Heyas people, sorry for the late update, but in my defence, MOST OF YOU DON'T EVEN FREAKIN' REVIEW! Honestly, there are like, six of you who have me on alerts and more on favs. Or the other way around. Either way. Gosh. Meanies. (-3-)
But aside from that, thank you for reading! I just... would like some feedback, you know? (wibble eyes)
Anyway, have fun reading.
The Beast and Beauty
Once upon a time, there was Kingdom ruled by a Sorceress that dabbled in all manners of magic. She was an unhappy ruler, for her most prized possession had been spirited away by her evil attendants.
Diligently she worked through her magic texts and by the light of sun and moon and lightning, was able to bend spirits to her will, call the dead to her aid, make the fires dance, to guide water where she pleased. But she could not conquer the Forests nor Time that kept the Treasure forever cloaked in secrecy and day by day destroyed her chances at recovering it from obscurity.
So desperate was she to regain her Treasure she hired mercenaries and troops to search for men of suspicious occupation, for women who had strange powers, for animals of divine and hellish nature, and they were brought to her without delay. She stole the secrets of the men and women and in turn offered their bodies and souls to gain alliances or pardon from the creatures she summoned. She told her people that these men and women were lawless (which inevitably was true) and had deserved such grisly and bloody ends.
In such a way the Sorceress stooped into Dark Magic, and uncovered things best left alone, and one of them were the Exiled.
But that is, as they say, in the past…
It was when they were coming back that things had gone… insane.
The children had worried at first about harnessing Link to their makeshift but surprisingly sturdy cart, but the manacle around Link's leg had solved their problem. It'd clinked and widened and slithered round his torso, until it was connected to the vehicle and properly secure. Link held back a growl, in case the chain felt a muzzle was necessary.
They went, they bought, they sold. Many times some rich-looking merchants had wandered in their direction to ask the price of the wolf with the twilight-shade furs, and when they didn't go away at the children's refusal, Link usually growled them away.
Though they left a note on the door to their hut they wanted to be home before dark, in case Sheik came back. So as soon as they were done they tied their pouch of rupees to Link's neck (reasoning nobody would dare steal it off a wolfish-dog), stacked anything unbreakable or relatively light on his cart and carried the rest for themselves before heading back home.
Link was impressed. Malo and Talo knew their wares and how to sell them; Luda and Beth knew things about jewellery's worth and condition that was incredibly unnatural for children. Agitha and Colin came back from the markets with surprisingly good food stuffs; brown bread, half-ripe fruit, a skinny (live) chicken.
Maybe the witch wasn't so bad…
Gah, he shouldn't be thinking this, he was dragging their purchases like… like a mule, for Furore's sake. Just because these kids were nice it didn't mean they were good. For all he knew, the witch had planned this so she could endear herself to him through them.
Right. So she'd planned getting bitten by him too.
They were in a lonely patch of woodland, and they were understandably uneasy. The place was usually full with bandits, and the children were easy prey, even with a giant wolf-dog chained to their cart. But they hadn't encountered anything on the way, so Link was hoping optimistically/unrealistically that nothing would bother them. Then Beth came to an abrupt halt; so did everybody else. Her expression turned to panic and Link was suddenly surrounded by the children in a circle.
"How many?" Talo growled, thoroughly confusing the wolf.
Beth's eyes were wide, and her breath was quick and shallow. "Three, maybe five."
Luda hissed, licking her lips. Colin fidgeted. Agitha blinked at the wolf, wondering out loud, "Maybe we should let him go?"
"Better idea," Beth quipped, "Run!"
The children scrambled. Link didn't know what was going on, but decided it best to follow, though their running was basically his trotting. The expression on Beth's face was almost animalistic, like a bird ready for flight, being chased down by some… oh.
Bandits, Link thought, great.
The situation proved to be just as dangerous as Link suspected when three men emerged onto the road from the trees, their faces covered in rags and their hands holding makeshift clubs. The children turned around, and behind them stood another four men, looking just as threatening as their buddies.
Link growled as the children grabbed things from the road, pebbles and clots of dried mud and twigs and shells of nuts. The adults obviously laughed.
"Where's your mummy and daddy, eh? Feeling lost? Ain't that heavy for ya?"
The wolf's hackles rose. The chain slithered and clunked, releasing him from the cart as he stalked forward, growls rolling his throat. The leader gestured to those at the back, and they strode forward, patting their clubs against open palms. The leader continued his false reassurances, trying to distract them from the obvious display of weapons. "We'll lead you back to Faron if you'll follow us, now, we won't hurt ya at all. You can trust us."
