The Forgotten Zodiac

Nate watched in mild curiosity, wondering what could have caused such a thing. Perhaps it hadn't been entirely Cynyr's fault, that they got cut up like that. It was almost as if his powers had backfired. Was such a thing possible? Nate made a mental note to ask Forin or Luen about that later. Probably Luen; Forin didn't seem to be in a talkable mood as of late.

"Will he be okay?" Nate asked, not expecting an answer.

Neither Seria nor Welk said anything at first. Welk pressed his cheek down against Cynyr's forehead, still crying softly.

Finally, Seria answered the dragonian. "I don't know." she said, breathing hard. "I've never seen something like this happen before. And I've treated more than my fair share of magic-related injuries. This is beyond my knowledge of happening, but I think I can heal him. Hopefully."

She had cut the sleeves off of Cynyr's overcoat up to his shoulders and had thrown the bloodied black fabrics to the side, out of the way. Welk dimly glanced up and watched her work her way down his brother's arm, then slowly noticed something under the blood, something that he had never seen before.

Cynyr's arms were laced with dark, cruel scars.

Welk's jaw dropped when he saw them. They were thick, knotted marks, sprawling across Cynyr's pale white skin. These were not like Forin's paled scars. These were jagged and dark, painfully obvious against the half-cat's skin.

Nate frowned as he noticed this as well, but he said nothing. If Seria didn't know about it, perhaps it was best to talk to Forin, then. The creature of Tartarus was probably older than he let on, and Nate had seen Forin's scars; the creature wore short-sleeved shirts, so it was pretty obvious, though he kept his arms under his cloak most of the time. The scars were a little similar, but not quite so...dark. Which was unusual for a scar, unless it was recent, Nate pondered. Were these recent, or was there something else involved here?

Nate sighed, not sure what to do. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be good for comforting Welk, and he was absolutely no good to Cynyr, unless Seria wanted to take his blood again. Which might be beneficial, but Nate wasn't too sure if his system could handle giving blood again. He waited by patiently, deciding to see if Seria would need him to run and fetch anything.

Seria, however, didn't so much as glance at the scars. She did, however, pull off her blue vest and shred it in half, laying one part over each of Cynyr's arms to cover them. When she noticed Nate and Welk's gazes, she said "Don't you dare ever tell anyone else about what you just saw or I'll personally rip your tongues out. What you just saw was never suppose to be seen unless Cynyr wished it, and trust me when I say he didn't want you to see them." She then went back to healing the half-cat's arms, saying nothing more to either of them.

Nate nodded solemnly, raising a hand. "I swear, I won't say a thing." He said, pushing out his thoughts about telling Forin about the scars. Might as well stick to his word, after all. It wasn't worth risking Seria's trust. Still, he should ask about the newer injuries. Forin might know something about that... "Do you require my assistance, or shall I go and carry Werr back here so he can calm Welk down?"

Seria shook her head slightly, continuing with her healing. "No." she said. "You can't help me." She looked up at Welk and watched him for a moment. The blonde half-cat was gently running his thumb across Cynyr's cheek, looking distant as he rested his head against his brother's forehead. Seria watched him for a moment, then turned to Nate and said "Yes, go get Werr. I think we need him." She then went back to working on Cynyr's arms, trying to repair them so he could actually use them again.

"Understood," Nate nodded. He ran back to where the others were, noting that Diana had passed out - probably due to stress - with Forin holding her, and Werr had been trying to climb up the riverbed wall again. Nate said nothing but hoisted the boy up, pulling Werr onto his back before breaking out in a quick jog. "Welk is probably going to have a breakdown or something," Nate said, making a mental note that Werr was rather light for a boy his age. Maybe he didn't eat enough.

"O-okay," Werr blinked, not sure what that meant. "I'll calm him down?"

"Yes, you will."

When they arrived, Werr slid off of Nate's back easily, stumbling over to where Welk was. "Hey..." He said quietly, touching his friend on his shoulder.

Welk flinched slightly when Werr touched him, lifted his head from Cynyr's and turned to face the boy. He didn't say anything for a moment, then gently put Cynyr down and moved away from him, pressing against Werr.

Seria took the opportunity to pull Cynyr closer to her, further from Welk, and set about using some different spells that she couldn't have used earlier because Welk was so close to the injured half-cat.

Welk glanced fearfully over at her when she pulled Cynyr away from him, then closed his eyes and pressed into Werr. "Werr...why did this happen...?" he sobbed quietly. His soaked blonde ears were flattened against his head. "What's wrong with him?" he asked. "He used to like me, and he was even starting to like you! Why does he hate us now? Why?"

"I...I don't know." Werr sighed, wrapping his arms around Welk comfortingly. "I...really don't know. I'm confused, too, just..." He hugged Welk tightly, not sure what else he could do to comfort the poor half-cat. He felt a little hurt too, personally; though mainly because Cynyr was being so brutal to Welk. Werr probably wouldn't have minded if Cynyr was so mean to him, but Welk...

A few minutes passed by in silence. Seria continued to heal Cynyr's arms, working diligently until she had healed as much damage as she could. When she was finished, she moved the pieces of her vest that she had put over the half-cat's arms and studied her work, making sure she hadn't missed anything that she wouldn't be able to repair later. The dark, twisted scars on Cynyr's arm hadn't changed in the slightest. It looked like they had been there for a long time...

