The Forgotten Zodiac

"Thank you," Airlia smiled a little bit, though she still seemed horribly upset.

"Yes, onwards. Nate?" Werr turned towards the honor guard.

Nate checked his compass. "We actually didn't change course much at all. We can keep going without any issues."

"Good. Onwards we go then, I suppose."

Welk put his hand into Airlia's and led her along as they started walking. He was trying to figure out where Cynyr could possibly have gone, only to come to the conclusion that he had no idea. Now that Cynyr was alone, he could travel much further and faster than any of them could. He was most likely miles away by now. It made Welk sad to think about it, and the sadness showed on his face. He had never been this far from his brother before, and it was a new and unwelcome experience.

Werr followed, frowning slightly. There wasn't much they could do, though...Cynyr was clearly long gone by now, there wasn't really a way to find him, and they already had somewhere they needed to go to...

Nate headed after the others, finding himself in the rear. He didn't mind, though. He could certainly think when he was walking in the back, as well as watch for oncoming dangers. He wasn't all too sure why, but he felt comfortable walking with this group. He trusted them, though he knew full well that if it came to a real fight, he'd probably be on his own. He might have Welk, but Werr didn't look much like the fighting type. Airlia and Seria were both supporters, they were likely little help in combat. He wasn't about to assume that Seria couldn't fight, though; he didn't know for sure, of course.

He was fairly certain that Airlia hadn't seen much combat though, since she had been in hysterics just from being alone.

Seria walked along silently, keeping her thoughts to herself. She didn't know anything that could be said to lighten the mood, so she simply kept quiet. All of her senses were on high alert, as always, so she was a little on edge. She reached a hand up and ran it over her forehead, across the red stripe that was there, then glanced around. She had to say something to try and lighten the mood. "I never said how old I was, did I?" she said. "It isn't important, of course. I just thought I would say. I'm seventeen." She smiled for a moment, her waist-length hair flowing slightly in the breeze.

"It would appear that I'm the oldest currenly, then," Nate spoke up. "I'm 28."

"Seventeen," Werr said for no particular reason.

"Really? I guessed nineteen. That's odd, I'm not usually off by so much. I gues you just have a more mature air about you," Nate chuckled a bit.

Werr just glanced at him over his shoulder, but shook off his questioning look and went back to watching where he was putting his feet.

"I'm fifteen." Welk said. "That's ten plus five, people." He giggled, then looked over at Nate and said "I thought you were, like, thirty-nine or something. Sorry about that." He laughed, closing his eyes for a moment, then jumped forward and ran around in circles, shouting "Somebody stop me, I'm going crazy with energy!" He spun wildly a few more times then promptly ran into a tree by accident. "Ow." he said, rubbing his nose with a paw, then he jumped away and was back to running in circles.

Nate had no reaction to Welk's assumption. He was used to it, apparently.

Werr couldn't help but laugh at this. "I was going to ask if you were okay, but apparently you are," He grinned a bit, watching his friend run around in circles. "You're going to make me dizzy, good grief."

"Dizzy you say?" Welk said, grinning. He paused near Werr and flicked his tail around so fast that Werr could barely keep track of it. Then the half-cat laughed and sprang away, tromping around in circles. He suddenly paused and looked over at Seria, finally deciding to ask her what had been bothering him since they had met. "Hey, Seria?" he said. "How did you and Cynyr meet for the first time? You know, how do you know each other?"

Seria blinked, not expecting the question, then answered "We...I was still a healer at the time, and Cynyr had a great need of my skills. He sought me out and I...did my best to heal him." She didn't explain why Cynyr had needed her help, nor if the healings had worked or not. "We stayed in contact from that point on, until Cynyr began to grow distant from me for certain reasons." she said.

"Interesting..." Werr said thoughtfully, figuring it unwise to prod further. He looked towards Nate instead, and vouched to ask him a similar question. "Where did you know Nightlash from? You said you were the one who called him, right?"

"I saved his life once. Recently, actually." Nate shrugged. "There was a fire. I'm naturally attracted to areas like that, so I went to investigate and overheard that someone was still inside. I went in to find him, and there he was. He had soaked himself in water to keep from getting burned, but the smoke had caused him to pass out. I got him out fairly easily."

Welk listened to Nate speak, his eyes wide. "That's neat!" he exclaimed. "You were, like, a hero! Coooooooooool." He bouned forward a few paces, then paused and said "I met Cynyr when I was just a kitten. I don't remember it very well, but I can remember parts of it. It was raining, and I was really cold and wet. I don't recall how I got there, but I do know that Cynyr found me, because I remember him picking me up and I remember him getting me warm by tucking me inside of his overcoat. He was gentle with me, but he didn't say much. I probably wasn't listening well, because I was really cold and he was really warm, so all I cared about was getting as close to him as possible." He smiled softly, then said "We were together ever since."

"I see," Werr smiled, summing up all of their stories in his mind. A hero, a rescued kitten, a healer...what sort of stories did he have?

And then Nate actually asked him. "What about you, Werr? Any interesting stories to tell?"

Werr thought for a moment. "Not particularly...before I met Welk, I didn't do very much...I stayed at home and took care of my mother, most of the time. If I went to school, I was picked on by Elo, so I didn't go very often. Life was pretty boring before I met Welk." He said, then grinned. "Heh, Welk, I'd like to see Elo take on what we've been through so far."

