The Forgotten Zodiac

"How dare you..." Forin couldn't keep himself from hissing as he slid into the room. "Misfortune upon thee, tormentor of innocence. Hand her over, or prepare to be slain in the most painful way imaginable." He advanced, grabbing a whip and a knife on his way towards the man. He stopped just behind the man, tilting his head to the side slightly. His eyes bore the most hateful look Luna had ever seen. "My orders are clear; I must save Luna. If you get in my way, you will be eliminated. If you get in my way, I will tie you down and break every bone in your body before dragging out your intestines and ripping them apart before you. And then I will make you watch as I tear out your memories, the very fabric of your being. And I will eat them, and oh! How delicious that sounds. I'll force-feed you a couple, too. Just to be sure you get how delicious they are. And then, when you're a sobbing, broken, gut-less mess on the floor, I will rip out your heart and force it down your throat." He said all this in a dull voice, as though he didn't actually care what was being said.

Luna's weakly managed to lift her head a bit, panting hard and staring at him through her pretty turquoise eyes.

The man narrowed his eyes and took a step back, saying "You...you're just a kid! How could you ever do something like that to me? I'm covered in armor and twice your size! The girl is ours, fool, and we'll fight to keep her!" He grabbed a sword from its rack nearby and grabbed Luna from her bonds, dragging her limp form right up next to him and pressing the sword to her throat. "Take him," he said, backing away and dragging the limp Amnairian girl with him as several guards ran forward, weapons drawn.

"Forin...p-please..." Luna begged, her voice merely a whisper. "H-help...me..."

"As you wish," Forin said. The fight proceeded as follows; Forin dropped the whip and knife, then endured exactly two painful cuts before the guards were close enough. He reached in through the throats of two guards, grabbing their spines. A simple jerk and blood sprayed, and Forin pushed them down, standing on his hands (still wrist deep in blood inside the already dead guards' throats) and smashing his feet into the other guard's face, causing a flow of blood to spurt from his nose and mouth. The living guard stumbled, but quickly regained his balance and raised his sword. Forin moved his hand, still supporting his weight on his other, and grabbed up the knife, throwing it deftly at the man. It landed in his forehead, a fatal blow in an instant.

Forin dropped to the side and got on his feet as the last guard, an unarmored female, charged from behind. Forin stepped aside and allowed her to run past, but she crumpled with a scream as she passed him. She fell on her own sword, pierced straight through the lung. Forin raised her leg bone, snapping it in half between his two hands. He flicked his wrist, his whip wrapping around the tip of the blade. A simple pull got the blade away from Luna's neck.

"I give you a final chance, human. Now you see; I can and will do as I said. If you do not turn over the girl, you will die." He snarled, his eyes narrow slits. He normally didn't look like much, but now - with blood dripping from his hair and running down his face in rivets, soaking his clothes and dripping into the large pool already on the floor - Forin Dulce looked short of monstrous.

The man's face had turned stark white and his hands were shaking. With a cowardly shriek, he shoved Luna into Forin's arms and bolted, screaming the entire time about some sort of demonic creature that had come for his soul.

Luna was limp in Forin's arms, panting hard. She slowly looked up at him, her vision flickering, then rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him weakly. "F-Forin..." she wheezed, trying to stay conscious.

"There, there," Forin spoke gently, sweeping Luna up into his arms. "I will not allow any further harm to befall you. Let's get you to Seria," He said softly, lifting her easily and carrying her to the door. He pushed his way out and skirted around a number of guards, all of them laying limply on the ground.

"Zephyr," Forin looked up at the great dragon, realizing at once that something was wrong. Little Boko was bleeding profusely and squealing louder than ever; a spear was embedded in the upper half of his snout, forcing him to keep his mouth open as he wailed and writhed with pain. It was lodged right in the bone, to make it worse. He was smart enough to stay atop his father's head. He was lucky the spear hadn't been thrust in higher, or he would be a dead drakeling.

The spear had gone straight through his tough scales and bone. The reason why was easy enough to taste through the blood in his mouth; the spearhead itself was made from dragon teeth and scales, lined with pure steel to give it an even sharper edge. Forin frowned, unsettled by the sight and the noises Boko was making. "Zephyr, we must return to Seria at once. Pick us up."

Zephyr turned his head very sharply at Forin's voice, his pupils narrowed down to the thinnest slits and his red eyes wide. "What?" he hissed, his voice threatening and angry, and suddenly Forin remembered the time Zephyr had been hurt from the cave-in and had snapped at Nate. Now, it wasn't the emerald dragon that was it.

It was his son.

Zephyr's lips twitched and curled back, still twitching as he fought to not snarl at the Tartaran. He meant well, they all knew that. Zephyr was a very kindhearted dragon to everyone he came across. Every creature in the world, however, had a feral side, including humans.

