The Forgotten Zodiac

Diana, taking care to make no sudden movements, slowly lifted her hand and offered it to the deer to smell. She didn't force it on the deer, holding her hand a few inches away from the buck's nose. She still said nothing, where others might mutter things like, 'that's a good deer' and other childish nonsense.

He didn't move, didn't flinch. He just kept staring at her, finally moving his head just a bit closer.

His nose was soft, feeling like warm leather. His black eyes looked right into hers as he dipped his head further, taking another small step forward. He was a perfectly wild deer; he had every right to turn and run, if he wished. But he did nothing except stand still, his ears pointed right to her, staring into her eyes.

Finally, when the deer touched his nose to Diana's hand, she smiled slightly and finally spoke. "Greetings," Was all she said, moving her fingers ever so slightly to scratch above his nose. It was a rather odd sight, a large buck with such nobility, lowering his head and gently moving about a human girl.

He flicked his ears sharply at her voice, but that was the most he did. He pulled back, turning to Lexi, who slowly lifted her hand. He sniffed her fingers quietly, keeping his eyes on her, then seemed to decide they were no threat and turned with a snort, trotting back on proud, muscular legs to his does. They watched him with adoration in their eyes, trusting him completely. The fawns danced around their father, bleating softly. He bent and sniffed them, gracing a few of the does with a brush of his muzzle.

Diana gave a small sigh, leaning against Lexi. "We'll be fine," She said softly, closing her eyes. "We'll be okay..."

"I said hold!" Carlyle hissed at his neighbors, which were currently training their arrows on two unusual people. Cyprus and Cynyr had paused to rest a short distance away.

"You're not giving orders here, kid. The only reason I didn't shoot those girls was because the older one was pretty. These two are neither girls, nor do I find them attractive. Therefore," He muttered, letting an arrow fly. It landed in Cyprus' shoulder.

The Demigod did not take pain very well. His magic had been too far depleted before; but now that his energy levels were peaking again, his defensive magics started working the second the arrow landed. Cyprus' eyes turned to red as blood, staying that ugly color. And absolutely everything went downhill from there. The tree he had been leaning against shriveled up in mere seconds. The grass turned black and crumbled, bushes wilting almost instantly. The effects slowed the further away from Cyprus they were, but they still happened. Thus, the tree that Carlyle and his partner had been hiding in toppled under their weight, sending both humans crashing to the ground.

And Cyprus...well, all he seemed to be saying was 'memememe'. Pained and fearful.

((I am not calling red an ugly color, it's a reflection on how bad the situation is. Just so you know. o3o))

Cynyr snarled and lunged forward, pushing Cyprus to the side. "Watch yourself!" he said, turning towards where Carlyle and his partner had fallen. He curled in front of Cyprus, his eyes darting from tree to tree, then he looked to the two again and advanced, but not before cloaking Cyprus in a wind barrier to protect him. The dark panther ran forward, fast like a flickering shadow, and leapt at Carlyle with claws bared, a thunderous roar echoing from his mouth. If the boy didn't move within the next few seconds, he would be dead.

Carlyle, unfortunately, had his leg trapped under the fallen tree. The other human, however, was not very intelligent. He fired an arrow at Cynyr, stepping into the path of the half cat and his partner. "Die, beast!" The human snarled, attempting to draw his sword. But he was too slow. Cynyr descended upon him with the force of a whirlwind.

"Stop, stop!" Carlyle screeched, then remembered what the girl from before had said. "I met Lexi!"

Cynyr froze, blood that was not his dripping from his mouth. He turned on Carlyle, ignoring the corpse that he had made of his partner. "Lexi?" he said, tilting his head to the side. "Did you say Lexi? Where is she? What did you do to her?!" He was now standing over the boy, looming down into his face with all of the barely-contained ferocity of a tornado, just waiting to strike.

"I-I didn't do anything to her!" Carlyle snapped right back, growing angry. "I told her to leave the forest, I told her it was dangerous! She went into the plains, she had a small girl with her, too...I did nothing to hurt her! I didn't even want to hurt you two, I...Boyle, you idiot..." His fearful expression turned to sorrow. "I'm sorry, I should have stopped that moron..."

Cynyr loomed for a moment longer, then slowly backed away, saying "If he wouldn't have jump in like that, then he might've lived. I can't be held responsable for that; I was protecting myself, as he would've done if our roles were reversed." He brooded on his thoughts for a moment, then said "I'd like nothing more than to kill you right now, but...if you helped Lexi, then I guess I owe you, eh? So alive and well you'll stay. At least for now." He turned and marched back to Cyprus, keeping the shield of wind around the both of them. He didn't trust that Carlyle wouldn't try and shoot him in the back.

((Just realized

Carlyle, Cynyr and Cyprus

CCC xDD))

Carlyle watched Cynyr for a moment before turning to the tree his leg was trapped under. He struggled, but it was useless; he really was stuck. In the meantime, more plants were turning black and dying, though the effect had slowed.

