The Forgotten Zodiac

"B-but, shouldn't we warn Cynyr or something?" Werr blinked in surprise. "If they're coming from that way, we can try and catch up to Cynyr and escape together."

"No! We can't leave without master, I...I got water for him and everything! Where did he go?" She asked, looking around when she realized that indeed, Cynyr wasn't here. "He left without me!" She wailed, practically in hysterics at this point. She wasn't used to being separated from her master, even her last one, who she only knew for a week, had kept her close. Yet, Cynyr... "Where did he go?!"

"He ran off after he hurt Werr." Welk said, his voice low. "That way." He pointed in the direction opposite of the approaching soldiers. He stiffened when he heard the barking of the dogs the soldiers had with them, then made up his mind. "Okay, fine, let's go after him!" he said, turning into a cat. "Maybe we can find out what's wrong with him once we find him. If we find him, that is. He's had a decent head-start." The half-cat was still shaken by what Cynyr had said to him, but he waited patiently for Werr to get on his back so they could leave before the soldiers found them.

Werr climbed on without another word. Airlia took off in the direction Welk had pointed, flying at full speed, which was fast indeed. Welk had already started running before Werr realized that his blood was on the ground in the area they had just left, and those dogs they had heard had to be sniffer dogs. Werr swallowed hard, realizing that he'd most likely become the target of those dogs.

Welk moved into a rolling gallop, disappearing into the forest in the direction Cynyr had went in. The cat was fast, and he soon left the dogs and soldiers behind. He couldn't keep up the fast pace for long, however, since he had Werr on his back. He soon had to drop down into a canter, which he was able to keep up for a while longer. He was young though, so after a few more minutes, he was down to a trot. He didn't have the endurance to keep going for much longer, and it was probably lucky for them that they caught up to Cynyr sooner than they thought they would.

The half-cat had taken refuge in a shallow cave, where he was currently curled up in his panther form.

Since it was dark out, Welk almost didn't see him at first. His sharp eyes quickly located the panther, however, and he trotted over to him, motioning with his tail at Airlia so she would know she could come down.

Werr climbed off as soon as he spotted Cynyr as well; he had noticed how quickly Welk had been slowing, of course. He drew closer warily, not wanting any other parts of him to be clawed up, though he reminded himself in the back of his mind that what had happened really had been an accident, after all. He was about to speak before Airlia landed, running forward with the bucket of water.

"Master! I got you water, and I was coming back, and I saw soldiers with big dogs and more soldiers on horses, a-and..." She was still shaking as she held the bucket of water out to Cynyr. "Please don't be mad anymore?"

Cynyr jumped at Airlia's voice, not expecting them to come after him. He lifted his head and stared at them in disbelief, then said "What are you talking about?" His voice was creaky and thin, and he coughed quickly to get it under control. "Why did you all follow me? What's wrong with you people?" He didn't sound angry, just badly confused.

Welk, who was panting from all of the running, sat down a short distance away from his brother and said "We came because, supposedly, you're our friend. And we wanted to warn you that there's soldiers coming after us. They're on their way here now."

Cynyr blinked, then lowered his head and said "So?"

Welk blinked, then said "So? So what? What's wrong?"

"So what if there's soldiers coming after us?" Cynyr said, putting his head back on the ground. "Why should I care? You all keep going and leave me here. It's better if they find me now."

Welk looked horrified. "No!" he shouted. "We...I mean...I...we won't just let them have you!"

Cynyr snorted. "That isn't what you were thinking ten minutes ago, now were you?"

Welk went silent, fuming quietly with rage, fear and regret.

"So that's it, then?" Werr said quietly, frowning unhappily. He struggled to think of what to say for a long moment. "You're just going to give up? Doesn't it matter to you that you'll be leaving Welk behind to fend for himself? And what of that girl that's obsessively devoted to you now? Airlia, what would happen if Cynyr died?"

"T-the seal would b-be gone, and if I coul-couldn't find a new master within a week, I'd die, probably..." Airlia shivered, pulling her knees up to her chest. Not that she actually knew, she was just assuming things, truth be told. She'd never gone so much as a day without a seal-bearing master.

Werr blinked. Not exactly what he had been expecting, but... "There, you see? You'd be leaving Welk behind, and killing poor Airlia here at the same time, namely because there aren't any other mages around here. And I don't know about these other two, but I don't like seeing my friends falling into the hands of soldiers. Last time it happened...well, they're not around anymore, are they? If you really want to stay here, fine. We can't do anything to stop you. But...we need you, Cynyr. Airlia needs her master, Welk needs his brother, and...well, I can't hunt for myself. I really suck at it. So yeah, I need you too."

