The Forgotten Zodiac

((This was kind of supposed to be your plot curve, remember? xDD They can be caught, I dun care much. As for the testing facility, it sounds like oodles of fun. :T Le humans are NPCs, you can controll 'em, too.))

"No..." Sylas groaned, grabbing onto the end of Bermuda's staff. He tugged at it weakly, opening his one eye again. "Don't..."

Rush looked down at Sylas, frowning deeply. "Snap out of it, Sylas..." He grumbled, shaking his head.

"I'm better..." Arachne nodded, though bruises were already forming on her arms and under her shirt. "I'm hurting, but I don't think they broke anything. Thank you for saving me," She murmured, tucking her forehead beween Israel's chin and shoulder.

((Shazamalam. Great!))

((Hannah chooses warlocks. That way Arachne can do something for a little bit.))

Israel touched down, deciding to give his wings a small break while they were safe. "It's fine. You're welcome," he said, smiling at the demoness. He turned as he heard a twing snap, but didn't pay it much attention. They were in the forest, there were animals here, nothing to worry over.

Then, it felt as if he had been hit by lightning. His feet felt as if they were about to shoot through his head, and he jerked spasmodically. Israel fell limply to the ground, only giving an occasional twitch every so often.

A robed figure stepped out from between the trees, his hand still smoking from the lightning spell. He chortled softly, eyeing his quarry as several other cloaked men emerged from the woods, flanking him. The siren was solidly unconscious, and the little girl wasn't of much concern. "Hello, dearest," he spoke, his voice a deep warble. "Don't make a fuss now," he said, watching as two  of his men came foreward murmiring binding spells for Israel and Arachne. "If you and your friend don't want to be hurt, don't struggle. Come along, nice and easy," he said, a smirk turning up the corners of his mouth.

"Israel?" Arachne whimpered, jerking her head up as the man in robes approached. "No!" She snapped, cutting off their spells without even trying. "Y-you already hurt Israel! Go aw-away," She trembled, taking a step back. She normally would have ran for her life, but she didn't dare leave Israel's side. She stood over him, blocking the spells aimed at her servant, as well as herself.

The man that was apparently in charge stammered. "Wh-what is she?" he asked, obviously irritated by the fact that their spells were not working. He tried once or twice more to attack the two under his own power, but as his spells sputted out uselessly, he grew enraged. He lifted his hand in signal, and a few more men strode into the clearing - humans, now, who felt no effect from Arachne's magic drain. Bows and swords drawn on the girl, the warlock heading the attack implored her again. "Come gently, now, or my men will have you bleed," he hissed, malicious intent in his eyes.

Arachne whimpered and backed up a pace, only to trip over Israel's limp frame. "N-no! Brother says to run away from strangers, s-so...no," She grabbed Israel under the arms, trying desperately to pull her friend away from the attackers. "Stay away from me!"

One of the humans let an arrow fly, and as if it had been the first drop of a flood, the onthers attacked at once. Bows sang and swords cut forewards, intent on causing permanant harm to the little demoness and her siren friend.

They probably would have died there, had not the warlock reminded the attackers of their mission. "Hold fire!" he shouted, "We need them alive!"

Hands holding ropes came foreward, jerking a now heavily bleeding Israel away from a beaten Arachne and binding him. Another man grabbed at Arachne, ropes waiting for her as well.

Arachne, riddled with arrows and deep cuts, could do nothing to stop them from taking Israel away. But she was not without a final struggle; she bit down as hard as she could on the human's hands. As hard as she possibly could, which was actually hard enough to draw blood. It was a feeble attack, but stubborn miss Arachne wasn't about to just give up, really.

((I like Arachne.))

The human cursed loudly, shaking her teeth off his hand. "Someone get me a rag!" he called. But instead of using this rag to clean off his hand, he shoved it into Arachne's mouth, securing it there by threading rope between her teeth. Her arms and legs were bound, and she was shoved into the back of a carriage with Israel. Leaving the site of the struggle behind, the warlocks and their human lackeys headed off, going farther north, where the snow was already beginning to blow.

"Hold him still would you? If he pulls away, I might not be able to transport us in one piece!" Bermuda said, watching as L'arc tried ineffectually to calm a wiggling Sylas.

"Shh, it's okay, no one's going to hurt you, calm down..."

((Haha, I used to think of her as nothing but an annoyance. But yeah, she is kind of loveable.))

And now, Arachne could do nothing but lie there and cry, her tears mingling with blood.

Sylas groaned and moaned, trying to move again but finding it near impossible. He struggled feebly and weakly, though he was quickly collecting strength as he worked to regain movement. "Hold still!" Rush snapped. "Or should I use a spell to hold him down?" He frowned. He didn't want to hurt Sylas, certainly, but he didn't want his friend to start attacking them left and right. Nor did he want the human torn apart by moving during a transportation spell.

"Somebody hold him still," Bermuda sighed, looking more and more irritated. "We may have missed them, I don't sense them anymore," he added, frowning deeply. "Hurry up!"

((Blargh short.))

