The Forgotten Zodiac

Leo dug his claws into Naybrin's scales, biting his lip and keeping his tail closely wrapped around his arm. A few small tendrils of fire snaked out of his mouth as he gasped, having just barely glanced over the dragon's side. He yowled softly and tightening his grip on Naybrin's scales, until his fingers were bleeding. He didn't care, however, and put his forehead against Sylas' shoulder.

"Th-there, there," Sylas patted his friend, knowing that the half-cat despised this sort of flight. "If it didn't wear you out, I would suggest using those wind wings of yours..."

"We'll be there within the hour." Werr said. Flying to Storaph on Zephyr's back had taken a half day, but Naybrin was much larger. And, of course, much faster. "Raften is our destination."

"Raften? Did I hear that correctly?" Sylas looked back at Werr.

"Yes."

"Oh...alright then." Sylas smiled, giving nothing away, as usual.

Leo flicked his tail once, but said nothing. He just kept his head down and concentrated on not falling off of the dragon.

Naybrin flew on. Cynyr read a book, which seemed terribly out of place, but he was perfectly content on the dragon's back, quite unlike his father. The panther held the still-sleeping Welk in his arms until the half-cat woke up, weakly inquiring to where they were. "On Naybrin, flying towards Raften," Cynyr answered, holding on gently to the bear.

"We're going to collect the third artifact, Welk. We'll find all of them, then put you back where you belong." Werr smiled, reaching back to pat the bear on the head. "We're almost there. Just keep holding on, alright? We'll get there..."

"I can say for certain that riding on the green dragon's back is nothing compared to this," Sylas muttered over the howl of the wind. "Incredible..."

Welk whimpered, but he was okay for the time being.

Naybrin chuckled and said "Your father is an interesting man, Werr. You should be proud that he is your sire. I have a feeling that he is about as good as humans come." He breathed out a plume of smoke and gave his wings a sharp flap, tilting his head back as he felt the air rushing beneath his leathery limbs.

'He's not the greatest as a father,' Werr thought, knowing Naybrin could hear him. 'But he's still a good man, yes. You probably already know, but I was serious when I said that he knows too much. He could potentially have the knowledge to topple entire empires in a single blow, but he won't ever do such a thing. He's almost too nice, if such a thing exists.'

Naybrin chuckled, then pushed his mind to Werr's in order to answer. Well, at least you had a father. I was born from nothing at all. A sire and dam were foreign ideas to me. He closed his eyes, then said Silver-Tongue is as good a sire as any. Man-wise if not father-wise. But enough of this talk, Dark-Eyes. We have more pressing issues before us. He dipped low, flying towards the ground.

Raften was approaching quickly.

"Here we go," Werr braced himself as they landed. It was fairly soft, as usual, but Werr wasn't bracing himself for a rough landing. He was bracing himself for what may lay ahead. They had to track down information about any strange occurences here, which would be a hassle in itself. And that was just the first step. They had to make a decision of who to go after, and how to get at them.

((Have to go do laundry, then I'll be back for sure.

Also, Raften = Riften. xD))

((I noticed. xD))

Naybrin had landed out of range of sight by the town, not wanting to be spotted. He bent down and laid on his belly, resting his head on the ground too. He laid still as Werr and the others climbed off, though Leo was the first off of the dragon. He literally lunged off of the dragon and landed hard on his legs, taking panther form in mid step to keep his balance. He looked pleased at being back on the ground, though, and he flicked his tail happily.

Sylas slid down, smiling as well. Werr was grinning; he had been since he and Naybrin started talking. "We'll be back before you know it. Stay hidden, okay?" Werr rubbed his hand against Naybrin's muzzle, then stepped away to look up at Cynyr. "Are you going to hold the teddy bear all day, or can I put him in my bag?" He asked.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Sylas frowned. "Raften...isn't exactly my favorite town."

((Also, refer to the fake Welk as just the 'teddy bear' or 'toy'. Dun mention anything about it until le secret ess revealed. :T))

Cynyr nodded, then dug through his bag for the teddy. He had put Welk into the bag to rest, and now he pulled out the teddy bear and carefully handed it to Werr. He snapped his bag shut again, then turned to Naybrin and said "Sit tight and don't eat the livestock, okay?"

The First King rolled his eyes and said "Of course. The simple-minded human pets will be left alone."

Cynyr smiled, then started for the town, flicking his tail around Werr's wrist.

Werr smiled and followed after Cynyr, quite happy to be with his friend. Sylas looked increasingly nervous as they headed into town; Werr couldn't put his finger on why. Raften was a fine city; clean, bustling with activity. The finest jewelry and weaponry could be found here; the mountain nearby served as a well for iron and precious jewels. Of course, there was a tax on what was dug up, but no one was upset about that. Everyone had to do their part to keep the kingdom running. Regardless, Raften was short of a haven for those seeking an honest job to support a family with. There was even a rather large school here, which not every town had.

"We should probably start at an inn or something. Look for rumors." Werr said thoughtfully.

Cynyr glanced back, spotting Leo shifting closer to Sylas. "You gonna be okay here?" the panther said quietly. "Just gotta watch out for them..."

