The Forgotten Zodiac

"Exploding...that hurts," Manny guessed, hugging his chest suddenly. Rush flew over to him, landing on his back and making Manny carry him. He put his hands over Manny's chest, closing his eyes. "Hmm...I don't detect any explosives, but there's stuff definitely there. Iron based...a tracker, maybe?" He pushed harder, feeling it. "I...dunno. We might have to open him up and see..."

Eve frowned a bit, then nodded. "On the boat would be a good time," she said. "We won't have much else to do. And, well, I can make him go dormant for atime. You won't feel a thing, Manny," she said, patting his shoulder.

Manny whimpered, a little afraid still. But he trusted his 'mommy', and was able to relax at least a little bit. "Okay. On the boat." He nodded.

"Right, then." Rush nodded, flying off of Manny. "Let's pick up the pace."

L'arc nodded, then walked a bit faster as Rush wanted. "Come on, Aries. If Gabe's too heavy, put him down. He's a good runner!"

"Alright," Aries sighed, setting her son down to let him walk. "Let's go, then." She took his hand with a wide smile, breaking into a slow jog.

Gabe laughed again and broke into a full out run, jerking on Aries's arm as he bounced around. "Let's go!" he said. "I bet I can beat you!" He let go of Aries's arm to run on ahead.

 And then, he slipped into the river.

Aries cried out in alarm, running over to the water's edge. Bershee poked her head up out of the water, a little far ahead, wondering if she should swim over and help. Aries was quick to dive in, though, searching desperately for her son.

Gabe was floundering just under the surface, apparantly having lost sense of which was was up. He kicked out desprately, scratching at the water with his hands.

Aries found the boy and heaved him up, but soon found herself struggling against the rapid tide. She forced Gabe's head above the water, letting him breathe, but inadvertantly causing herself to slip and be carried along with the tide. For a long moment it seemed like they would crash right into the boat, and Aries struggled desperately to swim to the side, but the water battered her limbs and numbed her with its freezing chill. She couldn't keep Gabe up forever, she herself was running out of air...

She screamed underwater, losing whatever air she had left, when something slammed into her. She was dragged out of the water the next second, Bershee dumping them on shore unceremoniously. "There you go." She tutted.

Gabe coughed and spluttered, curling close to Aries. For a while, all he could to was breathe and cling to his mother, trembling. Quay swam over to the shore and took human form, staring at the pair with concern. The selkie stood and looked up at Rush and L'arc.

"Um... this is as close as Eltanin can get with his boat, so he's going to send the schooners over to pick you up, with Thuban and Adhara. Okay?"

While he awaited their reply, Gabe seemed to have found his voice again, because he was suddenly crying, shouting "I'm sorry!" over and over.

((I thought Eltanin wasn't coming? .3.))

"It's okay, Gabe, it's...it's okay..." Aries murmured through her coughing. "It's fine. You're okay..." She curled up close to him, sighing a bit.

"Yes, yes, get us over there quickly." Bershee tutted.

((No, he was.))

Quay smiled at Bershee, though he seemed a bit nervous around her still. "Uhm, you can go on ahead if you want to. I told my brother to be expecting you," he said.

((Oh, okay.))

Bershee mentally debated it for a long moment, then slipped back in the water and swam off to meet the boat.

She heaved herself up easily, sliding onto the deck and dripping water everywhere. She eyed the Selkies, quietly surprised that they didn't try to chase her off at first glance.

Eltanin looked up as Bershee boarded, and nodded to her. "Welcome aboard," he murmured, then turned his gaze back towards shore as Thuban and Adhara pulled their schooners up to the shore, where the others were.

"Hoy, small fry!" Thuban called, waving at Quay as the younger selkie skittered over. "How've you been? This lot take care of you well enough?"

"Yes!" Quay said, laughing slightly.

"Thank you." Bershee said flatly. "And thank you for offering your services in spite of all the trouble this group carries with it...myself included."

"Of course we have," Aries smiled a bit, straightening up and getting Gabe onto the boat. L'arc had to start coaxing Sylas into it, as the human was extremely hesitant. To be expected.

Eltanin gave her a cordial nod. "I'm afraid I can't say no to Quay," he said, a small smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

"Come on, Sy. Climb aboard," L'arc said, having already gotten in himself. He held out his hand to Sylas, a small grin on his face.

"That's a good thing. Taking care of your young is important." Bershee said quietly.

Sylas hesitated for awhile longer, then let L'arc help him in. He slowly relaxed, especially when he took the pearl from his pocket and held it in his mouth, right under his tongue, so he wouldn't accidentally swallow it. "Okay...I'm okay. Let's go." He murmured, clinging to L'arc fearfully.

L'arc put his arm around Sylas, then watched quietly as the others climbed into the boat. Thuban pushed them back over the surf, then hopped in to help Adhara row them back over to Eltanin's sea-worthy ship.

Bershee helped the others climb up, especially Sylas. When all were up and ready to go, the anchors were pulled up, and the ship started off slowly.

"So! Who's going to attack us today?" Aries commented, plopping down on a crate.

"If it's another Kraken, someone else gets to eat it." Rush was experiencing a bit of discomfort, but he was managing it.

"Sorry about all this, Eltanin..." Aries sighed. "We don't like it any more than you and your people do. But we're really grateful you still allow us transportation at your expense."

Eltanin shrugged and waved off the comment. "You've helped out the Prince more than enough times to make it worth it in my book," he said. "Make yourselves comfortable below. It'll be a long trip."

It was a polite way of saying 'just get out of the way'.