(A/N: For those that celebrate it, I hope you all had a great Christmas! I hope you got at least one thing you wanted this holiday season. I know I did. Now all we have to do is get to the gym to work off that Christmas dinner weight before New Years!
Anyway, I know it's a little late, but this is my gift to you. That's right; I got you a brand spanking new chapter! Come on now, look excited! Now I'm off to do Boxing Day shopping! Far Cry 3 and/or Batman: Arkham City, here I come! Wish me luck! If I get them, you might not see me for a week (haha) – Infamous 12/26/12)


Act 12: Fellowship

Link woke up in darkness. He could hear the distant dripping of water as he began to breathe in the thin, salty air. He could see very little, and what he could see was illumined by a small flickering fire that seemed rather far away.

He moved a bit as he felt his back crack and snap like a biscuit. He noticed that his chains were gone and that he was now free to roam. Where he would go, he did not have the slightest clue, mainly because he had no idea as to where he was leaving from.

Link tried to stand but when he did he fell back down and hit the damp, rock floor hard. He was dizzy and weak. His leg began to sting as if it had been wounded.

"Where am I?" Link whispered to himself as he tried to place his hand over his leg. "What happened to me?"

Hysteria was slowly beginning to set in on Link's vulnerable mind. He felt his body break into a nervous sweat and shaking frenzy. He knew he was hurt, he knew he was in an underground structure of some sort and he knew that he was starving.

"Stay down." A man's voice mumbled in the darkness. "You were injured. It is best to let yourself rest."

Link gasped and then swallowed hard at the man's reply. Like many people, Link had a sixth sense that alerted him when there was an unseen presence in the area, but this time he did not originally pick up on it. This baffled Link.

"Lay back down and rest. I can't get food prepared with you being antsy." The voice chuckled and then silenced.

Link obliged to the orders of the unseen stranger. "I have questions though."

"And I have some for you as well. There will be plenty of time for question period later though." The voice began to speak as if it were moving away from Link. "For now, you should fall back to sleep. I realize this isn't the royal family's summer home, but it will have to do."

And so Link was back on the rock floor on his back, trying to cope with the stinging pain in his leg, the discomfort he felt from the floor and the confusion he felt from the whole situation.


The Desert Province was a barren wasteland, especially in the dead of the night. Cold winds would linger and whip their way across the Gerudo Mesa like a hungry pack of dogs. In their gusty breaths they carried particles of sand and broken up debris from days gone by. For the most part, the desert was quite empty for only the strong and the foolish could brave the desert for a long period of time. There were several small and desecrated makeshift tents and huts, often left behind by outlaws who had been rejected by their gangs, lost mapmakers, wannabe adventurers or idiotic, traveling salesmen. They had been searched and raided on numerous occasions for whatever their previous inhabitant may have left behind, and were left to be buried and forgotten in the sands of time.

The desert had only been successfully traversed and mastered by a handful of people in recorded history. The Hero of Twilight's desert crusade was well documented in several pieces of Hylian literature, including popular books such as Sir Shad's "The Hero and the Resistance" and Queen Zelda VI's book, "Twilight Zone".

The hero had been hailed for clearing the desert of serious threats and making it "habitable" for people. Most of the hailing was done by his suspected illegitimate son, King Laertes I, the man who wanted to colonize the desert in his mother's name. Obviously, Laertes' dream never came true.


"Ey, you gonna get up?" a voice echoed and chimed in Link's ear. "You gonna get up, or am I gonna have to poke you with the fire poker?"

Link's eyes shot open to again see the darkness of his current confinement. "What?"

"I made kebabs! I hope you like grilled Molodorms and Leevers!" the voice said with some enthusiasm and forwardness. "Once you get over the fact that they are both nasty monsters, it is actually quite tasty. Molodorms taste like cuccos and Leevers have a bit of a green vegetable flavour going for them. I was hoping to find some random Bullbos roaming around, but I wasn't too lucky this time."

Link sat up and inhaled deeply through his nose. He was bombarded with the heavenly scent of actual food. He was not put off at all by what the food actually was. He was just happy that he would finally get to dig into something other than the swill that had been fed to him during his time in the castle dungeon. He felt his stomach pang and growl loudly as it grew excited with the idea of being full.

The man's voice laughed wholeheartedly. "Bahaha! Hungry eh?"

"Who are you?" Link called out into the darkness.

The darkened room then lit up with a large amount of candle and torch light. Link saw that there were individual torches on the wall now burning brightly and candles on the ground dancing and flickering their small flames around.

