The Forgotten Zodiac

Welk was curled up in cat form between Luen and Werr, whom he had quietly made get off of the log so he could sit between them. Luen had already been leaning against the log, so really all Welk had had to do was get Werr to move, which was easy enough. Now the young half-cat was laying quietly on the ground between the two older teenagers, his head resting in Werr's lap as the boy rubbed his ears. He had his eyes closed, but he opened them when he heard Seria and Nate approach. When he saw that Seria no longer had Tristan's body, Welk closed his eyes and pushed his face into Werr's abdomen, lifting his right paw up to place it over the boy's leg. He started to knead his paw against Werr's leg, pressing his claws down and then retracting them before they could start to hurt his friend.

Werr sighed heavily, continuing to pet Welk, trying to comfort him a little bit. He also didn't want his leg clawed into, but he doubted that would actually happen.

"Nothing eventful happened, I should hope," Forin raised a brow at them.

"Nothing at all." Nate said, looking at the cooked-but-not-eaten food. He sighed and set them over the smoldering coals, knowing full well that they probably wouldn't still be warm in the morning. "We should all get some rest now. We have more travel to do in the morning."

Seria turned into a cat and padded to the edge of the campsite, silhouetted by the moonlight. Her ears were pulled back against her head and her tail hung low against the ground. She sat down at the edge of the clearing, tilting her head up to stare at the moon. She was obviously upset, but it was no longer solely over Tristan dying. She sighed, feeling a strange loneliness creep over her heart that she hadn't felt in years. It was a special loneliness that none in the camp behind her could ever hope to fill.

It seemed that even after all of these years, she had never truly given up her love for Cynyr.

The hole in her heart was something that could only be filled by him, but he had made it clear that he no longer had the same feelings for her. Seeing Tristan die had somehow reawakened these thoughts and feelings in her.

The female half-cat lowered her head and cried softly for a love that was lost to her.

Werr eventually settled down with Welk. Diana fell asleep against Forin, who remained wide awake and had no intentions whatsoever of sleeping voluntarily. At all. Ever.

Nate smiled a bit as Airlia chose to curl up next to him so she could sleep. He couldn't really blame her; he produced surprising amounts of heat when he wasn't paying attention, and it was something he couldn't help when he was asleep. So sleeping next to him was just as warm as sleeping in a bed with two thick blankets. Which, on a night like this, was quite comforting.

Luen eventually fell into a soundless sleep. He didn’t make a single sound, He simply slipped off into darkness. Seria, over at her spot near the edge of the clearing, curled up and fell asleep a few moments later.

The next morning found most of them still asleep, though a few were starting to wake. Luen woke up and yawned, then dully glanced around. He didn’t notice if anyone else was awake, nor did he, in his injured state, remember where he was. He slowly stood up, his legs shaking, then turned and slowly walked off into the forest. He walked haltingly, pausing every once in a while to remember where he was going.

He was heading towards the pond Welk had found the fish in the other day.

He was thirsty and was drawn to the water, though in his currently off balanced state, it was dangerous for him to go near the water’s edge. He, of course, didn’t know that, and his temporary moment of remembering didn’t kick in.

Forin, who was still wide awake, watched in silence as Luen left the campsite. He sat there for a long moment, his mind reflecting the possibilities. Wherever they boy thought he was going, he was wandering off on his own, while seemingly being unable to walk straight. Knowing what his mistress would want in this situation, he carefully pulled Diana onto his back as she slept heavily. He stepped around the sleeping others before moving after Luen at a slow enough pace; it was hard to walk with Diana's deadweight on his back, but he bore it regardless. He was not so foolish as to leave his summoner alone with people he was just barely starting to trust. And all of them asleep and unable to stop anything from happening, at that. No, Forin followed Luen as quickly as he could regardless of this fact.

Forin would have been a little more concerned about the others, but he knew that Nate, at the very least, could fight for himself.

If he was awake.

Luen finally made it to the edge of the water, panting slightly as he sat down next to the edge. By this time, he was pretty thirsty, but still didn't know where he was. He moved forward and slid his legs over the edge, into the water. He sighed quietly at the coldness of the water, then reached a hand down and scooped up some water. He lifted it to his mouth, carefully tilting his head back to catch the drink, then did it again. He frowned after a few times of this, staring down at the cool water. Normally, Luen was a good swimmer. In this state, however, he could barely walk, much less swim. Having a head injury was a truly terrible thing. The wolfling carefully stood up, pulling his legs out of the water, then turned to go back to the campsite.

An arrow flew out of the trees and buried itself into the wolfling's left leg.

