The Forgotten Zodiac

Luen just held her close and pressed the top of her head against his neck, comforting her as best as he could. He let her hold onto his shirt, not even dreaming of making her let go. "Okay," he murmured. "We'll finish our business here and leave. Werr, go talk to the queen about getting her magician whatevers to repair Cici now or I'll go make her do it." He sounded completely serious when he said it, though it was hard to picture the timid wolfling standing up to the queen like that. He moved one hand out and brushed Forin's hair out of his eyes, shifting and moving around so that he could pull Forin against him, hugging the Tartaran close with his free arm, the one that wasn't holding Diana. Keeping Diana's head against his neck, he leaned forward and pressed his cheek to the top of Forin's head, murmuring gentle things to the both of them, rubbing Forin's shoulder gently.

In that moment, he became a comforting older brother to them both, it seemed.

Werr nodded, climbing onto Welk's back again. He couldn't help but ask, though, "We're just going to leave without getting to the bottom of this?"

"Yes," Diana moaned her response. She reached out and pulled Forin's hand closer to her, holding that with one hand and Luen's shirt in the other.

Another long moment, and Forin opened his eyes halfway. "Dia...na..." He wheezed, his eyes falling on his mistress. She was still covered in blood, though she was no longer bleeding. She was still trembling and she wore a blank sort of expression that was similar to the one she had worn after Obelisk had forced her to relive the killing of her parents. Her fragile little mind was traumatized, and it showed.

Luen's snowy ears show up at Forin's voice and he immediately said "Don't worry. She's okay." He rubbed Forin's shoulder gently, trailing his cold fingers against the Tartaran's neck. "What happened?" he asked. "Diana won't tell me who did this to the both of you." He growled. "If I find out who did it..." He stopped himself and just buried his head against Forin's again.

Welk frowned, his ears tilted back, then the lion turned and bounded into the castle, heading for the throne room, Cynyr following dutifully behind them.

"Don't..." Forin murmured. "She'll...sh-she'll kill you. An-and she'll kill us if we...if we don't leave now..."

"P-please, Luen, just take us to Tartarus..." Diana sniffled. "Forin will get better. We'll be safe. We don't have to wait on the others..." It was certainly true; they would be much safer in Tartarus than they were here. Not alone, certainly, but so long as they had Forin, they would be fine. Forin was well known on Tartarus, being a good deal stronger than most others, as well as constantly being summoned. Some were jealous, most were respectful, though few did want him dead. Not that they would dare try anything.

Once they were in the throne room, Werr slid off of Welk's back. "Your majesty, something quite serious has happened. I'm afraid we may have to leave, unfortunately...we respectfully request that Cici be placed in her natural form as soon as possible."

Galai looked up from where she was talking with a wiry older Amnairian, her expression a bit startled. She fanned her six wings and nodded, not bothering to ask what was wrong. She could sense it after only a moment of gently scanning Werr's mind. She turned to the Amnairian next to her and said "Prepare the other magicians at once. They are not allowed to delay in the slightest. Someone find Bala; the head guard should know what happened here."

The older woman next to her nodded her head, then clasped her hands and started chanting. A moment later, six more magicians appeared in the room. Galai explained everything they were supposed to do and handed them Cici. They nodded to her, then turned and moved off, with the original female said "Do not fear, your majesty. We will return the fairy to her original body within the hour," Then she followed the others out.

Galai nodded, then turned to Werr and said "I can do no more. It will still take some time, so I suggest you take Forin and Diana to the springs to let them heal. Be wary, though. If someone has issued a threat against them like this, there's no telling what they may try to get your group to leave." She nodded her head at Welk, who just stared back, not really knowing how to act in front of a queen.

"Thank you," Werr nodded, feeling the magic sweep over his mind, gentle as it was. It was an odd feeling, but he said nothing of it. "We'll get them to the springs at once, and we'll keep an eye out. I don't think we have too much to fear from being here in the castle though, but we'll be certain to keep a careful watch on things." He climbed back onto Welk with all due haste. "Come on then, let's get back to Forin and Diana before something else happens."

Welk nodded, then turned with a flick of his stumped tail and trotted out. They met back up with Cynyr, who had decided to wait outside, and they headed back to the others, where they explained what Galai had said. At this, Luen protested and said they needed to leave, but Cynyr won the argument by snarling right in Luen's face and saying that they were more than capable of protecting one Tartaran and a little girl since Luen obviously couldn't do it. Luen had gone quiet instantly, hurt, and had allowed the others to take them to the springs, carrying Diana in his arms. Guilt started to seep into his mind. He shouldn't have left them. He should've stayed. Then maybe the being who had attacked them wouldn't have done that. He held Diana close, feeling terrible over what had happened to them. First Nate, now them? All three of his best friends seemed to just be falling apart and he could do nothing to stop it.

