The Forgotten Zodiac

"True..." Airlia thought for a moment, then nodded, smiling a little. "Alright." She looked over at Cynyr again. "You want to get out of the cave? I can get us out,"

"Welk did get us that rope," Werr said, looking at the object dangling against the side of the cave wall. "I think it's safe enough to get us out of here. You don't have to fly us out, Airlia."

"Fly you out? That would be insane. My wings aren't strong enough to carry anyone." Airlia shook her head, then crossed over to her coffin. She pushed the upright remains aside, allowing them to fall to the ground. She did, however, jump a little when the coffin broke into two pieces, but it didn't matter much. She didn't need it anymore.

Behind the spot where the coffin stood moments before appeared to be a tunnel; it was a one-way tunnel that led to a small cave with several other openings, and an opening to the outside. It was 'one-way' because it was enchanted to where no matter where one tried to enter from the other end, if they didn't know the password, the tunnel would just loop back around to where they started.

"Wow." Welk said after a few seconds, then thought of something. "Aww dang it, does that mean I ran all around looking for a rope for nothing? Phooey." He pouted for a second, then trotted off down the tunnel to investigate. "Neato!" he shouted, his voice echoing back to the others. "It's COOL in here!"

Cynyr rolled his eyes, putting his palm over his face for a moment, then carefully stood up and started limping towards the opening, one arm wrapped around his middle. His tail was kinked oddly in the middle, but he didn't seem to notice. He was just concentrating on walking without falling over.

"Sorry," Airlia shrugged.

Werr moved forward, offering his help to Cynyr. Airlia, however, got to him first. She hurried to him and grabbed his free arm and putting it around her neck to help him walk. She was short enough, it was more comfortable for Cynyr to hold on to her than it would be to hold on to Werr.

Cynyr growled when she got near him, but he didn't push her away. That would be later... He shoot Werr a helpless look that clearly said he was uncomfortable with the current situation, then glanced up as Welk raced back in.

"This is HUGE!" he said, gesturing wildly with his arms. He trotted over to Werr, tugging on his friend's arm. "You have to see this!" he said, pulling him past Cynyr right as the half-cat flicked his tail.

"OUCH!!" Cynyr screeched as his tail made contact with Werr's body. He stumbled and fell to the ground, taking Airlia down with him. He frantically pulled his tail around to the front and stared at it, noticing the kinked spot. "My...my tail!" he said, horrified. "It's broken!" He gave it a weak flip, only it see it move awkwardly, not gracefully, like it usually did.

Welk frowned, then bend down and poked Cynyr's tail. The black-haired half-cat screeched in pain. "Yep, it's broken." Welk said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I-it's okay, we-we'll find a splint for it?" Werr said quickly, covering his ears. Cynyr's screeching was bouncing off the cave walls, making it twice as earsplitting. Airlia climbed to her feet, brushing the front of her dress off.

"There, there, even tail bones can be fixed," Airlia blinked at the kinked spot. "That looks like a pretty bad break, though...do you know any healing spells? I can amplify it. You'll be as good as new in no time."

Cynyr was holding his tail in his lap, staring sadly at the broken spot. "I've never broken my tail before." he said quietly. When Airlia spoke to him, he glared up at her. "I don't know any healing spells!" he snapped, cradling his tail in his arms.

Welk shrugged, then said "Well, you know what we have to do to it, then."

"What?" Cynyr snapped.

"We have to pull it straight." Welk answered, cracking his knuckles.

Cynyr's eyes went completely wide, and his jaw dropped. He didn't say anything, just looked totally shocked.

"You don't? Oh. I guess we are gonna have to pull, then." Airlia nodded.

"Wait, wait, wait, shouldn't we find a splint first?" Werr said quickly, shaking his head. "There's no point in pulling it straight if we don't have a way to keep it straight!"

"Wait just one second, here!" Cynyr growled. "I did NOT agree to any of this!"

"It isn't like you have much of a choice." Welk said. "If you don't fix it now, it'll get stuck like that forever."

Cynyr blanched, then said "Okay, fine." He gulped, then said "I...I'll let you do it. But Werr's doing the pulling! He's the only one I trust to get it right."

