Important note to my Readers,

This chapter is ranked Mature (only this one and two others will be this dark –outline says it's going to be over twenty chapters- so I'm not bumping up the ranking unless I get a request from a reviewer to do so) ranked for language and gore. Skip the text between the X's, or ask me for an edited version of the chapter if gore and profanity bother you.

To answer the inevitable questions that will come up. Farore is the "Restless One", Nayru is the "Maiden of the Ice Touch", and I think you can tell who Ganondorf's minion's favor after the chapter's up.

Kasan Soulblade

Chapter 14

Punishment and Stories

"There,-" Kaun gently wound the red fabric across his patient's long cut. "-that should hold you until I can hunt you some red chu-chus tonight."

"Thanks." Aryll murmured.

She was laid out on Wolfkaunos' bed, so small amongst the mess of pale covers, so small when compared to him. She seemed pathetic when hurt, perhaps even more pathetic then a hurt puppy. She smiled though, despite her pain, and he smiled back, again brought to near awe by how small a creature could be so brave. Her eyes were fluttering shut, she had remained awake as long as she could, and it was in that that he knew of her fear. It was in her eyes that he could see the black wings of nightmares hovering about her, could see hints of them reflected in her eyes.

Reaching down with a paw he grieved that he could not take away her nightmares, that he could not help her. Yet nightmares could not fall to the sharp fangs and claws of any rage, they could not be stilled by drawing a blade. Sighing he ran a claw through her small mane that started a few inches above her eyes and spilled down her scalp only to dissolve into a easily tangled mop of dull yellow that obscured the base of her ears and back of her neck. Such a strange creature, no fangs, no claws, it was small, and weak.

He should have scorned, ridiculed the pup that was by no means a true pup.

Yet he could not, not after seeing her take a wound and stubbornly hold on. How many Dark Knights, how many revered Dark Nuts, would have endured a hit and not gone into a rage or lost their concentration due to pain? None that he could think of, probably not even he could have done so.

Watching her sleep he took some comfort in that she wasn't totally alien from him, after all, she did have pointed ears. And she wasn't all that bad, even if she did like to eat parts of… trees.

Well for all it was worth, he might no be able to protect her from nightmares with his claws, but he was more then able of being there when she woke up from them to over a mane to cry into. Setting a paw on her unhurt shoulder Kaun yawned, then decided to entertain himself by trying to find other Wolfosish things about her while she slept.

X

"Enter."

Long-Spear came cringing before his master, as all the times before. But something was different; or rather many things were different. The master was not sitting at ease, he stood, his standing was stiff, his eyes tired but angry.

Long-Spear had seen his Master angry before, had lived through his Lord's anger, but it was the sword that rested in the Dark One's hand that gave him the most worry. Perhaps he should have sent his brother up here like he had planned, but his gut told him that now was not the time for him to die, and he trusted his gut.

"Come in Long-Spear, make yourself at home. After all, you were not shy of doing so earlier today."

The words were little more then a hiss, the orange eyes flared into a dangerous bloody hue.

"Masser…" He grunted his pebbly eyes wide in feigned innocence. "Me no know what you talk 'bout. Me no up here, but my broth-"

The Dark One laughed, and all the shadows around him shivered in terror at that deep throated sound. Then as sudden as it came, the mirth died, and the unnatural calm, the detached expression, was in place. And it was not a mask of non-feeling, for the Dark One radiated a still horrible calm that only the uneaten dead could radiate when he will it.

As he willed it now it seemed.

"You are going to try that old trick, aren't you? My brother did it, punish him. How many others would you sacrifice before you let your own blood run across the floor for breaking one of my decrees?"

Shocked Long-Spear stared up at the creature –who if you believe the heathen stories had made them from simple animals- who was casually twirling that long length of steal in his hand.

A roll of the wrist, the slight loosening of the fingers, and the blade twirled, the orange ribbons tied to the blade brushed against the black sleeve of the Dark One's garb.

"You understand; this leaves me at a dilemma. You broke one of my laws, yet you are in a position of great authority."

Fingers so dark a shade of brown they might as well have been black, clenched. The blade stopped its spinning. Fire light stained the edge of the blade a golden yellow, orange ribbon slid off the flowing black cloth, swayed listlessly in the hot windless air.

"Perhaps though-" the Dark One took a step forward, "-dilemma is too strong a word. You have children after all; killing you wouldn't cause a complete breakdown in the tribal system your kind has established over the centuries."

