Chapter 7: Into the Jungle

The river was a welcome sight to the group. They'd heard the running water and moved toward it, and once it was in sight, Link warned them to keep their eyes open, because it was in a clearing with wide banks. In spite of the previous rain, this was the dry season, and the river was much lower than normal. During the wet season, those wide banks would be underwater as the river rose all the way to the trees on either side.

Lance cupped water in his hands, lifting it to drink, then did it again and splashed it across his face, wiping away the feeling of grime from sweat and dirt from the day's growth of stubble on his face.

The others had come to the riverside to do the same, and Lance cursed his idiocy. Even in the rush of leaving the castle, he should have thought to bring a waterskin with him. Though he did feel better to see Areil, Natalya, and Lilith all pull waterskins from their belts to refill. So they'd be able to carry at least some water with them.

But, he thought as he stood up, the river seemed to run south, so going upriver might be an option if they were going to go north as Link had said. They didn't have to go too far from it, so they'd have access. As he stood up and turned around, he saw Link and Kilishandra nearby, they had not come to the river, but Link was knelt down by something.

"Somebody had a meal here," Link said as Lance came closer, and Lance saw the fish bones and scales left on the ground next to a small black and gray pile of ashes. The scales were also browned, clearly cooked over the fire.

"Probably early this morning," Kilishandra said, looking back toward the rest of the group as they rose up from the river.

"Footprints as well," Lance said, looking at the ground around them, "Looks like they were barefoot."

"Could be a Narak," Kilishandra said.

"Not likely," Link said, "They tend to cover their tracks, leave no sign of passage."

He reached down, putting his fingers into the pile of ashes.

"Cold," he said and stood back up, "Fire's been out for a while."

Lilith and Natalya approached them as he said this.

"You two," Link said, "Why don't you take a look at these tracks, see if you can figure out where our friend went. Stay within earshot, though. I don't want to be jumped."

Natalya squatted down next to the ashes, examining the footprints around it. "Relatively small feet," she said, "Likely either a teenager or a woman. Or a very dainty man. Not too heavy, either, prints aren't deep. I'd guess somewhere between ninety and a hundred pounds. Maybe one-ten at the most."

Lilith leaned down, pushing at the fish-scales with one finger. "Hole in the side of this," she said, "She was spearfishing."

"Sounds like a good idea for breakfast," Lance as as Damien and Areil came up beside him.

"Never liked fish, but I'll take it over starving," Areil said.

"Footprints are all uniform in size," Natalya went on as she stood up, tracing the path she saw away from the fire, "It was only the one person. Looks like they went this way."

"Headed upriver," Link said, "Everyone keep your eyes open, but don't go too far."

He turned and walked toward the river to get a drink himself, and Kilishandra followed behind him. Natalya motioned to Lilith. "Come on, this trail's easy to follow," she said, "Let's go check the treeline, see if anyone else was or is around."

"Like I said, stay within earshot," Link said.

As much training as they doubtless had, they were still young and he was certain lacked true field experience. But the reason they'd been selected as scouts instead of the royal bodyguard was because they'd received an extensive education on those kinds of skills from their mother. Silviana was what one would call a forest ranger. She had a bit of a complicated past, was even a slave when she was younger, but lived in the forest for most of her life. Now she lived in Ordon with her husband, both of them were officially retired, but she still put her skills to use as the village's new guard, since Rusl was getting too old for the job.

Silviana was also one of the most terrifying people Link had ever met. There were many among the ninja who could remain unseen if they wished, but Silviana's skill in that regard was almost comparable to true invisibility. Link fully believed that if she didn't want to be seen, she could standing on your foot and you still wouldn't be able to find her. Even how she walked was strange, as she had a manner of sliding her feet across the ground, even when just calmly walking in the open, making sure she made no sound from footfalls, but also brushing aside any twigs or such that would crack, and yet somehow she left barely any sign of her passage. No trails in the earth from sliding her feet as such, and barely any footprints.

Link watched the twins as they moved away from the group. No, they didn't have that trait. They walked like normal people, though their steps did fall softly and nearly silent, but anyone trained by the ninja tended to walk like that.

"If the person here wasn't a Narak, then who do you think it was?" Damien asked, causing Link to turn back to him.

"Not a clue," Link said, "And it's not that important right..."

He stopped as one of the twins called out to them, saying there was a body.

