The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr looked up at Welk and smiled before going back to taking his notes. After awhile, Werr stood and stretched, closing his notebook. His stomach growled unhappily; the sun was going down already, and Werr hadn't eaten anything since this morning. He reddened at the noise, fishing through his bag for the jerky in his survival kit. He actually had no idea how to fend for himself without food to buy at the market or something...

Welk looked up at Werr when his stomach growled and smiled. "Hungry, huh?" he asked. "Come to think of it, I am too." He looked up at Cynyr and said "Cynyr, are we gonna hunt or something?"

Cynyr, who had been completely and utterly absorbed in his books, blinked and looked up. "Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, I'll go get something for us. You stay here with Werr." He closed the book and jumped down, then changed into his panther form. In this form, he was at least twice Welk's cat size, roughly around the size of a really big saber-tooth tiger. "Werr, put that stupid jerky stuff away. After a day like this, I think we all need something a little better than that. I'll bring back enough for all of us." He padded past them and headed out into the forest.

Welk grinned at Werr. "Cool! He must be in a good mood because of the books, or else he would never offer to catch you something too. Let's make a fire so we can barbeque whatever he brings back!" He put the wooden animals back into his pockets and started gathering up sticks to make a fire with.

Werr smiled and put away his jerky, nodding. "Yes, I'm glad you picked out those books. I might have gone hungry tonight otherwise. Now then, we need firewood if we're going to make a fire, obviously." He stood and moved off into the woods, hoping to find a fallen branch or a few sticks for their fire. "I have flint in my survival pack, so we don't have to worry about getting the fire to start, we just need the fuel."

"Okay! Right!" Welk said, then turned into a cat and started carting chunks of wood to the spot they picked out for the fire. He ran over and grabbed a log, then carried it back proudly in his mouth. It was a comical thing to see, a lion-sized cat carrying a chunk of wood in its mouth. After a few times of doing this, he quickly decided that doing it one-by-one wasn't a very good plan. He turned back into a human and began carrying three at a time, other than one. After they had gathered up plenty of wood to start the fire and keep it going for a long time, he sat down to watch Werr make the fire. Suddenly, the half-cat lifted his head and sniffed a few times, his slitted red eyes fixed in the direction Cynyr had went off in. "Cynyr's caught something. I think it's a rabbit. No, wait, two rabbits. Ooo, rabbit meat is really good." he said, then pulled his animals out of his pockets and started making them talk to each other.

Werr followed him, collecting twigs as they went. He quickly piled the wood, stacking it in a triangle-shape. But of course, make the fire a house and it will live in it; make it a grave, and it'll die. Werr quickly collected the twigs and smaller sticks in the middle, and then tore a piece of paper out of one of his older notebooks and set it on top of the stack. He then got to work with the flint, easily starting the flame. Werr knew how to do this, at least; the fireplace couldn't light itself, obviously.

Welk watched Werr start the fire, then went back to playing with the wooden animals. He laid down near the fire once it grew big enough and supported his head on his arm, using his other limb to continue playing with the animals. He was carefully to keep his tail away from the fire, as the fur on his tail would be quick to go up in flames. He set down the wooden horse and stared at the animals, then suddenly rolled around on his back a few times, seemingly with a sudden burst of random energy. He wiggled around on his back for several seconds, twisting around, then turned back over and put his attention back on the wooden animals.

A few minutes later, Cynyr returned, a group of three dead rabbits and a fish all tied together hanging from his mouth. He padded wordlessly over to the fire and turned back into a human, were he began untying the carcasses.

"Ah, good catch," Werr smiled. "They look delicious. Thank you, Cynyr." He took the fish and withdrew a knife from his bag, starting to scale the fish. While he had read about building fires, he had no idea what he was doing in this case, really. The knife slipped and cut into his thumb; he jerked back with a yelp, immediately trying to stem the blood with his shirt sleeve (after dropping the knife, of course). It wasn't very deep, thankfully, but it still hurt.

