The Forgotten Zodiac

((-didn't forget-))

Welk sighed as Werr scratched him, then followed him up and climbed in the carriage, moving over near Cynyr. He carefully moved the unconscious half-cat around so he leaned back against the wall of the carriage, so there was room for the others, then wrapped his arms around Cynyr and stayed close to him, resting his head against his brother's chest.

Seria took to cat form, silently saying that she would run beside the carriage again. She was quick to figure out seating arrangments. She pushed Nate up and against the wall, like Welk had done with Cynyr, then motioned for Forin and Diana. Once they were in near the dragonian, she stuck Werr next to Welk and let Luen in. He stayed in wolf form, choosing to curl up at their feet. Normally, he would run by the carriage with Seria, but he was still suffering badly from losing so much blood.

Jag motioned for Lily to climb up onto the seat next to him at the front of the carriage. There was enough room for her to sit next to him if they sat close to each other. It helped that Jagat was naturally skinny.

Lily climbed up into the driver's seat with Jag, pressing close to him, smiling a bit. Airlia, in the meantime, flew up and sat on top of the carriage, quietly deeming herself the lookout. With that, they were off, heading back the way they came. With any luck, Gurushi would be incapable of doing any sort of attacking. Forin didn't seem to fidgety though, he was perfectly fine and absolutely silent still.

Jag handled the horses well, though it was his first time driving a carriage. He had seen other people do it before, but had never had the chance to try it. He found that it was fairly easy, at least in his opinion. He kept his crest feathers flat against his head so they wouldn't be whipped around from the wind. The little spot where he had plucked out a crest feather for Lily was finally starting to grow one back. It was just a tiny, fluffy little thing right now, but it would eventually grow out to be its normal size again.

The gryphon shook his head, then flicked the reins, guiding the horses in the right direction.

Time passed slowly. Night gradually turned to dawn, and with it came the sun, breaking through the murky clouds to cast light over the world once more. The dark clouds receded and gave way to light, after a long and eventful evening.

But the clouds had to go somewhere. And there they gathered, clustered over Storaph Palace like a swarm of locusts homing in for attack. Inside the throne room and curled under his usual curtain, sat Obelisk. He was moving pieces around on his new chessboard. The others that Jag had brought awhile ago were scattered around him. Obelisk was murmuring something incomprehensible, shifting piece after piece around. His pawns were clustered around the middle, black pieces warring against white in a silent mimic of the war as it currently stood. Of course, the other neighboring countries had already fallen. Alastor was the only one left.

King Regalo was cunning and his men were literally fearless. Obelisk was finding it hard to overcome it, but he knew exactly what to do. Of course, he was no fool, either. Assassination would get his cause absolutely nowhere. There was still the queen, and Alastor had a unique council that were ready to take over should the leading members of royalty fall. The problem was, they were hidden to the point where Obelisk would have to kill everyone within Alastor, without letting anyone escape, to be certain they were dead. Their names, locations, faces and ages were a total mystery. It was most troublesome, really...

Obelisk sighed and looked over his pieces again. One black bishop was standing off to the side of the board, obviously taken out. Several other pieces were off the board, mostly black. Most notably, the black queen was on the wrong side of the board, lying on its side. One of the black rooks had crossed the board, standing next to the king. Obelisk swept aside all of the pawns, focusing on the stronger pieces. Werr Grehi...Obelisk plucked up a white pawn and placed it on the board again. What a problem he could be, however pathetic he was. The human's research would only get him killed, but Obelisk hardly needed a pathetic wimp in his way. The problem was the people that Werr had gathered around him; the boy was practically a magnet for mages. Uninfected mages, to make matters worse. King Regalo had made the mistake of attempting to rally the remains of the mages within his country to fight at the borders. They had all been infected and killed long ago, but now it seemed there were still a handful of survivors. It was awfully annoying.

The Raptorix was hanging around them, and he had no idea where Nelu was, but he was certain that they both should have returned for reports by now. The Shapeshifter was dead, thus the bishop off the board, and Jag had obviously not returned. Gurushi had been badly injured at this point, and was returning to the palace. Obelisk was only guessing, but he figured that the Gryphon had either joined sides with Alastor, or was just hiding there.

All the more reason to kill them all off, then. Obelisk sighed once more, wondering when the slaves would return with breakfast. He was starving. Although really, at this point, he would much rather eat one of the slaves themselves instead of the slop they attempted to serve him. Obelisk stretched his massive arms, thinking how he had at least one thing to be grateful for. Among the mages that surrounded Werr Grehi, there was one that Obelisk was looking forward to seeing.

Cynyr...

"Hey! Hey! You're here!" a chipper voice called, and Relic threw the doors open. He closed them behind him and trotted into the room. He suddenly froze completely halfway through the room, casting his gaze around rapidly, then came forward the rest of the way. "Hi!" he said, stopping in front of the dark curtain that housed the creepy lord. "I'm here to report, Captain Bandage!" He stood on one leg, then the other, then back again, grinning up at Obelisk.

