The Forgotten Zodiac

There was a final earthquake before things finally seemed to settle. Hurst was quick to double the guard. Werr didn't move. The maids came by eventually, carrying dinner; they brought two trays, in case Werr woke up, but the human king didn't move once, even as the sun was starting to set. If not for the rise and fall of his chest, the steady pulse, and the hourly checks from doctor Marr, Werr could very well be dead.

Marr returned as the moon rose steadily in the sky. There hadn't been another earthquake since the last one mentioned. "Er, Cynyr, I strongly suggest that you take Werr to the infirmary. I'm about to retire for the night, and I'd prefer to be close to Werr in case his conditions suddenly...well, in case he flatlines without warning. I know you'll be watching over him, that's pretty obvious, but...why not in somewhere where you both can be comfortable?"

Cynyr glared at the doctor for a moment, then slowly rose up with Werr held close in his scarred arms. The arms that were practically all scars and had been since he was young. He paused and shifted his metal mask slightly, making sure the small plate in the center was over his missing nose correctly, then hefted Werr and made sure the boy's head was safely tucked against his neck and shoulder. The panther then started walking, heading to the infirmary. He didn't want to go, as all places like that made him uneasy, but he knew that was the best place for Werr's health. Maybe. He knew it certainly wasn't the best for his own frazzled nerves.

Once Werr was settled into bed, doctor Marr informed Cynyr that he only needed to shout to wake him up; his room was the small one, directly next to the linen closet. After that, he went off to bed, leaving Cynyr to wait in the dim candlelight as Werr slept. It was a bit strange; the boy seemed oddly...at peace, being so unconscious as he was.

*

Forin had stopped to make camp by now. Werr had ensured they had three bedrolls, plus two spares; Forin used one of the spares as extra padding for Diana. The fire burned brightly and was perfect to warm up the food, thanks to Welk. Forin seemed somewhat on-edge and grumpy, but more than usual. Diana read by the firelight, and she would occasionally ask Forin what a certain word was or what it meant. She was learning, now that she had the peace of mind to think about such things. She still looked troubled and afraid sometimes, especially around anyone she didn't know, but among friends, she was happy and cheerful.

As she was leaning against Forin, starting to doze off, a small brown rabbit hopped forward and nibbled on her finger. She giggled sleepily and pet it, watching as it hopped up onto her lap to be stroked.

Forin, however, was not to be fooled twice. "Ina, if you dare make her cry, I'll throw you in the fire." He said bluntly. The rabbit hopped away at this, obviously a little intimidated. It didn't leave though; Ina returned to her human form, snatching up one of the salted fish that had been warming over the flames.

"Hey, thanks. I love fish." She grinned, biting into it eagerly.

Seria smiled at the rabbitzen, then went back to carefully pulling her long hair out of its ponytail. It fell in thick red waves down her back, easily past waist-length. She bound it up into a nice, tight bun on the back of her head, so she wouldn't tangle it while she slept.

Welk was curled up nearby in cat form, already deeply asleep.

Seria reached out and stroked the lion's thick red mane, prompting a few seconds of purring from him, then laid down with her head against Welk's blonde fur. She glanced over to Forin for a moment, then softly asked "How do you think Luen is? I mean...he's been with Cern for two years now." She looked down, then said "Do you think he's even still alive?"

"I...don't know." Forin replied quietly. "If he is not still alive, then when we catch up to Cern, at the very least I can have the satisfaction of avenging Luen's death."

"No! Luen is alive, Forin, he has to be! He has to!" Diana was more awake now, frowning at both of them.

"Oh, kiddy has spunk. I dunno who Cern is, but I've heard the stories about your adventures and whatnot. Not very many people mention Luen." Ina shrugged, leaning back against a tree trunk. "Who is he?"

"A friend," Forin growled at her. "A very dear friend, who some of us completely forgot about. He was taken by the Tartaran named Cern, and we're tracking him now. For that matter...why are you here?"

"Werr told me to leave."

"Werr told you to go home."

"Home is where the heart is!" Ina insisted.

"Then why in the blue blazes are you here, of all places?" Forin snarled.

"Fish!" Ina lifted her half-eated salmon, smiling widely.

