Hello everyone chapter 98 is here! A terrible anger has risen within Link, but just what does he plan to do? Read and find out!

"..."

"Oh, hello your majesty!" a Gerudo soldier saluted, seeing her young king Link standing before them at the front gate that lead out of Gerudo Town, "What can we do for you tonight?"

It was still the first night of the alliance's meeting, and while the guards were told not to allow any visitors that day, they were surprised to see their own king sanding before them.

"...open the gate..." whispered the king.

"O-Okay..." the guard said nervously, slowly opening up the wooden gate that led into Gerudo Canyon.

Without so much as another word, Link walked out and started going down the path. The two guards just watched curiously as he left.

"Where do you suppose he's going?" asked one of the guards.

"Beats me, something must have come up." shrugged the other one.

Link walked slowly and silently down the road of the canyon. His head was lowered with his bleached hair locks falling over his eyes, but if anyone could have seen them, they would see his pupils were now a blank white.

There was also strange markings slowly appearing and disappearing on his face; a blue arc shaped mark on his forehead, as well as two pairs of red crooked lines on his cheeks. Under his open black vest, there there yellow markings fading in and out on his tanned chest, one being a crescent moon and the other being a circular sun. While impossible for anyone to see due to his clothing, there was also strange symbols on his arms and legs starting to form as well...

Four individuals were walking through Gerudo Canyon; the mischievous little skull kid named Skuld, his two fairy companions Tatl and Tael, and Darunia's son Link, also known as 'Link-Goron'. Skuld was skipping ahead of the group merrily playing an ocarina Link gave him long ago.

"Are you sure about sneaking out of town like this Skuld?" Link-Goron asked, "If Dad finds out about this I could get busted!"

"Hee hee hee! Don't worry about it, everyone's too busy at that boring meeting! We'll be just fine as long as we're back in time!" Skuld snickered, "Now come on, I heard some guards say there were bandits out here, we can rough em up and take their shiny stuff!"

"He never learns, does he Sis?" Tael sighed.

"Yeah, but he wouldn't be Skuld if he did." giggled Tatl.

As the four of them went on their way, they soon spotted a lone person walking down the road, they all hid behind a rock cautiously in case it as someone dangerous, but after talking a close look they saw it to be Link.

"Hey, it's Uncle Link! What's he doing all the way out here?" Link-Goron asked.

"Maybe he's going to take a poop?" Skuld asked scratching his head.

"That's a stupid reason!" Tatl shouted whacking Skuld across the back of his head.

As the four of them discussed what was going on, a shadowy creature peeked out from behind a rock. The creature's chameleon-like eyes shifted as it saw the lone human going down the road.

"Huh...?" Tael muttered, "Hey Sis, do you sense something?"

"Yeah, look!" Tatl said gesturing to the creature.

It was a Lizalfos, and it was accompanied by many more like it, and standing behind them all was a Lizalfos with golden scales and wielding a large sword. It was fittingly a Golden Lizalfos, the strongest of all the reptilian creatures.

The Golden Lizalfos screeched out, and the others charged at Link, a number of them all leaped into the air at Link, ready to kill the human and make him their next meal.

"Uncle Link, look out!" Link-Goron shouted.

But Link stopped in his tracks, and in a single powerful wave of air, he suddenly had his sword at his side. One of the airborne Lizalfos let out one painful screech, before they all fell to the ground in pieces.

The rest of the reptilian gang screeched and charged at Link to avenge their comrades. But before they could even get close, Link impaled one in the forehead and cut it in half. The others backed up a bit, but Link dashed forward and slashed through them as well. One last Lizalfos tried to run away in panic, but Link cut it down in one swing as well.

"Whoa, look at him go!" Skuld said in awe.

The golden Lizalfos was in shock to see it's entire gang all killed before it. It screeched out and lunged at Link, slamming it's sword against Link's shield. The gold Lizalfos put all it's power into the impact, but found the Hylian wasn't even struggling. Link glared at the lizard with a gaze that horrified it, moments before Link thrust his shield forward, sending the Lizalfos flying backwards and impacting into the canyon wall.

As the creature slowly tried to recover, it saw Link suddenly appear before it and he drove his sword right into the monster's chest, killing it instantly.

