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Chapter 8: Wait…  where's Spyro?

"You have caused these young dragons enough pain.  I won't let you hurt them any more."
Wait.  Did he just say these dragons?  Zach looked around the room, he had completely forgotten about Spyro.  But the purple dragon was nowhere in the room, but Zach didn't have the time to worry about it.  Hopefully he was asleep or somewhere where he couldn't cause Zach any more problems, Terador was a big enough one to deal with, literally.
"Would you listen to me if I tried to explain myself."
"And what would you have to say for yourself?  There is no excuse for what you did."  Terador slammed his foot on the ground creating a pillar of earth underneath Zach, sending him careening towards the ceiling.  Zach rolled off of the pillar just before it impacted the ceiling, cracking the stone and showing Zach with dust and pebbles.
This dragon was serious, that could have easily killed him.  "You wouldn't listen to what I had to say, even If it meant I could save Cynder?"  Zach gestured over towards her body with one of his wings.
"So you could lie to us again and turn on me, don't think I'll fall for that Zach."  Terador launched a blast of earth from his mouth, sending a boulder towards Zach.  Zach rolled out of the way again, he couldn't attack Terador, and the guardian didn't trust him already.  But he had to get through to him now; Cynder didn't have the time.
Terador was about to launch another blast at Zach when he stopped in his tracks.  Zach noticed and looked to see why Terador had stopped.  It ended up that when Zach had rolled out of the way of the last blast, he had ended up with Cynder between him and Terador.  The guardian was not going to risk hitting Cynder in the crossfire, so he should be safe for the moment.
"Terador listen to me!  I know you don't have any reason to trust me anymore, but I need you to listen to me."  Zach wondered if that sounded as stupid as he thought it did.
"You're right Zach, I don't have any reason to trust you anymore."  Terador slammed his fist into the ground again.  Sending up a pillar of rock from the ground right in front of Zach.
Zach didn't have time to react and the stone pillar connected squarely with his jaw, sending him flying across the room.  Zach rolled to a stop on the other side of the room, siting up to spit the blood out of his mouth.
Terador wasted no time, immediately sending another bast of earth energy at Zach.  Zach had no time to recover and was hit again, the tremendous force of the impact breaking one of his ribs and forcing all the air out of his lungs.
Zach felt the energy he had stored in his body start to flow towards his injuries, but Zach stopped the flow before it could be used up.  He needed all the energy he could get if he was going to save Cynder, he could heal himself later.  Zach stood on his feet again, wincing at the pain in his side.  "Please Terador, I know I don't deserve your trust, but do this for Cynder."
"Why would you care about Cynder?  You were the one who put her in this condition in the first place."
"You think I don't know that?  But unlike you, I'm trying to do something about it."  Zach immediately regretted saying the last part.  Terador flung himself across the room at Zach, pinning him halfway up the wall with one massive claw, Zach could see the anger flashing in his eyes.
"You think that I haven't tried everything in my power to save her?  She helped save our world, the least I can do is try everything to save her, and don't you dare tell me otherwise."  Terador pushed Zach harder against the wall.  Zach simply hung there, his wings pinned against his back and his arms and legs dangling helplessly in the air.  Terador stared Zach in the face as he continued to hold the young dragon against the wall.  "I would give my life to save this dragon, even after all that she had done.  And even if I cared about the past, I would do it for Spyro."
Zach wheezed through his half crushed lungs.  "  Then why won't you give me that chance?"
"Because we gave you a chance once, and this is the situation we ended up with."
"If you knew even half of the reasons why I did those things."
"Well then start explaining Zach, because the second that Cynder dies, you go with her."  Terador glared into Zach's eyes.  Zach knew he was serious.
Zach shook his head.  "I can't tell you Terador, you wouldn't believe me."
"Try me Zach, you've got nothing else to lose."
Zach wracked his brain, trying to come up with a reasonable answer to why he had done those things, but everything for the past few days was a blur of emotions, memories, and impulses.  "I can't even explain it to myself, I only remember bits and pieces, and none of them seem to fit together."  That wasn't exactly the answer he wanted
"Then I guess you're out of luck Zach."
Zach stared Terador in the face.  "Tell me this Terador.  Could you ever look Spyro in the face again if you knew that there had been the slightest chance of saving Cynder, but you denied her the chance?"  As if to emphasize his point, Cynder started coughing hard again, catching Terador's attention.
