//------------------------------// // Spike // Story: Brotherhood is Magic // by GauntletsofRai //------------------------------// Spike walked down the steep mountain road, stepping over fallen branches and hopping on top of boulders that had fallen in the way. Right beside him, as always, was his brother, caretaker, and friend, Thomas. Spike couldn't remember a time when Thomas wasn't there. Probably due to the fact that Thomas claimed he had hatched Spike from an egg. He didn't have any conflicting evidence, so he guessed that was that. But then he would start to think that since Thomas hatched him, he was kind of like his dad, which made him feel kinda weird, since he considered Thomas to be just a very close friend. The group of men that Thomas had recruited on behalf of Princess Celestia walked just behind them as Thomas read the map of the land. Spike winced as he landed the wrong way on his clawed foot, which he bruised on that awful tornado ride. Seriously, what was Tom thinking?. He had jumped into Thomas' backpack when he started the tornado that that got them down the mountain. He had to admit, it was a pretty fast way to travel, but Spike had never been so sick in his life, and Thomas said that he was DEFINITELY never doing it again. Everyone was quiet for the most part, still recovering from the tornado ride, as they trekked through the mountain trail. Spike had tried to get a look at the map so as to get a better feel for where they were headed, but every time he had tried to look at it, someone nearby jerked it away, afraid he might burn it with his "terrible dragon fire." Spike had never met another dragon, which is what Thomas had called him, but from the descriptions that others had given, he was pretty discouraged about finding out. It was like every time someone saw him, they would get really excited and curious, until Thomas told them he was a dragon, which made most people get really anxious. He almost wished that Thomas would call him something else besides a dragon, just so people wouldn't look at him that way. But it's like the Princess said; you can't run from what you are, so you might as well make the best of your situation. Plus, I might even make people look at dragons a whole new way! I'll show them that dragons aren't so bad! Plus, Spike couldn't actually speak, except to Thomas and the Princess, and it was by what Thomas had called "telepathic reception," whatever that means. The only thing that Spike knew was that Thomas was the only one who could hear him, besides the Princess, which meant that he was often alone with his thoughts. That is, until he met Shane. Spike was thinking to himself as he often did, and had drifted a bit behind Thomas when The shy one in the plain yellow doublet crept up to his side as silent as a wildcat. Spike looked up at him expectantly, and he said nothing for a while, which unsettled Spike just a tad. After a minute or so of silent observation, the shy one spoke up. "It must be so fascinating to be a dragon. I wish you could tell me all about it!" How about some paper for starters? Spike thought to himself. He often thought of snappy remarks, free from the repercussions of having them heard aloud. "Wow, you can talk! Please, you have to tell me all about yourself! What's your favorite food?" That was new. In all of Spike's life, only two people had ever held intelligent conversation with him, and now this guy over here with the swooshy hair was preparing his biography! No way! You are actually hearing what I'm thinking right now?! "Yes, of course! Thomas mentioned speaking to you, but I thought he meant it like the way that I talk to animals. I kind of feel what they feel, but never like this! You're actually intelligent! This is so exciting!" Spike puffed up with a smidgen of pride, and looked around for someone else in the group. He spotted the big pink one and directed his thoughts towards him. HEY, can you hear what I'm saying?! The pink one stopped dead in his tracks and looked around, as if he had heard a faint buzzing noise from nowhere, dug a finger into his ear, and moved on down the road. Oh well, worth a try. Spike hurried over to Thomas while the shy one followed behind him. Thomas, the shy guy in the yellow can hear me! I thought only you and the Princess could hear me! Thomas looked away from his map to face Spike. "Really?" He looked at Shane. "You can hear Spike?" "Um, yes. I mean, I heard his thoughts, but um, I thought only you could talk to him?" Spike noted how awkward the shy one was with other humans, which was much different from how he talked Spike. Thomas rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. "Well, it looks like my theory was correct! Spike is slowly learning to project his thoughts to people other