Lovino stared at his brother in shock at what he had just announced.
"Feliciano, please tell me you're joking," Lovino begged, "There's no fucking way Eric turned into a wolf just like that!"
"It's true, Lovino, I can feel it from this patch of fur," Feliciano insisted, "Under the light of the full moon, the spell we're tracking turns Eric into a wolf!"
"Well, this is unexpected," Arthur remarked, "Of all the magic I might see in this world, the last thing I was anticipating was bloody werewolves!"
As Arthur made his comment, Lovino saw Madeline approach Feliciano, her hands open so that Feliciano could hand her the fur. A glow of magic surrounded her hand as she held the fur in her palm, before her eyes suddenly began to glow with a blue light.
"Madeline, what are you doing?" Lovino asked.
"C'est la magie," Madeline answered, "Je peux le sentir."
"Why are you suddenly speaking French?" Arthur inquired.
Madeline ignored Arthur, choosing to face the wolf again. She summoned more magic, making the cage of ice suddenly disappear. The wolf snarled at her and prepared to charge, prompting Tolys to reach forward to grab Madeline and pull her back to safety.
"Calmez-vous," Madeline told the wolf as she stepped forward, raising her arm to stop Tolys from interfering, "Je veux vous aider, je ne vous blessera pas."
Upon hearing her words, the wolf immediately stopped its charge and calmed down, leaving the rest of them in shock. Madeline stepped forward and kneeled down in front of the wolf, holding out her hand for the wolf to sniff at. The wolf did sniff at it a few times, before allowing her to reach further and pet its head.
"Madeline, what are you doing?" Tolys repeated in astonishment, "How did you subdue it?"
"She said she could feel the magic," Arthur interpreted, "She told the wolf to calm down, that she was going to help it and not hurt it."
"How do you know that?" Feliciano checked, "Do you understand her words?"
"I sure do, I know French better than I care to," Arthur explained, "That's the first time I've heard another language in this realm. As far as I can tell, you have all been speaking English this whole time, which is my own language. I'm surprised to see that, of all the languages that could be chosen for the purpose of casting magic, French has that power here."
"Lovino, Feliciano, viens ici," Madeline spoke, "Vous êtes permis à le toucher, et à observer la magie."
"She said you two can approach," Arthur translated, "You're allowed to touch Eric and read the spell."
Seeing that the wolf was indeed calm to Madeline's gentle touch, Lovino circled around to Madeline's left side, allowing Feliciano to keep the right side. Lovino knelt just beside the wolf, and gently reached out his hand to touch it. When the wolf did not react, Lovino immediately summoned his own birth spell, and searched for traces of the spell they were tracking.
"It's definitely the spell we're looking for," Feliciano described, "It was cast under a full moon, as we have tonight, so this is when the effect is felt most. For the past year, it has been turning Eric into a wolf on each night of the full moon."
As Feliciano reported his findings, Lovino made his own connection to the spell, and noticed that there was a problem.
"Tonight will be Eric's last transformation," Lovino declared, "The spell only allows them to change back to human twelve times, before they permanently become a wolf. If we don't lift the spell tonight, Eric will not become human again at dawn."
"That's definitely not good," Tolys commented, "Does that mean other Ridudians have been slowly turning into wolves over the last five years?"
"Je sais quoi faire," Madeline said, "Arthur, vous devez tous reculer au mur."
"Everyone, back up to the walls," Arthur immediately translated, "She knows what to do."
Lovino immediately stood up and backed away from the wolf, nearly tripping onto the bags of flour against the far wall of the room. A quick glance around the room confirmed that everyone else had done the same, Feliciano against the wall opposite him while Arthur and Tolys stayed against the outside wall.
Madeline quietly muttered to the wolf as she petted its head, reaching for the metal collar around its neck. A swirl of magic surrounded her hand as she grasped the collar and held it tight, and Lovino noticed after a few seconds that the metal was freezing over, just like the padlocks on the doors. A few moments later, Madeline tugged at the collar with both hands in opposite directions, making the metal snap in half to release the wolf from the restraint. She immediately pet the wolf again, keeping close eye contact with it.
"Conduis-moi à l'endroit d'où vient la magie," Madeline told the wolf, "Je le lèverai."
The wolf immediately leapt into action, stepping to Madeline's left and leaving the room, ignoring Feliciano and Tolys along the walls as it went through the door. Madeline immediately rose to her feet and followed the wolf, her glowing eyes still focused entirely on it.
"Of course, that makes perfect sense," Arthur analyzed, "Wolves are excellent hunters, and can follow a trail. Since Eric is under the spell, Madeline can have him lead us to where it was originally cast!"
Lovino left his spot against the wall, heading over to follow everyone else out of the room. Although the others were in the way, he could see the wolf pawing and whining at the front door, wanting to go outside. Madeline stood beside it, completely focused on freezing over the padlock. Once it was frozen over, Madeline simply pulled on the lock, shattering it and allowing the pieces to drop to the floor.
"Here, let us get that," Feliciano offered as he and Tolys reached the door.
Madeline stepped back as Feliciano removed the plank of wood from barring the door, with Tolys there to help move it off to the side. As soon as the door was unbarred, the wolf pushed the doors wide open and bolted out. Madeline swiftly followed the wolf outside, glowing blue eyes focused on the destination.
"She's moving fast," Feliciano noted, "We'll need to catch up to her."
Lovino followed the others out of the inn, being the last to make it outside. Turning right, he could see that Madeline was marching briskly down the main road of the village, the wolf leading her path. The others were all rushing to catch up to her.
