Lone
By GreatAngemon
Silhouetted against the horizon, where the sun was setting, stood a lone man atop a small hill. Beside him was a small decrepit tree. Then, as the sun fell behind the earth, he disappeared.
~Lone Swordsman~
Link looked at the small fishing village with disdain before walking on the path into the city square. Almost immediately, he was engulfed in a swarm of villagers and peddlers. "I'm not interested in buying anything," he tried to say, but was silenced as another merchant shoved his product in front of his face.
At last, his patience finally wore thin, and he shouted, "I'm not buying anything! Get out of my way!" The merchants all walked away dejectedly, and the villagers fell back, clearing the path. They began walking away, and Link heard one murmur, "How rude." But he didn't care.
He kept walking until he saw a small family sitting on the ground, crying, outside a small shop. He stopped walking, and knelt down beside them. "Why are you out here?" he asked. The little girl looked up at her mother, and then started crying harder.
"Lord Zant," the father said warily, "took our home for not paying our taxes." He looked shrewdly at Link, then added, "Why do you care? No one in the village cares about us."
"I'm not from this village," Link said. "And I do care about you." He helped the family to their feet, then said, "Please, follow me. I'll take you to a place where you can stay." He led the family on the path through the village, and out of the town. After a few miles, they saw a small house, built upon a tree.
"Whose house is this?" the father of the family asked.
"Mine," Link replied. "I built this house when I came to this country." He led the family up the ladder, and then into the house. "You can stay here as long as you like. You will be safe here," he said, showing them into a small bedroom. "This is the only bed, but you can have it." He left the room, and exited the house.
"Where are you going?" the father called out from the house as Link walked down the road.
"I have places to go," Link said. "You can stay here as long as you like. You are safe from Zant here."
"At least tell me your name, so that I can properly thank you."
Link was silent for a moment, staring at the road ahead of him, until he finally said, "Link."
~Lone Swordsman~
A month later, Link found himself outside his house in the tree. He decided to see if the family had left yet, and climbed up the ladder. As he entered the house, he saw the little girl lying on the couch. When she looked up, she smiled.
"Hi mister Link!" she said, happily jumping up. She grabbed his hand and began pulling him into the bedroom. "Mommy and daddy are in the bedroom! They were hoping you'd show up!"
"How come?"
"They wanted to thank you for letting us stay here," the girl said. She pulled on the bedroom door, but when they stepped inside, the room was empty. "Mommy?" the girl said. "Daddy?"
And then Link heard a commotion from below the window. He grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her through the house, and down the ladder. When they reached the other side of the house, Link saw the girl's family kneeling, tied at the wrists with gag in their mouths, with a tall, shadowy man standing behind them.
"Mommy!" the girl cried, trying to run forward, but Link held her back. "Daddy!" She was struggling, and Link had trouble holding her, until he grabbed her around the middle and hoisted her off the ground.
"No," Link said quietly in her ear. "You can't go over there. That man… he is called Death Sword… He will strike you down before you even get close." He set her down on the ground again, but this time she didn't try to run to her parent's sides, though Link saw glittering tears in her eyes.
"Death Sword," he said, raising his voice slightly, and holding the girl back with a hand on her chest, "why are you disturbing this family, when they have done you no wrong? Why not leave them be?"
"Lord Zant has placed a tax on this country," Death Hand hissed. His voice was cold and emotionless. "These people did not pay, so now they must…" Link saw him smile in the shadow of his hood, "…make restitution." He gave a cold laugh, and then raised his massive sword.
"Wait!" Link shouted. "According to your laws, the laws of your lord Zant, these two must be allowed to say final words before they are executed. Remove the binding from their mouths." Death Sword scowled, but knew Link spoke the truth.
He laid aside his massive weapon, then roughly removed the gags from the mouth's of the girl's parents. "Elisa," her mother said, gasping for air. The girl, Elisa, ran forward before Link could stop her, and embraced both her parents. Link hurried forward and grabbed her around the waist.
"Get back!" he ordered. She ran back to where they had been standing earlier, and Link turned to her parents. "Can I help you?" he asked quickly, and in a low voice so that Death Hand could not hear him. "Do you want me to do anything? I can cut your bonds. I can hold off Death Sword, and you can escape."
But Elisa's father shook his head. "Even if you did hold him off, he'd find us again. They took everything for the stupid tax. When we couldn't pay, they threatened us. The found us here. They can find us, no matter where we go." He looked broken; his hair was disheveled, his lip was bleeding, and he had tears in his eyes. "Promise me one thing, Link." He stared straight into Link's eyes, and said, "Take care of my daughter. That's all you can do for us. Take care of her." Elisa's mother seemed to be beyond tears, and she nodded.
"Please, Link," she whispered. "Keep my baby safe."
Link nodded. "I give you my word," he said solemnly. "No harm will befall her while I can protect her."
"Thank you," her father said. He nodded, then added, "Tell her we love her."
Link stepped away and hurried to Elisa's side. Kneeling to the ground, he grabbed the girl and held her close to his chest so that she could not see the terrible scene unfolding before his own eyes. But she wouldn't stay still, and broke free from his hold, just as Death Sword swung his mighty blade, cleaving the heads from Elisa's parent's.
She cried out, and tried to run forward, but Link once again held her back, grabbing her around the waist. "It's alright," he whispered into her ear, still struggling to hold onto her. Then Death Sword looked up at them from the corpses.
"Their debt to Lord Zant has not been paid in full," he said evilly. "That girl must also pay." He stepped forward.
"You touch her," Link said, his voice laced with venom, "and I'll rip you apart. You lay one hand on her, and you'll be wiped from existence."
Death Hand's foot faltered as he stepped, then he took a step back. "Alright, Link," he said coldly. "I'll let her live… for now. But you can't watch her forever."
"She is my ward. She will always be watched by me. You will not lay a hand on her." Then Link picked up the still sobbing child and carried her into the house. He laid her down on the couch and continued stroking her hair, whispering, "It's alright… it's alright…" into her ears.
Eventually, her tears and cries subsided, until all that was left was a hoarse whimpering. "Link…" she whispered, "why did he do that?"
"Lord Zant…" Link said, "is a bad man, who'll stop at nothing to get what he thinks he is owed. And right now, he thinks he is owed by you and your parents."
"But," he said a few moments later, and Elisa looked up at him with, eyes sparkling with tears, "I promise… I'm going to make him pay for what he did to you, Elisa."
~Lone Swordsman
"Death Sword," said a high pitched, silky voice softly," why have you failed me?"
"It was him," Death Sword murmured. "He was there. He took the girl. He won't let us near her."
"Then we'll have to get him away from her," the soft voice said.
"OF course, Lord Zant," Death Sword said, bowing. "I'll do my best, sire."
"Do not fail me again, Death Sword."