Malo stamped on Talo's foot, silencing his elder brother's angry insults, replying in a diplomatic tone and manner. Link wasn't listening, as Luda was tugging him frantically back onto the cart.
"Beth," Agitha pleaded in a desperate whisper, "Let me call Skulkid, please,"
Her face was wide and jumpy and calculating. "We might need him for next year,"
"We might not even have a next year. Mr. Wolf can't take them on his own. We're far enough away from Ordon, please, Beth, we have to!"
The bandits loomed. Closer. Closer. Sneering. Beth scrunched her fists and seemed to swallow down her fear. "Call him."
Link's muscles coiled tighter, reacting instinctively to the children's eagerness to flee. They were huddled to the cart. They were ready to go at the slightest signal, and Link would be ready for that signal.
Agitha grabbed her parasol, ripped off the top and handle, transforming it into a long, wooden trumpet, and blew.
The single note rang true. The bandits paused, looking around in case of reinforcements, and laughing at themselves they marched on the defenceless group once more.
There was a giggle.
Violent rustling in the trees. Another giggle, which evolved into a cackle, and a figure dropped from the trees, all a knot of skinny and bent joints, covered in crinkly pieces of flora in shades of green and auburn. When it lifted its head, covered by a wide orange straw hat, its face was a mixture of darkness and pieces of roots. Two small flints of coal glowed in exchange for eyes, and a wide, jagged smile split its face in two.
It cocked its demented head to the side. "Play?"
Agitha nodded, face white. "Tag team. The biguns touch us, we lose. You make them go away, you win, and you have your trumpet back."
The creature chattered a laugh in glee, and snatched the trumpet from Agitha. "Play, play, play!"
The bandits realised through their shock that something they wouldn't like at all was going to happen. "Get them!"
Skulkid blew his trumpet. The wind swirled as the bandits approached, the dust rose, the twigs danced and there was clattering cackling chatters of dead trees that heralded the dropping of rattling bodies that jerked to life at the Skulkid's delirious tune, clothed like him, but taller, heavier, stronger, puppets the size and a half of a grown man; their elbows jerked into funny positions. Their feet didn't touch the ground. When they wrenched their heads facing forward their smiles were demented, and their eyes glowed a sick yellow.
The nightmare puppets glided towards the enemies, their heads violently cocking left, right, left, right, sneering, jeering, leering.
They bolted as the bandits screamed.
Link heart jack-hammered with terror as the screams of the bandits grew more violent and painful; his body screamed at him to run like lightning but his mind forced himself to slow for the shorter and easily tired legs of the kids. He needed to run he needed to use this adrenaline before he went mad with the urge to lunge and bite and move, the chains round his muzzle and body constricting like poisonous ivy, shackling him to the slow, cumbersome cart.
Talo cried out from the back, "One's cut loose!"
The children turned around to look and screamed. This bandit was big and burly and had a bleeding gash in his forehead and a massive club and net in his hands and he was barrelling towards them screaming bloody murder and his eyes were crazily wide and angry and frightened and Colin was frozen to the spot like a doe caught in the lights of a speeding carriage in the night.
"Colin!"
The chains broke away and Link lunged and rammed his body against the bull of a man and toppled him like a tower of bricks. "Run, idiot! Get back, take the cart, go! I'll hold them!"
Link didn't even realise he'd spoken again, despite being in the wolf form. All he knew was that instinct was telling him to fight for his pack, because he was the alpha, he was strongest, fastest, oldest, and the most experienced.
And the most pissed off.
The rest of the bandits had broken the puppets into twitching pieces of limbs and they were shaken, shaken to the core with the horror of the strange entities and the trumpet bearing fairy. But Skulkid was gone, and the forest was quiet save their cursing.
"Those k-kids," one of them whimpered, "They're not worth it Dan, they're not worth it. Let's go check another road, I never want to be here again-"
"Quiet!" the leader, probably Dan, stepped forward and eyed the growling wolf with a calculating smile, prompting Link to curl his gums and reveal his sharp, clean teeth.
"We'll take him instead then."
"But Dan!"
"You fool! Didn't you hear him speak? And get up Hans, he only knocked you over," he added snidely to the bullish man that Link had tackled. "We bag him, and take him to the castle; want to bet how much the priests would pay for the devil?"
Link's mind flared with rage, taking his humanity to boiling point. "You touchme, I tear your face."
The bandit replaced his club for a sword tucked under his coat. His minions hesitantly followed suit. "Try it, Wolf-boy."
The humanity in his mind turned to steam.
