Chapter 30: A Day at the Beach
#30 of The Spyro Chronicles SE
Chapter 30: A Day at the Beach Dragon Realms, Uncharted System May 15, 2204 0823 Hours Outskirts of Warfang
The sun broke through the dark grey clouds that had occupied the sky above Warfang for just a bit. This bit had been long enough, however, for Spyro and the others to take off towards the coastline. The fresh sea air slapped against the group as they flew onwards to the beach areas of the Peninsulas. The group hadn't been there since they first retreated to Warfang and now Spyro wanted to see how they were doing.
They wouldn't be getting any help from their Human or Lakador comrades though, as all of them were on full coverage of Warfang. They barely had enough numbers to cover the city. They couldn't even spare Karson, Allison or even Wagner to help them if they ran into trouble along the coast. Dyke did say one thing though, that the coast was likely still under their control and it was heavily populated by refugees from surrounding settlements attacked or by natives protected by local soldiers and warriors.
The sky was a brilliant blue as they sailed onwards, the clouds only extending over the inner portions of the mainland. Turning around, Spyro saw the orange clouds rising from the partially collapsed volcano within the burned lands. On the horizon he saw two opposing beams of purple spitting into the sky, creating the vast cloud cover that covered the entire mainland. 2 Keys down, 2 to go.
They neared the coast and finally the group touched down on a sandy beach just south of Warfang along a cove. Fresh blue Ocean waters hit against the beach and the sun shined upon then. At least here, it didn't look like the world was ending- yet.
"Ah the beach... I haven't been here in a while..." Roxy said as she dipped her tail into the water, her being in her dragon form.
"I haven't seen the beach before, I just lived up in Tall Plains. There are no beaches there..." Zephyr said.
"Sucks for you." Aaron teased.
Zephyr huffed and ran into the water, smiling as he felt it against himself.
"Oh it does feel nice..." He said.
"See? It does!" Roxy said as she ran into the waters and splashed it onto Spyro and Cynder. Cynder giggled a bit and Spyro smirked.
"C'mon... there's time for play later." He said.
"Oh you're such a kill joy..." Roxy said.
Spyro smirked at this more.
"Where are we going anyway?" Aaron asked as he walked over.
"Dyke asked if while we're out here we could check on his 2nd Battalion, which is supposed to be guarding their ship, the Typhus. He said they're in charge of supplying the soldiers in Warfang with food and ammo."
"And where would that be?" Roxy said as she changed to her Human form and walking back onto the beach.
"Well, he said it was along the coastline. Guess it's too large to miss." Spyro said.
"There it is." Cynder said, motioning to the large Frigate landed along the fringes of the coastline, a few drop ships going to and from it.
"Well I vote we walk there, I want to check out the local surf!" Aaron said.
"We're not here to play..." Spyro said.
"Ah come on Spyro, at least enjoy this place while we're here."
Spyro merely sighed.
They started off, Tom taking up their rear and Krypto seeming to lack any comment. They walked along the coast, the sandy cove running along a small cliff about a few meters high, trees and foliage atop it and overlooking the entire beach. They walked underneath a rocky arch and onto more of the beach, seeing not much other then the coast. The cool and relaxing waters splashed against the sand and Zephyr kept wading in the water alongside the group rather then on the beach.
"Doesn't seem to be any enemies here..." Aaron said as he looked around.
"My sword isn't doing anything, so yeah. This place is peaceful." Roxy added.
They walked until they ran out of beach and headed back inland through a footpath as the cliff face leveled out with the sand. The grass swayed as they walked into the wooded area, a cool sea breeze flowing through. Both sides of the path were overlooked by that familiar cliff face, trees and foliage also accompanying them along the sides of the path.
A waterfall was up ahead, falling from the cliff to their right and the river running right through their path. A bridge was built over it and they crossed, taking in the sights more.
"Man this place is so beautiful." Roxy said.
"I wish I'd have come here more often..." Aaron said.
Krypto huffed.
"I don't like water... it gets my fur wet..." Tom said as he trailed behind the group a bit.
"I hardly knew this place existed." Cynder said.
"Me either." Aaron added.