((Another dramatic speech. SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH ME.

QUICK, LIGHT SOMETHING ON FIRE. KILL SOMEONE. NOT ENOUGH ACTION, TOO MUCH DRAMA! -dies-))

Cynyr was quiet for several long seconds after Werr had spoken, then he said "So you only need me to hunt for you? Gee, that makes me feel so much better."

Welk, who had saddened greatly during Werr's talk, looked up. "You know he didn't mean just that." he said softly. "You're Werr's friend just as much as mine. Airlia too. Come on, Cynyr. Stay with us. I need you. We all do."

Cynyr was quiet for several more seconds, then sighed and stood up. "Fine." he said softly. He walked over to Werr, his splinted tail hanging stiffly behind him. The panther stood silently next to Werr, wordlessly letting him know he could get on his back. Cynyr was stronger and faster than Welk, and would be able to carry him for a longer time.

It would be the first time Werr rode on the panther's back.

((Yikes! Hold on a second! I have a plan! Sort of. XD ))

((-tries desperately to contain natural destructive nature-

You know, without video games and roleplaying, I have a very hard time not blowing things up in real life. I know this as a fact; I was grounded for a period of a month once, from all of my electronics. I purposefully burnt several things in the oven, exploded eggs and CDs in the microwave and tore up several sheets of paper for no reason whatsoever. I killed all of my Sims and whacked my Animal Crossing neighbors with my bug net as soon as I got un-grounded. It was bad.))

Werr sighed. "That's not...whatever." He shook his head, climbing onto Cynyr's back, taking care not to touch any of the half-cat's many injuries.

"U-um..." Airlia shifted her weight from foot to foot, picking up the bucket of water again, figuring that Cynyr didn't want it right now. She would carry it with her for now. "We should probably get out of here..." She said, listening to the barking that was getting closer with every passing second.

((Yikes. Maybe we should get ol' Nightlash back in here soon. That'll help make EVERYTHING thing better. ))

Cynyr grunted as Werr climbed on, but the boy was so light that the half-cat barely felt him. Cynyr was also much stronger than Welk, so that was a help. The panther sprang forward, moving faster than Welk had before.

Welk easily kept pace now that he didn't have extra weight on his back.

They ran for a while, and they eventually outdistanced the enemies. Cynyr glanced over his shoulder once, nodding slightly in satisfaction, then looked forward, only to yelp and come to a screeching halt as a thick net flew out of the trees and snared him and Werr. The panther quickly lost his footing in the thick ropes and stumbled, getting more tangled in the ropes.

Welk yowled and leapt out of the way as another rope flew from the trees, narrowly missing the blonde half-cat.

((HOLD THE PHONE.

BRAINSTORM TIEM.

What if it isn't Nightlash who's capturing them now, but secwet agents of King Asmodius? And Nightlash comes to the rescue/explains his 'real' intenzterz? (apostrophes added due to the fact that Nightlash rarely ever tells the truth, due to a fact which will be revealed at a later date yah.)))

((That's what I had in mind as well! WE ARE SO ALIKE.))

((YAY. Okay, so I'm thinking they get dragged to some nondescript inn/hideout in the next town over, and Nightlash arrives like the hero he is and BWAM. Saves our group. ouo))

Airlia, unfortunately, was in the direct path of the net that Welk had dodged. She crashed to the ground, letting out a panicked cry. Werr found it very hard to breathe all of the sudden, as Crnyr had landed on top of him, and they were now both tangled together in the nets, and...good grief. Werr had no idea what was going on anymore.

"Got 'em!" The man who had thrown the net laughed. "Get that last one! We're goin' home tonight, boys!" There was a cheer from the others in the group as more nets were thrown at Welk.

Welk screeched as several of the nets wrapped around him, and he tumbled to the ground, snarling. "Let us go you ugly jerks! We didn't do anything!" he shouted, growling.

Cynyr quickly got off of Werr and started frantically clawing at he and Werr's net, trying desperately to get loose. "No, no, no, no, no!" the half-cat thought, fear flooding through his entire body. He knew what being caught meant for him, since he was a mage, and it wasn't good. "No!" he yowled. "You can't do this! Stop!"

Welk struggled against his nets, then said "Why are you doing this? We didn't do anything to you!"

"Oh, shut up," One of the lackeys growled, tossing another net over Cynyr and Werr, just to be sure they'd stay put. "Look, you've even got a snack in there with you, so eat up and shut it. As for you," He looked over at Welk. "We get paid mighty fine amounts to track down freaks like you lot and take you back to Storaph with us."

"Storaph?" Werr blinked. The kingdom that King Asmodius ruled, namely.