Zach brought him back with another question.  "So, Terador, will you trust me?  For this one thing, will you forget what I have done and let me help her, or will you continue to restrain me and watch her die?  I don't care what you think about me, but let me do this."
Terador stared long and hard into Zach's eyes, searching them for any sign of falsity.  He couldn't trust this dragon, not after what he had done, but what choice did he have.  Zach was Cynder's only chance.  Terador though it through for another long moment, what would Ignitus have done?  He always seemed to have the right answers.  Wouldn't he have given Zach a second chance like they had given Cynder?  Maybe he couldn't see the whole picture.
And Zach was right, he would never be able to talk to Spyro again if he didn't try everything possible to save Cynder, even if it meant he would have to trust Zach.  Tearador removed his paw and Zach dropped to the floor, gasping for breath.
"I take it that means you'll let me help then?
Terador shot back at Zach, "Make it quick!  And if you hurt her any more, you won't have time to blink before I end you."
Terador followed Zach every move as he picked himself off the ground and walked over to Cynder.  Zach was covered with numerous cuts and bruises.  His body wanted to use his energy to heal himself, but Zach held back the flow of energy.  He would need everything he had to save Cynder.
Zach looked down at Cynder's wound, how had he done such a horrible thing?  Zach stomach churned at the thought.  But he could fix it, he thought…
Zach reached out and placed his hand on Cynder's wound.  Cynder jerked in response and Terador tensed up again, ready to take Zach on.  Zach just ignored him and continued.  As soon as Zach hand had come in contact with Cynder's wound he felt the energy start to drain from his body and flow into Cynder.  Slowly, the infection seemed to dissolve away from the edges of her wounds, but the wounds themselves remained open; they would take a lot more to heal.  Zach opened his maw and breathed slowly onto the area directly under his paw.  The blue green energy slowly seeped into the damage tissue on Cynder's neck.  The inflamed tissue started to bleed again as Zach broke apart the scabs that slowed the bleeding.  He needed to break apart the scabs before he could essentially 'stitch' the wound back together, but the blood was now seeping down through her damaged throat into her lungs; he needed to do this quickly.  Zach watched with nervous anticipation as the tissue slowly started forming together into scar tissue.
As Zach continued to heal Cynder, he felt his energy drop quickly.  The stream of energy flowing into Cynder started to shrink and sputter, Zach was running on the last bits of his energy.  But Cynder wasn't completely healed yet, and he needed to do this in one go or it may cause more problems than it fixed.
Zach willed himself to go on, pushing energy into his attempt at healing Cynder that he didn't have.
Much to Zach's surprise, he somehow came up with enough energy to seal over the lacerations on Cynder's neck.  The wounds had sealed into gnarly looking scar tissue, but he could fix that later.  He needed the energy for different things, Cynder still had massive amounts of blood in her lungs; it was a miracle that she wasn't dead.
Zach rolled Cynder onto her stomach and placed his hand on her back over her lungs.  Terador continued to watch Zach closely, fidgeting when Zach placed his hand on Cynder's back.  Zach poured the last of his energy into forcing the blood out of Cynder's lungs.  Slowly, a stream of blood started to trickle out of Cynder's mouth.  This immediately alarmed Terador who raced over and towered over Zach.  Zach felt his energy waning again and forced the last of it into Cynder.
"What did you do to her?"
Zach collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.  He had healed her as much as he could, but he wasn't sure if it was enough.  If he hadn't forced enough of the blood out of Cynder's lungs, it would all be for nothing.  As Zach lay on the ground, he felt his heart sputter and catch.  Zach clutched at his chest as pain rippled through his body, darkness flickering at the edges of his vision, but it quickly subsided.  Zach just lay on the ground panting.  What was that, if he didn't know better he would say that he just had a heart attack.
"Zach!  What did you do?"
Zach guessed what Terador was worried about and muttered a reply.  "Relax, the blood coming out of her mouth was building up in her lungs, it needed to come out.  She isn't injured in any way."
Terador continued glare at Zach, but as if to confirm Zach's statement, Cynder started coughing heavily, blood spattering across the ground in front of her.  After a full minute of hacking up blood, Cynder finally quieted down into a raspy breathing.
Terador stood attentively over Cynder's body.  She was still breathing, but he couldn't tell if Zach had done anything to help her.  As Terador looked over her, he saw her eyelids flutter before cracking open to let Cynder peer around the room.
