The Forgotten Zodiac

The rant, however, was postponed by the arrival of another. Lennon, the head guard of the castle. Appointed about a year ago, he was usually stoic and completely silent. But not today, apparently. Neither of them realized he was there until he spoke, at that. "Merchandise can be more than common, child." He said quietly, folding his hands behind his back. "Are you perhaps ungrateful for where your father decided to leave you? Would you prefer to be in the slums of the outskirt cities, in danger of being taken at a moment's notice and slain by Herrace soldiers?" He spoke lightly, a curt smile on his face. Lennon was creepy, certainly, but he did a good job. It was as though he had eyes in every corner; he had captured a thief recently, who had been hiding in the rafters above the chandelier in the throne room.

The most astonishing part was the fact that there were no other guards. They were dispersed throughout the capital city, not the castle. Lennon merely strolled about from time to time, and sat in the throne room with the emperor for the rest of the time. He never seemed to sleep and he never needed help guarding anything. But if anyone thought for a second that the castle was unprotected, they were incorrect, indeed. Freak as he was, Lennon only seemed interested in keeping the inhabitants of the castle safe.

Mirage turned and glared at him, curling her lip unhappily, then said "You don't know what I mean, Lennon. Don't eve start with me now." She turned on her heel and stomped off, crossing her arms angrily.

Dmitry watched her go, then sighed heavily and glanced over at Lennon. "...Sorry, 'bout that,' he said quietly. "It is hard, however...when we lost our mother and then our father so quickly after each other. And when our mother was pregnant, too. We hope they're alive, but...it's hard." He pushed his glasses further up on his nose, then shook himself and went back to scribbling in his book. "I don't really know what else to say, of course," he said. "I just prefer to spend my time writing."

"I know." Lennon shrugged. "I know how that can be, as well. Missing parents are no joke." He said thoughtfully. "Do you have any concerns aside from that? Goodness knows I don't want the precious prince of Bulliete to be distressed. You might want to take a trip, and if you take a trip...I can't protect you as well. That would be awful. I already have a hard time with the emperor visiting the commoners in the capital city..."

Dmitry sighed, giving his narrow face a slight shake. "No, I don't want to leave just yet," he said. "I couldn't go without taking Mirage with me, anyways. I...could never leave her." He shrugged and fiddled with the single gold stud in his left ear. "Either way, I would rather stick close. Who knows? Maybe dad will come back someday... He never did like politics, though..."

"You seem to know a lot about this man that threw you aside." Lennon said quietly, frowning ever so slightly as he brushed a strand of his brown hair back behind his ear. Lennon appeared to be quite the cunning, wise man, although he was clearly getting on in the years. This didn't seem to affect his strength, though; he was still well capable of taking out anyone who dared stepped up to him. He had been challenged for his position multiple times by the guards left to their city duties, but no one had beaten him yet.

"I guess he is indeed your father, though." He shrugged slightly. "Do you really still love him enough to care?"

"It wasn't too long ago that he left, you know," Dmitry replied. "And I can't help but still love him. At least...I'm not sure. I just...want him back." He exhaled heavily, then slowly picked up his pencil and scribbled another line before setting it back down. "I just want him to be our father again, but it seems impossible. The only thing he loves now is...money." He sighed again, returning to his scribbling.

"Well," Lennon shrugged, turning away at last. "The love of money is the root of all evil, or so they say. Perhaps he'll return, though. Perhaps not. Time answers all questions. At any rate, I must return to the emperor's side. My apologies for bothering you. I can't help but be excited...the king of Alastor Is coming at last, after all. We have that to hope for, do we not?"

(('Excited', he says. ;3; Bah. xD))

Dmitry watched him turn, then said "I suppose so. I'll be the judge of if we can hope for anything or not. Because personally, all I see when I look at the king of Alastor is an over-glorified young man that's probably hyped up on past wins and believes he knows how to solve our problems." He snorted, showing off a few sharp teeth, then sighed and said "Oh well. We'll see how he turns out, I imagine."

((Oh no, he's quite excited. xD Cyprus may have been destroyed, but his spirit wanders about. Yemara, on the other hand, is trapped in her temple. Obelisk is going to use our little heroes to finally release her. :3))

Dmitry clearly didn't realize the real purpose Werr was actually coming, apparently. He didn't want to fight or win at all; he didn't believe they could win. All he wanted to do was evacuating all who were willing to leave. All who were willing to come into the safety of Alastor.

"Yes, we will see..." Lennon smiled slightly as he walked away, returning to the throne room.

"There you are," The emperor frowned. "It's not like you to wander off."

"My apologies. I merely wanted a word with your heirs." The guard shrugged solemnly, smiling a bit.

"Oh, whatever. The king is coming today, is he not? What preparations have been made?"

"All of them, my liege. We've been planning for this day for a year now. We're more than ready." Lennon replied smoothly, taking his humble wooden seat next to the magnificent throne.

((Dunno what else can be done here. 936))

((Obelisk, youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. :shakefish:

Yeah, we'll go back to the others.))

Welk curled a bit closer to Werr, sighing against his friend's shirt.

They were high in the sky, soaring through the clouds on Naybrin. Welk had dozed off for a little while, leaning against one of the people who was closest to him, in more ways than one. He was awake now, but just keeping quiet  and enjoying his time with Werr. He moved a hand around the boy and gave one of Lexi's soft curls a gentle tug, grinning as she flinched and glanced behind herself, bewildered, at Werr.

