Spyro: Dawn of Light, ch 27

SPYRO: DAWN OF LIGHT



CHAPTER 27



Tides turn, furies burn
Now riddle this:
is it for the hero the waters churn?
Or shall all be amiss?



The flight to the Settlement was rather calming; the sunrise coloring the waves of the sea under them was quite a humbling sight.  Neves led the way, as usual with their recent flights, but Shimmer hung out in the back and kept meandering in her path as her mind kept drifting.  Cynder eventually pulled back beside her.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

"No..."

"Neves?"

Shimmer just sighed and glared at him.  "I thought I knew him...apparently all he cares about is getting these missions done."

"Maybe...don't take it too hard though, he's really upset at his parents."

"But then why push us to the point of fainting?!" Shimmer blurted out in frustration.  "I can't push myself like he can, I'm not built for it!  Can't he see that?!"

"Shimmer, calm down!  I'm angry at him too but you're overreacting!  Look, he's supposed to be paired up with me for this, right?  I'll talk to him about it."  They flew on in silence, Shimmer fuming.  Spyro couldn't help but overhear.

"She really likes him," he said to himself, looking at Neves.  The ice dragon flew with an almost unreal determination, something Spyro had never guessed he was capable of.  Plazyma too had overheard Shimmer's outburst and was eyeing Neves with a strange disdain.  Neves however was totally oblivious to all this; the only thing on his mind was getting this over with and getting to Tall Plains so he and Shimmer could spend time together again.  Shimmer...he snapped his eyes up again when he realized he was veering to the side slightly as he thought about her.  

Is this why dad banned...no, he just doesn't want me getting involved with someone until I'm older, he growled to himself, straightening his course when he caught sight of the mainland.  The flight to the Settlement began to wind down as they grew more tired, until finally Shimmer and Flame both had to stop due to cramps in their shoulders.  The others slowed and landed by them, but Neves stayed in the air, hovering over them and ignoring the pain in his wings.  "C'mon, it's not that much farther," he urged.  "I can see the watchtowers from here."

"Neves, we can't keep flying like the guardians," Flame growled.  "I'm still not physically fit, and Shimmer's body isn't designed for so much strain in such a short time."

"No pain no gain," Neves replied dryly.  Shimmer's neck drooped and she tensed, fighting herself to keep from shooting him down with a water blast.  "C'mon, we can get there faster by flying."

"Not with cramped wings!" Flame shot back angrily.  "You yourself said two days ago not to push cramps unless you want pulled muscles!"

Neves fumbled, then growled and turned away.  "Fine, walk.  I'm going ahead."  With that he flew off.  

"Ignorant jerk," Plazyma hissed, helping Shimmer stand up again.  They headed in the direction Neves had flown, taking their time just to irk him.  If he wasn't supposed to see Shimmer, this was a good opportunity.  Spyro and Flame tried to cheer Shimmer up with some jokes, but she didn't laugh until Flame, walking ahead of them and talking over his shoulder, walked headlong into a bush and got tangled in it.  Being immune to his own fire he finally lit the bush after a good five minutes of struggling, his position looking so comical that Shimmer couldn't help but laugh.  The walk was fairly calm and gave them a chance to relax their wings, which they really needed after that long haul over the sea.  Caelos kept glancing around, feeling strange air patterns around them.  

"Y'know maybe we should have Caelos learn sign language," Cynder suggested, seeing Caelos' separation from their discussion.  Caelos just shrugged.

"Cyril suggested that too yesterday," Plazyma said with a roll of her eyes.  "Didn't you guys hear?"

"Not really if this was at dinner, we were too sore."

By the time they reached the Settlement gates they were feeling better, but Shimmer was anxious; would Neves jump out at them or something?  They didn't have to wonder for long; in the Central Square they found Neves waiting for them, standing over a newspaper and reading it.  He looked up with a slight glare, drumming his claws on the paper.  "I thought we wanted to get this over with as soon as possible?" he asked accusingly.

"You do, the rest of us want to chill a bit and not rush into this headlong," Spyro growled.

