Naven

ATTACK!

"Pick a dragon and run!" Nola'Nihil shouted as he vaulted over the dragon's hindquarters to land on the nape of his neck. Cairo was within arm's reach, so she grabbed onto one of the dream weaver's spines and pulled herself up to sit behind him as the dragon bolted off the platform and charged into the crowd. I grabbed Nehi's arm and pulled her onto Reena's back.

Nehi blinked at me. "So, like Cairo asked� what IS the plan?"

I shrugged. "Oh, the usual � beat up a few chief bad guys, scare the rest into submission, and escape with everybody's heads on their necks." I grabbed onto Reena's horns to steer, but soon found them jerked out of my hands. "Is there a problem with that idea?"

Nehi scanned the crowd. "The instant you see a brown bear, go after him. That dirty piece of sewage has my rings, and until I get those back we won't be able to do nearly half the damage we should!"

Reena leapt over the crowd, flying just above their reach. She smirked. "This should speed things up some. And I'll keep on the lookout for Moneybags, too . . .."

"Do you see Cairo?" I scanned the crowd furtively looking for a riff that she and the dragon had hopefully caused. I spotted them towards the outskirts, holding shreds of cloaks from would-be attackers. "Follow them!"

"Oh, all right . . ." Reena dove down, catching up to the trio quickly. Cairo was still injured, but didn't seem to have much trouble staying on the dragon and defending herself from there. Reena hit the ground running, and the dream weaver followed, allowing for some strategizing. "You okay with having those two ride on you?"

"Getting used to it."

I blinked when I heard him. Cairo nearly fell off the mount. Well, that verified things . . . the dream weaver WAS Spyro, albeit in a good disguise. It made things that much easier, but it all smacked of too many damn coincidences. Nola, however, wasn't nearly as shocked as we were. "The shield's up ahead. Which way?"

I saw the shimmer of energy from the shield. "Left!"

"Right!" Cairo replied back, nodding.

"Right?" Spyro turned his head some.

Cairo nodded, then froze. "Right . . . No! Left! LEFT!"

"You said right!" He hissed.

"I meant 'yes'!" Cairo tried to explain.

"So I go right." Spyro spoke again.

"No! Left! Left! LE-!"

WHAP!

"Oh, shit." I muttered as we turned left, leaving Cairo, Nola, and a dazed Spyro behind.  "Reena; what're your numbers?"

Reena hesitated. "My what?"

"How much weight can you carry?"

"Two hundred fifty � Wait a minute!" She hissed, speeding up and running along the perimeter of the shield.
"I am NOT turning around so you can save Cairo!"

Cairo

"Wonderful . . . our transport is 'buggered', so to speak." Nola muttered at the disguised Spyro, who knocked himself out when he hit the wall. "They'll be on us any moment now."

I tried to prop myself up. "And I'm still injured . .. ACK!" Unfortunately, I just managed to fall and trip over one of Spyro's legs. By the time I was starting to crawl on my elbows, the mob of worshippers arrived. Two of them grabbed my arms � a blessing in disguise, since I could stand now� and two more did the same to Nola, holding us still until the disciple walked over to us. He grabbed Nola's ear.

"I'd rather you didn't do that . . ." He hissed.

"Not sure whether to have you killed alongside Silver-Dagger or to just have you flogged for letting your emotions get in the way." The disciple hissed. "I'll deal with you later � fortunately, none of these other worshippers have weapons� three hundred armed men is never a good idea, even if they are faithful." His belly-lodged eyes darted to me. "It's almost as bad an idea as keeping you alive."

"You didn't talk like that when you had your fingers in my wound." I spoke, smirking as this raised the ire of a few worshippers.

The disciple glared back at them. "Perverts! It was a gunshot wound! A GUNSHOT WOU-OOF!" He muttered as I took my one good leg to kick him in the ribs and knock him down. He glared at me, and jumped up to grab my neck.

