The Forgotten Zodiac

"There now," Sylas gave him a pat on the back. "I'll take that as a yes. Friends it is. And let it be known that I take care of my friends, no matter what. For example, I--"

"Hand over your money, gramps!" A voice came from behind, and Sylas felt the unmistakeable chill of cold steel against the back of his neck.

"Oh. Oh, dear. I don't think you want to do that, lad," Sylas chortled, turning to look up at the younger bandit. He was masked and had a cruel look in his eyes, but Sylas didn't hesitate. "Because I know a place where you can find enough treasure to fill your needs for the rest of your life. And if you kill me, you see...you'll never find it."

"Liar," The bandit snarled.

"No, indeed! The truth, I tell." Sylas grinned, pulling from his pocket what appeared to be a large ruby, and a few small pearls. "I was busy carrying my friend out of there after he fell on some sharp rocks, see. I couldn't grab much, but it was an entire cave absolutely filled with treasures!"

The bandit snatched up the gems, inspecting them while frowning before hesitantly asking, "Where...?"

"A half-mile into this forest, There's a crystal lake; you should be able to see the cave it leads into. Heck, if you look closely at the bottom of the lake, you can find pure crystals down there!" Sylas nodded eagerly. "You've already taken all that I had anyways, now go and find that treasure!"

The bandit glared at him a moment more, then ran off into the forest.

"Yeah...he won't be back." Sylas turned back to stoking the fire, chuckling a bit.

Dark had stiffened fearfully when the bandit appeared, then relaxed when he ran off. He glanced up weakly at Sylas, then rasped "Very nice move. I'm sure the sirens will enjoy that." He shuddered when he remembered the dangerous beauties tearing their claws through his arm and sinking their teeth into his leg. He shifted a bit closer to Sylas, keeping the edge of the blanket and part of Sylas' shirt over his mouth. "Um...you were going to say something?" he said quietly, his eyes starting to droop lazily. He fought off sleep, however, in favor of listening to Sylas.

"Yes, and the world is a tiny bit cleaner after this. It's a bit unfortunate that he took that ruby and those pearls, but no matter. I'm not concerned too much; Toro gave them to me. That kid is rather incredible, if I do say so myself." Sylas smiled, then paused thoughtfully. "What was I going to say...? I'm getting old, forgive me. I've completely forgotten. I will say, however, that it's not the greatest thing when my friends slink around in the shadows avoiding me, for any reason. And you can ignore that, Dark, think nothing of it. Just go on to sleep, it's quite alright. I'm not going anywhere."

Dark blinked slowly, then wearily closed his eyes and dozed off a moment later, not hearing the subtle hiss that echoed out of the darkness around them.

A moment later, Leodhaius slipped out of the trees, his dark yellow eyes glowing in the dusk.

"You knew," he said, his raspy, rough voice as soft as he could make it. "You knew I was here all along, didn't you?" In his panther form, he was at least the size of a smallish horse. Another testament to how much bigger than normal animals the lerloch grew. He stalked forward and lurked around the fire, not coming too close. He was like a feral animal that wanted to kill the two of them, but was too afraid of the fire to attack.

"Ever since I left the Eternal Garden. I would question why you're sneaking around, but I think it's pretty obvious. You were either sent to follow and track me, or to kill me." Sylas said with a calm smile on his face. "So which is it you're here to do? Glean information from my whereabouts, or put an end to my elderly life before I get the chance to require a cane? I always wanted a hidden blade within a cane...not that I would ever use it. You know me; I'm not one for fighting. Never was."

Leo's eyes were distant as he looked wearily down at the fire. He sat down, curling his tail around his legs. His tail was fluffier than Cynyr's, who's was so scarred that his tail was bordered on patchy. "Both," he said softly. "I was to learn as much as I could, then end you. But...you know I can't. You know better than anyone that I just can't. I could never kill you." He lowered his head, ashamed, and murmured "I'm sorry." He dug his claws into the ground, tense and nervous and filled to the brim with years and years of sorrow.

"Why would you apologize for sparing my life, Leo?" Sylas smiled a bit, standing and moving next to the large panther. He wrapped his arms around Leo for a moment, then pulled away and just sat next to him, scratching the large cat behind the ears. "They'll send more. But it's quite alright; as soon as I return to Amnairus, I was going to retire in the Place Between Worlds. The Divine will protect me 'till the end of my days. There aren't many people who can so much as land a hit on that big lizard. And I think one of those people, Obelisk, happen to be in alliance with Werr. I question how long that'll last, but for now..."