The doors banged open again, this time to emit Nelu Faolin, who was dragging Gurushi behind her by a rope around his neck. She clearly was in a bad mood, as always, as deemed by the way she was dragging the man in. "I," she said, dropping the rope once she was near the throne. "am also here to report."

Obelisk smiled his cruel little smile, picking up a few of his fallen pieces and placing them back on the board, including the black queen. "Welcome back, Raptorix. And Nelu, I would appreciate it if you didn't strangle Gurushi quite so much. He does feel pain, you know, and I'm sure that he would quite like to do to you what you have done to him, at this point. The main difference would be the fact that you would be dead."

Gurushi shifted, rolling onto his hands and knees. He jerked the rope out of Nelu's hand, letting out a sigh as his broken legs popped back into place. He stood, an entire sleeve falling away from his shirt, burnt through entirely. He took several steps and stopped in front of the curtain, kneeling there. He said nothing, and Obelisk said nothing; they needed no words to communicate.

"Very well then," Obelisk sighed after a few short moments, and Gurushi swept off to one side, off through a door. With that, he was gone. "Give me your reports, then. What is our prey up to?" He asked, curling his fingers around the white pawn that obviously represented the boy named Werr.

Nelu opened her mouth to reply, but Relic beat her to it. "Jag joined the enemies!" he said happily, waving his stiff tail from side to side. "Him and the servant girl, Lily, are running around with them now. They're sooooo a couple." He grinned widely, then sat down and starting scraping his clawed fingers across the floor.

Nelu growled at him, turning into her lean black wolf form, then moved forward and few steps and bowed low to Obelisk. "My lord." she said. "What the infidel says is true. Jagat took the servant girl Lily and fled the palace, and they are currently with the boy and his group. The summoned creature, Forin, nearly succumbed to Gurushi's powers, but was turned back around by my pitiful excuse for a brother, Luen. Luen almost died during this time span. A pity that he didn't. Also, something I think you'll love to hear." She raised herself up and smiled coyly. "The wind mage, Cynyr, is developing nicely, my lord." she said, her lips parting to reveal sharp fangs. "He already beginning to push away all of his friends. Soon, he will have no one left by his side."

"Interesting," Obelisk said thoughtfully. "Gurushi told me of his failure to overcome the creature of shadow. Forin is quite strong, for a minor titan of Tartarus." A moment of thought, and then, "Cynyr is pushing away from his friends? That's unfortunate, it's much too soon...no matter. We shall move forward our plans. What of Werr? In which direction is his little group heading next? I set forward plans to draw him to us, but I question if he'll actually follow through. Humans are predictable, but that one is sharper than some I've seen."

"They are heading for Liadaph, my lord." Nelu said. "They travel by carriage, so it shouldn't be too long before they arrive. What is your next plan, my lord?"

"The bandage plan!" Relic said.

"Silence, fool!" Nelu snapped at him.

"No." Relic said.

"What?" Nelu snarled.

"You heard me." the insane raptor said. "No."

Nelu growled darkly, her hackles raising. "You...!"

"The bandage plan!" Relic said again. "Right, Captain Bandage?" He looked up expectantly at Obelisk, wagging his tail slightly.

Nelu looked completely confused by now, glancing between the raptorix and the lord.

"All will be revealed in due time," Obelisk tutted. "Call it what you will, Raptorix. Nelu, the thing about making plans is the fact that if I told any single member what they were, it would be possible for them to be tortured for answers, and the plans would be completely ruined. I'm doing you a favor by refraining details from you. Just do what you're told, you shall see eventually..."

Nelu tilted her canine head slightly to the side, then nodded and said "Yes, my lord." She bent low before him, tucking one front leg up aganst her furry chest, then straightened and said "Do you require anything else, master?"

"I need a hug!" Relic suddenly screeched, lunging over and hugging the wolfling tightly.

"Let go!" Nelu shouted, stuggling to be let go of.

"No no no no no no no!" Relic said, holding tightly.

Nelu howled and plunged around, trying to make the raptor let go, only to be unsuccessful. She had to paused and pant for a moment, flicking her furry black tail from side to side, then snarled and nipped the raptorix's tail.

Relic chirped and pulled his tail away, frowning. "You don't want a hug?" he said, sounding hurt.

"No!" Nelu snarled. "I want nothing to do with you!"

Relic looked sad for two seconds, then let go and started counting floor tiles.

"Go argue somewhere else," Obelisk snorted. "I'm busy. At any rate, you two, I have a new assignment for you. Werr is leading his friends into Liadaph. I want you to go meet with a man named Nightlash there, before he arrives. After you've met with Nightlash, your mission is to capture Werr. He must be alone, he must be alive. Don't worry too much about witnesses; it would actually be better if you were seen, to be honest, but you don't have to be overly flashy about it. Understood?"

((For the sake of interation, it'll be those two and not Gurushi. Unless you object.))

((I have no objections.

Did we just reveal that Nightlash is 'with them'?))