"Oh my gosh..." Link-Goron gasped out, "How much stronger has Link gotten since he came here?"

"This is weird... Something about Link feels off..." Tatl spoke.

"Hey Uncle Link!" Link-Goron forgetting about not being seen by anyone, went running out to greet Link, despite Tatl tying to stop him. The Goron ran right up Link and pumped his fists, "We just saw everything! You were so cool! You're a real hero!"

But Link didn't even so much as say a word and walked past Link-Goron, confusing him.

"Friend Link!" Skuld said running up to Link and standing before him, "Is something the matter? You look kinda pale, did you eat a weird mushroom or somethi-?"

But Link just lightly pushed Skuld aside and continued down the road.

"Hey!" Tatl shouted in a huff, flying right over in front of Link, "Don't be rude to Skuld and your nephew like that! You're almost acting like he did back when-!"

But then Tatl gasped out, as she looked at Link's face; the empty blank eyes, the blue and red markings on his face, and the angry scowl he was making, it reminded her so much of...

"It-it can't be..." trembled Tatl, "You still have that-"

Link grabbed Tatl by the wings and tossed her away, before Skuld caught her.

"Are you okay sis?" Tael asked his sister, "Hey, what's wrong with you?" he shouted to Link.

Link didn't say anything, but just continued walking down the path.

"That's it, I gotta do something!" Link-Goron said, rolling up and grabbing Link by the arm, "Uncle Link, if you're angry that I snuck out, I'm sorry! Just come back to town with us!"

"...I can't go back." Link finally spoke up, surprising the four of them, "I can't forgive that knight... for what he did to her..."

"Huh? Her? What knight?" Tael asked.

"Esolu... He took the life of Esolu... and the life of her child.. the life of our child..." Link whispered, "And for that..."

He brought his head up, showing off the piercing white eyes he had now, and he shouted out,

"I'LL TAKE HIS LIFE AS WELL!"

Link thrust out his arms with such force that it sent Link-Goron flying back. The young king continued to walk off down the canyon, leaving the four of them behind.

"What?! What's an Esolu?" exclaimed Skuld, "What's he talking about?"

"Skuld... Tael... we gotta go back to Gerudo Town and warn everyone!" Tatl said shaking in Skuld's arms, "It's that power from before, the one I told you about when me and Link fought that thing...!"

"Huh?" Skuld exclaimed, after a moment he looked to Link-Goron and nodded as the four all hurried off back to town.

"Captain! What are you doing here?"

Far off at the other end of the canyon from Gerudo Town was a road that lead to the waterfall bridge connecting Hyrule Field to Gerudo Valley. Stationed there was a group of guards to check in travelers, as well as ensure the Gerudo not crossover onto Hylian territory, as per the rules made by the Gerudo Banishment Law.

Tonight the guards were met by a small army of Hyrule knights riding in on horses. Among them were two notable people; the sole lady knight of the Hylian army known as Ashe, as well as the giant and muscular leader of the royal guard and high ranking member of the Hylian Parliament, Captain Andreas.

Andreas was truly a sight to behold for the knights, standing at nearly eleven feet tall, a rarity for Hylians. He was clad in strong tempered bronze armor, and wore a galea helmet on his head decorated with red bird plume sticking out from the top. Attached to his back was a large spear that due to it's weight would be impossible for any other knight to wield but him. Most of his facial features were obscured by his helmet aside from the lower part of his nose and his gruff but clean-shaven face, though the knights could see his piercing eyes glaring down and intimidating them all.

"I've been given a warning about the new Gerudo King, it appears he's approaching the path to the bridge soon." Andreas spoke.

"T-The Gerudo King?" exclaimed a guard, "What does he want?!"

"What he's after doesn't matter; he may be a Hylian by blood, but he is now recognized by the Parliament as Gerudo. As knights of Hyrule, your job is to stop him from crossing this border to Hyrule Field." Andreas said, "I'm merely here to supervise matters, and take action if needed."

He looked down to Ashe getting off her own horse and standing tall, "As for you Private Ashe, this is your first mission as part of the Hylian knights. You must prepare yourself for anything, and if necessary, you'll have your second chance to confront the Gerudo King."

"Understood Captain Andreas." Ashe nodded, staring off into the distance beyond the bridge.

