Chapter 4 - Someone to Go To

 

 

’Akuhei...Akuhei!! That’s enough, I think we’ve given him a good lesson’ ‘I want to give him more, Kuro! He isn’t even dead yet!’ ‘Aren’t you done already?’ Maru stood aside in the shadows of the forest, his golden eyes glistening with cunning. ‘We have to get back to the castle before the princess wakes up…Funuke! ‘Yes Maru-sama?’ ‘You get the honor of giving Link here a nice scar, just like those the rest of us have, Akuhei! Kuro! Hold him up; he’s too weak to stand on his own!’ Funuke was quick with his Tanto, slashing Link over his chest, ripping up his battered tunic, and leaving a large wound, making him groin of pain. The soldiers dropped him, and left him to lie in the rain. ‘Hey Maru, I am hungry! Let’s eat before going back to the castle!!’ ‘Yeah, Yeah’…

Link didn’t move. He had trouble breathing, some of his ribs were broken… all over him, he had scars and slits made from the weapons of the soldiers. He had lost quite much blood after being beaten so brutally. His face had the three scars from when he had faced Maru earlier as a wolf, his body tired, hurt, beaten and broken. With lots of effort, Link turned around were he lay in the wet grass, some blood still flowing from his wounds. He closed his eyes, feeling the rain drops falling on him and going down his face, making his hair soaked. Washing the pain away… He decided to lie like this a little more, to reduce the pain, until he had rested long enough to gain energy so he could walk to Zelda. He didn’t feel as if he could go back to Ordon Village, the villagers wouldn’t understand. He was a loner, and though everyone knew him as a friend, he was too different from them…somewhere, deep down; Link had always felt as an outsider in the village community despite their friendliness and hospitality. He was different, not the same race as they were, they were humans; he was a Hylian, a sacred race bestowed to hear the words of the Hyrulian Goddesses. He was bound to leave his home to save the entire world, how could he return after so much blood covering his hands, his mind forever, memories that never fade away from his eyes? He couldn’t go back to the life he had before he had realized after the ending of his adventure, he simply was changed, had a greater understanding of the world beyond the little village he had always known. Though he still had Ordon as his home, he lived secluded, away from the villagers, keeping his distance and to himself. They worried about him, but how could they understand what he had been through? That’s why when he returned, that he bid farewell to them all and rode away to Hyrule Castle to the only one who remembered: Zelda. He became extremely careful and returned only to his house in early morning or late night, when the villagers were asleep. This way, Link could avoid questions or being harassed by the village brats. If he wanted to visit the village, it was in the form of a wolf, to scare them off into their homes. His heart saddened when he first realized how badly the wolf was treated in Hyrule. It had got a reputation it didn’t deserve, and was hated by most and known as a monster, nightmare or more commonly ‘beast’. He felt a sadness and compassion for the poor animal, and in becoming one, all his hate for it had been abolished, for before, he was a shepherd and wolves were seen as the ultimate enemy, and hunted down if they got the chance. He got to feel the reality of being one, being feared by all, and seen as a monster of both adult’s and children’s night mares…

  He liked being on his own, and be his own leader, not obeying orders from someone, like he had from Midna or the mayor Bo. Once, he had dreamt of becoming the mayor of Ordon, when he was still unaware of the great fate which lay ahead of him. But, that dream was crushed as he was pulled into the Twilight by that Shadow Being. It was then that he became aware of the one he was, a hero, a savior of Hyrule Kingdom. Even when the quest was over, Link felt that he wanted to stay as the hero, even if people wouldn’t recognize him, he wanted to be what he really was, and not live in a lie, in a life which wasn’t meant for him.

 

It had stopped raining, and so Link slowly and carefully got up on his legs, feeling a bit dizzy and trembling because of his wounds. He took up his sword, sheathing it in its scabbard stumbling a lot while he walked in a slow pace, feeling pain for every step he took. If he only could make it to Zelda...he would be all right.

It still wasn’t morning in Hyrule, and all villages and Hyrule Castle Town lay abandoned and quiet in the night, except for some stray dogs or cats of all sizes and a cucco here and there. Link, before continuing any further, felt that he couldn’t walk as fast as he wished to, and whistled for Epona, who of course came right away when she heard her master call for her with that special melody. ‘What’s wrong, Link? You…are hurt’… ‘Epona, please, take me to Zelda, I need to see her…’ Epona understood, and lay herself down, so that Link could get up on her back easier without hurting himself more than he had. After making sure Link was safely on her back and held himself tight in her mane (she didn’t have any bridle, only her saddle) she rose and began running towards Hyrule Castle Town. Link held on as hard as he could, but sometimes felt like he was going to faint or get a blackout because of the pain and his wounds that still weren’t treated. ‘Epona…be careful when you get into the castle, go through the southern gate which leads into Zelda’s garden…don’t let the guards spot you,’ he whispered into the bay Clydesdale’s ears as she ran.