Link looked forward to see a man sitting by the small, faraway fire by himself with a plate beside him.

Link tried to stand again, and was successful. He began to limp over to the fire as a happy smile grew on his face. He continued to think of having his stomach full of actual food. The pain in his leg did not even faze him for a moment because the thoughts of eating were so significant.

The man at the fire was wearing beige pants that were tucked into brown boots with a black tunic and a Sam Browne belt that slung over his right shoulder. He wore a brown cape that had a hood that covered his face with a shadow. The man appeared to be muscular yet lean and tall. He sat with his legs crossed and his hands on his lap, as if waiting for Link to approach him.

Link eventually slammed down onto the ground across from the mysterious man, on the other side of the fire. The man raised his head a bit to reveal a brown chinstrap beard and a diagonal scar across his left cheek.

Link panted in exhaustion as beads of sweat dripped from his brow in onto his shirt. He looked down at his leg to see it patched up with bandages. It appeared that blood had been seeping through the dressings but it had eventually stopped.

"You're a hell of a mess..." the man grunted as he pushed the plate across the rock floor over to Link. To Link's surprise and dismay, there was not food on it.

The man grinned from under his hood on the other side of the fire. "What's your name, boy?"

Link put a hand on his grumbling stomach. "Link. My name is Link."

"Interesting name you got." The man wheezed as he reached into the fire quickly. He then removed three sticks with what appeared to be meat and vegetables on them. "Pass me that plate back."

Link looked down at the old, cracked, white dish, unsure of why the man passed it to him in the first place. He then passed it back over to the man and he placed the kebabs onto it and sent it sliding over the floor back to Link.

"Eat up Link. You're gonna need vitamins to heal your wounds quickly. This ain't no Castle Town, so I can't just give you a potion and make you feel better. You're gonna have to do the healing yourself." The man examined a small knife on the floor.

Link began stuffing his face with the monster kebabs. Drool began to fly from his mouth as he bit down on the sticks of dead beast flesh. "This is really good!"

The man just nodded and smirked as he continued to play with the small knife. "So, where do you come from? You're acting as if you have not eaten a good meal in weeks."

Link continued to munch away at the meat and made happy grunting noises like a wolf as he answered. "That's because I haven't! I came from the castle."

"The castle you say?" the man spoke with a sense of surprise and interest as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You a knight or something?"

"Ahaha, no." Link swallowed the last contents of the first kebab. "I was a servant."

"Servant? What in the name of Din is a servant doing out in the desert? Shouldn't you be rubbing the royal feet or something? Or perhaps kissing the royal rear?"

Link did not answer this time. He crunched on the Leever's plant-like meat as his eyes began to sadden.

The man put his hands on his knees and frowned at Link. "Not talking now? After I rescue you, shelter you and feed you, you refuse to reply? Hmph, castle types."

Link quickly finished his second kebab and decided to question the hooded man. "What's your name?"

The man bit his lip and chuckled. "Oh now you wanna talk?"

"I'd like to know your name." Link coughed, almost choking on the Molodorm meat.

The man sighed. "I'm not sure if I want to tell you that. You're a servant. You'll go back to your king and tell him of my existence."

"King? The king is dead. Zelda is on the throne now. How long have you been out here?"

The man looked up in shock and surprise. "So old wide tide has died?"

"Wide tide? You mean King Gengo? Then yes." Link nodded as he began to work on his third and final kebab.

"How did he die?"

"I think he was poisoned, but some people acted as if it were something else. So maybe I'm wrong." Link furrowed his brow, suspicious as to why the strange man was so curious.

"Did they find out who did it?" the man asked as he ran his thumb over the small knife and then placed it back on the ground.

Link gave the man a guilty look. "They convicted me of doing it. They sent me into exile in the desert. Next thing I know I'm here with you."

The man smiled broadly and then laughed. "I'm sitting with the man who killed the king? AHAH! What an honour!"

"But I didn't do it!" Link shouted, sending pieces of meat flying into the crackling fire.

The man pouted out his lower lip and disappointment. "So you were wrongly convicted of the crime? So who do you think did it?"

Link tried to stand up to show his anger. Instead he tipped back down onto the floor. "The magician! Mihari! I know he did it! Deep in my heart I know he's guilty!"

"Mihari!?" the man now seemed distraught. "That's a name I haven't heard in a very long time. He's still alive?"

"Yes. You know him?"

