The Forgotten Zodiac

"You were captured by the guards who reside here in case of an emergency," Nate said quietly, working on getting the chains off of Welk. "Werr is fine. He's the one who set up this plan." He took off the last of the chains, wishing he had accepted Luen's offer to remove more of the cold. He felt terrible still, so carrying Welk out of here might be a problem...

Then he realized that he had no idea how he was going to get Welk out in the first place.

Nate promptly hit his forehead with an open palm. Werr...for such an intelligent lad, he sure was stupid sometimes. Then again, Nate had only himself to blame for knocking that guard out when he could have easily sent him to fetch something. On the other hand, though, the guard had recognized him...

Welk slowly pushed himself up, breathing hard. He winced, his arms shaking with the effort of supporting himself, then eventually made it to his feet. He panted, then leaned against Nate for a moment, trying to keep himself from falling over. "G-guards..." he heaved. "...talked about...t-trap door...said it...went outside..."

"What? A trap door..." Nate thought for a moment, looking around. He leaned Welk against the bars, moving off to the end of the cells, looking for the trapdoor in question. He came back quickly, and grabbed Welk by the arms, gently heaving the boy onto his back. "Hold on tight, alright?" Nate puffed, moving back past the cells and into the very back of the jail. Half-buried under hay was the trapdoor in question; it was solid metal, with a lock and everything. Nate had already unlocked it, though, as well as opened it. He wasted no time in sliding into it, careful not to bump Welk on the rim of the opening. He descended down the ladder two steps, then hissed at Welk, "Close the trapdoor. We don't want to make things too obvious,"

Welk was limp against the dragonian, barely conscious. He woke up a little more as Nate spoke to him, then weakly raised his arm and grabbed into the cover, then pulled it shut. He flopped back against Nate as soon as he let go, closing his eyes softly. Nate could feel the boy's heart hammering as it struggled to repair his weakened body.

Nate slid down the ladder, careful not to drop Welk. He hit solid floor and felt along the walls and ceiling for another trapdoor, another way out. He found it far from the ladder, on the roof of the cave, which was now directly above him; the ceiling had gotten lower and lower as he walked along. He pushed it open slightly, looking around carefully. He didn't see much, just the road and the town, a little ways off now. Nate pushed open the trapdoor all the way, heaving Welk up through the opening before climbing up, himself.

He looked around. They were near the road they would be taking. Good. Nate pulled Welk onto his back again, walking (limping) along the road, expecting to find the carriage and the horses. He could only hope that Seria or someone was watching for them; Nate felt like collapsing right here.

Seria was watching for them from the top of the gate to the exit of the town. When she spotted them, she turned to the carriage below and called "I see them! Nate has Welk!" She jumped down off of the gate top and landed easily on the ground, then ran out to meet them. "Here, give me him." she said once she was close enough, sliding Welk as gently as she could out of Nate's arms. She turned without another word to the dragonian, mostly because she was in a hurry, and led him over to the carriage, where the others were waiting.

By the time they reached them, Welk had lost his hold on consciousness and was completely limp in the female half-cat's arms.

Werr looked down at Welk sadly, but waited until he, Seria and Nate were all safely in the carriage before he set the horses pounding forward, away from this blasted town. Werr pulled his cloak closer as the wind swept around him. With Welk back, he could relax a little more, at the very least...and to make things a little nicer, he had found something he was useful for.

Driving carriages. Yeah, he was good at that. Sure.

Welk rested fitfully in the carriage, unconsciousness unable to hide all of his pain. Seria was doing her best to heal him, but it was hard for her. She could do nothing for his black-eye, which looked pretty bad, but she did her best on his other wounds.

Luen caught up with them after he had ditched the people chasing him, racing alongside the carriage. He kept up with little difficulty, following dutifully as they made their way to a safe place. When the carriage stopped sometime later, he panted for a moment, then asked "So we have him?"

Seria didn't get out of the carriage or answer, still busy with healing Welk's wound.