"Don't you growl at me.  You're late.  I've already gotten our residences set up for the night before we head out tomorrow."

Plazyma thunder-jumped in front of him, startling him.  "Listen you thickskull, we're not your artillery to be dragged around at your total discretion.  You're not the only one here with a say in this.  We need to sit down and plan this out.  Where's Hunter?  Where have these things been sighted?  What kind are they?  Were they injured?  Were Nonsleepers seen nearby?  We don't know any of this.  You might since you got here first, but the rest of us don't.  We have as much right as you do to the information and planning of this venture."

"Alright I get it.  Is everyone set to discuss a plan of action then?"

"Yep!" Shimmer replied, hoping he'd come back to his senses.

"We have tonight to plan this out," he said as if he hadn't heard her.  Spyro glanced at Shimmer to see her face fall a bit.  They followed Neves quietly as he pointed out where they were staying; the inn was undergoing renovations and couldn't house dragons at the moment, so he'd found some host families for them to stay with.  One family had agreed to take Spyro and Cynder for the night, and from there he'd split the others up, two to a house.  Flame's parents had insisted that he stay there for the night, but Flame was very reluctant when he heard that.  As they walked to the market area, Spyro nudged Flame.

"Why do you not like your parents?" he asked in a whisper, Cynder and Plazyma leaning in slightly to hear the red dragon's answer.

Flame sighed.  "They don't like me...they wanted a daughter but got me instead.  All I'm worth to them is some sort of living number or whatever..."  He glanced back over his shoulder with a cold glare at the street where his parents lived.  "They came right out and told me they don't care about me."

They hesitated.  "That sucks," Plazyma grunted.

"Ya think?"


------------------------------------


Their planning went on until evening; Hunter had stopped by to drop off some reports for Neves to glance over, as he didn't have enough time between his shifts to sit and chat with them.  For the most part it was Spyro, Caelos/Plazyma, and Neves doing most of the actual chat; Shimmer just sat in the back staring at the floor, and Flame sat by her to comfort her as much as he could while still paying attention to the discussion.  Cynder sat on Shimmer's opposite side, almost as a pillow for the water dragoness.

"But there's the Nonsleepers too," Caelos said, earning a slight tail-slap from Plazyma.

"We haven't heard of their presence nor has anyone seen any," Neves grunted, not looking up from his papers.

Cynder turned to Caelos.  "What about that Anti-Nonsleeper weapon you were talking about?  Did we forget that completely when we went up to Concurrent Skies?"

Caelos' eyes went wide and he facepawed.  "Damn it..."

"It wasn't really a priority, and we had to get out of there before the flight crystals lost their charge," Neves remarked.  "Now c'mon, let's get some sleep."  They retired to their host homes for the night, all except Neves feeling a sense of dread and neglect.  Neves was totally dismissing everything it seemed, he was so focused on getting rid of these creatures he wouldn't even listen to ideas on how to do it.  Plazyma growled as she lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling corner where it met the wall since her horns propped her head at an angle against the bed.  Down the hall she could hear their hosts, an earth dragon couple, talking about the young dragons.

"The little water dragoness...Shimmer, was it?"

"Yeah.  She didn't look too good when she came in here."

"Those monsters must have her worried, I've heard they're invincible..."

"A different monster is to blame...I could be a far better leader than he's being right about now," she hissed to herself, resenting Neves' sudden tyranny.  Something caught her ear and she leaned against the wall.  In the next room, right against her wall, Shimmer was crying.  The electric dragoness sighed and headed over to Shimmer's room quietly.  




A few blocks down, Caelos and Neves were sound asleep, and a few blocks in the other direction, Spyro and Cynder were finishing dinner with their host family, a rather buff cheetah pair and their 1-year-old daughter.  Cynder had fun helping with feeding the little one.  After the meal they were shown to the room they were sharing.  Spyro found it odd that the whole house smelled of incense, but this room was almost overpowering.  

"Nice and plushy," Cynder purred, bouncing lightly on the pillows laid out for them.  

"Guess we should get some sleep," Spyro said, feeling uneasy.  He felt bad for Shimmer and couldn't get her off his mind...

