The Forgotten Zodiac

((We should. :T))

Diana smiled at Luen and watched him lay down, eventually scooting over to pet the wolfling gently on the head. Forin pretended to not pay attention, though he always had an eye on Diana and her immediate surroundings.

In the meantime, on the other side of the hill, Welk had been thrown in one of the cells and chained firmly in place. A smaller guard stood by to keep watch while the leader of the small group went outside and started barking orders to send a message to someone.

"Let me out!" Welk shouted, slamming against the chains holding him. "You're making a mistake! Darn it!" He roared and lunged against the chains, fire shooting out from his mouth and hands. It billowed around the room, flickering and scorching the walls until it burned out. He tried to turn into a cat, but the pressure of the chain around his neck grew too tight, and he was forced to stop and keep his human form. He panted for a moment, then flared up again. "Come on!" he shouted. "I'm telling you, it wasn't my fault! We were attacked for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, right! We found the body, you blasted mage," The guard growled, though he was well out of Welk's reach. "It was an old lady. What did she try to do, club you with her handbag? Tch, you freaks are all the same..." Of course, when a shapeshifter dies, they revert back to their true form. Not that the guard had any way of knowing. "We just sent a messenger to Liadaph. You'll be taken there, where you'll be tried by Nightlash himself. Be thankful, freak, there hasn't been a trial for one of your kind for almost a decade now."

Welk gaped in the man's direction, then shouted "I HATE THAT GUY!" Flames erupted from his whole body, engulfing the entire cell in fire. He raged for a while, then sunk to his knees, panting and breathing hard. His powers seemed endless, due to his energy levels, but he could feel them growing weaker. It didn't help that he couldn't control them very well. He gasped for air, then felt tears slid down his face. He felt lost and trapped, like some kind of animal. He gave a faint smirk, remembering that he sort of was an animal. That didn't stop the fifteen-year-old from crying softly. He sniffled and wiped a hand over his face, then whispered "Cynyr, why did you leave us? I need you... Why? Why aren't you here?" He then simply sat there, feeling like his world was collapsing around him.

Wait a second.

He blinked when he suddenly realized that he really could feel the world around him. He could feel the magic flickering around him, even the faint traces in the guard standing near the cell. Maybe...just maybe...he could channel that magic and reach out to the others? To...Werr?

Welk staggered upright and closed his eyes, concentrating. Nothing happened. Not even a flicker. He tried several times, but nothing came to him. That filled him with anger all over again, and within seconds, he was once again filled the room with fire.

Of course, Welk didn't know that Werr was unconscious still. "Hey, I'm not a fan of his either, but orders are orders! Now shut it, you aren't making your position any better, you know!" The guard shouted over the roar of the flames. As mentioned before, he was standing by the exit of the jail, well out of harm's way. The cell was made up of pure steel for the bars over the front, and fairly solid rock. There was no window, and whatever flammable straw, moss or weeds that had been growing here was definitely gone now.

"You're the one that needs to shut up, idiot!" Welk screamed, sending more flames gnawing at the stones of the cell, which were burning hot to the touch by now. "We were attacked by a shape-shifter! She changed her form to look like one of us and attacked us! She was going to hurt one of my friends! You expect me to let the lady hurt my friend?! What's wrong with you?! Why can't you just let me go?" His voice grew quiet again as he paused and breathed hard. "I just...I just want to go home." he sobbed softly.

"Orders are orders," The guard just snorted, ignoring Welk's pleas. "Now shut up, before I get someone with a tranquilizer in here."

Werr was finally stirring. He opened his eyes slowly, heaving himself into a sitting position. "You're alive!" Diana gasped happily. Werr didn't respond. He just stared down at his hands for a long moment, apparently struggling to remember what happened. Eventually, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, mumbling something incoherent as he turned to the door. Forin watched curiously; was the boy's brain damaged? If not...what was he doing?

Seria suddenly appeared, sweeping in front of the boy. "What do you think you're doing?" she said, staring at him rather coldly, with a critical eye. She blocked the doorway, preventing him from moving past her. "You should not be up." she said. "What's wrong?"

