Chapter 3 The Hunter

The more chapters you submit the fewer reviews eh? I started out with seven on the prologue, then four on the first chap, now one on the second chapter. What the crap? Come on people, please review when y'done reading.

Josh awoke slowly as a radiant shaft of light extended in from the windows, gently caressing the room with its motherly touch. Slowly he rose from the chair, stiff from sleeping in it. He looked over at the sleeping form of Scarlet. She lay in his bed, all tucked in with the covers wrapped tightly around her body. Josh smiled slightly. She looked cute when she was asleep.

Suddenly his attention was caught by a small scrap of paper which lay on the ground on the far side of the room. Josh walked over to it and picked it up. The sound of his footsteps woke Scarlet up. She opened her eyes and looked across the room at Josh.

"Mister Josh?" she said, yawning and stretching her arms.

"Yeah?" Josh looked up from the letter to her.

Scarlet then noticed the letter that Josh held clutched in his hands.

"W-what's the letter say?" she asked nervously.

The past experiences with the Dark Horse had taught her that letters were a bad thing. Josh slowly unfolded the crumpled piece of paper. On it there was an ink picture of a castle with the words "Come to me" inscribed upon it. Josh held the letter out so Scarlet could see it. Slowly she got out of bed and walked over to him, her white nightgown glowing in the sunlight. She looked at the paper silently, before frowning and looking at Josh.

"Huh?"

"He wants us to go to Hyrule Castle..." Josh said, nodding at the paper. "That's the only castle around here. And it says 'Come to me,' so it must mean that."

"B-but why should we listen?" Scarlet stuttered.

"I don't know," Josh said. "The smart thing might be to ignore his 'invitation' and leave. But he may be trying to trick us. You never know."

Scarlet's shoulders slumped down as she looked at the ground.

"No one would miss me if I got killed anyway..." she mumbled.

"I'd miss you," Josh blurted, and then blushed, realizing what he had said.

Scarlet looked up and gave Josh a broad smile.

"You're nice, Mister Josh."

Josh bowed his head slightly, hiding his face.

"Thanks, so are you."

"So... what do we do with this?" Scarlet asked, blushing slightly.

"I don't know," Josh said. "This guy's a psychopath. He thinks differently than we do, so we need to try thinking like he does."

"Its not as easy as you make it sound," Scarlet said.

Josh thought silently for a second.

"Well what do we know?" he said. "He attacks under cover of darkness, but that isn't really a clue. He has some aversion to the color red..."

"You shouldn't wear red," Scarlet suddenly blurted, holding a hand against her forehead. "You... You just shouldn't..."

Josh looked up surprised. "Why not?"

"It doesn't feel right," Scarlet said looking up at Josh. "You should... please... you shouldn't wear red..."

"What do you mean?" Josh asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know!" Scarlet cried out. "Just please! Don't wear red! I have a bad feeling about it!"

"Okay, okay," Josh put his hands up.

Scarlet looked away, trembling slightly.

"What do we do now?"

Josh thought about this for a second.

"Well, if Ashira's a psychopath, then he obviously wants to kill us. But there is something about him... You remember when he gave me the paper that said "you are no different?" Well, that intrigued me... I think, as strange as this sounds, but... he's trying to show us something. At least he wants us to understand or believe something before he kills us. There must be something driving him... maybe we play a part in whatever it is."

"But... I don't want to play a part..." Scarlet said, biting her lip. "If... I really have to... I guess... I will..."

Josh sighed, and shot a sympathetic glance at Scarlet.

"Maybe if we play a part," he said, "we'll have a second chance of living."

Scarlet looked at the floor silently, thinking. She touched her forehead and held back the tears. It was all so confusing... But she did want to survive. Scarlet stood up decisively.

"In that case..." she whispered, "we should grab it."

Josh smiled at her.

"Okay then! Maybe we should meet him at the castle."

"Yes!" Scarlet said with a nod, tugging her hair behind her ear. "Shall we leave right away?"

"No," Josh said. "Lets go grab some breakfast before we go."

Scarlet nodded and smiled.

"Ah! Breakfast will do us good. This time I'll pay."

"Thanks," Josh said. "Lets go!"

"Wait a minute Josh," Scarlet said. "I gotta go get dressed first. You were smart and slept in your clothes."

Josh looked down at himself.

"Right," he said smiling.

Scarlet walked off to her room to get dressed. When she returned she was wearing her traditional red clothes. But surprisingly enough they were clean. She must have washed them before going to sleep last night and left them out to dry.

Scarlet smiled and opened the door, waiting for Josh.

"What do you want to eat?" she asked.

"I really don't know," Josh said walking out of the inn with her. "I haven't been here in a long time."

Scarlet smiled and nodded.

"Well... lets go see what we can find."

The two of them walked out of the inn and walked around the town until they found place. The guy inside sat them down at a table and gave them two menus.

"Hmmm..." Sammie looked at the menu quizzically.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked.

"I just have no idea what to choose," Scarlet said, folding her arms and putting the menu down.

"Well I think I'm just going to have the bacon and eggs," Josh said.

"Well... it wouldn't be a bother if I choose the same, would it?" Scarlet asked with a smile.

"Go right ahead," Josh said, and then motioned to the waiter. "We'd like two plates of eggs and bacon."

The waiter nodded, and walked away. Scarlet smiled and leaned back in the chair, looking at the ceiling silently.