"Cynder!"
Cynder slowly raised her head to look at Terador
"Terador, is that you?"
"Cynder you're alright, thank the ancestors!"  Terador scooped Cynder up into a tight embrace before setting her gently on her feet.  Cynder wobbled before catching her balance.
"Be careful with her Terador, she still might have some injures I missed."
Cynder turned her head towards Zach who was lying on the ground behind her.  "Zach?  What are you doing here?"
"You mean you don't remember?"  This could be bad, once she remembered what he had done….
Terador broke in for Zach, a small amount of disbelief and suspicion still evident in his voice.  "He just healed you after you acquired some… injuries…"
Cynder continued to look at Zach.  "Injuries?  I don't remember much, what do you mean injuries?"
Terador and Zach remained quiet, neither of them able or willing to answer her question.
Slowly a look of recognition and horror crossed Cynder's face as she took a step back from Zach.
Zach turned his head away from her in shame.  " I guess I deserve that."
"I don't understand… why?"
"Join the club Cynder, I don't exactly understand why either."  Zach voice was dripping with sarcasm, but he immediately felt bad for snapping back at Cynder like that.  It wasn't her fault, and she had been through too much for him to be hard on her.
Cynder didn't seem to accept the answer, but didn't question Zach any more.  She stood in silence for a moment before looking around the room.  "Where's Spyro?  What happened to him?"  Eventually Cynder swiveled back to look at Zach.
Zach raised his hands from where he was on the ground.  "Hey don't look at me, I didn't do it."
Cynder turned to Terador, who looked just as confused as everyone else.  "Where's Spyro?"
Terador looked at the ground.  "I…  I don't know."
"How do you not know where he went?"  Cynder was starting to get anxious, getting up into Terador's face.  Zach shrank back towards the wall, if Cynder got angry with them, bad things would happen, and he would probably be the target of her anger.
"He probably went after Zach again, but since Zach is here, who knows where Spyro went."
"But how could you just let him disappear like that?  You know he will push himself too far if he is set on something."
"I know Cynder.  But I don't understand how he slipped by me."
"He probably got out the same way I got in."
"What was that Zach?"  Terador and Cynder both turned their attention to Zach who was still lying on the ground.
Zach motioned with one of his wings.  "That window over there.  I came I though it, so I don't see any reason why Spyro couldn't have gotten out."
Cynder spoke again, tears brimming at the edges of her eyes.  "But where would he have gone?  Why would he just leave the temple?"
Zach piped in from across the room.  " I think I may know where he went, but you won't like my answer."

Spyro flew through the air, his damaged wings screaming at him in pain, but he continued on anyway.  Spyro looked around at his surroundings.  He was flying over relatively familiar terrain, the forest below him looked like the one surrounding the Valley of Avalar, and the mountains he looming up in front him should be the backs to the city of Warfang.  He was headed in the right direction.  From Warfang he would have to continue on his current path… and he would eventually would make it to the mountain of Malefore.
Spyro beat his wings to gain altitude, pain shooting though his body as his wings pushed against the air.  There was no way he could keep doing this for much longer.  His whole flight had been like this, flying as high as his wings would take him before gliding as far as he could.  Maybe he shouldn't have tried to go after Zach again… he was barely strong enough to fly, much less fight, and he was probably walking right into a trap.  But it didn't matter anymore… nothing mattered.
Spyro glided as far as he could before beating his wings again to keep from crashing into the trees below.  Each time he beat his wins he could feel the loose scabs on his torn wing membranes tear and pull apart.  Spyro groaned as he looked back at his wings.  Blood started to pool on the tips of his wings and fall to the ground below.  There was no way he could keep doing this for much longer, his wings were falling apart before his eyes.
Spyro beat his wings another time, rising high above the treetops again, but not as high as he would have hoped.  Spyro passed over the edge of the forest and into the mountain range.  A thick fog surrounded the mountains around their peaks, forcing him to fly lower to the ground and flapping his wings more often.  Thankfully he had hit a pass in one of the thinner parts of the range.
Spyro banked to the left to fly around one of the mountains in front of him.  If he remembered correctly, he would come out of the mountains about a mile from the city near its main gate.  Noticing he was almost on the ground again.  Spyro pumped his wings again, but cried out in pain as he felt his wing membranes tear apart.
