The Forgotten Zodiac

Nate jerked as Seria was finishing up. He regained consciousness in an instant. He shrieked at the sky, grabbing at Seria's fingers. He didn't hurt her and fell silent immediately afterwards, blinking dully at the sky and just holding Seria's hand. Then he relaxed and moved his hand, trying to push himself upright.Ophile wormed behind him, supporting the Dragonian from behind. Nate went limp again, looking around blearily.

"What happened...?" He asked after several attempts to form words.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Seria said, dutifully continuing her healing with one hand as she gently touched Nate's shoulder with her other. "All we know is that you have the captives and you and Luen are both hurt. You're almost done. You'll probably be really tired after this. Then I have to start on Luen..." She shook her head, glancing over at the kirin, then looked away.

Nate strained to remember, and struggled to speak. "We...did what Werr said...b-but someone stopped us. An Avon...he di-didn't attack, just kept us fr-from getting to the captives. And then the fire...reached the counter, a-and th-there was an explosion..." He reached up and felt his face, relieved to find it intact. "Luen?" He looked over at his Kirin friend, worry marking his face. "H-hurry and finish, he-help Luen..."

"He fought back when Seria tried," Ophile commented. "He insisted that you get healed first. He didn't want to lose you..."

"Bah...i-idiot..." Nate spluttered, already drifting into unconsciousness again.

Seria nodded in agreement, then healed the last part of Nate that needed her help. The rest was simple and would heal on its own, especially with her tending to it. She swathed his chest, sides and back in bandages, wrapping them all around, then moved over to give Luen the best treatment she could with her remaining powers. She started with the worst of the damage, carefully taking his right arm into her hands. She scanned the charred, singed skin, then slowly put his arm back down, shaking her head. "I can't believe you..." she murmured, moving her hand out and gently stroking the side of Luen's face. "Why would you sacrifice your arm like that?"

"Seria?" Cynyr asked, moving forward and putting his muzzle close to her. "What's wrong?"

Seria lifted her other hand and touched Cynyr's chin, bringing his muzzle up to plant a delicate kiss on his lips. "He must've tried to use his powers to block the flames," she said. "But instead of protecting himself, he tried to help Nate. The result is that the arm he used to cast his powers is destroyed. ...I don't think I can heal it." Tears dripped down her face and Cynyr gently licked them away with his rough tongue, murmuring "Seria..."

((...Yoooouuuuuuuuu.))

"But...he didn't protect Nate." Ophile blinked. "Nate was hurt worse than Luen...what on earth happened?"

"Salt?" A familiar voice peeped. Boko scurried out of a tree, hovering around Seria, hoping to taste some of her tears. He quickly realized that he had just blown his cover and started to crawl back towards the trees, but it was already far too late.

"Boko!" Cynyr rounded on the little drakeling. "What are you doing here?" He marched over and cut off the little drakeling's escape, then looked up when a voice chattered laughter from a different tree.

"Hum diddle dee,

a drakeling I see,

so bold and bright,

the color of night,

when I get through,

he'll be just goo!

Fancy and right,

no longer a blight,

hum diddle hum diddle DO!"

The creepy song echoed out of the twisted little mouth of the person singing it, who then hopped out of the tree, landing with scarecely a sound. What landed was a very tiny man with huge bat ears and wings, with a very tiny black tail. His clothes were solid black and his eyes were light-gray, and he didn't look like he could see well. "I say!" he trilled, clacking oblong, sharp teeth together in his mouth and flicked a tongue that was made for lapping blood. "You all are a strange little bunch, yes sir!" He flicked his tongue and winked at Werr.

Boko scurried away from the bat man in a panic, hiding behind Cynyr in fear. "Boko does not want to be goo..." He murmured, inching backwards still.

"How many more interruptions do we need?" Werr sighed in irritation. "Who are you and what do you want?" He demanded, obviously frustrated. At least their captives were still unconscious and not trying to make any break for it or anything of the sort.