…,…,…
"And stay lost!" Link barked, blood dripping from his teeth, sickeningly sweet, salty and luke-warm. The wolf prowled the road as the bandits ran with flapping, dripping arms, or limped away on legs that had been shattered by the power of his jaw. The alpha made sure the enemy was in firm, cowardly retreat. Then he circled and trotted towards the kids, keeping his nose to the ground.
Even in daylight the colouring of his sight was odd. He couldn't see certain hues, and though he could see what was in front of him amazingly well, a few paces forward were a dud. The mixture of sharp and blurry detail coupled with near-monochrome shading would've impeded him enormously if it weren't for his sense of smell.
The smell was like colour, and all he had to do was follow the trail of dusty red and creamy white, emerald green and flecks of the things they bought. The wolf, with his long stride and fast legs, caught up with them quickly. They were hiding in a bunch of bushes at the edges of the wood, and Link didn't follow them in because he could sense their worried nerves.
"Hey," Link called out, rubbing his muzzle with his paw, distastefully wiping blood onto the grass, "They're gone. Come out now."
"Yay!" Agitha burst out from the branches and hugged the wolf round the neck tightly, choking him. "Thank you Mr. Wolf!"
"Agitha!"
"My name's Link, you know," Link managed to choke out before the girl let him go and began petting his head. "Hey. Stop that, I'm not a pet."
"Agitha!" Luda screeched from behind a snarling Talo, "Get back here! He might hurt you!"
Link nearly snapped at her for that. Hadn't she seen him help Colin? Hadn't he protected them from those thugs? But he told himself there wasn't much help for her and her friends' fears; he'd seen a rabid dog before, and that memory still freaked him out. He didn't like to think what a wild rabid wolf would look like.
"I won't. The chain's still here." Link lifted the appropriate anatomy and it gave a jingle. The wolf looked at it and sighed again. "Won't let me anyway."
Link frowned. He wanted to form longer sentences, but his throat couldn't take the strain.
"How can you speak?" It was Beth's voice, both frightened and outraged.
Link snorted, and then coughed and sneezed because a canine nose shouldn't do that. "H-How should I know?" he coughed, sniffling at his aching nose, "Practice? Sheik's magic's weaker cause she's far away? Maybe I'm getting used to it." Link froze at the thought, unconsciously giving his throat time to heal. "Furore… not a nice thought."
"…Why?" Colin timidly asked, looking genuinely interested.
"I can't scratch an itch right."
He earned a worried giggle from the boy for that. Malo shoved him and whispered something into his ear, and Colin paled and whispered something back at him. Then the others got involved, and Link gave a tired sigh and waited as they convened.
…,…,…
One Week Later…
…,…,…
Link huffed and gestured at the door distastefully, and Malo opened it with a similar noise.
They had fallen into a routine, and it was one Link decided at the end of the first day since returning from the Faron Market that it was a routine that he didn't enjoy. Colin had been forced by Talo to reveal the fact that Link had bitten Sheik, a fact he'd known since the smug little prick of a brunette's hearing was better than the blonde's.
The only reason they hadn't gone to pandemonium and lynched the wolf was because Agitha was blocking the way. He had no idea why, but if she thought somebody was nice, the others were obliged to agree. Luda, it seemed, was their lie-detector; everybody grew sullen when he insisted that he'd been provoked and the dark-skinned girl couldn't argue with it.
Link slumped through and dumped himself on the front step, the chain growing new rings that slithered to the base of the skeletal tree. The rest was history. The group generally avoided him at all costs. He wasn't allowed inside the cottage unless he wanted to eat or he was supposed to help with sorting things out. When they argued at their 'Pixie Ring' Link called out suggestions, and after ignoring it for a few minutes and trying to think up their own solution, they pretend they thought it up themselves and do what Link said.
He also prevented fights, but that wasn't that impressive.
He heard the creak of the door closing and a dull thud as something jammed itself violently in its path.
Link looked up and Beth was standing as tense as a bird ready for flight, Malo glaring at her from the ground where he'd been shoved over.
"Someone's here."
Link squinted into the trees, doubtful.
"I'll get Agitha," Malo muttered, walking faster than he usually did. Link shuffled his paws, looking at the girl, then the trees, and then the sky, and then back at the forest. He could tell Beth was nervous; but he didn't see how it could be warranted, this sudden fear, because his canine ears and eyes and nose hadn't picked up any-
He was wrong. The wind changed. He smelt something.
Link bared his teeth at the foreign smell, stalking into the clearing with growls rolling his throat. The chain accommodated its length to his need, and Link could now see the moonlight sharpening the blades of grass, dulling the dead leaves, plunging the forest in shadow while it beat down at the worried children that gathered at the door, not daring to follow their temporary guardian into the open.
Minutes passed, but nothing happened.