"Yes, sir." Nelu said immediately. She really was the perfect servant.

"Whatever you say, boss man!" Relic said, saluting at the lord. He turned and raced out of the room, slamming the doors behind him.

Nelu growled and glared after him, snarling "If this mission goes badly, I'm going to kill that stupid raptor." She sighed angrily. "If only." she muttered, then bowed to Obelisk and turned, trotting out after Relic. When she got outside of the room and had shut the doors behind her, she glanced over to see Relic banging his head repeatedly against a wall. She ran over and sunk her sharp teeth into his tail and started dragging the insane creature down the hall. "Come on, idiot!" she growled around her mouthful of his tail.

"Where we goin'?" he asked, allowing her to drag him.

Nelu paused and facepalmed, then continued dragging him off to go suit up for their mission.

((Slightly. The readers just know that Relic and Nelu have to meet Nightlash, they have no idea so far. xD))

Obelisk smiled his little smile once more, ignoring the fact that no one was really around to see it. Things were moving splendidly, then. Now, as for Werr...Obelisk decided to start dipping into the memory banks of Heather and Darius Grehi. Of course, anyone who came under the influence of Dark Magic were inadvertently connected to him. After they were dead, their memories and knowledge were collected and dropped into Obelisk's mind; he ignored them, mostly, but this could prove useful. He needed to be able to predict Werr Grehi's movements and act accordingly. What better memories were there to have but those of his own parents?

When Jag pulled the horses to a stop, it was early in the morning. The sun was just starting to peek up over the tree-line, casting soft rays of morning sunlight around. The gryphon glanced around at where he had chose to stop, nodding slightly to himself. He had halted the carriage near a large, glistening lake. There were still no trees around except for one relatively tall one right near the water’s edge. Even then, the tree was sparse and had no leaves on it. The lake was the real relief. The water looked relatively clear and able to be drank.

Jag hopped down from the driver’s seat of the carriage and helped Lily down, then knocked on the door to the carriage. "C'mon people, up and at 'em." he called, erecting his crest feathers.

Forin opened the door, nearly hitting Jag in the face. He said nothing, looking unconcerned about what he almost did. He climbed out, holding out a hand to help Diana down. She took one look at his hand and climbed out on her own, leaving Forin to drop his hand back to his side. The mistress was angry with him still, and though Forin said nothing (and hadn't in awhile), he was angry too. Though really, they were both angry at none other than himself.

Jag glared at Forin, watching him and Diana interact, then shook his head and moved over to see if anyone else was getting out. Again, he was nearly hit in the face as Luen nudged the door open with his snout, still being in wolf form. The gryphon squawked and got out of the way, glaring hard at the wolfling as he jumped down. "Sorry." the white wolf said apologetically, then scurried over to the edge of the lake and crouched down to get a drink.

Jag rolled his eyes, then paid careful attention to the door as he neared it once more. "Anybody else?" he called, holding the door open.

Werr blinked at him and climbed to his feet, deciding that he needed to stretch a bit. Resting was great and all, but he really needed to get used to moving around again. He climbed out and did so, stretching his arms up before relaxing again, walking down to the lake to get a drink. Forin and Diana were there, though Diana was the one drinking. Forin was just watching patiently, though he still looked thoroughly annoyed. Werr couldn't help but wonder what was up with those two; he knew that Forin had hurt him too, but he wasn't too mad about it. Forin hadn't been in control of himself. Even though it had been absolutely terrifying...

Jag watched the boy move around, then quickly got out of the way as Welk barreled out. The young half-cat had kept to human form and had jumped down out of the carriage, immediately moving around to stretch and work kinks out of his body. He had been sitting down for far too long and was now extremely hyperactive, though he was still sad over Cynyr. He shook himself and ran past Werr, pausing to give the boy a quick hug, then bent down near the water and got a drink. It was only about two handfuls worth of a drink, but to Welk, it was enough. He got up and turned in quick circles, scanning around for something to do, then spotted the barren tree near the lake.

He grinned.

The half-cat ran over to the tree and started climbing it easily, hooking his arms over a branch and pulling himself up or standing on a branch to reach a higher one.

Seria, in cat form and lapping water at the edge of the lake, lifted her head to watch him as he climbed higher and higher. "Be careful!" she warned, frowning in the teenager's direction.

"Yeah, you don't want to hurt yourself," Werr called after him. "I think Seria's done enough for one day, really!" He frowned, then sighed to look at where they were. They had gone around the edge of the forest, and it was still visible in the distance. Farmlands were dotting the plains here and there again. The sun was rising steadily in the sky, reflecting off the water in a steady pattern. He felt at ease here, for the first time in awhile. His troubles were past him, and for the moment, he just wanted to let loose a little.

Werr pulled off his shoes and shirt, and without another thought, dove headfirst into the sparkling lake water. It was chilly at first, but it felt good after a couple seconds. He broke the surface of the water, grinning from ear to ear. He splashed at Seria. "Come on, jump in! It's been a long time since I've done something like this..."