Well here we are again. It's been too long my friends. I apologize, I've been kept from this due to school and other activities. Such as just beating AC: Revelations an hour ago in anticipation for AC 3! Going to the midnight release with my brother and a couple friends, gonna be sweet :3 Playing so much AC has given me ideas for fighting scenes too. Just the smoothness and the way fights move in the games heavily inspires my future fight scenes. So look forward to those, it'll be awesome! Well enough gibber gabber, I'll talk to you again at the end, if you still want to. I'd like it if you listened to me ramble, I'm lonely :'(

Disclaimer: Spyro and all other characters except for my OCs do not belong to me. All OCs that appear belong to me forever and ever. And when time ends I'll give them to my children. Firstborn gets Blaze, their lover gets Frost, awww 3. Lake is all all mine. When I die my spouse will receive all ownership of the lake. And I can guarantee you I will marry someone who is just as bad as me when it comes to claiming territory!

Chapter 16: Disaster Before a Storm

Outside the city walls Frost gave a sigh as Blaze smashed a large branch. A pile of broken sticks had started piling up near the fire dragon as he got more and more nervous. Frost was also getting worried, but her only signs of it were her flicking her tail back and forth.

Blaze sat down next to Frost, and said, "Think we should go back and find them?"

Frost said, "No. We just have to have faith in that they'll come back out."

Blaze grunted in frustration and layed his head down on the snow. Frost looked up at the sky, noting the increasing amount of dark clouds. She said, "Looks like we'll get some snow later."

Blaze said, "That'll be good. If it's hard enough then we'll be able to hide somewhere without worrying about being pursued."

Frost was about to agree with Blaze when they heard the sound of someone walking from the tunnel. They both crouched down and stood completely still; ready to attack if what they heard was an enemy.

But the young dragons relaxed when they saw Spyro and Cynder crawl out of the hole. Blaze said, "It's about time you two showed up."

Spyro replied, "Sorry about that. How are you two holding up?"

Frost said, "We're fine. We should get moving before they send out their guard after us."

The others agreed and the four dragons were soon running through the forest. It was only a few minutes after they had started that snow started to fall. Normally they wouldn't have to worry, but it quickly transformed into a blizzard that forced them all to a slow walk. Blaze said, "We should make a shelter before one of us freezes to death," barely audible over the wind.

They all stopped to make a shelter. Spyro started to raise earth walls out of the ground in order to make a shelter; causing snow to explode off the ground. Meanwhile Cynder was shivering the blizzard and casting jealous glances at Frost and Blaze, who weren't affected. Frost resisted the cold due to her ice abilities and Blaze simply turned his body temperature up, causing steam to surround him due to the snow that continually landed on him.

Spyro quickly finished the earth dome and used his fire breath on the inside to warm up the rock and melt the snow inside. Cynder rushed inside and was quickly followed by Spyro. Blaze and Frost were right after them as the blizzard began to get worse.

Spyro closed the entrance with stone which left them all in complete darkness. Blaze started a puny fire breath in his mouth though and the shelter was lit up. Cynder was curling up in a corner, trying to conserve what little body heat she had left. Spyro lied down next to her and covered her with his wing as he increased his own body heat. Frost asked, "How long do you guys think we'll be in here?"

Blaze shrugged as he cranked his body heat high enough that the snow around him immediately started to melt. Frost stifled a chuckle as she watched him sink a few inches through the slush. Blaze gave her a glare and then grinned. Before she could ask what he was grinning about, he closed his mouth and left them in darkness.

Frost shouted at Blaze in which he only laughed. Spyro and Cynder kept to their corner as the ice dragoness scolded the fire dragon in the darkness. Soon though they all started feeling tired and fell asleep. Right before going to sleep though, Spyro remembered something and made several small holes in the roof of the shelter, "Almost forgot air, heh," he said softly before nodding off.

-
Back at the castle there was an uproar. The recent attack on the King had caused the wolf guards to panic and tighten their security so that each position was doubled and Flame and his mother had a private band of guards. However the guards were only able to fulfill their jobs from right outside the rooms since the Queen was sobbing in fear and Flame had thrown a tantrum about them staying with him.

Flame had gotten over his anger and was now lying on his bed thinking. His claws were pulling at the mattress as he thought, ripping it open and letting the wool burst out. Soon he got tired of that and started pacing the room.