"Stop talking, Nate. Knock 'em out." The leader rolled his eyes.

"But, my boots are all muddy, I don't think--"

"Who cares? Not me. Now, knock them out before you give them anymore information." The leader turned away to examine Airlia. "Not that it matters. We can sell the non-mages off as slaves. Even more money in our pockets, eh boys?" The leader grinned, nudging Airlia with a toe, watching her recoil and whimper in fear. "You'll make a pretty penny, won't you?"

Anger suddenly flared in Cynyr's body, and he transformed into a human and growled, the star-shaped mark on his hand glowing slightly. "Don't you dare touch her!" he shouted, never stopping in his struggles against the nets. "Get away from her!" he snarled, his ears flat against his head. It was just his luck that he had been training so hard before this, so his powers were too weak to help out.

Welk looked shocked at the mention of being a slave, but he was more concerned when he heard them say only the non-mages would be slaves. "What about Cynyr?" he asked, frightened. "The mage. What are you gonna do to him?"

"I wouldn't worry about that, if I were you." The leader shook his head in response to Welk, ignoring Cynyr completely. "Do it, Nate."

The lackey sighed, clearly not happy about having to do all this. He raised his foot and smashed it into the half-cat's temple, knocking Cynyr unconscious almost instantly. He did the same with Werr, even though the human wasn't struggling much. He was about to knock Airlia out when the leader stopped him.

"I'll take care of this one. Get the other half-cat, and let's go." The leader ordered, directing his other goons to start dragging Werr and Cynyr towards the carriages they had parked not too far away. Nate sighed and moved to do the same to Welk.

((We time-skip in mah next post. o3o))

Welk screamed when he saw Cynyr and Werr get hit, then he snarled violently. He dodged Nate's first kick, trying desperately to get loose, but wasn't fast enough to stop the second. A few seconds later, then blonde half-cat was unconscious. Somewhere in the fog of his mind, he realized that he had accidentally lost his hold on his cat form, and was now a human again. He wanted to cry, but he didn't have control over his body anymore. Within five seconds, everything went completely black.

((Okay. ^-^ ))

(("Fast-forwarding memory scan to the next available instance..."))

Werr first felt the pain throbbing in his forehead. Then he felt something cold and metallic pressed against his arms and legs. His next immediate realization was that he was chained to a hard, metal chair. The air was cold, and smelled slightly of blood. Werr managed to get his eyes open, but was unable to see any further than Welk, who was chained similarly to a chair in the corner opposite him. From what Werr could see, the walls were wood and the floor was carpeted, but stained around the chairs they were in.

Werr attempted to say something, but struggled to get anything out. He was still recovering from that horrid blow to the head, apparently. The one thing that concerned him the most was the fact that neither Cynyr nor Airlia were in the room with them. Not that this other stuff was concerning. It was pretty downright scary, now that he considered it. Werr felt his heart sink as he remembered what had been said before he had been knocked out. Slaves...they were going to be sold as slaves. Probably seperated, at that.

Worse yet, Werr had absolutely no idea what he was going to do about all this. He'd never been in a situation like this before, of course he hadn't. There was never any 'escape-from-slavery' class in school. And here Werr thought that the things he learned in school were actually useful. Apparently not.

"Ugh...We-Welk..." Werr managed to groan, feeling pain lance through his head at the noise his own mouth had created. He'd have a headache for weeks, he knew it.

((You can wake up Cynyr. He could either be being gawked at like a shiny trophy like Airlia is, or elsewhere. Haha. Poor Airlia.))

Welk slowly came to consciousness, blinking his red eyes a few times. He gave a weak moan, then lifted his head, moving slowly due to the pain in his skull. "Werr...?" he asked softly, trying to focus his vision. "Where....where are we?" He blinked, clearing his vision, then glanced around, realizing that Cynyr and Airlia were not with them. "W-where's Cynyr and Airlia?"

~

Cynyr slowly opened his eyes, only to find that everything was totally black. He blinked a few times, then realized that he had a rag tied over his eyes, preventing him from seeing anything. Panic started to take over, but he pushed it away. No. This was different from the people that had held him captive before, right? They had to be. He tried to move, only to find that he was tied to a post, with his hands so firmly bound behind him that he knew he wouldn't be able to use any magic. At least he was sitting on the ground. He could feel something stuck to the left side of his head, and he knew it was blood from where the man had kicked him to knock him out. He snarled a couple of nasty words in his head, then started trying to figure out if he was injured anywhere else. He felt like he was fine, if you could call bound to a post waiting for someone to come and kill you just because you're a mage 'fine'.