"Vindictive, aren't you?" I muttered, locked into his grip. He pulled his revolver out from the folds of his belt, and pressed it into my chest, just in front of the heart. 

"I reloaded it before the ceremonies just for you . . ." He grinned evilly as he clicked off the safety. "Can you hear the bullets now, Silver-Dagger?"

"You have to fire it for me to hear the bullets, twit." I spat at him.

"Oh . . . true. Maybe I'll just fire a few into that dragon's skull so you can hear it and appreciate my efforts to kill you." He turned around to fire, but was surprised to find that Spyro had moved from where he was. "Where'd the dragon go?!"

"ACK!" Nola yelped as Spyro plowed through the worshippers to catch the disciple off-guard. It was enough of a disturbance for me to break free and take control of the disciple, while Spyro kept the others at bay. Nola grabbed the disciple at a pressure point, sending him into unconsciousness. "Glad to see you're awake."

I glanced up at the dragon. He had more power than I expected . . . then again, it didn't take much to scare off a crowd of unarmed worshippers, even if Hyksos himself had given the word to mow us down. 

I stood up, lifting the disciple with a practiced ease and holding him over my shoulder. "We need to find Reena and the others. With any luck, we should be able to escape before Hyksos tries to challenge us."

"Like he hasn't already?" Spyro muttered under his breath as he warded the worshippers away so Nola and I would be able to mount up again and ride away.

We broke free of the crowd, but unfortunately the shield covered a great deal of land, and we couldn't see where the others had gone. I turned to face Nola, fumbling with the disciple so I could make eye contact. "Tell me you and Naven were smart enough to have an escape plan."

"I do have a talisman we could use to portal back to Iron Prisma. However, it would be against protocol and could result in my imprisonment if I abandon a superior."

Spyro began running for a cradled skyboat. "Translation?"

"We need to find the others."

I turned to see the boat. I couldn't identify it off-hand, but it looked familiar. Maybe one of my 'sisters' saw it before they recalled earlier today, or something along those lines. A few moments later, and I saw the flash of silver � smart dragon. He knew Reena was over there.

Nehi'nihil

We ducked behind one of the skyboat's wings, lying under the cradle of the ship. Naven held up a small mirror to see Moneybags, who had his back turned to the reflection. "You wait here while I get your rings back."

"No."

Naven blinked. "What?"

I nudged him back from me. "I appreciate your offer, but I have to do this myself. The last thing I need right now is the thought that I can't take care of myself when things go wrong."

"It's a little late for that. I already undid your chains back in the disciple's room, remember?" He offered his hand out again.

I pushed it back and snarled at him. "There was a key on his dresser, which I could have used had you not forced the chains open first. Besides, I have wings � I'll surprise him better than you will." I flittered over the tarp to see Moneybags counting his gems while he thought he was safe. Trying my best to stay quiet, I reached down to grab both rings with one hand.

Moneybags turned around. "What in the name of-"

WHUMP!

I delivered a well placed elbow, and Moneybags slumped over, unconscious. Naven scaled the side of the boat after he heard the noise, and blinked. "Nice work."

"Thanks." I quickly gathered up the gems � Spyro would be glad to see them once the fight was over. I slipped the gems into the sack and tied the sack cords together, forming a strap I could wear over my shoulder. I then mounted the rings to hover and rotate around my wrists, generating the friendly hum that I was getting used to earlier today. "It's about time I got back at that ursine. You have a pair of handcuffs on you?"

Naven nodded, quickly securing the unconscious bear and throwing him in the cargo hold of the skyboat. "Too bad I don't know how to steer. Then we could commandeer the boat and use it to keep out of further 'trouble', at least until we get back."

"Never send a man to do a dragon's job, apparently." Reena flew inside the boat, sitting down on the floor in front of the controls � Moneybags was rather short, apparently, and didn't mind a low-slung steering wheel. "A turn of this, a flick of that, a little ignition . . . ."

Vrrrrr.

I spotted a dragon running out towards us. "That's them! Pick them up!"

