The Forgotten Zodiac

Finally, Lexi's trail ended at a small, neat little house nearer to the edge of town. From the outside, it looked like any other home. But the inside was vastly different.

They arrived in time to hear voices. One was Lexi's, small and scared. The other was male, angry and gruff.

"Where were you?" The man speaking was tall, leaned over in a chair by the fire. Werr and Cynyr could see him from the window. He resembled Lexi, and they could clearly see the flash of silver at his neck. A Silver Tornado emblem.

"Just in town, father," Lexi said quietly, stirring a pot of soup.

"Was ya now?" the man said, getting up and rounding on her. "And I suppose that boy I saw you with was just a friend, eh?"

"What boy?" Lexi said quietly, but they heard the fear in her voice.

"You know what boy," her father said. He grabbed her shoulders roughly and spun her around, shaking her violently. "Black hair! The king! You KNOW!"

"Stop it, daddy!" she cried, wrenching away from his crushing grip. He overturned the pot of soup, then struck her hard. She tumbled to the ground, her hand darting up to hold her face where her father had hit her.

Her father loomed over her for a moment, then grabbed her by the collar of her long-sleeved shirt and hauled her off of the ground, saying "You're worthless. You aren't anything like your mother!" He threw her to the side and she slammed against the wall, falling into a limp heap on the ground.

Werr gripped Cynyr's fur tightly, though he slid off of the panther's back. He was gripping so tightly partially due to the anger the sight caused him, and partially due to the fact that he really needed to cough again. But if he did, they would most definitely be discovered. And at this point, they needed to get the jump on Lexi's father. Not the other way around. Werr motioned to Cynyr to move; they needed to go in through the back door, not the front.

Cynyr nodded, then pushed Werr back onto his shoulders and raced around the side of the house, heading for the back door. He only paused long enough to slide Werr off of his back, then lunged forward and threw the door open. He roared and charged forward, slamming into Lexi's father. The two went rolling, making all sorts of fighting sounds.

Lexi blinked wearily, looking around in confusion. "Wha...?" she said, her vision blurry and a trickle of blood coming from her mouth.

Werr finally coughed and coughed now that there was no need to hold it in. He knelt next to Lexi, putting his free hand on her shoulder. "Ar-are you alright?" He managed to mutter past his coughing fits. He even looked sick at this point, and had a raging fever, but he ignored it. Lexi was more important. "It's okay, we're here to stop him..."

Lexi crawled weakly into his arms, crying without sound. "I'm sorry..." she murmured, coughing softly. "I thought...b-because he was my f-father...I had to protect him. I'm sorry, I'm s-so sorry..." She shook her head weakly, watching as Cynyr finally pinned her father to the ground, both panting. Both were bleeding; Lexi's father had pulled out a knife. But with one of Cynyr's paws pressed to his neck and the other paw's claws digging into his wrist with the knife, the man didn't have any choice other than to submit.

He raged and threw nasty curses at them, then shouted about how he should've killed himself and his daughter as soon as his wife and son had died.

"Search him for the artifact," Werr said, leaning back against the wall and breathing heavily, barely able to talk without rasping. "Lexi...did he ever bring in anything unus-unusual or out of the ordinary?" He said, listening to her coughs. Was she getting sick too, then? If the artifact was here, why did it take so long for it to start affecting her? For that matter...why wasn't Cynyr showing symptoms?

((The artifact pays attention to who the weilder is focusing on. Since she paid more attention to Werr than anyone else, it made him sick faster. Same with the newcomers and children. We can say that overnight, her father was taking the artifact to the jail to practice using it himself. :T))

((-nod nod-))

Cynyr took human form and knocked the knife from the man's hand, then proceeded to turn out all of his pockets and clothes, searching thoroughly. "He doesn't have it," he finally said, flicking his tail once before letting it go limp.

"Fools!" the man shouted. "You incur the wrath of the Silver Tornado!"

Lexi shuddered, then said "No, he didn't. At least, not that I remember." She stood up slowly, her legs wobbling, then staggered over to Cynyr and threw her arms around him.

He went completely and utterly stiff, frozen to the spot in a way that Werr normally probably would've laughed at. Unsocial that he was, the move was very unexpected to the panther.

