The Forgotten Zodiac

Nate looked around for a moment, then shouted over the wind, "Due northwest! There's an abandoned farm, we left the horses and carriage there!" He looked around again, this time above and around them; the skies were clear. Nate sighed with relief, and when he relaxed, he felt a rush of joy; he was part dragon, of course. Dragons were meant to fly, but he hadn't been flying since his wings were torn off. He had longed to fly again, somehow, but he had eventually forgotten about the breeze through his hair, the sting of the wind on his skin, the rush of wind past his ears. Nate immediately grinned, though it was deterred by the thought that he would never fly on his own again.

Jag tilted his head down, glancing back at Nate and seeing the look on his face. The gryphon opened his black beak very slightly, then clicked it shut and turned his head forward, now with something else in mind other than just finding the carriage. He flew upwards, sailing up into the clouds, then craned his head back at Nate and said "Hold on."

In the next second, he had snapped his wings shut, closing them completely.

He dropped like a rock, tilting his entire body downwards into a steep nosedive. He folded his front paws against his chest, gaining in speed until the air was whistling past their ears.

Nate was practically urging Jag on, leaning close against the gryphon. He clung to Jag tightly, still a little afraid of falling off, but he was far too happy to care right now. They spotted the treeline in seconds again, and Nate looked around for the carriage.

By some stroke of luck, Nate caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. "Turn! TURN!" He screeched at Jag, leaning to the left to help Jag perform the sharp curve he was insisting be performed. Shooting towards them was a long, black tendril of shadow. Its end was sharpened with the intent to kill. At the other end stood Gurushi, other tendrils supporting him and keeping him in the air. They closely resembled the ones that had afflicted Werr's mother, but with one key difference; Gurushi seemed to be in control of these.

Jagat squawked and twisted sharply, flinging his wings out and using the sudden halt in momentum to turn to the side, nearly toppling Nate off as well. The gryphon managed to give a double flap and use his left wing to push Nate back onto his back, then had to flap rapidly in order to go higher. He pushed himself, moving his legs as if he were running to help gain speed. He swerved to the side again to avoid getting hit with another tendril. The tendril just managed to nick the edge of his wing, but it only got a few feathers and no actual skin.

((I remember that it IS night, as well as raining. :T))

Nate swore. "It's that freak again!

"Yes, it's me. Traitor," Gurushi's disembodied voice sounded more ragged than usual. For that matter, he looked ragged. His clothes looked burned, the skin through the gaps appearing bright red and smoking black vapor of some kind. "The master will hear of this, fool." He attacked with more tendrils, with more fervor than before. "If I don't kill you first!"

Jag squawked and shouted "Hold on!" He reared up in the air, then threw his body forward, arching sideways. He twisted into a single barrelroll, dodging the tendrils, swerving and arching from side-to-side as he attempted to get away from their crazed attacker. He curled into a nosedive again, now to gain speed. He curved up at the last second and rocketed off, racing across the sky.

Gurushi narrowed his eyes at this, knowing he would be incapable of following, unless he were to grow wings.

So, Gurushi grew wings.

The tendrils twisted, melding with Gurushi's back and themselves, shrinking and growing and spreading to appropriate sizes and shapes. In a matter of a heartbeat, he had massive black wings, and two tendrils to spare. He took off after Jag with breakneck speeds, his eyes locked on his target. The tendrils he had left swept in front of Jag, attacking in an X pattern.

Jagat squealed in a high-pitched tone, curving sharply to avoid getting hit by the X of tendrils. "We could use some fire, please!" he shrieked at Nate, barely dodging another blast. His strength was starting to wain as he continually twisted and turned, trying hard to not get hit by any of the tendrils. "I can't do this much longer and I really don't want to die right now!" he shouted.

"Working on it!" Nate shouted in return. He had been working on it. He hadn't attempted to blow fire in awhile, so he had to warm up the internal organs that worked to create said flames. He should have done it earlier, but it took a bit of concentration. It only took a couple more heartbeats before he was ready. He flipped himself around, still clinging to Jag, blasting a heavy stream of fire at Gurushi. He didn't expect it to work much, so he wasn't too surprised to see the dark-magic-thing fly right into his blast. He was a bit surprised to see that the tendrils were taking damage, though; they were crumbling with his flames, which was a good thing indeed.

