Kagome looked a little green as she fixed her glance on the scattered bones. She noticed that several of the skulls were dented or cracked – as though they had been smashed in by a heavy object. As she looked closely, she saw that several of the bones looked damaged as well.
She realized she was standing in the midst of a scene of slaughter and massacre.
'Whose bones could they be…?'
Beside her, Inuyasha also wore a frown upon his face. His throat rumbled with a low growl.
"Who could've done such a disgusting thing?"
"Inuyasha," Kagome spoke very quietly as wave after wave of nausea threatened to rack her slender frame, "Could you please get me out of here?"
The boy nodded once and then knelt down on the dusty floor. Within moments they were out of the creepy mansion and back into the forest. Kagome took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the clear, crisp air. The nauseating feeling abated. Looking up, she noticed that the clouds had parted, revealing an azure sky. To her surprise, the sun was in mid-heaven.
'How long have we been inside the mansion?'
Kagome shook her head, trying to rid her of the disturbing scene back at the mansion. But it clung to her mind as obstinately as the spring frost clings to blades of grass. Inuyasha looked just as disturbed. Neither spoke a word, as the couple made their way past the gnarled trunks of the ancient trees. Both were lost in their own thoughts.
It took them by surprise, then, when the sweet notes from a flute came floating into their ears. Inuyasha flicked his ear, then looked up and sniffed the air.
"There seems to be a pond or lake up ahead," he concluded, "Sound's coming from there."
"Should we investigate it?" Kagome asked, unsure about the sagacity of the move.
Inuyasha, however, had already chosen his course.
"Obviously!"
Increasing her pace, Kagome followed Inuyasha's lead. Soon, the trees parted to reveal a clearing. A vast lake rolled in front of them – the water looked black and forbidding, and was breaking in tiny waves upon the bank. A girl in a blue gown was sitting upon a rock by the side of it. Her cascading golden hair rippled like waves under the sun. In her hand was the most exquisitely carved flute Kagome had even seen. As she played the instrument, she seemed to be bathed in an ethereal light.
On spotting the pair, the girl stopped playing the flute and looked at them with mild surprise. Kagome waved her hand and tried to smile.
"Hello…we are strangers to this land, so we don't know the proper greetings…but I'm Kagome and this is Inuyasha."
The girl smiled in return.
"I'm Nimue, also known as the Lady of the Lake."
Her voice had a sweet, harp-like quality that lent enchantment to even her most commonplace utterances. Kagome suddenly remembered what Puss had said the night before – that the forest was protected by the powers of the Lady of the Lake.
'So that's her!'
"I take it that you have come here to save the King," Nimue continued.
"We – umm – yes, I suppose we have. At…at least that's what Sirius had in mind."
The girl nodded thoughtfully. Then she fell quiet. Kagome waited for her response. The bank of the lake became unusually quiet, except for the tap tap tap of Inuyasha's finger impatiently drumming against the bark of a tree. At length, Nimue looked up and smiled rather sadly.
"The King is beyond redemption," she said, "He had many splendid qualities that could have made him a great monarch – selflessness, valour, a certain sense of justice and mercy – he was like a beacon of hope to these war ravaged lands. That's why, I granted him the sword. But he has strayed from his course. To protect his blood he has spilled the blood of the innocent."
"You mean those children whose bones lie in that creepy mansion?" Inuyasha asked.
"Yeah," Kagome quipped, "Who killed those children and why? Puss said you are the guardian of this forest. Do you know something?"
Nimue turned her gaze toward the lake.
"The water holds many secrets in her breast. But it is not her part to reveal them."
"Water?" Kagome followed her gaze: "You mean those May-born boys the King sent away on a ship?"
"There is a great evil at work in this land," Nimue said darkly, "Go back, if you value your life. Go back."
Inuyasha took a step forward.
"Evil? What do you mean?"
The girl looked to the other side of the forest. Kagome was suddenly aware that the ground was shaking. The trees shivered as though with an approaching storm.
She looked at Inuyasha, but he appeared to be quite collected. Turning her head toward the source of the storm, Kagome also understood the reason of the commotion.
A rider was crossing the clearing with furious speed. His black steed was on full gallop, his eyes appeared focussed and intent, his coal black curls trailed behind him in the wind.
Like a flash the horse leapt over a fallen log and disappeared from view.
Inuyasha looked questioningly at Nimue.
"Mordred – the King's fruit of shame," the girl murmured.
She stood lightly upon the stone, and spreading her hands like wings, dove into the inky waters of the lake.