Welk frowned. "But I wanted to do that part." he said.

"No way." Cynyr answered. "You just want an excuse to yank on my tail and cause me pain."

"How right you are." Welk answered, grinning.

Werr blinked in surprise. Him? "Okay, but we're finding a splint first. I'm not pulling anything straight until we have what we need to keep it straight. That would also mean we'd need something to secure it with...we don't want it slipping, Cynyr's tail could be stuck in a weird position for the rest of his life if it does."

"A splint...can we use sticks? There'll be plenty of sticks to use out there," Airlia pointed to the tunnel happily. "I dunno what we'll use to secure it, but still."

"Oh!" Welk suddenly said. "My rope! We can unravel it into strands and use those to keep the splint together."

Cynyr stood up and walked down the tunnel, still holding his tail in one hand. "This isn't going to end well..." he muttered to himself. "This is going to end up bad." He sighed. "And my tail was one of the last few places that had never been injured either... Dang."

Welk ran over and climbed up the rope, then ran over to the tree he had tied it to and cut it off. He gathered up the rope and looped it around his arm, then jumped back down into the hole. "Got it!" he said, grinning. He then trotted after Cynyr, into the depths of the tunnel.

"Good idea," Werr nodded a bit. "Don't worry, Cynyr, I've done this before. Just a few months ago, I broke my leg. I had to pull it straight by myself. It was pretty painful...but I'm walking fine, aren't I?" He smiled a bit. "Your tail should be simple compared to that."

"Ew, no more talk about injuries." Airlia made a face.

"What, people didn't get injured back when you were awake before?"

"No, most injuries were just able to be healed with a snap of a finger, if you had a healer nearby and the money to pay for it, or if the healer was generous or kind enough to do it without pay. And there were a lot of really nice healers, I'll tell you that. I'm guessing they all died, too?"

Cynyr looked absolutely horrified when Werr described how he had realigned his own leg. "Great." the half-cat said, sounding mad. "Now I feel sick, too."

"You gonna throw up?" Welk asked.

"No." Cynyr answered.

"Oh." Welk said, then blinked as they stepped into sunlight, out of the tunnel. "Ahhh..." he said, smiling and taking a deep breath. "Good to be back on the surface and not stuck in a hole."

Cynyr suddenly took off, his ears back against his head.

Welk's ears leapt up, and he transformed into a cat and gave chase, catching up to his brother in mere seconds. He tackled the black-haired half-cat, knocking him to the ground. "No you don't!" Welk said, pinning his brother as gently as he could. "You're not getting away that easily!"

"Let go of me!" Cynyr yelped. "I changed my mind! I don't want anyone's help! Let go! Let go!"

Welk rolled his eyes. "Look, Cynyr, I know you hate pain on your tail and face, but would you rather live your whole life with a broken tail?"

"Yes!" Cynyr shouted, unable to move much due to Welk's weight on him. "Yes, I would! Let me go! Let me go!" The half-cat was nearly hysterical, but Welk wasn't about to get off of him.

((His tail and face are his most sensitive parts, due to the same thing that happened to his face, which will be revealed later. And they should NOT let him go right now. They'll never catch him again.))

((Haha. STOP KEEPING ME IN SUSPENSE LIKE THIS.

But I don't like spoilers...hnnggg....Just stop mentioning it, good grief. >:U))

"W-Welk, be careful! You might make it worse," Werr ran to catch up. Airlia took off as well though, flying quickly into the air, a couple feathers dropping off of her wings and spiraling to the ground. She flew into the woods, quickly going out of sight.

"Er..." Werr watched her go, wondering where she was going. Odd...somehow, he didn't think that she would just up and fly away from her 'master' without purpose. Off she had gone, though. It was only a couple of seconds before Werr saw her again, though; she returned with a long, straight stick, that looked small enough to tie onto Cynyr's tail, and light enough so that the cat would still be able to walk around without it being too awkward.

"I got a splint!" Airlia announced, landing lightly next to Welk. "Does this work?"

