The Forgotten Zodiac

((Forin said it, not Nate. Did I confuse you? D: ))

"Oh...sorry," Diana blinked at her, wrapping her arm around Forin's. She gently placed her hand in Seria's, Forin watching Seria with a warning look.

"So," Nate started asking, his curiosity getting the better of him. "How long have you had Forin as your...guardian? Is he the only one you can summon?"

"I've had him for almost eight years now. My other guardian, the one I summoned at a much younger age, died not long after the mages were slaughtered." Diana said very quietly. "He is the only one I can summon, until his contract is fulfilled."

"Contract?"

"The oath the summons live by is simple," Forin picked up from there. "Protect the summoner with our lives. Fulfill their wishes and orders at all costs. The summoned are bond-servants to the summoner, whether they like it or not. I suggest you drop the subject now."

"Er...alright," Nate shrugged, though he certainly had more questions. He just started towards the door, smiling again. "Shall we go, then?"

((Yeah, sorry about that. That was my fault, not yours. I was in a hurry to ninja post. =_= (and I'm getting tired) ))

Seria returned Forin's look with a perfectly normal and even one of her own, giving away nothing of what she was thinking. She then returned her attention to Diana and said "Eight years is a fairly long time to have a summon. I'm impressed." She smiled, then looked up at Nate and said "Yes, we're coming." She started walking, keeping a careful hold on Diana's hand so she would scare her. Once they got outside and into the festival, Seria pointed out several pretty things and objects to the younger girl.

((I know your pain. -just took more medicine-))

"My summoner is powerful in the magical sense. For everything else, she has me." Forin tutted, following close.

"Welk, where are we going?" Werr called through the crowd, desperate to keep up with the half-cat. "Slow down, will you?"

(( -hug- ))

"Bah!" Welk shouted, but slowed down nonetheless. He twinned his tail into Werr's hand and held on like this, trying to curb his energy as best as he could. It seemed like his eyes couldn't get any wider with how big they already were. He was excitedly looking around at everything he could, enjoying the new sights and smells.

Luen walked nearby, his head down, not seeming to enjoy himself very much at all.

Werr smiled at this, glad that Welk cared enough to at least try to calm down. He looked around; there were a lot of stands set up for jewelry and other things of the sort; carved wooden trinkets, blown-glass baubles and figurines, beautiful flower vases and toys made from dyed burlap, different colors stitched together and stuffed with cotton, made to look like various animals.

There were game stands, too; ones where you shot moving targets with a bow, threw a ball at a tower of hollow metal cylanders, and Werr was pretty sure he spotted a fortune-teller's tent, too. And, of course, Werr could easily see that the majority of the stands were food stands. Pastries and miniature cakes, candy and sugary beverages were all in this area. Werr was pretty sure that if they kept moving, they'd find something for lunch.

Eventually, Werr looked back at Luen. "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked, curious.

"Well..." Luen started. "I..." He glanced pointedly at Welk, then dropped his voice lower, where only Werr could hear him. "I feel like you're the most trustworthy of the group besides the lady half-cat. You can't tell Nate or any of the others about this. If you do, I'll be in more danger than I already am." He sighed, messing with a lock of the white fur on his tail, then stammered "I-I...I have a tracker i-implanted in me. I can't eat very much because of it. It's inside of me and presses into my stomach." He carefully lifted the edge of his baggy shirt and revealed a thin, nasty scar on the left side of his body. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I really am! I was so s-scared of what you would say, what you would do to me once you f-found out. It was put in me when I was assigned this mission. King Asmodius o-ordered it. He's never done something like this before! He always trusted his subordinates! I'm scared..." His ears had tilted far back and a few quiet, small tears had dripped down his cheeks. "I'm s-sorry..." he said softly.

Werr blinked in surprise. "Is that why you haven't been eating much? Does it hurt? Skies above...what were you planning to do if we found out on our own? Or if Asmodius' agents caught up with us?" He didn't sound mad or fearful. He only sounded concerned, and perhaps a bit scared. He spotted the tears and stopped his questions at once. "Hey, don't cry, it's okay! We'll figure something out, don't worry!"

