The Forgotten Zodiac

"Yes, I believe that's my son. Werr. And you are...?" Sylas blinked at him curiously. "Wait a moment...you're Keir, are you not? I recognize you from a wanted poster. Keir, one of few truly great thieves? I say! Your work is simply artistic, my good sir. I'm no thief myself, but I can appreciate one as skilled as you." He smiled brightly. "It's wonderful to meet you. I am Sylas Rowe. Since you seem to know who I'm talking about, perhaps you might know where she is? It's of utmost importance that I find her. The girl is in grave danger, you see, and I can't have her dying..."

((He's such a shmoozer. xDD))

Keir just stared at him, very flat and almost annoyed. "Shut up, old man," he said, rubbing his eyes. "Quit your kissin' up before I punch yer mouth in so's ya can't talk anymore. If ya get your kicks outta meetin' people outta wanted posters, then you have more problems than I do." He lifted his arms and put them behind his head, watching Sylas through one eye. "Maybe I know where the girl is, maybe I don't," he said, rubbing the slight stubble across his chin with one hand. "Depends on what it's worth to ya. I'm hopin' that because that wonderful boy was your son, you're as good as he is at gettin' information outta poor, helpless people like me. So." He smiled with the air of someone who had done this many, many times. "Make me an offer I can't refuse. And if ya pull a knife or weapon on me, consider yourself dead on the spot."

((KEIR IS NOT SWAYED BY YOUR FLATTERING WORDS, SYLAS ROWE. -me whisper- Oh Sylas I love you~!))

((Bahaha.))

"Well, it's not like I know about your personality. I just know that information from you costs a bit more than a few bronze pieces." Sylas sighed. "It was worth a shot. If you must know, yes. It is fairly important to me, and no. I don't have knives or weapons of any sort. Although there are a few religious parables that speak of the tongue as though it were a double-edged sword, but I won't bore you with the details. I will go into detail about a certain place, though. The location of a rather vast treasure. I'm an adventurer of sorts, you see. I scour the globe looking for things like treasure. And I happen to know that there's an abandoned cave sitting at the top of a mountain, chock-full of gold and precious gems. More than you could carry in ten trips, that's for sure. Signs tell that a dragon lived there once, but it hasn't been seen in the area for years."

"Sorry pal, but I don't go offa information. Gotta have it in hand before I tell my valuable stores of knowledge," Keir said instantly, looking as though he were sleeping. "'Sides, I already heard of that cave from a fellow that I was about to kill. He even showed me a few gold pieces from it. I let him live, needless to say. I can kill or not kill anyone in exchange for money. So your outta luck." He fixed him with a sharp gaze and said "You could always go lookin' every which-way for the girl yourself. You'll get lost, but hey; that's business."

"Very well then...you're a business man. I understand that." Sylas sighed. "Well, fine. This was given to me by my nephew; he's gotten into the jewelry making business a bit. I was going to hold onto it, but...I'd rather have that girl, to be honest." He held out a long gold necklace with a perfectly cut ruby in the center pendant. The gold chain had a few flaws, but it was gold, and the necklace itself looked quite beautiful. "Will this do, then?"

Keir nodded at once, saying "Of course. Alright, the girl is being held in a different location than the castle. A town not too far from here, but one of the more heavily armed ones. She's being tortured for information, so you'll want to go quickly, but be warned; that place is crawling with guards, all armed to the teeth. The town is Elesmurta. Not too far at all." He took the necklace and put it into his seemingly endless pockets, which were magically enchanted to be bottomless.

((After he's been around for a while, he'll show them everything he's hidden in there. xDD It's massive.))

((Bwahaha.))

"Elesmurta. Pleasure doing business with you," Sylas nodded quickly, turning on heel and running out. Getting to the others was important, then. Sylas couldn't take on guards on his own. He could skirt around them, but it was all too likely that he would wind up getting hurt in a fight.

"Forin, wake up!" Nate shook the Tartaran. "I know you can hear me. Werr needs your help," He forced Forin to stand, although the Tartaran seemed quite determined to drag his feet and glare groggily at every one of them.

Seria had already healed the bruise and stopped the bleeding on his arm, but the hardened bits of steel were still there. Ophile and Nate had both given blood to help Werr, but they wouldn't have enough to go around if Werr had surgery. Which was what he needed, in order to get the metal out of his arm. Forin, however, could take the steel out without hurting Werr at all.

Nate explained all this to the Tartaran, but Forin wasn't swayed. "No," He spat. "I won't do it. I won't. Why would I help Werr, of all people? Werr is terrible. I don't like him. I don't. I won't."

