Leonidas quickly grabbed Godric's arms and said with haste, "is it really true? Has she returned?" Godric nodded and continued, "we must move fast. It seems that Alpha Kane has always had his suspicions and predicted that Zodiac would be at your gate as soon as I was notified." Leonidas let go of Godric and began to pace around the hut thinking. He then paused and said, "You must go ahead and take the sworn protectors of fire with you. I will send one in my stead. I will need to stay behind to speak to Apollo. He is young and doesn't know anything. Zodiac might persuade him into siding with him. I have done all I can to prevent his grooming, but Zodiac is well versed in words. He knows things that I cannot explain." Godric nodded and was about to leave, but then paused and turned back. He took out a bottle of bamboo and handed it to him. "Drink this if you are attacked after I leave. It will let me know Zodiac was behind it. I hope you never use it." Leonidas looked at it and asked, "what is it?" "Poison, from the purple scorpions," responded Godric solemnly. Then he continued to say, "It will turn your tongue purple and cause you to appear dead, but it also has rapid healing properties which I found out by mistake."
Then Godric made his way out. Soon twenty one large male beastmen showed up with a fire mark on their chest. They had been training and tested through their entire life. Hand picked by Leonidas, the leader of the protectors of fire. He nurtured them into being loyal and obedient warriors for the kingdom of the Royals. One of them, Blaze, was distinguished and had golden long hair. His mark had a paw over a fire indicating his loyalty to the royals and his position. Leonidas passed on the responsibility to him in case anything should happen to him. The protectors of fire were separate from the lion clan. They were impartial to the war and never took sides or joined in any battle. Their role was only reserved for the royals. Because Leonidas was the clan leader of the lions at the time, the protectors of fire would stay there as well.
Godric told them to wait a moment, just until Zodiac was out of sight so that he didn't switch to attack. Zodiac was not just strong, but powerful. He fought very differently that the beastmen. If a beastman turned into beast form to fight, they didn't use weapons and stayed mostly in that form because transforming would cause them to faint if done too many times, but not Zodiac. Zodiac was able to transform at will without repercussions to his multiple shifts. It was not normal to the beastmen. It was almost as if his transformation to beast was just an illusion, but they would be able to distinguish if he wasn't a beastbear by his scent or that is what everyone thought. That is why Godric wanted to wait for Zodiac to go into the hut first before they emerged from their location where they were not visible.
As soon as Zodiac went into Leonidas' hut, Godric moved out with the protectors. They met up with the wolf warriors that were still feeling tension from Sam who was waiting outside. Godric didn't say anything to the wolves, he just gestured with his head as they were leaving. Then they transformed and took off running. Sam knew that was bad, so he tried to go in and tell Zodiac what he just saw, but the guards did not let him through. They stated that Leonidas was very clear of who can see him and who needed to stay outside of the gate. Sam became restless because the longer he waited to tell Zodiac, the farther the protectors, the wolves and Godric got. He has to decide to wait for Zodiac or return to tell his own chief of the situation.
In Leonidas hut Zodiac wasted no time in formalities and pleasantries. He asked, "what was Godric here for?" Leonidas raised his eyebrow and said, "you are arrogant to come into my home and demand questions that you have no business on." Then Zodiac chuckled and he walked over to a desk that was placed against the wall under a window. He took out a very thin knife made out of bone. It was so thin that it looked like a long needle. Leonidas narrowed his eyes and said, "you are bold in taking out a weapon before me as well." Zodiac looked at him from the side of his eyes as if he was looking at trash. He then said in a low voice. "If you are unwilling to give me an answer, then you're useless to me now. I assume that you've already made your move, but Apollo hasn't." Leonidas threw the closest thing next to him, which was a chair and took out the bamboo bottle to drink fast. The chair was just a distraction so Zodiac didn't see him drink the poison. Then Leonidas transformed into a lion and instead of trying to fight, he decided to get out of the hut so that Zodiac wouldn't be able to convince Apollo it was Godric who betrayed him. He didn't want to be used because he knew he was old and slower than Zodiac. But just as he almost made it to the exit of his hut, Zodiac managed to pierce his back left leg and it gave out. There was no dripping blood, just a small red spot on the fur. Leonidas roared and saw Zodiac aiming for his rib cage to hit his heart. He twisted enough where the knife needle went in and missed his heart. Leonidas gave another roar, but then he suddenly paused and he fell to the ground. Zodiac kicked him to check if he was done. There was no movement from Leonidas. Then Zodiac checked for a pulse and didn't sense one. He put away his knife and yelled for help.
Two guards came to help and found Leonidas laying on the ground motionless. They were already on their way to check on him since they heard the roars. But they were confused because Zodiac didn't flee and kept asking for help. The Zodiac said, "get him help! I was trying to call for it, but he insisted on telling me first what happened. Then when I tried to help him, he roared in pain. He said Godric is a traitor." The guards eyes widened and one ran to get medical help while the other ran to get Apollo. Zodiac stood over Leonidas triumphantly and smirked. "Even dead, you're better for me."
Apollo came running to see for himself that Leonidas was dead. He dropped to the ground and hugged him. He yelled, "hurry! I need someone to look at him now." Zodiac walked over and told him in a soft voice, "we need to go after Godric, he just left with the wolves. We must go after him before he joins with his clan and theirs. Right now, or you won't get another opportunity later." Apollo was still in distress for his mentor, but he wiped the tears off his eyes and said, "we will catch up to him." Their shaman arrived and Apollo instructed him to find any clues to how Leonidas was killed. Then got up and told his guards to follow him. He also took more in case Godric refused to return with him. As much as he wanted to hurt him, he wanted to know why he did it. The same could not be said about Zodiac.