Diana started sobbing again as they started towards the castle, holding onto Luen tightly. Forin was powerless to stop Cynyr from carrying him to the castle, but he managed to moan, "P-protect Luen...n-not me..." Before he fell unconscious again.

Cynyr snorted and said nothing, continuing his walk towards the building they stayed in.

Luen held Diana close against him, feeling powerless to stop anything from happened to her. The sound of hooves over pavement caught his attention and he glanced up to see Bala, the head guard, walking towards them. She snorted and said "I was summoned by her majesty, the queen, over a matter that has arisen. It seems your friends were...attacked? Is this correct?"

Luen nodded innocently, hoping she could help track down the asailant.

Bala closed her eyes for a moment, then turned and said "You should be careful, all of you. The attacker could very well come after any of you next." She stared at Diana, then turned and trotted away.

Diana tightened her grip on Luen's shirt, if that was even possible, going stiff and silent as Bala spoke. Werr noted this silently, wondering why she was so afraid at the thought of Luen being attacked. Sure, anyone would be afraid of their friend being hurt or killed, but Luen could fight for himself. Werr dropped into his thoughts, coming up with a few possibilities.

Diana was still quite young, so perhaps she didn't remember how well Luen could fight. Either that, or she knew that their attacker was stronger than Luen, and that the wolfling stood little chance. Or...perhaps...something about Bala herself was frightening Diana? The second they got into the castle, Werr slid off of Welk's back and started up the stairs towards their rooms, planning to investigate Forin's room. He hadn't seen the scene of the crime, of course.

Welk trotted dutifully along behind him, knowing Cynyr would catch up when he had put Forin down. "We're going to investigate, right?" he said, perking his blonde ears up over his head. "Cool! We're like..." He paused and thought for a moment, then said "Eh, I don't know." He smiled at Werr and nuzzled the boy's hand. He bounded ahead of him and took human form at Forin and Diana's room, opening the door before Werr and carefully going in. He knew not to touch anything, incase he ruined a piece of needed evidence.

Werr was quick to look around the room, confirming what Nate had already told him. There weren't many signs of any struggle, though the bedsheets were pulled back. Diana must have been asleep at the time of the attack, then, or at least lying down. Werr found the blood beside the bed; it was smudged and streaked, but Werr carefully inspected it anyways.

After a bit more thought, he pulled out a notebook and a bottle of ink from his bag. He dipped his finger slightly in the ink, then wrote out a few letters before streaking his fingers across said letters. He compared the letters he had with the smudge on the floor. "H-o-o-f. Hoof?" He said, getting the letters in order on his paper to see if he was right. Which, he was. Werr frowned a little, suddenly wishing he could have inspected the wounds on Forin and Diana before Seria healed them. "Welk, let's track down Seria. I need to ask her some questions." He said, climbing onto his friend's back again.

They bumped into Luen on their way down, who was heading up towards the room in wolf form. "Hey Luen." Welk said, smiling at the wolfling. "Where ya going?"

"To get something for Diana." he said softly, sounding a bit depressed. "She didn't want me to leave, but I had to go grab something anyways. What were you both doing?"

"We investigated the crime scene." Welk said. "Well, Werr did. I just watched." He smiled, but couldn't hold it for long in the face of Luen's obvious sadness. He bent his feline head forward and licked Luen's forehead between his eyes, saying "It'll be okay."

Luen sighed, then looked up at Werr and asked "Did you find out anything? Anything at all?"

"I'm assuming it was Forin who left it, but we found the word 'hoof' in blood on the floor. It's nothing definitive, though; as far as I know, all the guards around here are unicorns. Thus, hooves. I was going to ask Seria if she remembered what their wounds were like before she healed them, just to make sure I'm not making incorrect assumptions. Someone could be leading us on, after all." He looked around, then frowned. "You shouldn't be wandering around alone. If it really is the guards, then this place isn't as safe as we thought." He said quietly. "I'm beginning to think that Diana was right about Tartarus being safer than here."