"Know him? I use to teach Princess, er, I mean Queen Zelda how to shoot a bow! He use to comment on her progress the whole time!" the man divulged. "He would make her so nervous that she would screw up her shot. And then he would continue to comment on her. I use to tell him to get lost. I swore that if I ever saw him again, I would rip his tongue out and strangle him with it."

Link's ears perked up at this new information. The man taught the new queen archery, and now he was sitting out in the middle of nowhere eating monsters for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Something did not add up for Link. Usually the tutors of the royal family were of noble blood. Nobles usually didn't sit in dark crevasse, rescuing and feeding strangers.

"Who are you?" Link asked finally as he finished his final kebab.

"I suppose I owe it to you." The man sighed as he slowly pulled back his hood. "I am an expert marksman from Ordon Village. My family has lived there for generations. I am sometimes called one of 'the greatest adventurers of the modern era', but you can call me Gregor Warhawk."

Link's eyes widened as the man revealed his face in full. His eyes were a sad greyish-blue and his hair was thick and mousey brown. His face was handsome yet youthful, though he sounded as if he were in his mid-thirties. His face seemed familiar. Link swore he had seen it before in a painting in the Hall of Heroes.

"You kind of look like-

"The Hero of Twilight? Yeah, he was my great, great grandfather... I think. He was my grandfather anyway!" Gregor rolled his eyes. "Grandpa makes one friend, and suddenly my family is well taken care of for decades."

Link could not believe what he was hearing. Was the man speaking the truth or was he just lying so he could rob Link blind? Of course, Link didn't have anything be robbed of, so that option was generally out of the question.

"You want to know the story now, don't you?" Gregor chuckled. "Well, once upon a time my ancestor, the Hero of Twilight, saved Hyrule! After all was said and done and the gate to the Twilight Realm was forever destroyed, the hero and the princess became friends."

Link watched as Gregor picked up a metal stick and poked at the fire from his side. I can't believe this.

"So, friendship eventually became what is known as sexual tension between two good friends. One day, the princess, who had become queen, asked if the hero would like to help her plan out battle strategies. Of course, the hero said yes." Gregor continued. "That sexual tension between friends blossomed to love. When the idea of the two being married came to mind shortly after, it was dismissed by the queen's councilmen and advisors. They stated the hero was not cut from the correct cloth. So instead of being married, they went for the next best thing... a secret affair!"

Link threw the kebab sticks into the fire as Gregor took a breath and continued on.

"They were lovers at a dangerous time. The queen was to be married to some lord, and the hero was married to his childhood friend. This did not stop them though. They wanted to be together." Gregor nodded. "So, the hero had children with his official wife and acted as if everything was fine and dandy. Then he would go to the castle and woo the queen. You've probably heard the rumour that the queen's children were not fathered by the man who was her official consort. Well it is very true. Therefore I am cousins with the royal family. And therefore, the queen that the hero wooed, made sure to look after the hero and his family to compensate for their affair. My family has always had jobs close to the royals ever since. The end."

Link thought he was going to faint. From what? Who knew. Perhaps it was the food? Perhaps it was his pain? But if you were sitting with someone who claimed to be related to a legendary hero and a cousin of the royal family, you would think they were crazy as well. But Link saw truth in Gregor's eyes, he saw the Hero of Twilight living on. This idea could have also made Link want to faint because he found it confusing and hard to believe.

So this guy is distantly related to Zelda? Link scratched his head a bit. Why is he showing all of his cards so quickly? Is he just lonely and looking for a friend to talk to or is he trying to earn my trust and then trick me?

Gregor moaned as he stood up and pointed to the corner. "I found that stuff near you. It might be useful. There's a sword there and a sack full of stuff. Hopefully there are some better clothes in there for you, because I don't have any extras."

Link looked down at his ratty, brown prisoner attire and then in the direction Gregor was pointing in and saw everything in order.

"Do you know how to fight?" Gregor asked bluntly.

Link shrugged. "Sort of. I'm okay with a sword. They trained us in the basics in case the castle was ever invaded. I don't know anything fancy though."

Gregor rubbed his temple dumbfounded. "Well do you know how to shoot or use a shield effectively or anything else like that?"

Link shook his head 'no'.

"You are one lucky bastard to have run into me then. I don't know how long you'd be able survive out here with just basic sword swings." Gregor laughed and crossed his arms. "You know what Link, I like you. So I think I'll help you out a bit. I'll teach you how to fight and how to survive."