Following her voice, the group moved quickly to the treeline. Lilith and Natalya were not far in, but they were out of sight of the river. And sure enough, there was a dead body on the ground, hidden from the sight of anyone by the river by a large tree where the body had been leaned against in a sitting position.

"Yeah, that's a dead Narak," Link remarked as he knelt down in front of the body.

It had been a man, looking like he was in his late twenties, head hanging down with chin against his chest. Only clothing was a waist-wrap that fell to near his knees and a necklace made of human teeth hanging from his neck.

"Everyone keep your eyes up," Link said, "We might not be alone."

"I don't see any injuries," Damien said, looking close at the body.

Link reached to the man's head, pulling it up by the hair. There was an audible and painful sounding grinding of bones as his neck moved.

"Broken neck," Link said, "Likely was left here and actual cause of death was suffocation. Looks like his throat was completely collapsed. Throttled, maybe, with a real tight grip."

"Area's undisturbed, though," Natalya said, looking around them at the fallen leaves and moss underfoot, "There wasn't a struggle."

"So whoever did this got him from behind," Link said, pulling the man's head up further, "Hello. Kili, look at this."

Kilishandra knelt down, getting closer to where she could see what Link indicated. "Bruises on his neck are wrong," she said.

"How could that be wrong?" Lance asked, moving closer, trying to see himself.

"When someone is throttled, the attacker obviously has to grip tight. So it leaves bruises where the fingers grip," Kilishandra said, "If his attacker came from behind, we should see the eight marks of their fingers on the front of his throat. If he came from the front, we should see the thumb-marks."

"But there's just two large bruises on either side that didn't come from any fingers," Link said, "Whoever did this came from behind and wrapped their arm around this man's neck, got his chin above their elbow. And then they pulled backward until they snapped his neck."

Link released his grip on the corpse, the horrible grinding sound of bones heard again as his head fell. He picked up one of the body's hands, holding it up to look at the nails. They were sharpened into claws, like all Narak, but he was turning to see under them. "Looks like blood and maybe skin under his nails," Link said.

"So he was fighting back," Kilishandra said, "Clawing at whoever was holding on to him."

"We can't stay here," he said, rising to his feet, "This guy will have had friends around, and probably another hunting party will come through looking for them sooner or later as well. And to top it off, whoever did this might not be friendly either. Let's go upriver. We'll stop to fish up something to eat when we're a safe distance from here."

Link started walking, the others moving behind him, eyes around them as they walked in a line between the trees.

Damien moved up beside Lance as they walked. "You think the dead guy was following the person at the river?" he asked.

"Maybe," Lance said, "But I guess there's no way to know. I don't think it likely matters for us anyway."

"I don't know," Damien said, "I've got this feeling… What if it was the princess?"

"Footprints were barefoot," Lance said, "She wasn't. Plus, it wouldn't make any sense for them to drag her halfway across the world just to leave her here."

"Yeah, maybe," Damien said, "It's just… No, you're right. Nevermind."

"Come on, you'll probably feel better after you have something to eat," Lance said.

"Yeah."

In Hyrule, at that moment, it was past midnight. Most of the denizens of the kingdom were long since asleep and the castle halls, normally noisy with staff and visitors alike during the day, were silent and one would hear nothing but one's own footsteps as they walked the halls.

But there was one who was not sleeping, in spite of her best efforts to do so. Young Anastasia, Link and Kilishandra's daughter, lay staring into the darkness above the bed, unable to banish the thoughts from her mind. She didn't know the full details, but she'd heard the shouting in the garden, and all access to it had been blocked by the time she got there, the guards not allowing anyone in. But her brother and parents had both disappeared from the castle by then as well.

Something serious had happened, but no one was talking about it. And a girl, still a squire, asking questions resulted in nothing but being told to mind her own duties. She'd even gone so far as to ask Prince Lucius, but he'd known no more than her.

She looked over to her right, seeing the silhouette of the prince lying on his side, facing away from her. The evening had been pleasant enough, but it was clear that both of them were distracted the entire time, his thoughts just as lost as her own.

Well, she wasn't going to get any sleep like these, she decided, and turned to sit up, pushing the blankets off herself. She lowered her feet slowly to the carpet, trying not to wake Lucius. With no light, she tried to remember where her clothes had ended up in the process, but stopped as the blankets shifted, and she turned to see the prince rolling over to face her.

"You can't sleep either," he said.