But Nate had been too slow. Gurushi reached him before gravity took hold, and Nate felt something unusual hit him. Had Gurushi punched him or something? Nate didn't get a chance to ask (nor did he want to) before Gurushi was falling, plunging back into the treeline. Nate quite sincerely hoped that the fall would shatter every bone in the freak's body. In watching Gurushi fall, Nate realized something a bit serious; he was falling too. He also was finding it hard to pull together the breath to scream. With a twinge of horror, Nate realized something. He hadn't been punched. He had been stabbed. There it was, sticking out of his chest; a silver needle.

It was a short needle, but it probably had held a poison of some kind. Nate just knew that he had been unable to hold onto Jag any longer, and now was falling and would likely die if Jag didn't catch him.

Jag twisted around when he felt Nate's weight leave his back. He beat his wings rapidly for a moment, hovering, then slammed his wings closed and plunged down after the dragonian. He was faster in the air and quickly neared Nate, snagging the young man's shirt in his beak. He latched onto him with his paws as well, wrapping his furry blue legs around the dragonian's waist. He beat his wings furiously, quickly stopping their desent. He glanced around, making sure Gurushi wasn't going to attack again, then spotted the carriage below. Apparently, they had flown further than he thought. He quickly flew downwards and turned into a human when he reached the ground, hovering to a halt. He ran over and put Nate in the carriage, then reached in a plucked the needle out of his chest. The twenty-year-old then turned and ran to the horses, which were still in the corral. He got them out and attached them to the carriage, then quickly climbed up into the driver's seat and flicked the reins, urging the horses into a gallop.

Hopefully, Nate would survive until they got back to the others.

Nate was still conscious, watching everything with a new and strange inability to speak or move. He felt strange; as though he were floating on nothing, his breath coming in short gasps that he struggled to draw in. Then the pain started settling in on his chest; it hit him like a tidal wave, only instead of water, it was sheer agony. His sight went red, and a scream welled up within him, but he couldn't release it. Unseen by him, black was spreading through his veins from the small wound the needle had created, turning the skin around it to the color of the night sky.

Jag glanced back for a moment, then shook his head, keeping his crest feathers flat against his head. It took a few minutes for him to reach the others, and when he did, he brought the horses to a screeching halt.

Down below, Luen and Seria glanced up, wondering what was wrong and why the gryphon had been going so fast.

Jag jumped down, landing easily on his lanky legs, then trotted around to the carriage door and threw it open. "Seria!" he called over his shoulder, carefully pulling Nate out of the carriage. "Nate's been poisoned!"

Seria quickly turned into a cat and bounded up the side of the slope, running over to see what was wrong.

Nate was completely limp, though his mouth was twitching every few seconds. His eyes stared blankly ahead, as he was incapable of moving them. He was desperately attempting to scream, to release some of his pain that had engulfed him, but the most he could get out was a small moan before he had to heave in another breath.

"What happened?" Werr asked no one in particular, looking up at the carriage.

"We got attacked by that monster again." Jag said, flapping his huge wings and flying Nate down to their campsite, Seria following easily. The blue-jay gryphon landed, carefully laying Nate on the ground and backing up where Seria could reach him. The female half-cat hurried over and knelt down near Nate, noticing the way his body was locking up. She instantly knew what was wrong and set about working with her claws. She pressed one of her sharp claws to Nate's chest and carefully opened up a slash, then did the same thing on each of his arms and legs. His blood ran black for the first few initial seconds, then slowly turned red. Seria started moving her hands down one of Nate's arms, forcing the poison out through the cut she had made in his arm. Then she turned to his other arm and did the same, following suit with both of his legs and the rest of his body. She was still weakened from all of the healings she had previously done, so her arms started shaking hard within a minute of working. She got most of the poison out, so Nate wouldn't be killed, but he would definitely be very sick. Seria carefully placed her hands on Nate's chest, unlocking his muscles as carefully as she could.

