Spyro:BAW Ch8 Part:b

Continued....

Zach lay quietly in the room that the guardians had provided for him.  It had been a long day and he needed his rest.  But even in the safety of the temple, Zach was still restless.  Spyro was out in the wilderness somewhere and it was partially his fault.  That added to the fact that he had heard a bolt sliding across the door when the guardians left made things almost unbearable.  Its not like he blamed them for being weary of him, but their lack of trust made him doubt himself even more.
What was he supposed to be dong here anyway.  So far, all he had managed to do was almost get himself killed, throw everyone he met into turmoil, get captured by some dark unknown evil, and destroy some villages along the way.  All he wanted to do was go home and sleep, but there was no way he could do that now.  He had spent almost two weeks here…  Two weeks who knew what his family and friends were thinking.  Zach rolled over again on his collection of pillows.  He had to find some way home; not only for himself but so he could stop screwing up everyone's lives.  Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything about that right now.  He needed his sleep anyway, it had been a long day.
Zach thought about eating some of the venison he had been provided with, but the thought sickened him.  One of the guardians had simply given him a half of a dear, uncooked.  Zach couldn't heat it up in any way, and he didn't think he could stomach any raw meat, so the food lay unmoved in the corner.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, Zach head the bolt to his room slide and then click as the door cracked open.  Much to his surprise, Cynder slipped into the room before quietly closing the door behind her.
"Cynder?  What are you doing here?"
"Getting you.  Now lets go."
"Wait.  What?  You aren't planing on going after Spyro are you?  You shouldn't be moving around to much right now, least of all flying cross country."  Zach picked himself off of his bedding and walked over to Cynder, placing himself between her and the door.  He wasn't going to let her go and do something stupid.  "You need to lay down and rest.  And you probably shouldn't be in here either."  The guardians wouldn't take to kindly to Cynder sneaking into his room for obvious reasons…
"What do you think Zach?  I'm not going to let Spyro go do something he will regret, and the guardians will never catch up to him."  Cynder stared at Zach with determination in her eyes.  "Now lets go, Spyro already has a huge head start on us, we need to get going now if to have any hope of catching him."
"Wait.  We?  Us?  Why do you want me to come along?  Spyro won't be too happy to see me you know.  And then there's the fact that I can barely fly, have almost no fighting skill to speak of, and no useful powers in a fight….  Do I need to go on?  Besides, you are in no shape to be going anywhere.  You need to stay here and rest.  And what about the guardians?  What do you think they will do when they figure out that you're gone?"
Cynder started to push her way past Zach back out the door.  "That's why I need you to come with me…"
"What, so I can get blamed when the guardians wake up and we are both missing?"  Zach stepped back in front of Cynder, blocking her from the door.  In the state she was in, she wasn't going to be able to push past him.
"That's not exactly what I had in mind…" Cynder moved to go around the other side of Zach, but Zach cut her off again.
"Well than what did you have in mind?  Why do you need me to go?  Don't you think I've caused enough trouble already?"  Zach was beginning to get frustrated with her.
"I need you to come with me because I know I can't make it by myself."
"I don't suppose I can talk you out of going then can I?"  Zach knew where this was going.  He couldn't let Cynder go, but he knew she would go anyway, and since he knew she was going to leave, if he didn't do anything, he would get blamed for it too.  Cynder had trapped him into going just by showing up in his room.
Cynder simply shook her head.
Zach let out a heavy sigh, "and I don't suppose I could get you to tell the guardians where you're going?"
Cynder shook her head again, "you know they will never let me go, and we need to go after him now.  He has a half-day's head start on us, he could already be to the mountain by now for all we knew."
"I doubt he could have made it that far…" Zach shuddered as he remembered the damage he had done to Spyro's wings.  "He's probably had to walk part way…"
"That's why we have to go now!"  Cynder pushed up against Zach, trying to push out into the hallway.  "We can still catch up to him before it's too late."
"We?"  Zach looked straight at Cynder.  "Your dead set on me going with you aren't you."
Cynder matches Zach's gaze.  "Yes I am," Cynder's eyes seemed to glisten as she regained some sense of mirth.  "And you're not going to let me go by myself anyway."  Zach let Cynder push her way back out into the hallway and followed closely behind her.
"You know I really don't like this right?"  Zach followed Cynder down the hallway and into the next one.  "If we get caught, this is all your idea."
"Don't worry.  We aren't going to get caught.  The guardians sleep like rocks."  Zach and Cynder tread lightly though the different hallways.  Eventually coming to the large central chamber that Zach had become so accustomed to.  Each of the three guardians lay spiraled out in different position across the floor, creating a maze of bodies and different objects across the floor of the room.
