Spyro

We walked through the mostly empty Prismatic Temple and out to a courtyard, which was very crowded by comparison. Reena glanced around the courtyard and looked for something.

"What are you looking for? Nehi?"

"No, I'm looking for the ADC's riot school here so I can sign up . . . YES, I'm looking for Nehi. She's got our boat tickets!" Reena craned her neck over the masses of faerie. "They really need to streamline this airport . . . there she is!"

We ran over to her, sitting down at a less crowded section of the airport � a sushi restaurant. Nehi put down her chopsticks and smiled slightly when she saw us. "Interesting 'bodyguard'! I approve."

"Is it that obvious?" I paled.

"Not really. But talking about it is not exactly a good idea, either." Nehi picked up her tray and slid the two tickets into Reena's hand. "I booked you for 'SteelWing', Red Gate 9. It's the Skyboat to Bronze Prisma � they don't have any direct flights to Iron Prisma, plus you need to acclimate your bodies to the thin air. If you think breathing here on mile-high Lower Prisma is tough now, well � there's a reason the police station there is nicknamed 'Iron Lung'."

As soon as she mentioned it, I realized she had a point � it WAS harder to breathe here, at least a little. I wasn't falling over panting, but I might notice it if I had to run. "Anything else?"

Nehi turned to Reena. "I'll be taking the rest of the day at the firm to prepare for the case, and then meet you up there tommorow. You're going ahead to try and contact your husband. It would be a shame if I won the case without even consulting him to make sure he consents or to swap dockets, let alone . . .."

Consent? Dockets? I wasn't thinking about her conversation; I was trying to figure out what that dull red meat in the sushi was. Sparx was about to try the orange shreads when I glanced out towards the throng of masses, and then heard something.

It wasn't so much hearing the voice as it was understanding it. A weird sort of telepathy that reminded me how Sparx 'spoke' in Rose Garden. Cover the faerie! NOW!

I lept up, slipping on my chair and falling over the table, having a knee-jerk reaction to the voice and knocking Nehi over in the process. The next instant, I felt a searing pain in my shoulder. Another few instants, and a wave of screams went through the terminal. I opened one eye to see a deep hole in my right arm, rapidly pooling with blood.

Nehi paled, holding onto the railing to keep from falling on her back. "No way . . . no way . . . Not since the raid . . ."

Reena panicked. "EMS! EMS! My friend's been shot!"

"Oh . . . OW . . . Sparx, can't you fix it without it hurting so much?"

He buzzed at me in annoyance. "Stop twitching! This bullet dug into your shoulder real deep, and it's still in there." Sparx felt around the wound, trying to remove the pieces of bullet before he could heal me.

Reena kneeled over me, muttering over and over to herself. "Leshi maura, ketix Tahla m'cora . . ." 

Nehi'nihil had calmed down by this point, also keeping watch over me. She snarled at the wound. "And to think that was aimed right for my windpipe . . . I should've expected this. Now I'm glad we took those 'security precautions' earlier."

I winced as Sparx yanked out the mangled mass of bullet. "What?"

"That was the end of the pause right before our eyes." Nehi'nihil sighed. "The case itself was suspcious enough, but this just clinches it. There's no other way to explain it other than that the shooting was related to this case. I mean, I don't make enemies in the courtroom . . . well, maybe a few . . .. In any case, I may as well refund your tickets. This entire snit is going to shut the airport down in an attempt to find the shooter, so any chances of heading to Iron Prisma on a group boat are nil."

Reena glanced up at her. "On a group boat?"

"They'll have to allow small craft to leave, albeit under extreme scrutiny � there's too many wingless folk for them to do otherwise, and Iron Prisma is a flight too dangerous for your own wings." She pointed over to a shipyard, and then shrugged. "Unfortunately, I don't own any little boats. We'll have to talk someone into letting us hitchfly."

I sat up, feeling over the freshly-healed shoulder. "Damn . . . Sparx is getting better at this stuff by the day."

"He should be � That's what dragonflies are known for."

The four of us turned our heads to him� a Dream Weaver dragon, who was older (and larger) by a few years, but still rather skinny. He was a pale lavender, with a stark white vest, and both his wing leather and belly scales were speckled like the night itself. And he had pale yellow horns; spindly double-horns, of course. I was surprised that more Dream Weavers didn't end up breaking them whenever they moved, especially with all the gestures they had. "What? Is something wrong?"

Reena turned away from him, while I stood up. "Who are you?"

"High Priest Koleil. I run the temple just near the airport. Think I saw you running through it, actually." He looked over at me, beginning to speak telepathically again. You should thank me� I alerted you just in time about that shooter. Surprised you didn't pick it up earlier, but I guess you're one of those non-prophet types.

I extended my hand, looking over at Reena nervously. She mouthed 'play along' and pulled her coat shut.