Ana sighed. "No," she said, "I was thinking I'd go to the training field and smack a dummy for bit. Try to tire myself out."

"You'll just be more exhausted tomorrow," Lucius said, then after a second's hesitation, sat up and said, "I was told by my mother to not tell anyone, so promise you'll keep it a secret and I'll tell you what happened in the garden."

"So you lied to me when I asked," Ana said.

"No, I just didn't tell you everything," Lucius said, "I don't know most of it either, but my mother will blow her lid if she finds out I let it get out."

"I didn't think the queen got angry," Ana said.

"Oh, she does," Lucius said, "She doesn't shout or threaten, or anything like that, but she gets angry. And she's much scarier when she does than anyone who is screaming and stomping their feet. So?"

"Okay," Ana said, "I won't tell anyone."

"Alright," Lucius said, "Assassins came after my sister in the garden."

Ana turned to face him at that. He likely couldn't see her face, but she was shocked at that. "Assassins? How'd they get in the castle?"

"Apparently came in disguised as gardeners," Lucius said, "They didn't kill her, but they did kidnap her. Your parents and brother, along with a few others, went after them only minutes later. My mother followed with over a hundred men."

"What happened?" Ana asked.

"My mother and her men came back," Lucius said, "My sister, as well as your parents, were not with them. When I asked, my mother said that my sister is with Link and the others, but they are going to be gone for some time. So I can only assume they saved her and took her into hiding until the assassins' masters are found."

"I see, that would make the most sense," Ana said, "And she wants to keep it quiet because there might be an informant in the castle."

"I think so," Lucius said.

"Well, that's a bit of a relief anyway," Ana said, "I didn't know why my parents suddenly took Lance with them. It must have been a spur of the moment thing, grabbing anyone who was close by."

"Afraid you were getting left behind?" Lucius asked.

"It's not like that," Ana said, "It's just..."

"Just what?" Lucius asked.

"I don't know," Ana said.

It was a complicated feeling. Her parents were not the type to brag. When she was a girl, in Ordon, they were gone more than home. But when they were home, they as loving and attentive as any family could hope for. And her grandparents, Uli and Rusl, took care of herself and her brother when they were gone.

But she could see the way the other adults looked at them. It wasn't just respect, but borderline worship. Of course, they told her the stories when she asked. The things they had done. But the stories from them always felt incomplete, like there was something missing.

And when her parents came home, of course they were asked the things they did, and the stories they told were the same, like they were missing something, and yet no one ever asked. If that was all there was to it, they were just soldiers hunting bandits and the like.

Yeah, they were soldiers, working directly for the queen, that much she understood. But that didn't explain why there was a gods damned statue of her father in the central square of the capital. There were three there, in the center of the fountain in the central square, arranged so the figures were standing back-to-back in a circle facing outward. Though their features were plain, deliberately so, Ana recognized one the first time she saw them.

It was her father. The stature, the build, down to how he rested his hands on the hilt of his sword when he put the point on the ground. And the tunic he wore. The statue's wasn't green, obviously, but she'd seen it in the basement, on the display dummy near where her parents stored their weapons and armor when home. It was old, torn, and full of holes, but it was the same.

She knew the second statue now, after having known the queen for this long, because that's who it was. The statue was a young woman with long hair in a gown with the royal crest on the skirt, and the large ornamental shoulders that had gone out of fashion before Ana could even remember. It was the queen when she was younger. She held no weapon, but hand one hand crossed in front of her chest, and if one got close enough, they might be able to make out the image of the golden triangles on the back of her hand.

The third statue was one she still didn't know. Another man, the statue towered over the other two, standing with arms crossed and dressed in full armor and a cape. Though the features of the face were still abstract, she always felt it had a vicious glare that followed her whenever she was in the square. For some reason, it reminded her of Damien, though he was far too young to be the one depicted, and he did not have that kind of glare.

According to the story, the man depicted was named Ganondorf, and while he was honored as a hero to be so depicted here, the story was that he had been executed following the invasion of the Blighted Men, having a past too terrible to be forgiven.

Ana had idly wondered if it could have been the same Ganondorf the legends spoke of as the King of Darkness. But she dismissed that as childish foolishness. The man would have to be over four thousand years old at that point, and that was simply absurd.