Reena dove low, hoping to intercept them. Spyro jumped and caught the edge, scrambling to hang on and crawl in. In the snow below us, however, I noticed a form running underneath us, too quick to see. I definitely saw hoof prints, though. Just as Spyro managed to crawl into the boat, Hyksos's head suddenly came into view under the boat, biting at Nola's ankles and ripping at his cloak. Cairo managed to get in the boat.

"Is there anyone else who managed to get themselves held prisoner here or is this it?" Naven grinned at Cairo, breaking his gaze away from my form.

Cairo dropped the nearly unconscious form of the disciple, Anwa'Hotep, onto the floor. I winced and took two steps back when I saw him. "Decided it was safer for me to carry him knocked out than to let him go. I think I knocked the gun out of his hand earlier � tie the guy up."

Naven grabbed the rope and quickly went about pinning the disciple down. Cairo tied him, while I just stood a pace away, uneasy at Anwa's presence, which was still filled with avarice and malice. "Perfect. Just put him in the cargo hold as well as we'll be home free. Officer Nihil, prepare the talisman."

My brother Nola pulled the talisman out from his cloak, focusing his energy to activate it. However, when he moved his hand, the talisman tipped and fell, hitting the wooden floor of the sky boat, ringing as clear as any bell � the wooden kitty with a metal collar acted like a mere statuette, and not the talisman it was.

It was hard to hide the paleness of Nola's face as reality struck. "No one's even bothered to check if Tahlaist magic works inside the icon shield, have they?"

Worried glances fluttered about the ship. Cairo, despite her promises, had yet to cast a single spell; neither had Naven or Nola. I hadn't cast any, although I didn't have any amplifier such as a wand until just recently, either. The dragons weren't expected to perform spells, given their breeds, but at the same time they had no dragonflies � marks of magical healing ability bonded to their dragon kindred. Amazingly, incredibly, not an ounce of magic had been used since we entered the shield.

I sighed, but shrugged. "We've gotten this far without using Tahlaist magic. There should be an escape route that doesn't require it � a hole in the shield, or maybe a way to turn it off from the inside."

Anwa moaned and tried to roll over, surprising Naven, who had a foot on one of Anwa's shoulders. "Nehi . . . I know a way."

"What is it, then?" Cairo asked the disciple, her curiosity piqued.

"Get away from me, Silver-Dagger! I refuse to tell you . . . or you . . . or you . . . forget I said anything. I will not betray Hyksos." The disciple tried to stand up, even though Naven was holding his hands back. "So you've 'captured' me. Not for long though." With that, he jumped backward, sending Naven into the side of the boat and breaking the hold. Cairo moved forward to try and grapple the disciple back down, but Anwa resisted even more, causing an uneasy balance on the floor of the ship. Cairo's strength was legendary for certain; but lacking her left leg for support, she was a challenge instead of unbeatable.

I moved to push Anwa away, but it was too late. He had gotten his arms loose, and was reaching for his gun. He was about to fire on Cairo, but she was trying desperately to keep his arm out of her range, and-

BANG.

"No, no . . . this wasn't supposed to happen!" The disciple dropped his gun, kneeling down to face me as I slumped over, bleeding from the shoulder. "I never wanted to hurt you . . . I know that you'd have a hard time believing that I almost made the same mistake this morning, but I was aiming for the pink dragon, not you . . . I'm sorry, Nehi, I'm so sorry . . ."

Spyro Prime

Nehi coughed as the disciple hovered over her. "You're certainly a worse shot than you were this morning . . ."

"Don't give me that look, Nehi � Hyksos has tried to make me forget you, but I can't . . . You don't know how angry I was with myself for almost hitting you, and how relieved I was when that dragon took the bullet. " He leaned in closer. "I hate the fact I treated you so badly earlier. If I had known-"

"Shut up." She snarled, grabbing her shoulder. "We have to fly past the shield in order to reach a hospital. Now do you know a way for us to bring the shield down or not?"

