The Forgotten Zodiac

Verolen screamed and struggled, but it was no use. Soon, they were over water, and Verolen went as stiff as a board, deathly afraid of being dropped. Well, the sirens picked up speed after that, and several of them started laughing once they realized what Verolen was so afraid of.

Arachne burst into tears, clutching to Byrne's shirt. "Why, why?" She wailed. "Why does all of our fun have to be spoiled by everything else? Why?"

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Israel was cawing, struggling to try and get to Verolen, but it was no use. He looked up as another voice joined their yells.

"Put me down! Put me down!"

"And let you fall right back into your element? Not a chance, Princy."

Israel's jaw dropped as he looked over to see Bermuda being carried alongside them.

Byrne held her close. "It'll be okay..." he whispered.

The cawing laughter increased, and Verolen was dipped low near the water. He flinched back, yelping. The Sirens didn't pull up until their home was in sight; the high cliffs, the waves crashing against the solid rock. The sight of it was slightly terrifying, in its own way.

Israel had falled quiet a long time ago, horrified. He didn't want to go see his mother, and he didn't want her to hurt Verolen, or Bermuda... the sight of his home wasn't as scary, he knew, as what lived there.

They were taken straight to one of the towers, and were tied to their chairs immediately. The sirens were a bit smarter than they looked; one of them brought in a mallet and violently broke both of Verolen's arms before he could transmute anything. Verolen thrashed and screamed as they were left alone, left to wait for Vala to arrive.

"Verolen, calm down..." Israel said, fanning out his wings. One just reached far enough to brush the side of Verolen's face. "You're hurting yourself..." he tried to soothe.

Bermuda just sat there, grumbling under his breath and looking very angry with himself.

((Verdi's there too, right?))

((Yes, in a cage off to the side.))

Verolen flinched at the touch, but stopped screaming. He swallowed hard, though he still shook horribly. "M-my arms..." He gasped with the pain as he tried to move his fingers. Verdi was tucked off to the side, shoved in a cage. He was weeping hysterically, certain that he would be the bearer of more and more experiments or something.

Israel left his wing against Verolen, trying his best to keep him calm. "It'll be okay..." he tried to soothe.

Israel decided, two seconds later, that the universe hated him.

Vela strode into the room, looking over the quarry that her raiders had brought back. She kicked Verdi's cage, yelling at him to shut up, then gave Bermuda a once over. "Excellent. The Naiads will pay handsomly for him," she said. She then turned her gaze to Israel, and smiled.

"The prodigal son returns," she sneered, going over and placing her hand against his face. Israel snarled and tried to bite her, so she drew back. Anger danced in her eyes like flames, but it was not Israel she directed her gaze to.

"You," she hissed, grabbing Verolen's jaw. "You made him like this!"

"Made...him what, kind?" Verolen hissed right back, though his voice shook almost as much as his arms did. "Y-you're the one...wh-who gave him away...and you expected him to be raised to be like you? Y-you se-senile old bat..."

Vela only smirked. "You fear me?" she asked, her tone potent. "That's good... you should. It seems you're not entirely stupid," she said, shoving him so his chair fell over, and he landed on his arms.

Verolen screamed again, using his knees to push the chair onto its side, taking the weight off of his arms. "I-I don't fe-fear you...I d-don't fear anyone..." He panted, closing his eyes tightly in spite of his words. His bones were pretty much shattered at this point.

"He fears water!" A crow that was hanging near the ceiling cawed loudly, laughing a bit.

"Does he?" Vela smiled widely. "What a coincidence. You see, this part of the seas belong to me. Guard!" she called, waiting as a few crows flitted down at her command. "Find me a ship. Take the demon with you, and sail out to the trench. Tie him to the anchor and lower it," she said, a twisted smile on her lips.

"Wh-what?! No!" Verolen yelped, starting to struggle again, but it was no use. He fought with everything he had, which wasn't much thanks to his broken arms that the crows were tugging on while they laughed and dragged him away. "Israel!" He shrieked before the door was slammed shut.

"Verolen! Verolen!" Israel called in reply, flailing about. His wings were free, which meant he actually suceeded in getting his chair to lift off the ground a few feet, before the door was slammed. "No! Come back!"

((Now what? Feel like we should go back to selkie village.

Dagnabit. How are they going to get anyplace without Bermuda?))

((I kind of want to show a snippit of Verolen in complete and total peril, but yes. Returning to the Selkie village in a moment sounds good. As for getting places, the Selkies have boats, do they not? Well, Aries and them weren't even going to go back to the Manakete Palace for the winter, remember?))

Verolen continued to struggle until he was tied to the anchor and the Sirens pushed off. When they were in the right spot, the Sirens started arguing over which of them got to throw Verolen overboard. They finally decided on working together to do it, as the anchor was much too heavy for any one of them to handle on their own. Finally, they got Verolen over the rail and into the water.

One of the Sirens chortled as he watched the rush of bubbles that followed. The other looked at him, then down at the water, then questioned, "Weren't we supposed to use the anchor that's chained to the ship?"

"Nah, Vala don't need 'im. He's deader than a rock already." The other replied.

Under the water, Verolen felt his lungs fill with water as he sank deeper...and deeper...and deeper. He grew cold and numb all at once, until things finally went black. When he returned from death, there was nothing he could do. He just...died again. Eventually there were pauses in the times when he would wake up again, only to die again. And eventually...

He just stopped waking up.

((He gets better, right? -sad for Verolen- ))

((Hannah just remembered that she likes Byrne. ))

Byrne looked up at Aries as the noise of the attacking stopped. "Is... is it over?" he asked, his voice smaller than a whisper. "I'm still alive, aren't I?" he questioned further.

((Yes. The ropes will rot away and Verolen will be carried by some tides back to shore. When there's oxygen to breathe, he'll wake up.))

"Yes," Aries said gently, sheathing her sword. "I believe it's over. But...Verdi was taken. I saw that much..." She stepped forward and peeked out the door again, looking around. No Sirens in sight. "Looks like the coast is clear..."

Byrne stayed where he was, still holding onto Arachne. "Is there anyone alive out there?"

As if to answer his question, Thuban burst into the room. "Why the heck did you bar the door?" he demanded. "We had to hide the little ones in the forest! They would have been much safer in here!"

"I didn't bar any door," Aries retorted. "It's not my fault your doors stick sometimes," She snapped at him, then calmed down a little. "Was anyone taken?" She asked, though frowning still. She didn't like being blamed for things she didn't do. She really hadn't barred the door at all.

((She did too!))

"The Prince is gone," Thuban said tersely. "He was carried off along with the demon, the siren, and the moot. Where were you? Why weren't you helping?" he snapped.