than me and the Princess, who are key figures in his life!" He stooped and scratched Spike behind his head crest like he always did. "Looks like you're growing up, Spike!" Spike practically bristled with pride as he walked alongside his best bro. The shy one barraged him with questions the entire way, but Spike didn't mind. He was kind of liking the attention for a change. * * * After another hour of uneventful travel and about a hundred more questions from The shy one, Spike's enthusiasm for this trip was wearing paper-thin. It was getting close to noon, and the group had not even stopped for lunch yet. Spike addressed this matter to Thomas, who happily obliged. The group gathered up and moved off to the side of the road to eat. Thomas and the others took off their packs and started digging through them for food, while Spike hopped up onto a nearby stump and waited eagerly for Thomas to find his lunch. Thomas reached into his bag, rummaged around and then produced two bright purple crystals of pure amethyst. Spike eyed the crystals hungrily as Thomas approached him on his stump. But just as Thomas was half-way to the stump, he stopped, face and body tensing like a bow string. A rustle from the surrounding forest drew his attention tot he side as he reached for the sword at his hip. He whistled a low and lilting tune to the crystal in his hand, which started to glow and spin like a compass needle. The crystal lifted itself on it's point and spun around to Thomas' ten 'o clock position. He turned as the crystal glowed brighter this time, and pointed to another direction to his right. The rest of the group had drawn their weapons and tensed like Thomas had as the crystal spun around, pointing in almost every direction around them. Thomas gasped and drew his sword, it's lavender gem gleaming brightly in the hilt as he let out a harsh whisper. "Everyone, form up! We're being ambushed!" The group formed up in a circle, drawing their respective weapons. Pippin spun his flail defiantly, as Thomas called forth his staff in his left hand, his sword in his right. Jack pulled out his giant broad sword as Dash pulled out his bow, nocking an arrow as he crouched to the ground. Roald retrieved his slender staff from the holster at his side, and tried his best to reassure Shane, who was shaking violently with fear. The group stood at attention for a moment, waiting for the attack. Out of the bushes sprang a torrent of steel and fur as a group of men-shaped beasts attacked the group from all sides. The first of them instantly fell to the ground, a blue-fletched arrow sprouting from it's throat. Thomas spun his staff and created a ring of fire, which spun towards the beasts like a plate thrown through the air, taking out four of the beasts at once and setting a few more on fire. Jack buried his broad sword deep into the skull of one beast, quickly pulling it out and opening the belly of another. The beasts broke up and circled the group, calculating their next moves. They snarled like wolves, yet stood upright and even wore a few odd pieces of armor that looked much too small for them. Pippin broke the tension and swung his flail overhead, whooping as he charged a knot of beasts. He brought the flail down hard on one's head, and then spun it in the opposite direction to catch another in the arm, knocking away the crooked knife it held. With a seemingly directionless flow, he crushed one beast's skull with a powerful swing, then spun around and knocked a second off of it's feet, slamming it against a tree trunk and shattering it's spine, then brought the flail back up in a vicious crushing uppercut that knocked a third beast's head clean off. The rest of the group, the beasts included, stood gaping at him as he stood with spatters of blood staining his face, panting in the heat of battle with a pile of foes about his feet. He lifted his flail again and shouted out. "BRING IT ON!" The beasts re-doubled their charge and the group readied their weapons again. Roald sent a spike of bluish energy from his wand that stunned a nearby assailant, allowing Jack to lop it's head off with ease. Thomas pushed a nearby beast with a blast of compressed air and then swung his sword backwards to catch another in the throat. While the fighting continued, Shane stood back, watching the procession and all together staying out of the way. He sucked in a breath as he saw a lone beast creeping towards Spike, who was still perched on his stump. The beast stepped on a twig, which alerted Spike's attention. He reared back and blew a tiny spout of green fire, which buffeted harmlessly against the beast's face. The beast reached out, attempting to grab Spike, who was now frozen to the stump with fear. The beast clutched Spike's tail in one hand and lifted