Chapter 3 - Zelda Meets the Wolf

 

 

‘I- - I can’t take this anymore…I can’t...control  ...AHHHHHHH!!!!’

It was too late; the transformation had already begun, making him fall on all fours, screaming in agony as the long fur hairs spread all over him, covering his body, ripping his clothes to shreds changing him to a beast, a terrible being in the eyes of men. All changed, his physical appearance, his senses sharpened, his eyes darkened into those of a wolf, shining with blue irises in the darkness around him. Claws emerged on his fingers, fangs adorning the mouth of the wolf who once had been a man. In the blink of an eye, it was over. Why did he always wish to transform when it was twilight?

 

He had become a wolf again… for so long had Link forgotten how it felt like, to feel the ground under his paws as he ran, to see that which was impossible to see as a human, to be wild and feral and free. To forget…yes to forget... the pains of being the hero of legend, to not be able to hear Midna lecturing him in his mind, leaving him alone for once, as he in his human form could always hear her witty comments when she was bored, or to run from the knowledge that he couldn’t tell the one he loved his true feelings. Link looked up into the sky, autumn leaves blowing around him in a peaceful wind. The large wolf he was, he adored glancing into the water to see his own majestic reflection look back at him, or to howl or even to hunt deer or other prey to ease his never ending hunger for meat. This is what he did, when no one could see him, his hidden side, and his secret. He enjoyed being a wolf, for then he could enjoy the small things in life, the details of a graceful flower, and the smells around him… the white moonlight or the falling of rain.

 

But what he loved to do the most in his animal form, was to sneak up to the garden of the Hyrule Castle, where Zelda often sat by herself and spy at her…he loved the fragrance of her smell, it was like that of roses, and made him grow all sleepy, it was like an invitation to sleep and dream of wonderful things. He often went there after dark or at the fall of Twilight, to adore the sight of the beautiful princess, where she sat by trees and flowers, both big and small as she gazed into the water of a crimson pond. She sometimes spoke quietly to herself, secret feelings and thoughts no one could hear, for they were uttered in her mind, but he could hear them as he too had been blessed with the power of the gods. This is how he came to know that Zelda, like him, was afraid to confess the feelings they both had for each other. Link dreamt of being able to lie in her lap, and listen to the calm winds and feel Zelda’s tender hands stroke him over his fur. Moreover, he had dreamt of them being all alone in a grassy field, where he had been by her side in his human form, where their true feelings would be revealed. He knew she must also have felt this desire, for he once crept out of his hiding place and stole her note book, where she had drawn out a scene of them together in a field.

 

Today, Zelda sat as usual in the same place and looked at the twilight, a dreamy look in her eyes. Link decided to come out of his hiding, he wanted to surprise her. He forgot he was in wolf form and stealthily sneaked up behind her and then put his paws on her shoulders! Zelda, feeling the heavy paws, mistook them for hands and asked right out: ‘Link? Is that you?’ She laughed. ‘Yes, it’s me princess!!’ the wolf spoke in a happy voice, wagging its tail. Link suddenly realized he wasn’t in human form when he felt his tail swish about, and noticed the shackle on his wrist! What was he to do now?! He was a wolf and Zelda thought he was Link the Hylian! ‘Link… he was thrown out of his thoughts by Zelda’s voice, Link, how long are you going to hold my shoulders like this? Sorry, but your hands are so heavy…’ She stretched her fingers towards his left paw, seeming that she wished to touch his hand, or hold it. Link had no time to think, and before she reached his hand, he let go of her shoulders, and ran as fast as he could back to his hiding place. Accidentally, he had ripped Zelda’s clothes with his claws as he had let go, leaving large rips. Zelda noticed that Link’s ‘hands’ were no longer on her shoulders and turned around finding that Link was nowhere to be found.

‘Princess Zelda!!! There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere...what are you doing here all by yourself?’ A soldier came out of a palace gate leading into the garden, his armor clanking heavily as he moved about. ‘Oh, Maru…I just adored the beauty of this garden as I always do at this hour of the day’ ‘What happened?’ He pointed at her shoulder, where the cloth had been ripped by Link’s claws. ‘I...I don’t know? How did that get there?’ ‘Humph, you better not be on your own Princess Zelda, there have been sightings of a large wolf near the castle grounds…’A wolf?’ ‘Yes, a wolf with a shackle and  ...blue eyes—‘this made Zelda shiver, it was.Like the wolf she had seen in her dreams! It reminded her of the eyes of Link also…