"Yeah, that'll be perfect." Welk said, transforming into a human and grabbing one of Cynyr's ears to try and make the other half-cat stay still. It didn't work.

"Get off!" Cynyr snarled, trying to push upwards with his arms and knock Welk off. Welk held on stubbornly, sitting squarely on his brother's back.

"Come on, Cynyr!" the blonde-haired half-cat said. "We're going to help you, not hurt you!"

"No! No! I don't want your help!" Cynyr yelped, struggling frantically. "AND LET GO OF MY EAR!"

"Not until you stay still!" Welk demanded.

"NO!" Cynyr screamed, snarling ferociously.

This very well might have gone on for quite a long time if not for Welk having a sudden idea. The second he had a chance, he dodged his hand forward and snagged the edge of Cynyr's mask with his claws, which threatened to pull the whole piece of fabric off.

Cynyr went utterly still, frozen to his spot.

"You hold still and let us help you or I'll rip this thing right off of your face." Welk ordered.

Cynyr gulped, fear evident in his eyes, and gave an imperceptible nod.

Werr sighed in exasperation, taking the splint from Airia and the ropes from Welk, putting both items on the ground where he could reach them the moment he needed them. "Alright, I'll be as quick as I can." He sat down behind Cynyr, gently picking up the half-cat's tail and preparing himself. He inhaled deeply, forcing away any outside thoughts and focusing on the task at hand.

"After the bone goes back, don't move, or we'll have to start all over again." Werr warned. He braced his foot against the ground and then sharply pulled on Cynyr's tail, feeling the bone click back into place.

Cynyr's ear flicked up sharply, but he didn't move. His fear of having his mask pulled off was greater than his fear of pain. That didn't stop him from screaming as Werr pulled his tail back into place. He quickly bit down on his scream, forcing himself to keep quiet. His whole body was quivering, but he kept as still as he could. Oh the memories that this was bringing up...

Werr held the tail bone in place, quickly using his free foot to balance the splint while he pinned the other end between his arm and side. He used his free hand to bring the rope up, and was about to use his mouth to tie it, but Airlia grabbed the rope from him and tied it for him. "Oh. Thanks." Werr blinked, letting go as Airlia tied the last one in place.

"You're welcome," Airlia smiled. "Are you okay, ma--Cynyr?"

Cynyr didn't say anything. He had put his head down on his arms, his ears back.

Welk got up off of him and said "You can get up now, Cynyr."

The black-haired half-cat didn't move.

"Cynyr?" Welk called, reaching down to touch his shoulder.

Cynyr abruptly pushed himself up, avoiding his friend's touch. He stood up and suddenly walked off, his head low and his shoulders hunched.

"C-Cynyr!" Welk said, trotting after him. He reached his hand out to grab the teenager's sleeve, saying "What's wrong with you? Why are you-"

"Back off!" Cynyr snapped, whirling on his friend. He snarled, and Welk quickly backed up, his red eyes widening. Cynyr glared at him, then seemed to realize how angry he was and turned back around, facing away from them all. "I just..." he said, his voice getting soft. "I need to..." He glanced over his shoulder and looked at them all, then suddenly flared up again when he saw their concerned faces. He growled and stomped off, heading off into the woods.

"...Is master going to be okay?" Airlia asked worriedly, unsure of whether she should follow or stay behind. Her first instinct was to follow, but...she didn't know at this point. Cynyr seemed angry, and Airlia knew not to disturb people when they're upset.

"He'll be fine. Hopefully he keeps the splint on," Werr sighed. "Now then, let's eat those birds, Welk. I'm starving. Do you want some, Airlia?

"I-I'm not hungry," Airlia said, shaking her head. Her stomach growled angrily, despite her words. "Okay...maybe I am. But not too hungry, I don't need that much..."

Welk stared after Cynyr in concern, then shrugged and turned to Werr, saying "Okay. I'm sure you're right, and he'll be fine. These birds, however, will most certainly not be fine." He grinned, then proceeded to sit down and begin plucking the feathers out of the birds. "These birds are going to be eaten." he said, tossing a handful of feathers up into the air. His tail flicked around behind him a few times, and his ears perked up happily.