The fire dragon was trying to think of how he could turn this around. How the kingdom would cope with the death of its ruler didn't matter in his head; all that mattered was how he could kill Blaze now that he was running back to Warfang. Once he got home, he would be practically untouchable to Flame.

As he paced, Flame began to think of something. The easiest and quickest way to kill Blaze is while he's going back to Warfang. Looking outside Flame saw the blizzard that had begun. At first he smirked, but then he remembered that Blaze had lived here before and the chances of him being stupid enough that he'd get himself killed during this were very slim.

Flame snarled and turned away from the window. His eyes caught the bookshelf and something occurred to him. Why not use him? The fire dragon quickly went over to the bookshelf and glanced back at the door to make sure that nobody was coming in. Then he quickly pulled several books from their places and the shelf swung in and revealed a stone staircase leading down. The shelf had already begun to swing back as Flame slid inside.

The staircase was eerily lit with torches were far enough from each other that there were dark patches between each one's area of light. It only took Flame a few minutes of descending he reached a stone door that was easily pushed open.

The fire dragon then crossed the room and went to the iron door. He said, "How would you like to get out?"

He had to wait a few minutes until he heard the sound of something getting up. Claws clacked against the floor as it came to the door and a dry voice asked, "What are you implying?"

Flame smiled, "I'm implying that I could release you. All that you have to do is one job, and then you're free to do whatever you wa-"

"What's the job?" the dry voice said, interrupting.

"Killing a young fire dragon. He's caused me and my family quite a bit of frustration and is also distracting the dragoness I want for my own. He's traveling with three other dragons: a black dragoness who can wield the four dark elements, the purple dragon, and an ice dragoness. Do not harm the ice dragoness at all costs. However, if you could kill the fire dragon in front of her, I would be most appreciative."

There was a moment of silence before the dry voice said, "The purple dragon is involved? Do you think I don't know what he would be capable of? Not to mention that black dragoness, she might as well be a purple dragon with her elemental powers."

Flame grinned, "Oh don't worry about the purple dragon. Before he got away, one of the guards hit him with a poisonous arrow. If you're lucky enough he'll die before you find them, but at the least he'll be unable to fight you. As for the black dragoness, all you need to do is wait for a time when she's not around. She'll probably be around the purple one around the clock whereas the fire dragon won't be."

"So wait until the purple one is taken care of and then kill the fire dragon when he's alone. And then I'll be free?" the voice asked earnestly.

"Of course, I want this dragon dead at any cost." Flame lifted a claw to the side of the iron door and wedged it between the door and doorframe. It then caught fire and the sound of something unlocking was heard.

Before Flame could step away, the door burst open, throwing him to the side and a yellow blur dashed out and up the staircase. Flame spat , and said, "Maybe I'll kill him if I see him again."

Back at Spyro's shelter the group was starting to wake up. Blaze was the first one to wake up. He pushed at Frost to wake her up and then said to the Spyro and Cynder, "Oi, why don't you two get up so we can get going? They're probably out looking for us now."

Cynder heard him and started getting up. She stretched with a large yawn as Spyro remained lying down. Blaze said, "Cynder get him up," as he stretched too, taking up enough space that Frost had to go to the middle.

Cynder gave Spyro a shake saying softly, "Spyro, we've got to get going." When he didn't get up Cynder shoke him harder. She said, "Blaze I can't get him up."

The fire dragon came over and then shook Spyro too. Frost also came over and watched the purple dragon intently. Blaze started to growl as he gripped Spyro's shoulder with his claws and roughly shook the smaller dragon. Even with that, however, the purple dragon didn't wake up.

Frost pushed Blaze over, "Let me look at him," she said in a worried tone. The fire dragon stepped back and sat down to wait. Cynder started to paw the ground worringly. Frost started fidgeting with Spyro, opening his eyes and feeling for his pulse. She then said, "Cynder, you'll have to be the one to open us a way out, Spyro won't be able to anytime soon."

Cynder asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"Probably poison, I can't imagine the coincidence of him getting sick right after he fought," Frost answered, "Blaze, carry him."

As Blaze went over Cynder quickly sprayed acid on the side of the shelter that was the furthest from Spyro. In a matter of seconds the entire side was melted down and the dragons ran through it and out onto the snow. Frost said as they ran, "We've gotta find a village or something so that we can hide and find something to fight the poison."

Blaze asked, "Do you know someplace nearby?"