Ashe had returned to Hyrule Castle Town after having failed to kill Gerudo King Link by Andreas' orders, due to her instead forming a friendship and romance with Link. She wore light armor like before, and still wielded her twin swords. But the main difference with her now was she wore a new plate of armor that showed off her impressive pair of breasts, something that often got other knights gawking at her at first...

"Hey, what's with the pair of tits over there?" snickered one of the bridge guards to another, "I wasn't aware we were getting new recruits from Lon Lon Ranch's dairy farm!"

But then the knight suddenly saw a blade pointed mere inches from his nose. Ashe was standing there with her offense sword, and the lady knight narrowed her eyes coldly at him.

"I'm sorry, perhaps my chest is too big to catch what you just said. Would you mind repeating that?" Ashe asked.

"...nothing!" the knight said with a very small and squeaky tone.

"Very well." Ashe sheathed her sword and returned to her position. Captain Andreas smirked at Ashe's speed and timing, while his other knights all grimaced, knowing full well not to bring about the new private's wrath.

While things hadn't gone too well at first due to her reporting her mission as a failure, Ashe didn't allow that to discourage her from insisting on another chance. She challenged any and all knights of the army to a duel, and with the skills she learned from her uncle, combined with the training she got from Link and Reirousa, she defeated all of them easily. Captain Andreas recognized that strength, and allowed her to work with them. Ashe was already making speedy progress as a knight in the army, and now it seemed she was to be put to the test.

"According to the report, the king will be arriving here in a while." spoke Andreas, "Be prepared for anything he tries!"

"SIR!" all the knights and guards saluted as they turned and watched carefully.

"..." Ashe didn't say a word, but thought about the report Captain Andreas had been given about the Gerudo King. She reflected on the time she spent with Link, the time he defeated her but spared her life, when he helped her train, the date they had went on... when the two made love together...

'Link...' she thought to herself, 'Just what is it are you trying to do?'

"Has anyone seen my Linky-poo?" Ruto spoke up back at the Velvet Rogue nightclub, "He just said he was stepping out for a second, but it's been one thousand nine hundred and twenty two seconds!"

"You actually counted?!" Nemisa asked sweatdropping, having joined the party after she and Aviel were done dancing.

"To her credit that's about thirty minutes," Vekai said, "Did he say he was going anywhere?"

"I'd go look for him but my feet are beat from all that dancing..." groaned Aviel, who was sitting back on a chair as her feet were soaking in a hot water bucket.

"You'll get used to it eventually." Nemisa smirked, "But I am rather worried about him, especially with the rebels attacks being so aggressive lately, I've even heard there's a gang of marauders out there recently."

"I'm worried about Sir Knave as well, I still can't find him." Impa said.

"We'll break for the night and go track them both down." Nabooru said, "I'll have the guards go out and search as well."

"Honestly I don't think you have to worry too much about Link!" Saria spoke with a mischievous smile, "He went out because Reirousa asked to meet with him alone!"

"Ooooh... so that's what this is about?" Nabooru spoke with a knowing grin, "Guess those two will be busy all night. Maybe we should just concentrate on finding Impa's guard then."

"Hey guys..." muttered a voice, as everyone turned to see Reirousa walking in staring down at a black box she was carrying.

"Reirousa, there you are!" Saria said happily, running up to her, "How did it go? Let's hear some details!" but she noticed the sad look in the muscular woman's eyes, "What happened, did someone interrupt your confession again?"

"...actually I didn't even see Link. I waited for a while and he never showed up." Reirousa muttered, "Guess he didn't wanna hear what I had to tell him after all."

"Oh Reirousa, don't worry! I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for this!" Saria assured her.

"Huh, you didn't see him at all? If that's the case then where did he go...?" Darunia asked.

"Ooooh, now I'm really worried about my beloved." sighed Ruto.

"We all are Ruto, but don't worry, we'll find him soon enough." Nemisa said.

"Something is bothering me though..." Nabooru said, she turned to Impa and Lackey and narrowed her eyes, "I find it suspicious that Knave disappeared just before Link did."

"...what are you trying to say?" Impa asked raising an eyebrow.