"We got attacked by that monster again." Jag said, flapping his huge wings and flying Nate down to their campsite, Seria following easily. The blue-jay gryphon landed, carefully laying Nate on the ground and backing up where Seria could reach him. The female half-cat hurried over and knelt down near Nate, noticing the way his body was locking up. She instantly knew what was wrong and set about working with her claws. She pressed one of her sharp claws to Nate's chest and carefully opened up a slash, then did the same thing on each of his arms and legs. His blood ran black for the first few initial seconds, then slowly turned red. Seria started moving her hands down one of Nate's arms, forcing the poison out through the cut she had made in his arm. Then she turned to his other arm and did the same, following suit with both of his legs and the rest of his body. She was still weakened from all of the healings she had previously done, so her arms started shaking hard within a minute of working. She got most of the poison out, so Nate wouldn't be killed, but he would definitely be very sick. Seria carefully placed her hands on Nate's chest, unlocking his muscles as carefully as she could.

Nate's muscles relaxed and tightened erratically, until at last Seria unlocked his lungs and jaw. Then Nate arched his back, dug his claws into the ground and let out an earsplitting screech that sent a flock of crows scattering into the night sky. After a few horribly long moments of that, he gasped for air again and let out another cry of sheer agony, though this one sounded a little more like a miserable wail of pain. Seria had only removed the poison, and though it was wearing off quickly, the pain had remained for a period of time.

When at last Nate's wails and screams stopped, he slumped back into a twitching, moaning and limp dragonian. Tears streamed down his face, but he made no motion to stop it.

Seria had jumped back when he had screamed and just about everyone else had reacted in some way. Jagat's crest of feathers sprung up, erecting and generally looking ruffled.

Welk glanced up for only a moment from where he was leaning against Werr, then slumped again. He was obsessed with staying as close to Cynyr as possible, who was still deeply unconscious.

Luen actually half morphed into a wolf out of fear, for a split second looking like a freakish mix of a human and a white wolf, then reverting back to normal.

Seria flicked her tail a few times, then moved forward and returned to Nate's side. She healed the cuts she had made, then gently bent down and pressed her forehead softly against his. "It's okay." she murmured, flicking her ears back. The fluffy tufts of red fur that tipped her ears brush against his face. "You'll feel better soon." she said quietly, resting one of her hands on his chest.

Nate took her hand and closed his eyes, murmuring something incomprehensible to those not close enough. But Seria's sharp ears were able to pick up what he was saying. "We need to get on the move...the monster is still...out there..." Nate shuddered before falling still and silent again, clinging to consciousness desperately.

"Such screams can only come from the lungs of one in true agony, in spite of themselves," Forin said quietly. He hadn't even jumped at the scream. Things such as that were usually what brought him to this world, anyways. He had heard plenty before. Diana, however, had been woken up by it and was crying silently, frightened.

"Good grief...are you sure he'll be alright?" Werr asked. Of course, he had jumped about a foot.

Seria nodded slightly against Nate's forehead, then carefully leaned back, still holding his hand, and said "He'll be fine. At the most, he'll probably be very, very sick. Of course, I couldn't remove all of the poison from his system. The traces left will not kill him, but he'll definitely be weakened for a few days." She gently touched her hand to his chest, then lifted her gaze from him and said "We need to move out. We have the carriage. Let's go."

Jag nodded, then moved forward and picked Nate up. The lanky gryphon moved over towards the carriage and put the dragonian inside, then spread his wings and flew down to where Welk and Werr were sitting. He glanced at Welk, who watched him suspiciously, then bent down and picked up poor Cynyr. Welk immediately struggled to get up fast enough to follow the gryphon, not wanting to be separated from his brother.

Jag shook his head, then reached out with a wing and pushed Welk over against Werr, saying "Hold your horses, cat. Your precious panther isn't going anywhere far." He flew up to the carriage, carefully setting Cynyr inside, then trotted over to the driver's seat and hopped up.

Welk glared hard at him, but ultimately stayed near Werr, sighing and turning so he could press his cheek against the boy's shoulder.

((Don't forget, the carriage doesn't have very much room.))

Werr scratched Welk behind the ears, frowning a bit. "It's okay. Let's go get in the carriage, we do need to get on the move..." He stood, feeling a bit better since he had rested more. He was able to take a few steps without wobbling, smiling a bit in satisfaction. At least he was getting better.

Forin followed, Diana helping Luen over to the carriage.