The Forgotten Zodiac

"It's a bit risky for you, don't you think?" Nate called as he tackled a guard that had been attempting to climb up Dmitry's tail. "I mean, no offense, but you're not exactly the strongest person around...I would have thought you'd have Marion with you, too."

"Oh, just let him help," Ophile chortled.

Dmitry snorted, then said "Marion agreed to stay with the others while I came to assist you. And I'm in wyvern form." He turned and rammed his horned head into a group of the guards, rendering them unconscious from the blow. He concentrated for a moment, then released a burst of fire from his mouth. It wasn't nearly as powerful as a normal dragon's fire, but it was still strong enough to melt the guard's armor. He looked saddened, however, by all of the fighting. "We're hurting them..." he muttered under his breath, swinging his tail around and bowling several guards off of their feet.

"They'll hurt us if we don't," Ophile wound up taking a break on Dmitry's back. He was starting to show his age a bit, to be honest. All the running around was getting to him. "Just save the thinking about it for later, and don't slow down. All we can do is hope they'll surrender, or--" He yelped and tumbled off of Dmitry when an arrow landed in his hind leg. He crashed to the ground, and Isslia let out a short wail, but not out of pain; Ophile had landed badly on his front leg, which was now twisted in a very ugly looking way. Definitely broken.

Dmitry yelped and turned, crouching over them as he shot fire at guard after guard, fueled with the desire to protect them. Welk saw what had happened and ran over at Isslia's wail, followed by Lexi. The black-haired girl crouched quickly by Ophile, biting her lip in fear. She wasn't a fast healer...her strenght was endurance, not power...

Welk licked Isslia gentle with his rough cat tongue, then turned to engulf a guard in fire as they were approached on. He snarled, bearing his sharp white fangs and shaking his mane.

Isslia pushed Welk off, surprisingly. She stood and brushed herself off, ignoring the fact that her head was brushing the bottom of Dmitry's belly. "I'm okay," She said quickly, smiling at Welk a bit. "Don't worry about me, you still need to fight," She bit her lip, kneeling again to help Lexi tend to Ophile's wounds.

The fighting, however, was subsiding. Several of the guards were fleeing; it just wasn't worth it anymore. A younger guard, seriously burned and badly injured, leaned back against the wall next to the door and just watched them dully. There wasn't any more point left in fighting back. If these people wanted them dead, they'd be dead. There was nothing left to do but sit down and wait for the healer to show up.

Welk persisted, walking circles around Isslia and occasionally nuzzling her with a soft whimper, always concerned. He licked her cheek, watching Lexi as the girl's magic droned on with a soft buzz, her hands glowing turquoise.

Dmitry craned his head around at the young guard, his blue eyes sad. He bent his head around and began to kindly lick his wounds, bathing them in his saliva. His spit wasn't as powerful as a regular dragon's, but he didn't care. It would do for now.

The man stared for a good long while more, then passed out as Dmitry licked him.

"Your gentle touch rivals Seria's," Ophile chortled, feeling much better as Lexi slowly healed his legs. "The deed is done, I suppose...that felt too easy, though..." He snorted a bit.

Isslia wrapped her arms around Welk's furry neck, smiling a bit. "Really, Welk, I'm fine...just tired. But I can sleep on the way back to Herrace..."

 Lexi smiled weakly at Ophile, gently kissing the bridge of his muzzle. "I'll never be as good as Seria," she murmured, moving a hand up to rub his ears gently. She kissed his forehead, then returned to her work.

Welk stuck to lion form, sitting neatly on his haunches and wrapping his paws around her waist. He nuzzled her over and over, gently licking her forehead.

"Sure," Dmitry said quietly, looking tired. "I'll do the best I can. Let's just move quickly, okay? Come on, let's go." He laid down on his belly, his gray-and-black scales glinting dully.

Welk shifted forms and helped Isslia up, leading her over to the wyvern and helping her up. He then turned to help the others, especially the wounded. He walked over to Nate and tugged on his hand, saying "Come on, Natey, let's get going." He looped the dragonian's arm around his shoulders, beginning to walk to the wyvern.

Cynyr bent and touched Lexi's shoulder, saying "Go get on," before scooping Ophile up.

Ophile rested his head on Cynyr's shoulder, happy to be carried by his friend for the short amount of time that it took to get him onto Dmitry. After everyone was on and ready, Dmitry was able to set off; it was only a short few minutes before he reached the temple again, where the carriage was.

The coffin was there, untouched. Picking Werr up and setting off again was an easy task for Dmitry; the long flight back to Herrace, however...

---

"Vaira," Vuker and Lutrez called desperately into the cave where the large female laid. Vuker was the first to fly in and yell, "Boko was playing with us in the fields and he fell!"

