Chapter 1
Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa
Hooves beat heavily into the ground as a sole rider rode across the fields of Hyrule. Clad in a large deep brown duster, a bandanna wrapped around his mouth and nose, his eyes covered in black tinted goggles, his long blonde hair flowing freely in the air. He wore a very dirty tan shirt, cotton pants, and knee high brown boots. His trusty steed a deep rich brown with a white mane, covered in scratched silver horse armor. It lost its once beautiful shine to the number of battles and storms its been through.
This man and his steed raced to their destination; Kakariko Village, to stop and rest for the night before heading on again, to a river that supposedly housed the illusive and terrible McCready Gang. A gang that has been hassling the citizens of Hyrule for far too long. The sun was setting quite rapidly, the last moments of the day fleeing behind the distant mountains, and twilight appearing as if from thin air. Due to this man's very unfortunate late start he has been forced to follow the shortcuts that were known to be riddled with bandits. However, he was just as likely to take the route no matter what the time because he knew how to handle himself quite well. But he was still racing against time because most inns closed at sun down and he for one has had enough with sleeping outside for a night or two. His sword and shield hung off the back of his horse along with his other stuff; camping materials, food and weapons. Thought it looked like he was relaxed and defenseless, he was at the ready at all times. It was a requirement for his job. As the sun slipped more under the horizon, he took off his goggles and exposed his dull grey eyes to the twilight air. He pushed his horse harder to try and make it in time.
"Hmm," he hummed to himself as he picked up a piece of ceramic. Beautiful even as a broken piece instead of a whole. He tossed it to the side and picked himself up out of his crouch, his sword in his hand. He was expecting bandits but it seemed like they were long gone. Same with the owners of this wagon, the man thought to himself. The wagon was currently on it's side, a wheel busted in half. The canvas walls were shredded and a few arrows littered the ground along with the iron-y smell of blood.
He walked around to the other side and saw the canvas draped over a rather large something. He used his sword to lift the canvas and what he saw made him put a grimace on his face. He quickly dropped the canvas again and shook his head.
Definitely McCready, he thought to himself. He gave a quick silentprayer to the once human mass and a quick addible curse to the McCready gang. After a quick inspection of the wagon papers he found that there were supposed to be two men and three women on this ride. The first man was found about 500 feet back, which put him on alert, and here was the second man, this put him more at ease.
Kill the men and take the women, he thought to himself, no other reason to stay, huh?
He looked up to the sky and lightly cursed himself. Inspecting the wreckage had put him behind schedule, way too much so. He whistled to his horse and he mounted as fast as he could. He took one last look at the wagon and decided that whoever did this was long gone and he didn't have anything to worry about.
"Pardon me, sir," the man spoke up to the guard guarding the front gate. He pulled down his bandanna as he spoke.
"What is it citizen?" the guard asked with a sharp and authoritative voice.
"Could you kindly point out the stables for me?" he asked politely.
"Certainly," he said, turning to the town. "If you head down the main street you'll come across 3rd street, take a right on 3rd and at the end of the road you'll come across the stables, but you'd better hurry, their about to close up for the night."
"Thank you sir," the man said, he took his horse be the reins, jumped off and walked with it.
As he walked he took in the rather small Kakariko Village, he had never been here before but he had heard plenty about it on his travels. There was apparently someone here who made the best chicken dumplings, they had close to one hundred people living in this very small space, and they had four festivals each year, one for each season, drawing in more people. But alas, he wasn't here for chicken dumplings, he was here to seek shelter for the night.
He followed the guards directions and took a right on 3rd street.
Clearly the animal part of town, he thought to himself. The street was closer to mud than dirt, but not quite there and there was a pungent odor of manure in the air. But nonetheless it was a very clean for what it was, they must have someone to come and clean up every once in a while.
It didn't take long to get to the end of the road and by now the sun was gone. He came upon a house next to a very large barn.
"Howdy, sir," he heard in a squeaky voice. The person who made the sounds were from a rather small boy who was sitting on a stool outside of the open barn door. He had a straw hat on and a very toothy grin, though he was in fact missing a couple of teeth.
"Hi, are you still receiving horses for the night?" the man asked, taking a breif look at the sign that hung above the open barn door.
"You're jus' in time, mistah," the boy said. He got up and took the lantern from the hook it was hanging on. "Follo' me, sir." and so the man followed the boy into the barn, with horse in tow.
They went all the way to the last stall in the barn which was one of the last three open. There were lanterns hanging by each stall door so the horse could get some light, but the ones that didn't have a horse in them weren't lit. The boy lit the lantern that the man was opening.
The stalls were graciously large, large enough so if a horse were laying down a worker could walk around it easily.
"Thank you, boy," the man said as he started to take all of his equipment off his horse.
"Sure, thing mistah," the boy said ever so cheerful. He watched as the man undressed his horse when he piped up again. "Why's he got metal stuff on?"
"Huh?" the man asked looking at the boy. He thought the boy had left, but apparently not. "Oh, well she is a fighter, as am I and we both need to be protected," he said, continuing his work.
"Whatcha fightin'?
"Bad people I suppose."
"Like a bounty hunter?" the boy asked. The man looked up and looked at the boy with a quizzical look.
"I suppose," he said, getting back to work.
"That's pretty cool, you know?"
"Heh, I suppose, dangerous work though, I'd much rather earn my living doing what you're doing tending to animals and what not."
"Why do you do it then?"
The man stopped again at this and thought about this question.
"Because someone has to," the man settled on.
"Well aint that the guards' job?" the boy asked, seeming never ending with his questions.
"The guard's job is to keep the citizens of the country they're protection safe," the man said, "A bounty hunter's job is to keep everybody safe."
"But aint that the same?"
"Eh, I suppose they'er the same in some aspects, different in others," the man said, smiling up at the boy, who just smiled back. "What's your name, boy?"
"Names' Rog'r, sir," the boy replied quite proudly.
"That's a nice name, I knew someone named Roger, he was a good guy," the man said, turning his face to Roger the boy. "Are you a good guy?"
"Yes sir, ah am a good guy," Roger stated very proudly, puffing out his chest a little. The man could only chuckle.
He spent the last moments of undressing his horse in silence as the boy just watched. He piled the armor on a cubbyhole built into the side of the wall along with most of his stuff, however he kept out his sword and shield and his clothes pack and slung them over his back.
"Well young man, thank you, here," he said taking out a red rupee, "For one night, keep the change."
"Thanks you very much mistah!" the boy exclaimed. He quickly bit one end of the rupee and was even more happy when it passed his quality check, making the man smile softly. The man started to leave but was stopped by the boy. "Wait! You gotta fill this out!"
The man looked back and saw the boy hold up a small chalkboard and small piece of chalk. The man took the board and saw that there were two spots to fill out. One labeled "HORSES NAME" the other "OWNERS NAME". There was quiet as the boy was busy admiring his twenty rupee, the only sound was animals and the tik-tak of chalk striking the chalkboard. When the man was done he handed back the chalkboard. The boy looked over the information and nodded to himself. The man took out a yellow rupee and said, "Could you tell me where the inn is?"
The boy took the rupee excitedly, "Sure! If you walk back to the main street and take a right, follo' that till you get to 7th street and the inn is on that street."
"Thank you very much," the man said walking away.
"Don't worry Mr. Link! I'll take real good care of Epona for you!" the boy exclaimed after the man named Link, who disappeared around the corner.