"Welk..." Werr mumbled. "Welk is gone..." Seria, unlike Forin, could see the utter despair on the boy's face. "T-they could be hurting him, or doing other stuff t-to him, and I have to help him..." He pushed Seria aside, stumbling out into the hall.

Seria shot a hand out and grabbed the boy's shoulder in a grip that felt like iron. "Werr, if you don't sit back down, I'll cast such a powerful sleep spell on you that you won't wake up for days. We need a plan to get Welk back. Simply walking up and demanding that he be release will get us nowhere but thrown in a cell." Her tone softened a bit. "We'll get him back. I promise. But we need to think this through. If we aren't careful, they could decided that Welk is worth more to them dead, especially if they know that we're trying to take him back alive. They probably won't hurt him, and we can't risk causing him harm." She smiled sympathetically at him, then said "We need you to help us think of how to safely get him out and you can't do that if you're in a cell with him."

Werr looked angry at first, but as he listened, his expression dropped back to the upset look he had before. "I...yeah..." He nodded, leaning against the wall. He tried to clear his mind, knowing that if he couldn't think properly, then he would be incapable of doing any sort of plan making. "Do we have anything to eat?" He asked quietly. "And...I want to see the jail. There was a drawing of it in my father's journal, but I need to know if anything's changed since then or not."

"I can go and draw a sketch," Forin said, flipping his cloak inside out, so that the emblem of Tartarus was on the inside rather than out in the open. He had to wear it at all times, as per the rules of any summoning, but there was nothing that said he couldn't hide the mark. "The villagers didn't see me or Diana, I made certain of that, so we're in no danger as of yet."

"Forin is a really good artist," Diana nodded quietly.

"...okay," Werr nodded, looking back at Seria. "I can't think straight on an empty stomach..." He said, looking down again.

Seria looked at Forin and nodded, saying "Be very careful. We don't want the guards to become suspicious." She turned back to Werr, rubbing his shoulder gently. "I'll get you something to eat." she said, then turned and moved off into the small house.

Luen padded over and sat down near Werr, but made no move to touch him. He might have gained trust towards Diana, Nate and Forin, but he was still a tad wary of the others. He watched the boy for a moment, sensing his anguish and sadness at being separated from his closest friend, then glanced up when Seria reentered the room. She walked over and handed Werr some bread out of their bags, then glanced at Forin and said "Make sure to be quick. Don't let them see you, if possible."

"Of course. I shall become nothing more than a simple traveling artist, drawing things for his little sister. I've done it before. Come, Diana," Forin stood and moved off, already pulling a sketchbook and a pen from his bag.

Werr muttered his thanks for the bread, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. He ate in silence, still trying to clear his head. Eventually, he pulled one of his many notebooks from his bag, flipping it open. "My father would write about everything he saw that was of interest to him. That jail and this town has been around for a very long time. So, of course, my father was interested. He didn't write very much, though...just a little sketch of the outside, and he described a few things on the inside. It's a small jail, with no more than five cells, with a capacity of fifteen people total. The walls are made from two layers of thick stone, and there aren't any windows to speak of in the cells. It doesn't say anything about a guard station or anything of the sort..." Werr trailed off, thinking steadily.

Forin might not be capable of reaching through two layers of solid rock, and they didn't know which cell Welk was in. So a distraction and quick removal was out of the question...and they might not be taking any chances with the defensive position; there could be tons of guards keeping watch.

"Perhaps we could sneak in?" Seria suggested. "At night, when the guards are tired. If I get close enough, I could cast a sleep spell over them. I know a small, long-distance sleep spell that gives a 60-40 chance of taking effect. It should keep them asleep for at least five minutes, plenty long enough for us to sneak in and find Welk. It all depends on what Forin discovers, I suppose."
Luen frowned and said "That sounds a bit dangerous, if you don't mind my saying so."

Seria nodded and said "I know, but anything we do is going to be dangerous. There's no way around it."