Not understanding Long-Spear stared; entranced by the golden light that ran along the edge of his creator's blade. Gold was the color of power, gold was the color of power, gold gave all power. Not the filthy red of meat, blood, or fire.

"You like the sword?" The Dark One hissed, somehow he was close, very close, less then five steps away. "Its name is Red Rain, enchanted by a Gerudo weapon-wizard, ages before you or even I was born. I earned it after battling the sandworm Ixyakt, as well as earning its mate, Eternal Agony. They are… the anti-thesis of a single blade made in the land of Hyrule."

"Me… no understand."

"I highly doubted that you would."

The Dark One's arm tensed, and then with less then a heartbeat of time for that fact to sink in before the blade smashed home. Squealing the Moblin chieftain reached out and grabbed at the weapon that was now in his gut. He tried to wench it out, did little more then scream and thrash as the Dark One twisted the weapon and made it go in deeper yet not deep enough to kill. Without changing his calm expression so much as by a hair Ganondorf dragged the blade down, then with a smooth motion the Gerudo pulled the blade out of the Moblin's belly. He looked down into the gapping wound in Long Spear's belly with an expert eye, and nodded. Still kneeling, or rather curled into a tight ball while on his knees, the Moblin swallowed once, and there was a wet "slosh" sound and the red stain on the carpet grew considerably. Ganondorf only noted the phenomenon with a slight quirking of his lips, while the shaking Long-Spear stared numbly at his misplaced insides.

"Never disobey my orders, ever again."

"You… kill… me…" Blood trickled from the corners of the Moblin's mouth.

Ganondorf only laughed, sheathed his bloody sword and looked down at the pitiful creature before him.

"You have a red potion on you, simply put that back where it belongs and pour the potion on the wound."

"F.. Bast…" The Moblin croaked, and watched with dimming eyes as the Dark One calmly sat himself at his desk and picked out a black feather quill pen. Acting oblivious of the wet squishes and various other unpleasant noises that putting one's insides on the inside and keeping them there while a red potion spilled over the gapping wound and knitted it up, entailed, the Gerudo pulled out a small bottle and opened a drawer.

A number of shadow chu-chu's looked at him with dull grey eyes.

He reached down, and the unresponsive monster sat perfectly still as he picked up the knife he'd set aside for such tasks and made a slit in the beast's skin. It didn't scream or do anything but sit there and stare, even as he essentially tortured it to death. He wrung the unresponsive creature so that the insides fell into the ink well and tossed the empty skin aside.

Some stray beam of sunlight would fall upon it and turn it to dust, and he could easily sweep the dust out no mater if he was in his proper form or not.

A moan caught his attention and he looked up from whipping the black ink from his hands. Something large, heavy, was lifting itself from the floor.

"You are dismissed Long Spear, and remember my words when you see my mark upon you for the rest of your days."

There was a strangled gasp on Long-Spear's part. Ganondorf did not look up to watch the Moblin reach out and gingerly touch the long cut that had not closed. That ran from chest to belly and wept red. The wound would always weep red, no matter the amount of potion, of magic poured, into the injury. It might even fester, but if it did so it would be an eternal festering that did not consume beyond the line of red, that burned and did not burn the mind, sanity could break under such a burden...

It came to him then that he would have to kill Long-Spear, not now, now was not the time. But the effects of his blade would make it easier to distinguish between Moblins when the time came for some well placed and long overdue executions.

X

"What happened to your head shell?" The pup asked upon awakening; her eyes scrunched closed as he applied the now dead chu-chu's innards to the girl's wound.

"My helmet?" Wolfkaunos blinked, the girls strange words to explain his armor were very confusing. "I threw it away."

"Oh…" She made a startled hiss of pain and Wolfkaunos smiled encouragingly, just in case her eyes opened by some off chance.

"There, and done." Wolfkaunos whipped a little red –some of it blood some of it chu-chu- off of the girl's arm with a bit of tattered cloak. "You don't bite; I know I bite when someone treats me with one of those things."

"It's not that bad and you're not supposed ta bite the docter, no matter how bad the medicine tastes, at least that's what Gran'ma says."

"My own Mother would have said the same thing, though "stings" not "tastes" was the main concern."

Aryll rubed her arm, from the look of her she had never had a chu-chu healing before. He wondered how she normally got better after getting hurt or sick. He decided he didn't really want to know. It probably involved some sort of sick backwards practice, and the first thing that popped into his mind was the image of a sickly hylian pups chewing on the bark of a tree or chewing grass. His stomach writhed and he decided to think about something else.