Luen frowned as Werr spoke, then nodded and said "Okay. Thanks for your help anyways, Werr. I...appreciate it." He walked past them and up the stairs, heading into the room. Welk frowned after him, then turned to keep walking, only to bump right into Cynyr who had just turned the corner. Welk's nose bumped into the panther's missing space where his nose would've been, causing them both to yelp. "Ow." Cynyr growled, rubbing his face with a paw and glaring at Welk.

"Sorry!" Welk said, then ran past before Cynyr could hit him. The black panther frowned and followed them.

Luen, meanwhile, trekked up to the room they had left and went inside, frowning as he stepped in. He walked around slowly, looking around until his sadness overwhelmed him and he started crying softly. This was all his fault. He shouldn't have left them. He flopped down on the floor, only to knock over some books that had been resting there, sending one under the bed. He sighed and took human form, reaching under to pick it up. When he pulled it out, there was a strand of hair clinging to it. He frowned and pulled it off, staring at the long, silver-white strand. He reached up and touched his own hair once, wondering if it had come from him, then shook his head. The strand was much too long to be from him, or from Forin or Diana, both of which didn't even have white hair. Luen was the only white-haired being in the group besides Luna, and this strand didn't have her scent. It had...

Luen's eyes widened in an instant.

He knew who had attacked his friends.

Werr got off again as they made it to the springs. He stopped outside the building that split males from females, frowning a bit. "Seria?" He called, hoping his voice would carry. "I need to know what Diana's wounds looked like, and if there was any bite marks on Forin's finger." As a matter of fact, there had been such a wound on Forin. He had done it to himself to write the message, which he had barely managed before his body had locked up and he fell unconscious.

Seria, who was sitting in the hot water spring in her undergarments with Diana on her lap, glanced up at Werr's voice. She had been sitting with Diana for a while now, scooping the warm water over the girl's shoulders. She had been talking with Luen for a while, who had been on the male side with Forin. He had gone in to keep Forin company (by sitting on the edge, with his clothes on) and to comfort Diana by letting her know he was close by, but he had left to go get something and hadn't come back yet, switching places with Nate.

"Well..." she called, answering Werr. "Yes, there was a bite mark on one of Forin's fingers. As for Diana's wounds, it looked like someone had cut her repeatedly with a knife or a really sharp object, and had stabbed her shoulder with something thick. The wound wasn't like a stab with a knife. It looked bigger." She reached for a towel nearby and lifted Diana out of the water, wrapping the towel around the girl's body. "There, sweetie." she murmured, moving to grab the girl's clothing nearby and set them close for when she was dry. "Better?"

"Stab wound..." Werr frowned, then put it together. "Seria, I'm certain now that it was one of the unicorns here that did it. Considering the proximity of the attack, it was most likely one of the guards. I'm not certain which one, but it's not safe here at all."

"That's what I've been saying..." Diana whimpered.

"I know. I'm going to go tell Queen Galai about this," Werr nodded, climbing back onto Welk's back.

That was when a massive explosion of ice ruptured skyward in the near distance, sending a torrent of snowflakes and pieces of ice everywhere.

Seria gaped at the formation, then quickly put her and Diana's clothes on and swept the girl up into her arms, heading outside to see what had happened, followed by Welk with Werr on his back. Cynyr turned and let them go, instead deciding that Forin needed to be got out of the spring and placed somewhere safe.

Outside, it was obvious where the ice had come from. Luen was standing in the center of the street, in wolf form and snarling ferociously at Bala, who was standing some ways away from him. "It was you!" he screamed, angrier than they had ever seen him. "You hurt Diana and Forin! You were the one that took them and hurt them!"

Bala was staring at him in shock. "I did no such thing!" she shouted, tossing her head back. "You clearly have no idea what you're talking about! You're a mad wolf!"

Luen snarled horribly and took human form, saying "I admit, you covered your tracks well, but you forgot something important, something that made it instantly clear to my sense of smell who had hurt my friends." He dug into his pocket and pulled out the strand of hair, flicking it out and letting it sail into the wind.

Bala's eyes widened, then narrowed.

Luen matched the look easily, taking wolf form again and not giving her the chance to even begin to explain. He lunged forward, knocking other Amnairians out of the way, and attacked Bala fiercely. The winged unicorn plunged back onto her back legs and whinnied, then lunged forward and attacked him in return.

Luen seemed to fight without mercy, like, as Bala had said, a mad wolf.

Diana watched the second they got close enough, absolutely terrified. Werr, however, tugged lightly on Welk's ear to get his attention. "Come on, we have to go tell Galai what's going on! We can't take any chances, the entire guard force could be in on this! Seria, get Diana away from here, it's too dangerous!"