"And how are we supposed to get past them?"  Zach's comment only received a harsh glare from Cynder before she turned and began to pick her way through the maze of limbs and wings.  Zach followed her path closely, but he was not as slim, nor as agile as the dragon he was following.  Zach carefully placed each of his feet before advancing, making walking though the maze difficult and slow.  Cynder was already on the other end of the room looking back at him with impatience.
By the time Zach managed to make it though Cynder looked like she was about to either leave him behind or smack him upside the head.
"What?"
"Could you have taken any longer?  Cynder turned and started walking to the platform outside the temple, almost smacking Zach with her tail blade as she turned around.
Zach ducked under her tail and followed closely behind.  "Hey, be careful with that thing!"  Cynder just continued walking down the hall, seeming not to pay attention to Zach.  Zach didn't say anything more, Cynder could be a moody dragon sometimes.
Zach finally caught up to Cynder when she stopped at the doorway to the platform, leaning against the doorway for support.  He figured that she was simply leaning against the door to wait for him to catch up.  But as he got closer, he could hear her cough slightly and rasp as she tried to breathe
"Cynder, are you ok?"  Zach walked alongside of Cynder and allowed her to use him as support.  He knew the obvious answer, but asked out of habit.
"Yeah… yeah I'm fine" Cynder forced herself to stand on her own.  Walking slowly out to the center of the launching platform.
Zach chuckled slightly.  "You do realize that I know you're not alright, right?"  Zach moved in front of Cynder again, stopping her from moving any further.
"And you do realize that you are not going to stop me.  I will go after Spyro, whatever it takes."
Zach shook his head,  "I know that much, but at least let me help you before we go…"
Cynder turned her head back to look Zach in the eyes.  "You said we…" A small smile formed on her lips.
"Yeah well I can't let you go off and hurt yourself now can I?  Now hold still, I can't help you much, but I should be able help you enough that you won't have any trouble flying."
Cynder shot Zach a quizzical look, aside from when Zach had sealed her wound when she had been held captive; she had never seen him use any of his powers.  
Zach reached out and placed on of his claws on Cynder's chest slightly above her lungs.  Cynder immediately shrank back from the strange contact and turned herself around so she was facing Zach.  "What do you think you're doing!"
Zach just stood there with his mouth slightly open, maybe he shouldn't have tried that.  "Sorry Cynder, I didn't think that…"
"Obviously not…  I…" Cynder cut in, but started coughing hard.  She still was nowhere near being fully recovered from her last ordeal.
Zach stood by Cynder as her coughing settled down, leaving her panting and out of breath.  "Now, lets try this again.  I'm going to try and help settle your breathing, this may be uncomfortable for a while, but it should help."
Cynder looked at him uncertainly for a moment.  "Ok."
Zach reached out his hand again and placed in on the same spot on Cynder's chest.  Cynder jumped slightly at the contact but didn't move otherwise.  Sparks once again shot from Zach hand and coursed into Cynder's chest.  Both dragons watched intently caught in the awe of the tiny fireworks display forming between the two.  Zach broke his gaze from the display and looked up at Cynder.  The sparks reflected off of the tears glistening in her eyes.  What was she thinking about right now?
Almost as suddenly as they had started, the sparks stopped.  Zach felt the energy flow from his body stop and surge back into his body.  He was beginning to develop endurance for his power, and he seemed to be able to recover more energy from sleeping then he used to.
"Uh…  Zach."  Zach looked up to see Cynder looking at him before she glanced down to where Zach still had his hand on her chest.
"Right, sorry."  Zach turned and backed away from Cynder as the blood rushed to his face.  
Cynder walked up beside him and bumped him with her front shoulder.  "Hey come on, we need to get out of here before the guardians figure out that were gone."
"Well you lead the way then, because I have no idea where we are going."
Cynder turned and shot Zach a confused look again, this dragon was weird.  "How do you not know where Warfang is?"
Zach almost rolled his eyes, this was getting old.  "It's a long story."
"Everything is a longs story with you Zach."
"I know, but I don't think its I a good idea to tell you now, you probably wouldn't believe me anyway.  Now lets go, I thought we were going after Spyro."
"Right…."  Cynder stared at Zach a moment more before vaulting into the sky.  Her body still hadn't fully healed, but she had enough energy to fly.  Zach quickly followed suit, though his takeoff was not very graceful.  Both dragons turned and headed towards Warfang and the already set sun, following the same path that Spyro had taken hours earlier, leaving the guardians none the wiser to their departure.