"Thanks again for doing that� I know it looked painful from my vantage point. Didn't get much chance to see the shooter� it wasn't revealed in the prophecy, and when I did look, the thing was veiled head to toe. Even the hands were gloved. About faerie height, forest green cloak . . . couldn't tell if it had horns or not. Might have been almost anybody."

"Do the police know?" Reena looked over at the priest.

"I've already told them the same story I told you. Other than offering you room in the temple for overnight, I'm not sure what else I could offer."

"That won't be necessary." Reena helped me up. "I'm sure we can find a way out of this airport." The priest shrugged and walked away. As soon as he left, Reena gave me a swift jab in the ribs. "Next time, speak up a little more� Have you ever seen a Dream Weaver who was so quiet?"

"I'll speak when I want to speak. Now, where's that small craft lot? We should start finding a ride." With that, we walked down to the small craft lot, which was quickly becoming empty as flights were cancelled and small skyboats dropped into the low clouds. This may have been our best shot at a ride to Iron Prisma, but who would be willing to let us on their boat?

Amid the crowd, a voice rang unsually clear to me."Bloody cheap boat! Take that and that and�"

I grinned. "That way. I know where we can definately get a ride. Just make sure to get your gems back when you refund those tickets . . .."

Reena

The boat owner hrummphed, waving a floppy gem sack. "Now see here, sunshine; there is no way I'm letting you use this boat!"

Spyro Prime put his arm around the tuxedoed bear's shoulder. "I'm certain we can come to some deal on this, Moneybags. What's your price?"

"My fees are not for-. Hold it just one minute! How did you know . . .?" Moneybags shined up his monocle and looked at the dragon again.

"As if word of the Crown Prince of Avalar could stay quiet for long! I'm sure plenty of people know your name, myself included." He smoothly covered his tracks. I wondered why he didn't just let the bear know the exact truth.

"Well, the Crown Prince of Avalar says you can just shove it up your arse! And for further reference, my name is not 'Moneybags', so that further shows your insipidity." He scoffed, and then mumbled underneath his voice. "There's only one person I know of who's ever called me that."

Spyro Prime motioned for me to walk with him and stand next to Moneybags, towering just over the poor bear's head. He whispered into one of Moneybags's ears. "Glad to see you remember me. Now, about that boat?"

Moneybags stiffened. "You! Why, I should box your brows after your last escapade � and if I'd invested in a pair of brass knuckles instead of this boat, I'd do just that!" He snarled and then whimpered, shrinking down even more. "You promise not to hurt me, right?"

I grinned at him. "Certainly. We just need you to fly us to Iron Prisma. We have a trial to catch and we're going to make it, whether the airport's open or not."

"Well, you won't make it in my boat. There must be half a dozen things wrong with it, and I'm no mechanic." Moneybags trembled as he looked at his broken skyboat.

"May I look at it, then?"

He scoffed. "Why should I let you look at it? It's hardly a ladies' job to be a mechanic!"

I sighed, and crawled into the boat. "What world are YOU from?" I kicked the air a bit as I dove into the engine casing and examined the engine. "Every full-blooded Peace Keeper I know of has enough mechanical skills to build a combustible land motor. I bet Sp � er, plenty of half-bloods know a good deal of mechanics too."

"Fine, fine . . . so what's wrong with the boat?" He asked.

"The gear's worn down on the left wing joint, the rudder's cracked, the right wing leather in the outer triangle is ripped, I don't see either one of the springs needed for suspension . . .  How in the name of Tahla did you GET such a piece of shit?" I threw out the broken gear, which Spyro Prime caught just before it would have hit him in the head.

Moneybags squirmed."It was in better condition when I bought it. Half of those problems originated when I flew into that storm. It's a miracle I found my way here at all."

"Fair enough." I stopped for a moment."Well, where's the last thing?"

He blinked. "What last thing?"

"You said 'there must be a half dozen things wrong with it'. I've only found five. What's the last one?" I sat up in the engine, ripping the tarp by accident. I sighed. "Never mind . . . I found the last problem." I crawled out of the small skyboat. "So; new wing rotor, new rudder, new leather, two new springs, and a new tarp, all for one T-scale boat. Could someone write everything down?"

"Right here!" Nehi showed me the list on her notepad. "Hm . . . the tarp and springs are lower priority to the function of the boat. If we can get the important sutff first, then we can travel to Upper Prisma and get the rest. There's a community airport there; it'll make the flight to Iron Prisma that much easier, not to mention the gas is cheaper."

Spyro Prime rolled his eyes and looked back at Sparx. "Okay, where do we go to get the items?"

"Erm . . .." I thought for a minute. "The three portals here always make nice boat parts; some better than others. Floating Atoll has the best wing rotors, we can get a new rudder at the Cloud Market, and there's an excellent leathersmith in Grand Central."