"You will," Ophile growled, moving towards Diana. He took her hand in his mouth, threatening to bite down. When Forin scoffed, Ophile growled all the more. Nate blinked in surprise as a bit of blood dripped to the ground.

"Okay, okay! I'll do it. Let her go," Forin snarled. He would have outright attacked, but Nate was holding him still. "Fine..."

"Good. Ow..." Ophile stepped away from Diana, tucking his bleeding tongue back in his mouth. It hurt, but it was worth it. Of course, he would never actually hurt Diana. But it had been enough to get the loopy Forin going.

"Fine, fine, fine. Remove the metal in the arm. Not the bone, not the muscle, not the sinew. The metal." Forin sighed, annoyed to no ends, apparently. He felt Werr's arm, poking and prodding and lifting, twisting, and all around doing pretty much everything that made Werr groan and whimper in his sleep. When Nate whacked him upside the head, Forin growled and got to work at last. He stuck his fingers in right at the shoulder, moving down in a sweeping motion. Slowly, carefully. Metal clattered to the ground as he scraped it out of Werr's arm. Within a minute or so, enough steel to craft a small knife had gathered on the ground, Forin turning away from the human in order to attend to the sleeping Diana.

"Good," Nate sighed, glad that Forin hadn't tried to take out the bone or anything. Werr relaxed, though he remained very much unconscious. Nate looked up as Sylas approached.

"Guys!" The human called, sliding to a stop in front of them. "I know where Luna is. We have to help her...is everyone else here? Is...anyone able to fight?" He questioned, noting that there were two unconscious people and the rest of them looked worn and tired.

Cynyr was laying on the ground with Werr leaning against him, gently licking Welk, whom he was holding between his paws. The half-cat inside was still unconscious, but with every soft stroke of Cynyr's tongue bathing over him, he flickered with a small trace of warmth. He flicked his tail, saying "I'm not moving."

Zephyr sighed, then said "I'll go. I detest the idea of poor Luna being held by such vile hands. I would hate for anything bad to befall her. She's very nice." He stood up, flaring his wings and shifting his tail around.

((Forin, I choose you! Go rescue your girlfriend! >:3 ))

"Luna?" Forin looked up blearily, frowning a bit. "I don't want to go anywhere. Diana is unconscious, I have to be here for her when she wakes up--"

"Forin," Diana murmured, opening her eyes slightly. Tears slipped from her eyes. "Go...save Luna...I'll be fine." She sat up and scooted closer to a tired Nate, who hugged her gently. "Do whatever it takes..."

"We'll watch over her," Nate reassured him. "Orders are orders, though..."

"Fine. I'll go and save the stupid princess, but so help me, she'd better be in that darn castle." Forin stood, frowning.

"Boko will help also! Human swords are not very effective on Boko's scales, so Boko can help!" The Drakeling squealed, rubbing up against his father.

Zephyr purred and licked Boko's chin, gently nipping at the back of his son's head. Then he moved out into the open and took his largest from, glad that they had gotten out of the city and were back in the forest. He lowered his head and let Boko jump on and coil himself around his horns, then held one hand down for Forin. Once the Tartaran was settled, the dragon flicked his tail in goodbye and jumped into the air, heading for the town of Elesmurta.

((They were actually in the outskirts of town while the others did all that, remember? xD))

"Where are we going?" Forin asked. When he got his answer, he frowned. "Elesmurta? Elesmurta. El. Es. Murta." He sounded it out, then again, more slowly. "Sounds like Elsmerelda. That's what it sounds like. Elsmerelda, the foolish human who valued her property more than her life. That was Ophile's first and last summoner, you know. Poor Ophile. Stupid puppy." Forin gurgled, then coughed and coughed, apparently choking on his own saliva. "Blech..."

Zephyr frowned at him, then tilted his head around on his long neck and suddenly bumped Forin right on his Tartarus mark, blowing a warm breath over him. "Night-Stalker, your mind is in a tizzy." Two more bumps in rapid succession. "You'd be best to open your eyes. You might argue that you have them open right now, but you wouldn't understand what I meant if you said that. Your eyes are closed and you refuse to open them. Why don't you open your eyes, little one?" His voice was kind and soft, and his eyes rounded when he looked down at Forin. "What makes you close them so tightly against everyone else?"

