The Lone Wolf
Chapter 8: An outcast?
Mentally, Link freaked, but his body was frozen. He didn't move a muscle; for fear that
he'd wake Rose.
After a minute or two, it became clear that he'd have to do something or she'd wake up
anyway.
Link carefully rolled her over onto her side. She mumbled something in her sleep, but
otherwise, nothing. Link got out of the bed, walked over to the door carefully, opened it,
and closed it soundlessly behind him. He was about to go downstairs, but the clerk was
probably there. So he instead went out the window at the end of the hall.
Link fell about a story, and landed softly. He found himself in a back ally quite like that
in Hyrule castle town market. He hurried to get out of the place, and as he left, he found
a number of wolves sleeping in small tents pitched in the streets and in the field.
Link headed straight to the bridge, and ran straight into the woods, heading west.
"Ok, that's enough fooling around here, I have got to get back to Hyrule now!"
* * * *
Later that morning, Rose awoke, alone in the room. She looked around frantically for
Link, and started sniffing the ground.
She followed it out the door, and to the window. When she found she could still sniff it
on the windowsill, she went out the inn through the front door to the back and found the
scent below the window. From there she followed it back around to the front, and from
there out of the town and into the woods.
Rose looked off into the west, knowing why he'd ran off.
Another girl was on his mind, no doubt.
"I am not going to just give up on you Link. I wont loose another male like this…" she
thought to herself.
* * * *
It was about a whole month before Link got back to the edge of the lost woods. He
didn't bother heading through the Kokiri forest, as he knew that he'd scare the kids so
badly that they'd wet their pants (not that he'd mind making Mido scream like a little girl
and reduce his status quite a bit, the kid kind of deserved it)
Instead, he weaved his way through the woods and leapt onto the bridge leading to
Hyrule field from the forest floor.
* * * *
It was late night when Link got to Hyrule field. He knew that the drawbridge would be
down at this hour. But still, how in the hell was he going to get inside there now? He still
looked like a wolfos, and it was going to take a lot more than a mask to get him in now.
Link headed to the castle gate, and wondered how on earth he could possibly get to
Zelda, without being attacked by all the guards, because he didn't want to have to kill
them, or be killed by them (which was very unlikely.)
"Ok, no way in hell am I going to get into the castle that way. So how the hell do I get
to Zelda?" Link thought, stroking his whiskers.
"Wait a minute… Zelda goes to visit Impa in Kakariko once in a while, doesn't she?
All I have to do is hide there for a while, and then I can get her to help me… Lets just
hope I can convince her I am Link, she's never seen me as a wolf before…"
* * * *
Zelda was, at the moment, sitting in the castle dining room having tea with Ruto and
Nabooru. The two of them were somewhat competitive suitors to Link, though it was a
friendly competition.
They said it was a social call, but they really wanted to find out where Link had been for
the past few months.
Ruto took a sip of her tea. "So, Zelda, have you seen Link yet? He's been gone for so
long. He left at the start of winter, but spring thaw has already set in!" she said.
Nabooru nodded. "Yes, I'm a bit concerned, did he get involved in another escapade
like with Termina? Because it's getting like he doesn't find enough to do around Hyrule
anymore!" she exclaimed.
Zelda smiled. "You two, Link's fine, I'm sure of it, but, like you said Nabooru, he
probably has gotten himself involved in another quest. But that's the way he is, a hero
like the other ones from the past. It's his nature."
Ruto and Nabooru heaved a long, exasperated sigh.
"Well, whenever he does get back, send him over to our temples, we'd really like to see
him." Ruto told Zelda, and finished off her tea.
* * * *
Link spent the remainder of the day going through the lost woods. He leapt from the
bridge to the Kokiri forest down to the forest floor, climbed the ladder, headed past the
skull kid on the tree trunk (who screamed and ran at the sight of him) and over to the lake
that led to the Zora river for a drink. He lapped the water from the edge till his thirst was
abated, and then headed back to the tunnel to the Goron city.
"I hope they're all asleep by now!" Link thought to himself.
* * * *
Luckily, link found that, although he wasn't quite as silent as a feline, he could get by
the Gorons without waking them. If he was careful not to let his non-retractile claws
click on the ground.
Link quickly headed out the entrance of the cave, and down to the northern entrance to
Kakariko. There he waited in the small alcove where he'd once killed a gold Skulltulla.
He took a short sleep, as it was about 3:00 in the morning. Zelda wouldn't get to
Kakariko till about 12:00 noon.