Seria pulled a roll of bandage out of her bag and proceeded to thoroughly wrap up Cynyr's arms, putting on more than necessary in order to cover his scars as well. From the tops of his shoulder down to his wrists. When she got to his hands, she snipped off the regular roll of bandage and tied it, then got out a smaller roll and encased his hands in it, all the way down to the tip of each clawed finger. There was enough room in the bandages for him to be able to bend his arms and clench his hands into fists, but Seria wasn't sure if he would even be able to. The damage had been very bad and she was worried she might've missed something.

Welk watched quietly from the corner of his crimson eyes, one of his hands twined tightly into Werr's shirt.

"Do you need me to carry him back?" Nate asked. "Or should I carry Werr?"

"Y-you don't have to carry me," Werr objected. "I have Welk." He said, rather confident that his now-fire-mage friend would help him. Although really, Welk hadn't fully calmed down yet.

"At any rate...one or two of us are going to have to get the carriage and bring it to the riverbed. I don't think we'll be able to make the trip back as it stands, and we can't waste much more time just waiting around. We have too many enemies for that," Nate sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

Welk nodded slightly, sighing. He looked tired and drained, for once. His boundless energy had finally run out, but he was still willing to help his best friend out, though he didn't want to leave Cynyr at all.

Seria glanced up at Nate and said "I'll need you to carry Cynyr. You should be able to carry him easily, even if he was at his normal weight. He's always been thin, but this..." She sighed, reaching out hesitantly and brushing a small lock of the half-cat's black hair out of his face. She gently brushed the backs of her claws against his cheek, watching him. He didn't so much as twitch. She sighed, soft tears glistening in her eyes, then wiped her hand over his face, getting rid of the tears. She pulled Cynyr's limp form into her arms, not having to struggle to lift him as she prepared to give him to Nate. Cynyr was light, weighing not too much more than Werr, which was not good considering his age and height.

Nate took Cynyr gently, carrying him with ease back in the direction they had come. He was able to walk rather quickly, despite his having to walk Werr before. Cynyr was lighter than Werr had been, not surprisingly. Werr stood, wobbling dangerously to one side. He regained his balance though, then promptly fell on his rear again. "Ouch..."

Welk stood up as well, moving around putting his arms under Werr's arms to help him up. When he was standing, Welk pressed against his back to help him stay up, keeping one arm around the boy's hips to make sure he wouldn't fall to the side. His red eyes followed Nate closely, however. He closed his eyes for a moment and just pressed his head against Werr, quivering slightly.

Seria reached out a rubbed his back gently as she passed him, then turned into a cat and trotted forward, after Nate.

Werr wrapped his arm around Welk's shoulders, partially to comfort him and partially to keep himself steady. "It's okay...anyways, Nate, as you were saying...who is going to get the carriage?"

"I will, and hopefully I'll have someone with me," Nate said. "Not you. You need as much rest as you can get. I would take Luen or Forin, but I don't know if Forin would go with me, and Luen is in a worse position than you, Werr. And Seria needs to stay behind and keep an eye on him and now Cynyr too. Welk can stay with you, Werr, you probably need to stick together..."

Welk looked up at him and said "The gryphon. He can go with you. What was his name...? Ah, I don't remember, but I bet he could help you. He looks strong enough in gryphon form. I bet he could even carry you there. Then you would be faster." He sighed despondantly, flicking his soaked ears back.

Seria nodded in agreement, saying "He's likely the only option at the moment. Everyone else is either too exhausted or injured."

Nate nodded. "I'll ask him. It'll be better than going alone, I could be attacked." He sighed a bit. "At any rate, we should get back to the others." It was a few more minutes before they arrived back at the riverbed. Nate wasted no time in handing Cynyr back to Seria and walking over to where Jag and Lily were.

"Er...I know this is a lot to ask, but we need a carriage. We know where one is, but getting there would be a long trip on foot, and...well, to be honest, dangerous. We've seen our fair share of trouble..." Nate sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

Seria took Cynyr and immediately sat down with him, brushing his hair away from his face.

Jagat looked up at Nate suspiciously, listening to him speak, then said "So you're basically asking me for help, hm?" He looked down for a moment, thinking it over, then conferred with Lily for a minute. When he was finished, he gave her a kiss and stood up, saying "Fine. I'll take you where you need to go." He turned into a gryphon, holding his huge wings out to the sides, then turned his back towards Nate, inviting him on without saying anything.

Lily curled up next to the tree, watching Jag and Nate. The Draconian smiled and climbed on. "Thank you. Er...it's been awhile since I've flown or anything, forgive me if I act a bit excited." He actually seemed a bit nervous; the sky was the realm of dragons. Though the skies looked clear, if he was caught, they both would be killed. Nate forced himself to relax, knowing that it was improbable for there to be a dragon nest around here. There weren't any mountains anywhere in view, so...

Jag crouched for a moment, then lunged upwards into the sky, beating his feathery wings to gain altitude. He easily rose up, circling overhead for a moment, then turned in the direction Nate instructed him to go in. He swept higher, tilting his head downwards to study the ground below. He shook his head, fluffing out his feathers, then flicked his tail and craned his head back. "Hey!" he called. "Where are we heading?"