The Forgotten Zodiac

((Yep. Already thought of that.))

It was a while before anyone noticed that Werr and Welk were missing.

Seria noticed it first. She was sitting next to Airlia on the couch, brushing the girl's hair. Cynyr was on the other end, curled up in panther form, sleeping. Airlia had pulled his tail into her lap and was stroking his thick black fur.

"Has anybody seen Werr or Welk?" Seria asked, pausing from her brushing of Airlia's hair.

"Yes, actually." Jag said, looking up at her. He was still laying on the ground in gryphon form with Lily, who had been gently rubbing the feathers on his head and neck. He had turned his head away from her and focused on Seria. "They both left a while ago." he said. "Together, of course. I've never really seen one without the other. They've not been back since."

Seria frowned, then said "We should probably go see what they're up to." She stood up from the couch and moved towards the door, then stopped and sighed. "I don't know where to look." she said, shaking her head. "I have no idea where they could've gone."

((They lost Cynyr to the dark magic. ono ))

(( Awww. D: Poor Cynyr. ))

"Wasn't Werr here to see someone?" Airlia asked, frowning a bit. "Should we ask Nate where the Nightlash guy lives? Nate knows a lot, doesn't he?" She glanced at Seria over her shoulder.

"Where? I know where!" Spy proclaimed loudly. Thelma, the large woman who ran this odd inn, had been petting him. "If I have a scent, I know exactly where."

"Now wait, what's going on?" Thelma asked, frowning. "Did you say Werr is missing?"

"I'm not sure." Seria said. "All we know is that he and Welk left and they haven't come back yet. I think we should go out and find them. We'll leave Nate and Luen here; trust me, we shouldn't bother them. We'll come back, anyways." She went around and gathered up their bags, then poked Cynyr awake. "Wake up." she said. "We're going to find Welk and Werr."

He shifted a little and opened his eyes, but didn't say anything. He slowly lifted his head and glanced around, then slowly took human form and slid off of the couch. He stood up, still slowly, as if he weren't used to standing. He closed his eyes for a long moment, then opened them and just waited to get moving.

Seria eyed him, but didn't think anything of it. She handed him his bag without a word and tossed Jag's to him. The gryphon caught it easily in his mouth. Seria then picked up Welk's bag and squatted down, holding the bag out towards Spy. "Here." she said. "This is Welk's bag. His scent is all over it. You should surely be able to track him down with this. Werr shouldn't be far from him, so if we find Welk, we'll find Werr too."

Spy perked his ears up, sniffing the bag eagerly. "You'd better find him!" Thelma looked very concerned, which was a bit strange, but there was no time to think about it.

"Ohh, I can smell him!" Spy nodded, dropping the bag. "He's this way, he left here recently, his trail is still fresh..." He ran around in circles in front of the door, being unable to open it on his own. "Come on, he went this way! I'll lead the way, I can find him!" He chirped excitedly, glad to be doing something helpful for these people that had saved him.

"What about Nate and Luen?" Airlia asked, frowning.

"I'll keep an eye on things here," Thelma waved them off. "I can put up a fight if I need to. Now go, find Werr!"

"Okay." Seria said, nodding, then opened the door and headed out. Cynyr was out next, followed by Jag, Lily and Airlia. Seria bent down and stroked Spy's head once, then said "Okay Spy, follow Welk's scent." She turned into a cat and prepared to follow him.

Jag stayed in gryphon form and let Lily and Airlia both climb on his back, with Airlia in front because she was smaller. He trotted along after Spy, following the little chimera.

Spy was quick to get a move on, his face close to the ground and his eyes shut as he followed the scent eagerly. Before long, they were crossing through the town square and drawing up on Nightlash's manor. He stopped, ears perked and fur bristling. "There is a lot of blood coming from this Welk person," He announced, stopping in front of the door. There were no guards, not that anyone here would know any different. "And I do not exaggerate, there's a loooooot of blood."

"What?!" Seria said, startled. She quickly ran inside, calling for Welk. There was no answer. Jag followed, pushing past Cynyr, who just moved to the side to avoid being touched. "This way." he said, following the scent of blood to the room the attack had happened in.

Seria quickly took human form and opened the door, only to gasp in horror.