Rush rambled off a spell, and the ground jutted up between L'arc and Sylas. Sylas was engulfed in rock wihin seconds, rendered completely incapable of any movement. Sylas just whined at that point, whimpering pathetically. "NOW are we ready?" Rush snapped, grumpy as ever.

"I would think so," Verolen sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

Bermuda nodded once, murmured the warp spell, and they were off.

Upon opening their eyes, they were met with a horrible sight.

There was blood everywhere. Arrows had enbedded themselves into the ground and trees, and L'arc closed his eyes again and held his ears in his hands to try and block out the wailing of the trees. Bermuda looked aroud, wide eyed, trying to figure out what happened here and where those who had lost the fight were now.

"I certainly hope... it's not..." he murmured, staring at the red the stained the forest floor.

"...Verolen," Eve called the other demon. She strode over to him, a dour expression on her face, she grabbed his hand and held it palm up, then placed the item she was holding into it.

Three black feathers, sticky with blood, and a torn pink ribbon.

Bermuda had covered his mouth and nose, the salty stink in the air was starting to get to him. L'arc hesitantly lowered his hands, placing his palm agaisnt a nearby tree trunk - half in comfort, half to steady himself. "What happened here?"

Sylas started wailing in tune with the trees, struggling all the more against the rocks holding him fast. "It's obvious what happened here," Rush snorted, examining the scorch marks on the ground. "Someone cast a lightning spell. Arachne apparently blocked any other spells, but that caused their attacker to attack with normal weapons. Arrows and swords. Seems to be a kidnapping, but I wonder why they didn't come straight back to us."

"I don't know why," Verolen frowned unhappily. "But I really don't care. We have another search to do, then..." He sighed heavily. "Arachne and Israel first, before they bleed out. Byrne and Verdi will have to wait, since we don't have any leads on their trail right now..." He looked over at the small pile of rocks that held Sylas down. "But finding them with this weight is going to be quite the hassle..."

"I can manage to keep him down, but transporting him without having him kill us..." Rush sighed through his nose. "I suggest breaking a few bones. It'll restrict his movement so he won't do anything, but it won't hurt him permanantly."

"I could--" Bermuda seemed to have to catch his breath a little, slightly in shock from having brought them to this place. "I could put him to sleep, or go back to the Manakete Palace with him. But I should probably go with you all, looks like a healer will be needed..."

"I'll go back with him," L'arc volunteered. Bermuda immediately shot the idea down.

"L'arc, your blade skills--"

"Will be severely hindered. Don't you see where they've gone?" he pointed to the tracks left by the carriage. "North. There's snow there. It's winter there." He sighed softly. "I've been keeping it to myself, but I really can't... I'm going to have to sleep soon," he said.

"Well..." Bermuda hesitated. He knew that his adopted brother had a point, but stil... He looked back to the rest of the group for their opinion.

Bunpost:

"I can already sense a temperature drop in the ground up north. It's probably already snowed." Rush nodded thoughtfully. "If we transport Sylas with you though, L'arc, you're going to have to figure out a way to subdue him in the case he attacks. Unless you can put him to sleep and then transport him, Bermuda."

"L'arc is right, though. He would be as much deadweight as Sylas would be if we brought the both of them along." Verolen shook his head. "No offense, L'arc, but I'm just thinking about what's best. And you've got the right ideas."

L'arc shrugged at Verolen's words, knowing they were true.

"Yes, I can make him sleep first," Bermuda nodded. He turned and did just that, knowing that they didn't have much time to waste. Soon, Sylas was in a forced slumber, and then, a flash of light, and he and L'arc were gone.

Israel was starting to come around. His eyes blinked open to bright light and heat. He tried to sit up, but only got as far as propping himself up with his elbows. He looked around, trying to discern where he was. He could see Arachne lying a few feet off, in a cage. He came fully awake then, looking around at the cell he had been placed in. The cage was suspended off the ground a few feet, too far apart from Arachne's for them to make contact. The room they were in felt like a desert, and already sweat was pouring off of the siren to mingle with the blood already on his body. He let out a small, fearful whimper, looking for a way to escape.

"Right then. Let's go." Verolen nodded, turning and heading north.

Arachne was still awake, lying on her back in the cage. Blood dripped slowly from her wounds, falling to the floor and collecting in a pool on the ground below. She was singing quietly to herself, but she was unable to keep her voice steady for more than a few keys. She didn't notice that Israel was awake, the bloodloss making her dizzy and disoriented.

"A-Arachne?" Israel called, hearing her. "Can you hear me? What happened? Where are we?" he asked in a scared whisper.

((Shooort....))

"I don't know, I don't know..." Arachne said, in a louder sing-song voice. "I can he-hear you but I don't...know...at all." She quickly started tripping over he words without meaning to, closing her malfunctioning eyes and starting to cry. "I don't know...help me..."

Israel slid upwards more, leaning himself against the bars of the cage for support. He reached out his hand to Arachne, but discovered quickly that he was too far away to reach her.

So he did the only other thing he could.

The siren began to sing softly, a comforting, lulling sort of melody, meant to held Arachne relax. "Peace, dear child, be still, do not be afraid. Darkness flee and light always protect your heart..."

It wasn't much, Israel knew, but it was all be could do.