So why the statues in the first place? You don't honor normal soldiers for just doing their jobs, much less put them beside the queen herself. But in the end of the battle with the Blighted Men, the invaders had broken and fled as a golden pillar of light shot up into the sky some distance from the battle. Supposedly, that was where these three had been fighting the enemy's leader. She was slain and the army immediately broke and fled.

But what exactly happened there? Apparently only the queen, Link, and this Ganondorf knew, and none of them were talking.

And that was what bothered Ana, what wasn't being said. And now her parents were gone again after only having just returned, and this time her brother was with them.

She'd known she wanted to be a knight from a young age. Probably the first time was when she'd seen her father and brother out in front of the house. Link was teaching Lance how to use a sword. She could hear the loud banging of their wooden training swords and also Link's reprimands to Lance's mistakes. But Lance was four years older than she was. At the age of fifteen, he was off to the capital, for basic training and to be squired to teachers who would take what Link had taught and hopefully hone it to the point he'd be ready for knighthood himself.

And she was just barely old enough then that Link agreed when she asked to show her a few things. And she remembered getting so angry at him. He taught her the same way he taught Lance, but she swore she remembered Link striking Lance much harder when he messed up, that Link was going easy on her. And that made her angry, because she thought that he believed she wouldn't make it, that she'd give it up after a while.

So she yelled at him, told him she wasn't a little girl anymore, and that she hated him for trying to protect her. Then she called him a coward. She would never forget what came next. The next thing she saw was his fist, then she was staring into the sky and the two figures standing over her were blurry and hidden by stars.

"I was going easy on you," Link had said once she was sat up and no longer dazed. They'd taken her inside and now her mother had made an herbal concoction she dipped a cloth in and now dabbed at Ana's already impressive black eye, which would help both with the pain and disinfect where the skin had been broken.

"I was going easy on you because you are a child, whether you want to believe that or not," Link went on, "You're remembering how I was teaching Lance once he was older, I'd already been teaching him for some time and he was better able to defend himself. You're not ready for that."

"I'm sorry," Ana whispered.

"Don't be sorry," Kilishandra said, "Learn from it. As mad as you were, you weren't going to learn anything. Keep your temper in check."

Ana looked up to where Link was standing, his back to them as he looked out the window. "Are you mad at me?" she asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"Mad? No," Link said, turning to her with a smile, "As a matter of fact, I'm proud of you for wanting to learn. But part of learning is patience. It's going to take time, and I don't intend to give you more than you can handle."

"You hit really hard," Ana said, wincing as Kilishandra dabbed at her eye again.

"Oh, your father can hit a lot harder than that," Kilishandra said, "He was just trying to wake you up. I've seen him when actually means to hurt people. He can knock a grown man in full armor clean off his feet with one punch. Trust me, he barely tapped you."

"But you're also not crying like most children would be right now," Link said, "You are tough for a girl your age, so maybe I can stop going so easy on you."

In that moment, Ana felt a warmth in her chest. Something like pride, she supposed. But she did have to ask, "What is it like, when you actually want to hurt people?"

"Bad phrasing, mom," Link said, looking at Kilishandra, but then turned back to Ana, "Hurting people is not a good thing. Wait," he put up a hand, "Rephrasing that. Okay, hurting innocent people is not a good thing. Yes, I hurt people, and I kill them, but only when they're bad. Or when there is no other way, like when they're trying to kill me."

"How do you know if they're bad?"

"That's the hard part," Link said, "Sometimes it's really hard to tell. For what it's worth, there are people that I wish it could have been different, that I regret having to fight. So, you want to keep learning this, to fight, and to be a knight?"

"Yes," Ana said.

"All right then," Link said, "I'll teach you everything I can, but it's going to be tough and will hurt, and you'll just have to be strong enough to get through it."

Maybe it was simply being the youngest child, or maybe it was the fact she was always left behind. Afraid of being left behind, like the prince suggested? No, she didn't think so. She blamed it more on the fact that once she came here, to the capital, and began her more formal training, she heard the talk. All anyone could talk about when she first arrived was that she was Link and Kilishandra's daughter. And it was strongly suggested that she was going to be fast-tracked to captain or even higher because of that connection.

Her father had taught her to fight, but she ultimately wanted to stand on her own. She didn't want to be "the hero's daughter" all her life. Lance didn't seem to have this problem, or if he did, he didn't show it. Maybe he enjoyed the perks of their parents' legacy.

