The Forgotten Zodiac

Luen quivered sadly. He felt frail and weak to Nate, who was bigger and physically stronger. He didn't scream again. His energy and strength were both gone completely. He was limp against Nate, letting the dragonian hold him. Somewhere inside, he felt comforted by Nate's touch. Slowly, he started calming himself down, drawing comfort from the fact that he was safe and that Nate was here. Nate was alive. They were both safe. He trusted the dragonian. Nate said the wolfling wouldn't hurt anyone.

Luen cried softly, drifting off into unconsciousness, which seemed to him, at that moment, to be the last place he had left where he was safe from the dark memories that haunted him.

Nate waited until Luen was asleep. He laid the wolfling back on the bed, covering him with the blankets. Nate stood and stumbled over to the chair, plopping into it and promptly passing out. He had been exhausted too, but he had forced himself to keep going for Luen's sake.

Back out in the main living room of the inn, Welk was in cat form and rolling around on one of the carpets near Werr and Cynyr. He was enjoying the feel of the carpet against his fluffy blonde fur, loving the way it rubbed along his spine when he twisted back and forth.

Cynyr, still laying on the couch, watched him for a long moment before saying something. "Are you really that ridiculous?" he asked.

Welk paused for a moment and looked up at him, then said "Yes!" and promptly went back to rolling across the ground.

Cynyr put one of his thick paws over his face, muttering about how stupid his brother was, then said "Stop. You're giving me a headache from just watching."

Welk stuck his tongue out at the panther, then got up and shook himself. He trotted over to Werr and rubbed his head against the boy's knees, saying "What's up, buddy?"

Werr pulled himself out of his thoughts to look at Welk. "Er...I was thinking...with Seria here to take care of Nate and Luen...and I don't think Jag or Cynyr will want to go with us...we should just go see Nightlash now, before it gets too late tonight." His eyes trailed to the little Chimera named Spy. He had been talking to the creature earlier; apparently it remembered absolutely nothing from before he was imprisoned here in Liadaph. Werr wondered briefly if they should take the thing, but he forgot about the idea quickly as he looked back at Welk. "What do you think?"

Welk thought it over, then made a face. "But I hate Nightlash!" he moaned dramatically, flopping over onto his back on the floor. He thought for a moment longer, then groaned and got back up. He sighed, then said "You're right, though. I think it would be better for just the two of us to go instead of bringing everyone else. We'll be faster. What's the worst that can happen? He'll say we're boring and throw us out? Bah." He purred and jumped up on the couch near Werr, smiling. "Let's go!" he said, nuzzling Werr's shoulder with his pink cat nose.

Werr smiled and stood. Thelma cast a warning look at him, to which he shrugged at and turned towards the door. No one really noticed them leave, aside from Thelma. Before long, he and Welk were out the door, heading off to where Nightlash worked; the biggest house in the city, just north of the town square. Werr led the way there with complete confidence; the streets were dark and mostly deserted by now, too. Nightlash's offices were, as mentioned before, big. And guarded, at that. They were stopped at the entrance by a large man brandishing a spear.

"Stop!" He proclaimed. "State your business!"

"My name is Werr Grehi. I'm here to see Nightlash, obviously." He frowned. There was a bit of hesitation, but it was clear that they were expected, as the guard stepped back and opened the door for them.

"Second floor, first door on the left," He grunted.

Welk followed closely behind Werr in cat form, his fur bristling slightly. Something felt wrong. He wished they wouldn't have come, but it was too late now. He growled at the guard as they passed him, but other than that, kept quiet. He took human form once they were inside the building, shoving his hands into his pockets. The whole place had a dark air to it that only Welk's extraordinary cat senses could pick up. He didn't like it here. He pulled a hand out of his pocket and released a small flicker of flames, feeling them curl down his fingers and leap off the tips of his claws. He pushed his hand back into his pocket, a little reassured by the flames he had sparked.

The place was indeed dark; only a few torches here and there were lit, casting an eerie glow along the hallways. The place might look nicer and a little less creepy in the daytime, but that didn't seem to be the case at night. At all.