Spyro was in darkness again.  He was standing on something, but he couldn't tell where he was.  It seemed so familiar, yet he had never been here before.  Again a white light formed of in the distance, starting as a small pinprick of light before racing towards him and forming into a large doorway.  Without any way to stop, Spyro passed through the door of light at breakneck speed, the brilliant light blinding him as he passed into the void.  Spyro blinked rapidly for a few seconds, trying to clear his vision of the speck from the blinding light.  As his vision cleared, another scene formed below him.  Once again he was floating above a scene on the ground.  This time, he was floating above the maze that was the temple gardens.  Spyro seemed to float in lazy circles above the gardens in the apparent daylight.  The maze of a garden was hard to follow, even from the air.  Spyro looked off into the distance, the gardens seemed to go on forever.  Spyro looked over in the other direction, actually they did go on forever.  No matter which direction he looked, the twists and turns of the tall hedges covered the ground.
Spyro floated down to the ground as if he were standing on an invisible platform.  He hadn't moved his wings or legs, yet he still seemed to move.  As his feet came in contact with the ground, Spyro seemed to snap into a different state, regaining control of his body.
Spyro looked around where he had set down.  He was in the same clearing where he had met Cynder those few nights ago, where she had chased him though the maze, and where Zach had found them again…  Spyro didn't know why, but something drew him through the gardens and down the same path he had taken those nights before.  Spyro stopped short as he turned the last corner towards the dead end of the garden passage.  Standing at the end of the row was Cynder, looking towards Spyro with a slight smile on her face.
"Cynder!"  Spyro stood in shock for a moment before racing down the path towards Cynder.  Cynder smiled at Spyro before turning and disappearing into the hedge behind her.  Desperate to catch up, Spyro ran straight through the hedge after her, ignoring the pain from the branches scratching at his scales.  Looking though the tunneled passage, Spyro caught a glimpse of Cynder disappearing into the glade beyond.  Digging his talons into the dirt, he raced along the inside of the tunnel.  He had to catch her before it was too late.  Maybe he could stop it.
Spyro bust out of the hedge again into the familiar surroundings of the glade that he had come to know so well.  Looking around, everything seemed normal.  The pool of water settled quietly on the edge of the glade and a gentle breeze filtered through the trees, stirring the grass covering the grounds and making the leaves in the tree sway back and forth.  Everything was peaceful and relaxing, except for Spyro who was frantically looking around for Cynder.
"Where did she go?  Maybe I can find her before it's too late."  Spyro thought as he frantically looked around the clearing.  Spyro raced around to the other side of the clearing and stopped cold.  The ground had been torn up in patches and craters marked the ground.  One large crater marked the center of the clearing, and when Spyro turned around, the bark on the tree behind him was shattered and splintered.  This had been there where he and Zach fought the last time.  How had the scene transformed so fast?  Spyro looked around at the devastation in the beautiful glade, why had this all happened.  Spyro held back tears as he buried his head in his wings, so much devastation and for what?  He needed to leave this place.
Spyro turned and headed back out of the clearing, but stopped when he passed the large tree in the center.  Spyro's legs gave out from under him and tears flowed freely from his eyes as he was forced to relive that terrible moment yet again.  Cynder lay over to the side of the glade on her side, blood flowing out of the open wound in her neck covering her in blood.
"Cynder!"  Spyro raced over to Cynder again, cradling her in his claws, tears streaming down his face and mixing with her blood as it ran down their bodies.  "Cynder, why did this happen to you…" Spyro lay his head down across Cynder's body, letting his tears flow as he sobbed over her body.
Spyro was startled when he felt Cynder's body shift underneath him.  "Cynder?"
Cynder turned her head to look at Spyro, after a moment of staring her face turned from a look of confusion to one of terror.  "No…  NO!  Get away from me!"  Cynder struggled underneath Spyro, pushing him away from her with her claws.
Spyro couldn't move, what was wrong with Cynder, what did he do?  "Cynder.  Cynder, what's the matter."
"Get away form me!"  Cynder kicked Spyro off of her with her back legs, sending Spyro flying though the air to crash on the ground a few feet away.  Spyro picked himself off the ground confused and hurt.  Cynder stood a few feet away from him, backing herself into a corner of the clearing.
"Cynder's its ok, its only me…" Spyro took a step towards Cynder, but Cynder took another step back from him.  "It's ok, Zach's gone, no one can hurt you anymore."
"Get away from me Spyro!"
Cynder using his name hurt him more than anything else.  "Cynder, I don't understand…"
"How can you not understand what you did to me?"  Tears streamed down Cynder's face now.  "Look what you did!"
"Cynder I would never…" Spyro advanced towards Cynder again, but she turned her head away before vaulting into the air though the trees above.  More confused than ever, Spyro followed after her through the trees above.