 

The first light was beginning to show as a new dawn came over Hyrule, just when Epona reached the Castle. She was just in time to gallop through the southern first gate with Link barely clinging on, when Maru and his soldiers came back to the castle. Maru went to his house, a small cottage of sorts made from bricks and wood, where he locked himself up and got some shut eye after last night’s excursion. The rest of the soldiers split up and went their separate ways. Kuro walked out into the Castle Town, grabbing a Ale at Telma’s Bar, accompanied by Akuhei, while Funuke went around the market place, stealing little trinkets’ as he always did at this hour of early morning when the shops were unmanned. He also grabbed some meat chunks and bread while he was at it. Arashi was out and doing ‘business’ as he called it, namely gathering the latest gossip of the townspeople about the army or he would on occasion travel to the Gerudo Mesa and buy rare artifacts, like sheikah daggers and such from Poes. Arashi was fascinated about the guardians of the royal family, and tried to get as much information about them as he could, so he could mimic their unique battle style in combat. Of course, Arashi kept this as a secret from the other soldiers, or he would be laughed at, seeing himself as the smartest of the group, he wouldn’t tolerate fighting the same way as the soldiers did, mostly because he thought that their fighting style was a ‘disgrace’ to the art of Warfare.

 

Most of the lazy guards, who guarded the castle, ignored their orders from Maru when he was away, and so dropped their weapons, and sat down on the dirt, sometimes even falling asleep! Others played Hyrulian Dice, a game invented by the soldiers as a pass time. They betted their rupees on what side the dice would land on, and the one who got the side with the triforce emblem on it, won all the rupees. A simple but illogical game, for the triforce emblem always switched sides magically, altering itself after the outcome of the play. There was always a winner and always a loser, leading to that the one who lost would have to make food for all the others as a ‘punishment’. The winner got to keep all the rupees and got the best meat and wine there was to offer. Because the soldiers now were occupied, Epona had no problem in running past the castle grounds, they didn’t even hear her loud hoof beats against the ground as she ran, they were too focused on the Hyrulian Dice!! 

 

So finally, Epona and Link reached the Garden after running through several large stone gates. The large bay Clydesdale walked in a slow pace, as the sun stood already high in the sky its rays being filtered by the green leaves of trees, casting shadows and highlights on the foliage in the peaceful morning. Zelda still hadn’t awakened, and the mare noticed that Link had let go off her white mane. He was tired and wanted to rest, and whispered once again into her ears: ‘Epona…do something …so she wakes up.’ He then grew quiet and fainted, almost falling off the horse’s back. Epona was an intelligent horse, and not dumb witted as other farm horses usually were. She used her reasoning and held her head up high and started to neigh loudly, trying to make Zelda wake up. Zelda, hearing Epona’s loud neighing, woke up from her slumber and was surprised to see, upon gazing out through her window, Epona standing in the garden with Link on her back, but all didn’t seem to be well with him… she quickly dressed and ran down the stairs of her tower, opening up the heavy wooden door. ‘Link, are you all right?’ Zelda went towards Epona, who kept a watchful eye over the surrounding area. The princess was horrified when she saw Link’s state. He fell off the horse, Zelda catching him. What had happened to him? He looked very hurt… realizing that Link was too weak to move on his own, Zelda made a rash decision to hide him and take care of his injuries until he would be strong again. She gathered her wits and lifted him as much as she could, the sword weighed him down and he was unconscious… Epona, worried for her master, didn’t want to leave him, and pulled at his tunic with her teeth, whining a bit sadly. ‘Epona, it’s alright, I will take care of him, I promise’, Zelda reassured the mare, and as Epona trusted Zelda as much as she did Link, she let his tunic go and laid herself down in the garden grass, resting her tired legs, while looking up into the sky above.

‘Come on, Link, wake up a bit!’ Zelda struggled as she tried to pull him up to her room. His eye lashes fluttered a little, but not more than that. Once they got up into Zelda’s room, she laid him down on her bed, near the decorated windows. She removed his tunic shirt completely, and started to clean his wounds. Zelda couldn’t help but notice how strong Link’s body was. The well defined muscled chest, the rough well trained arms… furthermore the handsome face, which seemed to be asleep amidst his long blond bangs, to the small tapered pointed ears, the trademark of the Hylian race and the small dark blue hoop rings pierced into them, shining like water reflected by sun… and the triforce mark on his left hand, shining faintly as hers did. Whenever they were close, their triforce’s would resonate and shine, like they wanted to be together, united into one…

He had a wolf like appearance to him somehow. It was then that Zelda noticed the three scars on his face…hadn’t she seen them somewhere before? She tried to remember, but couldn’t think of it for the moment. Continuing to treat his wounds, Zelda felt her love for him increasing more and more for every stroke she did on his skin, feeling the strong muscles under the thin silk cloth she used to clean them with. Her breathing and pulse quickened, she felt how she blushed. She wished to take care of him, protect him, like he had always done since they met for the first time.

‘Link…I will…protect you. You have always done so for me, now…it’s my turn to protect you’. She smiled a smile of compassion and true love.

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