Luen was instantly thrown off-balance, yelping at the pain. He was sent reeling, falling backwards into the water behind him. He plunged below the surface, sinking fast. Bubbles swarmed around him while blood leaked from the arrow sticking out of his leg. He didn't know what had just happened, or why the world was starting to go black as he sunk further. He didn't know.

Forin got Luen in his sights just as the arrow sent the wolfling into the water. Forin frowned unhappily, placing Diana tucked into the roots of a large tree. She was awake by now, and looked up at him fearfully. He merely raised a finger to his lips, motioning for silence, then bolted towards the pond.

He threw himself in the water, searching for Luen. Forin found himself feeling the bottom of the pond, coming up empty. He pushed off from there and splashed back to the top, gasping for air. He hardly paused before going back under, nearly pulling back as his hand brushed against something warm and thick, unlike the water that surrounded him. A fish? It was too dark to see...no, fish weren't warm. He searched for the thing again, and this time he found what he was looking for. His hand had brushed up against the arrow in Luen's leg. He grabbed Luen around the waist, kicking upwards with all due haste. He broke the surface quickly, spluttering and gasping for air, dragging the ice mage to the bank.

Once he was on the bank, Luen simply laid motionless for several long seconds, barely even breathing, then he coughed and struggled up onto his hands and knees, soaking wet. He threw up a bunch of water that he had sucked into his stomach, gasping for air. His entire body was quivering from the pain and shock. He breathed raggedly for a moment, then screamed when another arrow shot from the trees and buried itself into his left arm. He fell backwards against the ground, still unsteady from almost drowning, his hand clamped around the arrow in his upper arm.

Another arrow flew out, this time aimed at Forin's chest.

Forin reacted quickly, turning to avoid lethal damage. He took the arrow to his shoulder, shuddering as he felt the tip enter his body. He looked around wildly, searching for the shooter. His senses were waterlogged; it was sheer luck that he still had his hearing intact. He paused and listened for the twang of the bow that would indicate another arrow. In the meantime, his mind churned over the possibilities.

There was likely more than one assailant. He had two directions he could flee in; one, back into the water. It was possible to avoid the arrows by ducking underwater whenever he heard the arrows, but Luen was injured and probably incapable of swimming, and Forin couldn't focus on doing that and keeping Luen alive. He would have to run to the trees where he left Diana, grab her, and charge back to the camp. There was strength in numbers.

Forin swallowed hard, knowing that a single arrow to the leg would increase his injury count in that area and make it impossible to walk on his own, much less drag Luen or Diana anywhere.

"You're good." a silky voice suddenly called from the trees. "Not many can avoid such a fast shot. Points to you for doing so." A lethal, lanky figure suddenly jumped down out of a tree nearby, landing easily on his feet. He straightened, flipping the bow in his hands around in circles. He had three arrows ready to launch held in his other hand. A crest of blue feathers tipped in black adorned his head, and it only took a flick of those feathers for Forin to realize that they were attached to his body, growing from his head. A long, thin black tail topped with a tuft of black fur waved behind him, and a huge pair of wings grew from his shoulder blades. The wings started black, then were blue in the middle, then black on the tips. He flipped a lock of his black hair out of his sky-blue eyes, staring down at them. He looked only about seventeen years old. He had silver cuffs around his wrists and was wearing a tight black tank-top and pants, with black boots on his feet. "I'm here for the ice mage." he said, stopping a good distance away from them. "He is wanted by Asmodius for the removal of a tracker. Don't be surprised; we knew the tracker had been taken out the moment it was removed. Why bother with this scrawny little ice mage? You should be more concerned for your little girlfriend over there." He tilted his head back in the direction Diana was in. "Just get up and go to her, leaving Luen there, and go back to your campsite. I'll take Luen and go. He's all I've come for. If not..." He brandished the arrows in his hand. "...I could just kill you here."

Forin paused for a heartbeat. He actually considered doing so; getting up, leaving Luen and getting Diana out of this ridiculous situation. He breathed heavily through his nose, still not having been caught up since he had climbed out of the water. No...Diana liked Luen. He could tell; she had been concerned for him, she had laughed at his snowflakes...snowflakes. Luen had made Diana laugh. For the first time in two years, the girl had actually laughed because of something that Luen had done.

Forin dragged himself to his feet, looking up at the archer with fury and rage-filled eyes. "I will not...allow you to take him. You hurt him...Diana's friend...I'll kill you," He spat the last part. Though he was shaking and already injured, he wasn't about to just allow this to happen. The memory of Diana's laugh echoed in his ears, giving him a fresh determination. He longed to hear her laugh again, to make her happy, as was his duty; but somehow, he couldn't do that himself. Luen was his only hope of that, as it stood.

And Forin wasn't about to step back and give that up.