In the air, Spyro could see Cynder flying yards in front of him.  No matter how fast he pushed himself to catch up with her, she was always getting farther away.  "Cynder!"  Spyro pushed himself hard to follow Cynder, feeling his wings begin to burn as he became short of breath.  But he wasn't going to stop, something was wrong.  As Spyro chased Cynder over the never-ending garden, a dark crack appeared on the horizon, quickly forming into a great chasm below.  Spyro thought it odd to see such a chasm, but that was not the important thing at the time.  
As Spyro and Cynder flew over the gorge, Spyro watched in horror as Cynder began to falter, beating her wings out of sync and out of rhythm.  Spyro dove down below Cynder to try and catch her, but before he could make the dive, Cynder's wings collapsed on themselves and Cynder plunged into the void below her.  Spyro sharpened the angle of his dive in an attempt to catch Cynder, but she had already fallen too far.  Spyro could only watch as he and Cynder fell deeper into the darkness of the surrounding crevice, Cynder's body eventually disappearing from view.
"Cynder!"  Spyro continued his dive after Cynder, completely enveloping himself in the darkness surrounding him.  Spyro flung his wings open to slow his rapid decent, but his wings caught no air, the force of his motion throwing himself off balance and spiraling out of control.  As Spyro spun out of control in the darkness, his mind was still on one thing…
"Cynder!!!"

Spyro snapped back to consciousness, his eyes snapping open as he struggled to stand on his feet.
"Hey, hold still or you'll hurt yourself again."  Spyro felt multiple pairs of hands hold him down as he struggled to set himself up.  "Hey now I said hold still" Spyro stopped his struggling as the voice finally register in his mind.  Twisting his head around, Spyro found himself staring at a large adult female dragon, and two younger dragons.
"Good to see that you're finally awake… you've been out for a while now."  Spyro lay back on the table he was on as the elder dragon continued to look him over.
"Where am I?"  Spyro stared at the torchlight flickering on the ceiling as he wracked himself for answers.  He wasn't at the temple, he didn't know these people, and did he just see two other dragons his age.  That wasn't possible.
"You in the dragon city of Warfang.  Chara and Makias over there found you wandering outside the city though the woods, you were pretty banged up and your wings were striped so they brought you back here."
Spyro took a closer look at the dragons surrounding him.  A blue dragon, obviously male, hovered over him, helping the elder dragon.  The elder dragon tended to his wounds, checking him over again as he started to wake up.  She had chalky pale red scales that flashed in the firelight coving the majority of her body.  Her stomach and wing membranes were a slightly deeper shade of red.  Two smooth horns swept back across her head.
But the dragon that really caught Spyro's attention was the dragon siting in the corner.  She was a smaller dragon, possibly a year or two younger than Spyro, and looked at him with innocent eyes.  Her scales were a brilliant crimson, with a slightly deeper shade of red running along her underside and along the bottom of her tail.  All of her scales had a sheen to them, making all of her scales sparkle in the dim firelight.  Two ivory horns ran from the back of her skull sweeping back down from her head.  Small spikes ran along her spine ending in a arrowhead shaped tail, with the bottom tips coming back up her tail about two inches past where the spade showed.  Her wings had the same dark crimson tone as the majority of her scales, while her mainstays had the darker tone as her underbelly.  Siting in the corner cast shadows over her body, blending the colors together and crating flashes where the light reflected off her scales.  She somehow reminded him of Cynder.
Spyro lay his head back down as tears brimmed at the edges of his eyes.  The room fell silent as his quiet sobs echoed through the small room.  The three other dragons watched silently as tears dripped down Spyro's face and mixed with the blood on the ground.
"Hey are you ok?"  Chara walked over and stood next to Spyro, placing her head near his head.
Spyro squeezed his eyes shut to clear his eyes from the last of his tears.  "Yeah…  I just remembered why I was here…"
"Do you want to talk about it?"  The elder dragon scooted Chara back from Spyro with her wing, giving him a little more room.
"No I'm fine…" Spyro blinked a few times to see clearly again.  The elder dragon above him just nodded before turning her back and going to look for something on the shelf.  After a while she shook her head
"Oh…  I don't have any more antiseptic leaves.  Chara, Makias, do you think you can go get some?  He shouldn't be a problem now that he's awake; I should be able to take care of him by myself.  Just don't take too long."
"Yeah, we can go get them."  Makias spoke up from across the room.
The red elder dragon went to walk out of the room, but stopped at the door.  "Oh, young dragon, I never caught you name."
"Spyro…  Its Spyro…"
Each person in the room let out an audible gasp.  The elder dragon stood in the doorway for a moment with her mouth open before nodding and quietly walking out of the room, leaving Spyro alone with the two younger dragons.
