The Forgotten Zodiac

Welk looked up at Nightlash through blurry eyes that were full of tears, then slowly mustered up the strength to say something very important to the duke.

"I...hate you..." he murmured, closing his eyes again weakly.

Seria stroked his head gently, brushing Nightlash's hand away from him, then looked up at the duke and said "He...doesn't really like you. He, um, says it a lot around us. Sorry." She gently brushed a strand of Welk's hair out of his face and said "Welk, I'm sorry to have to make you do this, but I need you to tell us everything that happened here. Tell us everything you possibly can."

Welk panted, quivering and letting out a choked sob, then started talking. "W-we...me and Werr...c-came here t-to...speak with Nightlash. T-the...the guard...he told us...to come in here, s-so...we did." He paused and gasped for air, straining to speak to them and breath correctly at the same time. "W-we were...locked in. By...by Nelu and t-the raptorix... N-Nelu said...t-they were here...for Werr. That their m-master...w-wanted to...see him. I..." He sobbed, barely able to speak anymore. "...I tried...t-tried to stop them. I tried..."

Seria held him as he cried softly.

"Nelu and the Raptorix?" Nightlash frowned in mild confusion, dismissing the 'dislike' matter. "From the fact that you know at least one name, you must know these people. Any idea where they would be taking Werr? Who's their 'master', exactly?" Nightlash thought a little more, trying to ignore the annoying headache that had arose after all of his thinking. How unusual...headaches were a rare occurance for him, but this was the fifteenth one this week. Nightlash shook it off, looking around again. "Guards...that doesn't make sense, I only keep five guards here at night, and they're all in the main hall, and one outside my room when I sleep. None of them watch the door, it's always locked tight at night..."

"Are you okay?" Airlia tilted her head a little at Nightlash. "Did I pull too much energy from you?"

"No, dear, that has little to do with it. A few things aren't matching up, that's all..."

Seria looked up at Nightlash and said "We've encountered those two several times. They're enemies to us, for sure. I've never heard them speak of a 'master' before, though." She shook Welk slightly, very gently. "Welk, can you remember anything else?" she asked.

He weakly opened his eyes, his body trying to pull him into unconsciousness. He opened his mouth to try and say something, then went limp.

Seria hugged him gently, touching her forehead to his for a moment, then looked back at Nightlash and spoke to him. "I highly suspect that this was planned, and intricately at that. We need to follow Nelu and Relic. Relic is the raptorix. Spy?" She glanced around for the little chimera, who was still on Jag's shoulders. "Do you think you can track Werr if we give you a scent to follow?" she asked.

"I can track anything, as long as I have a scent," Spy nodded quickly.

"I see...yes, I'm suspecting the same. Kidnapping is not an unintentional thing, in most cases. Definitely not in this one, as our victim was both injured and kidnapped." Nightlash said thoughtfully. "But how are you going to travel with Welk in this condition?"

"But...what about Nate and Luen? Luen is still badly hurt, and Nate is still recovering too. We can't just leave them, we could need their help," Airlia said, pouting a bit. "And we should tell Thelma what happened, shouldn't we? She seemed really worried about Werr, so..."

Seria sighed, then said "You're right, both of you. I just...worry for Werr's safety. But you're right. We need Welk to recover and we need Nate and Luen's help. We'll have to wait for them all to be back up at fighting strength. I just hope Werr can last that long." She picked up Welk, trying not to bump his legs too badly, which were still very tender from being broken so violently. He moaned nevertheless, as his legs moved when she picked him up. The pain was terrible, as Seria had been unable to heal them completely. The bones had been healed, but the muscle around the break points had been damaged. She wordlessly turned and started back to the inn, carrying Welk gently in her arms. When she stepped out of the room, she suddenly realized that Cynyr was still out here, having not moved the entire time since they had come in. "Cynyr...?" she said, wondering why he hadn't come in when they had first found Welk. She knew Cynyr cared about the younger blonde-haired half-cat. Why hadn't he come in to help comfort Welk?

Cynyr had been just standing there, not moving a lot and mostly just looking around. When Seria said his name, he didn't even seem to notice. "Cynyr." Seria said a little louder. He finally looked at her. "Oh." he said softly. "Right. That's me."

Seria gave him an odd look, then said "We're going back to the inn." She walked off with Welk, who let out another cry as his legs swung slightly with the movement. "I know, sweetie." she murmured to him, gently touching her forehead to his again. "I know..."

Jag pulled Spy off of his shoulders and held the little chimera out by the scruff of his neck, saying "You're off, snack. I gotta carry the girls." He dropped Spy and took gryphon form, then made Airlia give Lily some of his energy so she would wake up and be able to sit on his back properly. Once they were both seated, he turned to Nightlash and said "Are you going to come with us or not?"