But as for Ana, what she was afraid of was being forever lost in their shadow. And if she told someone this, all she'd get is a reminder that she was only sixteen and had a long career ahead to distinguish herself. She was still just a squire, and at least two more years before she made knight-errant.

But if she could draw the Master Sword, that would be something she'd genuinely done on her own. But the legend said only one strong enough could wield that blade. That was why she had worked herself so hard, had built herself into the physical condition she was in, and still she couldn't budge it.

"So these assassins," she said, turning to face Lucius, "Any idea who they are?"

"That I wasn't told," Lucius said.

"But if they kidnapped the princess, rather than kill her, then she must have been the bait for a trap," Ana said, "You've got me curious about this now."

"It needs to stay quiet," Lucius said.

"I'll keep my mouth shut," Ana said, "But I'm definitely not sleeping now. I think beating on a training dummy is the best idea."

She stood up, reaching for the lamp she knew was on the bedside table. Finding it, she lifted the glass casing from the wick, and with a snap of her fingers, a small flame jumped into life from her thumb which she used to light it. As light filled the room, the prince squinted his eyes against the sudden glow.

"I didn't know you could do that," he said as Ana replaced the glass over the wick.

"My father might be the one who taught me to use a sword," Ana said, waving her hand and extinguishing the flame on her fingertip, "but my mother is a sorceress. She taught me a few things too."

"Does doing that hurt?"

Ana looked at her thumb, where the flame appeared, and rubbed it against her index finger, feeling the tough burn callus on the end of it. Lucius probably never noticed, even as intimate as they were, because it was just one spot. Her hands were tough with callused skin in general, all that time working with her sword had seen to that. She remembered the early days of working with the blunted metal training sword, designed for becoming accustomed to the weight of such a weapon, and her father had kept pushing her, even when she could barely grip it through the pain and blood. But her hands always healed, and always tougher and able to go further the next time.

"It did at first," she said, referring to both these things though she didn't say that, "but not anymore."

"Sounds like a lot of things in life," Lucius said.

"Does it?" Ana whispered, "I wonder..."

She picked up her clothes from the floor, starting to get dressed, yet now already she was again thinking about what the prince had just told her, that the princess was with her parents now and in hiding. Just like all the other stories, there was something missing there. Something that didn't feel right.

Princess Zelda had felt more spirited, being fed and moving, but already that spirit was starting to wane. She had been walking for what felt like hours along the riverbank, and everything still looked the same. The wide banks and tall trees went on as far as she could see. She still held on to the fishing spear she'd made, one cooked fish still impaled on the blackened tip, her meal for later.

Other than the running water of the river, she could hear the buzzing of insects and singing of birds in the trees, but no signs of human life. The sandy riverbank was at least easier to walk on with her bare feet. She thought back to her lessons as a child, thinking that the reason the riverbanks were so wide was likely because it was Summer, the dry season here. Even that ran the previous night was nothing for this kind of place. In the wet season, it was likely the river rose all the way to the tree line along the banks.

It was still somewhat surreal to think that she was so far from Hyrule so quickly. Those lessons seemed so long ago and so far away now. She still felt as though she might be dreaming, that any moment she'd wake up back in her bedroom in the castle. That she'd see those familiar faces again. And that once again her greatest fear would be the day her mother would step down and she'd have to take the throne herself.

So quickly those childish fears seemed as small as they were, when she looked among the trees, and more than once thought she saw something moving, only for the shadows to vanish when she looked again.

But her mind kept wandering back to those fears. And memories of how she reacted. Around five years ago, her education had begun to include the more political aspects she'd need to understand as an adult, and she had been learning of negotiation tactics and diplomacy, both relating to internal nobility and foreign nations. She'd been sixteen or seventeen at the time, around the age most noble daughters were getting betrothed to their future husbands, if not married outright.

She remembered reacting very negatively to the idea of a political marriage. Maybe it was the childhood stories she had read all the time that vilified the notion, or maybe it was genuine fear that she might have to marry a man she'd never even met, but she'd stormed out of the lesson, angry and refusing to hear more.

She'd still been such a child then, she realized now. She'd wandered the castle, trying to avoid anyone that might be looking for her, and she'd eventually found herself in the memorial hall. Portraits of the past rulers of Hyrule hung from the walls, lined up in order of their succession. She had looked up at the portrait of her mother, thinking how even when she was younger and had poised for it, she had such an air of power and authority. How could a childish princess like her live up to that kind of legacy?