As he was about to lay his head down on his arm he looked himself over, his once pure
white fur was getting so dirty that he looked like a tan furred wolf.
"Damn, I'm going to have to get cleaned up. The one thing that the mask won't take
away is this grime…"
* * * *
Meanwhile, Rose had just arrived at the bridge to Hyrule field. She, being less
scrupulous about the kids, had charged through the Kokiri forest, and sent all of the
children screaming.
As she walked past the last few dead trees that marked the edge of the lost woods, she
gasped in amazement from the sight of the wide-open space of Hyrule field.
Rose had lived in the forest all her life, so the largest open space she'd ever seen was the
banquet "Courtyard" between the town and castle where she's taken Link during the
midwinter festival.
"So, this is what Link's home looks like… it's beautiful!" She whispered to herself.
Rose shook her head. "And if I let him wander around here too long, he's going to get
himself killed, or worse… He'll get turned back somehow…" She growled. "I won't let
him be taken from me… I've been alone for too long…"
She clenched her paw, and took off at a fast loping run, following Link's scent.
* * * *
Link had waited in the alcove for the remainder of the night, and half the morning. Now
that the sun was getting to it's zenith in the sky, he knew that Zelda would be arriving in
Kakariko any minute.
Link headed over to the gate to the mountain trail, and waited, the guard was standing
there, stalwart, still as a statue…
Sound asleep.
Link shook his head. "This is the condition of our army for ya' folks… and the reason
why Ganon had such an easy time with his hostile takeover…"
The Guard awoke when he heard a call from the other guard at the entrance to the town.
"ALL HAIL THE CROWN PRINCESS OF HYRULE!" the other guard called out.
The masked guard removed his Keaton mask, pocketed it, and hastened over to the main
gate.
Link went out slowly, leapt and scrabbled a bit to the roof of the Bazaar, and crept
towards the other side of the roof.
He watched Zalda and her two guards walk down past the tree in the center of town, and
when she was about three meters from turning in front of the skultulla house, Link Leapt
from the top of the Bazaar and dashed to about two meters in front of her.
Before he even got there though, the bottle salesman screamed.
"AAAHHH!!! WOLFOS!"
Zelda gasped in shock as she saw him screech to a stop in front of her. The guards
immediately readied their spears.
"Zelda! It's me, Link!" Link said, holding his paws in front of him.
However, this is what Zelda heard.
"BARK! YIP, YIP, HOWWWLLL!"
Zelda stepped between the two guards.
"Princess, let us handle this!" One of the guards said forcefully.
Zelda ignored them, raised her hands, and a mass of bright yellow light formed between
them.
Link's eyes went wide.
"Zelda, No, it's me!" He yelled. But Zelda only heard a long howl.
Zelda released the blast of power, and sent Link flying into the solid rock retaining wall
below the windmill, in fact, he his so hard, a few cracks were sent into the wall.
Link got up stunned. He looked at Zelda, stunned disbelief mixed with pain on his
muzzle. Zelda formed another ball of energy, and fired, missing Link by about a foot.
"Get out of here you cur. Gannon is gone, go back to the wild, before I am forced to kill
you!" She yelled at him.
Link was in shock. He lay there stunned. While the townspeople, who had come out to
see what all the commotion was about gasped in alarm, and grabbed whatever weapon
was at hand, like pitchforks.
Link slowly trotted, four legged toward Zelda, the guards readied their spears again, but
Zelda stopped them with an arm gesture. Link circled wide around them, and Zelda and
the guards watched him intently.
Link stopped momentarily at the gate, turned and looked at Zelda, a tear rolling down
his muzzle, and then went running down the steps to the field. Followed by a pack of
villagers, who continued to chase him until he passed into the lost woods, which the
townsfolk were even more afraid of.
* * * *
Link stopped in the underground cave in the lost woods, where the Deku scrubs would
have once appraised his looks in the masks. There he curled up into a ball of fur in a
back corner and started sobbing.
"Why didn't she believe me? It was as if she didn't hear a word I said, why?" he
sobbed.
"If the person you were talking to was a Hylian, then she wouldn't have." A small high-
pitched voice said from behind him.
Link whirled around in surprise, only to find one of the Deku scrubs standing there,
looking at him with those solid, glowing green eyes.
"What the…?" Link said confused.
"You were crying so loudly and pathetically, that I thought I'd find out what was wrong.
You're lucky, usually none of us get out of our flowers unless there's somebody there for
a showing." The little thing babbled on.
Link snorted in annoyance. "What did you mean when you said 'she wouldn't have'?"
