The Forgotten Zodiac

"I already have them," Ophile snorted with a small chuckle, following after Naybrin willingly. "At least, most of your past life. And now the start of the world. Or...at least, what I think was the start of the world. That's most curious...I'll start sifting through those, yes?" He nodded, then fell silent, following after Naybrin, ignoring the fact that he and Naybrin were ignoring his first suggestion that they not move.

Breathe. In, out. In, out. Forin stayed where he was, knowing that he had little chance of getting down on his own. At least, not without breaking his legs. He was in a tall pine, clutching the thin trunk with his vice-like grip. He wasn't going to fall. He wasn't even moving; he was balanced precariously on a branch that had already cracked once. The next branch down looked thicker, but it was too far down for Forin to safely reach. And just dropping down would definitely break it.

Furthermore, there were archers around. Forin could sense them. He had been dressed in clothes that weren't his; Herrace's emblem was visible on his shirt and cloak. They were the only reason he hadn't been shot out of the trees yet; the archers thought he was on their side. So even if he could have gotten down, he would be seen as suspicious and probably shot full of arrows. Only one question kept nagging Forin, as he watched the forest below.

How in the name of the Goddess did he get put up here in the first place?!

A familiar voice broke Forin's concentration (and nearly his hand hold, with how loud it was).

"What? WHAT? What're you lookin' at, huh? Oh, sure, just blow me off like that- HEY! HEY, HEY! No arrows, what the- jerk! Yeah, same to you, buddy! I hope you get your face ripped off! Ack, more arrows?! Cut it out!"

Welk raced around under the trees, hissing as another archer took a mock-shot at him. "Dude!" he shouted, waving a fist at him. "I'll knock your lousy head off! What, don't believe me?! Why you..."

"WELK!" Forin yelled. "Stop messing around and get us both out of here, you bird-brained cat!" He yelled down at the half-cat, throwing a pinecone down at him. Of course, he didn't have a bow. And even if he did, he wouldn't just fire at Welk. He didn't want to hurt his only chance of getting out of the blasted tree. Welk had wings, after all.

Welk froze, staring up at Forin. "FORIN!" he called, having no sense of being quiet. "You're in a tree!"

As if he hadn't noticed that.

"Ha ha! How'd you get up there?" Welk called with a grin, spreading his wings and arching upwards after the Tartaran. "Ack, no more pinecones!" he said as Forin chunked another at him.

"JUST GET US BOTH OUT OF HERE BEFORE WE'RE KILLED, YOU IDIOT!" Forin screeched at him, throwing yet another pinecone. "I don't know how I got up here, but I know how I'm getting down! You, fly up here and save me, you little furball!"

"I have an idea!" Welk said, hovering out of Forin's reach. "Why don't you SHUT UP before I drop you instead of fly you down?!" He crossed his arms, glaring at him. "I don't have to help you, ya know!" he said. "I could let you sit up here all day!" He flew in and hovered lightly over him, slowly moving closer to the Tartaran. "Come on, let's just get this over with," he said, then put his arms under Forin's and tugged him out of the tree.

"Geez, what do you eat for breakfast? Bricks?" Welk said as they immediately fell several feet. He flapped his wings as hard as he could, managing to fly properly after getting adjusted to Forin's weight.

"I don't want to be shot down either!" Welk said, arching upwards to avoid the arrows. He swept to the left, dodging the arrows, then shook a fist at the archers and said "Same to you, pal! I hope you fall out of that tree!" He hefted Forin a bit higher, wrapping his arms around the Tartaran's torso. He banked suddenly in the air and whipped upside-down, using the momentum to fling Forin upwards. He shifted in an instant, taking lion form, and caught Forin right when he came down. "Much better," Welk said, flying much better now that they weren't quite so lop-sided.

Forin clung tight onto Welk's fur, grumbling about feeling sick. "Let's just go find out where the others went. A-and quickly, before we have to clean vomit out of your fur!" He growled, but was unable to hide the small whimper at the end. "Find Diana. Look for Diana first."

"Pipe down, will ya?" Welk snapped, arching off into the air. "I can barely hear anything over- AUGH!" He cried out in pain as an arrow tore through one of his wings, ripping the delicate feathers to shreds. Blood splattered everywhere as the lion lurched to the side, falling rapidly to the ground. Struggling, he managed to keep flying long enough to get away from the archers, but that was it. He went down after that, managing to flap his wings quick enough so the landing wasn't quite so rough. He panted, laying quietly on the ground and staring at his injured wing.

Forin frowned. Perfect...he looked around quickly, spotting movement out of the corner of his eye. A throwing knife landed in his arm; a scout weapon. Which meant a unit wasn't far behind...Forin grabbed Welk under the arms, hoisting him up. "Let's move! If you can't fly, run!" He snarled, starting off into the woods.