"We had a knight recently come to Gerudo Town with the intention of killing Link. I suspect they had been under the orders of a certain royal captain. You don't suppose one of your two men are under secret orders as well do you...?"

"I don't know anything about that knight, but these two are my bodyguards and nothing more!" Impa retorted, "They know what Link means to me, and they would never do anything to hurt him!"

"Impa, please calm yourself." Lackey said softly as he held her back, "Lady Nabooru, I assure you that neither me nor Knave came here to do such a thing. We both have nothing but respect for you and King Link, and I swear my life on that."

"..." Nabooru still seemed somewhat skeptic, but the way Lackey spoke to her seemed to resonate something within her, like she could truly trust him... but before she could inquire any further two Gerudo guards came in escorting someone.

"Lady Nabooru, we found him!"

With the two guards was Sir Knave. He was missing his clothing and armor, and clad only in his strawberry print boxers. The knight was also trembling from the cold air of the desert evening.

"Oh my, those women didn't show you any mercy, did they Knave?" Impa said.

"N-No, it's not what you think Lady Impa!" Knave said in a panic.

"Okay, just try to tell us what happened." Lackey said after they got Knave settled down and wrapped in a poncho for warmth.

"A-Alright..." Sir Knave gulped and spoke out to the group, "I asked a woman to show me where the restrooms were, but when we were alone she hit me over the head. The next thing I remember was waking up in a closet, I had been tied up and stripped of my clothing and equipment!"

"How strange, do you remember anything about her?" Impa asked.

"Ugh, not really... my head still hurts." Knave said rubbing the side of his head.

"Well I suppose you were right Impa, I apologize for the accusation earlier." Nabooru said, "But I can't help but think Link's disappearance and Knave's situation are still related somehow..."

"I'm starting to believe that myself." nodded Impa.

"Hey Reirousa, what is that you have there?" Aviel asked, looking at the black box Reirousa was holding.

"Uh, I was gonna give Link a gift, but since he didn't show up..." Reirousa muttered, she opened the box to show everyone what it was.

"There's nothing in here but an empty nozzle." Saria said in confusion.

"The hell ya talking about? It's a pair of brass-" she looked inside it herself, "Hey, they're gone! How did I lose... I lose..."

Suddenly, Reirousa started to get dizzy and laid back and fell asleep, making a painfully loud snoring sound. A bubble started to rise up from her nostril as she slept.

"Huh?" everyone looked to each other in confusion before taking a closer look at the box.

"Wait a minute... I know this smell. Don't inhale it everyone!" Impa exclaimed as she quickly closed up the box, "This box contains a rare form of sleeping mist, there must still be traces of it still inside!"

Nabooru raised an eyebrow at what Impa mentioned, but then they all heard a strange rumbling sound, like something rolling towards the building.

"Woooah gangwaaaaay!" shouted a voice, as bursting into the nightclub and bouncing down the staircase was Link-Goron curled up into his ball form, with Skuld running on top of him while holding both Tatl and Tael in his arms.

"Son?" Darunia exclaimed.

Nabooru reached out and grabbed Skuld off of the goron by his tunic while Link-Goron couldn't stop and crashed right into Reirousa, causing them to both tumble over into a pile.

"Uuuugghh..." Link-Goron groaned with spiraling eyes, as Reirousa continued to sleep.

"What's going on here you guys?" Nabooru asked as she set Skuld down on a seat.

"Lady Nabooru, we got a situation!" shouted Tatl, "We were at the canyon and we saw Link!"

"At the canyon? Alone?" Darunia shouted out, he grabbed Link-Goron by his hair and pulled him up to his feet, "What did I tell you about going off alone son?!"

"Ugh, sorry dad..." groaned Link-Goron.

"Never mind what they were doing out, just tell us about Link!" Nabooru demanded.

Tatl and Tael went ahead and told everyone what they had seen and heard from Link.

"He claims a Hylian knight murdered Esolu? And he's heading to the waterfall bridge to kill them?!" Nemisa exclaimed.

Aviel was pretty distraught by the news of this, but she was even more worried about how Tatl described the way Link looked. It reminded her way too much of how he acted that one day they were on the caravan trip with Togau, and the absolute fury in his eyes and voice when he snapped at the knights who had disguised themselves as bandits. She even remembered what happened just recently when he went berserk and brutally attacked some Rito who had tried to hurt her back in Dhaijialoft.