It was at this moment that Link knew he had found a friend in this strange Warhawk fellow. He seemed friendly enough and he also seemed like he knew what he was doing. So Link ultimately decided that he would stick around this guy for a while. And stick around, he would. Link figured Gregor would be his best bet at living for a few more years at least.


Days went by, and those days turned into weeks. Slowly Link began to piece together the reasons behind his rescue. Gregor had told him that he had watched as outlaws ambushed the small caravan as soon as it entered the desert. The knights ran away on their horses as the wagon that carried the unconscious Link, flipped over and hid him and his belongings from any criminals.

For some reason the outlaws did not try to search the flipped wagon. Gregor assumed they were after the horses the knights were riding on, and were so upset that they forgot to look through the wagon for any supplies. Link was happy that they didn't, for Gregor divulged how the outlaws probably would have killed Link had they known he was there.

Link's leg was beginning to heal and soon he expected to be able to get out of Gregor's mysterious stronghold on his own. But for the time being, he was satisfied with knowing that he was indeed in the desert and not on the other side of the planet.

"You should be able to beginning training soon. You'll be in perfect shape for it as soon as your leg is better." Gregor would say as he would return to the stronghold every night.

It was strange because Link never knew where Gregor was coming inside from. He could not see any exits or entrances in the room.

While Gregor was gone, doing who knows what in the day, Link would often sleep and go through the brown sack he had been supplied with by that mysterious figure many nights prior. The contents were indeed everything Zelda had said they would be. From the compass to the clothes, it was all there and in order.

The clothing looked much like his polo uniform. He was yet to try it on, but he would often pull it out of the bag and look at it by torchlight. It was a green tunic, a green cap, white pants, white undershirt, chainmail, brown boots, brown gloves and a brown belt.

Link would sit on the ground and swing the sword around with wonder. It was just a standard knight's sword that was meant to be worn on the back. It was freshly sharpened and it seemed to glisten with a fabulous metallic blue colour. The sword felt good in Link's left hand, as if it were tailor made for him.

Gregor would sometimes be gone for a days it seemed, but he would always return. Link began growing restless and demanded to see action, when Gregor denied him freedom to leave, Link became frustrated. Gregor explained that Link was not yet ready to face the desert world, which was probably true.

Out of Link's frustration grew a will to train. Link spent hours on end exercising. He would begin his mornings with push-ups and sit ups. When he felt pain in his leg, he would stop and rest for a while. He would move on to finding some jagged rocks sticking out of the wall and begin doing pull-ups by gripping onto these rocks. Sometimes the rocks broke out of the wall and Link would fall to the ground and hurt himself, so this routine became rare.

Link practiced sword swings and eventually was able to master a primitive spin attack. Of course sometimes he ended up falling down at the end of the spin. Link always got right back up though and tried again. He wanted to be good enough so that one day he could return to Hyrule and defeat Mihari. For from his will to train, grew a lust for vengeance.

I know Mihari is behind this! I just know it! I've been framed. Link honed his focus on a small crack the wall as he tried to point his sword horizontally to line up with it. Zelda is just going to fall into his hands like a piece of overripe fruit falling from a tree. What does he want with Zelda? What did he gain by framing me?

Link narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. He took a few meager steps as he approached the wall and raised his sword above his head. In one quick, downward striking motion, Link slashed the wall with all his might. The sword slammed the wall, causing the small crack to grow bigger and bigger.

Link gridded his teeth as pangs of pain began to run up his leg. I have to get stronger.

He removed the blade from the wall, dropped it on the rock floor and fell down onto his rear. He panted heavily as he gripped his leg and let out a moan. "This... this is holding me back. I'll never... ever be able to fight if I can't heal. Why do I have to be so weak?"

"You'll never be strong if you remain weak. You'll always remain weak if you remain stubborn. You must heal." Gregor's voice sighed. "You will never heal if you continue to push yourself like this. You are only making things worse."

Link was unaware of the man's presences and found himself jumping up in surprise. "Gregor!"

"I killed a Bullbo today. I was going to ask you if you could help me bring it down here, but you appear to be in no such condition." Gregor yawned. "I will do it myself."

Link scratched his chin, realizing this was the first time Gregor had ever mentioned Link leaving the compound. Link turned to see Gregor walking away into darkness. "Gregor... what do you do all day?"

Gregor stopped walking and spoke quietly. "Preparing."

Gregor then vanished into the darkness, leaving Link alone to question the man's motives one more time.

"Preparing? Preparing for what?" Link murmured as he pulled himself to his feet. "He's hiding something."


Review! We're moving on along now kiddies!