Spyro fell from the sky, flailing his damaged wings as hard as he could to slow his decent.  Spyro hit the ground hard, bouncing a few times before rolling to a stop on the hard ground.  "Ugh...  I've got to stop landing like this…"
Spyro picked himself off the ground and glanced back at his wings.  He had completely dissolved any sort of scab or new tissue that had been connecting them together.  They were torn to shreds again; there was no way he was flying out of the mountains anymore.  Spyro spoke into the empty mountain air.  "I guess I'm walking then."

A bolt of darkness streaked over Zach's head and crashed into the wall behind him.  "What do you mean he went to the Mountain of Malefore!"
Zach was impressed, he didn't think Cynder would be able to mount such an attack after the state she was in.  But his amazement only added to the fear of Cynder's raw power.  "Hey, don't kill me over this, I just told you where he probably went."
"But why would he go there?  That is the last place Spyro would ever go!"
Zach let out a heavy sigh.  "He went there, because he was baited there."
Cynder turned and marched over to Zach.  "And what would bait him there, he has no reason to ever go back!"
"You."
"What?"  Cynder gave Zach a quizzical look, what kind of an answer was that?
"You.  You are the reason that Spyro is headed to the mountain."
"So this is my fault now?"  Cynder was back to glaring at Zach.  Zach was forced to turn away from her strong gaze, he still couldn't meet her eye to eye.
"No, I didn't say it was your fault.  But Spyro was baited there when you were in trouble.  He was told if he did something there, that I would save you from your injuries."
"Who would bait him, and why?"
Zach curled himself into a smaller ball.  Every question that Cynder asked scraped against his conscience reminding him of what he had done and scraping against the raw wounds on his heart.  As much as he didn't want to, he felt obligated to answers her questions.
"I don't know why… but I was the one who baited him."
"What!  How could you!"  Cynder was yelling in his face now.  Zach continued to stare at the ground, he could understand her anger, if he were in her position he would have hit someone by now.  Zach watched out of the corner of his eye as Cynder turned form him and stormed across the room, ending up facing the far wall.  "And how can you not know why you did it?  You don't just do those kind of things without a reason"
Zach just tried to remain calm, getting mad wouldn't help the situation any.  Zach looked over at Terador who just shrugged; he was helping things so much right now, but its not like he could blame Terador.  Terador and Cynder had no clue as to the scope of what was going on, and he still only remembered bits and pieces
Terador finally broke into the conversation, speaking to Cynder in a soft tone.  "Cynder, do you remember why you did the things you did as Malefore's servant?"
Cynder immediately hung her head in shame, tears brimming at the edges of her eyes.
"Cynder, don't think I find joy in bringing up there memories, they're painful for all of us.  But sometimes you need to see things in a different light."  Terador walked over to Cynder and pulled her into an embrace with his wing.  Zach could her crying from across the room.
Zach shifted into a more comfortable position on the ground.  He didn't get these people.  One second Cynder is almost to the point of tearing him to shreds and Teardor was siting around doing nothing, the next, Terador comes in with some sage advice and Cynder is reduced to tears.
But some things did make sense, Cynder had been through more than Zach thought humanly possible, and Terador was supposed to be a guardian, a protector, someone who always had the right answers.  This world wasn't so different after all.
Zach head Cynder's crying slowly diminished, but turned into a fit of coughing as she tired to catch her breath.  The coughing couldn't be good for her after her lungs had been so beaten up.  Zach looked around the room and spotted two buckets of water over in one corner of the room.  Pushing himself to his feet, Zach stretched as he felt the bones in his spine snap back into place.  For whatever reason he had almost passed out earlier, he seemed to be ok now.  He strode over to the buckets against the wall, but stopped standing over them.  How was he supposed to pick them up?  He couldn't walk and hold it in one hand at the same time, he wasn't that coordinated yet.  "Guess I'll have to use my mouth."  Zach craned his neck over and took the wooden handle of the bucket between his teeth, leaving a woody taste in his mouth.  He then walked carefully over to where Terador was still standing with Cynder, placing the bucket at Cynder's feet.  "You should drink Cynder, you need to get some fluids into you after what you went through, and the water should help with your cough."