"No Link... not again..." Aviel spoke sadly.

"That's insane! Doesn't he understand what will happen if he kills a Hylian knight?!" Impa shouted.

"Wait, what happens again?" Darunia asked in confusion.

"According to the Gerudo Banishment Law, if a Gerudo kills a knight of the Hylian royal guard or so much as wounds a nobleman, then it would be declared an act of war against Hyrule." Vekai spoke, adjusting her root glasses, "It would give the Hylian Parliament permission to strike back against them without question."

"That's... a pretty big deal." Darunia gulped.

"Now wait a minute, this can't be possible!" Nabooru protested to Tatl, "Esolu is at the child-bearer's living quarters in the palace! It's heavily guarded, and even if something did happen to her we would have known about it by now!"

"But if she's fine, then why is Link talking like something happened to her?" Nemisa asked.

"Uuuugh... what's going on?" Reirousa got up and groaned, rubbing at her head. She glanced over at the black box Impa was holding and her eyes widened, "Oh that's right! That wasn't my gift!" she quickly pulled out another black box that sure enough had the brass knuckles she commissioned inside, "This is it! I found that other one in the alley!"

"The same alley you wanted to meet Link at?" Saria pondered, "Tell me something Mr. Knave, do you remember what that woman who hit you looked like?"

"Well..." Knave described what he could remember of the woman.

"Hey, that kinda sounds like that one girl I saw here." spoke one of the waitresses, "You girls saw her too right?" as the others nodded.

"Weird, I don't remember calling in anyone else besides these girls tonight." the club owner Tauvale muttered.

"Reirousa, doesn't that description sound familiar to you?" Saria asked her, "Remember the girl who helped you write that note?"

Reirousa thought about it and nodded, "Y-Yeah, I guess so."

"Wait, what's this about a note?" Nabooru asked.

Saria went ahead and explained what happened with the mysterious waitress who helped her and Reirousa write a note to meet Link in the back alley near the club.

"I see now..." Nabooru nodded, "Whoever that was likely helped you write the note in order to set up a trap to ambush Link, and then knock him out with that sleeping mist box. That's why Reirousa couldn't find him!"

Reirousa's eyes lit up at those words, "S-So he didn't reject me, he was just kidnapped? Whew, what a relief!"

"How the hell is that a relief?!" Nemisa shouted, bashing Reirousa upside the head, "That waitress must have been the one who made Link think Esolu was killed!"

"Uh..." Reirousa paused, scratching her head, "Ah shit! You're right! We gotta help him!"

"If he really is hunting down a Hylian knight at the bridge, we can't allow him to get there. We need to send a team off to stop him." Nabooru said.

"No problem! Leave it to me!" Darunia said crackling his knuckles, "I'll knock some sense into my brother!"

"No, we can't have that." Nabooru said, "Don't forget you're part of the Hylian Parliament right now. If a knight witnesses you getting hurt by Link somehow, it will be declared an act of war by the Gerudo, regardless of the circumstances!"

"What? Is that right?!" Darunia asked, "Jeez, if I had known that I wouldn't had even pushed for the position..."

"Don't worry Darunia, we Gerudo are more then capable." Nabooru said, "I'll call in the guards to go see what's going on with Link. What I'd like to ask from you all is to go to Gerudo Palace for the time being to check in on Esolu and make sure she's all right."

"Of course." Ruto nodded, "I'm worried about Link, but now I'm worried about that poor girl as well."

"Lady Nabooru, with your permission, we wanna go stop Link too!" Aviel said standing alongside Nemisa and Saria.

"You girls sure about this?" Nabooru asked, as a strange sensation was bothering her.

"Yeah, maybe we can get through to him!" Saria said.

"We promise to report back to you if we can't get him to stop." Nemisa said.

"...okay, but just be careful." Nabooru nodded.

"They won't have to be careful, cause I'll help too. I'll knock some sense into Link if I have to!" Reirousa said pumping her fists.

Saria smiled softly at seeing Reirousa stepping up like that, and the four of them set off to find Link.

Meanwhile back at Gerudo Canyon, Link was walking down the road towards the waterfall bridge. All he could think of in that moment was his anger towards the knight who took the life of Esolu and their child.