him off of the stump. Shane let loose an ear-shattering war cry and hefted his borrowed ax. He jumped on the beast and brought his ax's blade down through the beast's spine, knocking Spike out of it's grasp. He screamed as he brought the ax down on the beast over and over again, mangling it to an unrecognizable pulp. He stood, breathing heavily over the beast's corpse as Thomas starred at him in a horrified stupor. He failed to notice the beast creeping up behind him and Shane charged at him, blood speckling his face. Thomas stood stock-still, not knowing what to do as Shane rocketed towards him, side-stepping him at the last second and bringing his ax down into the beast's skull. Thomas snapped to attention, and gathered his focus as he charged a spell. He lifted his staff into the air as it started to glow a bright orange. He shouted out, "DUCK!" as he brought down the staff onto the ground. An explosion of energy escaped from the staff and blew through the surrounding brush. Only Jack and Pippin had heard his warning, and the rest of the team was blown away along with the remaining beasts. Roald and Dash both grabbed a tree branch as they flew through the air, and Shane held onto Spike and crouched on the ground next to Thomas. After the explosion ended, the air was tinted with a bright orange glow, and Spike could see that the few remaining beasts had ran off back into the woods where they came from. Thomas approached one that lay dead on the ground and kicked it. He could see that it was wearing a steel breastplate that had split at the sides, like it had tried to force it on. He looked closer, and could see that on the corpse was a crescent moon, about as big as his palm. He reached down to touch it, when the beast suddenly started to vibrate and hiss, while smoke poured from it's orifices. The beast that lay before them shrunk into a dirty and very hairy man with thick tanned skin. The other beasts that had fallen did the same, littering the forest with hairy man corpses. Thomas gasped with recognition and muttered under his breath. "Wargs." Jack recovered himself from his prone position and gaped at one of the creatures that was changing. "Thomas, are these werewolves?" "That's what I thought at first, but look at the sky, the moon isn't out and it's high noon. These have to be wargs." Roald lost a handhold on the tree he had grabbed and dropped rather ungracefully to the ground. "Wargs? Like, skin-changers?" Thomas nodded in confirmation. "But that means that someone is controlling them, right?" Jack pushed back his hat with his thumb. "Yeah, legend says that evil witches trap men an' turn 'em into skin-changers that do her bidding. Is that what we're dealing with?" Thomas looked around, thoughtful. "If there's some witch or necromancer around, then that would explain the reports of an evil presence around this area..." Thomas stopped thinking and grabbed his pack from the ground, slinging it onto his shoulder. "Let's get going to Manesburrow, men. It looks like we're getting closer to the answers we're looking for. Come on, we can eat on the way." The group shouldered their respective burdens and hit the road, looking out more warily than they had before. Thomas hung back until he was walking with Shane and Spike. "Hey Shane, that was really well done back there. You really impressed me." Shane looked away, a furious blush creeping along his face. "Well, I just saw Spike getting grabbed by that, beast, and, um, I I just didn't want to loose him." "Well, I want to personally thank you for taking care of Spike for me. If those things got him, I don't know what I'd do." "Oh, well, your welcome I guess." Shane looked down at his feet as he walked, not looking into Thomas' eyes. Thomas sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out the crystal he was going to give Spike earlier. He tossed it to the baby dragon, who happily obliged by catching it in mid-air with his teeth. He hopped up onto Thomas' back, crunching the crystal as they walked and positively beaming with happiness. After a few minutes, the tree line began to thin, and then stopped all together. All around the group was a landscape full of tree stumps and cleared brush. At the very center of it was a city surrounded by thousands of sharpened wooden stakes as big around as a person. Trails of smoke floated lazily from several chimneys, and the group saw a massive wooden hall atop the hill which the city rested upon. TO those who had only seen towns as big as Mannsville, it was a sight to be seen, but even Thomas was awed at the sheer amount of wood that the people of the city had cleared. Thomas re-adjusted his pack and strode forward resolutely, the scene of the surrounding area filling his blood with a lust for adventure. * * *