Spyro Prime nodded to that. "Okay. Three realms by nightfall should be easy enough." 

"By nightfall? Prima, the trial is for tomorrow afternoon!" I retorted. "Besides, it's supposed to rain tonight. Flyable weather, but it's certainly not good to fly in without a  tarp."

"Fine. By noon we head off for Upper Prisma, and then by night we should have everything ready and be able to head for Iron Prisma. Whatever time frame you like, there's plenty of it." We turned for the portals, when Moneybags stopped us.

"You're not leaving to get those boat parts until I get a security deposit!" He humphed, holding out his flimsy gem bag.

"What security deposit?"

"The 300-gem security deposit that ensures nothing will happen to the boat, what else?" He beemed, holding his bag out. 

Spyro Prime sighed, dumping a tidy collection of gems into the bag. "Now . . . nothing BETTER happen to this boat, or else I'll take my deposit back. Got it?" Moneybags nodded. "Good." With that, we left Moneybags back at the dock, and walked over to the temple entrance, where the Floating Atoll portal was located. Koleil was sitting at the entrance to the temple for some reason.

We tried to walk past without getting his attention, but he looked at me. "Reena, may I speak with you? It's temple business."

"Certainly. You three can head on through the portal . . .  I'll be there in a minute." I waited until they went throuhg the portal before I spoke with Koleil again. "What do you want?"

He held his hand out. "I'm worried about you, Reena. This case you're getting involved in . . . the one Mai'ko was talking about with that cult faerie friend of yours, correct?"

"Yes . . . and she's not a 'cult'  faerie, she's a 'snow' faerie!" I corrected him � just because he was religious did not mean he was politically correct. "What's your point?"

"So that would mean it's your husband who's trial is tomorrow, isn't it?" He grinned. "And to think that you were defiled by that dragon . . .."

"I was NOT 'defiled'!" I growled.

"Well, you will be if he's convicted. Not to mention your marriage will be annuled." He spoke. "I'd hate to see you degraded to such a position, Reena."

I snarled. "That's only IF he's convicted. Which he won't be." My hands were on my hips, tense. "Besides, I was adopted into this when I was a hatchling � and I couldn't do much of anything about it then. I assure you, however, that I refuse to marry into it as well!"

"Touchy little templesweeper, aren't you?"

"And I'm no longer a 'templesweeper', either! Now that I'm married, I'm a full adult in the eyes of the legal system. SO THERE!" I boasted at him, trying my best not to slap him. With that, I walked into the portal, my coat flapping open.

As far as I was concerned, Koleil was just as bad as Cairo � or at the very least, he wanted the same results. Nontheless, I calmed down considerably as I was gliding from the high umbra of the portal to the land below me, Floating Atoll. It was rather large chain of islands and the nothernmost, lowest, coldest, and nastiest sector of the Shadow Lands.

"Prima! Nehi!" I shouted. "Where are you?"

"Yer shindin enniz!"

I stepped aside, allowing Nehi and Spyro Prime to crawl out of their little snow hole. Spyro glared at me. "You didn't mention anything about this place being in the middle of a blizzard!"

"If I had known about this, I would've gone back to get you two something decent to wear . . . oh, forget it. Dragons are supposed to be able to handle rough weather, so get over yourself. As for Nehi . . . maybe shrinking down would help?"

"That won't be necessary." Nehi'nihil waved her wand, and instantly was covered in a flame-colored aura. "Native trade secret. Don't ask how, just ask if you want one on you while we're here."

We walked on through the snow, making deep footprints behind us. It did not take very long for us to reach the village. There were round-top thatched huts everywhere, along with an eerie fishing port that included boats that had large, ancient icicles. I wouldn't have been surprised if the ice was the only thing holding the boat together.

"Ever been here before, Reena?" Spyro Prime asked me.

"No . . . never had the time for it. Besides, I heard rumors about Floating Atoll being a cult zone. I'm a Peace Keeper, not a missionar�"

"Hyksos!"

The cry from one villager spooked Nehi, causing her to draw nearer to us. "I think we should ask for the new rotor and then leave as quickly as possible. . . on second thought, let me do the talking."

"What?" I watched her as she hid her wand inside a pocket of her puffy pants.

"Trust me on this one." She walked over to the villager and talked with him for a few moments. I ducked behind a snow-covered barrel and tried to get closer to them so I could listen in. Spyro Prime also hid alongside me to listen, and I was trying hard not to lose my train of thought.

"It's been a while, Nehi . . . working on the outside too much for you?" The male villager spoke, whittling away on some dowel-flute.

She shook her head. "That's not it. I've got a client whose boat needs a new rotor . . . I was hoping that since you're such an expert at the wood lathe, maybe you have some to spare."

