It was deep in the middle of a very cloudy night with no light at all from the moon on the first night of Link's long watch. Since his post had been set down into the woods in a small clearing even far behind the pasture, it was a lonely and nerve-racking job that could easily keep one on edge, but nevertheless Link was dead tired from having been awake since before dawn that morning. His eyes burned with fatigue and he had to fight to keep from falling asleep right there on the fallen log he had sat himself down on earlier in the night. His huge white hound Gelert was lying down in the grass beside him, his head on his paws but his ears pricked up to stay alert, as if he knew and was actually aware of what was going on.

Link had not seen or heard any signs of the wolves so far, but then again it was difficult to see anything in the darkness. In the distant eastern sky, off towards the ocean, every now and then the flash of far-off lightning silhouetted the trees of the woods. The heavy bow that Link gripped lightly and rested on the ground was ready to be equipped with an arrow and shot any moment, and he was trying hard to stay very aware of his surroundings, but he had gotten up early that morning, worked hard all day, and was now more than likely going to spend all of this night awake and outside.

He told himself not to think about it that way; rather he should consider it as an act to protect his friends, because in reality that was what it was all about. He still had the slight feeling that Dorobis had chosen him to be on guard just for the single reason of putting him in the way of danger, which of course Link was used to it and had faced worse before, but perhaps the old feud between the two of them would never really diminish. Link could almost understand that- if some young guy had come along and had been messing around with his daughter, somebody might have died; but it was much more complicated than that, for Dorobis had hated him at first sight. If anyone should be the one hating, it should have been Link because Dorobis had made him a slave, but for some reason he did not hate the man; maybe it was just not his way, and maybe that was because he was chosen by the goddesses and marked with the Triforce. If he had been any different, he would not have been able to touch the Master Sword in the first place.

It was all a very complicated story that for some reason Link found himself thinking about and could not figure out how he had gotten to doing that, and he rubbed his eyes hard to clear his head and then lowered his hands and squinted slightly at the sky. It seemed as if the storm off in the distance was becoming more intense, and that meant it might begin raining right on top of him. That would really make his night even worse than it already was, for he was not permitted or was allowing himself to turn in just because of the weather. The plantation needed to be protected right now, for there was not telling what the wolves would do if they were not prevented. No doubt Rhashidi as well was out prowling around in the darkness, probably against Memnet's will, guarding the land and its inhabitants within carefully and with his very life if it came down to it. Link would have sat out here on guard willingly without the word from Dorobis, but his fatigue at the moment was almost defeating the purpose, for this had all come on so suddenly and without warning so that he had had no time to prepare himself and catch up on the much needed sleep.

He slowly pushed himself up from the log, bow in hand and sword in its sheath on his back, and slowly began walking around the edges of the clearing with Gelert close behind. He took his time but was completely aware of everything around him, keeping a close eye on the dark shadows and his ears intently concentrated on any unusual sound. Gelert did not seem to be on edge, and Link took this as a good sign; he trusted an animal's senses almost more than he trusted his own, but that did not mean he could let his guard down. If those wolves were strange enough to attack Rhashidi, then no doubt they would attack him without hesitation.

The moon was nowhere in sight, but Link could tell that it was very late in the night. He was so far back in the woods that he could not see the house but he knew that all things were still and everyone was probably asleep. Artos had been put in charge of the stable since Link was not available for it, and though the former knew very much about horses and was well capable of caring for them, Link would have felt better if he could have done it himself like he did every day; but he had to forget that and concentrate on the more important task at hand.

Link was walking slowly around the clearing mainly to keep himself awake. He would not have been so tired had he not gotten up so early and worked so hard during the day, and he knew what it meant to go without rest and the difficulty of keeping his guard up while so fatigued, but sometimes that was just unavoidable.

