Welcome to my first attempt at a chapter story thing. This takes place after Twilight Princess. This is not an angsty 'Ooooh Midnas gone! Oh Woe is ME!' story. If you want something like that, then go read something else. Also, this story contains blood and gore. If you don't like that either, than this story is not for you. Sorry
I do not own Legend of Zelda.
The Wolf of Twilight
Chapter 1- The blue-eyed beast,
Rusl's head quickly turned to where the sound of breaking twigs came from. He was aware something was watching him, probably the same beast that had been seen out in the forest and by the spring. His hand slowly made its way to the hilt of sword which was strapped to his belt. He glanced wearily around. He was at the fork in the road in Eldin province. If only Link were here. But it was midnight, the only time when the wolf was spotted. He didn't want to wake him either; after all he had been through. From when his parents died to when he was pulled into the adventure he thought taking care of a wild animal would seem small compared to all the things he had taken on.
He was still watching the area where the sound came from when suddenly a nest of roasting birds a little way off flew away, calling out warnings to its fellow birds. Rusl pulled his sword out of his sheath and bolted straight ahead. The wolf must have heard him coming; he had given up trying to ambush the wolf. He could hear the beast running ahead, probably not knowing where to go in his attempt to escape. Rusl smiled, he knew these woods and the wolf was heading straight to Ordon spring, where he'd be trapped. The wolf ran into the clearing where the spring was with Rusl on his heels.
But when Rusl entered the spring, he couldn't see anybody or anyone.
Rusl looked around, confused. Where had it gone? It couldn't have just gone, he was sure of that. It was closed off by the steep hills and not many people could climb over them, much less an animal. He was just about to leave when he heard shuffling coming from the right of the spring. He ran to where he heard it, and to his great surprise, a tunnel he had overlooked and forgotten was there. When he was a kid, he used to scare his friends with it. It leads from here to… Ordon! Rusl quickly turned and ran, wondering what horrible sights might meet him when he entered the village. Even though Link's house was closer to the forest, he had a ladder and most animals don't have thumbs, so Rusl didn't worry about him much too often. He raced down the old path and into the outskirts of Ordon. Suddenly Rusl's heart stopped.
There, sitting on the porch of Link's house, was the wolf. Its blue eyes gleamed with amusement and its tail slightly wagged It turned around and bounded into Link's house. Rusl's heart dropped to his feet. He quickly scrambled up the ladder and into Link's house.
"Link..?" he whispered as he entered the dark house. Part of him didn't want to see what sight would befall him. Though the other half of him was loyal, and he continued walking around, awaiting to see Link's lifeless body and a pool of blood. He imagined his throat ripped out, his once twinkling blue eyes glazy and dull. He looked around and went to where his basement was. Holding his breath, he peered down.
"Link? You down there?" he whispered, squinting his eyes to try to see better in the darkness.
Suddenly, a thump was heard behind him. He whipped around, expecting to see his body lying on the ground, the wolf standing before him, blood on his claws and teeth. His heart almost stopped to see Link standing there, healthy as ever in his loose fitting white shirt and his brown pants. He didn't have any shoes on nor his gloves or hat. His light brown hair was tousled and his eyes looked tired, but they looked at him, awaiting an answer for his trespass.
"Link! Thank the goddesses! I was worried when that wolf came in, but I guess you took care of that wolf. Guess I shouldn't underestimate you, huh?" Rusl said, chuckling to himself. "After all, you did save Hyrule and all," he finished.
Link was staring at him, his head cocked and his eyebrows scrunched together. He didn't talk much, but he was a master of expressions. He shook his head and pointed to where his sword lay, clean and untouched since the day before.
"What? But the wolf… it was…. I swear! It was on your porch and it went in and…." Rusl stammered, trying to figure out what had happened. Link strode past him and out his door. There wasn't any sign a wolf was there. No fur or prints. He looked back at Rusl, arms crossed.
"But I swear! I know I saw it…" he trailed off as Link yawned and rubbed his eyes. Rusl realized he had dark circles under his eyes. He must not be getting much sleep, Rusl thought. "I'll just uh... see you tomorrow, I guess…" Rusl murmured, hurrying past Link and trying to hide his blush. Link watched him go and closed the door when Rusl walked out.
"I know I saw it! It was there! I know it was!" Rusl said under his breath, careful not to disturb Link as he walked past his house, towards the village. He looked back at the house, and saw the window to where his bed was by was closed. Rusl sighed and hurried back to his own house.
"Dad! Links gone! Dad, wake up! He's missing!" Colin was shaking his dad who was still in bed, yelling in his ear. "Get up! Come on, he could be in trouble!" Colin continued yelling in till Rusl slowly opened his eyes.
