The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr listened in surprise. Dark magic...he shook off his thoughts about it, and decided to inquire elsewhere. "That's a mage...what about a witch?" He looked up at Diana and Forin.

Forin answered that one. "Females can be either witches or mages. There were - and possibly still are - male witches, though they preferred to be called magicians. While mages wield elements, witches and magicians possess different powers. They can control things like animals, plant life, space and otherwise inanimate objects. And, in rare cases, they can summon creatures from different worlds entirely. Tartarus is where I come from; I don't know what other worlds use, but my world is filled with a variation of what you call 'dark magic'. Shadow magic is what I wield.

"Creatures of Tartarus use this magic to affect things within an object, both material and immaterial. I remove things. Others can put things in. Some can suck the very life-force from your soul and use it to power themselves to incredible lengths. There are rumors of a creature living on Tartarus that can kill just by looking at you. And it isn't a scared-to-death kind of kill. It's more along the lines of blood-and-guts-spewing-everywhere. Shadow magic is not as potent as Dark Magic; we could not reach inside you, infect your magic and mind and kill you slowly like that can. I can remove powers, certainly, but destroying it is a different matter indeed."

Luen laid down on the floor and covered his face with his snowy paws, flattening his ears against his head. "Oooh, all this talk's getting to me. I hate dark mages."

Seria stroked his furry neck gently, causing him to look up at her. "We'll stop talking about it." she said. "Go and deal with Nate. We need to do something about Welk soon or we may very well lose any chance of ever seeing him alive again."

Luen nodded, then got up and trotted over to the sleeping dragonian. He sat down next to Nate's chair and lifted a paw, lightly placing the paw on the man's side and tapping him. "Nate?" the wolf said. "Excuse me, but it would be best if you woke now. Nate?"

Forin shrugged, watching Luen go. Nate jerked awake, opening his eyes. "Yes, what is it?" He asked quietly, pushing himself upright in his chair. He shuddered a bit, but managed to keep his eyes open and locked on Luen. "What do you need?" He asked again, tilting his head a little bit one way.

"We have need of your assistance in recovering Welk." the wolfling said. "We have decided to take some armor and sneak in to find Welk. You are the only one who would be able to do it, as the rest of us are far too noticeable. Do you think you could manage if I remove more cold from you, if that would help? There's not much more we can do, and we must do it by tonight. We fear there is a great chance that the guards will take Welk away tonight to be tried by someone named Nightlash, and we would prefer to get Welk back before that happens."

"Nightlash..." Nate blinked, then nodded. "Yeah...I can manage." He looked at Werr with a frown. "This was your idea, I presume?"

"It was the only thing I could think of that would work..." Werr scratched the back of his neck.

"Hm. There's a good chance that I'll be found out, you realize this, yes?"

"I've thought of that," Werr said. "You can pose as a messenger or a courier, but you were attacked by something that took your letters from you, and--"

"Granted, but do you know what will happen if I'm found out?"

Werr just blinked at him.

Nate sighed through his nose. "I was King Asmodius' head guard, Werr. In the case that I am found out, I will be captured and tortured for information. Then killed. So I hope you've thought this through properly, or else you'll have to save two people this evening."

"I was thinking of that." Luen said, glancing around at the people around him. "I think it would be best if we had a distraction. Something big that doesn't involve killing." He threw Forin a pointed look, then said "What better to distract than another mage running around? I'm fast in both forms, especially now that I've been able to eat something. I can create a distraction that will allow Nate to 'guard' Welk while the other guards go to catch the mage that surfaced. I think it's a good plan, and we must decide on something soon. I fear more and more for Welk's safety as the minutes pass."

Seria nodded, still avoiding Nate to some extent. "It sounds good." she said. "And Luen's right. Every minute that passes brings us closer and closer to nighttime."

((You should fix that italicized thing. I think the HTML might be broken.))

"That's great, but how will you get away?" Nate frowned. "How will any of us get away?

"If you want, I can get a carriage," Forin said quietly.

"By how, stealing it?" Werr frowned.