((The one who makes Diana happy is just as important to Forin as Diana herself (though if given the immediate choice, of course he'll go to Diana). In other words, this is overprotective Forin. :3))

The creature before him sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his forehead and the bridge of his nose, then said "I was hoping to avoid wasting my arrows, but I suppose I have no choice. We'll see how long you last against an opponant who can hit you but that you can't hit back." He sprang up into the air, flapping his wings, which were at least twice as big as Airlia's, then put the three arrows in his hand to his bow and fired them all at Forin.

((Yaaaaaay, Luen finally made some friends~! Ha ha.))

Forin took in a breath as the arrows shot towards him. He jumped backwards, catching Luen by the collar and dragging him back. He quite literally threw the ice mage into the bushes as the arrows thudded against the ground. "I am a creature of Tartarus, you fool. Pit fights last for weeks. You think I cannot endure a flying freak and a bow? How many arrows do you have remaining, twelve? Fifteen? That's the problem with artillery, I suppose. Eventually, they run out of things to attack with." He prepared himself for another onslaught of arrows. He was fast; not as fast as the Raptorix had been, surely, but fast enough to make his moves unpredictable.

((So you must then force him to be predictable. o3o))

Luen coughed as he landed on the ground, but he could do nothing more than breathe hard and watch as the fight continued.

The strange creature flying overhead shook his head, sighing again. "Don't assume things, man. It'll cost you." He held out a hand and arrows appeared in midair, spawning into existence out of nothing. "I have all of the artillery I need right at my fingertips. Literally." He smiled, then let loose a barrage of arrows, firing them inhumanly fast. He swooped downwards as he did this, rocketing towards Forin and pulling back at the last second, so it had looked like he was going to slam into the boy. That gave him enough time to spawn more arrows, keeping his gaze locked on Forin. "Also, I should point out that I can track your movements fairly well." he called. "My eyes are the eyes of a bird. Sharp. They rarely miss a thing."

Forin rolled forward, underneath his opponent as he flew overhead. He stood again, and laughed. "In this corner, a freakish archer who never runs out of arrows, flies, and has the eyes of a hawk. This will be fun, don't you think? Isn't fighting fun? You must enjoy it somewhat, or you wouldn't be bothering yourself with me. And what was that you said, your eyes miss nothing? That's a shame. What would happen if you lost your eyes?" Forin sneered. "I'll tear them out of your head without getting a drop of blood on me. Your face looks human enough," He laughed again. All this was very out of character for him; in truth, he was prying for a reaction. If this didn't work, he would have to get serious.

Though to be perfectly honest, he was already being serious. The mark on his forehead was glowing faintly blue. Though he didn't like it, he was drawing power from Diana. While he couldn't pull out his full shadow-form from this distance, he could drain her energy to fuel his fighting and magic. He hated to, but he needed it.

The creature overhead yawned, looking bored. "I doubt I'll lose my eyes with you all the way down there." he called, swooping past. "Besides...what would you do if my face wasn't human?" He smiled and made his bow disappear, then screeched and transformed in the air.

Within a few seconds, he had turned into a large gryphon.

His head was that of an eagle or hawk, while his body was that of a large mountain lion. He had black along all of his body and white on his underbelly, while all other colors remained the same. He let out a caw and swept low, landing and racing across the ground to slam into Forin, swiping his claws across one of the boy's legs. He twisted backwards at the last second, arching back up into the air with a screech.

Forin was knocked to the ground by the blow to his leg. The cuts were deep, painfully so. He found himself breathing heavily, the wind knocked out of his lungs by the attack, and he realized vaugely that standing would now be excruciatingly painful. "How kind of you, relieving my concerns about what you were, exactly. Know I know for certain how to beat you." He stood, shoving away his pain. "Come at me, then," He said, though it was obvious from his voice and his stance that he was no longer needing any sort of fight. He was in pain from here and his previous injuries, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore it.

The gryphon turned back into a human and coasted through the air, shaking his head down at the boy. "No, thank you." he said. "I would prefer to take you out from the air now. Unless you were willing to give me Luen." He shrugged, then readied arrows and fired them at the boy, making more and getting them ready to shoot again. He flicked his long tail around, then said "If you just hand the stupid ice mage over, I wouldn't have to kill you, you know."

"No...I don't think I will," Forin sighed, the mark on his forehead stopped glowing. That was it, then. Diana must have passed out. Forin had drained her. Forin held back a groan, knowing that he could handle the rest with his own magic. None of which he had ued yet, and for a reason. He looked up at the Gryphon, breathing heavily thanks to the pain he felt. "I'll never betray my mistress' friends," He spat, annoyed at the gryphon's persistance.