Nehi nodded some as she turned the rings in her fingers. "I know. It almost seems like there's too much power at my fingertips. I'm still not exactly sure if Nola knew what he was doing when he gave me these." She secured the rings around a loop on her belt. "I only know a few spells, too. The fireball seems too dangerous to practice on anyone at full strength."

I smirked. "Just wait for Moneybags to nickel-and-dime you... THEN you'll have an excuse to use it." Reena giggled at the comment, but Nehi remained silent and bit her lip at the thought. "What? You don't think he's a cheapskate?"

"It's not that . . .. Forget I mentioned it." She spoke as we flew back to Spectrum Raceway Community Airport. "It's not worth repeating."

"What IS worth repeating is the list of parts we need to fix Moneybags's boat." Reena spoke up. "We have everything except the tarp. That's the good news."

I glanced over at her, while Sparx played with the small spring. "If that's the good news, then what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that the place where I think we can find a good tarp, Flooded Forest, isn't accessible by portal. We'll need to fix our plane here and have enough fuel to go to both there and Iron Prisma afterward. With maybe a little extra to spare so Moneybags can taxi around the zone in case there's no pier for him to dock at." Reena pulled out a map from her coat, unfolding it.

"Why wouldn't there be a pier in a place you have to fly to?" I asked her

"You'll find out when we get there." Reena took the spring from Sparx and then jumped into the boat. She bent over to reach the engine of the skyboat. "Drat! This spring isn't going in very easily..."

"You're not going to break it trying to make the spring fit, are you?" I asked her, trying hard to avoid her tail, which was waving back and forth madly to help her keep balance.

"I shouldn't have to work this thing in too much. There!" The engine chugged with a satisfied hum, and Reena stood up, black faced. "Well, we're ready to fly right . . . and what are you staring at me for?"

"You've got soot on your muzzle." I leaned over and wiped it away for her. "I would think you noticed that already."

She shrugged, her coat shining in the light before a cloud dimmed the sun again. "I'm used to it."

My head snapped away from her, trying to shake away the knot in my stomach." I think you better give Moneybags the directions to Flooded Forest so we can go ahead and get that tarp . . . You insisted that we needed a new one."

"You're right. Judging from his last attempts to fly in a storm, he'll need all the navigational help he can get." She walked over to Moneybags, and began to give him directions. Nehi sat next to me on the deck, still toying with her rings some.

After what was admittedly a much smoother launch from the airport and roughly fifteen minutes of flight (only marked by the comments Reena was giving Moneybags), we arrived over the center of a recessed island � not that it didn't taper away at the dirt like a normal floating island, but that the ground itself was recessed � and for such a small island, that gave it an odd appearance. The weather had taken a turn in the wrong direction, and it looked like sheets of rain were ready to fall. Reena glanced over the edge. "Drat. There IS no pier!"

"Were do we get off the skyboat, then?" Nehi asked her.

"Just jump off, I guess. There's an opening down there." Reena pointed directly below the boat. "You three go down there. I'll stay here and help Moneybags perfect his storm-flying skills." I nodded to her, and grabbed Nehi's waist before jumping off. Sparx flew down right behind me.

"You IDIOT!" Nehi shouted as we hit the ground. "You didn't wait for me to grab my rings! They're still in the boat, and I can't cast spells without them!"

I cringed. "Oops."

"Oops, my a-. Is it just me or does the ground feel really wet?" Nehi lifted up a foot to reveal mud stuck to the bottom of her boots. "It's raining."

"It's pouring."

"Let me guess, the old man is snoring?" Nehi raised an eyebrow.

I looked down at the ground. "No, the water level is rising. Look� it's already up to your ankles."

Nehi did a double take when she saw the rising water level. "I have the sickening feeling that there's a very, very good reason why this place is called the Flooded Forest . . .."

Naven

"You want to WHAT!?" Nola'Nihil sat in my office, wide-eyed. "Permission to make snide comment, sir?"

"Granted, Officer Nihil." I replied back to him. "And feel free to speak until this mission is over. I understand this is above and beyond your call of duty."

"If you want my help just because I'm a Floating Atoll native, you're crazy!" He gripped the arm of the chair. "Actually, you're absolutely fucking nuts to think that you can mount an assault on Hyksos all by yourself!"