Spyro looked around more as they walked, seeing the trees that towered over them. Soon they came to an opening in the cliff path they'd been following. Before them sat an opening in the cliffs, like a crater almost. The opening was lined with cliffs on all sides, except for the side opposite of them, which was lined with tall trees. In the center was a pond, fed by several waterfalls coming in from all sides. Elevated footpaths ran all alongside the pond in the center, and wooden huts sat atop the large land areas.
Locals walked around care free, the dominant species being a squirrel anthro. They were just larger then the moles but almost the same height. They were blue in color however, opposed to brown fur and wore more traditional clothing. The smell of food flowed from some of the huts and Aaron sniffed the air, liking what he smelled.
"Well we didn't have to look far to find the locals." Zephyr said.
"Let's go see how they're doing." Spyro said as he lead the group towards the collection of huts. They entered the village without much of the locals noticing them. They continued on with what they were doing, some children passing in front of them, playing. The locals didn't even notice that some wanders had come into their village. They didn't seem to have a leader, or at least one they could tell.
"I feel so awkward..." Roxy said and frowned.
"So what... we just walk up to a random person and ask how they're doing?" Zephyr inquired, tilting his head.
"I guess..?" Aaron said.
"Well obviously, they're fine. If not they'd be running around getting killed by those Grublins or Orcs." Krypto added. He seemed impatient.
Spyro sighed.
"Oh you're new." A voice said. They turned and saw one of the squirrels addressing him as she set down a basket of fruit.
"Yeah, we were just checking to see if this village had been having trouble with the Dark Armies." Spyro asked.
"Oh... them? No... they haven't bothered us. At least not yet. You don't have to worry about us." She said as she cleaned her hands. Obviously she had just finished picking fruit for her family or for the village since it was so small.
"I see." Spyro said.
"I wanna go swimming again..." Zephyr said in a low voice, Spyro putting on a glum frown as he heard this.
"Though we could use some help finding Thomas." The squirrel said, rubbing her chin.
"Thomas?"
"Yeah. He's one of our villagers. He went out to gather herbs and hasn't come back in an hour or so. We're not worried, but he sometimes forgets things. If you see him, could you remind him to pick the libaith herbs this time?"
"Alright. Are there any other settlements along the coast?" Spyro asked.
"Oh, there are a lot of us down here. Well... not us... but well, you get the idea." She chuckled a bit, Spyro and Cynder doing so as well.
"Where are these settlements, are they close?" Cynder asked, it being one of the first times she had talked on this trip.
"Oh just follow the path! You'll get there in no time, and probably run into Thomas along the way."
"Alright, thanks!" Spyro said, motioning for the rest to follow as they left the village in the opposite way they came, a path leading alongside a creek with trees in another area with cliffs running along both sides of the path.
They walked for a few minutes before the path changed into a more open forest, the rocky cliffs vanishing behind palm trees, sandy areas and small, yet empty, individual huts scattered throughout the forest.
"Very lovely..." Roxy commented. Tom broke off from the group somewhat, walking in the steam alongside. His feet must've been getting a little hot. Zephyr joined him, well, when the water got deep enough to swim in. Then Aaron. Spyro smirked and Cynder giggled as the two swam in the water, Tom having already gotten out and huffing at the two playing in the water.
"Come on you two..." Spyro said.
"I dunno, looks fun." Cynder said. It wasn't long before she herself leapt into the water and they swam alongside the group as the creek became a river.
Spyro shook his head as they stopped for a minute.
"Come on, just join us for a second Spyro!"
"Yeah!" Aaron splashed him. "It's fun!"
"I don't think it's a good idea too-" Spyro felt something grab him and realized it was Cynder's tail. He felt himself being dragged into the water and he was swallowed into the waters. He emerged and coughed a bit, looking at Cynder with an annoyed look. She merely stuck her tongue out at him.
"Fine..." Spyro said before using his wing to splash the group.
"Ah! Cheater!" Aaron said before dunking under and pulling Spyro under. Spyro got free and used his fire breath to create a thick layer of steam around them.
"I can't see anything..." Zephyr said.
"That's the idea." Cynder said, laughing a bit.
Aaron yelped as he felt himself dunked under. Cynder laughed, as did Zephyr. However, they both too went under the water and Spyro emerged, laughing as he got out of the water.