Leo sighed and closed his eyes, letting Sylas touch him. Sylas was the only person that had near-total control over the panther, and that was saying a lot. Leo didn't purr as Sylas touched him. He couldn't. It had been a long time since he had purred last, and he wasn't about to start now. "I did something wrong, Sylas," he murmured. "To my own child. When he ran from Werr, after I told ya'll where to go to find him, I went ahead and made it worse. He was fine until I arrived. When I was done, he was in the animalistic state you all saw. I told him...I wished he'd never been conceived, that he would've died in childbirth, that he wasn't worth anything to this world. I told him that I had never loved him. I'm so...worthless. I should've been saying those things to myself. You, Sylas, at least wanted the best for your son. I...just wanted to end mine." He dipped his head low, downcast.

Sylas was quiet for a few minutes. "I won't tell you that what you did is okay. Because we both know that it isn't. But your son...he's hardly worth nothing. He's all that Werr has left, you know. I wasn't much of a father to Werr...and I get the feeling that he hates me for not being there. I knew Kiri was abusing him, but I was too absorbed in my own adventures to stop by home and confront her about it. I was a pretty terrible father, and it's hard to try and make up for that now. The point is, we all make mistakes...we follow our instincts, we listen to our guts. And we usually wind up screwing up in a big way."

"What you did isn't okay. I'm not sure if you should go apologize or not, either. Cynyr seems awfully...sensitive. Scarred in more ways than one. And I'm not trying to rub it in, but you're the one who hurt him, Leo. Someone has to patch up his broken heart. I think the best person to do that would be someone he trusts. Like Werr. And...Welk. He's still alive," He looked up at his friend, smiling a bit. "The Divine told me he was in the teddy bear Werr has now. It's a bit sad...but the Artifacts can fix it. Perhaps...perhaps we can still help somewhat. Locate the individual artifacts, at least, so they know where to go. Ina wouldn't keep them all in one place, after all."

Leo sighed, then said "Welk. Yet another child I couldn't care properly for. I thought I could do better with Briana, ya know? My previous mate was dead, along with my daughters, so...I thought I'd just start over. That this time, I'd be perfect." He laughed emotionlessly. "I was far from perfect. After Briana, I just stopped trying. Wasn't worth it anymore. I had failed at everything and I just didn't want to fail anymore." He shook his head, then leaned against Sylas and closed his eyes, sighing heavily.

Sylas was quiet for awhile. "Oh, how the fool weeps over his past mistakes. How he wishes for a second chance, he wishes to reel back time and right his wrongs. But the wise man knows that the past is gone; instead, he looks to the future, and strives to heal the wounds of words and actions that cannot be undone." He sighed quietly and sat there in silence for awhile. "Perhaps we could fake my death. It would get the Silver Tornado off your back, that's for certain..."

"You and your pretentious ways..." the panther said, chuckling dryly. "You've never changed. Even way back then, you were still as good as I was bad. So long ago..." He went silence, allowing a wave of past memories to flood over him and fill his being with a time long past.

*

"We'll teach you a thing or two!"

Leo stumbled backwards as the older boy punched him, hitting the rough brick wall behind him with a soft thump. He dodged the next punch thrown at him, wondering how he had gotten into this mess. Then he remembered how he had goaded these bullies into it by taunting them and provoking them with threats and more than a few nasty words.

At eighteen years of age, Leo was every bit the stubborn, grumpy ally cat that he was in his later years. He had no friends and he liked to keep it that way, even in scraps like this. He yelped as one of the older boys of a group all in their twenties broke his nose with a clever punch, sending the half-cat down into a sitting position with blood pouring down his front. He clasped it with one hand, glaring at the older males as they laughed and moved forward to keep going.

"Whoa there! No dropping corpses in my father's alley!" A voice suddenly rang from behind the men. They turned, spotting the gangly little boy; he was well known in this town. Sylas Krow, the son of the richest family here. They owned the blacksmith and most of the farms, and though they were generous and helped those in need, there would always be those who hated people with more fame and riches than they had. So Sylas Krow, the supposedly spoiled snob of the Krow family, being seen in the slums of the city--and holding a large sheathed sword, at that.

"Your father's alley?" One of the men laughed, hardly intimidated.

"Yes. On your left is property of the Krows, rented to someone else. On your right is the library, also owned by my family. As such, the alley falls into Krow property, as well. Now scram, before I have you reported!"