Maru looked over the garden, his golden eyes shining, as if he seemed to know where Link was hiding. Link had heard of this ‘Maru’ before. He was Zelda’s life guard and general of the Hyrulian Army. A dangerous one, he could sense. Maru didn’t like the thought of Zelda and Link together, and that’s why Zelda and Link had met in secret, for Maru had monitored every move Zelda had made Link had noticed. Maru, his long black hair billowing across his face, as he didn’t have his helmet on, marched back to the castle, leaving Zelda alone again after he had spoken with her about her duties. Link let out a sigh, the sun had since long gone down below the castle walls. He wanted to be alone with Zelda, right now, right at this moment. He relaxed, emptying his mind, to let the wolf hairs be pulled back into his skin under great pain. Finally, he was back to his normal self. His tunic was ripped, as a result of the transformation, revealing his muscled chest and he still had the shackle around his wrist. His eyes still looked like those of a wolf, something aggressive lurking in them. He slowly got up, breathing heavily, his messy hair falling in front of his eyes. Link hid the shackle under his gauntlets, as he slipped on a spare tunic he had had with him, for experience had taught him that his clothes would always get ripped when he had transformed. He also put his sword and sword sheath back on his back, fastening the bandoleer across his chest. He often hid his sword and sheath near his hiding place, so he could retrieve them when he had retransformed. As Zelda made her way back towards the northern gate which led into the castle, Link came out and ran towards her, grabbing her by her wrist as she was about to open the large wooden door.  ‘Zelda…wait.’

‘Link?’ She turned around, finding herself being very close to his face. She blushed, for she had never been this close towards him before. ‘Zelda…’ he grew quiet, couldn’t say that which he wished to say, for he was enchanted by her beauty, her sky blue eyes filled with wisdom, the long blond hair which flowed freely in the wind. He slowly brought his arms around her, an embrace, which he had longed for to share with her. She in turn didn’t protest, and held herself around him, sharing his embrace by putting her arms around his neck, cuddling close to him, feeling his strong muscles through the thin tunic. Was it a dream? A fantasy? No, it was a reality; the two did really embrace each other in a most tender way. Dark clouds parted, to show a full moon, as rain began to fall over the castle and Hyrule. He stood over her, shielding her from the heavy rain, as he held her closely to him, enjoying her company and her warm body against his. ‘Link…I never want you to let go…’ ‘I won’t Zelda’

As he said so, he made her fall into the green wet grass together with him, his eyes still resembling those of a wolf shining with tenderness and affection. His pulse started rising, his breath quickening, as he felt that urge, that deep affection once more. He knew what was about to happen. He felt the same pain, as his grip around Zelda hardened, his fingers beginning to grow claws. ‘Link, you’re hurting me!’ Zelda exclaimed, as his fingers began to rip apart the already destroyed shoulder fabric of her dress even more, causing scars on her shoulders. ‘Link!!’ Zelda gasped. His eyes were not the same as before… They scared her, they looked …wild, untamed in the darkness. Like those of a wolf flew past her mind, like those of a wolf… Link realized that he had gone too far. He used all his might to control the beast inside him that was about to come forth. ‘Zelda. I...am sorry for hurting you… I am very sorry.’ He let her go, Zelda shivering with fright. ‘What…what are you?’ Link got up, the wolf in him gone, tamed once more. His eyes changed into those of the Hylian. ‘Zelda, I need to tell you something.’ Zelda got up, backing away from him, still afraid after the earlier incident.

‘Zelda…I am a—‘

 ‘Hey! I thought I heard some voices over there! Get over there and check for any intruders!!!’ The deep voice of Maru echoed over the castle grounds, as many soldiers made their way towards the garden in the moonlight. ‘Zelda!! Don’t be afraid!! I will explain everything! I promise!!’ Link called out as the soldiers came closer. Maru, recognizing his voice grew wild with anger: It’s LINK!!! Don’t let him get away!!!’ He grabbed a passing low rank soldier by his arm, stopping him, ‘You! If we are lucky, he takes the same escape route he always does, grab some soldiers and prepare an ambush as he passes by! I will not let him get away this time!!’ ‘Roger!!’ and the soldier ran away.

‘Princess, allow me to escort you to your room!’ another soldier said as he took Zelda by her arm. ‘No!!’ She hit him across his face, making him nose bleed as she ran towards the direction which Link had run towards. Maru ran after her, together with a pack of soldiers. ‘Princess!! Get back here right now!!’