Cynder turned her head from where it was buried in the crook of Terador's arm.  Tears still ran down her face and her eyes were red and puffy, but she seemed to have stopped crying for the moment.  She looked at Zach for a moment, not sure of what to make of him.  After all that she had done, shouldn't she be the one trying to defend him.  Spyro and the guardians had given her a second chance, they had believed in her when she didn't believe in herself.  She knew what it was like to have done something like what Zach had done, and she regretted it every day of her life.  Looking at the dragon before her she could see the remorse in his eyes, the look of unshakable pain that would live with him for the rest of his life, he was sincere in his actions.  Why shouldn't she give him the chance that she longed for herself?
Cynder bent down and took a long draw from the bucked below her, the cool water running down her throat and soothing her parched throat.  Cynder took another draught, but started coughing on the water.
"Not too fast there Cynder, you need to take it slow."  Cynder looked at Zach out of the corner of her eyes, he reminded her of Spyro in how he was looking out for her…  Oh, Spyro…
Zach broke the silence.  "It doesn't make sense to me though, after our last battle, I remember telling him that there was no way I was ever going to save Cynder, so he should have known that going to the mountain would be useless."
"But that doesn't make any sense, why would he do that, if he though that I wasn't going to make it… why would he go anyway?"  Cynder shook her head And A shiver ran down her spine, she was still a little spooked by all that had happened.
Tearador spoke again from the corner of the room.  "I don't know, it doesn't seem like Spyro to do a thing like this."
"What about revenge?"
"What?"  Cynder's head snapped around to stare at Zach again.
"Revenge, on me for what I did, that might be why he went."
Cynder stomped her foot on the ground. "No I heard you the first time, but that's not Spyro, he would never seek revenge."
Teardor strode to thew center of the room between the two dragons, "I don't know Cynder, when you were injured, Spyro wasn't acting like himself.
"Yeah Cynder, I don't think you have any idea what kind of an affect you have on Spyro."
"What do you mean" Cynder's question was half-serious.  Part of her had no clue what Zach was talking about, the other had a hope that maybe… maybe Spyro had feelings for her.
Zach just laughed,  "if you can't see it, then you're a little more oblivious than I though, but I'll let you figure that one out by yourself."
"Hey, come on, tell me."
"Not a chance, I am NOT going to be the one to say something that isn't true about you two and get in trouble for it."
"Humph!"  Cynder just glared at Zach, what was that dragon implying?

Chara flew through the cool morning air just outside the Dragon City of Warfang.  Finally she could get away from her studies and tests and have some time to herself.  Chara angled her wings and banked straight up into the air, letting her momentum throw her high into the sky.  Spinning up into the air, she collapsed her wings streamlining her body.  At the apex of her flight, Chara turned herself over exposing her soft stomach scales to the sun, warming her scales as she started to free fall back towards the earth.  Chara relishing in the simple feeling of freedom.
Chara continued her flip, rolling all the way over and pointing her nose straight towards the ground.  If there was one thing that always clamed her down, it was flying.  Chara picked up speed as she plummeted towards the ground below.  Off in the corner of her vision she could see a dragon winging his way out to meet her.  Chara rolled her eyes and flared out her wings slowing herself down, even from here she could already tell who it was.
Chara spiraled her way towards the ground, pumping her wings a few times and gently setting her feet on the ground. She had landed near the edge of the forest surrounding the mountains, shading herself from the sun.  Looking back towards the city, she could see the other young dragon leisurely flying out towards her.  Chara let out a heavy sigh, why couldn't people leave her alone?  This was some of the only time she had to herself out of that crowded city.
Eventually the other dragon reached where Chara was standing alongside the edge of the forest.  Chara watched him as he landed a few feet in front of her.  Deep blue scales covered most of his body while his chest and stomach scales had more of a milky blue hue, streaks of a mix between the two color coursed across his chest and down his back and sides making him appear long and slender, though he was muscular even for a male dragon.  His facial features were nothing special, he had a strong facial build with pronounced cheekbones and jaw.  Three ivory shaded horns protruded out of the top of his head in a triangular fashion, the lead horn just above his forehead.  These horns sweeped back across his head splaying out from each other at shallow angles.  Two other smaller horns jutted out from the back of his jaw, swinging up towards the top of his head.  Long ridged fins ran down the length of his back and tail ending in a barbed tail made from three spikes angling away from his body in a conical shape.  Large wings folded up behind the dragon.  Pressed against his body, Chara could only the dark blue spines and membranes, but she knew that when they were in flight they had streaks of milky white color running through them.  Overall he was larger and taller than Chara his head resting almost a half foot above hers, but that was expected seeing as he was older and a male.