"They'll get over it, I just hope it's soon," she replied, curling her paws under herself like a cat.  "Mmm...I like this room.  Smell's a bit strong though, I can't smell anything else."

Spyro flopped onto his bed on the opposite side of the room.  "You sure you wanna face those things again?"

"You kidding?  Nothing tries to eat me and stays alive if I can help it."

He chuckled and stretched on his back.  "Hope I can sleep with this strong perfume in the air..."

There was a knock on the door and Spyro jumped up to answer, finding the cheetah husband carrying two large bowls.  "Hey, thought you two might want some water tonight.  Might help you sleep."  He set the bowls in the middle of the room and quietly stepped out, closing the door behind himself.  

"Pretty thoughtful," Cynder said, stretching and then walking over to a bowl.  Spyro lazily watched her drink, his mind starting to waver with fatigue from the workout earlier that morning.  He lay down on his stomach and started practicing a secret technique Ignitus had told him about; a mana sink.  He could theoretically recharge himself if he could focus his energy into a sort of mana-well under his body and then draw up the gathered energy, but in practice it took tons of elemental energy, focus and stamina to create even a basic sink.  If executed in larger scale than a basic energy sink, such mana wells could be used to contain an enemy's energy or even drain them...he wanted to see if he could develop this skill enough to help fight those strange creatures.  Closing his eyes he felt the ground under the floor, trying his hardest to remember what Terrador had taught him about feeling the earth's energy lines and patterns.  Nothing.  What was he doing wrong?  A small giggle caught his attention and he snapped his head up to look at Cynder.

"You is cute, Spiro," she giggled, reeling a bit and staring at him with unfocused eyes and a goofy grin.  Spyro stared her bowl, then got up and smelled it curiously.  The incense smell was very overpowering, but with his nostrils pressed almost to the surface of the bowl he caught a faint scent.  It was sweet...a little overly sweet.  Wine.

"Damn...she's drunk," he thought to himself, and jumped as she stumbled up to him and pushed her head against his shoulder, quickly running her tongue over him.

"I has black scaleses, you has purples, you're not black!"  She started laughing hysterically and hiccuped.  "You taste good," she mumbled, leaning against him.

"Cynder, let's not go there," he said, feeling awkward and scared.  She was drunk, and he had a bad feeling this wasn't an accident.  He smelled his bowl and stuck his tongue out for a small taste...yep, wine.  Even stronger too.  "MPH- CYNDER!!" he yelped when her tongue ran over his mouth.  She started laughing and hiccuped again.

"You's so cuuute..." she cooed, then stumbled and fell over onto her side.  "I like floors..."

Spyro was starting to panic, but he kept his head and walked out of the room to locate their hosts.  He heard them talking in the main room.  "Uh, excuse me-" he started, then stopped in his tracks.  There was a holographic magical projection of Ripto, and they were deep in conversation with him.  Ripto?!  Spyro hid against the wall and watched, his heart racing.  

~"All you need to do is bind them at midnight when the ropes I sent you become active.  The black one is our real target, the purple one is a bonus.  Do what you want to her, but leave him unharmed."~

"And the payment?"

~"You will be paid even if something goes screwy, that was our agreement,"~ came Grendor's voice in the background.  Ripto snorted.

~"As long as they're inebriated you're safe.  Show me you have the ropes."~  They held up the ropes a bit uncertainly. ~"Good.  Do well, my plan depends on you now.  The pink one will have to wait."~  The image disappeared.  Spyro watched his hosts sit there and think about what they'd heard.

"Honey...was this really a good idea for her education?"

"*sigh* I didn't know it was Ripto...I don't think we have a choice now.  But they've probably consumed the wine by now...c'mon, let's take a nap, we've got a few hours."