Some feral Desert Wolfos saw Link walking along. They were part of a pack separate from Lady Sheeva's, so they didn't know who this man was. All they saw was he could be a potential feast for them. The Wolfos all jumped out from their hiding place to ambush and maul the Hylian.

Before they got too close though, Link turned his head to them and glared coldly. His piercing white eyes surprised the wolfos, and caused them to stop their attack and slowly back up whimpering.

As Link continued along, his hazy mind was faintly recalling memories of his time with the mute girl. Sometimes they would sit together and he would tell her stories of his adventures, sometimes they'd play cards together, sometimes they'd just kiss or make passionate love...

Despite Esolu being rather aloof compared to the other child-bearers, Link could tell she was a kind person, and loved children. He recalled one thing in particular Leivuri told him about her when they first met...

Flashback

"That sketch pad is how she communicates with everyone, though she prefers to make pictures instead of just writing words." Leivuri said, "During the time we were being taught to be child-bearers the three of us grew very close together, and I feel bad for what she went through losing her voice... But her drawings can be so cute, it lets us know there's still happiness in her on the inside!"

"I see..." Link said in thought, then looking to Esolu "And you're sure you want to be a child-bearer too?"

Esolu paused, then drew another picture and held it up just below her nose, it was an adorable picture of a happy looking penguin with many little baby penguin chicks all crowded around it. She was looking to the side with a light blush that Link couldn't help but find cute of her as well.

End Flashback

Link scowled as he thought about that, knowing now that he would never be able to help bring out that happiness within her, that she would never be able to deliver her child, and that their daughter will never get the chance to see the world she was supposed to be born into...

All because of that knight, that knight that killed them both in cold blood... that Link couldn't do anything to stop... He couldn't save her, because he had been too weak... too weak... too weak...

"If you feel I was in the wrong, come face me. I'll be waiting for you at the bridge on the border that leads to Hyrule. Somehow I doubt you'll refuse."

Link's anger was growing by the minute. The aura he was giving off getting stronger, and a faint voice in the back of his mind was growing stronger and louder. He was so focused on heading to the bridge that he wasn't aware of some people watching from nearby.

It was a group of four marauders known as the Red Jackals. They consisted of three men and a woman, all notorious and wanted for the crimes they committed through the land, ranging from theft to murder. They especially loved targeting lone travelers, as they were easy prey to gang up on.

"Looks like that tip we got was right, here he comes right now!" snickered the head of the group. He was a bald, muscular man with an old scimitar.

"Check out the bling he's wearing too!" said another of the gang, a shorter guy with buck teeth who was looking at Link's bracelets and king tiara, "It's gotta be worth a pretty rupee!"

"..." the third man didn't say a word, but he gripped his iron mace firmly in anticipation.

"Ooooh, he ain't a bad looker either!" grinned the woman of the four licking her lips devilishly as she held a knife, "I wouldn't mind having some with him fun in bed before silting his throat!"

"Settle down, we got priorities." grinned the leader, "Now let's take him down!"

Link walked along slowly, but came to a stop when he realized he was suddenly surrounded on four sides by the Red Jackals. The leader held out his scimitar and grinned wickedly.

"Hey pal, kinda late to be going out for a walk, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, you could run into some bad guys who might want those riches yer wearing! Maybe we outta help you out by taking them off of ya!" spoke the small man.

"..." Link said nothing.

"Hey, you hard of hearing or something, hottie?" asked the woman, "Hand over the jewelry or it'll be your life you're handing over instead!"

"..." Link again didn't respond.

"Alright, you asked for it buddy!" said the buck-toothed marauder, bringing up his sword and coming at Link along with the others.

What happened in that moment could only be considered the most one-sided battle the Red Jackals ever had. The problem for them was, they were the ones losing.

Within half a minute the three men of the gang had fallen to the ground lifelessly, their blood sprayed out everywhere. The young Gerudo king himself didn't even have so much as a single scratch on him.

Link lowered his sword and turned to the sole female of the Red Jackals, who found herself against a wall, cowering as he slowly walked up to her. She saw nothing but anger and fury in his eyes, as he held his blood-stained sword. She wanted to run, but had been too injured from the fight to even move.