Cynyr rolled his eyes and made no move to help Werr. He was busy plucked all of the fur out of the rabbits.

Welk glared at his brother for a moment, then stood up and walked over to Werr. "Here." he said, pulling something out of his pocket and handing it to the boy. "This leaf heals cuts. I usually keep a few in my pockets because I get scraped up when I'm running around by myself in the forest. If you rip it in half it'll bleed white sap stuff, which you put on your cut. It'll heal within a couple of minutes."

"Really?" Werr blinked,taking the leaf. "Thank you," He smiled, following Welk's instruction to tear the leaf and spread the sap over his cut. He went back to trying to skin the fish, though being a little more careful this time. By the time he was done, indeed, the cut was no longer visible on his thumb. "It worked," Werr said in surprise, cleaning the sap off of his finger. "What is that leaf called?" He asked curiously.

"I don't know." Welk answered, scratching the back of his head absently.

"It's a common plant called 'retiu leaf'." Cynyr said. "Seeing how you never listened to the lessons in science class, Welk, I'm not surprised that you don't know."

Welk glared at him, then shrugged. "Hey, the only lesson I was ever interested in that boring class was the day they taught us how zuoluks mated. You remember that lesson? The zuoluks-"

"Nobody needs to hear that!" Cynyr shouted, cutting Welk off sharply. "You shut up right now!"

"What?" Welk said, grinning. "You mean you don't like it when I talk about that?"

"No! It was disgusting!" Cynyr said, then turned to Werr. "Werr, if you know what's good for you, do NOT ask him to tell you about this. It'll scar you for life. End of discussion."

Welk laughed, closing his red eyes and giggling.

"Okay." Werr blinked. He didn't remember any quiz or anything on such a subject, so he had no idea, but he didn't mind. He shrugged and started to secure his fish on a stick so it could be cooked properly. "Retiu leaf, I'll definitely remember that one. Thanks again, Welk." He smiled, changing the discussion.

"No problem." Welk said, smiling at him. "I've got a bunch in my pants pockets." He pulled the wooden cow out of his jacket pocket and sat down, staring at the little animal.

"Here." Cynyr said, handing him one of the rabbits. "Stick this on a stick and put it over the fire."

"Aww, what? Cooking will take forever, and I want to eat now. Can't I eat it raw?" Welk complained.

"No, not tonight." Cynyr said, skewering his own rabbit and propping it up near the fire so it could cook.

Welk rolled his eyes, then followed suit, saying "Well, when in Guodere, do as the Guoderians do."

"You mean cut off people's head and dismember their brains and eat the individual parts?" Cynyr said flatly.

Welk pulled a face. "You know that's not what I meant!" he shouted.

Cynyr shrugged, then climbed back up on top of the rock formation to continue reading.

Werr laughed at this. He wasn't laughing at Welk or at Cynyr, but what they had said had been funny to him. Laughing like this felt odd, so he quickly stopped; it had been awhile since he had laughed. Sure, he could force smiles all day, but laughing felt unusual nowadays. "That was funny," He said, sounding slightly apologetic, in case Welk thought he had been laughing at him. He looked back at his cooking fish, rotating it slowly so it would cook evenly.

Welk smiled back at him, knowing that he hadn't been laughing at either of them. "And now, I roast rabbit." He then promptly shoved the whole rabbit right into the center of the flames, letting it burn. After about thirty seconds, he pulled it back and said "Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. My favorite." He pulled the rabbit off of the stick, saying "Hot, hot, hot!" He then started eating it, crunching into the delicate skin and small bones with his sharp teeth.

"Could you possibly be any more disgusting?" Cynyr remarked from his spot on the rock formation.

"Probably, but we all know how much you would hate that." Welk said, grinning up at his brother.

"Tch." Cynyr replied, then went back to his book.

Werr smiled (another forced one) and pulled his fish away from the flames, checking to see if it was done. Not quite, but it was certainly looking decent enough. He'd have to eat it carefully, so he didn't swallow any little bones, but fish was best because it didn't require any spices to taste good. It was perfectly fine just with the smoky flavor of the open-flame cooking. "Well, so long as you eat it, I guess. I don't think I would be able to eat something like that. I don't have the same stomach as you, I suppose."