Welk was laying motionless on the floor, blood leaking from a gaping wound in his chest and from two terrible breaks in both of his legs. His skin was terribly pale and from the looks of the blood pooled around him, he had been there for a while.

Seria ran forward and scooped him up into her arms, already clamping hands over his chest. "He's still alive!" she said, then called for Airlia and Lily. "Lily, I'm sorry to do this to you, but I need to take your energy. I don't have enough at all right now." She snapped her gaze around to Jag and Spy, saying "Both of you search this entire building for Werr! Look everywhere for him!"

Jag nodded, then bent his head down and yanked Spy up by the scruff of his furry neck, saying "Let's go, snack." He galloped out of the room with the chimera in tow, disappearing around the corner.

Lily just nodded. Airlia quickly got herself ready, then started sapping off Lily's energy and feeding it to Seria. She quickly discovered that Lily didn't have much energy at all; either she hadn't been eating right lately, or she was just tired after everything that had happened. Airlia soon found herself pumping more and more of her own energy into Lily's to compensate.

Werr was, of course, nowhere to be found. But not far from the room where Welk had fallen lay an unconscious Nightlash, a bit of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth from a gash that was on his lower lip. It looked like he had been attacked, though obviously not as severely as Welk had been.

Jag set Spy down and took human form to start opening doors. When he got to the one with Nightlash and opened it, he blinked and ran forward to him. "Hey. Hey!" he said, bending down and shaking the man. "Jeez..." The gryphon slipped an arm under Nightlash's shoulders, sitting him up and holding him carefully. "Wake up!" Jag said, shaking him again. The gryphon used his free hand to rip part of his shirt off and cautiously wiped the blood from the duke's face.

Nightlash jerked awake, blinking in surprise at Jag. "Oh, a Gryphon." He coughed a bit, stumbling to his feet. "How did you...n-never mind, what happened?" He looked around, seemingly confused. "I was just...hm..." He scratched the back of his neck and shrugged, looking at Jag. "Thanks for waking me up. Do you know about anything that's going on right now?" He asked quizzically, though obviously a little wary, as though he suspected Jag might have been the one to knock him out in the first place.

Jag stared at him distrustfully, then said "Actually, I was going to ask you that." He backed up, fanning his large wings open a bit incase he had to jump away. "We're looking for a boy." he said. "Black hair, kinda wimpy and little on the skinny side, black eyes. Name's Werr Grehi. We know he was here because his best friend is pretty much dead in the other room. Know anything about that?" He narrowed his blue eyes at Nightlash, not trusting the duke.

"What? Werr Grehi?" Nate blinked. "I know him, but what of his friend? Welk, right?" He looked confused still, thinking. "I don't know. I know that I contacted Werr by letter a couple days ago, and I've been keeping an eye on his movements, but I was concerned for the lad. His kind of research can only get him in trouble." He waved his hand as though dismissing the subject. "But what do you mean, his friend is 'pretty much dead' in the other room? What happened?" He asked, but pushed past Jag and looked around for a few minutes before deciding on where the sounds were coming from. He followed them to the room that Seria and Welk were in.

Nightlash glanced over Welk and Seria, turning to the damage to the room. He looked at the scattered books, at the scuffs on the rug, at the blood marks on the wall that weren't like the splatter marks near Welk...after only a few minutes, Nate backed out of the room, pacing in the hallway, looking troubled and concerned.

Jag followed him, still glaring. He didn't trust Nightlash, as made obvious. "Was that enough to show you what I meant?" he growled. "Two people came here to talk to you. One's there, dying in your office, and the other is missing. Where's Werr? Can you honestly look me in the eyes and tell me you don't know where Werr Grehi is? You were just laying unconscious in the other room! Who did that to you?!" The gryphon's temper was quickly threatening to erupt. "What happened here?!" he snarled, lowering his crest feathers defensively.

Nightlash stepped closer and grabbed Jag by the beak, jerking the Gryphon's head down to his eye level. He looked Jag straight in the eye and said, "I do not know where Werr Grehi is. All I know is that I was knocked unconscious by something, and I woke up to you. Now stop being so irritating, you're giving me a headache." He released Jag and patted him on the head, smiling a bit in light of the situation. "Would you like to hear what I've concluded so far, or are you just going to stay grumpy?"

