Winter in Artisans: Part 3

"I've never seen an arch like this before." Ami remarked, as she, Coltrane, Grayson, and Spyro had traveled to an old courtyard after helping Flame make his way through the hillside. They were now on a mission to get Flame to a warm place to rest up before returning to their original objective to get back home.

Grayson groaned, "So we're not getting anymore lost, are we?"

Spyro slowly slipped through the broken arch and looked at the yard on the other side, seeing only whatever was left of old castles and rooftops. He turned back to his friends and ordered calmly, "Into the castleyard. We've got to get some shelter for Flame."

Spyro ventured forward through the courtyard, scanning the area for any signs of strong shelter to withstand the cold winds. He then spotted a shelter that shows whatever was left of a stone hallway with the roof of what used to be a castle still holding up strong. The purple dragon then walked inside the shelter and looked around, not feeling the cold winds blowing inside.

"Get him in here!" Spyro shouted from within the broken castle to his companions. "It's dry, and it's away from the winds." Quickly, Coltrane, Ami, and Grayson gently guided the cold and frigid Flame towards the shelter and settled comfortably inside.

"You two huddle close to him." Spyro said. Obediently, Coltrane and Grayson laid down and flanked beside Flame, trying to get their body heat to warm up the red dragon's temperature.

Flarea flew down from the air and landed in front of the shelter, looking at Spyro, "How big captain doing?"

Spyro looked back to Flame sadly, "He's a fighter, Flarea. Any luck finding our way home?"

The young phoenix lowered her head, "Flarea stupid phoenix...Lost."

"Anyone can get lost in a snowstorm, Flarea." Spyro reassured.

Flarea then perked up with a smile, "Flarea got idea. Flarea look for stars, they always point right way. Flarea look, come back, then lead you home. Promise! Be back soon!" She turned around and eagerly took off flying towards the sky, ascending rather quickly before disappearing into the clouds.

As Flarea disappeared, Spyro turned back to Coltrane and Grayson, who were still doing their best to warm up Flame. The purple dragon didn't what option they could, but find Flame a warm place to rest. However, there appears to be no warm shelter around the area in sight.

Suddenly, a voice spoke out from behind the group, "Hello, my name's Zonoya."

Spyro, Flame, Ami, Coltrane, and Grayson turned their heads to the outside of the shelter only to see a teenage, red dragoness standing outside. Her orange right eye was open, but the left one had three scars, forcing orange, and her white, curvy horns each had a pair of yellow bands on them. A large, patch of blue scales ran from her forehead, to her back, and ending near the tip of her tail. A pair of curvy white spikes protruded from the top of the dragoness's blue tail, and a white horn grew from her joints of her back legs. Her wings were mostly red with her sails coated in a pinkish color, the top of her wings were light brown. A ridge of blue spikes grew from her forehead and ended at the back of her neck.

The red dragoness, calling herself Zonoya, questioned the group, "Who're you?"

The dragons were surprised to see another dragon living in Artisans. Spyro cautiously stepped towards the strange dragoness, "I'm Spyro, and these are my friends." He glanced back to his companions.

Zonoya asked curiously, "Aren't you cold?" She looked at Flame and noticed how cold he was, "You look cold."

"We are, and we have nowhere to go." Spyro responded.

Zonoya looked up at the sky, "It's Christmas Eve, you know."

"Yes, we know." Ami stepped forward.

Zonoya smiled warmly, "Every creature should be in a warm place, tonight of all nights. You'll stay with me, come on!" She turned around and began running towards the other side of the courtyard; the red dragoness then stopped to check if the dragons were following her.

"Maybe our luck has changed for the better." Spyro muttered, smiling.

Grayson said, "It couldn't get much worse."

Flame shuddered, looking at Grayson, "Yes it could, so stop tempting Death will you??" Hurriedly, the five dragons began following Zonoya to wherever place she lives in, running past several broken arches and castles along the way.

When they reached the corner of the courtyard, Spyro and Ami saw Zonoya scurrying towards a rather large maze. The two dragons were confused at why a dragon like Zonoya would be living someplace inside a maze, but they didn't doddle for long as they continue following the red dragoness, along with Flame, Coltrane, and Grayson.

"Stay close, it's easy to get lost in the maze." Zonoya informed, as she ran ahead around the corner of the maze. Spyro and the others closely trailed the red dragoness through the corners and corridors of the maze

"Here we are. Home." Zonoya announced, having reach the center of the maze where a large, black castle stood powerfully despite the harsh weather conditions. Spyro, Flame, Ami, Grayson, and Coltrane walked out from the maze and gazed upon the castle, before following Zonoya towards the dwelling.

The group of dragons noticed strange, yellow bird-like creatures perched around the rooftops of t he castle; some of them were looking down at the group with piercing yellow eyes. Bat-like wings grew from their arms, and to their surprise, teeth were growing out of their beaks despite the creatures being bird-like.

Ami shuddered, looking at the strange, bird creatures and the castle, "I don't know if I like this place, Spyro. It's so unnatural."

"It gives me a funny feeling too." Spyro nodded, "But we got to get Flame somewhere warm."

Flame smiled weakly, "O-Oh...T-That s-sounds...n-n-nice..."

Zonoya peeked out of her home and asked the dragons, "Well?? Do you like being in the cold?"

"Sorry, we're coming." Spyro replied, as he and the others walked towards the seemingly old castle, trying their best to ignore the peering eyes of some of the bird-like creatures perching outside the castle...

000000

"Hey, Spyro! I found way to home!" Flarea crowed loudly, as she eagerly nosedived towards the ground, landing softly on the snow. She coughed and sputtered, quickly rising up to her feet and began walking around the debris to look for her dragon friends, "Spyro?" She looked around and saw no signs of any of the dragons anywhere, "How come you gone, Spyro?"

Flarea turned to one of the castle debris and spotted a figure hiding inside, "Spyro?" She stepped forward a little and formed a wide smile on her beak but then she peered closer at the figure hiding beneath the crooked edges of the small castle. A pair of yellow eyes suddenly gleamed from behind the debris as the Death Hound, having been following the scent of the dragons that lead it to the castle area, lowered its head close to the ground. It glared at the young phoenix and growling softly as it was prepared to ambush her.

Flarea squawked aloud with alarm, before she turned and quickly started running away to ready herself for a hasty take-off. The Death Hound stepped out from under the castle debris, and seeing Flarea ready to take flight, it quickly chased after her with a growl. Flarea took a few more steps and jumped into the air, flapping her wings desperately to gain altitude, but not before the Death Hound had caught up to her, only to jump up high into the air after her...

From the air, Flarea uttered a bloodcurtling scream, "SKKKEEEEAAAAAHHHH!!!"

The Death Hound fell back to the ground, landing on its paws, having grabbed only a mouthful of fiery feathers after failing to fully catch Flarea. It furiously spat the feathers out of its mouth before glaring up at the young phoenix circling the sky above it.

Flarea screamed angrily at the Death Hound, "What you do to my friends, rotten Hound?! What you do?!"

The Death Hound was confused on what Flarea was talking about. As it watched the young phoenix soaring around in the air, the carnivore responded to Flarea by licking its sharp teeth with its slimy, forked tongue.

Flarea shook her head with disbelief, "No, no! Friends here somewhere, I find them! You bet I do!"

The Death Hound growled as it watched Flarea fly away past the trees before turning its attention to the large, old castle in the distance, still following the trail of dragons...