"What do you want?"  The irritation was clearly evident in Chara's voice.
"Oh, come on, you mean your not glad to see me sis?"  Chara's brother walked over and prodded her in the side with the barb of his wing.
"No, I'm not, now leave me alone Makias."  Chara snapped back, swinging at his paw and raking her talons along his arm.  She really didn't want to deal with anyone right now, especially not Makias
Makias cocked an eyebrow at his sister.  "What's eating you?  He had expected Chara to react to his prodding, but she never would get violent.  Makias looked down at his arm, she hadn't broke the scales, but the fact that she had stuck out bothered him the most, something was seriously bothering her.
Chara turned her head away, "its nothing, I just need to be alone for a while."
"Oh no you don't.  I've lived with you for too long to not know when something's bothering you.  Now spill it."
Chara turned back to her brother who just looked at her, concern written over his face.  He always had been able to see right through to her emotions.  She was not going to get out of this one.  Chara let out a heavy sigh as she lay down on the ground.  "You may want to sit down for this one, it may take a while."
Makias lay down a few feet away from Chara making himself comfortable.
Chara took a deep before rolling over onto her back and speaking up into the trees above.  "It's just so much to handle, with training and the trials coming up, and being younger than everyone else doesn't help, not to mention that I'm the only girl there…" Chara stopped when she hear her brother laughing across from her.  "What, that not funny!"
"Sure it is…  Chara you worry too much, just relax.  We all know you're more than capable of passing, you just need to not worry so much, just relax and you will do fine."
"That's what I was trying to do, but you had to come and screw things up."  Chara waited a moment, expecting Makias to respond.  When he didn't, Chara turned expecting some kind of response, but Makias was on his feet, staring intently into the forest behind her.  "What…"
"Shhh…."  Makias took a few steps towards the woods, placing himself between the forest and Chara.
"Makias what's?"
"Chara, get up…  Now!"  The tone of Makias' voice prompted Chara to respond without question.
"Makias, what's wring?"
Makias responded without ever tuning his attention from the woods.  "There's something in the woods."  This was big news.  Even after the great cataclysm had rocked the planet, small bands of grublins and apes still marauded around the city
"How can you tell?"  Chara swung herself around to stand beside and slightly behind Makias, settling herself into a defensive battle stance.  If whatever came out of the woods was expecting an easy target, they were in for a surprise.
"Be quiet and listen…" the two dragons stood on the edge of the clearing as quiet and as still as possible.  Chara strained her ears trying to pick out the subtle sounds that her brother had picked up.  While she couldn't hear anything, she knew to trust her older brother, and not to question him.  It was better to be safe then sorry when your life was on the line.
But what came out of the woods was far from what they were expecting.  Makias' mouth hung open and a gasp escaped from Chara's mouth.  A dragon had appeared out of the forest, his wings torn apart and his body badly bloodied and scared.  His head almost dragged along the ground as he appeared to be walking in a daze
"Dear Ancestors!"  Chara ran over to the battered and limping dragon that appeared out of the forest. supporting him on one side. "Are you ok?"
Makias moved over and supported the dragon on the other side, shooting Chara a quick look as he did so.  The dragon hardly noticed as Chara and Makias moved up beside him.  He just continued walking towards Warfang off in the distance.
Chara turned to her brother looking overtop of the beaten dragon.  "What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know."  Makias moved from where he was alongside of the dragon, stepping in front of him preventing him from moving any further.  " Hey, are you alright?"  The dragon stopped and wearily lifted his head to make eye contact with Makias.  The dragon was slightly older than Makias, which meant he only needed to lift his head a short ways to reach eye level.  Makias was taken aback by the strong gaze of the dragon.  There was so much pain in his eyes, pain and confusion.  The dragon's eyes focused on Makias and he stared for a long moment before letting out a single word.  "Cynder…"
The dragon then collapsed against Chara who staggered under his full weight.  "Makias we have to do something."  He voice was almost frantic as she let the dragon slide off her body gently down to the ground; her sides remained covered in blood.