Spyro hoped they'd retreat to their room, but to his horror they stretched out on the floor.  The front door was at the other side of the room... He quietly raced back to their room to find Cynder practically passed out.  He could try to bargain with their hosts, but then again... no, what they needed to do now was sneak out.  They had a few hours...provided the kitten didn't wake up between now and midnight, the coast was essentially clear.  He just needed to wait about fifteen minutes to make sure they were asleep; in that time he could probably scope out the rest of the house for an escape route.  Why was Cynder their primary target though?  "Gotta be that necklace," he said to himself as he snuck down the hallway past the baby's room.  No...it couldn't be the necklace; if that were it they could have just swiped hers for one of the replicas in the market area.  What did Ripto want with her?  A faint breeze caught his attention and he backtracked.  Bingo.  Window in the master bedroom.  With a low wardrobe half the height of the wall under the windowsill to boot.  Now the problem was getting Cynder outta here.  He could carry her, but she couldn't hold on in her current state....well, he'd have to carry her, dragging her would be too noisy and awkward.  As he crept back to the room he paused by the kitten's room and stopped, listening to her peacefully sleeping, unaware of her parents' conspiracy.  He had to admit, she was pretty cute, and she deserved more than what her parents had gotten themselves into.  Thinking quickly he crept into her room and concentrated a bit.  A small string of crystal beads fell from him and he picked it up and lay it on the floor by her crib, along with a large white gem worth 500 reds.  He also produced a small vase shard made of porcelain he'd found in the ruins.  The profits from these treasures could easily cover her education and give her parents more of a firm standing.  Spyro sighed; he'd been saving those in case of a dire monetary emergency, but this was a better cause.

Fifteen minutes later Spyro was creeping through the hallway very slowly, balancing Cynder on his back and praying desperately that their hosts wouldn't wake up.  He'd left a few more less valuable gems on their beds in the incense room, almost knocking them onto the floor trying to get Cynder onto his back.  His legs were already sore from the slow walk, but he gradually approached the window.  Things seemed to be playing in his favor as he rounded the doorway; the window was slightly ajar and could be pushed open.  He gave a little victory sprint to the window and hoisted himself and Cynder up onto the wardrobe.

"AAAAaaaaah!!!"

Spyro's eyes shot open and he went completely stiff; the baby was awake.  "I hate kids!" he hissed under his breath as he scrambled to get up to the window, still trying to keep Cynder on his back.  




Neves couldn't sleep beyond midnight; something felt wrong.  He kept telling himself it was his stress about the mission, but...what was this thing biting at him?  He rolled over and stared at the far wall, hearing a faint snore from the master bedroom right next door.  With a sigh he stretched and slid off the bed, putting his glasses on and heading over to the window.  He pushed it open and jumped out to take a stroll down the alley, see if that could help him sort out this weird nagging feeling.  He didn't realize that on the roof, Caelos was watching him; he'd forgotten that Caelos woke up at midnight to enjoy the brief freedom from his curse.  Caelos watched the ice dragon walk away and sit down to stare at the sky.  "He really needs to buck up and deal with not being allowed to be with her," he said to himself, shaking his head.  "They've grown dangerously close in such a short time and now they're reaping what they've sown.  But with every relationship comes hurdles that must be overcome to deepen the bonds."  He sighed and stared at the moon, toying with the slight fog around himself and watching his intricate control of the air patterns around his body.  "I want to get rid of this curse, but if it's keeping someone safe, I must carry it.  Everyone has personal burdens they must bear for themselves...unfortunately, few now realize what that means and they shun their burdens...and look at the Settlement now because of that.  Pride is a big burden and many do not wish to bear the obligatory responsibility of curbing it..."  He continued to muse to himself, as he did every night at this time.  Neves turned back around with a frustrated sigh, determined to hunt down those monsters and kill them.  Alone if need be.

"If it means I can be with Shimmer, I must do this," he told himself.  At the windowsill though he paused.  "Maybe I'm taking this too far...but still, we need to see what these things are doing here..."  He sighed, unsure of what to do now, then hoisted himself through the window and crawled back onto his bed, taking his glasses off and then staring at the blurry ceiling.  Hopefully nothing bad happened...hopefully Tephra or the others wouldn't pop up for that "insurance collection" she'd threatened...hopefully he could be with Shimmer again...so much stress, so many things to think about... He spun around and almost froze the pillow solid as he screamed into it.