Before he could start moving, Lovino heard a growl behind him. He turned to look behind him, and saw three other wolves watching him at the other end of the street. He moved backwards slowly at first, to make sure they didn't pounce into a chase, before fully turning back to the others and picking up his pace.
"We're not alone," Lovino called out to the others, "More wolves at the end of the road!"
As Lovino made his report, Naktakė flew over their heads, cawing away.
"Naktakė sees them down all the roads," Tolys reported, "Even the alleys have wolves."
"We're moving too fast," Arthur observed, "They might think we're prey if we keep running like this to catch up to Madeline."
"Untie your scabbards from your belts," Tolys instructed, doing so himself as he spoke, "If they attack, we can use our sheathed swords to push them away."
Rushing to catch up and untie his scabbard, Lovino could only watch as a wolf emerged from the next alley and pounced at Tolys. The ranger swiftly swung his sword in front of him, leaving the wolf no choice but to clamp its jaws on the sheathed blade. As Tolys struggled to keep the wolf from biting him, Arthur rushed in to help push it off, and they managed to escape the wolf's attack.
"That was too close," Tolys uttered, "We all need to stick together!"
Tolys's escape allowed Lovino time to catch up to them, so the foursome stuck close together as they continued following Madeline and Eric, who were several paces ahead. While they marched double-pace to the edge of the town, Lovino couldn't help but notice how the other wolves were watching Madeline walk by them. They snarled at her as if she were a dangerous enemy to avoid, rather than human prey to chase.
Eric led them to the outskirts of town, across a bridge over the small stream into a meadow before the edge of a forest. A few paces away from the water and the bridge, the wolf suddenly started circling around an inconspicuous spot, barking at them and wagging his tail.
"C'est ici," Madeline spoke, "Je dois les lever en même temps."
Lovino stepped off the bridge as Madeline spoke, and noticed the numerous wolves that were now emerging from the forest and growling at their party.
"She says it's right here," Arthur translated as Madeline knelt to the ground, "She must lift both spells at once."
"We're about to have a lot of company," Feliciano noted, "We better surround her, and be prepared to fight them off."
Lovino approached Madeline, who had just placed her hands on the ground and began summoning her magic. He positioned himself at her left side, between her and the bridge, where he could see the wolves approaching from both the forest and the town. Arthur, Tolys and Feliciano had spread out in front of her, preparing to face the larger contingent of wolves approaching from the forest.
Lovino kept glancing around in all directions, waiting to see if either the wolves from the town or the forest would reach them before Madeline could lift their spell. It dawned on him that, if Madeline could not lift the spell here and now, they would probably get mauled to death by these wolves.
One of the wolves at the front of the pack from the forest side leapt into action, charging towards Arthur. When it was only a few feet away from their otherworldly companion, a blast of magic was fired from beside Lovino that stopped the wolf in its tracks. Lovino turned to look at Madeline, just in time for a magical aura to surround her. The blue edge of the aura expanded to include Lovino and the others inside it, making him stumble from the snow melting below his feet.
"Je vous libère de cette magie," Madeline called out, "Vous serez à nouveau humain!"
The aura immediately spread out quickly, encompassing the entire meadow and beyond. As the magic came into contact with each wolf, the creatures paused in their steps and immediately started transforming, their forms becoming shrouded in blue magic. At the same time, the snow melted all around them, and Lovino turned back to see that the village was defrosting as well.
He looked back to their group, just in time for the blue magic to fade from the wolf that had been at their side, revealing Eric in his human form again. Within moments, the wolf that charged at Arthur also had their blue magic shroud fade away, revealing a very tall blond man.
"Lars?" Eric asked, "Is it really you?"
"Eric," the man answered, "What happened?"
Lovino watched as Eric immediately rushed to the man, hugging him and immediately running his mouth off. Beyond them, several other men were also finding their bearings, the magic having turned them all human again.
"Arthur, is that Netherlands?" Feliciano checked in a hushed tone, not wanting to interrupt the reunion.
"Yes, that's him," Arthur confirmed, "I knew we'd find him in this realm."
"She's still going," Tolys pointed out, "It didn't take her this long in Bruuburn."
Lovino looked down at Madeline, who was still casting her magic and hadn't yet stopped. While Tolys moved around to her right side, Lovino knelt down at her left side, and reached out to touch her arm. It took a moment for him to adjust to the power of the magic she was wielding before he realized what she was doing.
"Both spells are already fully lifted," Lovino revealed, "She's manipulating her connection to the other magic!"
"Why is she doing that?" Feliciano asked, "Do we need to stop her?"
Before Lovino could answer, Madeline suddenly lost her physical strength and collapsed to her right side where Tolys caught her. He turned her so that her face was tilted upwards where Lovino could still observe, her shoulders and neck supported on Tolys's arm. Her eyes were still glowing blue, despite her nearly fainting, so Lovino focused on reading her magic.
"Madeline, you've overexerted yourself," Lovino instructed, "Whatever you're doing, you need to stop this now!"
"Non, je vois quelque chose," she replied in her daze, "Vengeance… duchesse volée… fausse reine… catalyste… Lac Virside… Fr-"
Before she could finish the last word, Madeline finally fainted in Tolys's arms, the blue glow subsiding from her eyes. Lovino felt the connection to the strange magic completely drop out, thanks to Madeline's loss of consciousness.
"What did she say she saw?" Arthur demanded, "Did you hear that last word?"
"Yes, I heard it," Tolys answered, "It sounded like a name."
"What was it?" Lovino asked.
"Francis."