"Hmm? Whassat? "Rusl replied blearily, still half asleep from last night's hunt. He had laid in bed, unable to sleep, deep in thought. None of it made sense to him, and it bothered him. Wolves aren't magical creatures, and Link had razor sharp ears.
"Link's MISSING!" Colin yelled. This woke him up, and he shot straight up in bed. He looked at the door, then back at his son.
"What happened?" Rusl asked. His face was calm, but his eyes gave away his worry and fear for the young man. He swung his legs over the bed and looked at Colin as he sat down next to him. Colin didn't looked better. He looked up to Link and wanted to be just like him. He had saved him and all the other children. Rusl knew he would fall in a deep depression if something happened to Link.
"Well, Fado came to Link's to help with the goats," he began, switching glances with his own feet and his father. "When Link didn't answer him, Fado went inside and saw his house was destroyed! It looked like someone snuck in and ravaged all his stuff. Fado went upstairs and Link was gone, along with his sword. He-he said he saw blood to on the carpet, along with his hat he wore when he went on his adventure. Fado then ran into the village and told Bo." Rusl noticed Colin had a tear running down his cheek, and it broke his heart to see it. Burglaries weren't common here, but to happen to someone so caring and kind, it just wasn't fair.
"I'll go see if I can find Link. Stay here and protect your mother. If this happened to Link, it could happen to anyone." Rusl replied as he looked at his son. Colin nodded, still not looking at his father.
Rusl sighed; the only way to comfort his son was to find Link. And if Link didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. He got up, pulled on more suitable clothes, and strapped his sword to his belt. He gave his wife a quick peek on the cheek, walked outside and down the path. He followed it to the outskirts where Link's home was. Scanning the area, he noticed Epona was gone too. That meant two things. Whoever broke into his house had taken the horse, or Link had called it. Rusl climbed the old ladder and to the house. What his son had said was true, clothes and dishes were everywhere. Broken glass was on the floor, blood glistening on its sharp edges. Rusl bent down and picked it up. It was still fresh. He gulped, feeling like he did when the wolf came into his home. Barrels holding extra food were over the ground, some smashed open others just lying there. But what Rusl saw made his skin crawl.
A deep red stained the carpet, and lying in the middle of it lay a long green cap.
"Link…" Rusl whispered, frozen by such a sight. For a while he just stared at it in disbelief. It couldn't be true. The Hero of Twilight, who had saved the princess, who had defeated Gannondorf, saved countless lives, was missing, probably deeply injured. Rusl sank to his knees, and picked up the cap Link often wore when Zelda had called for him. The end was bloody, but otherwise it looked like it always did.
Rusl would've stayed there longer when a low and mournful howl sang out across the forest. This shook Rusl out of his daze. He took Link's hat and put it in his pocket. Glancing once more at the horrible sight, he left. He drew his sword and glared at the forest before jumping down and racing off. He wouldn't let anyone else die, not like Link did. He would never forgive himself. The howling stopped, but Rusl had already located where the sound came from. He raced down the bridge, through the tunnel, and out into Hyrule field.
The wolf was nowhere in sight, but at least ten very large bandits stood there. Most of them were on horses, others checking the carriages, but two were in a very heated conversation. Rusl hid behind a fallen log, careful not to step on any fallen leaves.
"Whaddya mean he escaped? I thought I told ya to watch him. He a fighter, he is." A man with a scraggy beard stood. He had very dirty rags as clothes and worn leather boots caked with mud.
The other man, who had a thick beard and scars over face, said, "Boss, I tell ya, we did. We slashed him to da gut too. Beat da crap out of him too," the other man laughed, which turned into a cough. "We thought he got knocked out, but den he stabbed Ben and left. He couldn't of gotten far though with all those injuries."
"Fool!" the man punched him in the chin, causing him to fall to the ground. His eyes turned red, and the day looked to be bathed in a deathly glow. His form of speech turned from the slurred speech to a deep voice, menacing and low. "He was the only door to unleashing Lord Gannondorf from his prison. And now he's gone!" The man stood over the fallen man, his fists clenched. He moved his hand and drew a long and thin blade from his belt and cut the man's throat.
He stood up and announced, "Everyone is to find him! I don't care how long it takes, find him!" he glared at the group, who was trying to become as small as possible. "Go!" he barked. The group scrambled off, some going in the field, others heading to where Rusl was.
Rusl quickly started to crawl away, and once the camp was out of sight, he stood up, clearly shaken. He started to go forward, when a crude blade pressed against his throat. It looked to be rusting and had several notches in the sword. His eyes followed the blade down, which met the hilt being grasped by a dirty and ragged hand. His eyes finally met with the face of the man. He had a brown beard that seemed to have been attacked by a pair of scissors. His eyes were wild, darting to the trees to his blade and to Rusl. He had an oddly large nose, and bushy eyebrows. His hair went down to his shoulders, which was pulled into a pony tail. His had dirty pants, and a large once-white cotton shirt that was stained brown. He also had worn leather boots.
