky." Malefor remained silence, and then she spoke "But there is the same risky if they see me. For many of them I may not be better than you."
Malefor looked surprised at her, who was smiling back at him "It is a risky we must take." she assured him "Don't worry." She smiled at him "Everything is going to be alright" She put her wing around him, like a blanket. He smiled back at her, and then they both laid their heads and quickly drift off to sleep.
As they fell sleep, Spyro raised his head and looked over his shoulder, to see them both sleeping close together.
He had waken up with Malefor's moving, but decided to stay quiet and let him sleep. He overheard some of the talking of them, and now was looking as they slept together. And he felt a sudden urge to break them apart.
He curled into a ball, suddenly feeling that maybe Malefor wasn't so trustworthy at all...
The next day, they waked up with the first sun rays that shined through the leaves and branches. Sparx, of course, was having trouble waking up.
"Just five more minutes momma." he said as Cynder nudged him to wake up. And soon after she made him fall from the web, quickly waking him up with a "Ah! I'm wake! I'm wake!"
Soon after they all took flight and started once again heading to the mountains of Maltar. They flew right by side. With Malefor right to the side of Cinder, and Spyro just couldn't help but feel a like uncomfortable with their closeness.
"How long to the mountains?" asked Spyro, wanting to (he would not admit it even to himself) using a subject to make Malefor and Cynder stop talking with each other.
Malefor grabbed the map in his bag and gave it a look. "By what I can see-" he said "If we are here, then a few more hours of flight."
"Guess we have to handle Sparx mouth for a while more than." said Cynder, making Malefor chuckle as Sparx said "Hey!"
And so the travel continued, four a few more hours as the sun moved in the sky. The young dragons focused in the way ahead, and Sparx having time to make some remarks about the wheater, or to complain about the heat or the time they were taking, or to ask if it was still too far.
"I swear that if you open your mouth again!" said Cynder, tired of Sparx complaining
"What?" the dragonfly said "I'm bored, hot and tired. And I don't think you are too diferente from me right now."
"We are here." said Malefor "The Mountains of Maltar." Ahead of them where a great montain-chain, that seemed high and very closed together. It was the place they were suppose to be. The place had some trees in the mountains, with a bit of snow near the tops. It had kind of a titanic and supernatural air.
"Seems inviting." said Sparx. Spyro just rolled his eyes and said "Lets go. We have to search for a village." And so they changed their fly course the inside the mountain-chain.
"oKay, that is official: we are flying in circles!" whined Sparx "We already passed by the tree! And by that rock formation! By that waterfall! And I'm almost sure is the third time we see that mountain!"
Normally one of the dragons would have answered with na annoyed tone, but sadly, they all agreed with the yellow bug. They had went inside the mountain-chain over two hours ago. The mountains where so alike and so close to each other that they have made many turns and changed directions so many times that they now were almost sure they were lost.
"We have to keep searching." said Spyro "We will find it somewhere. We can't be lost in here forever.". It was when Malefor looked to the side "Well..."
The eyes turned to him "What?" asked Cynder when he remained silence. The purple dragon sighed and said "The name mountains of Maltar is kind of new. The original name in my time was Mountains of the Lost Souls."
The others stared at him, and he continued "Legends tell of many dragons that tried to fly over this place and remained lost in here. Flying in circles and never being able to find the exit. They spend the rest of their lives trapped in this place."
Spyro and Cynder shared a look, and Sparx stared at Malefor "So..." he said slowly "Are you telling that we may remain trapped forever in this place, and never find the way out again AND YOU WAITED UNTIL NOW TO TELL THIS DETAIL!?" he screamed the last part, a scream that echoed through the mountains.
"It was just a legend." Malefor said in his defence "Of course if someone gets lost in here can easily find the way flying up. We are only lost because we have to be at the level of the mountains to find the village that is here, otherwise we could-" he suddenly stopped, and straightened his head. Stopping and roving in mid-air.
The others noticed this uncommon acting and stopped in mid-air with him. Sparx seemed annoyed "What it is now? You don't want us to remake all our..." Sparx started, bu was cut out with a "Ssh!" from Malefor. THis of course annoyed even more the dragonfly "He made ssh for me!", and was granted with low "Quiet!" from the purple dragon.
"Malefor, what are you..?" started Cynder, but then Malefor said "Are you hearing it?"
"Hear what?" asked Spyro and SParx at the same time. Spyro out of curiosity, and Sparx in an annoyed tone. Malefor's head then turned to another said as he said "This!". The others remained quiet, and so they could soon hear it too. Wings. Wings flapping, like the wings of something bigger than them.
"What is this?" asked Cynder, looking aroudn to try to find the exact source of the flapping sound. Malefor looked around as he said "Something big. Somewhere in here."
Tha dragons formed a circle, and Sparx hide behind Spyro's horn "Is it one of the shadow dudes?" he asked in fear. They listened a]carefully. The flapping sound seemed to be going around them, like they were being stalk. The echo in the mountain prevented them from pinpointing exactly the place of the flapping and how many wings it actually was.
"It is coming closer!" said Spyro as the flapping grew stronger, and they all looked around, ready for any attack. Then suddenly, the flapping stopped, leaving only the sound of the wind in the walls of the mountains.
"Well." said Cynder "Whatever it was, seems that went away." And Sparx came out of his hiding "Well sure!" he boasted "Probably it knew that was no match to-" suddenly he was cut out with a strong gust of wind blew over them, pushing them against a mountain and slamming in it. Sparx would have felt if Spyro had not held him, he and the other two dragons quickly recovered from this.
"What was that!?" asked a still stunned Spyro, and Malefor started "It seemed-" but before he could answer two shadows hoved over them, and a tornado came over them. They were blown away in direction to the ground.
They were spinning fast inside the cone of wind, becoming deep disoriented. Sparx was holding in his adoptive brother's horn for his dear life. The hurricane stopped when they were near the ground, and they were still with orientation enough to hove and land harshly, rolling in the ground and with slightly dizziness.
"Why the world is spinning?" asked a dizzy Sparx, soon before he dropped from Spyro's head, and laid flat on the ground. The dragon's where trying to recover, just when about two great shadows landed over them, blocking the sun. They raised their heads, trying to make a figure of them, but th dizziness and the sun behind them difficult the recognizance. The figures only stepped closer of them.