"Please...don't kill him," Lexi said softly, looking down at her father. She then moved away, having to lean on things as she passed.

Werr gripped his staff tightly. His knuckles were white; then again, so was his face. He was starting to have difficulty breathing, too. Normally, he would order the interrogation of the man, but Lexi...Werr didn't think he could do that without hurting her, too. So what was he to do? Let himself die, which was clearly happening in a painful way? Werr wrapped his arms around his chest, for once conflicted about what to do. For all his staff's magic, it couldn't help him now.

Cynyr suddenly coughed lightly, looking miffed. He brushed off his clothes from where Lexi had touched him, then coughed again, flicking his tail. He blinked, then looked back at Werr, staring at the boy. The half-cat was smart, and it didn't take him long to puzzle something out.

"Lexi!" he said, turning to the girl. "Do you have anything weird on you?"

"What?" she said, flinching back, shocked from the bluntness of his question.

"Anything odd or out of place, like...like jewelry or a weapon?" the panther said, coughing again.

"I-I..." Lexi said, tugging at the top of her long-sleeved shirt. "I have my...my mother's necklace." She reached into her shirt and pulled out a golden necklace with a ruby center, and Cynyr immediately knew.

"The artifact," he said, then he advanced on her. "And how long were you planning on keeping that a secret from us?" he growled past another cough.

"The what?" she said, pushing away from him. "I-I really don't know what you're talking about this time!"

"C-Cynyr, enough," Werr ordered, somehow managing to stand again. "Lexi, gi-give it to him..." He said, barely able to talk through his coughing fits. When she hesitated, he quickly grew more and more desperate. Especially when blood sprayed forth from his mouth as he coughed. He wouldn't even be standing if it weren't for his staff supporting him. "Please!"

((Mumble? ;3; I gotz to go to school soooon.))

Lexi's arms trembled with fear, but she jerked the necklace off of her neck and thrust it into Cynyr's hands. The panther immediately bent and placed it on the floor. Instantly, all of his coughing stopped. He moved over and wrapped his arms around Werr, saying "It's okay, hold on." He lowered the boy to the ground, brushing his hair back gently, then turned to Lexi and stared at her. He sighed. He could tell she was innocent; her father had used her. Even now, the man was rambling about things. How he had made the people in the dungeons sick by testing out the artifact on them. How he had lied to Lexi and told her it was from her mother.

The girl settled into the corner, crying quietly and holding her bruised face with one hand.

It took several minutes, but Werr recovered as quickly as the sickness had come on. His fever dropped to a normal temperature, and his coughing became more and more infrequent before stopping altogether. He sat up, spitting out the last of the blood before using his staff to help him stand again. "This thing is dangerous..." He said quietly. "Put it in your bag, so no one else gets sick." He looked over at Lexi, frowning slightly. He stepped over to her, kneeling and saying nothing. Her father would be jailed. He had to be. Her mother was already dead, and her older brother was, as well. Werr knew all too well what it was like to be alone. This girl was alone now. "Lexi..." He sighed, not sure how to ease her pain.

Lexi quivered at his proximity to her, but said nothing. Cynyr stepped close too, then wordlessly pulled her long-sleeved shirt off of her. "What are you doing?" she said weakly, but they both already knew. She had on a normal shirt under the long-sleeved one. The long-sleeved shirt had been cover. Her arms were laced with bruises and cuts, where her father had beaten her. She bit her lip and looked away, whispering "I...I always hoped...that h-he would get b-better... That he w-would be my father a-again. B-but he j-just got worse..." She sank forward into Werr's arms, sobbing. Her whole family and basically her life had been ripped from her. The local authorities wouldn't care that she hadn't had a part in any of the going-ons. She would be sent to the dungeons for being an 'accomplice', where she would most likely live the rest of her life behind bars. Jailed for a crime she hadn't commited.

Cynyr gently touched her shoulder, then looked Werr's way questioningly.

"I--" Werr started, but was cut off by the very thing Lexi was worried about. The warden came marching in, several guards behind him.

"What is going on here? The townsfolk came to me saying they heard fighting. What on earth is this?" He growled unhappily, frowning at Werr.