Luen covered his face with his hands in fear, trying to stop his tears. "I don't know!" he said. "If you hadn't found out otherwise, I guess I was just going to leave. The thing is, I don't know if mine is on or not. I once overheard someone at the palace saying that several of the trackers, which were new at the time, were malfunctioning and wouldn't produce a signal they could track. But they've used mine against me before, so...I don't know anymore." He sniffled, then murmured "It hurts me...sometimes... I've never eaten much naturally. That's just how I was. But ever since this thing was put into me, I've found that I can't hold enough food to sustain good health. I've gotten so thin..." He carefully tugged the top of his shirt back over his shoulder. "This outfit is actually something a thirteen year old would wear. I'm eighteen and a half." He took in a shuddering breath, then said "This tracker's been implanted for almost five months now. I've only stayed alive this long because I can still eat, even if it's only a little bit. I try to eat things that are high in nutrients, since I can't eat a normal amount of food, but I know I'm getting weaker. I..." He paused, then whispered "...I don't know what to do anymore."

"It's okay, just calm down," Werr shook his head, letting go of Welk's tail to put a hand on Luen's shoulder. "What will happen if we tell the others? What'll happen if we take it out? It can't be that hard, and we have Seria with us...Nate would know how to do something like that, he seems smart. So we'd take it out, patch you up, and you'd be good as new. Just...don't cry, okay? You'll get your mask wet."

Luen sniffled and pulled his mask off, carefully wiping it dry with the edge of his shirt. "If we tell the others, I'm afraid that they'll get mad at me." he said softly. "That's why I waited to tell you. Welk says such nice things about you that I knew you had to be a kind person that I could trust with this problem. I...don't think Seria would get mad, but I will admit that I'm more than a little fearful of Nate...and those two new people..." He quivered, unconsciously pressing a hand to his left side, then said "I don't know what would happen if we tried to take the tracker out. I don't know. A few other mages I knew tried to take theirs out. They got caught and I never saw them again... I really hope your friends can help and that I'll be 'good as new', as you said. I miss being 'good as new'..." He sighed, then said sadly "Welk's gone already." It was true. The second Werr had let go of his tail, the half-cat had been off. He hadn't listened to a word of the conversation, even though he had been less than two feet away from them.

"No, it's okay." Werr thought more about it, pulling Luen behind a food stand. No one noticed them. Werr didn't really mind Welk going off on his own; the half-cat could fend for himself, as he had proven on many occasions. Werr had Luen, so he wasn't in danger of being attacked by thugs again. "The only reason for them to be upset would be you not telling us before now. But to be perfectly honest, King Asmodius planted that tracker, right? And we're headed to the border...for all he knows, you could be coming back with Cynyr. And if he already knows you're with us, we're only traveling closer to him anyways. We shouldn't be in too much danger of attack, Nate will see that." He sat down and crossed his legs, his mind working quickly. He wasn't much of a leader, that was certainly true, but he was an intelligent kid (his problems with his father's letters had come from the lack of an attempt to figure them out, which was mainly what upset Werr about the matter). A puzzling situation like this was perfect to take his mind off of his own troubles, and he let it.

"Had any of the other agents attempted to take out their own trackers? What happened to them?" Werr asked, now going over the risks of removing the device. "Did they seem hurt in any way other than punishment and the like?"

Luen also sat down, though more due to the fact that he was already tired and needed the moment to rest. He listened closely to Werr speak, agreeing with him on several points. "Yes, King Asmodius ordered the implanting of the tracker. He was extremely interested in my mission." He went quiet and listened to Werr again, then answered "Yes, a few did. I only know of two that actually got their trackers out without being caught. At least, they weren't caught at first. They seemed okay, but they were killed for 'treason against the capital and unapproved removal of an important device'. The King never tolerated anyone that removed the trackers. He meant for them to be permanent." He reached up and rubbed one of his ears nervously. "Other than that, they were perfectly fine without the trackers in. Nothing happened to them after they were out." he said.

Werr smiled at this. "That's alright, then. You're already in the 'treason' part of it, I should think. If there's no danger in removing the device, we could have it out today and you can eat some of this festival food. There's nothing better than fest food, not even my soups." He nodded, then thought a bit more. "Do you think the tracker will still work if it's out of your body? If we destroy it as soon as we get it out, those agents will probably hone in on your last known location, so we can take it out to the woods and set something up to smash it after we're long gone. Ice is good for that sort of thing; you can set up a block of ice between two trees, over a rock or something. The supports will melt eventually, and the ice will smash onto the rock. If we stick the tracker between the rock and the ice, it'll give us time to cover up tracks and get on the move again before the tracker sends out its last signal."

Werr smiled at his own idea, quite pleased with himself. His head was finally clear, now that he had something else to think about.