"What… exactly is a Gran'ma."

Aryll stared at him, as if his head were on backwards or his tail had turned furless. He turned, looked over his tail carefully to make sure that wasn't the case. He looked at her in confusion even as she looked at him in a horrified shock.

"You don't have a Gran'ma?"

"Ah, so a Gran'ma is something you own?"

"N... no, a Gran'ma is a Gran'ma."

Ah, and this looked like this was going to be one of those fang gritting conversations…

"That's vague." Wolfkaunos reached up to scratch at his head, for once with no helmet getting in the way the only thing that went under his claws was fur and scalp. He decided that he liked not wearing his helmet, and that he'd do so for as long as he could. Scratching the back of his head was rather soothing…

"Gran'ma is a family, part of a family, an old lady in your family would be a Gran'ma." Aryll clarified.

"Ah, well I have a pack, not a family... thing."

"Oh." Aryll rolled over on his bed and looked up at him. "What's a pack?"

Wolfkaunos stared at the she-pup with the exact same expression that she had just favored him with and she giggled.

"You look silly with your ears sticking out like wings on the side of your head…"

"I… imagine I do. You sincerely don't know what a pack is?"

"Nope."

"A… pack…" Wolfkaunos frowned, how could he explain something that he was born knowing? "A pack is flesh and blood, old hunting comrades who live in the same territory, who've hunted together. A pack is the heart of a Wolfos. All should be given to the pack rather then kept to one's self. By one's Mother and Father you are born into the pack, and that pack is yours until the end of your days, as you are the packs…"

The she-pup thought it over, frowned, and kicked at the bed as she thought some more.

"It sounds important."

"One's pack is the most important thing in the world." Wolfkaunos said softly. "Fang Crimsonrun, he who has endured eighty four Din hunts, is my –and all who call themselves a Crimsonrun- pack leader."

"Is he the mean person, up there?" Though inside Aryll pointed up and Wolfkaunos needed not to ask what she meant.

"No, that is the Master, Lord by Din's Will, the Fire Bearer and Bringer. My pack leader is nice, well… somewhat nice. He's gruff, old, his teeth are rotting and it makes him surly that he must chew on blood soaked plant pulp to keep what few teeth he had left. But he is wise, very wise, one of the few grey manes we have around the Fortress."

"If the pack is everything… then why do you listen to… what's his name? Ganondork… er dorf… Ganondorf!" Aryll quickly remembered the proper name with Wolfkaunos' eyes glaring down at her.

Wolfkaunos lolled out his tongue, satisfied that she had made a simple error with her too short tongue and mouth, and easily forgave her ignorance and misspeak.

"Well, that is quite a story." He shifted on the stone bench he'd dragged into the sleeping part of his den when he'd gotten sick and tired of standing watch over her like he'd guard a part of the halls upstairs.

Making the most particularly whiny-squeak-chirp noise she sat up and looked at him with wide black eyes.

"I love stories!"

"Uhh…" Not quite understanding the term "love" as it did not exist in His tongue or Moblin speak, he decided that perhaps "love" was a good thing and that he'd ask the pack leader about it when the opportunity arose.

"Stugeon would tell all sorts of stories, about Heros, and Kingdoms, and things called horses and fields…" She frowned. "Do you know what a horse and field are, Wolfkaunos?"

He shook his head, all he knew of them was that they were "before his time" and when he'd asked as a pup he recalled how the Pack Leader had smacked him soundly.

"Oh… well Stugeon says that we don't have them because we don't have large pieces of ground, just islands."

"Ah." Wolfkaunos' ears slicked back. "Well it's always been like that I guess. At least, as far as we can understand it's been like that. But once, long long ago, when it wasn't as wet or there wasn't a huge sea everywhere you looked, it rained. It wasn't a drizzle, or some heavy shower, it rained and rained for days, for weeks. Scared the Wolfos called for Din, begged the Goddess to-"

"What's a Goddess?" Aryll chirped.

"What's a… a… g… god… goddess?" Wolfkaunos actually sputtered. It was the first time sense earning his armor that he was so shocked that he actually showed it.

"Un huh… are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine…" Wolfkaunos lay on his side, staring at the she pup with shocked ember eyes. "It's just… I thought everyone knew what a Goddess was."

"Well I thought that everyone didn't have tails, or claws, or hooves, or stuff, I thought everyone looked like I did." Aryll said quietly. "I was wrong, I didn't know better until I came here."

