Chapter 2
Link leapt over to his sword and shield while the stranger forced himself to his knees. By the time he'd gotten up, Link held his sword, lookingready for a possible attack. Zelda placed a hand on Link's shoulder calmly. Upon feeling her touch, Link lowered his sword, but eyed the stranger warily. From his experiences with the Temples of the Sages, he had learned to never judge something as harmless upon first sight.
Placing his hands on his knees, panting from exhaustion and pain, thestranger looked up at the two. It took a few moments for his vision to focus and clear, once it had, he immediately noticed Link's unsheathedsword.
He looked at Link and commented, "Do I look like I'm in any condition to put up a fight?"
Link continued to eye him suspiciously as Zelda stepped forward, kneeled down, and asked, "Are you alright?"
The stranger grabbed his hat. "Barely, but I've had worse."
As he blinked, he felt something drip from his forehead and fall onto his eyelid. He wiped his forehead with the back of his left hand. Upon looking at his hand, he realized he's bleeding from the blood on his hand. "Great, as if I don't have enough problems ..."
Zelda motioned Link to come closer as she grabbed his right arm. "There's a doctor inside, he can help you."
As he rose to his feet, he clenched his jaw to keep from yelling out in pain. Once he was up, he said, "I can walk..."
No sooner had he said this did his left leg give out, forcing Link to hold him up. Groaning lightly in pain, he quickly finished, "... Then again, I can be wrong." Placing an arm around each of them, the three began to walk inside the castle towards the hospital wing.
As they entered the castle, Zelda looked over at the stranger and asked, "What is your name?"
The stranger clenched his teeth, wincing in pain from each step before responding, "Hawk."
Zelda smiled and said. "I amPrincess Zelda. I would say it's a pleasure to meet you, but I don't particularly like seeing others in pain."
Both Link and Hawk chuckled at the comment, and then looked at each other. Link then introduced himself. "My name is Link. I apologize about earlier, but I didn't know what your intentions were. Past experience has taught me to never assume everything you see is completely harmless."
Hawk couldn't help but smile as he said, "That's nothing compared to what I got back home." This comment caused both Link and Zelda to raise their eyebrows in surprise.
Before either one could say anything, Hawk quickly said, "It's a rather long story that I have no wish to recite at the moment."
As they continued down a stairwell, Link decided to ask, "Those swords at your side, where did you... actually, what kind of swords are they? Neither myself nor Zelda have seen anything like them before."
Hawk simply scoffed and said, "I take it you don't do much traveling?"
Link quickly retorted. "I've done my fair share of traveling. The closest thing I've seen to those blades are the scimitars the Gerudos use. Those are at least triple the size of those blades though."
Hawk smirked, wincing in pain again before saying, "Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better."
Zelda smiled at the statement since both she and Link knew there was more truth to that statementthan Hawk knew. Hawk spent the remainder of the trip cursing at himself silently due to the amount of pain he was in. As the trio transited through the halls, they were careful to avoid any guards. Both Link and Hawk would be thrown to the dungeons on sight were they to be caught. Link wouldn't be able to do anything since he was holding Hawk up, and in his current state, Hawk wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight anyway.
After some careful navigation, and a couple close calls, they finally arrived in the hospital wing and eased Hawk onto the nearest bed. Zelda left quickly to find the doctor while Link started to clean up some of Hawk's wounds.
Hawk eyed him during the process and said, "You might want to leave. In case the Princess comes back with more than just the doctor. It won't do you much good if you get caught here along with me."
Link scoffed as he helped Hawk pull his surcoat off and set it on the stand next to him. "I've dealt with much worse than a few castle guards. I'll be fine; you should be more worried about yourself. You're the one covered in his own blood."
Hawk simply shook his head while he pulled his shirt off and tossed it on top of his surcoat. His chest and back were covered in bruises and cuts that slowly trickled blood down his body. Link grabbed a couple of rags, handing one to Hawk, and started wiping the blood off.
While Link was tending toHawk's left arm, he noticed the same wolf head emblem that he saw on his swords earlier tattooed onto his arm. He silently took this to mind as he moved over to his right arm, where he sawsomething that caught him by surprise. The crest of the Royal Family of Hyrule was tattooed onto his right arm. As Link looked closer, Zelda had returned with the castle doctor and a couple of servants. Link moved to the side, tossing the rag on the floor, and joined Zelda as the doctor began his examination of Hawk.
Link took Zelda over to the side so they were out of earshot of Hawk and the royal staff. Zelda looked at him with worry and asked, "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Link looked at her and said, "I don't know, while I was helping him wipe off all the blood, I noticed a couple of things—"
Hawk cut him off as he yelled at one of the servants, "You damage or lose any of that, andI swear to you that not even death will save you from my wrath, am I clear?"
The servant nervously nodded as he took his clothes and coat to be cleaned. Link continued, "He has a couple of tattoos, one on each arm. His left arm had that wolf emblem that we saw earlier. While on his right—"
He was cut off once moreby Hawk shouting in pain, causing both of them to look over at him as he growled, "Take it easy, will you? That actually hurts, believe it or not." The doctor made an incoherent argument as the pair looked back at each other.
Link finished, "... while on his right arm, he has the crest of the Royal Family." Zelda's eyes widened a bit as she looked back over at Hawk. At this point, the doctor was bandaging his head while another servant was wrapping his torso.
Zelda thought for a moment before saying, "I have a few questions to ask Mr. Hawk that need answering right away."
The two waited for another half an hour before the doctor was finally done. Hawk remained sitting up on the side of his bed, while the doctor walked towards them.