The three emerged from the water coughing bit.
"No fair..." Aaron said.
"Come on..." Spyro said, motioning for them to continue.
The other three got out of the water, Roxy giggling at them. Krypto merely huffed. They walked along the pathway again, over a few more bridges and found themselves at the beach again.
"Maybe it's a sign..." Roxy said.
"For... what?" Spyro asked hesitantly.
"I dunno, to go in the water again silly." She joked. The others chuckled a bit but they continued along the beach. Things were really quaint along the shores, seeming a world away from the events just less than a mile inland.
They walked along the now larger beach, passing large megaliths that littered the beach, stone structures that rose from the sand and temples that sat along the shore.
"Wonder who built all these?" Aaron asked as they walked inside one of them, leaping from one spot to another as the floor was cracked and water eroded through the cracks, turning them into larger cracks over time.
"No clue... They seem to be here for a purpose though..." Cynder said as she also leapt over the cracks, passing through an opening and onto the sandy beach again. Spyro followed right after her, a few more structures perched along the beach just down from them.
"Looks like an ancient port city maybe. Hard to tell." Spyro said as he looked at them.
"From before the time of the Dark Master?" Roxy asked.
"Probably." Spyro answered. The temples lacked the usual portrayal of the Dark Master as an almighty being, rather, there weren't any at all on their surface.
"Hey, look at this!" Aaron said.
They all went to where he was, seeing a statue poking out of the sand. The statue was of a dragon, like them, but he had armor on and looked as if he was ready for battle. This statue was very different from the ones Spyro was used to seeing all inside Warfang. This dragon was younger, around his age, younger then that possibly. His armor also looked unusual. Honestly, it reminded him of the Marine's armor mixed with Dragon Armor. Whoever it was, his image was everywhere on these temples now that Spyro looked around more.
"There's an inscription..." Aaron said, uncovering sand and looking below towards the writing.
"Troy..." Zephyr said as he looked at it with Aaron.
"Troy?" Roxy asked. "Who is that?"
"No clue... guess some sorta legend around here?" Aaron said with an inquisitive look.
"Obviously if they built this many temples to him out here..." Cynder said.
"Ignitus never mentioned him, or the Chronicler." Spyro said as he looked at the statue.
"Maybe he's a hero from WAY before the Dark Master, so far not many remember him much anymore."
"Probably. Well we should go then, this place kind of feels strange." Spyro said, looking around again.
"Yeah... it kinda does." Cynder said as well.
The group left the area and Aaron looked at Krypto as they walked.
"You know, you haven't said much in a while." He said to him.
"What is there to say?"
"Well... just throw in a comment once in a while I guess..."
Krypto cocked an eyebrow.
"I mean, you're part of this group, and we hardly know much about you other than your name and where you came from. What's your story exactly?" He asked. Spyro turned his head, interested in hearing this as well.
"Well... not much to say... I am the last of my kind. A Draxy. I've been constantly battling the Emperor and his forces, as well as those Humans. And now I ended up here."
"Wow, guess it's really bad there then?" Zephyr asked.
"Bad doesn't even come close." He said.
"Well, problems only get worse unless you want to talk about them." Roxy said to him.
Krypto stopped and frowned.
"They're not so much problems as they are memories..." Krypto said.
The others stopped as well.
"Care to share? It'll only help to talk about them." Aaron suggested.
Krypto thought for a second but shook his head.
"Later." He said.
He walked off ahead of the others and they gave each other a few looks before going on after him. They walked on more before Roxy let out a yawn as she stretched, snapping the others out of the drab of walking on the beach for what seemed like forever.
The yawn also strangely reminded Spyro that he was supposed to find that squirrel... Thomas was his name. They hadn't run across him yet, maybe he had already returned to his village. After a minute or two of walking Roxy noticed her sword was glowing. That wasn't good... Enemies were nearby.
"Guys!" She said, motioning to her sword as she drew it. The others saw this and were on their guard immediately. There was nothing. After a few minutes of walking through the sand with their guard up Spyro finally took a breath in and looked around calmly. The beach was empty besides them.
Roxy lowered her sword too.
"Guess... it was just a false alarm..." She said as she looked at her still glowing sword.
