TLoS: Warlord Takeo Ch. 11

Takeo and Relic walked slowly through the empty streets of Warfang.  Most of the citizens were asleep, though there people occasionaly sitting in their houses and looking out the windows or preparing food inside.  The bakers were up at this hour and their ovens released the sweet aroma of freshly baked bread and pastries.  Relic smiled and kept sniffing at the air.  It felt as if her nostrils had died and went to heaven.  

"That is wonderful..." she said, sniffing and closing her eyes, but keeping pace with the human.  "I haven't smelled anything so good in such a long time."

Takeo looked at her inquistively.  He realized that he no idea of how long she was in captivity.  

"When did the apes capture you?"  he asked.  

"Oh, maybe about a month before I was rescued by your friends."  The amber dragoness replied, opening her eyes and looking at Takeo.  She seemed to have understood that she was reacting strangely to the scent of the bread.  "But even before then, I've always lived out in the country so I've never had the opportunity of smelling bread freshly baked."  She smiled and resumed her sniffing of the air.  Takeo smiled back and shook his head.

They walked past the markets, through the gardens, and stopped near a fountain.  

"What's your story, Takeo?"  Relic asked, sticking one paw into the water and letting the cool liquid flow through the open spots of the paw.  

"Well, my childhood isn't really all that eventful.  The more intense periods of my life began when I joined the army twenty-three years ago..."

He spoke to her about how he was a child when the Empire of Japan was at war with the Russian Empire.  After the Japanese had won the war and he reached of age, he joined because he thought the Imperial Japanese Forces were invincible.  So the propoganda told.  That dream was crushed utterly when the Second World War came about and demolished Japan's military, economy and morale of the people.

Relic played with the water some more or often sniffed at flowers near the fountain, but she listened intently to every word that Takeo spoke.  She was shocked when she found out that the four humans were actually on opposing sides of World War II, but they were forced to fight together due to the Zombie Outbreak from Element 115.  From there, she learned how they came first came to this world and how they first met Spyro and the Guardians.  Takeo then told of their time aboard the pirate vessel, attempting to rescue Cynder unsuccessfully, and how the four of them split up between Zoidius and Spyro.  He and Richtofen went with Spyro to the Chronicler, while Dempsey and Nikolai followed Zoidius to a large dragon village to find Cynder, much to Zoidius's initial dismay.

"Wow,"  she began, turning her head away from the waters of the fountain and to Takeo, who was facing a large mural of moles and dragons together. "You have been through a lot."

"Yes..." The human stated simply, not taking his eyes off of the mural.  "Yes we have."  He turned his head to her then looked up.  The sun was rising over the horizon.  

"We should probably head back." Relic suggested, also looking at the rising sun.  Takeo started to head back to the Temple, with Relic closely behind him.  

--

*Malefor's Lair*

"Useless."  The dark dragon growled.  Through a dark crystal, he was watching Grublins, Orks and Trolls unsuccessfully attacking a Shadus scouting party.  Or was it a war party?  It was too big to be simple scouts, yet they didn't have the equipment to be a sustainable raiding, war party.  What were they after anyways?

Malefor had known that he pushed the cheetahs to the point of desperation with his previous apes, but he never expected something like this to form.  Shadus was really more of a nuisance than an actual threat to his overall army, but Malefor couldn't maintain a garrison in the local valleys and forrests due to the Shadus Tribe.

The evil dragon noticed that the Shadus Tribe not only fought with the thought of survival in mind, but also they fought with speed, precision, and often went into heavy dragon territory like they were looking for something or someone.  He has very little knowledge of the histories of the cheetahs, but he does know of the war between the dragons of Warfang and them that happened several years ago.

Regardless, these cheetahs were nothing more than a blight upon the land and he relished inflicting many horrible fates upon them.  From his castle, he then sent three more groups of Grublins to attack this one cheetah group.

--

*Warfang*

Relic pushed open the door of the Temple and stepped inside.  Takeo came in right after her and pushed it close.  The two of them saw that everyone else, except Scar and Ignitus were awake.  Aven and Polner were near the table with Polner laying her head on Aven's shoulder.  Kiah was near the window, watching the sun rise.  

"Ahh your back..." Aven said, looking at them.  Polner and Kiah did the same.  The three dragons turned their attention to Takeo.  They had not seen him before.  

"Are you the other human?" Polner asked, her blue eyes twinkling.  

"I am." Takeo answered.  "You were rescued by three of my other companions."

"Yeah, though we didn't get a good look at them.  Ignitus was in here earlier and told us about you.  Speaking of which, where did he go?" Aven looked around.

"I am here, young dragon."  The Fire Guardian came out of the hallway.  "I just went to check on Scar."

"Scar?  Who's Scar?" Kiah asked, turning her head away from the window.  

"You were all asleep when they arrived yesterday.  Scar is resting now and it would be best to leave him be."

"Can I at least see what he looks like?" Kiah asked, walking up to Ignitus.

Ignitus looked at her, deciding whether or not he should.  "I suppose.  Just please keep quiet."

Ignitus led Kiah to Scar's room and quietly opened the door.  Inside, Scar was snoring gently and curled up like a  ball on the giant bed.  Kiah peeked her head inside to get a closer look.

"Ohh, he's cute." she said, smiling a little.

"Now, now..." Ignitus pulled her tail because she was starting to walk inside.  He pulled her out when completely and closed the door.

"Sorry..." Kiah apologized sheepishly.  

"Go on..." Ignitus said and Kiah ran back to the others.