He was still convinced that Dorobis had put him and no one else on guard because of the ill feelings between the two of them, and there was no doubt why. From all the things Jennan had told Link, she and her father had never really had that good of a relationship in the first place, so Link was a bit confused as to why Dorobis was so jealous. It was not an unusual thing for a father to envy the connection between his daughter and her lover, but Dorobis seemed to have taken it to a new level. Link sometimes wondered if his Hylian race had anything to do with it, for men of the day were often racist, and Dorobis certainly seemed like the type to share that view. Link suspected that these feelings might even intensify once Jennan was given to him in marriage, which reminded him of the need to buy a ring and finally asking Jennan directly to be his bride. They had been close in more ways than one over the past year, but even the thought of asking her made him nervous, mainly because of his inability to phrase his words the right way. Well, Jennan had not seemed to mind or hardly even notice that fact and probably would not start now.

Link was brought back to the present by a sudden hair-raising howl that seemed to stab through the darkness. Gelert went tense as he began growling, as if he knew the danger of a wolf pack; Link quickly nocked an arrow to the bow and took aim to where he thought the pack might be. He was well aware of how fast a wolf was capable of moving and how soon they could be upon him, but he knew that somehow he must be faster. He was nearly an expert archer and could reload the bow as soon as the first arrow was gone, but if the pack was too large then that would not do much to help him, and he knew that he might have to resort to drawing his blade just to hold his own, and he fell into a realization that he was in severe danger.

He pulled back hard on the bowstring, repositioned his aim, and waited.

-O-

Zelda felt the unusual rocking of the ship and slowly roused herself out of bed. She saw that Marth was not in the room with her, and then she noticed that there were various yelling voices coming from the top deck. Unaware of exactly how bad the storm was, she got dressed and left the room. The guard outside of the royal dwelling bowed to her but then held out a hand to stop her.

Zelda looked at him, still under the confusion of sleep, and said, "What's going on?"

"Your highness," the guard replied, lowering his hand, "I would advise the queen not to go to the deck. There is a horrible storm that is threatening to..." For some reason he was hesitant to finish his sentence, and the alarm of that quickly awakened Zelda.

"Is threatening to what?"

The man frowned. "His majesty the king has expressed concern of the sinking of the ship, my lady."

Zelda's heart skipped a beat and her breath sucked in involuntarily- she knew Marth well enough to know that his judgment was usually accurate, and in this case that worried her. "We might possibly be sinking? How far are we from land?"

The guard shook his head, which showed the obvious fact that it was hopeless to even think on it; if the ship went down, it meant the probable death of all of them. Zelda's hand naturally went to her stomach, and her head swirled with thoughts of dying at such a young age, her and Marth and their baby as well- which meant that there would be no heir to the throne and war would break out in Altea to find a successor, and she was losing her breath over the thought of all of it when the guard went as far as to put a hand on her shoulder.

"It will be all right, my queen," he said, but just as the words were out of his mouth the ship rocked quite violently and the two of them were thrown into the nearest wall one after another. The guard tried to catch her to break her fall but only ended up smashing into her, and the ship then quickly tilted the other way and sent them sliding back across the hall. When they got a chance to briefly catch their breath, the guard planted himself on the floor, dropped his spear, and firmly took hold around Zelda's waist to keep her upright. She naturally held onto him as the ship dipped and swayed, and suddenly the voices on deck intensified and she recognized Marth yelling out commands. She noticed the sharp tenseness in his voice that shook her a little; if Marth was worried, it was good reason for everyone else to be worried.

Usually it was a severe crime to lay one's hands on the queen, but in this case that rule was excused- Zelda was glad to have someone to hang onto. She gripped the man's shoulders and looked up the stairs into the swirling water and darkness above, where Marth was yelling orders that she could not hear and was doing his best to gain control of the situation. An huge wave suddenly smashed into the west side of the ship, and when it tipped over dramatically to the right, Marth was thrown backwards and smashed into the railing, latching on with his hands just in time and narrowly dodging being tossed overboard into the churning sea. Zelda caught only a glimpse of it from below, and after the guard got her steady, had lost sight of her young husband and had a stabbing fear that he had went over.