"Wow!  You're really Spyro."  The younger red dragon bounded up to Spyro again, who was still lying on his back on the table.
"Yeah unfortunately…" Spyro rolled on his stomach and tried to push himself up on the table.
"Hey now, none of that, you shouldn't be up and moving yet."  Makias walked over and placed his hand on Spyro to keep him on the table.
"Makias isn't it?"  Spyro turned his head at the blueish dragon helping him.
"Yeah, and that annoying little dragon over there is Chara, it's hard to believe she's less than a year younger than me."  Chara shot Makias a look before smirking at Spyro.
"You two are siblings then?"  This was news to Spyro.  He hadn't even heard of any dragons being born after him and Cynder.  "I didn't even know there were other young dragons."
"That's not too surprising, there aren't too many off us.  The war kind of put a damper on things.  We were some of the lucky ones."
"So you did mean her then…" Chara broke into the conversation with a slight shudder.
"What?"  Spyro gave both dragons a confused look.
Makias was the one to explain it.  "Before you passed out, you said 'Cynder'.  You were also mumbling her name in your dreams.  We figured she might have been the one that did these things to you.  We've head storied of the things she did"
"Heh…  I don't blame you, but you couldn't be farther from the truth."  This time Makias shot Spyro the confused look.  "She not the dragon she once was…  either way you don't need to worry about it…"
"Hey are you ok?"  Both dragons could hear the sadness in Spyro's voice.  Makias could feel the uneasiness building in the room.  "Come on, you need rest, lets leave him alone Chara."  Makias went over and prodded Chara to leave the room.  Chara slowly turned to leave the room after another forceful push by Makias.  "You ever have to deal with siblings Spyro?"
Spyro thought back to his time spent with Sparks.  "Yeah, don't worry about it…"
Makias left the room, but stuck his head back in for one last comment.  "Hey, don't you go anywhere, you're not healthy enough to be up and about."  With that, Spyro was left alone in the room.
"Well they don't know me well enough then…" Spyro struggled to his feet, standing on the table he was on.  Most of his limbs had been bandaged, but none of them limited his mobility.  His wings, however, were once again bandaged to his sides, he wasn't going to fly any time soon.  It was probably better that way though, his wings needed the time to heal so he didn't cause any permanent damage.
Spyro slipped out of the room into the hallway.  The elder dragon that was taking care of him seemed to be doing something upstairs, and Chara and Makias had already left, leaving him a straight shot to the front door.  Spyro slinked along the hallway careful not to make any noise making it to the main door in a mater of seconds.  He was still a little stiff, but he could move easily, his wings were the only thing that were causing him pain, and that was only when he unconsciously flexed them.  
Spyro stuck his head outside, checking for anyone that may be watching him.  A few torches lit the otherwise pitch-black street, but it was otherwise empty.  Chara and Makias must have move away by now.  Spyro stepped out of the house into the cool night air.  Looking around, Spyro could see the silhouette of the city wall in the moonlight.  He would need to use the gate to get out since he couldn't fly, and the earlier he got there, the less likely some one was to spot him.  He would have to deal with the guards, but they shouldn't bother him too much.  Spyro set off towards the outer wall of the city, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

"Cynder, slow down, you're pushing yourself too hard" Zach was yelling at Cynder from yards behind her.  She had recently picked up speed, pushing herself harder and faster.  "Cynder!"
Cynder continued to fly out in front of Zach, not slowing down for a single thing.  "Dang it Cynder! You're going to hurt yourself.  " Zach pumped his own wings harder, he needed to catch up to her before she did something stupid.  Slowly, Zach began to gain ground on Cynder, approaching her from above.  Zach waited till he was directly over her before trying again.  "Cynder!  Listen to me!"
Cynder turned her head up towards Zach.  He could se that she had been crying again, the tears still streaming down her face.
Zach let out a heavy sigh, she was torturing herself for what Spyro did.  "Cynder, you need to stop pushing yourself, your body can't take it."
Cynder turned her head away and pumped her wings harder to try and get ahead of Zach..  Zach saw what she was trying to do and dropped himself directly in front of Cynder, forcing her to stop in her tracks.
"Zach get out of my way!"  Cynder was sobbing now, she was physically and emotionally spent.  They had been flying for hours now and they had just made it to the lands outside the city of Warfang, Zach could see the lights of the city off in the distance.  She couldn't take any more, Zach was astonished that she hadn't simply shut down. " Cynder you need rest, your body can't take any more of this.  You have barely recovered and now you need your rest."