And then Cynyr felt his own energy draining. "Get away from me," Cyprus whimpered, trying to ward Cynyr off; the half-cat would die if he stuck around for too long. But of course, Cynyr couldn't understand him.The Demigod's shoulder was bleeding, but it didn't quite smell like blood. It smelled like sweet flowers and honey (and probably tasted the same), but it was still obviously blood. And the Demigod really didn't like the sight or scent of his own blood. Even though the wound was minor, things were still dying off around him and he was still weeping miserably.

((Haha, nice. xD))

Cynyr pushed forward regardless, saying "I'm going to help you, so shut up already and cut the energy drain." He ran his tongue around the wound, then grasped the arrow and pulled it loose, quickly lifting Cyprus' hand and putting it over the wound, saying "Hold that tightly." He then turned, desending on Carlyle again. But he didn't hurt the boy. He put his shoulder to the tree laying on his leg, digging his claws in and shoving with all of his might.

The tree shifted, rolling slowly off of Carlyle's leg.

Carlyle tested his leg, wiggling his foot. Good...not broken. Sore, but definitely not broken. He stood, brushing himself off. "Thank you..." He said quietly, letting out a small sigh. "What...happened?" He said, looking around.

Cyprus continued his usual chorus of 'memememe's, trembling terribly.

"I have no idea," Cynyr said, glaring at the boy. "You think I can understand all those wacky sounds he's making? No, I can't." He flicked his long black tail, then slid into human form and stood tall, his yellow eyes darting from here to there. He glared at Carlyle, who could only stare at the panther's scars. His metal mask covered around his eyes, true, but there was still a lot open. He turned pointedly away from the boy, saying "Scurry along, kid. You don't want to get caught up in anything here. Unless you're stupid. Or brave. I'd go with stupid."

"I...no!" Carlyle backed up, still staring a bit. "I...I want to help you find Lexi again. I'm a little worried about her...the only reason I didn't escort her was because I had to deal with this moron..." He nudged his partner with his toe, looking upset again. "He was a fool...but..." He rummaged around in the man's pockets, pulling out a letter. Probably to the man's family.

Eventually, the dying stopped. It didn't even begin to right itself, it just stayed black and dead. Cyprus pulled his hand away from the wound, which had healed itself; he cleaned away as much of the blood as he could, sniffling a bit.

Cynyr glared at the boy for a long moment, then said "The second I hear a twang of an arrow leaving that bow, consider your head cut off." He bent and helped Cyprus up, wincing as his stiff joints throbbed. It had been getting worse and worse, but he bore it soundlessly. Even Werr and Welk didn't know how bad it was. He suspected that even Seria didn't know. But he refused to burden them. "Come on," he snapped at Carlyle. "Which way did they go?"

"She headed off this way, towards the pond," Carlyle gestured in that direction, then frowned. "I hope they didn't fall in the ravine...I warned her about that, but...it's kind of unexpected, that hole. Surrounded by tall grass. You can't even see it..." He shifted his weight about, then started towards the plains. "Come on, this way."

Cyprus scrambled after them, whimpering slightly.

Cynyr looped the man's arm around his shoulders, saying "Don't fall over on me, Cy. Just keep on walking." He guided him along, heading after Carlyle, muttering about how if this was a trap, the boy would die first.

It took a while, but they eventually reached the pond. Cynyr glanced around quickly, noting that there were deer prints all around the water's edge. There had been a herd through here. "Lexi?" he called, glancing all around. "Anyone?" Remembering that Carlyle had said Lexi was with a small girl, he put it together and called "Diana?"

((Now, you can either have them be here, or say they moved on with the deer herd, staying with them for a little while for comfort and protection. The stag liked them, so he would've let them follow and not ran away.))

Silence. Carlyle shrugged and moved on; they must have gone past the watering hole, he thought. He didn't say, nor could he possibly know, whether or not they turned anywhere. "We should check the ravine." Carlyle said with a small frown.

"But the deeeeeeer..." Cyprus whimpered, looking down at the prints. Of course, he could sense that Diana and Lexi had gotten up and gone off with the animals. But it was no good, Cynyr probably wouldn't listen to him. No one ever listened to him. They could listen, but they couldn't hear.

And really, Cyprus never had been good at charades.

Cynyr stared at Cyprus as he squeaked and made his noises, then shrugged and said "Come on, let's just keep moving. Hopefully they went to the ravine." He moved on, nudging Cyprus in front of them.

*

Luna kicked a rock as hard as she possibly could, fuming at the ground. "Curse this stupid land, curse these stupid people!" she spat, picking up a rock and chunking it as far as she possibly could throw it. "I hate everything to do with this place!" she hissed, then checked to make sure she had her weapon still, as she had been doing for the past few hours. She cursed nastily, sitting down and staring at the ground, trying to think of what the heck she could do to find her boyfriend, Luen and Diana.

She could think of nothing except getting up and walking, and even that seemed like a bad idea out here.

((Remember, we had stuck her with Nate. If you needed a prompt. ))