On deck, Marth was unaware that Zelda had even been watching him, and when the ship went on the rebound from its last dangerous tip over, he had no choice but to let go of the rail and go sliding to the middle of the ship. One of his bodyguards, Deirin, was there to catch him, and as the ship lurched in a natural attempt to right itself, a massive flood of water spilled over and washed across the deck, and even made its way down below. An enormous gust of wind followed after and hit the ship with such force that Marth and his bodyguard were slammed painfully to the deck; sails were ripped and torn apart, and then wooden pieces of the ship were literally blown off, but that was not yet the worst of it. The vicious wind then blew through so hard that there was a sudden ear-splitting crack that was equivalent to the explosion of the thunderbolts around them, and the wooden masts split in the middle and stood still for just a moment, then came crashing down. In the split second that he had to move, Marth looked up through his wet bangs and when he saw what was happening felt a stab of fear, but when he tried to move, his bad knee gave out and he was left crouching on the wet deck. At the last second, Deirin became aware of what was going to happen and grabbed Marth by the back of the cloak and pulled him away, just in time for the wooden structure to come crashing down right where the young king had been on the deck.

It took Marth a moment to gather himself and catch his breath after that close shave, but his bodyguard was hustling him along without hardly a pause, and Marth felt himself swallowing more water than air and followed blindly mostly on his knees. It was hard to move with the ship rolling under them, and Deirin stopped and yelled something while pointing towards the furious sky, but what he said was inaudible and Marth yelled at him to repeat himself.

"...Need to... belowdecks, majesty... can handle it!"

Marth scowled at the idea and was hit and silenced with another hard spray of water before he could reply. "I'm staying on deck!" he yelled forcefully. "The crew can't handle themselves without me!"

Deirin shrugged as if to say that that was all too bad, and pointed towards the open door that led downwards into the ship, and Marth shook his head stubbornly. He carefully but firmly grabbed onto the wet railing and pulled himself up, and as he was facing the raging sky and waters, he froze for a moment and finally realized exactly what a bad situation they were in and was genuinely afraid.- for the first time since the beginning of the storm he realized that they all might die tonight.

-O-

Link stood motionless with concentration and had closed one eye to keep his aim steady at the end of the arrow. He did not realize he was holding his breath until Gelert exploded into a savage growl and bounded right up to the edge of the thicket with his thin white hair bristled all over the back of his neck and shoulders. Link lowered the tightened bow only slightly and called Gelert back with a sharp Hylian word, and hesitantly the huge hound returned to his master's side. There was movement in the dark and the unmistakable growls and breaths of a wolf- this Link could recognize without question, and his heart was pounding with the anticipation of what he was going to have to do.

Gelert was shaking against Link's thigh and was vibrating with the rumbling of his vicious snarls, and as the wolves got closer it seemed as if the air was being sucked away. Link had faced very many dangers before and this was nothing new, but there was something ominous about how persistent the wolf pack was, and though he was not afraid, there was no doubt a small nervous feeling that he could not entirely ignore.

A startling howl suddenly filled the air, and it was close. Gelert stiffened again and barked angrily in reply, and somewhere across the plantation Rhashidi was no doubt on edge or even perhaps on his way over to assist; that boy was so loyal and unafraid that sometimes even Link, courageous as he was, had to marvel at it all, but he was sure grateful to have a close friend like that.

Link's concentration must have been broken somehow, for before he could even blink there was a dark grey streak suddenly flying through the air straight at him, a white shine of deadly fangs gleaming, and Link's heart skipped a beat in surprise but he let the arrow fly. The attacking wolf was hit directly and went down to the ground hard, and was dead nearly instantly. Link loaded the bow again as quick as his unsteady hands would allow him, but just as he raised the weapon to a horizontal position, he was hit from behind with such force and weight that he was smashed to the ground and the bow was sent flying a few yards away. The breath was knocked from him immediately and he naturally tried to roll over and face his attacker, but the weight on his back was more than he had expected and it took him two tries just to get turned over, but when he did a huge mouth full of fangs went for his face and he barely got his arm up in time to protect himself, and the powerful jaws closed around his forearm.