The poor blonde half-cat looked pained and troubled as he breathed wearily. He flicked his tail once, then was still.

"Yes, we got him. He's hurt badly, though...and I thought only Alastorian soldiers were like that..." Nate sighed, climbing out of the carriage. He ached, but he had some time to rest while the carriage was moving, and Forin had even brought along three full bottles of rum.

"I must say, this is getting worse and worse for you lot," Forin pointed out, propping his feet up on Nate's now-empty seat. His wounds had already mostly healed; he recovered quickly, being different from a human. "It's lucky you have me, isn't it? This carriage wasn't cheap, you know. I lost twenty rocks,"

Diana giggled at this. She couldn't help but add, "Forin got food and two bedrolls, so you all should get lots of rest tonight. You all look really tired..." She wasn't looking at Welk, avoiding it, even. She didn't want to be reminded of her own suffering.

Werr, on the other hand, climbed into the carriage and took Welk's tail in his hand, looking upset. And of course he was; Welk was badly hurt. And Werr hadn't been able to stop it.

Finally, Seria pulled back, sighing. "I can't do anything else." she said. "My powers are still weakened from all of this past trouble we've had. Until I rest, there's nothing more I can do." She looked so unhappy at not being able to help. The girl half-cat reached a hand out and brushed it against Welk's black-eye, resulting in a whimper from the boy, then pulled back and got out of the carriage. She had only concerned herself with Welk's more serious wounds, but he still had enough to be in pain. They ones close to Welk, like Werr, were sort of in a fog over the events that had just happened. Seria still couldn't even begin to sort through the fact that the other half-cat was mage. It was so confusing!

Luen stepped up into the carriage, smelling the blood in the air and wondering why it hadn't lessened yet. He glanced at Werr for a moment, seeing the distant look on the boy's face, then flicked his gaze down to Welk's tail. Almost instantly, Luen felt his heart freeze.

Part of Welk's tail was missing completely.

The men that had beat him up had taken a knife to the half-cat's tail while he was unconscious. He was now missing a good six inches of his long, fluffy tail. And he probably didn't even know it was gone. None of them had noticed. They had been too concerned with getting the half-cat back and avoiding the guards. "Werr." Luen said softly. When he got no answer, he raised his voice. "Werr!" he snapped, rattling the boy out of his thoughts. "Look closely at what you're holding."

Werr jerked, looking at Luen in confusion, slightly annoyed. He looked down as he was told, though, and let out a startled yelp, gingerly setting Welk's tail down again. He looked down at the blood on his hands, and felt much like crying. Though Seria had stopped the bleeding, there had still been a lot on Welk's fur. Welk...

Werr seemed to shake himself out of it, stumbling out of the carriage. He made his way over to the river that they had stopped next to, reaching down the steep bank and dipping his hands in the rushing water. "Werr," Nate called from the carriage, suspecting the worst. "Whatever you're thinking of, it's not going to fix this...you can't have done anything to stop it, we're lucky to--"

"And why not?!" Werr snapped back. "I-I...I can't breathe fire like you, or cast ice spells like Luen, or heal people, or amplify magic, or anything! I should have been able to save him, to stop those people before they even put a hand on Welk, but I couldn't! I couldn't save him, either...and he lost half a tail because of my weakness!" He clenched his fists, climbing to his feet. "I couldn't save mother, either...I'm so useless..."

"Werr!" Nate shouted, starting forward, but Werr only had to take one step.

Then he was being rushed away from them by a torrent of cold water.

((D:))

Seria shouted in terror after him, racing to the edge of the water in horror. "Werr!" she shouted, knowing it was useless.

Luen snapped into action immediately, keeping to his wolf form. He took off running near the river, watching the surface of the water closely. He knew the cold water wouldn't affect him very much, but he could only wonder about Werr. "What were you thinking?" the wolfling thought, shaking his head for only a moment. "What could this possibly solve?" Within a fee long seconds, the wolf was far away from the others. Finally, he caught a glimpse of the boy through the rushing river and leapt in, plunging below the surface.