"I know…  Come on, well get him home, Mom should be able to do something with him."  Makias walked around behind the dragon and placed himself overtop of him, grabbing him under the arms and preparing to fly him back to the city.  Makias jumped when he hard Chara gasp again behind him, whipping his head around to see what was wrong.  Chara stood next to him, her mouth hanging open as she stared at the new dragon.  "What?  What is it?"  Makias thought that the dragon may have had more extensive injuries then he though, as if that was possible.
"Makias…  that dragoon…  he is purple!"
Makias tuned back around to look at the dragon and sure enough, under the blood that coated them, the dragon had deep violet scales.  "Wow, what do you think he's doing out here?"
"I don't know…" Chara took a few quick glances around the forest and though the sky above.  "Makias, what do you think he meant by 'Cynder'.  You don't think that she's around here do you?"  They had both hear stories about the terror of the skies and the last thing they wanted to do was meet her.  Chara began to shake uncontrollably from shock and fear.
"I don't know.  That might explain the state he's in, but I don't want to stick around to find out."  Makias scanned the sky looking for any other disturbances.  "Come on, let's get him out of here."

Volteer walked into the room.  "Terador look out its Zach!"
Zach ducked out of the way as lighting bolt flew over his head and exploded against the wall.  "HEY!  I didn't do anything this time!"
Terador stepped in front of Zach, shielding him from Volteer.  "Relax Volteer, he isn't going to hurt anything."
"But Zach, Cynder…  He did…  She is…"
"Relax now Volteer, take a look around, Cynder's fine."
"What, where?"  Volteer looked around and spotted Cynder lying over in the corner of the room, her head up and watching the events unfold.  "Cynder you're alright!"  Volteer raced over and picked Cynder up and wrapped his giant wings around her.
"Hey easy with her now!"  Zach yelled from across the room behind Terador.  "I don't want to go having to fix her injuries again"
Volteer set Cynder back on the ground, a huge smile plastered on his face.  Cynder gave him a small smile back, the electric guardian was a bit eccentric.  Volteer turned his attention over to Zach, the smile fading from his face to be replaced by a look of concern and confusion.  "So does someone want to explain to me the reasoning behind this confusing predicament?"
Zach heard Cynder stifle her laughter from somewhere behind Volteer; Terador simply rolled his eyes.  Zach was the one to speak up  "err… can we wait for Cyril to show up?  If you're here that means he can't be that far behind, and I would prefer not to have to repeat myself."
As if on cue, Cyril walked into the room  "Zach!"  Cyril immediacy opened his mouth and spewed a stream of ice across the ground, freezing Zach's feet to the floor as well as covering most of the room in a sheet of ice.
"Really?  Again?  Does everyone have to attack me when they see me?"  Zach pulled at his feet, trying to break them free of the thin layer of ice holding them to the floor.
Cyril opened his mouth to attack again, but thankfully, Terador came to his rescue yet again.  "Easy now Cyril, just relax, and we'll try to explain things."
Cyril and Volteer both walked to the center of the room and settled down into a comfortable position.  Terador broke the sheet of ice holding Zach to the ground and nudged Zach into the center of the room, standing behind him once he had settled down.  He may not completely trust Zach yet.  But so far his story had made sense, and he didn't seem to be trying to do anything dangerous.
"So Zach, care to tell us what has happened and give us an explanation for what has happened?"  Volteer's voice was biting and curious at the same time.
Zach took a deep breath.  Explaining it the first time had been hard, now he had to do it again.  The worst thing about it was that he was just as confused about his actions as the guardians were.  Something had left a gap in his memory during the time that he had spent chasing after Spyro.  He could only remember things on the fringes of that time.  But what all could he tell them?  There was still his biggest secret he was harboring from them.  Should he tell them now or should he hold out a bit longer?  Who knows how far they would be willing to go to trust him?  No, now wasn't the time.
Zach looked around the room.  Volteer and Cyril watched him patiently, waiting for an explanation, Terador stood behind him, a reassuring smile on his face edging him to go on, and Cynder lay over in the corner of the room sleeping.  She had heard the story before and she needed her rest, no need to listen to it again.
"Well here goes nothing"

Chara and Makias flew over the wall of the city without so much as a second glance from the guards posted on the walls.  Dragons flying over the walls were a common sight in recent days, and the mole guards really couldn't do anything to stop them.  There were a few adult dragons stationed along the walls at random intervals to keep track of the younger dragons in the city and take care of any quarrels that might spring up.  Thankfully, they had flown over an unguarded part of the wall.  The dragon guards had a habit of stopping any young dragon that flew over the walls for any reason, and the fact that Makias was carrying someone else would have brought unwanted attention.