"Sure," Nightlash shrugged, moving after the others. He did stop in front of the double doors, though. He pulled them open, said loudly, "I'm going on a trip. Don't concern yourselves about me. Prepare the fastest horses, all of them. Oh, and guard formation X, okay? No one comes in or out." The guards who had been hiding in the room quickly moved out, heading through a back door to carry out their orders. Nightlash turned and followed the others, whistling a low tune.

Back at the inn, something had obviously happened. Things appeared normal on the outside, but inside, next to the door, someone was tied up with a sack over their head. The outfit was obvious, as was the young girl eating soup nearby; it was Forin and Diana. Forin had attempted to break in from upstairs while Diana distrated Thelma outside, but he had been caught, obviously. Forin was tied up and gagged, while Diana was happily eating away. She was probably still mad at her summons.

((HA! -rofl-))

When Seria walked in with Welk still limp in her arms, she had to pause and blink a few times. "D...Diana?" she questioned, staring at the little girl. Her gaze shifted to Forin, though he couldn't exactly look back at her. She opened her mouth to say more, but Jag pushed past her and cut her off, bumping Welk's legs in the process. The poor half-cat cried out in pain, still crying weakly over losing Werr. Seria glared hard at Jag, who shrugged and said "Sorry." He let the girls off and took human form, then spotted Forin and smirked. He walked over and plucked the sack off of his head, saying "Well well well. Look who we have here. I thought you had left us." He snipped his claws through the gag, then said "I bet you haven't even seen Luen yet. He's had a terrible time without you both." He stalked off, taking Lily's hand and leading her over to the couch before Cynyr could take it over again. He flopped down and let her sit down near him, then snugged her close to his side.

"What happened? Did you find Werr?" Thelma questioned eagerly, but the sight of the blood on Welk led to the conclusion that either Werr was dead or they didn't find him.

Forin spat out the gag, promptly biting through the bindings around his hands, then untying the ones at his ankles. "I did leave," He growled, standing up. "But you all came here and Diana ordered that we come see you. We tracked you all here, but someone wouldn't let me explain and tied me up!" He snapped, glaring at Thelma. He forced himself to calm down, though, looking at the others. "You lot have had a fine time without me, it seems. You all look exhausted, and from the looks of him and this hag's," He gestured to Thelma, "Questions, something's happened to Werr, is that right?"

"Yes." Cynyr said quietly. "Werr's gone."

Seria frowned at him, then said "Werr's been captured by Nelu and Relic and they're taking him to their 'master'. We were going to go after them, but we realized that we needed Welk, Nate and Luen's help for that. Welk...I don't know how long I'll need to fix him up. Nate just needs to rest, and Luen..." She sighed deeply, then murmured, very softly, "I don't know about him." She carried Welk to his room and gently laid him down on the bed, then sat down in a chair nearby to try and regain some energy by sitting still.

Jag eyed Nightlash as the duke entered, then bent down and grabbed Spy by his scruff when the chimera ran past, holding him up. "Sit down already." he said. "You're giving me a headache." He set the chimera down on his right side, away from Lily, and started scratching the back of its neck, brushing his clawed fingers through his thick brown fur.

"Yessir!" Spy squeaked, holding as still as possible. His tail flicked around anyways, there was no stopping that. Nightlash sat down at one of the tables, looking around curiously. He smiled at Diana, who shyly looked down, but managed to smile a little in return. Forin waited for Diana to finish her soup before taking her by the hand and leading the way to where Luen and Nate were.

He knocked on the door, wondering if either of them were awake.

Luen weakly opened his eyes at the knock on the door. Nate was still asleep in the chair near the bed. Slowly, Luen pushed himself up, his arms shaking with the effort. He immediately gasped and pressed a hand against his head, whimpering. He had a headache and sleep hadn't helped him very much. He blurrily looked over at the door, his ragged white hair falling lightly in front of his eyes. "C-come in…" he called, though he wasn't very loud. His voice cracked painfully and he put a hand over his mouth, closing his eyes and lowering his head.

Forin pushed the door open. Diana ran in at once, looking horrified at Luen's condition. Forin didn't seem too surprised. He sat down on the edge of the bed while Diana grabbed Luen in a tight hug. "I'm sorry," She said quietly, sniffing a bit. "Forin is better now, so I ordered him to take me to you, and...I'm not going to leave again!"

Luen blinked in shock, not expecting her or Forin to be the ones at the door. He just sat there, wondering if he had gone insane from his haunted visions. When Diana hugged him, however, tears bloomed in his emerald eyes. He quickly hugged her in return, wrapping his arms tightly around her. He pressed his cheek down against her head, sighing deeply. A place that had felt empty inside of him filled as he reassured himself that two of the few good friends he had ever made in his entire life were with him again. He lifted his weary gaze up to Forin, just watching the creature of Tartarus. He was afraid to try and hug him or anything of the sort.