Werr thought a bit more, then remembered something. "Nightlash 'deals' with the mages in this country," He swallowed a bit. "He might not be here at night. They could take him away before then, a-and..." He shook his head, not wanting to think about the 'and'. Forin returned a few minutes later, surprisingly quickly. He handed Werr the sketch; for a pen, it was awful.

Awfully high in detail, that was. Werr gaped at the drawing for a moment. "That was...fast..."

"My leg is injured. Not my hand." Forin said bluntly.

Seria immediately looked concerned and a bit more pressed to find an answer to their problems. She leaned over to see the paper that Werr held and marveled at how skillfully it was drawn, and in such a short amount of time. "How does it look, Werr?" she asked. "Does it look like sneaking in could be an option?" She looked up at Forin and asked "How many guards could you see?"

"Ten," Forin answered. "But there's likely a guard inside the jail itself. Maybe two."

"I dunno...ten guards..." Werr thought.

"Why are there guards even here?" Diana pouted.

"This place is close to the borders, and the battlefield. It might not happen, but there's a possibility that the war will spread to here. If that happens, these guards are trained to get the villagers out and retreat to a safer area." Werr answered at once.

"Could we make them think that the village was under attack, and get Welk out in the chaos?" Forin questioned.

"I...I'm not sure. That seems pretty difficult..."

"Certainly not. Put on some armor, kill a few people, make lots of noise and make it seem like there's a--"

"We're not killing anyone!" Werr snapped at him. "No! Don't think twice about that, Forin." He relaxed again, then blinked. "Wait...armor. Do you think we could steal some armor and break in that way? In disguise?"

"It could work." Luen said. "But I and Seria couldn't help you in regards to actually wearing the armor and going inside. We have long tails and our ears are not of a common sort, so only you, Forin and possibly Nate would be able to go inside. Airlia, Diana, and us lerloch must wait nearby." He used a word none of them had ever heard before, one that not even Seria was familiar with.

"Lerloch?" Seria said, repeating the word. "What is that?"

Luen frowned at her and said "You do not know the word for all halves?"

"Halves?" Seria said, further confused.

"Lerloch, or halves, as we are sometimes called, is a word that simply stands for those that are half animal and half human." Luen answered. "Yes, wolflings are half wolf and half-cats are half cat, but lerloch is the word used to describe all of the half people. For instance, if you and I were to stand together, Seria, we would be called lerloches. If we stood apart, we would take our original species names."

"I'm not going anywhere if Diana is not to follow," Forin snorted. "Besides, I'm injured. My limp would be far too noticeable."

"I...don't think me going is a good idea." Werr shook his head. "That one guard might recognize me. It's too risky..." He thought, then looked over at where Nate was sleeping. "...Do you think he'll be well enough to get up and move anytime soon?"

"He will have to be," Luen said. "if we want to prevent harm from coming to Welk by tonight. Seria?" He turned and looked up at her. "Perhaps you could...?"

She shook her head distrustfully.

Luen sighed, then said "I suppose I will have to help with his recovering, then. I definitely feel a bit stronger than before. Maybe I can remove some from cold from his body. That could help with some of his pain."

"You can do that?" Seria asked.

"Yes." Luen replied. "I am an ice mage, after all. There is no cold substance that I cannot control."

"I didn't know that." Seria said.

"The powers of the five types work in different ways, you see." Luen said.

"The five types?" Seria said.

Luen sighed patiently, then said "There are five types of mages, Seria. Most people refer to them as 'the five types'. Wind, fire and ice are the common elements, while the last two are rare. Light mages are scarce, but there are still a few left, though they are scattered to the winds. The other..." He paused and shuddered. "The other is a terrible thing that is feared above all else. Dark mages are rarer than light mages, and this is because they usually never survive the spreading of the dark magic in their bodies. It constricts their personal magic and eats it away, turning it sinister and evil, permanently poisoning their minds. They lust for violence and destruction." He shook his head, whimpering softly, then said "Enough of this talk. It frightens me to think of it and we have more pressing issues at hand."