Seria frowned at the rabbitzen, then looked back to Forin. "I'm sorry we didn't help sooner," she said. "I'll not make excuses for us, but it was hard getting used to the kingdom at first. Werr needed time to settle in, and I still don't know what he truely thinks of it. But, as I said, that's no excuse for our forgetting about him. I'm...really sorry, Forin. Know that me and Welk are going to give everything we have towards getting Luen back now." She nodded her head at him, flicking her long-furred tail.

"Now that he's spent two years with Cern, a sadistic Tartaran who is literally only half of a person, both physically and mentally. Cern, the Tartaran who nearly drove Titus himself bezerk with rage, which is very difficult to pull off, despite your first impressions of him. Cern, the freak who rotted in a jail cell under the Tataran Palace for decades, after developing a taste for human flesh and blood, and now thirsts for revenge for our defeat of Obelisk." Forin snorted, shaking his head. "I forgive you. I forgive you both. But I'm not the one you need to apologize to. I'm not the one you need forgiveness from."

"This sounds...dangerous." Ina blinked in surprise.

"Very."

"Well, uh...do you mind if I tag along? I'm not much of a fighter, but I can definitely dodge things and confuse enemies, and I'm not a bad pick-pocket." She said, now sounding rather serious. She was like that; in the same way she could hop from one place to another, she could flick from hyper to serious in mere seconds.

"I couldn't care less whether or not you 'tagged along'. Just don't get on my nerves." Forin sighed.

"Understood," She nodded, smiling happily.

Seria watched them, then lowered her head and nuzzled into Welk, sighing quietly. She dreamed that night, though it wasn't particulary vivid.

It was dark and she could see nothing, though her hearing seemed to be working. She could hear someone laughing manicially, dastardly, as if they had just seen the most hilarious thing on the face of the Earth, though Seria somehow knew what they were laughing over was something horrendous. She heard crying, soft and weak, like the person was near-dead and clinging to some scattered ray of hope. "Why...?" she heard a familiar voice rasp painfully, so quiet and hurt. "They..." A painful swallow. "They a-aban...abandoned me..." The voice fell silent, with Seria barely even able to hear the being breathing, so soft and labored it was.

Luen.

When next Seria opened her eyes, it was morning.

Forin was still awake, Diana in his lap and Ina sitting atop his head in rabbit form. He didn't ever really need sleep; which was probably a good thing, because he would have never gotten any, these past two years. He sat stock-still, not really caring about the Rabbitzen on his head, holding Diana close. So long as she was okay.

But being as on-edge as he was with Leun gone, things had been building up and building up. If Diana got hurt, if she got so much as a scrape at the hands of someone else, Forin would quite literally tear the attacker apart. It was easy to tell just from the look in his eyes as he stared into the near-dead fire. He was practically begging anyone watching to come out from wherever they were and let him murder them.

((Haha, if Nelu pops in anytime soon, Forin's going to be mmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaadddddddddd.))

Seria carefully sat up, rubbing her eyes wearily. "So strange..." she muttered, brushing a stray lock of her hair away from her eyes. She undid her bun and let her hair fall down, then spent a few minutes brushing it before tying it back into a long ponytail. She absently took her brush to Welk's fur, thinking over everything that had happened to them. The silver ring at her finger flashed in the morning light, catching her attention. She studied the ring for a moment, which brought a silent smile to her face, then lowered her hand again. She looked over to Forin and noticed his expression, then gently called "Forin? Are you okay?"

"Yes," Forin replied gruffly, then glanced down at Diana. Then at Welk. Both asleep...he let out a sigh, forcing himself to drop the infuriated expression and looking more neutral. But then he started looking upset. "No...you don't really understand what prolonged exposure to Cern can do to a person, Seria. He's a maniac. I fear for Luen, and I'm afraid that...he...n-nevermind," Forin looked away. He was afraid that Luen wouldn't forgive him. He was afraid that Luen would think of himself as tossed aside like trash. Even though Forin had spent the past two years of his and Diana's life searching endlessly. Even though he had never once forgotten about the wolfling. He was scared that he was the one who had been forgotten.

The half-cat healer immediately looked crestfallen, turning her gaze downwards. She shook herself and stood up, saying "Well, we're not getting any closer to Luen by sitting here. We should move out." She turned to Welk and gave him a light tap, murmuring "Come on, Welk. It's time to wake up."

He blinked his eyes open a moment later, looking tired still. "Come oooooooooooon..." he moaned, flopping over onto his other side. "I'm still tired..."

"I know. Get up," the healer said, moving off to the horses.