The Deku scrub sat back on his stubby, root legs. "Well, see, you're a Wolfos, or a
pretty close facsimile of one. So you speak in a different language."
"Whoa, wait a minute there. I got cursed and changed into a Wolf man, and I've been
speaking Hylian since then!" Link explained.
"Actually, you haven't." the Deku scrub said flatly.
"What?" Link said really confused.
"It's actually simple. You're mind changed with the rest of you. You think you're
speaking Hylian, but actually, when you talk, the sounds you make are translated
automatically into the Hylian language in your mind. Did you get that?"
"No."
"Well, suffice to say, you're speaking wolf, but you hear Hylian. It's the same as if you
hear another of your kind speaking the tongue. You're speaking it now in fact."
Link was confused again. "Then how can you understand me?"
The Deku scrub shook it's head, making its leaves rustle. "That's a really simple one.
All monsters have their own language, but it translates magically for other monsters. For
example, we Deku scrubs are magical creatures, so we can understand all other ones
perfectly."
Link's questions were almost all answered, except for one.
"Ok then, tell me one other thing. When I do speak, what does it sound like to a
Hylain?" he asked.
The Deku Scrub cleared its vocal chords, spat on the ground, and breathed in deep.
"GRRRR!! BARK BARK! YIP YIP YIP! HOWL!!!" The Deku scrub finished
abruptly.
Link looked at the scrub stunned. "You mean…"
The scrub nodded. "Yup, to them, you just bark, growl and howl. Now if you excuse
me. I have to get back to my flower."
"Wait!"
The scrub sighed, exasperated. "What?"
"What kind of other creatures can understand me?"
The scrub sighed. "That's quite a list, but let's suffice to say, anything but Humans, the
Hylians, the Zora, the Gorons, and the Gerudo, except for Ganondorf, he can speak to us
magic beasts fluently." The scrub said, and hopped back into its flower.
"Well that answered a lot." Link thought.
Chapter 8: An outcast?
Mentally, Link freaked, but his body was frozen. He didn't move a muscle; for fear that
he'd wake Rose.
After a minute or two, it became clear that he'd have to do something or she'd wake up
anyway.
Link carefully rolled her over onto her side. She mumbled something in her sleep, but
otherwise, nothing. Link got out of the bed, walked over to the door carefully, opened it,
and closed it soundlessly behind him. He was about to go downstairs, but the clerk was
probably there. So he instead went out the window at the end of the hall.
Link fell about a story, and landed softly. He found himself in a back ally quite like that
in Hyrule castle town market. He hurried to get out of the place, and as he left, he found
a number of wolves sleeping in small tents pitched in the streets and in the field.
Link headed straight to the bridge, and ran straight into the woods, heading west.
"Ok, that's enough fooling around here, I have got to get back to Hyrule now!"
* * * *
Later that morning, Rose awoke, alone in the room. She looked around frantically for
Link, and started sniffing the ground.
She followed it out the door, and to the window. When she found she could still sniff it
on the windowsill, she went out the inn through the front door to the back and found the
scent below the window. From there she followed it back around to the front, and from
there out of the town and into the woods.
Rose looked off into the west, knowing why he'd ran off.
Another girl was on his mind, no doubt.
"I am not going to just give up on you Link. I wont loose another male like this…" she
thought to herself.
* * * *
It was about a whole month before Link got back to the edge of the lost woods. He
didn't bother heading through the Kokiri forest, as he knew that he'd scare the kids so
badly that they'd wet their pants (not that he'd mind making Mido scream like a little girl
and reduce his status quite a bit, the kid kind of deserved it)
Instead, he weaved his way through the woods and leapt onto the bridge leading to
Hyrule field from the forest floor.
* * * *
It was late night when Link got to Hyrule field. He knew that the drawbridge would be
down at this hour. But still, how in the hell was he going to get inside there now? He still
looked like a wolfos, and it was going to take a lot more than a mask to get him in now.
Link headed to the castle gate, and wondered how on earth he could possibly get to
Zelda, without being attacked by all the guards, because he didn't want to have to kill
them, or be killed by them (which was very unlikely.)
"Ok, no way in hell am I going to get into the castle that way. So how the hell do I get
to Zelda?" Link thought, stroking his whiskers.
"Wait a minute… Zelda goes to visit Impa in Kakariko once in a while, doesn't she?
All I have to do is hide there for a while, and then I can get her to help me… Lets just
hope I can convince her I am Link, she's never seen me as a wolf before…"
* * * *
Zelda was, at the moment, sitting in the castle dining room having tea with Ruto and
Nabooru. The two of them were somewhat competitive suitors to Link, though it was a
friendly competition.