"He fell into the trap, the trap that he and that girl were making," Lutrez wailed. "You've gotta help him, Vaira, he's bleeding real bad!"

((Decided to flick back to these lot. xD It's been awhile, soz.))

Vaira jerked her head up in horror, her yellow eyes twisting and narrowing to miniscule points, her ears standing erect on her head. She leapt up at once, racing off towards the fields. Lutrez and Vuker had to run as fast as they could after her.

To her surprise, there was someone already there, aside from Shiya.

"Easy, little one, easy," Tygan Dread murmured, stroking Boko's head gently as the little bat avon, Flanis, grumbled on and on about idiotic drakelings as he worked on Boko's wounds.

((:3))

Boko was limp and bloody. His head was in Tygan's lap as he moaned and whimpered, too weak to cry out until he spotted his mother. "Mommy," He whimpered, limping away from Tygan and Flanis. He didn't make it more than a couple steps. He had large holes in his side and one dangerously close to his neck; a whole spike was buried in his leg, and his wings had been shredded. Blood leaked from his mouth as he started to cry and claw uselessly at the ground.

"Who are you two?! Back off!" Lutrez landed between Boko and Tygan, snapping furiously.

"Stop it, Lutrez, they were helping," Vuker interrupted, nosing the younger dragon out of the way. "They must know Boko somehow. They got him out of the pit without hurting him more," He pointed out.

Vaira's heavy tongue pressed down on her baby, burning with healing powers. Tygan moved forward at once, saying "My dear dragoness, please! Allow me to remove the spike first! Flanis, we require painkillers."

"Purely painkillers, HUH," the bat snorted, but he dug through his bag nevertheless and pulled out a small syringe. He hopped over and inserted the needle into a groove between Boko's smooth scales, pumping the liquid out into his bloodstream. Slowly, the pain disappeared.

Tygan moved close and gently began to tug the spike loose. "Hold up, hold up," Flanis squeaked. "It'll splinter." He dug into his bag again, then pulled out a beaker and hopped to Vaira. He dunked the beaker into a pool of her saliva, then hopped over and poured it onto the spike. "It'll slide better now," he said, watching sullenly with his foggy white eyes as Tygan pulled it lose and stood back.

"Now, madam dragoness," he said gently, and Vaira covered her child with her tongue, crooning sadly.

Boko wound up hugging Vaira's tongue, making sure that Vaira's saliva got all over his wounds. When that was done, he pushed his head into the dragon queen's pouch. Just his head for now.

"Aw...poor Boko..." Lutrez murmured, sitting next to his friend. Vuker, however, looked towards Tygan and Flanis.

"How do you know our friend?" He asked. He sounded curious and gently quiet. Not angry or hostile.

"We've never seen him before! We've got no alligence!" Flanis squeaked, but Tygan placed a hand gently over his mouth and answered instead. "We met him quite a long time ago and made friends," the hawk said softly. "We were passing by when Flanis smelled blood. He wanted to stop and 'feast', and he told me it was already dead, so..."

"So we stopped and as it turned out, it wasn't dead!" Flanis answered angrily. "I was denied, I tell you!"

"Silence, please," Tygan said.

"I see..." Vuker flicked his tail about. "And you helped him." He guessed, smiling a bit. "I hope you aren't looking for a meal right now...although I can hunt for you, if you'd like. It's the least I could do for saving our friend and prince."

"What were you saying about alligences, anyway?" Lutrez giggled a bit. "Drakelings and Dragons aren't fighting anymore. You can like whoever you want."

"Uh...I still claim no alligence!" Flanis yipped, then squealed as Tygan pushed him over. "That is more than enough," the hawk said sternly. "Yes, drakeling, we would greatly enjoy food. We haven't decently for a while."

"Just give mine lots of blood," Flanis snarled.

The drakeling nodded, then took off in search of fresh (bloody) food.

"Well...thank you either way," Lutrez said, then flew off after Vuker, intending to get some clean, cold water for them both.

By this time, Boko felt well enough to remove his head from his mother's pouch. He inspected his wounds, then uselessly flapped his ruined wings; he sighed a bit, then crawled up Vaira's leg in order to nuzzle her under her ear. He let out a whimpered sigh, then dropped on the ground and curled up around Flanis and Tygan. "Hello, you two...it's good to see you again."

Vaira stroked her claws over her baby, crooning soothing notes to him over and over.

Tygan sat down and began running his hands over Boko's head, smiling gently. "It is good to see you too, little one," he said. "I see you've been getting bigger. That's good!"

"Bleh!" Flanis quipped, sticking out his pointed tongue. "I would rather not see you ever again! Dusty drakeling, dastardly dragons! Lizards, them all!"

"In other words, he's quite glad to see you," Tygan said, rolling his eyes.

Flanis huffed and turned away.