"We discovered the cause of the illnesses. That man had pled guilty to using this magical artifact," He pointed at the necklace on the floor. "To cause the deaths of those in the jail, and using his own daughter as a tool to make others sick. He is to be jailed at once."

"Certainly, your majesty," The warden snapped, guards marching forward. "And what of his daughter? Shall we jail her, as well?"

"You'll do no such thing!" Werr snapped. "In fact...I want her escorted to my castle. She is to be given one of the rooms there and she will be free to choose what to do upon the time she recovers." Werr looked back down at Lexi, brushing her hair back. "I...I can't help more than this. I would gladly go to the palace with you, but...there are still things I need to do."

Lexi stared up at him, her soft brown eyes full of tears, then she slowly nodded and said "O...okay..." She leaned against him for a moment longer, just thinking about how odd he felt. What she meant by this was that she had never had a warm, gentle male presence near her before. One that didn't curse at her or hit her. She sniffled softly, then carefully tilted her head back against his shoulder and gently kissed his cheek. "Thank you..." she said softly. "For everything..." Then she pulled back and stood up, limping over to the guards, who gently escorted her out of the house.

Cynyr watched her go, then looked down at Werr and said "Well. I think you've got yourself a special little friend there."

Werr flushed. "It's nothing. I just can't stand the sight of a girl crying for any reason," He crossed his arms, knowing full well that his excuse was only half true. "And...she kind of reminds me of myself. In a weird way. At any rate, we've got the artifact. Let's go find Sylas and Leo so we can get out of here. Maybe they went back to Naybrin," Werr frowned, realizing that he hadn't seen or taken note of which way their fathers went. "Either way, we need to find them..."

"Sure," Cynyr said, nudging the boy and grinning. He then sighed and said "Yeah, let's go see if we can rustle 'em up." He helped Werr up, then bent and grabbed the artifact, quickly shoving it into his bag. He didn't want to touch it long, for fear of making someone sick. Namely, Werr. He wrapped his tail around the boy's wrist, his armor clinking with the movement, then said "Come on, we'll check Naybrin first."

"Right. I don't think he'll have gone anywhere," Werr shook his head, attempting to imagine the pandemoniun that would strike if Naybrin were to be seen by the entire town. Had word gotten around that the dragons were on their side? If not, it would be chaotic. Werr sighed and looked back at the house before leaving. The fire had dwindled to just a few embers, casting a dim light on the rest of the small house. Werr closed the door, closing a terrible chapter in a young girl's life at the same time.

Werr thought nothing of this, though, and followed Cynyr down the road. Between his staff and his friend, he managed; he still felt weak after the illness that had ravaged his body, but not as bad as before.

((Last post for now.))

Cynyr led him along until they got out of the town and found Naybrin. The giant dragon was curled up, grooming his paws and making sure to clean each claw individually. He looked up as they approached and smiled, then said "Are you all right?" in concern. He dipped his head forward and nudged Werr once, frowning.

"He's okay," Cynyr said, letting Werr lean against the dragon for a moment as he looked around. "Have you seen Werr's father and Leo?"

"No, I haven't," the dragon said. "And you would do well to call your sire as your father, little wind mage. Mistakes and past aside, he is still your father."

"Alright, alright, shut up," Cynyr snapped, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Have you seen Werr's father and mine?"

"That's a little better," the dragon said, chuckling, then said "No, I haven't. Not since we landed. Why?"

Cynyr cursed.

"Well," Werr sighed. "They split off from us while we were following someone. But we have the artifact...is there any way you can tell us where he might be? He's got to be somewhere..." Werr figured that perhaps Naybrin could search for auras or something of the like; he wasn't sure if his great friend had any limitations as far as that went. "Now that I think about it, my father was getting rather...skittish. Afraid of someone coming after him, I guessed. But...I don't know."

((Sylas and Leo would be stuck in a deep part of the mine, just in case Naybrin does any searching or anything like that. :3 Down in the mines, where the dirty workers grow; down underground where the men see naught but glow. Down, down below, where the sun is just a myth, and little miners are told fables of the dark, deep, great abyss~

Bwahaha, morbid rhymes for the win.))