"Yeah... false..." Aaron said.
At that moment a claw burst from the sand and grabbed Aaron, exciting a yelp from the black dragon.
"Aaron!" Roxy yelled.
The claw belonged to a large crab which emerged from the sand, snapping its other hand at the group.
"Stupid crab!" Zephyr said as he used his teeth to bite the arm. This only pissed the crab off more.
"A little help would be nice!" Aaron said as the crab flailed him around.
"On it!" Spyro said as he used his ice to cut through the crab's arm, dislodging it and causing the creature to back away. Krypto growled and used his tail to smash the creature into the cliff wall nearby. Aaron grunted as he got himself out of the crab's pincers, rubbing his side.
"Ow..." He said lowly. Roxy giggled. He sighed at this, feeling a tad embarrassed.
"Was he from the dark armies?" Cynder asked.
"I don't think so... just some random crab I guess." He said.
Shrugging it off they kept going, getting off the sandy beach as they walked onto a stone staircase that went a top the pesky cliffs that went alongside the beach. On the top there were more statues of that dragon they saw on the beach.
"Cynder, you don't even know this guy?" Aaron asked as they saw more statues.
"Well... now that I think about it, every time Gaul saw a statue that looked like this he'd smash it. In fact I think I saw a few of those statues smashed when going towards Malefor's lair the first time, remember that Spyro?"
"Somewhat. Not really too much." Spyro said. Honestly, he was really focused on defeating the Dark Master then looking at the statues along the way.
"Hey guys, I found a path inland!" Aaron said as he stood by a dirt path that lead into the thick forest near the statue. They quickly went inland, the cool sea air and breeze still hitting against them as they went into the forest.
"Wonder if there are any other villages or settlements nearby." Roxy asked, now riding on Tom's back.
"Probably." Spyro simply said. He was still trying to remind himself to look out for that squirrel, Thomas. And those flowers... damn it he already forgot the name of what the girl had told him to look for. Oh well, he had other things to worry about.
As they walked the ground still resembled a tropical area, though forest plant-life was becoming more common than the beach landscape.
"Hey, there's somebody on the path." Zephyr said, motioning to the path ahead. Sure enough, there was somebody lying in the middle of the path, as if asleep.
The group approached, and it was a squirrel from the village earlier. More than likely, it was Thomas.
"Hello? Thomas?" Spyro ased.
"Huh, what?" The Squirrel asked, waking up. "Who said my name?" He asked.
"I did. What are you doing in the middle of the path?" Spyro asked.
"Oh! Sorry." He got up. "I was on my way back to my village with herbs when these Raccoons robbed me blind. Little punks took all my stuff... so I just took a nap..."
"You were robbed..." Cynder asked.
"Yes." He answered.
"...and you took a nap instead of going for help...? She said back.
"Yeppers."
"Er... alright." She said.
"You remember what they looked like?" Spyro asked.
"They were Raccoons... they just came up out of nowhere and took my stuff. Didn't get much a look at them. Punks..." He said, yawning.
"Well... that doesn't help much..." Aaron said.
"Hey, you been to that beach back there?" Roxy asked.
"Yeah, loads of times! I nap there every Monday."
"K... but those statues there on the beach, who are they of?"
"The statues? You don't know?"
"It's why we're asking..."
"Oh... it's an old legend around the coastline, about a young dragon from long ago who beat a great evil and brought peace to the Realms. His name was Troy I think."
"Ah... from a long time ago?"
"Well, not many people know the story as well as they used to. The Dark Master's occupying army destroyed all relics related to Troy or anybody from his era and any creature who spoke of him was either tortured or killed." He explained.
"Oh my..." Roxy said, almost regretting learning that.
"He forbid the telling of the story?" Cynder asked, a bit confused.
"Yeah. Well, not him but really his top Lieutenants. It was during his occupation during Cynder's rule. It stopped a few years ago because everybody had forgotten about the story. If it weren't for Warfang and its defenders, all these relics along the coast wouldn't be there."
"Strange..." Cynder thought. "I never knew of this."
"I guess he really did defeat something great then..." Spyro said.
"There is a city to the north, with other relics of him that might have survived, though Malefor destroyed that city long, long ago."
"City?"