The bat suddenly hopped forward like a little frog, stopping in front of Werr and standing as high on his little legs as he could in effort to reach Werr's height. He sniffed loudly a few times, then suddenly squealed and jumped back, shouting "Rowe! Rowe! He's a Rowe, a rustery rubbering Rowe! Tygan! Tygan, you didn't tell me he was a Rowe!" He scrambled back on all-fours, to where Tygan was lounging in a tree. He was in human form, looking to be nothing more than dozing. "Flanis," he said, barely cracking an eye. "If you don't shut up, I'll twist your ears into a knot."

Flanis glared at him, saying "I can't kill a Rowe. You know that. You know that! Now see? Is this why you had me screw-up the kirin's powers so they wouldn't protect him?! Now look what you've done! He'll have to have the arm taken off, fool!"

"Not my problem," Tygan said, calmly flicking a wing. "I can't help that you were off."

"Off? OFF?!" Flanis screeched, flapping his wings madly. "You flimsy finch! You dastadly dove!"

"What?" Werr blinked. "What does me being a Rowe have to do with anything?" He frowned, confused. Ophile gently laid Nate down, then moved forward, covering Werr's front.

"They probably knew your father," Ophile shook himself off. "You look like quite the meal, bat...come forward again. He growled, snapping at the air in front of him.

"No, no, and no again!" Flanis shrieked, jumping up into the tree and knocking Tygan out. The hawk flipped over neatly and landed on his feet, peering up at the thoroughly-ruffled bat. "Well, you've upset him," he said, sounding annoyed. "Now I'll have to spend a few hours calming him down."

"Muttering magpie!" the bat shouted, shaking his branch and nearly falling out. "Bothersome bluebird!"

"Shut up," the hawk said, rubbing his face tiredly, but with a calmness that Cynyr knew he could never stand if someone was shouting those things at him.

"Your fault! Your fault!" the bat hollered, bouncing up and down on his branch. "You told me to take control of the kirin! It cost him, it did!"

"Blabbermouth," Tygan said, leaning against the tree and staring over at Werr with his deep eyes. "Wolf, you'd be good to keep your distance. Crazy as he looks..."

"MANGY MACAW!"

"...Flanis here is quite good at using his echolocation to control people."

((Explain why he's so obsessed with Rowes. xD))

"What on earth are you going on about?" Werr hissed. "What do you want?!" He was past the point of no return, utterly furious at this point. Annoyed, to say the least, which didn't happen often for Werr.

"You might as well tell us. You're outnumbered." Ophile growled. "What is the purpose of this conversation?"

"Flanis' idea," Tygan said. "Not mine."

"Had to be certain," the bat said, finally sitting still on his branch. "Had...to...be...certain." He flew off suddenly and landed near Werr, glaring up at him. "Rowe. ROWE! I had the chance to encounter your father and he bested me at every practical puzzle, chilly challenge and twisted trap I put to him! None before, none before! He was the frustrating FIRST! The first and the last! Bested by a horrible human, my life went to shaking shambles! I've hated Rowes ever since! Probably a good thing! You'll be just like him, you'll see! You'll hurt people, innocently innocent perfect people! Willingly and un, you'll see!" He would've jumped for Werr then and there, but Tygan grabbed his collar and held him off of the ground. This close to Werr, the hawk was even taller than Nate. He easily rivaled Titus' height. "Sorry about that," he said, and Werr could see the light of kindess in his great black eyes. "I had wanted him to apologize to your friend, but I can see that was a mistake."

"What...?" Werr blinked. "My father didn't hurt people!" He objected, though he didn't defend himself. He knew that plenty of people had been hurt as a result of his actions and words. "If that's all you wanted to do, you can save your breath. I appreciate that you're at all sorry for your actions, but that doesn't bring back my friend's arm. It would be best if you just left." He shook his head, sighing through his nose. He wasn't intimidated by Tygan's height.

