Chapter 179: The Return of Spyro

Jude POV

After receiving Patch's and Dirge's report about dealing with the Evenhide problem, Jude ad Ravyn shook their heads in sympathy. "The Dark Goddess?" Jude grumbled. 

Ravyn kept her nose to the ground, sniffing for their particular rogues. "We knew that she wouldn't stay quiet for long. This poor rogue was easy prey. How is the Moondrop Fairy?"

"She's a spunky one. She'll be fine." Patch's voice held a smile. "Lilia brought her to see our new friend Deo so he could apologize to her."

Ravyn let out a "woof" of approval. "Let's just hope our own rogues can be dealt with so easily. Our intel suggests they're digging in their claws."

"Go get 'em, Ravyn and Jude," Dirge cheered.

Promising with all their hearts to do just that, Ravyn and Jude headed toward the border. The rolling grassland and towns gave way to wide open spaces, and soon, the farm Silverado Creek appeared. Jude tensed, lifting his wolf head up to sniff the air. 

"I smell rogues," he said. 

Ravyn's ears pricked up. She detected movement off to her left, atop a rise. And she definitely smelled the scent of rogues, mixed with ... crops? Fruit?

"Jude, these rogues smell exactly like the fruit grown by the Silverado Creek farmers. By Ariane Silvermoon and her farmers."

Jude's growl built to a crescendo. "Spyro. He found new friends after I exiled him, and he's out for revenge. He didn't learn his lesson the first time."

Ravyn howled, annoyed. "Let's go find the fruit thief and pack war instigator."

Jude pointed with his nose at the ridge. "You go left, I'll go right, and we'll box them in."

Hades loved the idea. "Excellent. That Spyro is a coward. He won't last long if cornered."

They approached the ridge. Although Spyro had been banished from the pack, somehow Jude could sense his thoughts. Images flooded him. Darkness. Clouds. Winged fairy-like creatures, all black, with red eyes and sharp teeth like wolves ...

"Hades?" he thought. "Are you seeing these things?"

"They look like old tales of the monsters created by the Dark Faeries." Hades sounded disgruntled. "It's best to focus on the problem, not the rogue's dark idiotic fancies. Keep your eye on the prize."

Jude sensed a huge evasion from Hades. He clearly didn't want to talk about this. But Hades had a point. Focus. Go after the rogues. Later, if Jude captured Spiro, there would be time to find out everything he wanted to know.

If he captured Spyro? Hah! The rogue was no match for him or for Ravyn.

Slinking up to the rise, the tall grass tickling his nose, he prayed to the Moon Goddess that he wouldn't sneeze. He and Ravyn were downwind of Spyro and the other rogue, but the two wolves hadn't smelled them yet. Good thing, because there might be more than two rogues, the rest of them lurking behind the rise. 

"Do you smell any other rogues?" he asked Ravyn."

"Negative. Don't sense any either," she replied. "But that means nothing. Hades?"

"They're hardly geniuses," he grumbled. "If they're hiding, they think they're clever. But a half-blind wolf could see over that rise. Look and see if I'm right."

Scanning the space beyond the rise, Jude couldn't see the grass being bent or any wolf silhouettes or glowing wolf eyes. "Just two rogues? Spyro evidently has trouble convincing people to join his cause."

"We have a happy pack, that's why." 

Atop the rise, Spyro rotated his body, finally getting a hint of their approach. Jude ordered, "Ravyn, NOW. No mercy!"

In sync, they both sprang at Spyro and the other rogue, a pincer move. Those thieving rogues would pay dearly for stealing from the farm!

* * * * *

Ravyn POV

Minutes Earlier...

Dark Fae?

Why was Jude seeing Dark Fae in his mind? The Dark Fae were on another level compared to Queen Ylavi Crystalsprite, the Dark Faerie. Come to think of it, Ravyn and the others had heard nothing from the faerie kingdom. They ought to reach out. Maybe Queen Ylavi still nursed a grudge after the disastrous failed matchmaking with Jude. Of course, Ravyn herself bore the bulk of the responsibility for that disaster.

It was too late to disturb Queen Ylavi. Morning would be soon enough. She could visit the Dark Faerie Queen through astral projection.

For now, she and Jude had rogues to deal with. Spyro needed to be taught a lesson again. This time, she hoped he got the message.

She and Jude made sure no other rogues lurked out of sight, lying in wait, before they made their move. Climbing up the rise from the right side, she saw the dark outline of Spyro, and the light from the moon shining on his rogue comrade. Both of them looked big and dark. Pewter-colored Spyro blended perfectly with the dark. 

"Now?" she thought to Jude.

"NOW."

With a sharp howl, she sprang at Spyro, claws outstretched. Surprise attack! He never saw it coming. Her paw knocked him off balance. Goddess, it felt glorious to use the full power of her wolf form. WHAM! Her other paw knocked Spyro further off-center.

A whine and howl of pain from the other side of the small outcrop told her that Jude's attack on the other rogue succeeded. She smelled blood and sweat.

"You'll pay for that!"

Hearing Spyro's voice, she rotated her body and saw he'd shifted to his human form. Shifting herself, she faced him, staring at his malicious scowl and the light glinting off his bald head. 

"No. YOU'LL pay for the fruit you stole," she snarled.

He whipped his head around and saw his comrade lying on the ground. "Arjun," he wailed. "Helene, NO!"

This wasn't just a rogue. Ravyn realized their mistake too late. A knot of fear and regret formed in her stomach. "Who was she?"

"My MATE!"

Oh Goddess. Jude had killed someone's mate ... but maybe not. 

Ravyn darted around Spyro and raced to the wolf lying unconscious on the ground. Her hands already heating and glowing, she knelt, laying her hands on the female wolf, who groaned and rolled away from her, then shuffled to her feet, unsteady and disoriented. 

Ravyn asked, "Are you alright. Helene?"

Spyro rushed over and knelt down, clasping her to his breast. "Helene," he crooned. "You're alright. I'm so sorry."

She huffed and wriggled out of his grasp, glaring at him through her ruby-red wolf eyes. 

"Helene ... we had to steal the fruit. It's not stealing. It's our fruit." He bared his fangs. "You understand. We must survive."

"I should have arrested you to begin with," Jude scowled. "I'll spare your mate, but YOU are coming with us."

"Like h*ll I am." Spyro shifted and howled to Helene. A clear "let's go" signal. 

It fell on deaf ears. She firmly planted all four paws in the grass. 

"Your mate has the right idea, Spyro," Jude said, noticing the yellow and red eyes of several Silverpaw enforcers who converged on the scene. "You can't outrun us all, and fighting us will only hurt you and Helene. I saw your pain when you thought I'd killed her."

A low, frustrated growl told Jude that he'd scored a point. 

"Sorry, Spyro. The Silverpaw Council and I will decide your fate, but you and Helene are spending a night in prison."

Helene whined to Spyro, whose ears drooped in surrender. The enforcers escorted Helene and Spyro towards Graywolf City.

Ravyn wrapped her arms around him. "That was the right thing to do."

"Exiling him again is probably going to cause more trouble," he sighed.

"Possibly."

"On the other hand, if I put them both to work on one of our pack's public service projects, they might recover their lost pride and save face," he commented.

She smiled. "That could work. I like it. NOW, can we talk about the Dark Fae we both saw in our minds?"