Zephyr blinked and seemed to calm down somewhat, but he didn't say anything as he picked the two up and leapt up from the ground with all the strength he had in him. He shot off like a rocket, muttering about how the death he had given the soliders wasn't nearly cruel enough.

Luna was limp in Forin's arms, tears still streaking down her face. Forin had to admire her resolve; for the sheer torture she had been put through, she hadn't given up so much as a name. Loyal to her friends to the last.

Forin was indeed impressed. He didn't show it, though, silent as ever. He hadn't completed his mission just yet; Luna could still die if she did not recieve medical attention. Forin held her still, determined not to release her until it was ensured she would be okay.

Boko, on the other hand, was quite literally there; he had dropped into Zephyr's other hand to keep himself from sliding off of Zephyr's head. He couldn't manage to hold on at the moment, and Zephyr was flying extremely quickly at the moment. Boko laid there limply, and for a few brief periods, Forin thought that the little creature was dead. But then Boko would twist himself up and whimper, or just outright scream. His energy was wavering, clearly. Finally, though, he found a position he could hold his head in without having the spear be jostled or having to choke on blood. He laid there with his head tilted to the side, a very uncomfortable position normally. But he held completely still, breathing heavily and trying not to move. Whatever happened, he wouldn't move. At all. Not an inch. He did, however, manage to speak a few words.

"Da-a," He gurgled. "Boko es soweh...et hurths," His claws scraped against Zephyr's, not hard enough to break them but enough to express that he was apologetic. He wouldn't have gotten hurt if he had stayed on Zehpyr's head. But no, he had wanted to help. He didn't expect the guards to have weapons like those.

Zephyr curled his son close to his belly, smoke seeping from his nose. He gave an extra flap of his wings, determined to reach Seria quickly.

They found the others regrouped outside of the town, away from the guards and people in the city. Zephyr landed with a groundshaking thud, growling as he folded his wings. He carefully lowered Boko to the ground, bending his head to nuzzle the little drakeling's coils. He put Forin and Luna down nearby, moving his huge head around to grab Seria by her tail and drag her over, much to her protest. "Heal him," he hissed, sounding angrier than Seria had ever heard him. She fell to her knees next to Boko, gently lifting his head and starting to work the weapon out of him. Once it was out of the way, she closed the wounds, murmuring soothing things to him.

Boko had accidentally bitten down on Seria's arm three times during the healing process. The bite marks weren't too deep, and it was a simple matter for Seria to heal herself. But the fact of the matter was, Boko had been scared and hurt. He pulled away from Seria the moment he felt completely healed, crawling weakly back to Zephyr and pushing his way underneath his father's warm belly. He spent a long while under there opening and closing his mouth, just to be sure his mouth was fixed. Then he lay very still, forcing himself to calm down and focus on Zephyr's breathing. He wasn't anywhere near falling asleep, though; he was still very much terrified of everything but Zephyr's underbelly.

"This weapon..." Nate picked up the spear, looking at it curiously. "This was meant for Zephyr. They knew we had a dragon. If this peirced Boko's scales, then it would do the same for Zephyr." He looked up at the great dragon, then quickly pulled Seria away and back to where Forin was waiting with Luna. "Forin, you seem...better. In spite of all that blood." Nate observed.

"I have Zephyr to thank for that, but it's completely beside the point. You take her," He handed Luna over to Nate so Seria could heal her. "Where is Diana?"

"Over there," Nate jabbed his thumb to where the girl was lying, asleep again. "There's a lake nearby, over that way, so you can wash up."

"Right...I'll let her sleep, then. And I'll wait before washing up, my mission is not complete until Luna is completely safe." Forin looked back at Luna and Seria, watching the healer.

Seria crouched on the ground with Luna in her arms, shaking her head slowly. "Oh, Luna..." she murmured, hugging the girl closely, which made her start crying worse. "I...c-couldn't tell..." she whimpered, sobbing through her fingers. "I....r-refused..."

"It's okay," Seria said, starting up her healing spells and working to reattach the Amnairian's half-ripped-off wings. "Shhh... it's okay." She stroked her hand down the girl's face, noting that, for one of the few times they had seen her, she was in human form. Her skin was pale and her face was delicate and beautiful, even without all of her long silver hair. Cynyr came over and offered his long black cloak to them, and Seria took it and wrapped it around Luna's body. "You're still beautiful, Luna," the healer murmured, slowly working on the whip wounds all over the girl's body. "You are."

The Amnairian shook her head weakly.

Forin reached forward, using his powers to remove the last scraggly strands of her hair. He looked at them quietly, then turned away. "I'll be back," He said, then jogged off towards the town.