"I've been looking at some maps while we were in the castle, there's an inn west from Wolfclaw. If we get there then they'll probably have some sort of medicine or doctor," Frost replied.

Cynder glanced at Spyro. He didn't move on Blaze's back except for when the fire dragon moved his shoulders and hips. 'Please be alright' she thought, looking forward again.

The three dragons ran for a few hours until they saw smoke rise above the treetops to their right. Frost took off in that direction followed by Blaze while Cynder took up the rear. They soon emerged from the trees and saw a large wooden building with a chimney that produced the smoke they saw. Without slowing they ran to the front door.

Frost went in first in order to explain what they needed while Blaze and Cynder stayed outside with Spyro. It wasn't long before the blue dragoness poked her head out of the door and said, "We got a room and the innkeeper is a doctor."

Cynder helped Blaze put Spyro on his back before the two went in. The innkeeper greeted them at the door. She was a russel colored coyote who stood about a foot taller than Blaze. Without hesitating she led them upstairs and to the end of the hall where they would be staying.

The room had a single bed under the rectangle window at the other side of the room. A lit fireplace was on the left and made of dark red bricks that matched the dark and empty walls. Blaze deposited Spyro on the bed and the innkeeper started to examine him.

The dragons all laid down on the other end of the room. Frost pushed against Blaze and the fire dragon drooped a wing over her. Cynder just watched with worried eyes.

It wasn't long before the innkeeper finished and came over to them. "It doesn't look good," she said, "I'm familiar with the poison, it infests the blood of the target and makes it so that the blood can't support it's body."

"How can you tell?" Cynder asked, her worry all too obvious.

The innkeeper turned to her, and explained, "Other types of poison causes the eyes to show more blood; this type makes the eyes show very little and makes them hazier."

"Is there any cure?"

"There are a couple different cures such as blood transfer or leeches sucking out the poisoned blood. But with him being a purple dragon I doubt that any other blood would be sufficient for him and I don't have any of the special leeches."

"Please, there has to be something!" Cynder took a step forward, tears starting to spring up in the corner of her eyes.

The innkeeper took a step back, saying, "Well there is another one. But I doubt that anyone would have it."

"What is it?"

"This type of poison once got into various rivers and caused a panic. In order to save those who were afflicted, an antidote was given out. But nobody has the antidote anymore because they stopped distributing them and it turned out to have several other good uses and it was quickly all used up."

Cynder was at a lost for words as she tried to move her mouth to say something, not wanting to believe that Spyro was going to die. "What was the name of the antidote?" Blaze asked.

"I believe it's called Radno Catora, why?" the innkeeper asked.

"If I could find some, how much time do I have before it's too late?"

The innkeeper stummered, "W-well if you can actually find it then you'd probably have two days. Do you think you can actually find it? I don't see why anyone would have any leftover."

"My mother had various medicines that she stored and never used. She was a bit of a pack rat that way," Blaze said, "It might be possible that she had some of it and forgot about it since she had so much other stuff."

Cynder turned to Blaze, "Do you know where it's at?"

"If I can see a map I'll be able to find it, yes. From there it's just looking through her stash."

Cynder smiled and quickly asked the innkeeper about if she had a map here. Meanwhile, Frost watched Blaze. He was sweating a little and for a moment, she could've sworn that she saw fear in his eyes.

Later that afternoon, when Blaze had seen a map and figured out where his old home was, he and Frost flew off to get the antidote while Cynder stayed behind with Spyro. While they flew Blaze didn't talk much. He simply stared forward and kept his wings pumping, lost in his thoughts. Frost glanced at him worringly, not sure how he'd like going back home.

From the trees a pair of glowing eyes watched the two dragons fly off. It had been a simple task of finding the shelter that the group had slept at. It was even easier to track them from there to this inn. And now his target was flying away from the purple dragon and the black dragoness. The green eyes were filled with joy at how easy this task would be as they receded back into the trees.

How was it? I know it was short, but I wanted to get something out since I've been gone for so long. Haven't even been reading the stories I'm watching. Email is piling up like there's no tomorrow -.- Those and political emails... When this election ends it'll be nice to not have political ads every day! *sigh* Now to fun stuff. Like... nvm I'm going to bed, it's stinking 1:26 AM on a Friday night. A normal teenage boy would be out with girls or partying. But screw it! I will write love stories at 1 in the morning! Hurrah! Good night, I'm going to sleep. Maybe I'll have ten reviews when I wake up ;)