"Go back inside," Link growled, turning back to the cottage, choosing his words carefully. "Lock the door. Maybe people out there. Maybe not. I'll keep watch, in case."
The children obediently withdrew. The one thing they did trust him about was his ability to fight off the enemy. Link propped himself against the door and lay down, watching the trees. He could smell them. He didn't know who they were, but they were there, and in small numbers. He hoped it wasn't anything that could be considered magic, because he'd had enough of that already with this hut, and if it was, he knew that he would be extremely lucky if it was something friendly, much less harmless.
After an hour or two, he doubted himself. After another half-hour, his ears caught something. He stood, listening. A song. A girl's voice.
"Gilded Birds,
Soaring wings,
Trill a tune through Wind and hail.
At the dusk,
Someone sings,
Once, upon, a Fairytale…"
A figure suddenly swirled into the moonlight, dancing to a silent tune, her arms lazily arching above her head as she languidly twirled, the cloak trailing her like a veil. She had a lovely voice. It drifted in the night like a child of a muse, the notes sweeping higher.
"Queens speak spells of beauty born,
Towers mighty pierce the morn
Beasts and man play hand-in-hand,
While Fay reshape the land…"
She seemed to catch sight of him mid-turn, and the song died. Then she laughed and strode over, throwing the hood of her cloak over her head. Her head burst in moonlight; every single strand of hair on her head was white as snow.
"Sheik!"
"Sheik you're back!"
"Hey, where's Navi?"
"Aw, is she still having all the fun?"
"Are you alright? How're things? Anything interesting happen?"
The fairies from the nights before appeared out of virtually nowhere and swirled and jittered and yelped around the figure, as the girl (what else could she be?) laughed and spoke to them and reassured them, and sent them off into the crooked hut. In the moonlight her lips seemed full, her face youthful. She practically skipped to where he hunkered down on his belly, ready to back away or leap at her at any given moment.
He couldn't tell much of her colouring; his wolf's eyes saw things in very few shades, and this night was mostly in silvers and navy blues. But he knew for a fact that this girl was devastatingly beautiful, and he would've been smitten without a second thought. The mind of a hound protected him from that problem, however.
She crouched in front of him, a snicker shaking her frame. "Hello Wolfboy. You have a charming sister."
Link growled. She chuckled again, a noise that resembled heavenly bells. "No need to worry, she's perfectly fine. No injuries. No damage. I even left her pretty face alone; she resembles no animal whatsoever. Not like you."
She stood and spun in the night, humming the tune, gloriously throwing her arms to the side. "Your bite hurt, by the way. Very much so. Nothing some fairy magic couldn't fix, but oh, the scars take so long to fade… But judging from my siblings' delight, you seem to have done my familiars some good, so…"
She tapped her chin thoughtfully, and a cruel smile ripped her face in two. "You stay that way for a year. Then I let you go."
Link rose from his hunkered position, snapping his teeth as he exclaimed, "Hell no!"
She gave a gasp as she backed away, holding her face between her hands. "No! No? No, no, no…" she crept towards him, cocking her head to the side. "Did you just speak?"
Link's muzzled wrinkled. "Yes. I. did."
"Fascinating. Interesting. I wonder if any of the others… oh, no, now that I think about it, I kept a few of you for more than a few months, and they never talked. Hah, how strange…" She lunged forward, tapped his nose and lunged back before he could react. She faked doing it again, making him snap and allowing herself to laugh.
"Oh you are a fascinating creature." Her voice was a caress. He shuddered as his muscles relaxed against his will, his legs collapsing under the weight of his own body, not even a second passing before a hand stroked the fur on his back. He gave a half-hearted growl that the fairy shushed to silence.
Her snicker gave him an image of a sneering mouth with a fang. Angry fire boiled his chest and he fought her magic, willing himself to turn his head and snap her hand off.
"My, my," she purred, subduing him again, "You've made the magic your own. Silly, silly wolfboy, at this rate I wouldn't be able to change you if I'd wanted to. You'll have to figure it out yourself."
She patted him on the head, dumping a heavy sense of tire and sleep on his mind. Link's eyes rolled in his skull as he collapsed on the door mat, right on time for the kids to come squealing down the stairs, unlock the door and pull their fairy godmother into the house, begging her to tell them a story where had she been was she alright they'd been so good, couldn't they tell her what they'd done, oh please, please, they'd ever been so good, hadn't they?
…,…,…
Groggily the morning intruded in his dull and slightly disturbing dreams, and Link woke up to the smell of cooking.