Thankfully his leather arm-guard was there to block the attack, but the wolf that had jumped him was growling and chewing down hard, but what scared Link the most was the thin white foam that was covering the wolf's jaws and now his arm, and he brought his other hand in for a hook-punch that caught the predator right below the ear. The growl only intensified and the jaws tightened, and Link was moving in for another punch when Gelert threw himself into the scuffle with a furious growl, and the two animals fell to the ground and locked into an terrible battle of fangs.

Link was up on his feet in a heartbeat and drew his sword from its sheath, an action so familiar that he hardly thought about it, and rushed over to the battling canines. He could not get in a good strike without harming Gelert, but if the wolf was rabid it would only be a matter of time anyway... There was not much he could do with the situation if he did not want to kill his own dog, but he could not stand to just stand back and watch. For a very short amount of time the battle paused, and Link made his move and snatched Gelert firmly by the collar with his right hand, and with his left he moved in at the wolf and landed the deadly strike with his sword that always killed on the first swing.

Two wolves were dead, but what about the rest? Link wanted to check over Gelert, but there was no telling how many more members of the pack were getting ready to attack- if two would do it, then no doubt the rest would, and if some were rabid that meant the whole pack was as well, and that was a serious danger that could in no matter be ignored. He had heard of people dying of that disease, and the details were certainly not pretty. Rhashidi had been bitten and so had Gelert; Link would have if it had not been for his arm-guard, and if the wolves had the disease then that meant the wolf-boy and the dog were already infected, and though he wasn't sure, Link did not think that there was anything that could be done for it after that stage.

There was a flash of yellow glowing eyes in the dark weeds, and Link, still holding onto Gelert's collar, located his bow a few feet away in the grass when a flash of lightning lit the area. The unused arrow was nowhere in sight but he sheathed his sword and picked up the bow, and wished that Gelert was not there with him so he could deal with the situation better; it was going to be difficult if he had to hold back the dog the whole time, but he did not want to abandon his post to take Gelert back to the stable.

Thunder rumbled over the valley, but somehow through that Link heard -or rather sensed- a movement behind him and as he whirled to face it one of the wolves launched an attack from behind and smashed into his back, and he felt fangs tearing into his shoulder as he fell face-first to the ground under the weight. His grip on Gelert was knocked away, but for a moment he did not notice anything but the searing pain that numbed his whole left arm and that made his breath suck in hard and his eyes water; the wolf's jaws shifted their grip and latched on again, but this time the fangs were biting into the leather strap of the sheath on his back and it gave Link a chance to move. His pain had turned into a defensive anger and he reached back with both hands and latched onto the scruff of the animal's neck, and a short struggle followed; the wolf was strong, but it was no match for Link at full strength. It was slammed roughly to the ground, and Link twisted around and straddled the struggling wolf, pinning it down with his weight. He unsheathed his sword with a quick metallic sound, and though it pained him to do so, he gripped the blue hilt firmly and stabbed downward one, two, three times before standing up and stumbling backwards. Gelert was crouched back against a nearby fallen log, growling softly, and then somehow without really knowing, Link knew that there were no more left to the wolf pack.

The adrenaline that had been fueling his actions suddenly vanished, and Link laid back hard in the grass, panting and staring up at the dark cloud-covered sky. It began raining softly, and he pushed his sweaty hair back from his forehead and closed his eyes, the bloody sword still clutched in his left hand tightly. Gelert crawled over to him and sniffed over his master's chest and face as if checking to see if he was all right, and Link reached up and laid his hand on the back of the dog's neck to reassure him, but he made no attempt to get up yet. All was silent now, except for the rumble of thunder, and Link realized that he had to do some quick thinking. Had those wolves been rabid, and there was still a chance that they were not, then that meant Gelert, Rhashidi, and himself were infected, for they had all been bitten, and rabies was of course spread by the saliva of the carrier. After all of the danger he had faced, it was hard for him to imagine in the end dying of an incurable disease. For a moment he pictured what that would be like for Jennan, him dying such a slow and agonizing death... he did not think of the pain for himself, just for her. He was unsure if it would do any good, but he had the sudden thought to get to Ima and see what she could do for him.