Besides, his mother was one of the best doctors in the city and taking him straight home meant that she could give him personal care in her home rather than in the extensive rooms of the clinic.  Chara and Makias flew side by side over the city below them, passing over various markets and housing districts getting confused stares from any passerby that happened to look up at them.
"Makias" Chara was looking over at her brother with concern on her face.  The dragon Makias was carrying continued to lose blood though various scrapes and cuts as well as his flayed wings.
"Don't worry, once we get him home, mom will be able to take care of him."  Makias shot a reassuring smile back at his sister.  She was covered in blood, although it wasn't her own, and her body shook from shock.  The whole thing had spooked her.  With this battered dragon appearing out of the woods and collapsing on her added to the mention of Cynder, a dragon they had feared since the day they were born, it was too much for her to handle.  "Come on, we're almost home."
The pair of dragons banked their flight and angled towards a group of pavilions down on the ground, landing in front of one that was slightly larger then the rest.  Makias set the dragon he was carrying gently on the ground before landing next to him.
"You go and tell mom we need her now, I'll get him into mom's workroom."  Makias looked straight into his sister's eyes to make sure she understood.  Chara stood in the doorway shaking slightly.  "Hey look, everything is going to be alright, you're not hurt are you?"  Makias raised an eyebrow; it was possible that she had been injured when the dragon practically fell on top of her.
Chara shook her head.
"Oh then, I need you to go get mom, ok?"  Chara nodded slightly as she firmed her jaw and forced her limbs to still themselves before running off into the house.  Chara moved though the house calling out for her mother as she searched through each of the rooms on the lower lever.  After she was unable to find her mother on the lower levels, Chara ran to the steps and vaulted herself up, using her wings to propel herself up the stairs rather than running.  Chara landed at the top of the stairs and dug her claws into the soft stone whipping herself around.  "Mom!"
Chara's mother strolled out of her room at the other end of the hallway.  Her face was buried in a medicinal text that she often read from.  "What's the rush Chara, it sounds like…" the scroll fell from her mother's hand as she looked up and saw Chara covered in blood.  "Dear ancestors Chara, what happened, are you ok?"  Her mother was immediately hovering overtop of her, checking her over for injuries.
"Mom…."  Char spoke up from under her mother's protective care, trying to bring attention to the dragon that Makias was moving downstairs.
"Are you ok, where is your brother, where is the bleeding coming from, did you clean the wound?"  Chara's mother's medical training mixed with her instinct for the protection and care for her children.
"Mom!"
"Where's Makias, is he hurt, how did you make it back, where did this happen?"  Her mother ran her hand down her side, feeling the bases of her wings and down her side, looking for and broken bones and other injuries.
"Mom!  I'm fine."
"But you covered in blood, and…" Chara was held out at arms length and examined again by her mother.
"We found someone outside the city walls, he was beat up pretty bad so we brought him back here."  Chara looked up at her mother as she started to pull away and head back downstairs.  "He needs your help."
Chara's mother followed closely behind Chara as she moved back down the stairs and towards her mother's office and workroom.  Still worried that her daughter was covered in blood, Chara's mother continued to look her over as she walked down the stairs.
As they walked into the room that served as her mother's office and office, Chara had to turn her head to avoid looking at the dragon that lay unconscious on the table.  Chara's mother let out and audible gasp as she entered the room.  "My word, what happened to him."
Makias threw a cloth into the sink that he had been using to wash off some of the dried blood from the dragon's scales.  Both of the siblings had a small amount of training in their mother's art, but Makias was more prone to helping and had more experience in helping their mother.  "He wandered out of the woods like this and collapsed, so we carried him back here."  Makias grabbed another cloth from a rack on the side of the room and dunked it in a basin before gently washing away the blood and dirt from the dragon's wings.
"Do you know who he is?"
Char answered from over in the corner of the room.  "No, he passed out before he could say anything…"
Makias shot Chara a look behind his mother's back, questioning why Chara hadn't mentioned the one word he had said.  Chara simply shook her head.  It was best not to worry their mother any more then they needed to.
Chara's mother moved overtop of the dragon laying on the table, looking at serious points of injury as Makias pointed them out.  "Well, let me see what I can do."