The Forgotten Zodiac

L'arc led Rush back to the infirmary. "Right, right, come in here and sit on your bed," L'arc said, pointing at the stone slab that belonged to Rush. "I'll get Bermuda and see if he can help," he said.

Rush sat down on his bed. He swung his legs over the side and stared at the floor, looking...puzzled. And very concerned. His frown only deepened the longer he sat there. "At least he's not wrecking things," Sylas watched Rush, sighing a bit. "Verolen, what was Rush like before you dropped the Library on his head?"

"That was an accident," Verolen pointed out. "But he was...feral. Like he is now. Very much thoughtless, and...well, like an animal. My father raised him to be such. The Library returned conscious thought to him, but now that it's been disabled again..."

"The witches said they could reactivate it, but they would keep him after that," L'arc informed the others as Bermuda moved over to look at the Chimera. L'arc sighed, then continued. "I don't know what we can do."

Verolen blinked at L'arc, then grinned. "That's great, then. It's simple. We get the witches to fix him, and then get him out of there before they can do anything with him."

"But...how..." Sylas blinked.

"I have a few ideas. We'll need you though, Sylas...rest up while you can, okay?"

"Got it." Sylas nodded furiously, lying back and settling down to sleep more. He wasn't really tired, but he had a nagging itch in the back of his mind. He had to help. He couldn't just lie around here forever.

Rush glared up at Bermuda, then laid down on his rock bed and curled up under the thin blanket.

"Settle down, Rush. I can... try to ease your pain," he said, sitting down carefully on the edge of the bed.

Similarly, L'arc rested himself on the edge of Sylas' bed. He didn't speak, knowing the human needed to rest. He just wanted to stay close.

Sylas rolled over so he was facing L'arc. He gave a small smile, then closed his eye again.

Rush shifted away from Bermuda, but he didn't do much else. Bermuda was able to move the blanket and start inspecting the scales before Rush moved again, and even then, it was just a flick of his tail. He watched Bermuda carefully, as though expecting more pain.

Bermuda gently placed a hand on Rush's leg, focusing as he tried to muster up his healing energy. He didn't have his staff anymore; it had been taken some time ago. but it used to be that he could work without it. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as a bluish aura surrounded his hand. The runes that had been graven into his arm glowed sharply and the nereid winced, but the healing energy began to work its way into Rush's body.

Rush stared at the magic, feeling it crawl up his legs. The pain faded, and the scales loosened to allow movement again. Rush stretched and curled his leg, feeling the movement made smooth again. He stood on his bed, stretching more.

Then he promptly kicked Bermuda in the face. He plunged off the bed and ran down the hall yet again, with renewed speed. His little trail of destruction before - the beetle and the plant - were practically nothing compared to it now. Statues overturned, paintings destroyed, the tiling of the floor completely wrecked in some spots, where Rush had punched it in a fury. All the while he was rambling and yelling in his own strange language, clearly throwing a very dangerous fit.

He wanted to go back home. Why wasn't he home?

L'arc cursed and bolted down the hall after Rush. "No, no! Get back here! NANA!" he shouted, frustration coursing through him. He didn't know that he was being followed until the person was beside him, matching him step for step.

"I believe Manny is coming to help as well," Kendra replied to L'arc's confused gaze. "Now focus! We have a chimera to catch!"

They caught up to him at the doors to the sanctuary. He had tried to go in, to wreck something, but the dragonstone in the palm of his scaley hand had reacted to the stones inside. Rush had fallen back, wailing and crying as a few more scales grew over his face. It was only one or two, but it was pure agony for the poor beast.

Once he saw L'arc and Kendra coming, though, Rush was quick to move away again. He was much, much faster than either of them, and was out of sight again in instants.

"At least he didn't go in there," L'arc breathed, stopping at the door of the sanctuary as he tried to figure out which way the Chimera had gone. Kendra apparently didn't have the same trouble - she continued running down the hall after Rush, and L'arc could but follow.

"He certainly tried," Manny said in passing, hot on Kendra's tail. He passed her as they rounded the corner--and promptly tripped over a statue and landed on a mace. A simple trap that Rush had set up in passing. Thank goodness the mace had been fake, but it would certainly bruise. Manny untangled himself from the chain and climbed back to his feet, kicking the hollow metal ball out of the way, so no one else would get hurt.

Kendra slipped by Manny, continuing the chase. The young ranger seemed to be tireless as she sprinted down the hallways after Rush, hoping she'd corner him soon.

Rush had taken a detour; they wound up looping around the back side of the castle. By the time Kendra caught up with him, he was already back in the room he shared with the others.

Sylas had broken his bow by attempting to use it against Rush as a bludgeoning weapon. He was under the bed now, and was being dragged out before Kendra could intervene. Rush lifted him up by his ankle, growling dangerously. Sylas kicked and thrashed to the best of his ability, but it was no good. His broken bow was useless now, too...

"Nay!"

Kendra  swung her scythe at Rush, using the rod of the weapon to knock the chimera on the forehead. "Leave the human be, he was done naught to you!" she said, settling into a fighting stance.

Bermuda, meanwhile, was trying to ignore his bleeding nose for long enough to get a sleep spell out, now that Rush was back in range again.

Rush turned to her and roared in a fury, slashing at her with his large scaled claws. "No!" Manny let out a wail, ducking under Kendra's scythe and slamming into Rush, knocking him backwards several paces. Rush threw Manny aside, snarling.

"Ye'er serum gual! Brualz Sylas, brualz Manny, brualz..." He glared at Kendra. "Herra, brualz ett'tokah!" Rush screamed at them. It wasn't hard to guess that he was saying he hated them.

"He's talking in a different language entirely...I thought he was just rambling," Manny blinked in alarm.

"Elsleep!" Bermuda declared suddenly, his hand leveled at Rush. He jolted slightly as it felt like he'd been hit with an electric shock, but trusted that his spell had been effective. Kendra held her ground and waited for Rush's reaction.

Rush staggered, glaring at Kendra to Bermuda to Sylas. Then he collapsed, still growling. Sylas heaved himself up and flopped down on his bed again as Manny poked over. "He's not asleep...he's paralyzed. I guess it works..."

"Oh, I... didn't mean for that to happen. ...hope I can fix that later..." Bermuda mumbled the last sentence, as if he hadn't intended the others to hear.

"Help me move him, won't you, Mannequinn?" Kendra asked, moving to grab Rush's shoulders.

Manny nodded, scooping up Rush alone. He didn't really need Kendra's help; it wasn't that he was showing off. He just didn't want unnecissary strain on someone when he could do it himself. He quickly moved Rush from the floor to the stone slab that was his bed. "What do we do with him? I...I don't like how he is now...we need to make him nice again."