"Zach, we need to find Spyro, we need to find him now!"  Cynder beat her wings, trying to get around Zach, but Zach copied her movements, not letting her get past him.
"Listen to me Cynder, you're going to pass out if you keep this up, and I don't know where we are.  So if you want to pass out in the wilderness with only me to protect you, go ahead and keep pushing yourself, but it won't do you or Spyro any good."
Cynder paid no attention to Zach and quickly darted under him.  Zach couldn't drop down in time to stop her and was forced to take off after her again.  But fatigue was finally catching up with Cynder as Zach caught up with her in a matter of seconds.  Zach thought through his options.  He could keep chasing after Cynder all night, or he could find some way to force her to the ground.  The second option would be better in the long run, but he didn't know if he could do it without hurting Cynder.  But he needed to do something soon, Cynder was pushing herself far past her limits, and she wasn't listening to reason.  He had heard that love makes you do crazy things, but this was a bit extreme.  Zach almost laughed at the prospect.  Cynder probably wouldn't admit it, but love was the exact reason that she was doing this, but now was not the time.  Zach let out a heavy sigh as he positioned himself overtop of Cynder in the air.  Hopefully he could do this without hurting her.  But it was better to have a conscious dragon that was a little hurt and ticked off at him than an unconscious one.
Timing himself with the beat of Cynder's wings, Zach collapsed his wings and dropped on top of her, catching her with her wings outspread.  Zach pushed Cynder's wings closed and wrapped his arms around her, pinning her wings to her body in one smooth motion.  Cynder squealed as she felt the weight of Zach fall on top of her and her wings collapse against her side.  After a moment of free falling, she tried to open her wings to find Zach pinning her wings to her side.
"Zach what are you doing, let me go!"  Cynder squirmed under Zach's grasp, trying to push her wings free.
"Sorry Cynder, but if you're not going to take a break, I'm going to make you."
"You're crazy were both going to hit the ground if you don't let me go."  They were still hundreds of feet off the ground, but it was approaching fast
Zach remained silent, this was his not so well thought out part of the plan, but he had an idea, hopefully it would work.  Zach twisted himself parallel with the ground and threw out his wings.  The sudden rush of air filled his wing membranes and jerked his wings and body up.  Zach cringed as he felt the shock from the sudden deceleration, but his plan seemed to have worked.  His wings were much larger than Cynder's and seemed to provide enough lift to hold both of them in the air.  Zach angled his wings to direct their slow decent towards the lights of the city off in the distance, heading for a clearing in the trees Zach could see not that far away.  Cynder continued to struggle under Zach's grip, digging her claws into his arms, but her fatigue quickly overtook her, causing her to rest silently in his arms.  Zach ignored the pain form the gashes Cynder left and kept his arms wrapped around her as they floated down through the air.
As they neared the ground, Zach realized that he wouldn't be able to land while holding Cynder underneath him.  just before they hit the ground, Zach twisted his wings, spinning himself around so he was blow Cynder with his back to the ground.  Zach hit the ground hard, taking the brut of both his weight as well as Cynder's, holding her in place on his stomach.  A large divot appeared in the ground where Zach had impacted and skid across the ground.
Zach groaned as he picked himself off the ground, rolling on to his side to gently set Cynder down.  "Cynder?  You ok?"
"If you ever do that again, I don't care for what reason, I will kill you!"
"You're ok then…" Zach rolled onto his stomach, keeping Cynder's wings pined to her side underneath him.  "Now will you listen to me?  Because I'm not letting you go until you listen to me."
"Do I have much of a choice?"  Cynder struggled under Zach again, but he held fast.
"No, you don't.  Now listen very carefully.  You are too worn out to be flying right now.  You need to rest before you pass out from exhaustion because if you do it will be you and me in the middle of nowhere and I really can't do anything to protect you if you're unconscious."
"Zach, we need to find Spyro, now!"  Cynder squirmed underneath Zach again, trying to twist out from underneath Zach.
"Cynder, you don't get it.  You are just going to get yourself into more trouble if you try and do anything now."
"But Zach!"
"But nothing, what if we got in a fight?  I would be practically useless and you would be so tired we'd be overrun in seconds.  Don't you think that the may be someone waiting for us if we show up?"  Zach pined Cynder to the ground again. "See you too tired to even throw me off."
Cynder started thrashing underneath Zach again, but Zach easily held her to the ground.  Zach took on a more comforting tone  "Cynder please listen to me, You can't do this to yourself, I know you want to go after Spyro, but you're just going to make more problems if you try and keep going tonight"
Cynder's voice cracked as she opened her mouth to speak, but she quickly broke into sobbing instead.