((Werr is adorably stupid. Luen's going to knock some sense into him. Literally.))

((That's PAYBACK for lobbing off WELK'S FREAKING TAIL.

Go for it. :T))

Werr wasn't trying to swim, but it was already pretty much impossible to hold his breath. The water was so cold, Werr was numb in seconds, the pounding of the water pushing the breath from his lungs. Werr faintly realized that he had just done someting horribly stupid again. He had forgotten completely about his job here. He had to stop whatever it was that had infected his parents, and here he was, submerged in a river that was about to take his life. Looks like I'm as stupid as I am useless, Werr thought before his mind went numb and entirely blank. He barely even saw Luen swimming towards him.

((SORRY.))

Once he reached him, Luen fastened his teeth in Werr's collar and surged upwards, swimming strongly. He broke through the surface and swam to the edge of the river, where he dragged Werr to safety up on the bank. Luen turned into a soaking wet human and coughed, then pulled all of the cold from Werr's body. He waited for a few mintues for Werr to recover, then, when the boy was able to breath right again, Luen backhanded him. Hard. It was so shocking to come from the sweet, quiet wolfling that Werr could barely believe that it had come from him. "What is wrong with you?!" Luen snapped, sounding angrier than Werr had ever heard him. "Do you know what could've happened to you?! What would dying solve? Nothing. Nothing at all! You want to know what you would've done? You would've broke Welk's heart. Is that what you wanted to do? Did you want Welk to wake up, not only injured and missing part of his tail, but never able to see his best friend again either? You've made some stupid decisions before, Werr Grehi, but this was your worst!" He clicked his teeth together sharply in a wolfish display of anger, then said "Did you really think you were that useless? If you think that, then you have to be one of the biggest idiots I've ever met. We would never even have gotten Welk back if not for you! You thought of the plan, Werr! Not Seria, not Nate, not Forin, Diana, Airlia or me. We contributed ideas, yes, but the basic plan was you alone. Also, you are the only remaining friend besides Seria that gives Welk a link to Cynyr. If you think you're useless for helping to keep Welk out of spiraling depression, which I know would hit him if he didn't have you, then you can jump right back in that river and I'll let you drown." He sounded absolutely furious, which wasn't like him at all.

Werr looked surprised and shocked indeed, touching his cheek where he had been hit. He looked down as he listened to Luen shout at him. My worst descision, huh? Werr thought, actually agreeing with Luen. Like he had thought before, he had been stupid again...he was lucky that Luen had been fast enough to fix that mistake.

Werr closed his eyes, doing a check on his own mind. He hadn't heard any voices before jumping in, he felt perfectly fine now and he definitely didn't want to jump back into the water. It had been his emotions, overriding his rational self. Werr sighed through his nose. No more, then. This haze of emotion was getting to be too much for Werr. He was used to feeling nothing on purpose, then there was the mixed floods of sadness and happiness, misery and joy, frustration and contentment, all of which had come over the past few days. And just a few seconds ago, he had tried to drown himself. It was ridiculous, and Werr had enough.

He felt a little scared of what Welk would think, coming to and finding that he had shut himself up again. That was definitely the first Werr dismissed.

He sat there for a few more moments, silent and still. Then he stood and let out a sigh. "My apologies, Luen. I wasn't thinking straight. You have my thanks," He said, starting back towards the carriage.