"Your highness,he is badly bruised. Some of his wounds are fresh, while others are older and had reopened. As long as he stays in bed, he should be fine in a few days."
Zelda thanked him and proceeded with Link over to Hawk's bedside. He was working his fingers, making sure he still had circulation when both Link and Zelda sat down in front of him.
Link picked up one of his swords, which had been removed and placed to the side, and began to examine it. Hawk watched him as Zelda began. "As I'm sure you can guess, we would like to ask you a few questions. Would that be alright?"
Hawk looked at her, smiled a bit and said, "Of course, your highness. I'm sure you have a lot of questions." As he finished, a clap of thunder rolled through the skies and it began to rain. Hawk closed his eyes and smiled to himself as he listened to the sound of the rain storm. Link stood up and started to move towards the window when Hawk quickly said, "Please leave it open, it's been some time since I've listened to a thunderstorm."
Link looked at him, and then at Zelda, who nodded lightly towards him. Link nodded back and returned to his seat and to examining his sword.
Zelda continued. "Please, call me Zelda, this isn't a formal inquiry."
Hawk smiled as he waited for the questions he knew were coming. Zelda then looked at Link briefly before going on. "Well, the first question I guess would be—"
"I don't know how I got here." Hawk answered, interrupting her. "I was minding my business at home, getting ready to go meet witha few friends of mine when I tripped. Next thing I know, I'm falling through the sky heading towho knows where. You know the rest from there."
Both Zelda and Link looked at him in complete surprise before continuing, "Ok, where—"
Hawk cut in again, "A place of much more... modern tastes than here. I will leave it at that."
Zelda blinked in surprise before asking, "Are you—"
"No, I'm not telepathic, just figuring which questions are the most obvious." Hawk stated, cutting her off once again.
Link pulled the sword out of its polished black scabbard and looked at it while he held it in his hand. Taking note of the weight, he was curious as to what the blade could do.
Zelda cleared her throat a bit before moving on. "Alright, I couldn't help but notice the tattoos you have on your arms. The one on your right arm is what has me curious. How did you get the crest of the Royal Family tattooed onto your arm?"
Hawk chuckled before responding, "Where I'm from, it's easy to get a tattoo. This crest is actually from a video game, one that I enjoyed with several friends of mine. Thus, why I got it. To remind me of simpler times in my life."
Zelda furrowed her brow before asking, "What is a video game?"
Hawk laughed a bit before he said, "Don't worry about it, you're better off not knowing."
Zelda looked at him strangely before Link chimed in, "What kind of swords are these?"
Hawk looked at him and said, "They're Japanese. The larger one you're holding is called a Katana. The shorter is called a Wakizashi. Those swords were often carried by Samurai warlords before their fall a couple hundred years ago. The blade itself is made of high carbon steel, folded over itself one hundred times during the forging process. That makes the blade much stronger, yet lighter than most other swords."
Link whistled lightly as he held the sword. Zelda smiled at him before looking back to Hawk.
"The doctor was telling us about your wounds from your fall—"
"—and you're wondering where some of the older wounds came from, right?"
She nodded lightly, worry overtaking her facial expression. Link placed the Katana back inside of its scabbard before Hawk responded, "I would prefer not to talk about it, if it's alright with you. All I'll say is that I'm surprised I'm still alive, despite everything I've been through."
Zelda looked at him, worried by what he meant by that statement. Before Link could ask what he meant, a clap of thunder rolled out once again. Zelda and Link turned in surprise, but Hawk remained unaffected, enjoying the sound he missed so much.
Upon looking back to him, Hawk said, "As much as I'm sure you enjoy my company, I think it would be better if you two went about your day. After all, I'm sure someone as important as yourself has more important matters to deal with, Pri—I mean, Zelda."
No sooner had he finished his sentence hadZelda's chief advisor, Hamilton Barston, entered the room. Chief advisor Barston was an older man, in his early fifties. He was roughly Link's height, but not in as good of shape. The age that showed on his face was only reflected by the silver hair that he kept combed back.
He quickly walked over to the trio, saying, "There you are, your highness. When you never arrived for the afternoon council meeting, many of the council members were worried."
Zelda placed on her formal expression before responding, "Of course, I'll be there momentarily. In the meantime, Sir Hawk will be staying here for the next few days. Please ensure that his needs are attended to during his stay." Chief advisor Barston bowed politely to her before taking his leave, not even acknowledging the two men standing less than a few feet from her.
Zelda looked back at the two before saying, "I apologize about that."
Hawk lifted his hand, curtly saying, "No need to apologize, I already knew that was bound to happen. I'll be perfectly fine, so long as my clothes and coat come back in one piece."
Zelda smiled and said, "They'll be returned to you once they're clean, I promise."
With that, Zelda bowed to the two men. Link returned the bow while Hawk bowed his head lightly.
Zelda then left the room, leaving Link and Hawk alone. Hawk looked at Link and thought, How is it you're around her so much, and yet only see her as a friend?
Link broke the silence and asked, ""How good are you with those swords?"
Hawk shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I'm alright, not perfect, but I can hold my own."
Link looked at the swords, then asked, "So, where's your shield?"
Hawk smirked a bit before answering him. "I prefer the twin blades as opposed to using a sword and shield, much more challenging, but also much more rewarding."
Link nodded lightly as he looked back outside. Hawk then said, "Looks like that's going to last a while. Judging by how you were dodging guards earlier, I would suggest being careful if you're going to stay."
Link stood up and said, "I'm not, I've got a few errands to run. I'll be back later."
Hawk nodded as Link walked out of the room, leaving him alone.
