Skylands Legends

12.3 Hunted

"How long have you been a part of the MDF?" Spyro asked Larsa.

"Few years.." she responded through gritted teeth.

Spyro nodded. He hadn't really expected her to answer his question. He was just trying to get her to take her mind off the pain. When the bombs had gone off, rubble had crushed one of her legs, shattering the bones in her thigh enough that they punctured the skin.

She was in a lot of pain, and judging by how much blood she had lost, it didn't look like she had much longer.

They had brought her along with the rest of the group hoping to give her a fighting chance, but it was becoming more and more apparent she wouldn't make it back to the ships. Now, Spyro was just trying to make her comfortable while Smash Hit led the others up ahead.

"Oh yeah?" Spyro said, putting as much charm in his voice as he could. He didn't want her to hear the fear and sadness in his voice. She deserved better.

"What made you want to join them?"

Larsa began trembling in pain, and Spyro took up her hands and held them. She looked up at him, thankfully. "Y-y-you. I w-wanted to be h-heroic like you. A-a l-legend."

That hit him hard... he had essentially killed this woman. He wanted to apologize, to chastise her for coming along, to break down and cry... but he couldn't.

Instead he forced a smile. "You are more heroic than me, Larsa. More so than I could have ever been."

Larsa's trembling slowed down and her grip slackened from his. A small smile crossed her face as a single tear streaked down from her unfocused eyes.

A legend. Her last words rang out in his head as Spyro let her head lie down on the shattered stone street. "I don't deserve the title of legend." He whispered. "I'm nothing but a fraud."

Spyro rose to his feet and looked out at the group of mabu and sighed. How many more would die because of him?

Spyro started after the group when a sudden roar shook the island. Spyro turned around, half expecting to find the beast upon him.

Instead, Crusher hobbled quickly towards him with Fryno and Wrecking Ball at his side. He had Terrafin and Latch over his shoulder. "Run!" The giant called. "Ru..."

The beast crashed into Crusher's back, tackling him to the ground. Latch's and Terrafin's bodies both fell heavily to the ground as the beast tried to rip the golem apart. He pushed the beast off of him and yelled, "Get them to the ships and leave!"

Crusher then turned around to face the beast. As he did, he rapidly grew in size until he was ten times as large as the beast, standing in his true giant form above everyone. The giant made a fist and brought it down on the beast. He crushed him with an earth shaking blow. "Go!" Crusher yelled one last time as the beast burst out of the giant's fist.

Recovering from the shock of what just happened, Spyro ran over and picked up Latch in his arms while Smash Hit picked up Terrafin. "Hurry back to the docks!" Spyro commanded. "I'll be right back!"

Spyro leapt into the air with Latch in his claws and soared towards the docks. The two infirmary ships were both now sailing dots on the horizon. The remaining two were still waiting for them. He made out Stealth Elf on one of the ships and quickly landed beside her, letting Latch down gently.

"Where the hell have you been!?" Stealth Elf demanded. She then looked down at the injured Latch and her face paled a bit. "Holy shit. Get the medical supplies!" She barked at the mabu before dropping to her knees to tend to Latch. "What the hell happened?"