It didn't take long before they found the plains. Forin kept running, ducking low among the tall grass. The huge yellow blades of the Morrow grass rose a bit above their heads, which was a good thing. Even in the plains, they had cover, and Forin was confident enough to keep dragging Welk out further.

((They'll come up on Isslia soon, unless you wanted someone else to find her.))

((That's fine. It'll give Welk a chance to be closer with her, too.))

"Let go, man!" Welk said, his damaged wing hanging low against the ground. "I'm moving, I'm moving! Trust me..." He held his wing close for a moment as they ran, slowly licking the blood away (despite being in human form), then said "Ugh, that looks nasty..." He moved to pull his wing into his body and had to bite back a yelp. It hurt like fire. He had to chuckle at that, knowing fire couldn't hurt him, then said "I can't stop the bleeding. It's too deep." He proceeded to rip part of his shirt away, which revealed his stomach, and slowly bound it around the wound, saying "I'll have to tend to it later..."

"Right..." Forin nodded, slowing down. Which was lucky, because if he hadn't slowed himself down, he would have fallen right into a large crevise in the ground. His feet hit the edge, and he had to throw himself backwards to keep from falling in. "What the--?!" He spluttered, peering down. "That would have been bad..." The drop wasn't too far down, but it was far enough to break bone if one landed on something valuable. Forin peered harder into the gloom, spotting what looked like a fallen soldier. A rope was tied around his neck, but no part of it was up here...

"Welk, come look at this, there's a--"

"Welk? Master?" Isslia's voice came from down below. Forin watched as the girl crawled out from behind a rock. "Welk, you found me!" She said, tearing up. "Thank goodness..."

"Isslia? Isslia!" he called, bending down onto all fours to peer down at her. "You're alive!" He couldn't explain the joy he felt at looking at her. It was...special. "Also, don't call me master," he said, smiling in relief as he stared down at her. There were two other very important things missing, however, and he could already feel his stress creeping up on him as he thought about it.

Werr and Cynyr.

He sighed, then stood up and grabbed Forin, saying "Going down!" He leapt off, fanning his uninjured wing out and flapping hard to slow their freefall. The result was a bumpy-but-not-quite-hard landing.

Isslia watched as they glided down. Forin knew immediately that they would have a hard time getting anywhere; Isslia's leg was sitting at an awkward angle, obviously broken. He looked over at the body; the man had been strangled.

"What happened?" Forin blinked. "This rope..." He looked around, then wondered aloud. "Looks like he was climbing down, but..."

"I pulled him down. The rope snapped." Isslia said quietly. "He was stunned, so I could get behind him, and..." She shivered, closing her eyes. "I didn't wa-want to...but he would have killed me, s-so..." She started crying, putting a hand over her mouth. Forin sighed, not wanting to deal with this sort of issue.

Welk took on a shocked, sad expression, and he slowly bent, putting his arms and wings around Isslia, emersing her in his soft, heat-filled feathers. "I felt the same when I first killed someone too," he said. "But I didn't have time to think about it. Over time, I knew that even though I had killed someone, there was nothing else I could've done. I had needed to stay alive. If not...I would never have been able protect my friends to the depth that I have. ...And I wouldn't have met you." He tilted her chin up gently, making her look at him.

Isslia sniffed a bit, trembling. "I know...I know..." She closed her eyes, pushing herself close to him. Suddenly, she recoiled, her hands moving to put pressure on her leg. "Ow, ow, ow...it's broken, I know it's broken..." She squeezed her eyes shut. "It hurts so much, I can't even look at it...ca-can you fix it, Welk? Please?"

"Welk's no healing mage," Forin shook his head with a snort. "You're out of luck there."

Welk gave Forin a subtle kick, saying "While I'm not healer, I can help. I remember Cynyr telling me once about how he healed Werr once, a long time ago. But first, we need to straighten the bones. It'll hurt, but it has to be done." He hesitated, then kissed her forehead softly, saying "It's okay, Isslia. I'll protect you now. I..." He stopped himself there, turning away to find some sticks to brace her leg with.

There were nothing but rocks down here. At least they had rope, it was a start. Forin started helping, and eventually, the Tartaran got an idea. "Let's use the spine," He said, kicking the fallen man. "It won't be too hard to get it out. I mean, we can't really clean it off..." He felt at his side for his sword. Vorpal...was not there. Shoot. Forin shook it off and grabbed the dead soldier's sword, waiting for approval from Welk.

Isslia, however, looked terrified at the idea. "I don't want to be haunted because you stole his spine!" She shrieked. "No, I won't let you!" She said, though she had no real way of stopping Forin.

Welk stepped protectively in front of Isslia, saying "That's disgusting, Forin! What is your problem?! Using a dead man's spine as a tool? That's wrong! It's sick and twisted gross and sick and SICK. We'll find something else." He thought for a moment, then said "Hey, give me all of his armor. I'll heat it up and mold it into the right shape with my hands, since heat can't burn me, and then pull the heat out to harden it. That'll work much better."