"Elo?" Nate tilted his head slightly in curiosity.

"He was a boy who went to the same school we did. He's a total jerk, he cracked one of my ribs just because I got good grades. I think you healed that too, Seria, because I can't really feel it anymore...thanks." He smiled again.

"Yeah!" Welk said. "Elo would've gotten taken out by that bear!" He laughed happily for a moment, then was back to spinning circles.

Seria smiled at Werr and said "You're welcome, Werr. My healing powers are able to heal almost any wounds, so long as they are relatively new or fresh. Your ribs hadn't quite healed enough yet, but it was enough to let my powers in. I was able to heal them completely." She smiled, her fluffy red tail swaying behind her.

"Still, it's great being able to walk without having to feel that. I feel great now, actually, so that was a huge help. Especially since we have such a long way to go." Werr nodded. "Thank you very much."

"Yes, I have a feeling that we could run into some grave problems without you with us," Nate said, smiling. "So, thank you for agreeing to come along. You really didn't have to. Now then, what about you, young miss Airlia? Any interesting tales to share?"

Airlia had been following along silently, still upset. "No." She said quietly. "I've been kept in a cage for most of my life. And then I was stuck in a coffin that made me sleep for who knows how long, and now mages are practically extinct, and my master left me, and...and..." She sniffed, looking near tears again.

Seria smiled at both Werr and Nate, then glanced back at Airlia in concern.

Welk quickly trotted over to Airlia and rubbed up against her, since he was still in cat form. "Hey, don't cry!" he said, curling his tail gently around her arm. "You don't need to cry. It's okay. You still have us, remember?" He smiled up at her, then said "Hey, why don't you ride on me for a while? So you don't get tried and stuff. If I can hold Werr's weight easily, then you'll be no trouble at all!"

Seria threw Werr a questioning look at the mention of him, at some point, being on the half-cat's back, but she didn't ask about it.

Werr and Nate stopped, to give Airlia time to think about whether or not she should get on Welk's back at all. At last she climbed up onto him, running her fingers through his fur, wondering where to grip so she wouldn't fall off. She settled for burying her face in Welk's fur, wrapping her arms gently around his neck.

"Thank you," Airlia said quietly.

"Right then, ready to keep moving?" Nate said, double-checking his compass, then looking up at the sun. "If we pick up the pace a little bit, we should arrive at the town of Ulles before nightfall."

Welk purred and said "No problem." He started walking again, easily keeping pace with the others. When Nate spoke, the half-cat glanced up at him. "Town of what?" he asked, giving him a flat stare.

None of them noticed that they were being followed by a being as silent and stealthy as a shadow.

"Ulles." Nate started to explain. "It's a small town, but it's probably bigger than the one you two lived in. It has an inn and several resteraunts. I don't remember much about it, but it's a place to stay, at the very least." He smiled, pushing away a strange feeling. He didn't quite know why he felt that way, but he assumed it was his paranoia popping up again. He fell behind the group once more, though only by a few paces, trying to calm himself down. He didn't question what was causing it, and he certainly would regret not doing so later.

"Resteraunts? Good, I'm hungry." Werr nodded a bit, realizing nothing.

"Neat!" Welk said, bouncing slightly, though he tried hard to contain his energy since he had Airlia on his back. He looked back at Werr with a playful gleam in his eyes. "You think you're hungry? Pah, I could eat a whole horse!" He laughed, his tail flicking around behind him, then realized that Seria had stopped suddenly. "Seria?" he asked, staring at her. "You okay?"

Seria blinked, tilting her ears this way and that, as if listening to a bunch of different things all at the same time. The same second that her eyes widened in shock was the same second that a figure leapt out of the bushes and slammed into Werr, knocking the boy to the ground. The figure paused over him, growling, and the group was able to see what it was.

It was a huge white wolf that was almost as big as Cynyr had been when he was in panther form. The wolf growled at Werr, turning a green-eyed glare onto the others, then let out a sharp yip.

A few seconds later, a large black wolf bounded out of the bushes and lunged for Airlia and Welk.

((Don't kill either of them. Just to let you know. I want to be able to tell you what they are first.))

Airlia shrieked as she hit the ground, unsure of what was going on. Werr found it difficult to see anything but the white wolf that was standing threateningly over him. He couldn't move; fear locked him up. He was pretty sure that if he did move, he would have his throat torn into anyways, though.

Nate drew his blade, realizing too late that he had made a mistake in distancing himself, even as slightly as this. Werr was about to pay for it, too...

Welk yelped as the black wolf landed on him, but he didn't lock up like Werr did. The cat snarled and slammed a claw across the wolf's snout, making a spray of blood drops scatter across the ground. The wolf howled and retreated, scrambling over to the white wolf, who was still standing over Werr.

Seria hissed, her fur arched along her back and her tail swishing behind her, but before she could move, the white wolf spoke.

"So willing to try our patients, little kitten?" it said, and the tone of voice identified it as a male. "You should know that our kind does not take kindly to yours."

Welk scrambled upright, coughing, then spat "Wolflings."

The black wolf smiled and said "Precisely." in a female voice. She brushed her tail delicately against Werr's head, as if tormenting him with the touch. The white wolf kept his gaze on the others, his head dangerously close to Werr's arm incase he felt the need to sink his sharp teeth into the human's arm. "We are simply seekers." he said. "Tell us what we need to know and we'll leave you and your friend alone."