((It's Lennon, not Obelisk. 936

It'll be even MORE fun when an assassin sneaks in with our group and tries to attack, then Lennon takes the hit for the emperor right through the chest and Lexi runs up to heal him and realizes who he is and he recognizes her and...oDo moment. >:3))

Werr rolled his eyes. "It was Welk," He said simply, and it was easy to tell that he was telling the truth. He had no real reason to lie, after all. They were still fairly distant from their destination, even though they had crossed over the beaches not too long ago. Nate was...less than happy. The ocean was huge. And all of it was water. So much water...

((:P

Also, I'm going to punch Obelisk, with my own fist. I hate him but I still want to like him. :shakefish: ))

Lexi blinked and smiled softly, then leaned back against Werr and sighed, putting her face close to his neck. Welk smiled and flicked his short tail, then sighed and remembered the day it had gotten hacked off. How Werr had gently held the bleeding stump and had comforted him and held him close. It made Welk smile to remember his friend's kindness, and he nuzzled closer to Werr with the memory.

((>:3 It's all part of his magical plans.))

Werr, feeling very much surrounded by love, did nothing but relax as he held Lexi close and scratched Welk with his other hand. It was a long trip forward, but it was one that he could bear to sit still during, especially from the way his friends were leaning against him.

It was indeed a long time before they spotted land. The sun was setting as they did. Naybrin may have been the first king, but he was still tired. A full day of flying, and it wasn't like a flight from Storaph to Alastor. There had been no rest stops, no places where they could let Naybrin stop for a second. The ocean was far too massive for that, and Nate wouldn't be able to handle being that close to a body of water as big as this one. He would probably have passed out at the suggestion.

But at last, they were able to land. A small crowd had gathered near the docks, eager to greet who they considered could very well be their coming savior. Or perhaps some of them just wanted to see the dragon.

They were quick to scramble out of the way as Naybrin swept in for a landing, beating his wings rapidly in order to hover. He landed and folded his wings in, snorting and breathing hard. The flight had been long and he had abided by Nate's wishes and hadn't landed in the water to swim even once, so needless to say, he was exhausted. But he smiled as the crowd chattered excitedly over him, though they didn't risk coming close. He laid down on a spot of grass, letting out a wheezy sigh.

"LAND." Nate was the first to slide off, practically planting his face on the ground. He inhaled deeply, then sat up and looked at the crowd, some of whom were staring at him. He slowly put together a sentence in his head, and said, "It was a long flight," In their language. There were a few chortles from the cluster of people.

"Rest up, Naybrin. We've still got a ways to go." Werr patted his old friend's side. "We can rest here for the evening, alright?"

Naybrin nodded once, saying "Of course. Thank you." He glanced to the side as someone managed to work up the nerve to come forward and greet him. It was a younger girl, and the two quickly struck up a conversation. Upon seeing that the huge dragon wasn't going to eat her head off, the others came forward and began to greet and question him and the others.

Welk looked a bit uncomfortable in Werr's regal clothing, but he never complained even once, showing how good of a friend he was. He tried to stand still and not wiggle and run around like he normally would, but Werr could tell he was feeling uneasy.

Werr stuck close, carrying both Welk's bag and his own. It made Welk look more important and himself less. Which was what they wanted. "It's okay," He said quietly to his friend in their own language, so the people here wouldn't understand him. "You're doing good. Just...just a little while longer. We'll get to the inn before long...they'll have been expecting us, so they should have a room somewhere..." The people here were staring at Welk, some of them looking shocked, a few of them focusing on his ears.

Werr finally asked them a question. "How often do you people see Lerlochs?"

"Lerlochs?" The girl he was asking frowned at him. "Nethinis."

"Nethinis?" Werr blinked. The Bulliet word for 'lesser'. The girl just shrugged and moved away, confused. Mostly about why Werr seemed so confused.

((Make sure they all stick together, unless you want someone being kidnapped. :3 There aren't any rich people in the immediate town, we won't see any slave Lerlochs.))

Cynyr slid down after them, helping Seria off. Luen tripped and fell down, but Forin, Diana and Luna didn't allow him to stay down. They quickly helped him back up, and Luna gently touched the bruise on his chin, healing it softly. He smiled gratefully at her, then took deer form and let Diana up onto his back, where he had a brand-new saddle. Welk had helped him make it, and it now looked like a real saddle, rather than a pillow and some blankets sewn into one. It was soft and cushioned on the underside, so Luen could wear it for a long time, and it was enchanted to disappear if it was on his back and he wanted to switch to human form. Normally, of course, Diana or Forin would take it off of him and relieve him of the weight, as if he stayed in human form while he had the saddle in deer form, he would be left with an unbelieveable itching feeling that never went away unless the saddle was taken off in deer form.

Several people stared and murmured to each other when he transformed, watching his every movement closely.

Welk frowned at them, but ignored them and stuck close to Werr, the two friends not wanting to be separated at all.

Werr stuck close like a personal servant would, though he clearly wasn't used to playing such a role. Forin had to remind him twice that he should be slouching, drawing as little attention to himself as possible. He was used to standing up straight and tall, with an air of confidence. He was normally fairly humble in speech and action, but his entire demeanor had been trained to be kinglike.

"Where is the inn?" Werr finally asked.

"I'll lead you," A young boy stepped forward, beaming. "Come this way!" He ran ahead, towards the town.

Welk was also having a hard time playing his role. He clearly wanted to run about and explore, and although it was easy for him to stand up straight (in the midset of a loyal knight), he couldn't stand still. He fidgeted and flicked his tail and ears quickly, all signs that he was energetic right now. But he was also nervous, as he had been ever since they had encountered Malice so long ago. He turned at nearly every sound, making sure it wasn't something sneaking up on them.