She had walked a bit further, looking up at the portrait of her grandmother. Her mother's mother, and the ruler of Hyrule before her. This was a woman the princess had never met because she had died decades ago one winter. The current queen had been forced to take the throne at the absurdly young age of fourteen, and was scarcely an adult when the Twilight Invasion had occurred. She wondered what kind of person her grandmother really was.

Footsteps on the stone floor caught her attention and caused her to turn, to see, rather to her surprise, Prince Malcolm, the queen's father, and widower of the very woman she'd just been thinking about.

"Grandfather," she said, turning more fully to face him.

"Skipping out on your lessons, I hear," he said, but his voice was gentle, and so was his smile as he leaned on his cane.

"My mother never married," she said, "I don't see why I'd have to, or even bother."

Malcolm's cane clicked as he moved closer to her. "You're hardly the first teenager to be against the idea," he said, "In your mother's case, it's more that the necessity never arose. I'm certain if she'd had to, she would accept it."

"But how could a person do it?" she asked, "Marry someone they've never met? Someone they don't care about and will just end up hating for the rest of their life?"

Malcolm stopped in front of her, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly with his eyes closed for a moment. "It's more the duty of a ruler to look after their people. If a marriage can prevent a war, save thousands of lives, is that not worth it?"

"That's..." the princess started, only for her grandfather to reach out one hand, gripping her shoulder.

"And besides, those children's stories fill your head with fantasy," he said, "They vilify the idea, but political marriages do not always have to be bad things. And they can even lead to real love and happiness."

"How would you know?" she demanded.

Malcolm slowly turned his head, looking up at the portrait of his now long deceased wife, then turned back to Zelda. The look in his eye was more serious than she'd ever seen him, but it was with a great sadness in his voice as he said, "Because your grandmother told me she loved me every day."

She really was still a child back then, she thought as she walked beside the river. Those problems seemed so insignificant now, she could hardly even believe that had been her. Of course, after her grandfather said that, she'd felt terrible for some time, regretting that she'd spoken to him like that.

If she could go home, she'd apologize to him again.

She'd keep going for as long as she could, she decided. She'd need to find shelter before it was dark, and she doubted she'd be so lucky again. After noon, she'd find food for an evening meal, and find somewhere she could spend the night.

But as she thought this, she came to a stop as a bestial roar filled the air ahead of her, and she felt a grip on her chest as real fear reasserted itself.

Link looked up at the sound of the roar in the distance. "Damn, that's closer than I like," he said.

The other members of the group looked up from where they'd stopped to fish and eat. Lance rose to his feet from the fire, walking over to where Link was. "I think that was a Lynel," he said.

Link nodded. "Around here, must be a Spotted Lynel, too," he said, glancing at Lance, "Striped Lynels are the biggest and meanest ones you'll see around Hyrule. Spotted ones are half-again larger and almost three times the weight of a Striped. And their temper is about ten times worse."

Damien approached the two of them from behind, looking up as another roar echoed over the river. But then another roar began before it was finished. "Two of them," he said.

"Yeah," Link said, "Probably two males fighting over territory. We're just going to stay away from that entirely."

"I've never seen a Lynel," Areil said, walking up beside Damien, "We don't have them in the desert."

"Count yourself lucky," Link said, "They tend to avoid populated areas in Hyrule, but these out here haven't learned to fear men. If you have to take one down, you need preparation. Set a trap, lure it in, then hopefully kill it before it can fight back. If you have to take one on directly, you need at least twenty men to bring it down, and there will be casualties."

"And just to top it off, they're strangely resistant to magic," Kilishandra added from where she sat, "Though whether its a genuine resistance or they're just that crazy tough, I couldn't tell you. But I struck one with a lightning bolt once and it barely even slowed down."

"If someone actually hunted one alone, he'd have to be either crazy good or just plain crazy," Link said.

Princess Zelda ran for the treeline as the roars came closer, and she feel the ground tremble under her feet from impacts nearby. She stopped, leaning around a tree in time to see them come into view.

Several trees fell on the other side of the river as massive bodies smashed through them. The branches sent splashes of water nearly ten feet in the air as the combatants came into view.