I turned in my chair to face him. "Perhaps you didn't understand the mission. I'm not going alone � you're coming with me. It's not because of your race; it's because your sister is involved, so you obviously have good reason to help me. Finally, this is not a mission to destroy Hyksos, although I think we can both agree that would be a very nice side effect if possible."

Nola calmed down some. "But just to save Cairo? I thought she was supposed to be good at working by herself � I seem to remember tales from my childhood of how she single-handedly seduced and murdered Sakhmet."

"I've heard similar tales from her perspective � and she won't deny killing him, but she says he was the one who tried to seduce her . . . what am I arguing with you for? It's a minor detail."

Nola gave a low growl. "That 'minor detail' is why my sister and I converted in the first place!" He slammed his fist on my desk, visibly shaking the monitor. "We can talk mission some more, but may I explain?"

I calmed down slightly. I was interested in hearing more about Nehi'Nihil . . . not only did she seem very important, but her profile left quite a pleasant image in my mind. "Certainly. Continue."

"At the beginning of 5032, my sister received 'the grace' � a euphemism for menarche. In the eyes of the law there, she was marriageable then, and rather quickly an older male named Anwa'Kotep took a shine to her. The wedding, if I recall my fathers' complaints correctly, was going to cost a fortune . . .."

"Typical of most parents, I assure you . . ." I attempted to console him.

He waved a hand dismissively. "That wasn't the reason for leaving. Nehi became a bit hesitant about the marriage two weeks before the wedding, and tried to reason with Father to have the wedding postponed."

"While that sounds odd, I still want to insist it's typical for the bride, the groom, or sometimes both of them to get 'cold feet' as the wedding nears." I assured him further.

Nola'Nihil gave me a hard stare. "Apparently, Anwa had no such 'cold feet'. The day after she pleaded with Father, Nehi ran to our room, clutching her chest and trying to keep her tattered shirt from completely falling off. Apparently she had tried to explain her concerns to Anwa, and he in turn called her a 'seductress' because the relationship had gone too far for him to accept her hesitance. He then attacked her and managed to shred her shirt before she escaped him. I tried to beseech Father on Nehi's behalf, but it was no good."

My eyes began to widen from the shock. "I see . . .."

"Later that night, Anwa broke into our family's apartment and tried to kill Nehi: Fortunately, I awoke before she did and kept Anwa at bay long enough for our parents to awaken and restore some semblance of order in the room. Anwa'Kotep was taken away by the local police, but released later after he managed to convince the authorities otherwise. Our parents, now realizing what a threat Anwa was and what danger Nehi would be in whether or not she still wanted to marry him, insisted that Nehi leave Floating Atoll and that I should accompany her in case the world of the Tahlaists was just as dangerous as Floating Atoll was."

"This is quite interesting; I'm still not sure how this ties into why a disciple, who is obviously a subordinate of Hyksos, would try to kill her."

"She said the disciple looked familiar . . . come to think of it, let me see that picture again." He stretched his hand across the desk, and I handed him the picture he took of the disciple. "Now that I'm actually looking for it, he DOES look like Anwa. The fact his eyes were covered and removed threw me off � Anwa always had these incredibly piercing hawk eyes." Nola'Nihil slipped the picture into his casting orb's inventory. "All the more reason for me to do this, I suppose. At least this time I shouldn't have to worry about trying to protect Nehi."

I nodded, glancing at the screen again. Spyro had moved around quite a bit . . . but he was in Upper Prisma, which was only an hour away from Iron Prisma if the need arose. The further he was from Floating Atoll, the better. "Now, as you were saying before we started talking about Nehi . . .."

"What was I - oh! I'm trying to understand why you would go to all this trouble to rescue Cairo. Can't she take care of herself?" Nola picked up a small talisman from my desk of a jade cat. I reached out for it and put it back on my desk.

"I deserted her after she was captured by the disciple � granted, with my wrists sprained and the shield in the way, I would have been captured myself if I attempted to help her, but I deserted her nonetheless. I have to at least attempt to go back and rescue her, or I'd never forgive myself for it." I mentally added to myself that if one of the other sisters found out about this, they'd be crying for my blood.

"So what's the plan?"

