Into the Woods

A bull with a boy on his back trudged through the forest of Kamendal. They were Eonoe and Vashner.

Obviously, Eonoe was in his bull form, keeping a steady gait. Vashner was asleep on his back. He was lying foreward in a way so that the disfigured part of his face was invisible. The boy was sleeping well. Eonoe's gait was such as not to disturb him. The bull turned his head to look back at the child, still sleeping. The boy would be quite handsome were it not for the disfigurement, which was now hidden. The boy stirred.

"Father?" he asked.

"Yes, Vashner?" Eonoe replied.

"How much longer?"

"Only a few more minutes. We should be arriving in the city soon."

"We're in a forest."

"Yes. These people see themselves as close to nature. Weres and shifters, mainly."

The hustle and bustle of the city was enormous. The trees creaked under there weights and different animal noises filled the air. Bridges spanned across and roads underneath intertwined with these. Though there seemed no particular order a pair of cougar guards approached them.

"Come with us," they said simply there twin green eyes glinted. One was female as she had the right parts and was a bit shorter then her male counter part. It was the female that had spoken. A soft purr in her voice as if she was trying not to scare them.

The male walked off instantly as if annoyed he was stuck with his sister. The female on the other hand smiled though it showed sharp teeth and waited for them to follow.

"Wha?" Vashner asked, sitting up straight, completely revealing his face. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Vashner..." Eonoe said, trying to reassure him, though he himself was confused. "Very well." he said to the guards. "May I ask why?"

Instantly the guard recoiled not able to hide the disgust on her face. So instead she turned away quickly, "I can't tell you that." She followed after her male counterpart.

Vashner cringed. He knew why she had turned.

"I suppose I'll come along..." Eonoe said, following cautiously, looking at the hustle and bustle. A number of the people stopped to look.

Vashner hated when people looked at him that way.

The pair weaved through the crowed and a few guards joined them looking warrily at Eonoe. Most just trying to avvoid looking at the boy. Though a few looked at him and smiled. They were probably also used to getting thoughs same stares.

They went up and down bridges all wide enough for Eonoe to follow comfortably. Though they did try to stay on the ground.

They entered a huge tree that had been hollowed out. There were floors though and they walked up the stairs to the very top. A chamber that was lavishly decorated with floors, paintings, and a mismatch of throw rugs.

A man who looked relatively normal sat in a chair. His brown hair hung in his eyes making them appear black. He glansed up shut his book with a snap and got up too quick to be human he stood protectively over the frail form of the Queen.

"Why is did you bring me a boy and a bull?" He raised an eyebrow slightly annoyed but instead of answering they left. Vieo looked annoyed. He also got the look of disgust. After all he smelled like decay.

Vashner decided to just let Eonoe deal with this. He ignored what was going on around him and just pulled a book out of his sack and began reading.

Eonoe looked around. "I was rather hoping that could be explained. We're a pair of travelers, and we've just been escorted here."

Vieo smiled as Vashner pulled out a book. Definatly his type of kid. Brushing the pleased emotion away he walked closer and looked straight in to the bulls eyes, "How old are you?"

Eonoe paused, trying to think. "My age..." he said at length. "I don't quite remember. I've always found that pinning a number on my age is irrelevant. I'm just... old. Very old..." he said, his voice drifting off.

Vieo nodded as if that answered his question sufficiently.

"Do you know about medicine then?" There was a cough from the bed and Vieo was instantly gone. Beside the figure now he brushed at the black and blue fur and feathers. The Queen her self laying sick covered in all the glory of her people and Vieo's brow creased with worry. Not many knew about this. It was best to give the people hope in this sort of times. Especial sense the Ring of Sorrow had began to plague them.

Eonoe looked at the Queen. "Yes." he said. "I do know alot of things about medicine." he said. "But..." he looked up at Vashner. "Not all things." he looked back at the Queen. "I think I may be able to help."

Vieo nodded seemingly relieved he paused though, "I can care for the boy if you want. I have quite a collection of books."

He was trying to be kind. Sora stirred her clawed hand wrapped around Vieo's forearm and he tried hard not to flinch away, "Who's there?"

"It is Vieo and a shifter with his human child come to help," Vieo answered. She seemed content with the answer and closed her eyes once more.

Vieo slipped from her grasp and stood up straight, "If there's anything you need I can go fetch it."

Eonoe nodded. "Vashner, could you climb down, please?"