Leo panted softly, then slowly got up on his own, ignoring Sylas' outstreatched hand. He pushed the other teenager away and immediately staggered, leaning against the nearby wall and breathing hard to catch his breath. He shuffled along until he reached the end of the alleyway, saying "I...don't need...your help..." He steeled himself and took a few shaking steps with no support from the walls (since there was nothing for him to hold onto now), and promptly fell down with a yelp.

"Come on now, I won't d-demand anything in return...I'm not like that." Sylas said, staggering out of the alley. He was quickly losing blood, and wouldn't be able to hold himself up for too much longer. "Come on, y-you're in worse shape than I am. We both need help, that's not a shameful thing to admit, you know..." With his waning strength, he grabbed Leo under the arms and started to drag him up the road, stumbling due to the fact that it was past midnight, and his vision was blurring over as well.

Leo screeched and struggled weakly, kicking his legs like an immature child, but all of his fighting did him nothing towards freeing himself as Sylas dragged him to his house. By the time they got there, Leo had resigned himself to just pouting angrily and keeping his arms wrapped around his chest, looking next to evil as Sylas dilligently dragged him along, determined to help the injured half-cat. Leo was trying hard not to pass-out, which his body was sorely tempted to do.

By the time Sylas reached his home, he had left a trail of blood along the road, and the front of his shirt was stained red. He pushed open the gate, listening to it trigger an alarm system he had set up for the guards; the gate was attached to a rope, which pulled over what appeared to be a number of lawn ornaments that broke against the ground noisily. There were only one or two guards here, and they couldn't patrol everywhere. Sylas normally would have just snuck back in through the back way, but he was hurting too much to make the effort, and he needed help immediately.

And of course, upon hearing the commotion, a light flicked on in an upstairs window. Sylas lurched and collapsed to the ground as the guards appeared from the front doorway to investigate.

"Sylas! Wha--what the heck happened?!" The first one demanded, picking the bloodied boy up in his arms.

"I s-saved someone...from Rorak and Tim. H-help him too," Sylas said, spluttering as blood welled up in his throat.

Leo had just gone limp after losing Sylas' support, falling onto his back, then turning to his side and curling up in a whimpering ball. When the other guard picked him up, he wailed, his wounded body throbbing all over. "Ow, ow, ow! You're hurting me, stop it! Let go! Let...g-go!" he said, but he was beyond being able to struggle. His eyes flickered, threatening to roll back, but he fought it off; he wasn't about to go unconscious with all of these 'enemies' around.

Sylas was calm and relaxed as he and Leo were carried into the house and into his room. The healer scurried in not long after, looking like she had just been dragged out of bed by the guards. She got to work on Sylas' wounds first; she was an elderly woman, and she looked absolutely furious. "And what were you doing where you got stabbed, Sylas? You've lost so much blood! AND you're running a fever--boy, if you think I'm not going to tell your parents about this, you..."

"You won't tell them." Sylas groaned, tensing up as the elderly healer carefully withdrew the knife and set it aside, tending to the wound left behind. "Just like all the other times. You never tell them, no matter how many threats you make..." He chuckled a bit, shaking his head. She frowned at him harshly, fixing up his wound after a few moments of silence.

"You will tell me what you were doing, though," She said, moving onto Leohaidus next.

"I saved that one from Rorak and Tim. Not sure how he got into a fight, and he doesn't have to tell you if he doesn't want to. He's been pushed around enough for one night, Matilda." Sylas sighed and stood, albiet a little wobbily.

"And you need to lie down, boy!" She snapped at him while she fixed up Leo's eye.

"Now, now. I'm a big boy, I can handle a little scrape." He smiled at her, but didn't notice he was leaning dangerously to one side until he nearly fell. His guard caught him and helped him sit back down on the bed. The other went to fetch clean clothes for both of the boys.

Leo was tense and flinch-prone as he curled up against the wall, glancing around at all of the fine things he was surrounded by. He had never seen such a place in all of his life. He curled his lip and growled as Matilda touched him, but he let her work. He was coiled like a spring, and that spring exploded as soon as he deemed Matilda finished.

He lunged into panther form, his claws scraping across the floor as he bolted for the door. Sylas' guard grabbed him before he could get far, however, causing the panther to screech and flail wildly. "Lemme go, you big jerk!" he shouted, kicking and fighting like his life depended on it.

"Out of all the people you had to help, you had to pick this troublemaker, sir?" the guard said, doing his best to hold Leo down without hurting him.

"RAH! You're HURTING me!" Leodhaius shouted, struggling to push away.