Jag was startled by the sudden movement, so he didn't react at first, even after Nightlash let go of him. He blinked himself out of his shock and growled, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "Don't ever do that again." he snarled. "Or I'll bite your fingers off." He fumed for a moment, then bent down and picked up Spy, holding the little creature carefully in his arms. He seemed to be worried that the chimera would run off or something. "Fine." he said, letting Spy crawl up onto his shoulders. "What have you figured out this far? And I'm not grumpy!"

"Fair enough," Nightlash shrugged. "Grumpy is as grumpy does." He turned and started pacing again. "So, while I was knocked out, it's safe to say that the same person - maybe more than one - went after Welk and Werr. Their target had to be Werr. Welk got in the way." He turned to the wall and touched his hands at two spots on it, matching the blood streaks on the other side of the wall. "Werr, in all likelyhood, was pinned to the wall by a blade or knife through his shoulder, and was stabbed again in the leg. There are a few drops on the ground a little forward, probably just a couple scratches. The scattered books indicate that he attempted to defend himself by throwing them at his attackers, but I can't put together why the room seems burnt...regardless of that, Werr was then turned around, smearing his blood on the wall more here..." Naightlash moved one hand over to the side. "He was probably tied up and taken away from there. As for Welk, he was probably injured during or after. The footprints on the rug and blood marks outside suggest that there were two attackers, though there could be more. Obviously, Welk had to be held back by someone. I doubt he's the type to stand back and watch his best friend be wounded and captured.

"In short, we have most likely two attackers. Werr is injured and captive. If we're going to get any more information, we need Welk..." Nightlash trailed off, moving into the room near Seria and the others. He was silent for a long moment, wondering what he should ask. "Will he live?" He decided to inquire quietly. He was a bit surprised when Airlia released a tired-looking Lily and grabbed his hand. He didn't argue, but he could feel his energy being sapped.

"Sorry, sir," Airlia mumbled, looking ashamed of herself. "But Lily was running really low, I couldn't take any more without hurting her."

"No worries," Nightlash chuckled, though he was still waiting for an answer to his question.

Seria was panting, but that soon stopped as Airlia gave her Nightlash's energy. Nightlash had much more energy than Lily, and Seria absorbed it all, using it to cast some of her stronger spells. She concentrated on the wound in his chest, which looked like someone had ripped a blade repeatedly through his skin. The wound closed, leaving a thin vertical scar behind right in the center of the half-cat's chest. Then she got to work on his broken legs. She hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Nightlash and said "I don't know. He was here for a while with that open wound bleeding out. We can only hope we got here in time." She sighed, then got to work realigning Welk's bones so she could heal them properly.

Lily leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. She looked a bit unhappy, but she passed out quickly, unconsciousness sucking her in. Airlia worked steadily, though she looked like she was wearing down as well.

"Well...hope for the best, plan for the worst," Nightlash sighed, looking around for more clues. Within a few more minutes of looking, he realized that one of his books was missing. Yes, it had been a novel that he himself had written awhile ago. A few books on the floor were charred, as well as some on the bookshelves, but there weren't really areas with piles of ashes, so it was safe to assume that none of them had really gone up in flames...

Who would kidnap someone and steal a book?

After a few more minutes, Welk started to stir. At first it was just twitches of his fingers or flickers of his eyelids, but it steadily grew stronger. Seria continued to work on his legs, healing them to a point where he could walk if he needed to, then flinched when Welk suddenly cried out and tried frantically to sit up. "Welk! Welk!" the healer called, giving him a shake to make him lay still. "Stop! It's okay. It's just me. Nobody is going to hurt you."

Welk panted for a moment, slowly focusing his vision, then rasped "W...Werr...!"

Seria, finished with his legs, hugged him close, saying "I'm sorry, Welk. We don't know where he is. We need you to tell us what happened."

Welk's eyes widened in horror, but he didn't have the strength to do anything. He closed his eyes, feeling tears seep out from under his lids.

"Welk," Nightlash said, resting a hand on the boy's head. "I understand that your experience is most likely traumatic and frightening, but I need to know exactly what happened now. While it's still fresh. Tell us everything you can."