Zach loosened his grip around Cynder, changing from restraining her to a more comforting embrace.  He hoped he finally got through to her.  He couldn't stand to see her like this, much less cause her pain, and he couldn't hold her down much longer.  "Come on Cynder… let get you somewhere more comfortable."
"Hey you two, what are you doing outside the city so late?"  A deep strong voice came from some trees behind Zach and Cynder.
Zach and Cynder both froze.  This was not good.  Zach turned his head to see a large male dragon coming out from the trees looking at them strangely in a slightly defensive position.  He was a pale blue, but had gold tinted armor covering his head, chest, back and tail, making an imposing figure.
"Miss are you alright?"  Zach stepped off of Cynder as the dragon approached, he hadn't realize the position they were in.
"Yes, I'm just a little tired" Cynder stood up and gave a weak smile, the dragon wasn't buying it.
"Love birds huh, aren't you a little young?"
"Uhh… no… were not together…" Zach felt adrenaline rush through his body.  The elder dragon wasn't a threat, at least he didn't think so, but the situation did have its implications making Zach blush.
"We're siblings, we live by ourselves here in a nearby village."  Cynder had spoken up from behind Zach, coming to his rescue.  The guard however, still wasn't buying it.
"What were you doing out here by yourselves this late at night?"
Zach pointed to Cynder behind him.  "She wanted to fly the rest of the way to our village, but I know she's too tired to do it and she needs to rest, she got into a fight recently and is still recovering."  Well it was the partial truth.
"Hmm, well young dragons like yourselves shouldn't be out so late at night.  I can't let you stay out here, why don't I escort you back to the city."  The dragon walked over to Cynder, still keeping a weary eye on Zach.
Cynder spoke up again, "no we really need to keep going."
Zach spoke up louder cutting Cynder off, "No.  We, you in particular, need to rest.  We'll gladly take your offer."
The dragon looked at Zach quizzically before leaning over and whispering something to Cynder, Cynder shook her head in response.  Zach couldn't hear what they were saying, but he had a pretty good guess.
"Hmm, come on then, I can carry you both back if you need it."  The dragon tuned towards the faint lights Zach could see of in the distance.
"No we can make it ourselves."  Cynder started walking forward, but her legs shook and she found it hard to keep her balance.
"Oh no you don't" the dragon saw this and picked up Cynder in one of his giant paws.  He turned his head to Zach, "you want me to carry you too."
"No I can make it."  Cynder shot Zach a look but Zach just smirked back.  There was no need to make the dragon carry more than he needed to.
Both dragons took off and headed for the city.  The dragons flew in silence for most of the flight, but Zach mind was on other things.  Zach watched in amazement as the lights of the city slowly defined themselves and broadened out before him.  He hadn't imagined they had been so far from the city, but the city was huge.  It would easily take him a half-hour to fly from one end to the other.  The city lights created a beautiful display below him, and Zach couldn't help but admire them.
The dragon carrying Cynder banked down and landed on the top of the wall, Zach quickly followed him down.
"Well, this is as far as I can take you, I have to get back to duty.  If you need a place to stay, my wife would be more that happy to provide you with a room.  She is in the medical pavilion on the other side of town.  Just tell her I sent you, and if she asks ill be home soon."  With that, the bluish dragon took off over the wall again and back into the world outside the city walls.
"Well that was weird."  Zach stood staring at where the dragon had been.  "Well, why don't we take him up on that offer, I don't know of anywhere else we could go."
"Ok fine."  Cynder spread her wings to fly, but Zach stopped her.
"Oh no you don't, we're walking, and don't think I won't tackle you again."
Cynder rolled her eyes at Zach and took off walking through the city, taking streets she knew would take her towards the are the dragon had specified, he didn't even give them his name.
Zach hand Cynder walked through the dimly lit streets.  For being so late at night, many of them were still full of activity.  Guards walked to and fro along their patrol routes, pairs of dragons walked by on their way to their destinations, and the streets were busy with some shops open late.
"Wow, it's busy for so late at night here."  Zach looked around curiously at the different architecture of the city."
"You haven't seen anything yet, the market is probably still very busy."  Cynder yawned with her last sentence.  Zach and Cynder kept walking until they came to a large space between the buildings filled with shops, stalls, and various races doing there shopping.
"Welcome to the marketplace, try not to get lost."
"A little late for shopping don't you think"
"Not to these people."  Cynder sighed and led Zach into the market.
Zach walked through the busy market, looking at the different stalls and wares that were being sold.  Not paying attention, he ran into a smaller red dragon.
"Oh sorry" the red dragon stepped out of the way and apologized to Zach.
"Oh no problem."  Zach continued on his way, but was stopped by a question from the dragon.