Welk snorted, then forced himself to stand up and take human form so he could get some breakfast.

Forin returned to his normal steely expression, picking up Ina by the scruff of her bunny neck and dropping her near the fire. She squeaked and jumped away in a frantic, running to hide behind Seria's legs. Forin smirked, then gently shook Diana. When she just pressed her face into his shirt, mumbling something about Luen, he carefully scooped her up so she would remain asleep, mounting the horse and placing her in front of him, as usual. He leaned back though, helping her remain comfortable so she could sleep as easy as sleeping on a horse could ever get. He'd let her sleep until they started moving.

Ina hopped in circles around Seria's feet, ears perked tall.

Seria smiled at her, then walked over to her horse and saddled it up.

Welk ate something out of his bag quickly and stood, ready to move on. He took cat form and pranced around the horses, letting out small, throaty meows.

Seria shook her head at his ever-playful spirit, then mounted her horse and urged it into a walk. She maneuvered her horse next to Forin's and said "So where are we going? What's the current lead or location?" She looped her reins casually in one hand, resting her other hand on her horse's rump so she could lean back against that arm.

"Well...it's more like...an interception. I don't know where he is. But I know where he's going to be." Forin sighed, sitting up a little straighter once Diana stirred and started sitting up as well. She rubbed her eyes groggily. "The chef that I had to defeat was screaming something about the king. About how 'they' planned to kill him and his precious princess. Since Werr doesn't have any daughters, it's safe to assume that Cern is going to attempt to assassinate king Asmodius and princess Holly...using Luen."

"Hey, I'm technically a princess," Ina spoke up, turning human and climbing up onto the horse in front of Diana before returning to rabbit form so the young girl could hold her while they rode on.

"Not really. Even so, people aren't aware of that. Werr is smart, he wouldn't advertise the first of his to-be rebuilt Council." Forin replied bluntly. "As such...on to Storaph. Hopefully Nate remembers us."

"I'm sure he will," Seria said, watching as Welk chased a bug around on the road ahead of them. "He's not that forgetful. Plus, Tasia should still be there with him. If anything, it'll be nice to see them both again." She was trying not to think too much about what Forin had said. Using a sweet and innocent person like Luen to assassinate the king and princess of a country? Cern was insane, yet obviously cunning. "We can't let that happen," she said. "Luen used to serve under Asmodius to some extent, from what I remember. If he's forced to kill the king of Storaph, it'll tear him apart." She bit her lip nervously, wondering how Luen was at that moment.

"I believe those are Cern's intentions, Seria." Forin said, quite heavily. "As such, we need to get to Storaph as soon as possible." He set his horse out at a quick trot. He didn't seem very confident in getting there on time, so he set his horse into a quick canter once the others were following and caught up.

Seria straightened in her saddle and urged her horse to go faster, easily holding pace with Forin's. "Shall we run?" she asked, her long hair flowing in the wind.

Welk bounded along next to their horses, able to keep up fairly well. "Come on!" he called, flicking his tail. "Let's go!" He took off running, bounding powerfully over the ground and racing off ahead of them.

Seria glanced over to Forin with a reassuring smile, then slapped her horse's neck with the reins and held on as it burst into a fast gallop.

Forin followed suit, setting his horse forward to keep pace with Seria's. The spare horse ran after them, most of their bags strapped to its back. They ran until the horses grew tired; then they rested for an hour or so before setting off again. It was noon by the time they passed the borders, but they didn't hesitate over the grave-littered valley that had once been filled with bodies and rotting corpses.

*

Back in the castle, Werr still hadn't stirred. Doctor Marr came in he moment he woke up, once again checking on Werr's vitals. No change. The doctor sighed heavily, closing his eyes.

And then there was another earthquake. It was bigger than all the others the day before. The candles were extingushed, leaving the room with the growing light of the sunrise.

Cynyr was sitting nearby, holding his head in his hands and muttering something incoherent, running his hands through his black hair. He looked tired, but still very much alert. Once the earthquake passed, he took panther form and jumped up onto the bed with Werr, curling up with his back against Werr. He laid on the side closest to the doors, making sure he was in the way of any potential attacks. He turned at one point and ran his rough tongue over Werr's forehead a few times, soft and calm. He was actually glad that Welk wasn't here. He knew the younger half-cat would've been worrying himself sick over the boy.

Cynyr turned back to the door, flicking his tail slowly, in graceful arches.