Luen snorted, tilted his ears back, then said something that made Werr halt. "It isn't your emotions, Werr. Not all of them, at least." the wolfling said, giving no indication on how he knew what Werr had been thinking. "Emotion is what allows us to make friends, to live life, to exist. You simply need to learn how to control your emotions. When and where to use certain ones, like anger. I just used anger on you, at a moment when it was needed. There is no problem in having the emotion, but your problem is that you don't know how to control yours. Right now, Welk is hurt and probably lonely, even in his unconsciousness. Now is when you need to channel your compassion and love and bring him comfort, to prevent him from misusing his emotions. He will most likely cry, which is understandable. Keeping emotions bottled up for so long is harmful, not just to you, but to everyone around you. Don't push your feelings away or let them control you." He walked forward, heading past the boy, his anger subsiding. "If you master your emotions, Werr, you'll find that those feelings can be a great help to you, rather than a great hurt, like what almost happened today." he said. "What are your emotions going to be to you, human?" He turned and stared at him through his intelligent, emerald eyes. "If you keep this up, you'll be a burden to the rest of us. Get your feelings under control and use them, not shove them away." Then he transformed into a wolf and raced away, leaving Werr alone with the stinging reality of his words.

Werr stood there, watching Luen run. Again, the wolfling was right. Werr had never made any attempt to control his emotions, mainly because they were often too much for him to handle. Mainly because he always kept them locked up. Werr sat down again, not quite ready to go back to the others. He had to think of something to do with himself, then. He didn't want to be a burden. Perhaps that had been some of the irrational thinking behind throwing himself in the river.

How did Nate or Luen do it, then? They were both usually so calm and collected. Or Forin? Though really, Werr didn't know if the guy had any emotions at all. He wasn't human. Werr stood and started pacing, getting his mind back on track. How would he control emotions that were accustomed to being bottled up all the time?

Eventually, Werr gave up on trying to reign his emotions in again. Luen was right, after all. Werr immediately felt ashamed of himself. Here he was, worrying about himself and what he was supposed to do. In the meantime, Welk was along and hurt in that carriage. What if Welk woke up, and Werr wasn't there? He dismissed the thought at once and climbed to his feet, starting the long walk back to the carriage.

When he got back, Seria was in the carriage with Welk again. She was holding the younger half-cat partially in her arms, gently holding a healing spell to his head. Welk's entire body was shivering, but sweat was dripping down his face. Seria had healed the ruined tip of what was left of Welk's tail, but it still looked fairly bad. Now she was doing her best to bring his fever down. She was muttering to herself when Werr appeared. "-idiots. If I got my hands on those blockheads, I've give them exactly what they gave you, Welk. So many open wounds in a filthy old cell? I knew this would happen... I knew it." She sounded angry and sad at the same time, then sighed and shook her head, returning to running the healing spell over Welk's head, trying to bring down his fever.

Welk looked tormented, laying limply in her arms. His chest heaved as he fought for breath, feeling freezing cold even though his body was hot to the touch. He rasped something so soft that Seria couldn't hear it, and she knew better than to press for an answer. She knew what it was, anyways. The only thing he had been calling for this whole time.

His best friend.

Werr made it to the carriage, sopping wet and breathing heavily. He had started running a few minutes after he realized how far away the carriage was. Nate looked furious at him as he approached. "Idiot," He growled, but Werr ignored him. Forin was sitting on top of the carriage, apparently meditating while Diana fed the horses oats that they had brought along.

Finally, he showed himself in the frame of the doorway. "Welk?" Werr put a hand on his friend's tail again, and immediately felt how warm Welk was. "Oh no...he has an infection, now?" Werr bit his lip, climbing into the carriage and taking Welk's hand instead. "Welk, can...can you hear me?"

Welk's ears flicked once, then went still.

Seria sighed, then gently picked Welk up and slid him into Werr's arms. "Here." she said softly. "I can't do anything more for him. Healers heal wounds, not sicknesses. He needs you, now. I'm sorry." She dipped her head to the boy, then exited the carriage, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Welk weakly twined one hand into Werr's shirt, panting softly. His ruined tail flicked from side to side for a moment, then went still. Finally, he opened his crimson eyes, which were blurry and unfocused. He looked up at Werr, struggling to see him straight, then murmured "Werr...?" He leaned his head against the boy, a few soft tears forming in his dull eyes. "What...what happened...?" he asked weakly. "I don't...d-don't feel good..."