"That's a very brave thing to say." Wolfkaunos rumbled. "It amazes me that something so small is so brave."

"Well it amazes me something as tall as you talks all smart like!" Aryll said with a giggle. "You better not go to Outset."

"Oh, why not?" Wolfkaunos yawned.

"Because Stugeon would follow you around and pick every story and smart out of you and write it in his big book."

Wolfkaunos let out a bark laugh and rested his snout on a forepaw.

"If that's the only danger of Outset perhaps I'll go there for a while."

"After Stugeon chases you around with his big book you'll swim back." Aryll told him confidently.

"Oh really? A wager?"

He offered a paw.

Laughing she put her paw to his and they shook on it.

"Now a Goddess… well there are only three Goddesses. Din of the Crimson Flame, She of the Ice Touch, and The She who is Restless. Din made everything; she took the abyss that existed before anything was made and set it aflame in her hands. When the flames died down she took all she had melted, and she made the world. Using the hardest, strongest ashes, she put those on the molten world and made land. Spiteful at her Sister, She of the Ice Touch reached out, cooled the fires, and the Restless umm... Well she just ran around like a drunken Moblin doing absolutely nothing productive."

Aryll's dark eyes were curious, she opened her mouth…

"Don't ask… don't ask what a drunken Moblin is. You really really don't want to know. They sing and dance and take off their shirts and run around… it's absolutely disgusting…"

Wolfkaunos shuddered and Aryll patted his head to offer some comfort.

Nothing would blot out those horrible memories though, and he did not blame the Master in the least for locking up the wine and bear that they got on island raids after that incident.

"Din, she was not happy that her flame was quenched by her sister, so she put a little tiny bit of fire in every creature. She made all creatures from the ashes of her Great Burning of Nothingness. She hid her fire away so that no matter how much her Ice Sister tried she could never reach down and quench the Fires; she secreted the flame in the heart and in the blood of everything. And that is why are blood is red, because it forever burns."

Aryll reached out and touched her arm. She frowned and looked up at Wolfkaunos.

"But I don't feel hot…"

"Do you feel cold?"

"No."

"That is the answer, you are not cold. Therefore Din's fire keeps you warm."

"Ohh…"

"It's not a big fire, just a small one." Wolfkaunos explained. "Now…" He yawned. "Where was I?"

"Well you were talking about the rain," Aryll ticked off a finger. "Then you talked about Din." She ticked off another finger. "Then... I think that's it."

"Well Din, the goddess who made everyone from the Ashes of Nothing, answered the Wolfos, who were asking for help because it was raining so much."

"Did she make the rain stop?"

"Well… we wish she did, but she couldn't, because the Ice Maiden, angry that the Fire Inside the Heart was burning in the Wolfos' was making it rain to put out that fire. And no fire is great enough to stop the rain. The great wise Wolfos named Disei went up to the highest place in hopes that Din would hear his cries, and come down. She did not, but she sent a person who was not a Wolfos, but was not a Hylian, who was made out of Fire and Ash. He appeared before Disei and told the Wolfos that the Ice Maiden would not succeed. Not if Disei listened.

"Gather all your pack, all the packs who reside near you pack, and take them to a mountain of grey stone and you will find dens within. The Waters may come all they like, but within the Mountain of Ash you will be safe and hidden from the Ice Maiden. I will send you a black bird, so that you know which mountain is true." Said the He of Fire and Ash.

So Disei did so, and the waters came down and down and there are still Wolfos' here today because he did so living on the same grey mountain, with the same black birds that were waiting for them when the rains were falling down."

"Well…" Aryll frowned. "What happened to the not-Wolfos peoples?"

Wolfkaunos shrugged. "Black birds must have come for them too, or else you wouldn't be here."

Aryll thought it over for a bit said.

"That was a nice story, but then what happened?"

"Ah…" Wolfkaunos' ears slicked back, those intense black eyes made the back of his mane prick up. "Well…"

"Pleeeeeaase tell me Wolfkaunos! I know there has to be more! I just know it!"

Then she puppy eyes him and he moaned, for not having a puppy face the non-Wolfos puppy was very good at puppy eyeing him. Admitting defeat with a sigh Wolfkaunos put a paw over his eyes. He'd walked into the trap, now he'd have to fight his way out of it.

Hmmm fight… that gave him an idea.

"Well… when the great Wolfos Disei was a very young there came an evil creature. It was tall and clawless, but carried fake claws of steel and flying claws that they called bows and arrows…."