He got up slowly and painfully, quite aware of the blood seeping from his shoulder, and groggily urged Gelert to follow him, but the dog laid down and seemed to be almost frozen. Link semi-consciously dragged the bottom of his tunic over the blade of the Master Sword to clean away the blood and slid it into its sheath before leaning down to the hound and trying to coax him on further, but when there were no signs of obeying, Link slid his arms under the huge shaking body and proceeded to carry the dog limply back towards the house. The gory bodies of the wolves were eerie in the darkness, but Link ignored them and tried to focus his concentration on supporting Gelert's heavy weight with his weak arms, most of his strength being drained away when the last wolf was dead.

The rain began to come down harder, and the walk back was a slow and long one, but at last he saw the pasture and the house up ahead, and it seemed all he could do to push on. Gelert was surprisingly still, besides his shaking, but Link's arms were getting tired from supporting his weight, and he was relieved when he finally reached the house. He laid Gelert down gently on the porch, and the dog backed up against the outside wall and whimpered, but instead of using the front door Link went back around to the side of the house and hesitated at Ima's dwelling before drumming the side of his fist into the door. The only sound in reply was the wind and a few hard raindrops hitting the roof, so he waited a moment and then knocked again, harder this time. Finally there were quick footsteps across the floor inside and then the door opened, and Ima stood in the threshold with a lantern in one hand and the other pulling on a thin robe.

She held the lantern out and looked him over quickly. "Link, dear, are you all right?"

"I'm hoping you can tell me." He came inside after she stepped back and wave him forward, and she quickly closed the door behind him just as a thick spray of rain tried to make its way in. She beckoned him to sit down as she lit another lantern, and he slowly eased himself down on the unmade bed. It brought back memories for him, for he had been doctored by one of the women in this very spot more than once, but what it reminded him of the most was when Dorobis had given him a whipping so long ago and Ima's dwelling was where he had awakened after passing out from fatigue. But these memories were faint in the back of his mind, for his present fatigue and pain was blocking out most other thoughts, and when Ima said something to him he had to ask her to repeat herself.

"You're bleeding," she said again, pointing to his shoulder. "You were attacked, weren't you?"

He nodded and unbuckled the sheath's strap and let the whole thing slide down to the floor, then carefully pulled off his tunic. "Two of them. They're dead now."

Ima's round face twisted in concern, but she did not speak what was obviously on her mind. She opened that infamous drawer beside the bed, one that Link had become familiar with over the past year and a half, and took out the usual supplies to dress a wound. Link removed his gloves and slid out of his undershirt, which hurt the most because the cloth had been embedded into the wound on his shoulder by the wolf's fangs, and the separation of it made him cringe.

The door to the room suddenly opened, and to Link's surprise it was Jennan. She came inside with Gelert close behind, a thin shawl over her head to block the rain which she slowly removed as she shut the door, and she was only half-dressed as if she had got up from the bed and came immediately down to see what was going on. Her hair was not put up in its usual way but was hanging loose all the way down to the small of her back. For a moment Link felt bad for waking her with his loud banging, but then he was rather touched for her concern.

"What happened?" she asked quietly, and with bare feet crossed over the dirt floor to the bed at Link's side. She cringed at the sight of the bleeding wound but sat down close against him and laid her hand gently on his bare forearm. "Are you okay, Link?"

He laid back with his head in her lap but to where Ima could still doctor his left shoulder, and reached up and ran his hand over the bottom of Jennan's wavy hair. "For now." His hand travelled down her arm and her fingers spread when he got down to her hand, and almost without even thinking about it their fingers entwined firmly. Ima came over to the side of the bed and bent down to her knees to be at a better level with Link's shoulder, and she frowned in concern when she saw the wound and gently pressed a clean cloth to the edges of it before moving to the center. The pain was more than Link had expected and his breath drew in sharply, but it seemed to have more affect on Jennan that it did on him, for she tensed up and her grip tightened on his hand.

"That's a deep bite," Ima said. Then after a moment, "How many times were you attacked?"