Zelda ran, unable to see clearly in the dark, branches swishing over her face as she ran past them, her dress getting ripped even more: ‘Link!! Link where are you?!!! Li—‘She fell over something, a rock maybe but she fell over on the ground. ‘There she is!! Get her back to the castle!! We have no time to lose!!’ Zelda, realizing she was surrounded, didn’t want to give up without a fight. She was going to find Link no matter what. She got up, and crouched ready to fight. Maru came out of some bushes, leaves falling everywhere, as he put his helmet over his head. ‘Not again Princess, please. We don’t wish to hurt you, just come with us back to the castle. I don’t know how many times this incident is going to repeat itself; we’ve been through this so much…’ ‘General!!! WOLF!!!!’ A soldier cried out, as he fell to the ground, blood flowing out through the wound on his throat, left by wolf fangs. More and more soldiers fell to the ground around Maru as a shadow flew past them all. Zelda gasped, suddenly the wolf of her dreams stood in front of her, its fangs dripping of red blood. ‘M—Maru!!!!’ She called out. She was afraid of the wolf, it was so large, and looked so fierce. A night mare. Maru took his hand around the hilt of his sword, ready to slash the beast. ‘So this is the wolf roaming the castle grounds…I thought I recognized you from before.’ Link growled at him, and positioned himself in front of Zelda, fur and hackles bristled as he unleashed a fearsome growl. ‘Run Zelda! Run!!’ He spoke to her! Did she imagine that, or did the wolf just tell her to run? Something in the eyes of the wolf, made her trust it, and so she ran. She saw in the corner of her eye, the wolf being slashed by Maru’s sword, leaving 3 scars on its face, bleeding, but before Maru could do something else, Link ran past him, biting his face as he passed. Link then disappeared into the dark woods. Zelda wasted no time, and decided to run back to the castle, she was sure Link could care for himself for the moment; she would ask him later why he had behaved so strangely before.  ‘Augh’ Maru took his hand and felt on his cheek, a large wound gracing it. ‘General! You’re bleeding!’ ‘Don’t care about that! He shoved the soldier out of his way. Have you captured Link yet?!’

Link himself quickly retransformed as he ran, by now he had learnt to control his feelings better, and so he could transform much quicker if he wanted to. He had noticed he would only have to think about his wolf self, and the fur would start coming out of his skin. ‘How convenient’ Link said as he thought about it, and turned his way towards  a path leading into a  small forest, towards the direction of Ordana Province, his normal escape route from the castle. He was unaware of the ambush waiting for him…

‘Shh…shut up!! He’s coming!!’ Akuhei, who was closest to Maru’s rank as a soldier, was the one in charge when Maru wasn’t. He was a built man, who had a small beard at his chin, just as red as his hair, and small evil looking eyes which had given him his name. ‘Prepare to jump at him, and make sure he can’t reach his sword! You know how dangerous he becomes with it!’ All the soldiers of this particular group were aware of that, for they all had their own memory of the Hylian, he had hurt them many times, and so each of them had a scar as a reminder of him: Akuhei had a set of scars on his right hand, after facing Link once as he fled. Link had slashed him across his hand so he would drop his Yari that one time. Kuro, a tall slender soldier had one single scar over his face, he had a Naginata as a weapon, Funuke, the coward of the group, didn’t have any scars as he always fled Link, but now he wanted to come over his fear so he wielded a Tanto, and lastly there was Arashi, a quiet and mysterious type, who had a Yumi, but was good at fighting and was third in rank after Akuhei and Maru. He had 4 scars on his left arm. Maru himself wielded both Yumi and sword. This was their chance to get revenge on Link, to catch him!

Akuhei was first to jump at Link, and made him fall on his knees. Link, caught off guard, tried to reach his sword hilt, but he was held down even more by Kuro. He bit Kuro’s arm making him let go for a brief second. This was all Link needed. Quickly, he unsheathed his blade, ready to slash at any of the soldiers. But he was one against four so he was pretty outnumbered. The four soldiers cornered him, surrounding him as they all pointed their weapons towards him. ‘Give up Link, you’re outnumbered!’ Akuhei distracted Link, and so he didn’t notice that Funuke was behind him. Funuke hit him as hard as he could so he would drop his sword. Link was so unprepared that his sword fell out of his hand when he felt the blow against his head. ‘Hold him!!’ Arashi kicked his sword away. Without his sword, Link was without his primary weapon, and so quite defenseless. Now he could neither move nor fight because he was held firmly by Akuhei and Kuro. He struggled, but to no use. ‘Hey Maru hehehehe you finally got a scar too!!’ Akuhei laughed out as Maru came out from the darkness. ‘Shut up Akuhei!! I got it from that vile beast earlier!’ ‘Eh, general, look what got stuck in our trap!’  Funuke crawled low in front of Maru, like a little dog, like the coward he was. ‘Well, what a pleasant surprise, if it isn’t Link!’ He punched Link hard in his stomach. ‘What do you say that we take revenge Maru-sama? After all he did to us… ‘‘Yeah, Maru, what do you say? I would like to give him a warm welcome—‘‘Sure hehe, --hold him!!’

Link growled at them, as they gathered around him and began beating him with all their might.

 

Meanwhile, Zelda had since long returned to the castle and now lay in her bed, but unable to fall asleep. It was very quiet, not even the faintest sound echoed across the castle, except the night guards walking their rounds around the castle. She worried for Link, and what he had said earlier: ‘Zelda, I am a—‘what was it he wanted to say before they got interrupted by Maru? Zelda felt something run down her face. Tears.

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