"Hey, I haven't seen you here ever.  Where did you come from?"
A blue dragon walked up alongside the red one.  "Chara, it isn't polite to bother strangers."
"I'm sorry Makias, I was just curious."
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to them."  Makias pointed at Cynder and Zach.
Chara turned to Zach and Cynder,  "Sorry"
Zach had to chuckle under his breath, they were definitely siblings.  "Its no problem, we were just passing though."
"Really, so your not from the city, where are you from."  The energy immediately returned to Chara's attitude.
"You really should introduce yourself you know…" Makias held an annoyed yet patient tone with his sister.
"Oh yeah, I'm Chara, and that's my older brother Makias."
Zach smiled to himself, yes they were siblings.  "I'm Zach, and she's Cynder."  Cynder simply nodded at the mention of her name, she walls almost asleep on her feet.
"Cynder, you don't mean THE Cynder do you?"  Chara's comment got her an elbow in the ribs from her brother.
"Chara!"
"No it's ok…" Cynder was still half asleep.  "Yes that was me, unfortunately, but I'm not like that anymore."
"Wow, I can't believe it, first I meet Spyro and then…"
"What!  You met Spyro, where?"  Cynder immediately snapped to attention at the mention of Spyro, practically knocking Chara over in her excitement and desperation.  Makias went to step in between the distressed dragon and his sister, but Zach stopped him.
Zach pulled Cynder back with one of his wings.  "Its ok Makias.  Chara, where did you see Spyro?  This is important."  Zach thought to himself "and it might make Cynder go nuts again."
"We found him beaten up outside the city and brought him back for help.  He should be sleeping at home right now."
"Please, take me to him."  Zach could tell Cynder was restraining herself from doing anything drastic, but her anxiousness showed through.
"I don't know…  Makias."  Chara looked unsure of what to do
"Take them, I'll stay and get the herbs for mom."  Cynder's limbs started to shake, not from fatigue but from excitement.
"Hey, I can help you get those herbs, it probably best if Spyro doesn't see me just yet."  Zach motioned for Cynder to go."  Go see him so you can finally get some rest."
"Hey Chara, hand him your bags."  Chara took of the bags across her back and handed them over to Zach, Zach slipped the straps over his head.  They were a little small, but they would work.  Chara then took off and banked off towards her home.  Cynder followed excitedly behind, almost passing Chara in the air.  Makias and Zach both watched them disappear into the night.
"So why didn't you want to go see Spyro?  Don't you know him well."  Makias questioned Zach as they turned and headed into the market.  Even in the dark it was still a busy place.
"Lets just say he and I aren't on the best terms right now."  Makias simply nodded and left it as that.  Zach loved being a guy.  Other guys took you at face value and left it at that.
Makias and Zach spent the next few minutes going to different stalls and purchasing different typed of medicinal leaves, filling the back Zach carried as the purchased them.  Once Makias was satisfied that they had got everything they needed, the walked back to the center of the market.
"So Makias, you lead, because I have no idea where were going."
"It's not that far, just follow me."  Makias spread his wings to jump into the air, but Zach caught a glimmer of color behind Makias.
Zach jumped for Makias,  "Makias!  Duck!"

Cynder impatiently followed Chara to a pavilion not far from the marketplace they had just left.  The dragon in font of her couldn't fly fast enough.  Cynder and Chara landed and stepped silently inside.
"Wait here a second."  Chara stepped in a side room for a moment before coming back out with a confused look on her face.  "Mom!"
A large dragon appeared in from another room on the bottom floor,  "oh, you're back already, and who is this?"  The dragon looked at Cynder.
"Mom, did you move Spyro from his room?"
The elder dragon took on a worried expression.  "No I didn't, I went back in the room not long after you left and he was already gone."
Cynder felt her heat break.  She had been so close, and Spyro had slipped away from her again.  The tears began to fall as Cynder ran back outside, letting them splash on the ground as she stood outside crying.  Why did she have to get her hopes up only to have them dashed time and time again?  After a while, Chara came out and put a comforting wing around Cynder.  "Hey now, I'm sure he's still in the city somewhere.  He can't fly with the bandages we put on him, and the guards won't let him out till alt least daybreak, we'll find him."  Chara stood with Cynder for a few minutes, Cynder quietly crying the whole time.
Thought the tears and sobs Cynder felt Chara shift.  "Hey?  What's that?"
Cynder looked up to see smoke and a pillar of fire not too far off in the distance.
"That's coming from the market, I hope Makias is ok."
But other things were on Cynder's mind.  Spyro was still somewhere in the city, and Zach was at the market place…  It wasn't Makias that she was worried about.