Werr looked around. The marble staircase was right near the entrance, so it was easy to find out where they were supposed to go. Werr wondered vaguely why they didn't go through the larger double doors that were at the center of the long hallway, but he thought about it for a moment and decided that it was a security matter. Any thief walking in here would go straight for the double doors. Nightlash, who probably worked late, also had no time to deal with bandits or thugs or anything of the sort. So, put a bunch of guards in the more obvious room, and let the earl work in peace in the next room over.

Werr shrugged inwardly and headed towards the door, pulling it open with ease. Nightlash wasn't there. The room was dark. Werr frowned, looking around. "This is left...first door, right?" Werr asked, feeling a little unsettled himself, by now. "Um...something isn't right here..."

Welk walked in behind Werr, pausing when he saw the room. He bit his bottom lip in nervousness, sensing that something wasn't right.

The door behind them slammed shut with a resounding thud.

Welk jumped, being high-strung, and nearly fell down. He quickly tried the handle of the door, only to find it locked. "W-what is going on here?!" he said, backing away from the door. A silky voice drifted out from the dark of the room. "You haven't figured it out yet, little cat?" Nelu said, stepping out of the shadows in wolf form. Her pitch black fur was more than intimidating in the darkness of the room. "You walked into a fairly easily set trap."

There was a cackle from the shadows on the other side of the room and Relic stepped out, his large eyes glowing slightly in the dim room. "I can't believe that worked!" he crowed, giggling.

Werr stumbled back, eyes wide. "Wh-what? Trap?" He stammered, stopping with his back pressed up against the wall. He cursed himself silently. He should have known...he swallowed hard, looking between Nelu and Relic, struggling to keep his voice steady. "What do you want?" He asked, managing to put a demanding tone into his voice, but his eyes were obviously pools of panic and fear.

"Isn't it obvious?" Nelu growled, stalking forward a few paces. "We're here for you, Werr Grehi. Our master wishes to...meet with you."

Relic laughed darkly, which ended in a resounding raptor call.

"Quiet, fool!" Nelu snapped. Luen's dark sister stalked forward, growling, but Welk suddenly lunged forward and sent a wave of fire out, using his powers to keep the flames burning. "Stay away from him!" he shouted, turning into a cat and leaping through the walls of fire he had created.

Nelu snarled and ran forward, meeting him head on. They collided, snarling, growling and yelping as they fought.

Werr's mind and heart raced. Meet me? He probably just wants me dead! He thought desperately. How to get away...he backed up towards the door, trying the handle for good measure. Definitely locked. There weren't any windows in this room, either. It was hot and already getting hard to breathe, what with Welk's fire sucking up all the oxygen. Werr moved back to the bookshelf in two strides, then did the only thing he could at this point. He started throwing books at Relic.

Relic watched him for a moment, then grabbed books out of the air and started flipping through them. "Read that." he said, tossing a book away. "Read that one too." Another book tossed behind him. "Read that. Read that. Read- oh! He's one I've never read before!" He tucked the said book into the bag around his waist, then walked over to Werr and stared at him. "You suck at fighting, don't you?" he said, grabbing both of the boy's wrists and digging his claws in slightly. Just enough to cause faint trickles of blood to start dripping down Werr's arms.

Welk suddenly yowled and all of the fire in the room shut off. Nelu had sunk her teeth into his right front leg, snapping the bone. Welk screeched and slammed his other paw into her, ripping through her fur and skin with his claws. She yelped and let go, backing off. Welk quickly took the chance and lunged forward, tackling her and flipping them both other. Nelu howled and kicked up at him, knocking him off of her.

Relic watched them for a moment, then looked back at Werr. "Maybe I should break your arm to match your friends?" he said, eyeing the boy's right arm thoughtfully.

Werr attempted feebly to pull away. It was true, he definitely sucked at fighting. He had thought that his mental capacity made up for that, but he was obviously wrong in this situation. He couldn't think of anything. And with the blood trickling from his wrists, his recently found fear of pain was kicking in again. He shook his head, trying to pull away again. "Stop it, let go!" He cried out, attempting to kick Relic in the knee in a worthless attempt to get the Raptorix off of himself.

"No." Relic said, shaking his head. "Sorry, but I can't do that. I've got orders from Captain Bandage!" He chuckled, then turned his head when Nelu shouted at him. "Relic!" she snapped, dodging a swipe from Welk. "You fight this crazy thing for a moment! I'll take the boy."