Tygan nodded once, saying "Of course. We'll meet again, don't you worry." Then he took the struggling, cursing bat and flew off, flying until they could no longer hear the squeaking of Flanis.

Seria moved over to Luen once they were gone, digging through her bag until she found a syringe of liquid. She uncapped it, then carefully felt along Luen's neck until she found a suitable vein, where she inserted the needle as gently as possible. She injected the contents of the syringe, then pulled it out and put it back into her bag. She was muttering to herself, pulling out various tools and things from her bag. Cynyr watched quietly, rubbing his head against Werr's leg softly. He watched as a few small places on Luen's arm turned blue under his skin, causing Seria to sigh further.

"How is he...?" Werr asked quietly, frowning. He jerked his head up as there was a groan from their captives. One of them was stirring. Cynyr had already tied them up, so there was little concern of them attacking or anything. But the point remained. There was no more time to fuss over Luen; Werr and Cynyr had a job to do.

"Boko will go back to mommy now," He twittered nervously, shrinking away from Zephyr.

Zephyr moved his head around and licked Boko gently, then said "You silly little thing."

Seria just shook her head, then said "The injection was to show me exactly how much of his arm is still alive. As you can see...it's not much. I'll take it off in the clearing near here. Just...don't come over there for a while." She put her bag over her shoulder, then scooped Luen into her arms and took him away. They knew the kirin would return without his right arm.

Cynyr nipped lightly at Werr's hand, then turned to the captives and watched them closely. He walked over and nudged the waking one roughly with his paw, saying "Come on, get up. Open your eyes; we have questions that need answering." He hit the man with his tail, glaring at him.

"Boko is not silly. Boko wanted to help, but Boko is scared now..." He moved to sit underneath Zephyr, rubbing himself all over Zephyr's front legs. "I luv yew, daddy," He purred happily.

Werr watched as the man jerked upright, gasping once he realized what was going on. "I...you...wh-what do you want?" He spat, angry. "King Werr...your reign will come to an end soon! Queen Libria wants your head!"

"Shut up, Belthor..." The other man grumbled, apparently having been awake for awhile. "Say nothing. Respond to nothing. Understand?"

Belethor swallowed hard, then nodded, resigning to glaring at Werr and the others.

Cynyr smiled at this, unable to stop the grin from breaking out over his face. "Ah. Going to keep quiet, eh?" he said, starting to pad in circles around them. His scars were fairly well covered by his fur in this form, save for his nose, and he had his metal mask on. "Oh, I soon think you'll be spilling your secrets all over the place. With a good bit of blood, I should add." He was a foreboding sight, slinking around and around the men. "I'm not going to ask questions yet," Cynyr said. "First, I intend on having some fun. And oh, the fun we'll have. The pure, unending, fun."

"If you want to speak, we won't object," Werr sighed. "It would be easier..."

All they got were glares. Belethor did look rather distressed. "L-Loyd, why don't we just--"

"Silence!" The other snapped at him angrily. "They won't kill us. We have information they need, obviously..."

"We can get others." Werr tutted.

Belethor bit his lip, glancing at Loyd, who just shook his head. "We're not telling you anything, your 'majesty'." He snapped.

"Yeah! We're not saying a thing!" Belethor added, though his voice shook.

Cynyr laughed, then said "When I'm through with you, you'll both end up looking like me!" He took human form and shook out his hair, then slid the mask from his face and grinned at them. He bent down onto one knee and leaned close to Loyd, saying "Let's see how long you hold out when I'm carving out your nose. Oh, and this..." He pointed at his face. "...isn't all." He turned away and lifted the edge of his shirt, showing just a small portion of the scars that Werr knew covered his body like an all-over tattoo. He lowered his shirt and loomed over Loyd, already cracking his knuckles as he pulled a knife out of his pocket. "It'll take a few hours, but it'll be worth it," he said, bending close and tapping the knife against Loyd's nose. "First, I'll cut around your nose so I can dig down to the bone. Then I can saw through the soft cartilage and hack your nose clean off. Simple and very, very painful."