The Forgotten Zodiac

"Jagat Nurran." Nate nodded. "He's a Gryphon too. I don't think the names are just a coincidence, and--" Nate stopped himself short as a heavy, armored hand landed on his shoulder.

"Nate Furhblast," The rough voice came from behind as Nate was literally lifted off the ground, his struggles simply ignored. "You are under arrest for treason against the throne of Bulliete."

"What?! Excuse me?! Put me down, you hunk of metal and tin, you--" Nate squirmed and struggled, trying desperately to break free, but the hulking man's grip was armored iron.

"Stop resisting. We already have your friends. Get the girl," The man nodded at two others who were waiting, one of which moved into the room to grab Zelana.

Zelana screeched at the top of her lungs, struggling with all of her might, but if Nate couldn't break free, then she stood no chance. They were dragged away, with Zelana still screaming until they put tape over her mouth.

*

They were brought before Izan, and when they looked around, they realized they weren't the only ones who had been captured. Ophile, Spy, Cynyr, Seria, and themselves were held there. Zelana never stopped struggling, taking gryphon form and fighting to free herself.

Seria was holding Cynyr, who was unconscious. They had knocked him out right at the beginning, knowing he was much too powerful to be held by them.

But it wasn't Izan standing there. It was Lennon, and he looked furious. "Izan has declared that his guests will be detained. However many there are. Do you know how angry I am right now?" He was still holding the cake. "It's my wife's birthday today. I'm lucky to get the day off...but here I am having to deal with you lot." He growled, gently setting the cake down on the throne. He sighed, looking towards the guards who weren't holding people down. "How much longer?"

"Well...we have to figure out how to get the Demigod and the dragon without casualties..." The guard replied uncomfortably. "And should we really capture the priestess...?"

"Yes! All of them! Use more chloroform, if you must." Lennon snapped, shaking his head.

"Why are we here?! What does Izan want with us?!" Seria shouted, holding her husband close to herself. "We've been trying our hardest to help him, but he hasn't listened to any of our plans or ideas!" She buried her face into Cynyr's black fur, sobbing. "Please..." she sobbed, clinging desperately to her mate.

There was shouting all of a sudden, then a great icy blue dragon swept past a window outside, several guards clinging to his spikes and looking like nothing more than ants. Naybrin was a force to be reckoned with as he arched back and forth over the town, never letting any guards fall to their death. He would catch the ones that fell off of his enormous body and plunk them down on the ground.

One of the guards dragged Cyprus in a few minutes later. He had likely been drugged or something; he wasn't even crying. He curled up and fell limp when the guard dropped him. He looked around, and smiled a bit when he saw Seria. "They...reek of death..." He said, laughing a bit nervously. He was scared, obviously so.

Tears slid down the female half-cat's cheeks as she stared at him, then she managed to reach out and slid herself and Cynyr close enough so she could take Cyprus' hand. There was screaming outside and further inside the castle, signaling that their friends were being taken hostage as well.

With a booming thud, Naybrin crashed to the ground, struggling to get back up despite the hundreds of chains being thrown about his body. He rose back up, swerving and trying to gain air, and for several minutes, neither side gained ground. He pushed his hardest, flapping his wings rapidly and inching forward, finally snapping enough chains to arch back up into the sky.

Welk, Werr and Lexi were the next to be dragged in. They all had been hit with chloroform, so they were as unconscious as logs. Isslia was the last, tied down and weeping miserably; she didn't want to die. She kept saying that, over and over again. That she didn't want to die.

"Skies above..." Lennon sighed heavily, watching from the window. "What to do with you..."

Fire still flickered along Welk's fur, showing that he had put up a fight. "Urg...j-jerks..." he gurgled before slipping unconscious completely. Lexi was curled close to Werr, her fingers twinned into his shirt, tears dripping unconsciously down her cheeks.

A moment later, Luen ran in, panting and staggering as a bit of chloroform dripped down his flanks. "No! Stop it!" he cried as a few guards ran in after him. "What are you doing?!" he wailed, stumbling backwards.

One of them had Diana slung over his shoulder. Forin had his hands tied, but he followed behind the guard with Diana willingly. When they reached the group, she was dropped on the ground and he curled up around her, desperate to keep her safe. "I hate chloroform..." He grumbled unhappily, trembling a bit as he feared for Diana's life.

"Is that all of them yet? I swear, if I had a gold piece for every one of these people, I could by myself a castle..." Lennon groaned, obviously irritated.

Luen squealed and pitched backwards on his hind legs, but before he could do anything, there was a muffled whump and he fell to the ground, knocked unconscious by a blow to the back of his head. They dragged him over to the others, dumping him near them. Luna was forced in next, as punctuated by her shouting of "Let me go, you ugly brutes, or I'll rip your worthless heads from your bodies!" She was forced to her knees beside Forin, who was able to calm her with a touch. She quivered unhappily, sitting on Diana's other side to guard the child from anything else.