Forin didn't react much to the bumping; he just mumbled something incoherent and looked away. He didn't say anything for awhile, then uttered a simple sentence. "Because if I did that, I would have to accept that Luen hurt Diana. Not only that, but I would have to realize that he's gone now. I only have two friends in this world right now, and one of them has hurt the other and run away. I can't go after him. But if this is all a dream," He said, wrapping his dark cloak tighter around himself. "Then I'm still in the jail cell. Diana was never really hurt, Luen never really hurt her, and they're together and happy in that world. I don't...I don't want anything different. So this is all a dream, you see? Just a crazy hallucination. If I close my eyes real tight, I can see the jail cell again. The bars, the dirty floor...just a dream. Dreaming is fine."

"You're...crazy." Boko squeaked, frowning at Forin. "Silly Tartaran is silly. And crazy. Both of those."

Zephyr pulled his head back around and said "I won't tell you what to do. It's your choice. But this is reality, whether we want it to be or not. And the reality is that the tighter you close your eyes, the less you'll be able to see your friends, until darkness is all you'll ever be able to see. And your impression of what you friend did could use a little checking-out. It's not entirely true." He flapped his wings, soaring through the clouds.

Zephyr could feel Forin shaking. Shivering, although it had nothing to do with the cold. He looked on the verge of tears, too, something that seemed to be happening more often. "It...it's the only explanation. It's the only thing that makes sense. Nothing else...nothing makes sense. None of it does. Dreams don't make sense. Why does reality not make sense, either? I hate it. Nothing makes any sense anymore, I don't understand...why..."

"Search yourself. You know it does," the dragon said kindly, looking down at the Tartaran again. "Luen would willingly hurt himself before hurting you or Diana. He'd be glad to take your pain. He even said he didn't remember hurting Diana until afterwards. He was controlled and forced to do the dirty work for that stupid place. Rather than soil their own hands, they soiled his." His voice lowered even more, down to a kindly whisper. "He would rather kill himself than make a scratch on Diana's body," he murmured. "It's easy to wield a spell that controls others. With that many magic users in the same place, I'm not surprised that they warped Luen and made him hurt your summoner."

Forin sat in silence for a very long time, still shaking. "I...I...no, no, no, but...Luen...I let Luen run." He whimpered, ashamed of himself. "What has become of me? What have I...turned into?" He held his head in his hands as he picked up more and more of his broken mind. He rode in silence until they arrived, soaring over Elesmurta. He hopped off of Zephyr's hand when they landed, smiling a little up at the dragon. "Thank you, Zephyr. You've 'opened my eyes', as you yourself put it. I feel a lot better now, and I'm ready to carry out my orders."

Zephyr bent his head down and nuzzled Forin gently, the edges of his mouth curling up into a smile. He purred softly, then flinched when an ear-splitting scream tore through the air from the town in front of them.

Luna wailed at the top of her lungs, screaming as if her very life depended on it.

"Let's go," Zephyr said, releasing a threatening snarl, then he lunged forward towards the guards at the gate. They moved to point their weapons at him, but a few seconds later, they screamed and leapt to the sides and the dragon slammed into the gates, breaking them down in an instant. He glanced up to the tower where Luna's scream had come from, then tilted his head and indicated his back to Forin, saying "Go! I'll take the guards down here."

A storm of the armored men were running towards the dragon, shouting "You won't get past us!" or "For lord Caldir!" They clearly didn't know he was dead, but the point was that nearly every guard in the entire place had been warped to the foxling's side.

"Whatever it takes," Forin nodded once, slipping past the guards who were charging towards Zephyr. He wasn't stopped until he made it to the building with the source of the screaming. And even then, it was only for a second, as he ripped the skull out of the man that stopped him.

He eased the door open and slid into the building, moving in stealthily as he headed towards the room where Luna was obviously in.

He found her suspended by her wrists at the top floor of the tower, hanging from two pillars in the middle of the room. Her white-gold wings were torn and hanging, nearly ripped half-way off of her back. Her beautiful silver hair had been ripped out in huge, painful chunks, until she had only a few scraggly strands left. Her tail was hacked up and missing all of its fur, and her clothes were torn to the point of just covering her. Her stomach and back were completely bare, and her pants almost looked like a bikini bottom with how badly shredded they were. Whip wounds covered her skin and blood dripped everywhere, mixing with the tears pouring from her eyes.

Another lash tore open her skin as a heavily armored man whipped her once-perfect back, causing her to wail. "Why won't you speak?!" he shouted, throwing the whip aside and digging his gloved fingers into her skull, yanking her head back to face him. "You haven't told us a thing we want to know! Tell us everything you know about your friends. Their strengths, weaknesses, anything we can use to break through and crush Grehi!"

She panted hard, her body racked with sobs, then she gasped out "No...I w-w-won't...b-betray...th-them...I r-refuse..."

He backhanded her brutally, leaving deep scratch marks in her soft skin and growling "Then you'll suffer until you die."