"I've figured out a way to get in, and that's easy enough. How to find Cairo and get out, though � well, that requires a little more tact." I walked over to the small closet and pulled out two worshipper cloaks (kept here at Cairo's insistence) and showed them to Nola. "Past that point, it's all touch and go."

I clambered onto Spyro's back to escape the rising water level. My wings were incredibly wet, which made them stick to each other and thus too heavy to fly with. Spyro couldn't fly worth his salt, either, but he claimed incompetence for his problem instead of the weather.

"Maybe you can breathe underwater, dragon, but I can't say the same. Don't take too long diving back down, will you?" I warned him, my arms wrapped around his neck. He bobbed underwater for a moment to collect a stray gem, then surfaced again, paddling on the surface with his wings. The water levels continued to rise, and we rose with it. The good news was that the rate slowed some as the rains continued, so we would be able to take a little time collecting items and making our way through the forest.

Eventually the area flooded so much I gave up trying to tell if the waters were rising or not. By then we noticed that there was a hut sitting at about water level, which meant it was pretty high up in the trees. Spyro swam to it, as we were greeted by a short faerie hybrid - He could have been my cousin's kid if he wasn't as tall as a marian. He also had a bit of a gut to him, and paint in odd stripes on his arms.

"What can do for you, Madame? Nice bead jewelry, rope, tarp for house . . ."

"Do you have a tarp for boats?" I asked him, almost putting a hole in the ceiling when I tried to stand up. Eventually I just sat on Spyro's back again while the pygmy faerie went and brought us a blue tarp of some synthetic fabric or another. 

He grinned at us, and then winked at me. "That six bird eggs."

I blinked. "Repeat that?"

The hybrid looked at me like I was crazy. "Six bird eggs."

"Maybe if I gave you a gem . . ." I held out a one-gem to him, hoping he would take it. The faerie shook his head.

"No one take gems here. Maybe he got teeth you could give for tarp?" He pointed at Spyro's mouth.

"Sorry, no teeth." I tried to think about the situation for a moment. 

Spyro put a hand on the tarp. "You want knives?"

The faerie nodded with great excitement, his sandals slapping the wood floor. "Knives are good!"

Spyro called up a chamber pot out of his inventory, put it on the floor, and then charged into it. A flurry of broken pieces went everywhere, and the pygmy ran to pick up one piece and try to cut the ropes with it. He managed to slice a few strands on the first try. "Knives need sharpening... but you shrewd! Take tarp! It yours!"

I grinned and clutched the tarp to my chest, sitting up on Spyro's back again as he paddled out of the store. We noticed our skyboat with the bright new wingleather, which was hovering a good distance above the water, with a rope ladder hanging down. 

I grabbed at the roughly hewn rope, wrapping my arm around one rung and offering Spyro my other arm. He grasped it earnestly, and helped me onto his back so he could climb the rope ladder himself. Neither Moneybags nor Reena helped us make our way up the ladder.

When we finally crawled into the skyboat, Moneybags was busily at the helm, my ring-hoops draped on his arms. Reena was nowhere in sight. I stood up and beat my wings a  few times to take the moisture off, while Spyro helped me replace the old tarp with the new one we picked up in the tree-dweller's den.

Moneybags looked at the new tarp, grunted his approval, and continued to man the helm. Spyro looked around the deck, his head darting about. "Hey, Moneybags; where's Reena?"

"She's taking a nap below deck." He grunted back.

"You need help navigating?" I turned to face him.

"I'm fine. I know the general direction." He replied, moving the wheel at the helm ever so slightly. Spyro found the handle of the trapdoor to below deck, and lifted it up gently to peek inside. I glanced over and blinked, noticing he was paling as he looked inside. I kneeled down to look myself.

Reena lied there, muzzled and expertly bound, with her wrists tied behind her back to keep her wings shut and her ankles tied as well. Her tail still moved wildly, trying in vain to undo the ropes. She was so wrapped up in her attempts to break her bonds that she had yet to notice us.

Moneybags, however, had noticed us, with rapt attention. "So . . . no pulling the wool over your eyes, is there?" He wielded the rings like a professional, and they spun wildly around his wrists, both glowing gold.

I snarled at Spyro. "I knew I shouldn't have left those rings on the boat!"