"Yes, Mandobar."
"Mandobar? What's the city's connection with the Dark Master or Troy?"
"Mandobar was one of the major battles during the time of the Dark Master and even Troy. The city was eventually destroyed by the Dark Master but was said to have stuff related to Troy."
"Well... I don't know if the place is there anymore." Spyro said with a frown.
"Why is that?"
"Well, the Dark Master's forces moved in again and destroyed a large part of it." He explained.
"You mean... destroyed the stuff that was already destroyed... last time I checked the city was still deserted and in ruin."
"Well... yeah... it's what I meant." Spyro said. For someone who slept a lot, he sure knew his history.
Thomas yawned and stretched.
"Well... I better get back to my village, get some herbs and go to sleep again..." He said.
"Wait, can you tell us where a nearby settlement is?" Aaron asked.
The squirrel snapped around, as if already falling asleep while standing up.
"Well there's a large village to the north... through this path... a bunch of foxes live there, plus some dragons, some wolves, some lynxes... some eagles... some-"
"Alright, I think I get the picture." Aaron said, cutting him off before he went on too long.
"Thanks for the help." Spyro said.
"No prob..." Thomas said before going off down another path, well, into the brush.
"What a weird guy..." Cynder said.
"Sleepy." Aaron added.
"True..." Cynder said in reply.
They went on through the path, passing a few more waterfalls and tons of foliage as they went in search of this village. Finally they found an opening that lead to a large village in a clearing, surrounded by cliffs and trees on all sides. True to what Thomas said, Foxes, Dragons, Lynxes, Wolves and several other creatures occupied the village. Though Foxes seemed to be the dominant anthro there. They were taller then Spyro, same as the cheetahs, the only real short creatures were some moles that lived there. The Wolves and Lynxes were both anthro, the Dragons were feral, like Spyro.
"Looks peaceful enough to me!" Zephyr said.
"Well let's go see for ourselves." Spyro suggested. They went down from their high perch down into the village. Fox and Wolf Warriors walked about, showing an obvious sign this settlement was a target of attacks and raids by the Dark Armies.
As they walked into what was the market of the settlement, smells of food and freshly baked goods floated through the air, enticing the group.
"Hey, let's stop for lunch." Aaron said, feeling his stomach growl.
"We have to keep going." Spyro said. Soon he felt his own stomach growl and he blushed a bit. "Well... maybe a bit of lunch won't hurt..." He said. The others chuckled.
"Yay!" Roxy said, the rest also nodding in agreement.
Aaron approached a stand and a female Wolf stood at the stand. Pies and cakes and several treats laced with fruits or filling sat on a wall behind her. The gang could do nothing but drool.
"May I help you?" The woman asked.
"Could I have one of those pies on the wall behind you?" He asked.
"Sure, that'll be 5 Gems."
"Gems?" He asked.
"Yeah, you need money to pay for food..." She said in an annoyed voice.
"Oh...nevermind then..." He backed away. Great... he was broke.
"Any of you guys got money?" He asked.
"Um... no...?" Roxy replied, Zephyr shaking his head. They had none of these gemstones they needed. Spyro was so used to hunting for his food, buying food was a bit new to him.
"Well we gotta find some money..." He said.
The group thought for a minute, sitting further down the way, watching customers walk through, offer yellow gemstones to the vendors and being rewarded with all sorts of goods, ranging from food to nice new clothing to armor and weaponry. The group could do nothing but watch.
"I want something to eat so bad..." Zephyr said.
"Same..." Cynder agreed.
"Maybe... we could work for some money?" Aaron suggested.
"Good luck with that..." Krypto said.
"You're not hungry?" Aaron asked him.
"Not really, I don't eat that often." He said.
"Apparently..."
"You folks looking to get paid?" A voice asked. The group turned to find a short and elderly fox standing before them with a cane.
"Yes, could you help us?" Spyro asked.
"I got some errands I need'n to get done. You folks do 'em good, and I can spare some gems so you fellas can eat."
"Sure, what do you need us to do?" Spyro asked.
"I got some of these special herbs I need to get collected. You see I run this here pastry shop and I use them herbs to cook into my food. If you find about 6, I can spare about 5 gems each."