Relic nodded, then let go of Werr and lunged at Welk, pinning the half-cat to the ground under a clawed foot. Welk yipped and tried to free himself, but Relic was unmoved.

Nelu took human form and wasted no time in pulling several swords off of her weapon belt. She threw one sword before Werr could react, watching in satisfaction as the blade stabbed through the boy's shoulder and into the wall behind him. "Sad, isn't it?" she said, moving forward. "Unable to fight back, forced to watch as we kill your best friend? It might be sad to you..." She stabbed a different sword down into Werr's leg, then held another near his neck. "...but, unfortunately, it isn't for me." she finished. She pressed the blade up near his chin, running the tip of the sharp weapon along his jaw, then held it to his neck again.

Werr screamed as the blade sank through his shoulder. He gasped in pain, feeling blood run down his arm and chest in a thick flow. He couldn't move, the pain was driving stars into his vision. He raced through the possibilities mentally. All of them wound up with Welk dead and himself captured. Unless... "St-stop! Don't...I'll go with you..." He panted, shaking with pain. "I'll do anything, don't hurt him anymore!" He cried, closing his eyes tightly as though that would make them go away. "Please..." Werr begged, feeling tears slip from his closed eyes, but not caring one bit. "Don't..."

Welk cried out in terror upon hearing those words. "No, Werr! No!!" he shouting, then had to stop when Relic pressed a claw against his throat. "Are you always this loud?" the raptorix asked. "Interesting."

Nelu tilted her head and smiled, then ripped her swords from Werr's body and said "That's what I like to hear." She put away the swords, then tore off the shoulder of his shirt where his wound was. She pulled some bandaged out of her bag and wrapped them tightly around the wound, not using any of the caring tenderness that Seria possessed. The black wolfling then grabbed his arms and forced them behind his back, holding them with one hand as she used her other to start wrapping rope around the boy's wrists. Once he was firmly tied, she opened the door and said "Walk." She forced him out of the room, then looked back at Relic and said "Make certain that that one won't follow us." She tilted her head at Welk.

Relic saluted, then turned back to Welk as Nelu shut the door. "Before we go back to my master, someone else wants to see you first." she said, making Werr start walking.

A sharp scream shot through the air from the room behind them. Welk's pain-filled scream. "Ahh." Nelu sighed. "Music to my ears."

A few moments later, Relic bounded out of the room and closed it, grinning as he trotted after Nelu and Werr. "Done." he said, purring in his throat.

"Good." Nelu growled, then concentrated on making Werr walk.

((They goin' to see Nightlash naow.))

Werr didn't struggle until he heard Welk's scream. "What did you do with him?" He screeched, pulling uselessly against Nelu. His new wound in his leg caused him to stagger with every step as it was, getting away was impossible. Werr was filled with hope by the sound of footsteps. "Help!" He screamed, hoping for a guard, or anyone, really.

Nightlash rounded the corner and stopped in his tracks. Werr stopped. Something wasn't right. Nightlash didn't seemed at all surprised by any of this. The duke paused for a moment, his head tilted a bit one way. Nightlash sighed and spoke quietly. "Your master is pleased to see that you followed orders. He expects you back at the castle as quickly as possible. He's found out something important, and wishes no further harm be done to Werr. For the time being."

"Wha...y-you..." Werr stammered, then started pulling against Nelu again. "Traitor!" He screamed, finding no other thing he could do. Tears streamed down his face. Welk was likely dead, and he was probably going to this 'master' to be killed. With that thought, Werr went limp, thoroughly defeated. I'm sorry, Welk...he thought miserably. I'm sorry...

Nelu nodded, smiling at Nightlash. "As you wish, duke Nightlash." she said, sounding mocking. She forced Werr to walk again, heading out of the building. Once they were outside, Nelu shoved Werr into Relic and said "Carry him. We're leaving."

Relic nodded, then picked up Werr and held him with one arm under his knees and the other around his shoulders. He scraped one of the thick claws on his feet against the ground, and that was when Werr realized that it was covered in blood.

Welk's blood.

Then Nelu took wolf form and was leading them away as fast as possible.

Werr passed out at this point. It was all too much. He had made the stupidest mistake of his life, which would probably be ending soon. And Welk had paid for it as much as he was going to.

((We skip back to the others? o3o I hope you realize that I put Spy in there for a reason. He's 'good at finding things'. :3))