"Well well well, what do we got 'ere?" he said. He had a wheezy voice, and his breath smelled of alcohol. "Seems we've been tailed, eh? Aw now, don't worry, I just want info. Ya see, a man of ours escaped. Ya seen him? 'Bout yay tall, " he said, indicating with his hands, "and he had a green tunic on-"
"Joe! For petes sake, he from da same village!" a second man came out of the forest, followed by three other men. They all looked relatively the same. Scraggy beards, ragged hair, rags as clothes. They all had swords at the belts. "Ya don't just tell anybody who we lookin' for."
"Oops. Sorry Snake. I saw him trying to get away and all. He seemed to 'ave been eavesdropping." The one called Joe said, still pointing his sword at Rusl's throat. "I thought he might know where da kid went off to," he finished.
"Naw, he wouldn't tell. Look at him, he's glaring at us," Snake laughed. It was wheezy and ragged. "Ya see, he's gonna blab on us. The only thing to do is to kill him, ya see, and anybody else we see." They each drew their own swords, and surrounded Rusl. Joe removed his sword from Rusl's throat and joined the circle. "Dis is the funniest way to kill a man, ya see? You beat him down till he crying like a baby, than slowly finish him off," Snake laughed. He jumped in, and nicked Rusl on the arm. Rusl flinched, but restrained his hand to stop from reflexively covering the wound. Another man leapt forward, and would've made a deep scar on his arm when a most odd savior came.
The wolf came out of the forest and dug his claws into the back of the bandit. He bit the man's throat, just as Rusl thought the wolf would've kill Link. The man who got attacked fell, and the bandits yelped and aimed their swords at the wolf. It was growling, but eyeing those blades uncertainly. Rusl was shocked when he saw blood leaking out of his thick fur coat and onto the ground. It glanced at Rusl, blinked once, and launched himself over the swords and onto Joe. The beast clawed his face, while his hind legs clawed his stomach. Joe screamed and fell to the ground. Rusl stood there, stunned as the wolf attacked the bandits. Soon four men were on the ground, bleeding. The remaining man looked at the wolf, who was still growling. He dropped his sword and ran into the forest.
The wolf stood there, panting and still bleeding. The animal suddenly tensed and looked at the direction of the camp. He started growling, but Rusl knew he was in no shape to fight. His legs were shaking and blood still continued to drop down. The wolf looked over at Rusl, his eyes wide. He barked, trying to tell Rusl something. Glancing to where he once was growling, the wolf suddenly came to Rusl and pushed him with his snot. The wolf was surprisingly strong, and Rusl went tumbling into the brush. And not a moment too soon.
Suddenly, clapping was heard. The wolf took up the position he once was at and growled at the direction of the clapping.
"Now, Now, don't be so mean, my friend," Rusl recognized it as the man who had slit the man's throat. He came out of the forest, his eyes still menacingly red. The leader looked at the bodies of the fallen men, then back at the wolf. "Now, that wasn't that nice, was it? I wouldn't go to Ordon and kill your people, would I? Well, maybe," he laughed, and unlike the other men, it was deep and hearty. Another man came out, and Rusl saw it was the man who had fled. The leader pointed to the man, and said, "He told what happened. You seem to hold a bit too much loyalty, hmm? Yes I thought so. But tell me, was it worth it? You fell in our clutches again for your little heroic act. Hah! But no matter, you couldn't escape us, no matter what you did. Ah, well, come on, we don't have all day." The man came forward, and drew his blade. The wolf stood there, unable to run and unable to fight. It glanced back at Rusl once, but then the man raised his blade and cut his front legs, not deep enough to cut off entirely, but deep enough so he couldn't do anything. The wolf yelped, and fell. The man laughed as the wolf fell and narrowed his eyes at his captor. "Now play nice or that little village of yours gets attacked with no one to protect them," he hissed venomously. The wolf faltered his gaze, and the man took the chance to pick the wolf up by his scruff and drag him back to camp. A trail of red followed the wolf. The wolf's eyes never left Rusl's as he was taken away.
When the sounds of footsteps faded away, Rusl slowly got up. The wolf had saved him, had sacrificed himself for Rusl and the village. He had something to do with Link, Rusl was sure of it. He just didn't know what. Rusl looked up to where they had taken the wolf. He gulped. He had to save the wolf. But he needed food and probably a horse. And he would have to face Colin again, which he was not looking forward to. Sighing, he slowly trekked back to Ordon to give the grave news.
Well? Was it good? Hope so. The next chapter will be centered on how Ordon takes the news and all. As always review and as always, suggestions are great! I have the general plot down, but if you have a better idea or outcome don't be afraid to say. I will update whenever I have the time to write, so probably somewhere next week.