"Nonsense. I have money," Forin reached into his pocket and pulled out a large handful of gold coins. "I'll go and prepare our escape. Perhaps I could pick up some food, too. I'll wait by the exit. We can take the carriage until we can move on foot again; as you've mentioned before, a carriage is too noticeable. But it's fast." He stood, shoving the coins back in his pocket.

((I did. I wonder why it's not working?))

"You forget that I am a wolf." Luen said, tossing his head to the side. "I can run fast if the need arouses, which I'm certain it will. Though yes, a carriage is probably a good idea. We've no idea what state Welk is in. I'm not sure those guards will treat him nicely. He is a mage, after all. They are feared and hated." He shook himself, then said "We'll need to procure the armor for Nate to wear. Forin?" The wolfling glanced over at the summoned creature, flicking his furry ears forward in order to listen better.

((I haven't the foggiest. Testestestest?))

"...Why are you looking at me?" Forin raised a brow at the wolf. "Wait, you want me to bribe one of those poor guards into giving me his armor and keeping quiet about it?" He put a hand on his cheek in mock worry. "But that poor, poor man," He shook his head, his words dripping in sarcasm. He dropped the act almost at once, smirking. "No stealing, no killing, but bribing...bribing is okay?" He laughed, climbing to his feet. "Nonsense. I'll take his conciousness instead. It'll cost less. Come along, Diana, we have a few things to fetch," He left before anyone could say anything else, grinning.

"...he's scary..." Airlia mumbled from her seat nearby.

((That worked.))

Luen frowned in concern, looking a bit upset. "That...that wasn't what I meant..." he said quietly, laying down on the floor with his nose tucked against his paws.

Seria hissed at Forin as he walked out, then fumed silently for a moment. She shook herself, then said "Now we just make sure we're ready when they return." She glanced at Luen and said "Make sure Nate is ready to go when they come back." She left the room without looking at anyone else, leaving Luen alone with Nate, Werr and Airlia.

((Hm. Are you typing the stuff or something?))

"Forget it. Forin will be how he wants, and his justification is that he's a terrible monster one way or another." Nate sighed. "I'm ready whenever you are," He slumped in his chair again.

Werr, in the meantime, dropped back into thought. If he couldn't get Welk back, if they missed their chance, he would probably never see Welk again. If he had failed to think of something, to think properly, if he had tripped up somewhere in this plan, all would be lost. And it would be his fault. Werr started pacing, his mind trailing downhill. Welk would be killed...what would his mother do? Would she even know? Werr plopped back down again, looking pale now. The more he thought about it...he started trembling, not knowing what to do about any of this. He could do nothing but wait. Wait for others to rescue Welk.

Werr buried his face in his hands. Not to hide tears, but to hide the look of shame and horror that he knew had taken over his face. All he could do was talk and plan, but when it came down to the real business, he was nothing more than a pathetic human with above-average school grades. It was pathetic, and Welk was probably suffering because Werr had been unable to protect him in the first place.

At the moment, Werr couldn't have been more right about Welk suffering. The half-cat was still in the cell in the jail, chained in place, but now with several bruises and cuts, along with a nasty black-eye. Some of the guards had come in and made fun of him and taunted him over being a mage, which, of course, had only made Welk angry. He had shouted back some rude things at them and had tried to hit them with some fire. After the flames had subsided, they had decided to teach him what happened to mages that called them such things and tried to burn them. Which explained the painful marks on his body. He looked exhausted and drained of all life except for the rapid hammering of his heart and the rise and fall of his chest as he fought to steady his breathing.

The guards had left not long after, though. Besides, of course, the one that was sitting still at the entrance. There were voices from outside; they were muffled, but Welk's sensitive ears were able to pick out what was being said. "Look, I'm not making this up! The same kid that was drawing earlier came along, and the next thing I know, my armor is gone!"

"Yeah, right," There were a few chuckles from listening guards as the leader spoke. "You wet yourself again, didn't you? What scared you this time, a spider?" There was a roar of laughter, and an incoherent muttering.