Welk glanced up at Werr and raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Once he finished eating his meal, he yawned and stretched. "It's getting dark." he commented, glancing around.

Cynyr climbed off of his spot on top of the rock formation and ate his own food, then turned into a panther and stalked over to a spot near by, close to the edge of the forest. "Get some sleep." he said. "We'll be leaving in the morning. I'll stay on guard."

Welk nodded, then turned into his own cat form and pranced under the waterfall, into the dry, hidden crevasse underneath it. "You know, it's a lot bigger under here than it looks from the outside." he commented, his voice floating eerily out of the waterfall.

"Really? I'll come see once I'm done eating," Werr replied, having only just gotten his food off the flames. He ate quickly, picking the tiny bones out of his teeth before throwing the remains into the fire and getting up to follow Welk. He stuck close to the rock wall, narrowly avoiding getting soaked. He looked around; it was pretty dark and hard to see much of anything, but Welk was right, this cavern was pretty sizeable. At least, from what Werr could tell, it was.

"I suppose we'll be sleeping in here?" Werr said, sitting down and pulling his bedroll out of his bag. He unrolled it quickly, climbing between the two layers of blankets. It was uncomfortable, but at least he'd be warm. Welk, in the meantime, had his fur coat on his side.

"Yep! We'll sleep in here, safe and out of sight." Welk replied, bouncing around the cavern. Once Werr got out his bedroll and got ready to go to sleep, Welk followed suit. He walked over to Werr and laid down right next to him, pressing his furry coat to the boy's side. He stretched out, purring contentedly. His tail flipped a few times, then stilled as he drifted off into sleep.

Cynyr, sitting outside on guard, tilted his head up to look at the stars. His figure, a massive totally black panther, made a majestic image silhouetted against the sky overhead. He blinked his yellow eyes softly, then sighed. A small, cold breeze blew through his thick black fur, making the stands dance across his body. He lifted a heavy paw and ran it over his face, feeling his mask, which was the only piece of clothing that followed him through his transformations. He had made sure it stayed with him no matter what form he was using, because his features would remain the same in either form. He wouldn't let anyone see what he was hiding under the mask. If he did... He shuddered, his fur fluffing out for a moment, then remained sitting there, his slitted yellow eyes fixed on the stars overhead.

Werr smiled, feeling Welk's warmth. He rolled over to press his face into his furry friend's coat, closing his eyes. His thoughts trailed, and half an hour later, he found himself still wide awake. He tried to stifle his thinking so he could rest, but was utterly incapable of such. He was thinking of too many things at once; he was thinking about mother, about the shadow-magic, about the Nightlash person, about how Cynyr would react when the half-cat learned where he was intending to go, about how he was going to survive if they refused to follow him into the war-zone...you get the picture.

It took Werr another hour before he was finally drifting off into a troubled sleep, but it was sleep nevertheless.

It seemed like only a few minutes later, when really it was a few hours, both of the boys were suddenly woke by horrible screaming roars and loud growls. "Wha...what is that?!" Welk said, waking up instantly. He stood up and raced outside, only to freeze in horror.

Cynyr was bristled up and growling ferociously at a massive, dark, looming shape. It was a bear, but the biggest bear Welk had ever seen. Two long tusks sprouted from its lower jaw, and instead of a short tail, it had a long one. Its front claws were extremely long, and with every swipe it nearly cleaved Cynyr's head off. Luckily, the half-cat was very nimble, and was managing to avoid the hits.

The black panther crouched, then after another dodge of the giant bear's attack, he launched himself off of the ground, landing squarely on the bear's back. His sharp, deadly fangs tore into the bear's body, crunching through several layers of muscle and fat. He dug his long black claws into the bear's body, ripping through its skin. It was a wasted effort, however, one that only seemed to make the creature even more angry.