The disciple slumped some, concerned by the venom in Nehi's voice. "If you wish, love." The disciple stood up, draping his rings about his wrists and causing them to spin, much like Nehi had her rings spin while she was fighting the monks. The shield flashed with light for a moment, and then it was gone. I grinned as Sparx reappeared, just over my shoulder.

TRAITOR! Love-pocked fool! You will die for this!

Nola heard Hyksos's screams, but smirked. "Well, now that the shield's down, I guess this little beauty will work." Nola grinned as the metal collar on the wooden cat statuette came to life, forming a portal just ahead of the ship.

The portal led to a well-lit island, even though most of the island was covered in buildings and asphalt. Reena flew around the island, looking for a pier to land the ship at. Cairo grinned at the sight of the island. "Iron Prisma � I've never been happier to see the place!"

"Is it just me or did that whole confrontation seem too easy?" I remarked to Cairo.

She shrugged. "You were moments away from having your head chopped off and you think it was too easy?"

"I expected to have a showdown against Hyksos, that's all. Whenever I'm facing down most other enemies, it's not likely that 'run away like crazy and escape' ever works."

Cairo looked past my shoulder, cocking her head. "I doubt you would have wanted to do that. He was almost more than I could handle back when I first confronted him."

"And is there some reason why your fighting experience is important to me?" I shrugged, looking over my shoulder. Something was over there.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?"

"No."

"Let's keep it that way." Cairo peered over the edge. "Did something fly through the portal after us?"

A black, feathered wing cut through a beam of light. "I'm certain something came after us. What's Nehi's condition?"

The disciple glanced up. "I used my sash to bandage the wound, but I don't know if it did any good; she's been out since we went through the portal. Maybe the air pressure got to her."

"Reena, dock the boat and make sure Nehi gets to whatever hospital this place has. Cairo and I will catch up with you."

Naven coughed. "You're joking, right?"

"No, we're pretty sure Nehi needs to see a healer about that bullet. Although why Spyro wants me to join him is beyond me." Cairo replied back, and winced. "I probably need to see a healer about my bullet, too. You better go take care of whatever business you had in mind alone, Spyro � I'll be useless on the asphalt with only one good leg."

"Suit yourself." I jumped over the side of the boat, rolling on the asphalt as I landed. The surrounding area was eerily quiet. I crept around, trying to stay out of the light in case it would alert whatever was out here to my presence.

Warrior-beyond-his-years . . . 

"Go home. We're not on your little playground anymore." As soon as the words left my mouth, Hyksos darted through the light, revealing green scallops along his fur � presumably feathers, since he now had feathery wings with similar green-tipped feathers. His once-bulky horse body was now thin and sleek; his movements were graceful, without more than the lightest click-clack as they hit the asphalt. The eyes that I tried to ignore earlier were glowing fiercely, almost with a burning fire inside.

This ends NOW! 

All Hyksos did was hover in front of me, with his wings beating the air and his hooves free to kick and cast as they liked. For some reason, my flame withered to nothing; it felt like the oxygen had been left out of the air. I wasn't concerned at first since I was used to breathing in water, but the winds Hyksos stirred around himself were too strong for me to penetrate to charge him. Without fire, I'd have no chance of hurting him.

I tried to charge forward when Hyksos ran towards me, and I stopped him in his tracks. My horns  made a tiny cut in his leg, but the cut healed quickly. The eyes of Hyksos glowed red, and for a moment all I could feel was myself falling . . ..

I coughed, trying to move, but my body held still. My brain sent the orders to my legs to kick, to my arms to prop me up, but none listened. Hyksos walked closer, placing a hoof on my paralyzed chest. Those damnable red eyes focused on me, forcing me to spasm as their glow flared up in an attempt to gain control, but he couldn't seem to do that. I managed to gain control again after Hyksos had tried a few times, even though there was very little I could do to stop him. He kicked me away, causing my health to drop.