"Are you feeling any better, Zephyr?" Nate asked, though he was careful to keep his distance. He still held onto the spear, though he had no intentions to ever use it. He had buried the head in the ground for the time being, so Zephyr wouldn't mistakenly see him as a threat. Nate was planning to dispose of it somehow. The evil spear mustn't be used again, he had decided. Never, ever again.

"How is Boko doing?" Ophile questioned, ears perked. He could hear a small whimper from the little creature from underneath Zephyr at the sound of his name. "Not well, apparently..."

Zephyr growled, snapping his jaws angrily, then bent his head around and murmured comforting things to his child. He shifted a bit and let Boko's tail out, then gently licked his son's coils, closing his eyes and bathing his tongue over Boko. He managed to coax the drakeling out from under him, but he didn't make him go far and he kept his son pressed close against his belly. He growled whenever someone tried to come close and kept washing his tongue down Boko's back, curling the tip under Boko's chin to really groom him all over.

Boko shivered and shook, even as Zephyr cleaned him quite thoroughly. He still seemed scared of something, and he kept glancing over at Nate and the spear. Eventually, he seemed to calm down more, but only after he pushed his coils into Zephyr's mouth, where it was warm and reminiscent of Vaira's pouch.

"Right then." Nate watched from a distance, smiling a bit. "He seems to be doing okay. Let's leave them be," Nate turned away, in time to watch Forin approach again. Seria was done healing Luna by now, and Forin made a beeline for the two of them.

"It's not the same color, nor is it the proper length." He said quietly, putting something on Luna's head. "But it is...what I could put together." He adjusted it until it looked a little more proper. It was a wig; blonde in color. The hair was short, falling only to her shoulder, but it was fringed and styled nicely. And tucked into a small strip was Luna's old hair, the last he could collect, cut to size.

Forin turned away after ensuring the wig would stay on, going down to the lake where he could clean himself up.

Luna froze, slowly reaching up a quivering hand to feel the soft blonde hair of the wig. More tears budded in her eyes and Seria held her as she shook with quiet sobs, now for a different reason. Once she had cried herself out, she just spent several long minutes stroking the soft blonde hair, feeling it over and over and staring in the drection Forin had gone in. After a moment longer, she slowly stood up, still shaking occasionally. She pulled Cynyr's cloak tighter around her body, then murmured something Seria didn't quite catch and shuffled off to sit under a tree, curling up and closing her pretty turquoise eyes.

"You should go clean yourself up too, Luna," Seria suggested gently, looking at the blood soaking Luna's ragged clothes, but the Amnairian shook her head slightly. "I...I'll wait," she whispered, wiping her eyes.

Forin returned several minutes later, his clothes cleaned and his hair free of blood. He had removed the water from his clothing, so it was completely dry. Forin didn't say anything, thankfully. He would have likely commented on their ability to keep track of their friends if he had. But that was normal for him.

No, instead of speaking, Forin sat down next to Diana, who was suffering through a nightmare. He removed that, as well, then laid down next to his summoner, staring up at the midnight moon high above them. He was weary, to say the least. All the powers used had taken a strain on him. He sighed and closed his eyes, his hand slipping around Diana's without too much thought.

Luna had fallen asleep by this time, looking exhausted. Seria sighed, knowing she could make her clean herself up in the morning. She walked over to Cynyr, who was curled up in cat form, and took her own cat form, curling her against him. His rustic purr squeaked out for a minute, but then stopped. He was contentedly licking Werr's arm, for both of them's comfort.

Cynyr flicked his ears in his sleep, then slowly blinked his eyes open and lifted his head. He glanced over at Werr and said "You woke up. I heard your breathing change and it bugged me so badly that I couldn't sleep." He flicked his tail and nuzzled Werr's shoulder, then heard Welk whimper. He turned his head around and pulled the bear between them, saying "Welk? Are you okay."

A small sniffle, then a quiet "...Yes."

"Sorry..." Werr mumured before Welk spoke. "Welk...Welk, thank you so much. You saved my life. I...I owe you so much." He sighed heavily, looking back up at the black sky. It was overcast at the moment. Not even the moon was visible through the thick clouds which Werr surmised were there. "I can only repay you by making you...normal again. I'll get your body back. We'll get your body back. So don't worry, alright?"

Welk was quiet for a moment, then he slowly spoke. "I know...I know you will..." His voice was raspy and soft, weak and tired. "I trust...you..." He hiccupped softly and it was such an adorable little sound, due to him being so weak right now, that Cynyr had to look away to hide the tears it brought to his eyes. Welk continued as best as he could.

"I'm so...tired...and I'm...sad. I've never...been so sad...in all my life. Everything hurts...Werr, it hurts...so much! Werr..." He trailed Werr's name out into a sob, then he said, almost desperately, "Don't let me go. Please...I can't bear it!" He was rapidly sounding frantic. "Don't let me go! Don't let me!"