"P-Please..." sobbed the woman marauder in fear of the man before her, "I'm sorry! Please have mercy! I'll give you anything, I'll give you my body for pleasure! Just please don't-!"

"..."

Link said nothing, but brought up his sword, and the Red Jackal woman screamed out in horror.

"Lady Nabooru? What's going on here?" the guard at the royal child-bearers quarters as Nabooru had came up with Ruto and Vekai, "I thought you had that meeting tonight."

"There's been a change of plans, where's Esolu?" Nabooru asked.

"Hey, what's going on out here?" Ragome asked peeked out from over the guard's shoulder, "Did ya want somethin' Lady Nabooru?"

When the three of them came in, they looked around among the child-bearers until they saw that sure enough Esolu was there, alive and well. She was laying back on her pillows, with one hand on her pregnant stomach while she was eating a frosted scone.

"Oh Esolu! Thank Lophla you're okay!" Ruto said with relief, running up and embracing the mute woman, much to her surprise and confusion.

"...?!"

"Queen Ruto, what on earth is going on?" Leivuri asked, looking up from her knitting.

"Well you see..." Nabooru explained what was going on, that Link thought Esolu had been killed and was going to confront the knight who supposedly did it at the waterfall bridge.

"What?" exclaimed the other girls.

"But how is that even possible?" Ragome exclaimed, "Esolu's right here, and there's no way Link would be tricked like that!"

"That's part of what worries me, somehow Link was fooled enough by the trick to react like that. He could be a bit naive at times in the past, but he's not that thick-headed." Nabooru said.

"Something that also bothers me, just who is that knight, and why would they go through the trouble of pretending to kill this woman? What could they possibly gain from fooling King Link like this?" Vekai pondered.

Esolu herself was beyond shocked at the news, before looking down in deep thought...

Meanwhile Saria, along with Aviel, Nemisa, Reirousa, and a number of guards were going down the path of the canyon to find Link. As they trekked through they found the remains of various monsters that were commonly sighted in the area, and saw that they had all been freshly massacred.

"Ugh, don't tell me Link did all this." Aviel spoke, huddling close to Nemisa.

"Him thinking Esolu was killed must have hurt him worse than we thought..." Nemisa whispered sadly, trying to resist impulsively clutching at her wrist, the one that had once been stabbed by the slaver Jayde so long ago, she closed her eyes thinking of some words Link once said to her about her goal to kill Jayde out of vengeance,

"Are you sure revenge is the answer to this? Do you really think it will make you happy?"

"Link..." Nemisa whispered, "Are you really turning your back on the things you said to me before?"

"Oh my goddess Aifet." she heard Aviel gasp out, as they looked ahead at a rather sickening sight.

"Jees, look at all this..." one guard said, seeing four human bodies laying around the area, all brutally massacred.

Aviel stared sickeningly out at the remains of the bodies, before she suddenly felt nausea build up in her, and she ran over behind a boulder to heave out the contents of her stomach. It's not that she hadn't seen massacred people before in her life, but knowing it was Link who did it...

"I think I've heard of these guys, they were the desert marauders gang The Red Jackals." one guard said gazing down at what remained of the leader of the gang, "These guys were pretty sick and murderous monsters, guess they finally got what was coming to them."

"But to go this far... just what is wrong with Link?" Nemisa asked.

"..." Reirousa meanwhile stared down at the body of the sole woman of the Jackal gang, from the position she was in, it was clear she had been backed against the wall and shown no mercy, the horrified look in her eyes indicated what she had witnessed just moments before she was killed. It reminded Reirousa far too much of those she lost in the war nearly ten years ago...

In that moment, Reirousa wished the Link she knew was there so they could hug out their problems.

And that ends things for now. Link is on his way to confront the Hylian army, and seems to be showing no mercy to those in his way. What can his friends and family do to put a stop to this? Can they even put a stop to this? Find out next week!

Just to let you all know, as dark as this arc is going, this isn't going to set a permanent tone for the rest for the rest of the story or anything, I'm still gong to keep many things pretty light-hearted and comedic as before.

Many thanks to all of you for your support! Leave a like, follow, comment, or even a private message if you choose to! I'm usually pretty good at responding quickly to messages provided I'm not out on errands or at work.