III. The Discovery
The brothers Reed woke at dawn, like always, to train against each other. It ended in a yelling match that roused half the base, including a disgruntled Ursula who singed both of them with a well-aimed Bolting from her bedroom window. Ursula, normally reserved in manner, did not function quite the same in the mornings.
"Can't you two idiots find a better time to argue?" she said, snapping the tome shut. "I wasted two perfectly good spells on you louts! Curs! Ruffians!"
"Ah, c'mon, Ursley," Linus tried appealing to her better nature from behind his shield. Lloyd was cowering with him. "We're not that bad!"
There was a crack and a burst of light. Two stories up, Ursula lowered her arm, glowering at them and the newly blackened circle in the ground. She was still wearing her silk nightgown, and had been so perturbed she hadn't bother to find a robe to put over it before yelling at the brothers.
"You look nice today!" Lloyd tried. It usually worked with female members of the Fang. Ursula blasted them both with Bolting again, each.
"You bastards," Ursula swore, her voice low and deadly. "That's my last Bolting spell."
Carefully, Linus and Lloyd stood up, Linus still hiding behind his shield a bit. Lloyd picked up his sword. They'd dropped their weapons in the scramble to avoid Ursula's keen eye and magics.
"Well, at least she can't attack us anymore," Lloyd muttered. There was the sound of fluttering paper and a thunk as the tome, now useless, hit Lloyd's head. He sighed. "Never mind."
Uncle Jan's food bell rang for all early rising Fangs. Lloyd and Linus hurried out of Ursula's range, hoping that some silence would placate her.
The only ones up at this ungodly hour were themselves, Brendan, Legault, Uhai, Uncle Jan and that Ephidel character that never slept. He was new, one of Sonia's additions, along with Jaffar and Ursula.
The general consensus was that he was damn creepy.
"Morning, dad," Linus waved, stretching. Uncle Jan buzzed by, bearing a tray with god-knows-what on it.
"No weapons at the table," he reminded. Linus and Lloyd immediately unbelted their swords and leaned them against the wall next to Uhai's bow and quiver, Legault's knives and Brendan's axes.
"Morning Linus, morning Lloyd," Brendan greeted, taking his seat at the head of the table. "Where's my girls?"
"Sonia said something about not wanting to be awake the same time as the chickens and Nino just wouldn't rise," Lloyd shrugged. "And Ursula's awake, she's just being disagreeable this morning."
"Yes, I heard that," Brendan chuckled. "She's a character, isn't she? But a nice girl, deep down."
Linus snorted and Lloyd laughed straight out, not bothering to hold it in.
"She's always smiling," Uncle Jan said, nodding. "That's always good."
"It's because she's happy," Legault said, cleaning his fingernails with the knife he hadn't put away. "Happy to see you go up in flames."
Even Uhai laughed at that. Brendan gave in and admitted it was true, but Uncle Jan, ever the kindly one, insisted that somewhere, somehow, Ursula had some good qualities by comparing her to other in the Four Fangs.
"She's tough, like Linus," he pointed out. Uncle Jan set a plate in front of him. "And we all know Linus is soft, deep down. And reserved in manner, like Uhai."
"Whatever," Linus grumbled. He began to eat immediately.
"And she makes jokes like Legault," Uncle Jan said. He set a plate in front of Lloyd and Legault. "She loves you all, at heart."
"She threatened to geld me and Linus," Lloyd said darkly. "That's not love."
"Sure it is!" Legault laughed, cleaning his knife on his pants. "She was sad when you left. Moping and sighing . . ."
Lloyd didn't answer; he was eating. Uncle Jan's morning dumplings were better than anyone else's, barring Brendan's first wife. However, there was some spite in the way he simultaneously chewed and glared. Legault took this as leave to continue as he sliced the dumpling on his plate.
". . . and Nino told me," Legault said in a conspiring tone. "That she was sure. In fact, she was going to ask her, just yesterday."
"Hm," Brendan wondered aloud. "Where is our little girl? She's usually up before you, Jan."
Uncle Jan tsked. "You're right. Our Nino isn't under my feet this morning. She must've been tired last night . . ."
"Really tired, me and Lloyd found her sleeping out in the field," Linus added, finishing his food. You could only eat one dumpling per meal or you'd probably explode.
"I'll go check on her," Lloyd offered. He grabbed his sword on the way out and returned it to its place at his side.
The base was finally starting to wake up. He passed many of his underlings, each nodding or expressing a greeting. Nino's room was precariously close to Ursula's, something he'd have to look out for. He approached Nino's door. She had decorated it with some paint she'd won at a fair they had gone to before the trip, but this was the first time he'd seen the design in good light.
"Flowers," Lloyd said, remembering how easily he and Linus distracted her. He rapped on the door twice. "Nino! Nino, lass! You've been abed for the last hour, the rest of us are up!"
There was no answer. Lloyd pushed the door open. The room was dark. He walked in, and opened the curtains to let some light in. Nino, a lump in her bedcovers, did not move. He reached out to shake her shoulder. Instead of his stepsister's thin, solid arm, Lloyd's hand squished into the eiderdown with a squelching, wet noise.
"What . . .?" Lloyd murmured to himself. He stripped the cover from the bed. Underneath, there was no Nino.
A block of ice sat melting in the now soaked bed, surrounded by grass and Nino's clothing.
"Shit!"
"What the hells is going on, Lloyd, I'm trying to sleep," Ursula groaned, her smooth voice deadly with agitation. She slinked out of her room and into Nino's, her features twisted into a regal scowl. "What's wrong?"
She peered over Lloyd's shoulder and gasped. "N-nino? Where is she? What's wrong?"