Lynels were strange creatures by all stretches. Quadrupedal bodies like like horses, but legs like great cats, each paw ending with vicious claws capable of ripping through all but the heaviest of armor. But from where the horse's neck would be, they instead had upright torsos like men, with two arms that once again ended in catlike paws and razor sharp claws, and atop their shoulders were the heads of lions, with thick manes around their necks, and mouths full of teeth as long and sharp as swords.

These were Spotted Lynels, standing nearly twenty feet from head to foot, and the shaking of the ground under their feet said they likely weighed over a half a ton each. The name came from the fur pattern on their horse-like bodies, yellow with black spots covering them from back to tale.

Zelda couldn't help but be awed as the two gigantic beasts struck at each other with fist and claw, roaring loud enough to hurt her ears, and crashing together, each trying to bite with those massive fangs. Their struggles, turning about each other took them into the river, smashing the fallen trees under their feet, the trunks snapping like twigs under their weight and water erupting in geysers from each stomp.

She'd also read that they were intelligent for animals, capable of using rudimentary tools and weapons, and especially smart ones even figuring out the bow and arrow. These two had no such instruments, and continued striking at each other with fang and claw. One suddenly reared up, striking out with the claws on its front feet and raking them down the chest of the other, with roared in anger, charging forward and pushing the first with enough force to topple it onto its side.

And as soon as it was down, it was over. The fallen struggled, trying to get back to its feet, but the other was on top of it, pinning it to the ground with its full weight, and leaned down, biting its sharp fangs into the back of the fallen's neck.

Zelda gasped as it tore a massive chunk from the fallen's neck, the fallen crying out in pain, it's struggles almost immediately growing weaker. The victor put one foot on the fallen's head, pushing down as blood spurted from the wound, and smashed its head on the ground, blood splattering as its skull shattered under the force, spilling its brain across the riverbank.

The victor threw its head back, letting out a roar even louder than before, announcing its victory to the jungle. Then it stepped off the body of its fallen opponent, and sat down on its knees before leaning down and sinking its fangs into its opponent's flesh and ripping a large chunk out, chewing loud enough for Zelda to hear from where she was, and she could see the blood staining its muzzle.

Shaking her head, she decided she needed to get out of here, and do it quietly, thanking every god that might be watching that it was so distracted and confident in its own authority. As quietly as she could, and as fast as she dared, she crept away into the trees.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the sound of the river faded. She didn't want to go too far from it, as it was the only reliable source of water she had, but at least for now, she'd try to keep going north through the trees and cut back to the river later.

She nearly screamed when a shape emerged from the bushes head of her, but caught herself before doing so. The figure let out a sharp whistle, and leaves rustled above her, and more figures dropped down around her.

Zelda's heart felt like it stopped in her chest. They were human. Narak surrounded her. There were at least eight of them, but there may have been more she couldn't see. Dark skin and hair, and skin seemed to shine in the light coming down through he branches, as though they were covered in some kind of oil. They wore nothing but waist-wraps that concealed their lower region, but all were bare-chested, showing off various levels of muscle and fitness. Two were women, dressed the same as the men, their breasts on display without any shame.

But what caught Zelda's eye were the ornaments. Necklaces and bracelets made of teeth, both animals and human, and sharp white splinters inserted directly into their skin in decoration across their arms, chests, and even faces. The one standing directly in front of her had six horizontally through his nose, the sharp points visible on either side, and would have pieced directly through both nostrils to do so. Another had three each through his eyebrows, and still others used them as nipple-piercings.

And all of them held weapons, most with spears, but two had what looked like stone knives. As Zelda looked them over, one of the men smiled, noticing her eye, and lifted the knife to his own chest, slowly dragging it across his skin. A line of red appeared in its wake, as if just to prove even though it was stone, the edge was razor sharp.

Quiet as a whisper, one stepped up behind her and struck a blunt branch across the back of her head. It took a moment for Zelda to realize she was on the ground, the cool feeling on her cheek and taste of dirt in her mouth being what restored some of her senses. Some words were said in a language she didn't understand, and she felt something wrap around her waist, then she was in the air, tossed over one of the hunter's shoulder as easily as a child.

Not far from this event, the stranger that had been following Zelda arrived to see her being carried off. He had to circle wide to be sure he didn't alert the Lynel to his position and missed the actual blow, but now he realized what had happened.

"Well, that didn't take long," he muttered, "I guess I shouldn't have left you one your own after all. But if they're taking you alive, I know where you'll end up. I think it's time to pay a visit anyway."