"Come, now, female . . . you give yourself too much credit. I would have just as easily taken the rings from you later and done this � you've merely hastened the process and given me much better odds of success. Now I only have to deal with one dragon at a time."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Spyro snarled at him.

"I'm diverting this boat off its course, and I intend to bring the lot of you in as cargo. Now, unless you would rather do this the hard way, I suggest you be a good little hostage and tie Nehi just like I tied Reena." He held up a small sack. "The ropes and tape are in here. Are you going to cooperate or am I going to have to do it all by myself?"

"You won't get the chance!" Spyro leapt forward to tackle Moneybags, and was hit by the fireball attack Moneybags had queued on the rings. I moved to attack as well, but was knocked backward by Spyro after Moneybags managed to hit him. Sparx stayed around long enough to heal Spyro so that he was healthy but dazed, and then the dragonfly disappeared. In the meantime, however, my arms were pinned by his bulk � even though Spyro was a small dragon, he still had to weigh three (maybe four) times as much as I did.

Moneybags chuckled at our predicament, and then pulled out the sack of ropes and tape that he mentioned earlier. While Spyro was dazed, Moneybags bound and muzzled him as he had done with Reena. I tried to kick him, but he grabbed my foot when I managed to hit him in the shin and quickly bound my ankles together as well. He then gave me a hard glare. "Naughty little female . . . you're lucky you didn't crush your wings, and yet you still fight me?"

"My wings can take a little damage .  . . they're not glass." I looked back at him. "And you're the naughty one � we paid you to take us to Iron Prisma, and now that we've actually helped you fix this boat and restore it to order, you do this to us?" I snarled. "You couldn't have possibly been that hungry."

"Not hungry for food . . . hungry for gems!" Moneybags grinned. "That sack you saw earlier today contained not only my lunch, but a little kickback. Not sure what you're wanted for, but if somebody wants to harm Spyro, then I would have gladly done it for free! That wretch has cost me so much money that any revenge would be worth it." He shook his now partially-filled gem sack. "I've been promised an extra 3000 gems when I bring you and 'Warrior-beyond-his-years' in."

"Myself and 'Warrior-beyond-his . . ." I blinked. "You sold us out to HYKSOS?!"

"Hmph-mmh?!" Spyro jerked up out of his daze, trying to break free of at least the muzzle.

Moneybags smirked. "So that's his name! I guess I did sell you out to Hyksos, then. Oh well. I go where the money's good, and he had the money, so I'm taking you to him per his orders." He leaned down next to Spyro, whispering in his ear loud enough for me to hear. "And don't try to buy your way out of this . . . when I tied you up, I also dipped into your inventory and took every single gem you were carrying. A very, very tidy sum if I may say so myself."

"Mmph mm m ma EMPH!" Spyro shouted through his taped muzzle and whipped his head to scratch Moneybags on the cheek, but was hit on the head by Moneybags in return. Moneybags then rolled him forward slightly so he could grab my wrists and tie them up as well. With that, he picked up Spyro like a sack of barley, opened the trapdoor to where Reena was stuck, and threw him down there next to her. The trapdoor slammed shut with a clatter.

I curled up and kneeled to look over the edge of the boat. We weren't over land anymore, and my wings weren't built to let me fly long enough to reach land before I would hit the water. If I landed in the ocean, then I wouldn't be able to fly out again. Shrinking down to squirm out of these bonds wasn't an option; Moneybags apparently knew about that trick, as the rope around my wrists was in contact with my skin and effectively cancelled all magic I could come up with.

The bear's hand clamped down on my shoulder, pulling me away from the edge. "Don't get any ideas, faerie." he dragged me over to the engine hood, where there were several straps to  secure heavy equipment down. He took one strap and secured it across my hips to keep me from moving too much, but not to damage my wings any further than they already were. "You'll be just fine sitting there. You're not even half the threat those dragons are � at least, not as long as I have your rings." He grinned, letting the rings sit on his arms, and turned around to steer the skyboat again. Moneybags turned back every few minutes or so to make sure I hadn't tried to undo my bonds.

After about fifteen minutes of this monotony, I spoke. "This is all Spyro's fault. We should have NEVER trusted you to help us. Your word's only as good as your gold."

"Spyro always was a naive dragon, but it's hardly his fault." Moneybags turned around again, glancing up at the stars. "I just happened to find a client I fear more."

"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.