Lloyd gripped the heavy, sodden eiderdown and retraced yesterday mentally, remembering how cold Nino was to the touch. How he had found her, asleep in the grass . . . in the fairy ring . . .
"No," he muttered, stepping back. Ursula squeaked; he had bumped into her.
"Why is there ice there?" Ursula demanded, dancing out of the way, into the hall. Lloyd followed her, closing the door.
"I need to find Linus," Lloyd said, a panicked tone in his voice. "Nino . . .!"
"What's wrong, Lloyd?" asked a new voice, coming around the hall. "Is there something the matter with my daughter?"
Thinking quickly, Lloyd threw the (freezing) blanket over Ursula's head and wrapped her in it before she could protest. Now indiscernible except for the feet, he scooped her up before she could move. He dashed past a surprised Sonia before she could get a look.
"Nothing, Sonia," he said briskly, his voice fading as he ran down the hall. "Nino's got a fever. She needs to see the doctor. Me and Linus'll take her!"
"O . . .kay . . ." Sonia blinked, and then shrugged it off. She continued down the hall and knocked on Ursula's door. "Ursula? Are you awake yet?"
When there was no answer, she sighed. "Slug-a-bed."
Ursula, however much she wanted to curse him and his line, was prevented by the blanket Lloyd held taut over her mouth as he ran. She began to have trouble breathing, as well.
"Linus, we've gotta take i Nino /i to the doctor," Lloyd said sharply, passing him in the hall. Linus turned around and followed him, breezing past their father and Legault, who were innocently exiting the mess hall.
"Why what's wrong?" Linus asked, genuinely concerned. "Is she sick?"
Lloyd remained silent until they were safely at the gate. The base was made from an old manse that they'd reconstructed into a fortress. Lloyd set the bundle down and then backed away. It struggled for a while and then broke out. Ursula was on her feet and snarling as best she could without out actually losing her temper.
"How dare you," she accused haughtily, before Linus gagged her with his hand.
"What's going on?" he hissed.
"Can't you tell?" Lloyd said sarcastically. "Our sweet little Nino has turned into Ursula."
i "What?" /i
"Of course not, moron," Lloyd said, turning to leave. "I'll explain on the way. We have to go find her!"
Linus pushed Ursula to one side and chased after his brother. "Hey, wait up!"
Ursula watched them go, standing in the wind in her nightgown, freezing cold and damp. She turned to hear the sounds of every other Black Fang, wakened and active. Making her decision, she turned and followed them, barefoot and unarmed, screaming at the top of her lungs. Pride goeth before a fall, she supposed.
"Lloyd! Linus! You get back here this instant!" she bellowed.
Ursula followed them to the lakeside. Despite her elegance compared to the rest of the organization, she was a mountain girl, born and raised. She had visited a lake similar to this one, near her hometown and retained clear memories of running barefoot in over the grass. It still hurt her feet and by the time the Reed brothers stopped, she was panting and sweat-soaked.
"Ursula?" Lloyd asked no one as he saw her approaching. Had she run, the entire hour-long walk, just to wreak her long-awaited vengeance?
Yes.
She tackled him to the ground, hands around his neck, trying to choke him. Linus immediately set about getting the enraged woman off of his brother.
"Lloyd Reed, what in god's name were you thinking?" she demanded. "I could've died!"
"He's gonna die, get off!" Linus said, pulling at her arms.
"And Nino! How could you let her be taken away like that?!" Ursula accused, her temper dying into her usual chilliness. Linus finally managed to pry her away, half tossing her backwards. "Oof!"
"Wait," Lloyd said, sitting up. He rubbed the area around his throat and coughed. "You know what happened to her?"
"Of course," Ursula said, acquiring her normal, cool demeanor. "In her place was a block of ice. Isn't it obvious?"
Ursula held out her hand, using her other arm to guard her chest. "But first, give me your coat, I'm cold."
Grudgingly, Lloyd removed his coat and gave it to Ursula, who slipped it on immediately and held it closed with her hands.
She recounted a frighteningly similar story from her home village as they approached the fairy ring's old location.
There were told tales of children foolish enough to step into fairy rings who were carried away by trolls and goblins, Ursula explained. Some tales were of babies stolen from an unblessed cradle, young virgins stolen from their fields and kitchens, but they all held one feature in common. Left in their place were copies, identical children made of wood, other goblins, and sometimes even ice. With wooden children or goblin replacements, all you needed to do would be to throw them in the fire or into a well, but by the time ice children were identified . . .
"When ice children are left, there is nothing you can really do to get the child back," Ursula told them, chill in her voice. "The ice melts quickly. As a child, one of my playmates was stolen away by them."
"We have to bring her back," Linus said, angry already. "Don't say we can't. She's our little sister, and no goblin's gonna take her."
"What do they do with children?" Lloyd asked. He had always been concerned with the monsters of the lake, the ones that had almost destroyed his family years ago. It hadn't occurred to him that there were other malicious creatures in the forests and the hills that they needed to look out for.
Ursula shrugged. "Eat them, weave them into clothes, play with them like dolls," she listed on her hand. "There were so many stories, I was never sure which were true."
Lloyd glanced at Ursula to see if there was any remorse or grief for her lost friend. She was looking away, he couldn't see her face.
"I'm sorry."
Linus knelt at the fairy ring, examining it carefully. "Lloyd, what's this?" He lifted a wilting flower; a bleeding heart, one of Nino's favorites.
"Nino . . ." Lloyd murmured. He walked ahead a few feet before finding another flower, this time a columbine. "There's a trail! Nino left us a trail!"