Luen nodded slightly, thinking it over, then shuddered and said "I'm scared. What if something goes wrong while we're getting the tracker out? I've heard of some attempts that had failed terribly..." He whimpered quietly, then said "I think I'm just going to go back to the inn. I'm really tired." He did look sickly and weak, now that he had explained it to Werr. The dark circles under his eyes were growing worse and he was losing a lot more fur than what obviously should be normal. His body was slowly dying from the lack of proper food and nutrition. A slow, painful death. Torturous. Luen could never feel very hungry due to the press of the tracker into his stomach, and it was affecting his whole body. He knew that he needed to eat, but he also knew that he couldn't fit enough food into his skinny body to keep it alive for much longer.

"Wait, Luen, we should find Nate first and tell him what's going on," Werr shook his head. "You're getting worse. You're dying from lack of food, aren't you? This is really serious, Luen, you can't just back out because you're afraid. We have Seria with us, what could go wrong that she couldn't fix? Please, Luen, we have to do something. We have to save you." He rested a hand on Luen's shoulder, squeezing a bit. "I won't sit by anymore while the people around me suffer. Never again. I swore that to myself, the day I read that letter from Nightlash. You're no exception, Luen, so we have to try something."

Luen frowned, fear obvious in his emerald eyes, then he whispered "Okay..." He shivered slightly when Werr touched him. Werr could easily feel the bony shoulder under the thin layer of cloth that covered it. Five months. That was how long the wolfling had said he had been suffering from this. Five long months of slow starvation. He sighed, his ears still back against his head, then he flicked them up and looked in a certain direction. "Werr." he said, almost sounding a little sad. "Look."

Luen had spotted Welk, who was walking with Briana.

The two blonde half-cats were talking and laughing, walking close to each other, hand in hand. Welk had obviously got his ability to chatter (almost nonstop) from his mother. They were carrying on a long conversation, answering questions seconds after they were asked and laughing together. Briana looked happy.

But Welk looked happier.

Werr looked a little upset for a moment, but he shook it off. The fog of his blasted emotions was starting to overtake his mind again, which was bad. One thing at a time. "It...it doesn't matter right now. Come on, let's go find Nate and Seria." He said, but his eyes were locked on Welk and Briana.

The problem was, he didn't want to do anything to stop them. Welk was happy. Welk looked happier than Werr had ever seen him, and Werr knew that this happiness wouldn't stay if Welk were to go with him. I can't force him, he told himself firmly. It's his decision. Werr shook his head and turned it around to Luen again, climbing to his feet. "Come on then," He offered a hand to the wolfling, forcing himself not to take another look as Welk and Briana passed the stand they were behind.

Luen shakily took Werr's hand and let the boy lead him, glancing back one last time at the two half-cats.

Welk hadn't even noticed them.

Luen sighed, feeling a tiny trickle of snowflakes sputter from his mouth, then quickly clapped a hand over his mouth and followed Werr with his head down. It would be bad if the town found out he was an ice mage. He let Werr take him around the festival and locate the others, but before they could go over to them and be noticed, the ice mage stopped completely, tugging on Werr's hand to try and make him let go. "No, no, I changed my mind." he said, sort of frantically. "They don't need to know, really! T-they're probably busy, we shouldn't bother them. I-I can last a few more days, honest!" The truth was, he was scared of Nate.

((Hey, I just thought of something. Didn't you say that Forin could remove stuff, I think? I bet he could take the tracker out. Maybe. -just thought of this- ))

((Just now thought of that? xD Werr forgot. Nate won't, though.))

Werr held fast, frowning. "Why? No, Luen, you really can't! Come on, Luen, please. If you're not going to tell them, I will. We don't have to get it out right now, I guess..."

"Get what out, exactly?" Forin said from behind them. Werr jumped. How long had he been there?

"Jeez, don't scare me like that!" Werr frowned. Diana giggled at him from behind Forin.

"My apologies." Forin blinked at him, but he didn't look very sorry at all. "What are you two speaking of? Something that needs to be...removed?"

((Yeah. XD))

Luen yelped when Forin sounded from behind them. He jumped forward, cowering behind Werr for a moment, then decided that he absolutely did not want anything to do with Forin. He used a minuscule amount of power and froze Werr's fingers, forcing the boy to let go of him. As soon as he was free, Luen bolted off in wolf form. For someone that was so skinny and malnourished, he could run fast. He fled all the way back to the inn and up to he and Nate's room, slamming the door shut and locking it behind him. Then he curled up under the bed, leaving thick blockades of ice on either side so he was enclosed. He had enough room to move around a bit. That was all he needed, really. Fear was racking his mind and body. He was scared of them, scared of them all, he suddenly realized. How could he trust people he hadn't known for more than a few days?