The only one left was Naybrin, and he was proving to be the most difficult. He continued to fight and thrash about in his largest size outside, roaring as he threw guards from side to side. He wouldn't leave the others (it was the only reason why he hadn't flown away already), but he wasn't about to just stand down.

Naybrin's following scream seemed to rend the sky itself in half. He threw his head back and bellowed, sharp teeth flashing, and with a mighty burst of strength and willpower, he even managed to break a few more chains. But when more and more bottles were thrown, he was done. The cholorform had been a cheap trick, one that, while not knocking him unconscious, had weakened him (despite each bottle being smaller than an ant to him). When thrown in such mass, however, not even he could stand against it any longer. Especially when more and more soldiers came out, throwing heavy chains over his body. With a long, echoing roar, he finally collapsed in a heap, the ground shaking under the force of his enormous body hitting the ground. He blinked slowly through heavy lids, staring at Lennon, then, as his eyes grew to mere slits, he whispered "...I know...you..."

Then silence.

"Tch...get him out of here!" Lennon ordered. He turned away in time to miss watching as two of the soldiers climbed on top of Naybrin, taking mallets to the bones in his wings, breaking them in several spots.

Lennon stood before the whole group again. He glared at each and every one of them, then turned away. "Take them." He gave the order, and one by one, they were dragged off, their destination unknown.

The silent midnight vigils were starting to get to the dragons. It was beginning to seem like the Drakelings had delivered only empty threats. Boko was miserable; none of the other dragon young would so much as look at him, and Vaira had to be away to help fight. But that was only part of why he was so down. He felt at fault. He felt selfish, and mean...this war was going to be fought over him, and he knew it.

A shadow flickered behind him, then, slowly, a small dragon stepped out. She was young, a bit more so than Boko, and she was a simmering red color. Golden yellow marks adorned her body in swirls, and she had dots under her eyes like Vaira. She glanced from side to side, then spotted Boko and flinched. They froze, staring at each other for a long moment, then she slowly extended her muzzle to sniff each other. On catching her scent, Boko recognized her; Shiya, mockingly called 'Shy' by a few of the older younglings. She was always very quiet and, like the taunt said, shy. But she tilted her head at Boko and said "U-um...hello."

Boko sighed. "Hello, Shiya." He said quietly, his tail tip flicking around to cover his claws and touch his nose. "You're not going to ignore me like all the other dragons? I thought everyone knew that all this is my fault..." He sighed unhappily, keeping his chin on the ground. He hadn't been eating anything, and he had to do a funny little cough to cover up the growling from his stomach. He didn't want to eat. He didn't want to be more selfish than he already was.

She tilted her head at him, then said "I didn't think this was your fault. I heard there was an accident and the drakelings lost something. Surely that wouldn't be your fault." She hesitated, then bent her head and gave him a soft nuzzle, saying "You always were the only one that didn't taunt me for being so shy. You played with me when I couldn't get the courage to go out from the shadows. I...thought we were friends, right? Friends don't lie to each other." She touched her muzzle gently to his, then lowered her head a bit and said "I...I brought you a few fishes..." She opened her wings, which had been curled tightly against her back, and revealed a few good-sized fish that were bathed in her sweet scent from being held in her wings. "Here," she said, nudging them towards him. "I caught them myself. F-for you..."

Boko stared at the fish for a long while before shaking his head. "I'm not hungry," He said quietly. "The accident...I don't know about the accident, but...it was my fault the Drakelings ever wanted to attack in the first place. I was important to them, but I decided to stay here...I'm not lying to you at all. It's my fault this ever happened...if I had just been a good boy and gone home, this...wouldn't have happened..." He whimpered. "And now...dragons could die because of me...because of my selfish want to stay here..."

Shiya tilted her head, then curled up close to him and nuzzled him gently, saying "But Boko...you wanted to stay with your family, right? The ones that love and cherish you? How can you be selfish for wanting to stay with your family? The drakelings aren't your family anymore." She nuzzled under his chin, saying "We are. Doesn't that...mean anything to you?" She stared at him, her soft blue eyes dark in the night light.

"That means everything to me..." Boko sniffed, starting to cry. "I'm not ungrateful...I love all of you, even if you all don't love me back. I just...I'm sorry..." He pressed his face into the scales at the base of her neck. Then he wept, heartbroken over this war that was occuring. "I hate all this...I hate myself...and now, there's nothing I can do...I can't change anything, and I can't even stop them from fighting..." He cried quietly, not wanting the other dragons to see. Maybe he thought they'd make fun of him. Maybe he didn't want them to see him feeling sorry for himself. Or maybe...he was just a lonely little boy with a heavy heart and a lot on his mind.

Shiya curled herself around him, remembering how he had let her cry on him when the other dragonlings had harshly made fun of her one day. She licked his muzzle softly a few times, cooing softly. "What's done is done, right?" she said softly. "All we can do now is...fight for what we believe in. For our home and our family. If you can't stop the war, then you can help win it, can't you?" She gently stroked her tongue up his muzzle, setting one of her paws over his.