Nintendo created all the characters and places and stuff. I just made the story up. The cover was done by Zeliga of DeviantART
Chapter Fourteen - Man's Best Friend
Rosie turned over in her chair; she had gone to sleep waiting up for Link. The door opened slowly and quietly, knowing he had been later than planned, he tip-toed in, one hand on the door handle, the other covering Zelda's disgruntled mouth. Link was on edge as he looked around the room, Pippa's food bowl in the corner was still full from that morning; he shook his head and lit a candle in the kitchen bench. Rosie groaned, making them flinch. Link swallowed hard and removed his cape from over the tunic before slipping his arms under his sister to pick her up; though they were the same age, she was often thought to be younger than him by a few years due to her size, however, it was the lack of food that had stunted her growth, giving most of her portions to their late mother to keep her well and her brother to keep him strong.
Link carried her upstairs and lay her gently on the bed, her head sank into the pillow as he pulled the blankets over her. He rubbed a hand through her hair. He would take care of her, he promised.
After coming downstairs, Zelda was sitting at the table with an open book, it was his sisters'. That much he knew, though he had tried many times, the words would dance around the pages. It appeared Zelda was having the same trouble.
"How does this book work?" Zelda asked closing it quietly and holding it up in the dim candle light
Link shrugged and stuck his head out of the window, looking for his four legged friend.
"What's wrong?" Cole asked thumping up a pillow on the small sofa
Link turned and lowered his head, pointing a concerned finger to the food bowl,
Cole scratched his head "Now that you mention it, I didn't see your dog with you in the temple. Where did she go?"
Pippa rolled onto her side in her sleep; she had found a nice little dry spot in some leaves under a digable spot under some trees. Her paws were damp and sore with walking and it was such a long way back, many lopes. She was hungry too, her stomach was roaring at her but even though she was a canine; she had no idea how to hunt her own food without help from a bigger dog or two-legged. She wanted Master; everything looked scarier in the dark, what if the little-hot-beast-without-hot got to him? They smelled bad.
A whistle. That was Master's whistle, he missed her and she wanted to go to him but she was too frightened to leave her den of leaves. She howled, hoping that Master was near, but no such happiness.
Suddenly, a growl was heard just outside the leaves, she stopped howling and retreated further into the leaves, tucking her tail between her legs as she went. A nose stuck its way into the leaves, the black nostrils catching her scent. Pippa whined and batted the muzzle away with a paw, that smell was of a big dog, like some of the ones that she had seen running by, but this one, sniff, this one was much less groomed and had thicker fur, strong slender legs built for running long distance and a furry tail that cleaned where ever they stood, sniff,, he-dog, fully grown.
The muzzle stuck its way into the leaves from a different angle that made her jump, barking a warning she moved from the leaves, showing her teeth at the big he-dog. Wait, what was that by the he-dog's paws? It was dead, but, sniff, what was the he-dog doing?
She barked at him and edged further back so her little eyes glared at him. The dog lunged at her, claws and teeth out to the point of almost standing up like a two-legged, swatting its big paws at the air with a howl. But then another growl from a different he-dog came from behind her, this one smelled familiar. The he-dog in front of her roared at the other, the other he-dog did not even finch, but before Pippa could even blink, the he-dog behind her, the one with grey fur, snapped her up in his jaws, holding her by the scruff and charged around the other, scrambling up above ground. The other he-dog was hot on their paws as they broke into a run.
Link whistled through his fingers. He could not sleep, the thought that Pippa was on her own somewhere in the field was worrying him. He was so used to her lying next to him, cuddled in his arms or sprawled on top of him to that he woke to doggy breath first thing in the morning. Which was not a pleasant experience. He whistled again, his face creasing more and more with concern, he knew that the Wolfos and Stalfos came out at night; a puppy would be a decent snack for one on the hunt. He gulped hard, no, Pippa was a survivor, she had managed to stay alive in a sack when they were meant to drown, but, she was only a puppy. Link let out a frustrated groan and paced back and forth. Zelda and Cole had fallen asleep, Richard and Rosie were too. Surely they would not notice him gone a few hours?
After sneaking back for his bow and quiver, he lit his oil lantern and walked out into Hyrule Field. He attached his lantern to his belt and slipped arrow into his bow ready, his eyes ever vigilant in the darkness, watching for attack from the white haired wolves that lurked in dens all around here, he had been thrown off his horse as a child by them, but had managed to fend the creatures off with his bow long enough to escape. The bushes rustled, causing him to turn on his heel fast as lightning, the bowstring stretched till his fingers were touching his cheek; nothing. He relaxed and let loose the string slowly so not to hurt himself and continued.
Pippa struggled in the he-dog's grip, the scruff of her neck was getting sore after being carried for so long but the other he-dog was on their tail and gaining on them with speed; pouncing on the he-dog that carried her. Pippa rolled across the grass as the two he-dogs circled each other, snarling through gritted teeth, she yowled into the night, lifting her head up high to carry it.
Link twisted his head round, his ears flicked against his face in the direction of the howl. Pippa! He ran towards the sound but a Wolfos snarl forced him to draw back and a claw scratched across his face, causing him to collapse on the floor with a yell, his bow slid across the grass just out of his reach as a huge paw the size of his torso, thumped on his stomach. Link pushed against the mouth of the monster, avoiding the drool and the blood from sharp teeth from a recent kill dropping onto his face, his fingers digging into the flesh and nose of the monster. Suddenly the Wolfos jumped off his stomach and snapped his jaws at something, a tiny bird flittered around the animals face, pecking at its face, clawing at its fur and screaming in its ears. Link got to his knees and slipped an arrow into his bow. The Wolfos snapped at the bird as it went for an eye. An arrow pierced its stomach.