"That sounds easy enough! Where are these herbs located, what do they look like?" Spyro said, a bit more enthusiastic.
"They're called Libaith Herbs. You can pick 'em from the flowers that grow along the trunks of a Liban Tree. Those grow along north of 'ere. Careful though, the reason I don't make the trip is cause that whole area is infested with them mudrats. Those are nasty fellers. I'd be careful up there if I were you." He said. Spyro nodded.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they won't be a problem."
"Good luck, I'll be lookin forward to them herbs." The elder fox turned and walked off and Spyro turned back to the group.
"Well, let's go see if we can't those herbs."
"Wait, do you even know what they look like? And what's a mudrat?" Aaron asked.
"Mudrats, I think they're a territorial rat creature, lives in damp places and in the mud. They're very aggressive." Cynder said,
"I think I've seen some of those herbs before, though I think they grow high in the trees." Roxy added. She had come down this way before, for the herbs though, the beach she had never been down too. She had gotten around, she just didn't want to admit it.
"Well, we'd better hurry and get those, am getting pretty hungry..." Aaron said, rubbing his stomach.
"Well let's go then." Spyro said.
They all yawned and stretched, getting up and moving towards the edge of the village. A slight wind blew through now from the sea, bring in the air. Scents of fish and cooking meat filled their nostrils as they walked down towards the northern part of the village. Aaron moaned and grabbed his stomach at this.
"Man I hope those herbs are easy to find..." Aaron said as some of the others nodded.
"Shouldn't be too hard, I mean, how hard could these guys be?" Cynder said. They walked along the path towards the north. A few warriors stood guard over the village and they eyed them curiously as the group exited the settlement along the path.
Walking along the path, a few chirps and flickers were heard as bugs and creatures of all sorts inhabited this area. If they couldn't buy food, they could try to hunt. Well, that is, if they weren't already being hunted...
0950 Marine Base Alpha, New Dragon Temple
"Things are... well... not pretty." Dyke said as he walked alongside Terrador, Lieutenant Wagner right behind them.
"No, they are not." Terrador said.
"Alpha Company reports 3 more casualties this morning. Those Drones guarding the central courtyard ambushed a squad of Marines and Alliance soldiers guarding a road in Dog Sector." Wagner said, looking at a piece of parchment he had wrote on, in lack of paper.
"Those Drones are getting more and more clever with each day. I fear they may soon overtake us." Terrador said with a sigh.
"We still don't know where they're coming from either. The Dark Master has chosen a location up north somewhere but none of our recon teams can find them. Have your dragons located it yet?" Dyke asked.
"I'm afraid not... those wyverns are guarding the skies up north. My Dragons are having trouble going up passed those regions. Every day we lose more ground."
Wagner lowered the parchment and sighed, looking out over the balcony as they exited the dojo and walked onto the platform. This situation wasn't going to get any better unless they could do something drastic. Defenses like these would only hold them off for a bit. They needed to do something to tip the balance. Though right now, such a thing was almost impossible to foresee. He trusted in Spyro, but right now, he wondered just how good their odds were.
"We know their base is somewhere up north, passed the Plains of Mandobar. We just don't know where." Dyke said with a bit of a sigh.
"The Dark Master... we've been at war with his forces for as long as I can remember." Terrador said in a low voice.
"Has he always been evil?" Dyke asked.
"No. I have heard stories of when he was young. When he was... good. Like Spyro he was an aspiring young dragon who always did what was right and helped whoever he could. Then... he changed. He became power hungry. The Guardians soon banished him from the temple and Dragon Kingdom as he kept pursuing power at any cost." Terrador explained.
"I see..." Dyke said, rubbing his chin.
"And nobody knows what caused him to change?" Wagner asked.
"I'm afraid not. Some say the power got to him. Others say that he was hiding it the whole time. We may never know."
Wagner thought on this for a minute. It seemed very obvious the reasons. The purple dragon, as they had explained to him, was able to master ALL the elements rather then one. He was sure after a while, the power can go to one's head. What worried him was Spyro. Could Spyro keep that much power under lock and key? Could he control himself? Power has had a way of corrupting even the most noble of people in his experience. It was a sad truth.