"Could be." He smirked. "What size?"

"Size T!" I hissed, and then covered my mouth to keep from making any more noise.

"Bless you!" Nehi said on instinct, covering up Reena's outburst. "It's for a T-scale boat. Surely you have a few?"

"Right here." He reached behind the door and picked one out. "Just a slight matter of payment. Fifty gems sound fair?"

I looked up. "More than fair!"

"We'll take it!" Spyro Prime grinned, grabbing onto the rotor. Just then, the villager yanked it out of his hands, snapping the rotor against the doorframe of his house.

The villager hald the half of the rotor that was still in his hand and shook it at her. "You imbicle! You broke it!"

"You slammed it against the house!" Spyro Prime retorted.

"You made me slam it!" He snarled. "I want restitution � you handle that law stuff, right, Nehi? � in upwards of  two thousand gems!"

"What?!" I gasped.  "You were about to sell it to Nehi for only fifty!"

He glared at me, like I dared to apply any logic to the situation. "It was a hundred at retail price. There's also other costs: five hundred to have the house exorcised, four hundred to purchase clensing oils, feathers, and other purification supplies, and a thousand for lost revenue when people hear there were dragons near my house!"

Now I snarled. "You have something against dragons?"

"I swear on the Ruins of Sakhmet, YES!" He hissed. "Now get away from my house before I add on an extra thousand to pay for the ropes and chains I'll use to have you taken as far away from the village of Tep as this island will allow!"

Nehi paled. "Now, Kete'Noite, be reasonable . . . your case won't hold up in the Courts of Prisma Tors."

"They'll hold up just fine in the courts of Tep and Habi, Nehi'Nihil! Now that was my last T-scale rotor, so I can't sell you another one from here. You'll have to go into my trading post at Habi to get one. See you around . . . and don't be afraid to call the police if those two troublemakers follow you out of here."

"Sure." Nehi waved to him and then ran off, motioning for us to follow her only after she was out of Kete's line of vision. We had to go around a few snowdrifts to avoid being seen by Kete before we could stand up again. As soon as we were out of the village.

I turned back at the village and growled as we left. "Not a very nice bunch, are they?"

"And to think he's probably a tenth cousin of mine." Nehi sighed. "It's an old Atoll mentality. You were right about the place being a cult zone... Sakhmet still lords over Tahla in these parts."

I paled. I knew she was a snow faerie and such, but that Sahkment was still alive and well . . . .  "That would make you a Sahki?" I whispered to her.

"Well,  you are considered an infidel in these parts as much as I am outside of these parts. Never mind what god I believe in, just the sight of me is enough for some people." She scowled. "And for the record, there's a fine line between a cult and a religion, so shut your trap about it while I'm around and we'll get along just fine. Deal?" She held her wand hand out, waiting for me to shake it.

I shrugged and shook it. "Deal." I watched as she relaxed slightly. It didn't matter what god she believed in right now. Either way, she was going to feel uneasy here with us around.

Spyro

We walked down to the southeastern edge of the island where we started, hopped onto a smaller island, and flew onto another large island (me having some help from Reena, of course). A harsh wind whipped by, and I shivered. Reena and Nehi seemed unfazed.

"Cold?" Reena asked.

"When you've spent the bulk of your life in the hot swamps of Beast Makers', this is very cold!" I hissed. A few moments later, I felt . . . hot. Not searing, not cold, but pleasantly warm.

Nehi grinned as she saw that I was feeling better. "You can thank me later. Come on; we're talking too long for just walking as is."

"Easy for you to say; all you've got to do is flitter around on your wings and not deal with wet snow up to your�" I stopped in midsentence as we walked past some ruins of an obelisk. "What's that?"

"Those are the ruins of Sakhmet. It was his orginal temple before it was destroyed five years later. It's been like that for the last three hundred years." She said absentmindedly, not even looking in the direction of the ruins. If she had, she would have been far more shocked than I was.

There was a horse in the ruins. Behind the ruins. Wherever. The fact was that, even with Nehi'Nihil giving the ruins a very wide berth, I could see the horse from this far away. Mainly because it was so . . . big.

The maneless horse was completely black, except for its stark white eyes that reminded me of an egg thief. The legs were thicker at the bottom than the top, which made it look even more massive. It was huge � very, very huge. It dwarfed the ruins, and looked like it should have tipped the entire island over. However, it didn't.

How they could have missed such a massive beast who made the earth of the island quake with each step was beyond me. I saw Nehi flitting along, and then I looked back and saw Reena doing the same. Unable to hover except for a few seconds, I had to walk. They were able to ignore the horse completely.

I decided not to bring it up. It had to be an illusion, that's all. No way could such a thing exist, no way could it stay on this island, no way, no way, no way . . ..