Deciding not to ask his father about what he was talking about, Cynyr turned to the task of finding the inn. He glanced around, ignoring a few busty young women that walked around them, giggling and watching Werr and Cynyr walk past. The mostpart of their attention was on Werr, as he was human and didn't have any of Cynyr's scars. Cynyr hissed and sent them scurrying, except for one.

She was younger than the others had been, looking around Welk's age. She had long black hair tied back into a ponytail, with a single strand that fell in front of her forehead. She was wearing more conservative clothes, unlike the scarse outfits of the other girls. "Excuse me," she said, blinking soft brown eyes at Werr and his friends. "Are you all lost?"

Werr looked at her, unable to hide the slight flush on his cheeks. "Er, a little. Where might the inn be around here? We don't plan on spending the night, but we do need to ask a few questions..." He asked, keeping his eyes locked with hers. He glanced over at Sylas, who was looking around curiously, almost fearfully. Werr decided to ask about it later and returned his attention to the girl speaking to him.

((Full story: Sylas and Leo stumbled upon the town during their travels, and found that things were sad and run-down there. Sylas knew how much metal the Raften mines held normally, so he was questioning why there were so many impoverished citizens here. He wound up going to the mine to start asking around, and found that the majority of it was being taken by taxes. But Sylas didn't stop there; he poked around a bit more and found the ones who collected the taxes every week; they weren't there for the king, they were taking the iron for themselves and selling it off in different towns. Sylas stepped in with Leo and had most of them jailed. But by now, the crooks are out and about again after serving their time, and a lot of them probably still remember Sylas, mostly. Leo, they just know his panther form. :T))

Cynyr studied the girl closely, then smiled playfully and nudged Werr a bit, grinning.

The girl tilted her head slightly to the side, then said "The inn is this way. I'll show you, I like helping newcomers." She turned and started walking down the street, waving her hand over her shoulder for them to follow. "My name is Lex," she said, blinking softly at them. "Though most people call me Lexi." She smiled, then said "I can show you to the general stores, if you need to go there to restock."

Cynyr nudged Werr a bit closer to her, saying "Go on, talk to her." He was grinning widely, clearly enjoying messing with his closest friend.

Werr frowned at him, blushing a bit. He was a king (although she apparently didn't recognize him), talking to girls like this...well, why not? Werr swallowed hard. Well, she was pretty, for one. Sylas apparently didn't even notice Werr's flushing, too preoccupied with making sure they weren't being followed or anything.

Werr walked forward to match her stride, looking at Lex curiously. "Thank you," He said, deciding to say nothing about his own name. That would give it away right off the bat. He wondered how long it would take her to realize and how she would react when she did. Besides, it wasn't often that he had a conversation with a commoner when they weren't struggling to be respectful or courteous. "Nice to meet you, Lex..." He said quietly, watching where they were going.

"You're welcome," she said, smiling a bit at him. She tugged a bit at the edge of her skirt, then said "And...you can call me Lexi. I don't mind." She glanced back at Cynyr, giving him a smile instead of shying away from his looks, then turned back to Werr and said "So what brings you to this town? Looking for someone? You said something about having to ask a few questions." She walked easily in stride with Werr, just smiling at him and listening quietly to everything he said to her.

"I suppose you could say that. I might as well ask you now; has anything suspicious happened in this town over the past week?" Werr questioned. "Unusual fights, deaths...anything of those sorts? It's not exactly the greatest thing to talk about, I know, but it's important that we know of anything at all out of the ordinary."

((Let's say diseases. The secret artifact can be here. They'll find it and be all confused until Werr puts together that the ring was one that Oridanante himself wore, and for some reason the necklace wasn't written in the book. Which they can ask Titus about (who wrote the book), but his only answer will be, 'some things aren't meant to have records. It was forbidden. Shoo.' xD

But yeah, Sylas and Werr will start to feel sick after a little while here, then the other two. Humans are less resistant to bacteria than cats are.

Also, the artifacts represent death, parasites, disease and to top it all off, invulnerability to all three. It's almost poetic. xD But yeah, that's what balances the artifact when brought together as one. :T))

((Mmk then.))

"Well," Lexi said. "We've had all kinds of diseases break out. Sicknesses like fevers and flu-like symptoms. All of the diseases develope quickly, but so far, only two small children have died from them. All of the sick adults and teenagers are still alive, but the sicknesses haven't lessened yet." She moved her hand up and tucked a strand of her long black hair behind her ear, showing off a bright pearl earring and the soft curve of her neck. "I'm worried..." she said quietly.

"Really?" Werr blinked. Diseases? Nothing in the Book of the Old Ones described a disease causing weapon. Then again, Werr remembered something Ophile told him. That not everything about the Artifacts was written down. There were too many things they could do, and some of them were so arcane that it was forbidden to write them down. So perhaps that had something to do with it. Werr shook his head, then looked back up at Lexi as they arrived at the inn. "Thank you for leading us here, but I have a feeling that I'll get more luck simply talking to you," Werr smiled a bit. "Could you show us where the houses are? Of the children who fell ill?"