Forin rested a hand on Luen's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left, but I was afraid that I might hurt someone again if I didn't release my anger elsewhere." He sounded truly apologetic. "Are you okay? What happened to make you look like this? I know that Werr was captured, but...what happened to you and Nate?"

Luen bit his lip when Forin touched him, trying not to cry at what was brought up when the summoned creature asked about the wolfling and the dragonian. "N-Nate was captured by soldiers. We were...were alone at the time, waiting outside of the city because we were worried that Nate would be recognized too easily. I left to hunt and Nate was taken away by the soldiers. When I came back and realized what happened, I got so...angry. I had to rescue Nate alone. And I did. And I...k-killed..." He put a hand over his eyes, fighting back the wave of fear and guilt he felt at the memories. "...Nate was being tortured." he continued. "They had skinned his right hand from his palm to his index finger and had cut a word into his chest. I stopped them before they could hurt him any worse. I had some help from the little chimera, Spy, out there with the others. But I still...I can't...I just..." He trailed off, slowly lifting his hand from his eyes and carefully resting his hand over Forin's fingers, still on the wolfling's shoulder. "I'm terrified of my memories." he whispered. "I can't stand them. They haunt me, but I know that I have to live with them. I killed those men. I have to life with that shame."

"That's good," Forin said quietly.

"Forin!" Diana frowned at him. "Stop that! Why would you say something like that? It's not good, poor Luen..."

"Mistress, I'm not saying that it's a good thing for him to have killed," Forin shook his head. "It's good that he feels remorse. I have killed too many times for me to bother with remorse. It's not that I do not want to feel sad over those who I have killed, its that I cannot feel remorse. I am not sorry for my actions, when my actions are intentional. But Luen is not the same, and that's a good thing." He explained. "But you shouldn't feel ashamed. You should be sorry for your actions, yes, but shame is not the same as feeling bad about something. You should be ashamed if you had left Nate to die, but you didn't. You should be proud that you were able to save him. I understand that it sounds complicated, but death is never easy on anyone. At least...no one from this world."

Luen listened quietly, his ears flicked back against his head. He sighed, a sickly little sound, then said "I...I u-understand. I know. I know how I should feel, yet... I can't feel proud over this. I'll try to stop thinking about it...but..." He hugged Diana a little closer, his sadness threatening to spill over, then shifted and moved close to Forin. The wolfling rested his head against Forin's shoulder, moving the summoned creature's hand from his shoulder to his leg so he could continue to hold it. "Please..." he said quietly. "Don't leave me again. It hurt so badly, to have to let you both go... If not for Nate, I think I would've..." He stopped, not wanting to finish, and pressed a little more into Forin, keeping his other arm wrapped around sweet little Diana.

Forin remained still, though he did stiffen a bit at Luen's touch. He wasn't used to physical contact with others, after all. "I will not leave again. Diana's orders are absolute. Unless she is in direct danger, I'm not to take her away from you again." He smiled a bit. "I wouldn't even if she hadn't ordered that. She was horribly angry at me until I had to fend off a bear. Then she was a mess, insisting that we find you all." Forin pulled back his sleeve to reveal a nasty wound that had already started to scar over. "I'm fortunate that my blood rejects infections, I suppose, but this thing is going to make a crazy scar. I would have told Seria already, except she's busy tending to Welk."

"It isn't just Diana I missed." Luen said. "I missed you as well, creature of Tartarus." He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment as he listened to Forin speak, feeling the slight vibrations through the summoned creature's throat and chest as he spoke. When Forin mentioned the wound, the wolfling opened his eyes and lifted his head in order to see it. His gaze saddened at the sight of it and he carefully lifted his hand up, gently touching the tips of his claws to the skin around the wound. He wordlessly leaned away from Forin and dug a hand into his pocket, then pulled out a few little leaves. Retiu leaves, like what Welk had given Werr so long ago to heal a cut the boy had given himself while skinning a fish. Luen didn't say anything. He carefully lifted one of the leaves to his mouth, since his other hand was occupied, and carefully took the edge of the leaf in his sharp teeth and ripped it in two. It immediately started bleeding thick white sap, which Luen carefully lowered and placed on Forin's wound. "It won't heal it all the way." he said softly, ripping another leaf apart and putting more of the sap on Forin's arm. "But it'll help it to be a smaller scar."

Forin twitched when the sap was applied to his wound. He smiled a little. "Thank you," He said. "For this, and...thank you for missing me. I don't think I've ever been missed before...even after I hurt you like that, you still care. You're an unusual person, Luen, and I mean that in a good way."

Diana watched, smiling fully. Forin was definitely better now that he had disposed of his built-up anger, and Luen seemed to be feeling better, too. Diana jumped a little as Nate started snoring in his chair, still very much asleep.