I leapt forward again, hoping that if I jumped right, I could get in close enough to stab him with my horns. Hyksos picked up another cut, which he didn't heal up right away. Before I could get back far enough, though, his eyes turned red again, and I fell back onto the ground. I felt my body twitch as his eyes flared again, but this time, I felt my body move. First one finger, then another, until the sensation crept through my body, the blood running cold. Hyksos walked up to me, with an expression across his face that I barely recognized as a grin.

What did you DO to me? I thought, unable to do anything else. The oxygen was returning to the air now � too late, of course. It was probably Hyksos's doing; a very evil trick, to say the least. My body marched away from the buildings, to what I could vaguely tell was the edge of the island.

Did you think you could win, Warrior-beyond-his-years? You won that little race earlier because this body of mine was cursed by Silver-Dagger, but not anymore. You've lost, Dragon.

You can't win . . . I won't let you do this . . .  My feet stepped closer to the grassy track running along the edge of that precipice.

Too late!

With one last flare of his eyes, my legs launched me over the edge of the island, leaving nothing between myself and the oceans below but thin air. At the same time, my blood no longer felt cold; now that Hyksos had finished toying with me, his hold was no longer there. It didn't need to be; All I could do now was fall . . .

Cairo

"Is it out?" I winced, sitting up on the exam table as the tongs pulled out of my leg. "Just tell me you got it out!"

"It's out." The healer replied. My hands quickly darted to my leg from there, healing up the open wound and removing the scars that had grown there while it sat untreated. "Are you sure you don't need any antibiotics for that?"

"Read the history books � I AM a freaking antibiotic." I remarked as I grabbed my outfit and left the room, still in a hospital gown. I walked down the hall to the elevator, where I met up with Naven.

"Evening, Mistress." He said as he came off the elevator. "I see your leg's healed up nicely."

"Never mind that. Where's Nehi's room? What happened to the disciple? Has Spyro come in yet?"

Naven held up his clipboard. "Nehi's in ER right now; they haven't assigned her a room yet. The disciple's in a holding cell and sulking a bit. As for Spyro, no one's seen him."

"What could have taken him so long?" I remarked, noting Reena stomping down the hall. "Hello, Reena."

 She snarled. "Drop it."

 "I'm not giving you enough of an attitude to drop it."

Reena crossed her arms. "I wasn't referring to that. I meant drop the charges against my husband. We both know he's innocent."

I mused for a moment. "Fine. I was thinking about dropping the case anyway."

"Good." Reena nodded, then turned her head. "Anyone seen Spyro?"

"That's what I just asked him about. Whatever he was looking for on the tarmac seems to have taken a bit of time. Maybe you'd like to step out for a moment and look for him?"

"Certainly � although I think you should change first. The MP won't be happy to see you outside half-naked like that."

"What are you . . . OH!" I ran into a janitor's closet, slipping my outfit on. I threw the hospital gown in the trash as soon as I came out. "Now let's see what happened to take so much of Spyro's time, shall we?"

The two of us walked outside, looking for a disturbance on the asphalt. We walked for about five minutes, silent, looking for Spyro or whatever it was that he saw. "There! You see it?"

"Like it was daylight. Come on!" I ran, following the shadowy figure until we were close enough to see that it was Hyksos. Furthermore, it was Hyksos with wings. I snarled at him, "So I see that you removed my curse. I guess not having that shield was enough to do it, after all."

"What did you do with Spyro?" Reena spoke up.

The late Warrior-beyond-his-years is certainly dead by now. He was just a test, though; I'm sure that you two will be slightly more difficult to finish off.

 I hissed, drawing my dagger in one hand and my wand in the other. "What did you do to him?"

He did it to himself by jumping off the edge of the island, albeit his body was under my control at the time.

"Cold-hearted bastard. Wait, I take that back; cold-hearted demon is more precise." Reena growled low, the barest wisps of flame leaving her lips as the spoke with a heavy breath.

"Mind if I ride on your back? I think I can-"

WHOOSH!