Link cringed when the cloth touched his torn shoulder again, but recovered quickly and took out a second to think of the answer to the old woman's question. "Three times, I think, but only two made contact."

Ima sat back on the floor and folded the blood-stained cloth over a couple of times in her stiff hands. "That's not a good sign."

"I know. But I don't think there are any left."

"You did a good job, then. But, Link, you know... I'm having my suspicions."

Link closed his eyes and nodded grimly, and Jennan tensed again. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice slightly shaking. "Ima, what are you getting at?"

Ima began salving the wound and only looked at the girl, so Link felt as if he should answer. "Those wolves," he said between breaths, "were kinda quick to attack. That's a sign that they might be rabid." He did not know any other way to put it except bluntly- it made him begin to realize the seriousness of it as well as her.

"No," Jennan said breathlessly, her face going pale. She knew what it all meant; if their suspicions were true, it might mean Link's eventual death.

"Let's not jump to conclusions yet," Ima jumped in, and held up a bottle of thin liquid to the lantern light as she looked through it, as if to see if it was good enough for the task at hand. "I have had experience with rabid animals before, and I would have to see the wolves before I could reach a conclusion. Right now we need to get this wound dressed and worry about the details a little later. Link, this right here is very potent stuff, so expect a lot of pain when it makes contact." She poured a moderate amount onto a white cloth, and after Link braced himself for the extreme sensation, quickly pressed it to the open wound, whereupon he was tempted to scream but fought to hold it back.

It took a few seconds after the pain wore off for Link to realize that he was no longer laying back but had unwillingly shot up into a sitting position; he was used to all different kinds of hurt, but he had not felt pain that intense for a long time, and for the first time in what seemed like forever he let out a pain-inflicted groan and then a shuddering breath, and shakily laid back again. Jennan's fingers were running back over his hair, and after a few moments it worked to calm him and he relaxed slightly, but he noticed that his hands were trembling and the pain in his shoulder had toned down to a severe discomfort rather than the raw excruciating feeling it had been. He pressed the both palms to his watering eyes and then turned his head to face Ima, who looked sympathetic but otherwise very serious. There was one worry that was hanging around in their minds, one question that still did not have an answer, one thing that was holding life in the balance, and it was all going to come down to Ima's judgment.

-O-

An order was put out for the guard to go above decks, so Zelda was left alone by herself in the rocking hall in the darkness below. She was unsure at what to do next, for there was obviously nowhere that was exactly safe on the ship, though staying in her dwelling would probably be the best idea, but it was not her way to just sit back and do nothing in a bad situation. She was a princess and in her own land was usually the first one to deal with emergencies, but it was a hard thing to shake the fact that in Altea she was just mainly the king's wife and all the big decisions were left up to him unless he gave the word. She despised the feeling of uselessness, and perhaps that was what drove her to ascend the stairs and force herself to the doorway of the soaking wet deck.

There was obviously no reason for her fear of Marth having gone overboard, for at this position she could see that he was still on deck and giving orders; not a spot on him was dry, and for a split second Zelda surprised herself by strangely noticing that he for some reason looked attractive when soaking wet. He a looker of a young man anyway, but she had not really noticed before, for they had not been married for a reason that had anything to do with that at all.

A person could think some strange things when death was a nearby option, but for some reason Zelda no longer felt fear. Sure, she had never imagined dying like this, after all she had been through, but she was well aware that things did not always go as expected, and her life was a good example of that now. When she was younger she had always had it in her mind that she would marry Link and start a family with him- certainly not with the young king of her rival country and ending up dying in a shipwreck. Oh well, that was all said and done now, with no going back on it, so she might as well take care of the matter at hand and do what she could.

But the next thing she knew was that she was hurtling down onto the wet deck, and without knowing exactly what was going on or how it had happened, was knocked unconscious.

-O-

Yeah, so I'm slow and always getting jammed up by writer's block... sorry about that. Hopefully you people are still interested in this thing. By the way, the next chapter might be slow to come up too cuz I've got a test to be studying for, and that means less time to write :( Anyway, review