Cooking. Fire. Thank the goddesses, the kids had been sighing over warm food (therefore Sheik) extremely accusingly over the week, and annoyance had replaced the guilt fairly quickly for the wolf.
His own stomach rumbled. He would've liked to be fed too, but he supposed he would have to wait till the scraps were deemed inedible or something before it was given to him. He should probably think up a way to escape now that the witch had come back…
Link frowned, reassessing his views on Sheik. Maybe she wasn't a witch. He knew of a few existing, but he was pretty sure that they couldn't do what Sheik could. Sure, light fires, heal wounds, find places and lost things. But could they really turn themselves into demons? Turn others into animals? Maybe… Link shuddered. She was like that Skulkid. Something not quite right.
Something worse than a witch.
He yelped in surprise when the many locks and bolts on the door opened in succession. When he looked round it was Talo that held the door open, openly glaring at the wolf as he stiffly stood aside and let the canine in. Link warily padded into the hut, careful about his tail as Talo slammed the door shut.
"I hear that there's been some animosity between you all."
Link focused on the back faced to him, the tallest one there was, wearing a ragged tunic that seemed to be half wool, half tree, with bits of dry, curling leaves sticking out of the outfit here and there. The pitiful excuses for trousers were bits of leather wrapped around her legs. The feet were bare and noticeably callused. The skin was the shade of lively tree and soft dirt and golden mahogany.
"Sheik, what's amnesty?"
"Animosity is a fancy word for 'not liking each other', Malo. And eat the egg-plant."
"Hmf," he muttered, absently poking it with his fork with a look of distaste.
"Anyway, I'd like you all to apologise to each other. Kids, for treating him bad, and wolfboy for scaring them to the extent that they think it necessary."
Link sat on the floor and scratched his ear with his hind leg. A habit he'd been fighting till day three. "I apologised at the road. Did they tell you?"
"About how they had to use Skulkid, yes. But I don't think they used him on you, or you'd be dead by now. By my chains, if I may add."
"Thought so," Link hummed, gnawing at the anklet, "Got that impression."
She laughed as she fiddled with the skillet, throwing something into the pot boiling over the fire in the corner without really looking at it. Her hair really was astonishingly white, like a crone, or moonlight spindled into being. She still had her back to him, cutting something.
"You really are a smart creature. But none of that. Will you all apologise, or no?"
"I've apologised. For frightening them, causing them trouble. One thing I haven't apologised for is your neck. And I'm sorry. I know the fairy's important now. You're important to these guys too."
"Shoulder," she corrected offhandedly as Talo gave an audible growl and a few of the children glared at him. "But I suppose I frightened you enough myself, and for no reason. So I'm sorry as well."
She turned. Link backed away.
She was gorgeous. There was no denying it. Her lips were tantalisingly full, her nose a delicate point, sloping impish cheekbones slid under her healthy flawless skin, and her eyes were wide, sparkling; round and sharp at the same time, contrasting and emphasising her soft but wild figure. Even in rags, she was shapely, lovely.
Yet she was a monster.
Her lips were black, and her tongue looked impossibly pink as she licked them, proving that the inky hue was natural. When she grinned her whole face became dangerously delighted and feral, one side tilting further up than the other.
What drew his attention most, however, were her mismatched eyes. One eye was as normal as an eye could get, except it was the colour of sunsets and tulips and rubies and autumn leaves, a red so extraordinary that it seemed to glow in its brilliance.
The other eye was evil. He didn't how else to describe it. There was no visible white, iris or pupil. It was just flatly dark, dark red, and nothing else, like a pool of dried blood.
She knelt down and set a plate of sizzling meat in front of him, grinning at him like a hyena. "Oh," she added, as the others snickered "Apology accepted."
Soooo, to the review replies!
Lady Alamantia: Yay for cliffies! I just hope the credit I put to that cliffy is worth it, lol. That is a good point, on the furniture bit. There's a reason, I swear. It'll take a few more chapters for it to be explained, though. Haha... yeah... Good on you! XD How far have you gone? I'mpersonally up to the water temple, and OH MY FREAKING GOD all water-temples, I swear, were designed by the one, sadistic and frustrated bastard. You will be so annoyed there, I swear to you.
Teriyaki Chicken: Love the name by the way. XD Thanks so much for your compliments, I do try. Zelda SHOULD be okay. In fact, you find out in this very same chapter, so hope you don't get dissappointed! The fairies are real, if you're asking if they come from games. A few are from windwaker, I think. There's Navi from OOT, and the other two are from Majora's Mask. But they're really not that important, so... meh.
If you're wondering how the tune of the song goes, It's 'Anastacia's Once upon a December. Guess where I got the title of this fic from ! XD
Please review... (T_T)