"You think..." she began, "that we'll come out okay?"

"I don't know," Josh confessed. "I hope so. I've always found that in life I've survived because I didn't lose hope."

Scarlet smiled and put her elbows on the table, placing her head in her hands as she waited, pondering. In a few minutes the waiter brought them their food, and they started eating.

"I don't want to die..." Scarlet said kind of sadly. "But either way, if we go to the castle or not... Its not like we have a choice..."

She sighed deeply.

"Well if its any comfort," Josh began, "I know if we run then we still might die."

Then he noticed a guy sitting in a booth to the left of them listening to their conversation. Josh stopped talking and looked away suspiciously. The man was elderly, but looked very tough. His blue eyes were cold, emotionless, and his expression was very very curious. His white streaked silver hair was bound in a poneytail.

"Hmm?" Scarlet looked up blinking, then looked towards the guy, and then back at Josh silently.

Josh looked over at the man again. Suddenly he stood up, and started walking over towards them. Josh bristled, and placed a hand on his hammer. Scarlet kept looking at her food silently, eating some of it and ignoring the man. The man stepped up to the table and looked at both of them through his ancient eyes. His eyes which had a dark, hardened look to them.

"What do you want?" Josh looked up at him.

"You speak of something," he said in a heavily accented voice. "Something dark. I know of something dark. The Ashira Sheragoda de Darga Sol lut Cul."

Scarlet's fork clattered onto the plate, ringing silently as Scarlet froze, gulping down her food. She didn't know what to say, she just looked over at Josh nervously.

"What are you talking about?" I looked up at the man.

He turned, eying Scarlet, his deep eyes spoke to her as he stared.

"Gerudo," he said. "Some say the Darga Cul has a thing for Gerudo's. He hates them. No one knows why."

He continued to stare at her creepily. Josh looked up at him, shocked by his unpleasant remarks.

Scarlet looked at him in shock before tearing her gaze away and staring at her food.

"What do I have to do with it..." she mumbled softly. "Only because I'm a Gerudo... Why would he hate us?"

The man's haunting eyes turned up towards the ceiling.

"Some say its because a Gerudo killed his girlfriend years and years ago. Others say its because Gerudo's are often quick to drive people away because of differences. But why would the Dark Horse care about this?"

The man was dressed in rugged work clothing, and on his neck there was a gold neclase with a strange symbol attached to the end. The symbol was of a Sheikah Eye with a purple stone in the center and black lining around the outside. Josh shivered, and suddenly lost is.

"Stop it!" he said angrily, rising to his feet. "Can't you say that your words bother her?"

Josh gestured at Scarlet. The man's eyes widened slightly and he looked at Josh strangely.

"Who are you?" Josh asked. "What is your business with us?"

Scarlet tried to stop her body from trembling, tried to act like she didn't care... But she knew full well that Josh could see that she didn't like the way the man spoke. Scarlet looked up in surprise when Josh stood up for her, smiling faintly.

The man broke his haunting gaze with Josh suddenly, and looked at the table. Josh's eyes remained filled with cold anger against the man's disregard for Scarlet's well being.

"I am called Pedrez," the man said. "I know what hunts you."

Scarlet nodded faintly and glanced up.

"If you know what hunts us... then you also know that we'll die eventually..." she mumbled softly.

The man's wide haunting eyes turned to Scarlet.

"The Darga Cul takes those he wants to take. No one escapes."

"Shut up!" Josh shouted, glaring at him. "Listen Pedrez! I don't know who you think you are..."

Scarlet stood up silently and glared at Pedrez, slapping him lightly on the cheek. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her lip quivered as she looked away. Slowly she sat down, hiding her head in her hands. Why had she done that? Pedrez took the blow from Scarlet without flinching or reacting. He just looked on, emotionless and unfeeling. Josh grabbed Scarlet's arm, and helped her out of her chair.

"Come on," he said, leading her towards the exit. "Lets go."

Scarlet bit her lip and nodded, walking along with Josh silently, looking back at Pedrez. He was scary... she didn't like his eyes.

"Last week I met two people who were targets of the Dark horse," Pedrez called after us. "They wanted to run away. I found them dead two days later. One's body was cut open viciously. The other didn't have a body. All that was left was a head on a pike. They never made it."

Josh shot a glare at the man, before opening the door and holding it for Scarlet.

"You won't survive by running," he said. "That's how you get taken. You must fight him!"

"Fight?" Scarlet whispered, turning back to look at Pedrez. "How can we ever fight someone like the Dark Horse?"

She bawled her hands into fists and raised her voice.

"Tell me that!"

"Lets get out of here," Josh dragged Scarlet out through the door, glad to be away from the Pedrez guy.

Scarlet followed Josh, rubbing her head when they were outside and sighing deeply.

"Terrific..." she mumbled softly.

Josh shook his head.

"I can't believe that guy..."

Scarlet narrowed her eyes and nodded, folding her arms and shivering slightly.

"The same here," she mumbled softly. "Gerudo's, ha..."

She looked up at the sky.

"Lets just go," Josh said.

Scarlet nodded and followed Josh.

"Where to no?"

"We might as well head for the castle," he suggested. "As long as you're still okay with that."

Scarlet looked back at Josh before smiling.

"Its better than nothing..."

Scarlet and Josh turned and walked out of town. Breakfast was all but forgotten. Now a journey stood ahead of both of them, and Josh hoped they knew what they were getting themselves into.