Part of him told him to be cautious. The other? Well it trusted Spyro very much so. Something just told him Spyro knew what he was doing. He was said to be the Dragon to bring hope back to the people of this desolate land. Maybe he was the one to finally put an end to this. Footsteps were heard behind them and they turned to find Rithul and Huvunnes walking behind them. The Lakador Supreme Commander looked very stressed. He didn't blame him.
The Lakador commander sighed as he approached the two, Rithul having his usual serious look about him.
"Where are Spyro and Cynder?" Rithul asked.
"Out along the coastline, patrolling." Terrador said.
Rithul looked at them for a second before sighing and looking out.
"There isn't much time left." He said as he looked out.
"And our supplies are beginning to run low too." Huvunnes said.
"Same with us." Dyke said.
"If they don't kill us, we'll starve to death..." Wagner said with a frown.
"Exactly... a good warrior has patience... I just prey we have enough to make it through this..." Terrador said softly. The others nodded.
Karson helped Allison into the room, leading her to a small bed they had been given by the Dragons. Delta and Epsilon got the cushy hospital beds taken from the Typhus and Achilles. At least Alpha Company was allowed to stay in the temple, it was a lot cooler in there then in the other parts of the base.
Allison smiled as he helped her, her leg being a little bruised from a combat run into the city.
"Thanks..."
"No problem."
She giggled and he smiled, sitting down next to her.
"How's your leg?"
"It's feeling better, just need to stay off of it for a while." She said while placing it on the bed. Karson placed his weapon next to him and helped her a bit more and she smiled, thanking him again. He blushed slightly, smiling and nodding.
"Where's Wagner at?" She asked.
"Meeting with the Colonel, he said we won't have another patrol for a while, maybe a day or so." Karson explained.
"Ah... then I guess we have all this time to kill..." She said.
"Yeah, I better go check if Spyro and Cynder are back." He said while standing up. She frowned and looked at him.
"You just don't want to talk? Or... something?" She asked. Karson turned, thinking for a second before smiling.
"Sure, guess we can..." He sat down next to her. It kinda made him feel embarrassed. They had known each other for years now, since childhood. And now, after years of being best friends the thought of talking slipped his mind? The thought almost made him blush. Though I mean, why did it affect him really? She was a good friend, but they were in a combat situation, they had to be vigilant. Though... it was Allison, he had to make her feel comfortable. He just... had to. He didn't really know how to put it.
He sat down on the bed next to her, shifting a bit as he felt a little uneasy, but at the same time at ease. It was hard to explain. She smiled and placed a hand next to his on the bed. He smiled too and used his other hand to rub the back of his head.
"So... things are strange aren't they?" She asked almost in a chuckle.
"Strange? How so?" He asked, smirking.
"Well I mean, just... all of this..." She said, looking at her hands.
"A war with a hostile alien race, being transported to an alien world of talking anthropomorphic animals and creatures with a war against creatures of darkness..."
"Having these powers..." Karson added. She nodded.
"This'd make one hell of a science fiction novel." She said with a low chuckle.
"Probably, nobody would believe this at all." Karson said, returning the chuckle.
"Honestly, I don't know if this is even unbelievable anymore, I mean, a war with aliens, that's already borderline crazy..." She said.
"I think it is. No need for borderline."
"True..."
"It's funny to think right now the rest of Humanity is going through their day, some not even knowing of the Lakadors, and here we are, in an alien world battling for the fate of everything." Karson said.
"Yeah... I will never understand that."
"Understand what?"
"This whole 'destroy the world' mentality. It just makes no sense..."
"This world makes no sense; it'd be picky to want one thing or another to make sense."
She giggled at this. He chuckled and smiled. It was then that he looked down and noticed that he had moved his hand over hers and she held his tightly. She realized this too and they both looked up at each other, blushing before turning away. Though none of them moved their hands from the spot. They both sat there, interlocked. Karson continued to sit there and he turned and tried his best to put a smile on his face. Allison did the same.
They both sat there in the dim light that floated through the room from the window along the side, their hands still interlocked. For a moment they forgot about the war, about the struggles and tribulations. Their world consisted only of that small room, and their hands... their hands that were touching and connecting. None of them protested or moved. They remained that way for the rest of the day.
End of Chapter 30