"Okay..." Vashner said. He got his crutch out of a large sack on Eonoe's side and carefully got down (Eonoe made sure to lower himself to help the boy dismount). Once the boy was safely off, Eonoe shifted into human form. He pulled out a leather-bound notebook and began flipping through it, pausing to look up at the queen from time to time.

"How long has she had this affliction?" Eonoe asked.

Vieo shook his head, "Sense the ring was awoken so probably a month or more. I've been busy trying to find a cure." Though he seemed side tracked he walked towards Vashner and gently placed his fingers under his chin to turn the twisted side of his face towards Vieo. It didn't disgust him but interested him instead. He had never seen such markings.

Suddenly realizing he was probably making him uncomfortable he pulled away his hand, "Pardon me. A bit abnormal my self." He gently inched up his shirt to show the 'X' that slashed across his chest, "Not visible but it sucks when the stitches come undone. Can see in to my true self if you know what I mean."

Eonoe continued to examine, looking closely, muttering and consulting his notebook.

Vashner felt a bit awkward, having a stranger touch his face. He raised an eyebrow at the comment presented (over the eye that still had an eyebrow, that is). "Err... no. I don't think I understand what you mean." he said, in his usual quiet voice.

"What is this ring you mentioned?" Eonoe asked.

"The Ring of Sorrow. The greatest Sorrow of course would be the Queen falling ill and dieing a long painful death. It would take away hope from the people," Vieo answered but kept looking over Vashner.

"Do you know about clock work? Automaton, did many simple tasks," Vieo still looked drawn but had welcomed the excuse to stop worrying at least for a time, "I'm filled with it. If you took out the stitching you would see it. Sort of a gruesome sight." He let his shirt fall and ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm afraid I'm not much one for mechanics..." Vashner said. "Not very good with my hands. Never really been an interest..." however, his curiosity was piqued. "So... you're clockwork?"

"Hmm..." Eonoe said. "Well, this affliction bears many similarities to a decay curse."

"Yeah, been dead a while now. It's not that complicated really. One things makes another thing work and another and another," Vieo shrugged as if it wasn't that big of a deal.

Though he did turn towards Eonoe when he spoke and as Sora stirred a bit more. A soft moan of discomfort, "So there's a cure?"

Vashner nodded, vaguely understanding.

"Well, one idea is to simply shield her from the effects of this... ring..." Eonoe said, consulting the notebook. "If the ring is causing it, we just need to shield her from it. Though that depends on the nature of the spell. Sometimes the spell needs to be constantly harming the victim. In which case, we simply put up a shield, and then she gets better. However, if the ring caused a single affliction, things might get more complicated."

Vieo looked thoughtful, "Well my creator is in control of the ring at the moment. As long as it's not in someones hands it usualy doesn't have power. It's not just Sora. There's a few people that have died from it already. I've only been able to sustain Sora."

He walked over and began sifting through the pile of books, "I don't think that it will end after a shield as you said. We could try it I guess." He paused looking at him as if waiting for him to do it.

"Hmm... afflicted other people..." Eonoe said. "Could have an epidemic on your hands..."

The diamond on his forehead glowed, and a magic shield around Sora was faintly visible for a second, and then disappeared.

"If it's a spell that's being channeled into her constantly, that might help to stop it. It should keep malicious spells from afflicting her from the outside." he said. "If not, I'll have to dig a little deeper." he said, flipping through his notebook.

Sora began breathing harder; her pink tongue coming out as she started to pant. Her wings fluttered as she started to move in a horrid fashion as if someone was plucking at her limbs and yanking them in different directions.

Vieo yelled, "Take it off take it off!" He ran forward placing his arms around her to keep her from hurting herself.

Eonoe snapped his fingers and the shield vanished. "That's perplexing..." he said, rubbing his chin. "I wonder what caused that."

Vieo didn't seem interested at all. Opening a small box he pulled out a sterile needle and held one of her arms still. When he had finished she sighed and seemed to fall asleep.

"I've tried more magical healing arts. I thought that a shield might work better since it wasn't healing at all," Vieo shook his head slightly angry at his bad judgment.

"Well, it seems there's a bit of a doozy here." Eonoe said. "Blocking the whole spell seems to block a part of it that's keeping her alive." he said down and thought. "Therefore, we obviously need to find a way to keep her alive so that we can safely remove the spell."