Welk listened for a moment, but his mind had grown so distant that he couldn't focus for long. He dropped off into a troubled sleep.  A small dream came to him, but it was twisted and tortured, full of suffering and anguish. When he woke out of fear, he had tears dripping down his cheeks and his body was shaking. He was still in a lot of pain from his wounds and his black-eye was throbbing. Unconsciousness, when it came, was a mercy.

At last, Forin returned. He had with him a small carriage pulled by two horses, inside which was a set of armor. Nate was suited up quickly, though he refused treatment from Luen. "Look, how am I going to fake being injured? I'm tired enough, I just have to cut myself up a bit, and I should look the part," He said.

"You do look pretty bad," Werr scratched the back of his neck. He himself still looked miserable and upset with himself, but he was going about business as planned.

Luen frowned, but said nothing against it.

Seria came back in and spared Nate a glance to see how he looked, then looked away again.

Luen sighed at her, then said "I'll go now. You'll know when to move out. It would be best not to waste any more time." He got up and trotted to the door in wolf form, then turned into a human and opened the door. "I can buy you a lot of time, but I would suggest you go quickly. Anything can go wrong." He disappeared out the door, glancing up at the sky as he did so. It was just starting to grow into evening. They didn't have much time left.

"Alright," Nate nodded in agreement. Anything could go wrong...everything could go wrong, more like. Nate busied himself with drawing a dragon-claw down his face, and generally making it look like he had been brutally attacked by something or other. He left not long after, leaving the others to make thier way to the exit so they could make their escape.

Nate moved quickly to the jail, limping a bit to add to the effect. The armor was heavy and difficult to move in, one of the reasons Nate rarely wore armor willingly. He arrived in front of the jail, and was stopped by a couple guards. Only a couple? That, plus the one inside. The rest had gone off to try and catch Luen, apparently.

"Stop! Who are you?" One of the guards demanded.

"Kale," Nate puffed, stopping. "I'm a messenger from Nightlash. I...I had a letter, but I was attacked by bandits along the road up north. I barely made it here..." He staggered, panting.

((You play the other guard, so you don't have a wall-post of me talking by myself? :T))

"Really?" the guard said, looking Nate up and down. For a few nerve-racking seconds, it seemed like he wouldn't believe Nate. His brow furrowed for a moment, then, finally, he spoke. "Jeez, what could those bandits possibly be thinking?" the guard said, his thoughtful expression lifting from his face. "Attacking a messenger? We'll get to them after we catch the new mage that surfaced here. Go inside, Kale. You're no use to us out here." He moved aside and jabbed a finger back at the inside of the jail, then said "Watch out for the mage in there, though. He's a fiery one, for sure. We had to rough him up just to get him to keep quiet."

"O-of course..." Nate puffed, limping inside unsteadily. "I'll keep an eye on him, if you want..." He hesitated on the mention of 'roughing him up', but he said nothing of it. Seria could take care of it. Nate moved inside and immediately started taking off the heavy armor. He didn't speak, not wanting Welk to react to his familiar voice. The other guard just watched him curiously, his brow furrowed as though he were trying to remember Nate from somewhere.

"Wait a second, I...you're..." He stammered in shock, taking a step back and fumbling for his sword. Nate had his out first, pressing the tip of it into the guard's neck. "N-Nate Furhblast...what are you doing here?!" He spoke quietly, thinking that alerting the other guards would probably mean his death.

"I'm here for the mage," Nate growled. "Keys." The guard dropped said objects into Nate's hands, then was promptly knocked unconscious as Nate rammed the butt of his sword into the man's head. Nate sheathed his blade and moved towards the cell that Welk was held in.

He unlocked it and hurried inside, shaking the half-cat gently. "Welk," He hissed. "Get up, lad!"

((That's Fi-ur-blast. :T))

Welk didn't stir for a long moment, then his eyes flickered. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced up at Nate, but couldn't find the strength to lift his head. "N...Nate...?" he rasped quietly, wondering if he was just dreaming again. "What...what h-happened...?" he asked softly, moving one arm slightly. The chain around his wrist shifted with the movement. "W-Werr..." the half-cat said, straining to lift his head and see if his friend were there as well.