Link dropped his bow in fright as the monster began to settle on the ground, the blood oozing out of its stomach as it died. Link picked his bow back up and fled. His thoughts muddled, yes, it wanted to eat him, but he did not have to kill it, he could have just, wounded it enough so it could not hurt him. Now what was he going to do?
Link tripped over his feet to see a wolf-on-wolf fight nearby. The pair were loud as they clashed teeth and claws together like swords, a grey Wolfos with patches of yellow around the face was on their back sinking its teeth into the front leg of a white Wolfos, like the one he had just fought, that was reaching for the neck of the other. Link squinted his eyes and saw a small dark shape in the background, could that be, Pippa?
Pippa yapped at the two fighting he-dogs, they would not listen, they were covering themselves in wounds but a scent caught in her nostrils. One of Master, Master was coming, he was close. Hang on…he was close. He was close to…this. Without thinking she threw herself into the fight, chewing the white he-dog's ear, putting her paws over his face as the other grey he-dog kicked them off. The grey he-dog snatched her up before she hit the ground and ran on, a firing claw sailed through the air, narrowly missing them. She spotted Master, he was going for them! No, Master, no! The other he-dog!
The grey Wolfos came close to him with Pippa, alive, in his mouth, it seemed unafraid of him, not that much anyway, but this felt different, since when were a Wolfos eyes blue? The Wolfos lowered Pippa to the ground and nudged her forward, keeping the distance between them fairly large, though Link had no intention of shooting the arrow at it, he was still uneasy. Pippa looked at the Wolfos for a moment, studding every line of fur on its face. Did that Wolfos just wink at her? Pippa flinched and rushed towards Link, he crouched down to her as she jumped into his stomach, licking the bleeding claw marks on his left cheek from the fight. As she licked them, he winced before nuzzling into her neck.
When they looked up, the grey Wolfos was gone.
Link washed his face, the bite of the water stung his cheek, causing a few drops of crimson to run down into the sink. Cole turned over with a moan in his sleeping sack on the sofa. Link winced again and put a hand up to the scratches, tiny red bubbles fought their way through his fingers. Cuts did not normally do that.
"What are you doing?" Zelda asked behind him making him recoil. She spotted the bubbles and put a hand over his with a sigh
Link yawned but smiled at her concern
"It's not nothing! Cuts don't do things like that." Zelda hissed taking a small pink handkerchief out of her pocket of her nightgown and dabbed his cheek dry. "You need some red potion."
Link shook his head and began to walk away from her; Zelda seized his wrist and pulled him back
"Link, I know you don't like people looking after you. But please, I am your friend. It's what we do." Zelda beamed, Link put a hand on her shoulder.
His eyes looked into hers as she cleaned the wound, rubbing a little red potion into it and letting him drink a small vial. He could tell she was getting tired the longer she worked but her careful fingers did not even sting like his own.
"That's all I can do." Zelda yawned "Get some sleep."
Link nodded his thanks and began to walk up the stairs, leaving Zelda staring at him from below. He shut the door quietly only to hear Zelda groan. Why was she groaning?
Morning came fast, the sun peeking through the gentle morning clouds turning them as pink as candy floss. Zelda opened her eyes to find Link and Rosie sitting at the table with the world map out over it; they were working in silence, which she assumed as normal for them since one of their party members was forced into that. Cole was still snoring away on the sofa when she sat up, Link offered her one of his smiles; Zelda was getting better at reading his face like Rosie did. It was a lot easier than she had thought; sometimes he mouthed greetings or goodbyes but no more, the rest was guess work.
"What's going on?" Zelda yawned
"Link persuaded me to come with you, I don't believe any of the Sheikah stuff but we have nothing else to lose." Rosie sighed folding her arms
"How did he persuade you?" Zelda asked scratching her head in thought
Link rolled his eyes and got up from his seat
"He can write you know. Even since Mother told us of the Sheikah, his eyes have been permanently purple." Rosie grumbled opening another atlas "You know, with so much writing on these maps, you would think they were reports."
"Writing? What writing?" Zelda snapped leaning over the table, the map looked the same as always, the thin lines across the copper paper marking out all of Hyrule and a strange land next to it with two huge towers
"Can't you see it? All the golden squiggles?" Rosie muttered lifting her head, Zelda nearly jumped out of her skin
"Y-Your eyes! They're purple!" Zelda shrieked, Cole rolled off the sofa
"What's happening?! Who screamed?!" he wailed as the blankets covered him like a ghost
"False alarm!" Zelda shouted rubbing her face with her hands. Link lifted the blankets off his friend's head
"It's a rhyme over and over mostly." Rosie mumbled "But it keeps moving."
"How's it moving?" Zelda whined rubbing the map with a hand
"And there is a golden circle around the Peak of Goron Mountain." Rosie informed "Looks like that is our first stop."
"Wait, you want to come now?" Zelda spat folding her arms,
Rosie lifted an eyebrow and made fists "I guess if my eyes turned purple, then I must be a Half-Shadow too."
"No need for sarcasm, ladies." Cole mumbled, both girls glared at him "Unless the pair of you look at me like that."
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Well, a fight between the canine world huh? Now who could those Wolfos be? Beware of the wink. How could Link convince Rosie to come? Can you think of that one? As for the strange rhyming map, what could it be?