Hyksos whinnied in shock as the flames trickled down his back. He rolled for a few minutes to try and get rid of the fire while Spyro walked over to us. Some of his body paint was peeling away, and one of his fake secondary horns had broken off. "So is it too late to save the two of you or did I arrive in time?"

"You're alive!" Reena grinned, hugging him. "But how? I thought you jumped!"

"I realized that when you're falling three miles straight down, you suddenly have PLENTY of time to learn how to fly." He glanced back at Hyksos, beating his wings as he spoke. "Now do you want my help in taking him down or not?"

Cairo smirked. "Gladly."

Reena and Spyro tried to attack him on the flanks, although he was careful to keep the winds around him fast enough to avoid their blows. Seeing a possible opening, I ran towards Spyro, vaulted off his rump, performed a half-twist, and sunk my dagger into Hyksos's shoulder.

He whinnied, whipping me away � but not loosening my grip on my dagger, which slid out as it cut deep into his skin. He tried to heal it off, but it wasn't gone completely.

"One of you fly in from above! He's vulnerable!" I screamed out. Spyro took the hint, flying off to come back and try to get in another flame attack on him. Unfortunately, he didn't return before Hyksos's eyes turned red.

WHUMP!

Spyro froze up and hit the asphalt, breaking off his other fake horn and shredding the body paint on his left flank. Reena tried to run towards him, but I signaled for her to stay back; I'd fallen for THAT trick before. Hyksos's eyes flared once, twice, three times, and then they turned back to white. I nodded, and Reena ran to help Spyro back up as his dragonfly healed whatever damage was caused.

"Damnit . . ." Spyro muttered as he jumped to try and hit Hyksos that way. By then, however, Hyksos already had his guard up again. Another attempt to hit him passed, but this time he saw me coming and moved back at the last moment to avoid my blow.

Hyksos's eyes turned red again, and Spyro ducked in reflex � However, Reena was the target this time. She got right back up, which surprised me at first, until I saw that Hyksos's eyes were still red.

Zap!

Reena, like nearly everyone who had ever faced Hyksos like this, was unlucky enough to succumb to the mind-control. I flinched as she tried to shoot me, but she managed to hit my arm instead of the neck she was aiming for. I dropped my dagger from the shock, but cast a biocrystal spell on her to keep her from doing any more damage.

Spyro walked behind me, then ran forward towards me, but I ducked as his wings beat to launch himself into the air. The wings did the rest, and he flew for Hyksos, ready to send another burst of flame into his face � and this time, since Reena was still frozen and technically under his control, he couldn't stop us so easily this time.

I reached down to pick up my dagger, but felt a twinge of pain as my hand drew near. A glare shot from my eyes to Hyksos as I picked up the dagger that he had now iconized, ignoring the pain that combined with the laser wound from Reena's weapon. This was far enough. "Spectral Blaze!"

A ball of pale flame with streaks of teal, magenta, indigo, and any other color under the sun flew towards Hyksos. The ball scorched Spyro, but what little flame touched him had a healing effect. Hyksos, however, received the full brunt of the fire, running away from us with mad abandon in his eyes and pain in his whinnies. I ran after him to be certain of my handiwork, but not before releasing Reena from my spell first. Hopefully Hyksos's hold on her was gone by now.

"Wait up!" She spoke as soon as she saw me running. Spyro was ahead of her, but not by much. By the time they caught up with me, Hyksos was near the main entrance to Iron Prisma, collapsed and burning in a bonfire of rainbow flame. "Wow. Did you just kill him?"

"I hope so." I noted as spectators and fire squads came out of the building. "I really hope so."

"If I Worked for Insomniac...", "Spyro Prime", "Dragon's Jubilee" and all other related works are � Rachel 'Jekkal' Keslensky, 2000. "Spyro the Dragon", "Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage", and "Spyro: Year of the Dragon" are � Vivendi-Universal, Inc. This site is affiliated with Insomniac Games, Inc.