They said it was a social call, but they really wanted to find out where Link had been for
the past few months.
Ruto took a sip of her tea. "So, Zelda, have you seen Link yet? He's been gone for so
long. He left at the start of winter, but spring thaw has already set in!" she said.
Nabooru nodded. "Yes, I'm a bit concerned, did he get involved in another escapade
like with Termina? Because it's getting like he doesn't find enough to do around Hyrule
anymore!" she exclaimed.
Zelda smiled. "You two, Link's fine, I'm sure of it, but, like you said Nabooru, he
probably has gotten himself involved in another quest. But that's the way he is, a hero
like the other ones from the past. It's his nature."
Ruto and Nabooru heaved a long, exasperated sigh.
"Well, whenever he does get back, send him over to our temples, we'd really like to see
him." Ruto told Zelda, and finished off her tea.
* * * *
Link spent the remainder of the day going through the lost woods. He leapt from the
bridge to the Kokiri forest down to the forest floor, climbed the ladder, headed past the
skull kid on the tree trunk (who screamed and ran at the sight of him) and over to the lake
that led to the Zora river for a drink. He lapped the water from the edge till his thirst was
abated, and then headed back to the tunnel to the Goron city.
"I hope they're all asleep by now!" Link thought to himself.
* * * *
Luckily, link found that, although he wasn't quite as silent as a feline, he could get by
the Gorons without waking them. If he was careful not to let his non-retractile claws
click on the ground.
Link quickly headed out the entrance of the cave, and down to the northern entrance to
Kakariko. There he waited in the small alcove where he'd once killed a gold Skulltulla.
He took a short sleep, as it was about 3:00 in the morning. Zelda wouldn't get to
Kakariko till about 12:00 noon.
As he was about to lay his head down on his arm he looked himself over, his once pure
white fur was getting so dirty that he looked like a tan furred wolf.
"Damn, I'm going to have to get cleaned up. The one thing that the mask won't take
away is this grime…"
* * * *
Meanwhile, Rose had just arrived at the bridge to Hyrule field. She, being less
scrupulous about the kids, had charged through the Kokiri forest, and sent all of the
children screaming.
As she walked past the last few dead trees that marked the edge of the lost woods, she
gasped in amazement from the sight of the wide-open space of Hyrule field.
Rose had lived in the forest all her life, so the largest open space she'd ever seen was the
banquet "Courtyard" between the town and castle where she's taken Link during the
midwinter festival.
"So, this is what Link's home looks like… it's beautiful!" She whispered to herself.
Rose shook her head. "And if I let him wander around here too long, he's going to get
himself killed, or worse… He'll get turned back somehow…" She growled. "I won't let
him be taken from me… I've been alone for too long…"
She clenched her paw, and took off at a fast loping run, following Link's scent.
* * * *
Link had waited in the alcove for the remainder of the night, and half the morning. Now
that the sun was getting to it's zenith in the sky, he knew that Zelda would be arriving in
Kakariko any minute.
Link headed over to the gate to the mountain trail, and waited, the guard was standing
there, stalwart, still as a statue…
Sound asleep.
Link shook his head. "This is the condition of our army for ya' folks… and the reason
why Ganon had such an easy time with his hostile takeover…"
The Guard awoke when he heard a call from the other guard at the entrance to the town.
"ALL HAIL THE CROWN PRINCESS OF HYRULE!" the other guard called out.
The masked guard removed his Keaton mask, pocketed it, and hastened over to the main
gate.
Link went out slowly, leapt and scrabbled a bit to the roof of the Bazaar, and crept
towards the other side of the roof.
He watched Zalda and her two guards walk down past the tree in the center of town, and
when she was about three meters from turning in front of the skultulla house, Link Leapt
from the top of the Bazaar and dashed to about two meters in front of her.
Before he even got there though, the bottle salesman screamed.
"AAAHHH!!! WOLFOS!"
Zelda gasped in shock as she saw him screech to a stop in front of her. The guards
immediately readied their spears.
"Zelda! It's me, Link!" Link said, holding his paws in front of him.
However, this is what Zelda heard.
"BARK! YIP, YIP, HOWWWLLL!"
Zelda stepped between the two guards.
"Princess, let us handle this!" One of the guards said forcefully.
Zelda ignored them, raised her hands, and a mass of bright yellow light formed between
them.
Link's eyes went wide.
"Zelda, No, it's me!" He yelled. But Zelda only heard a long howl.
Zelda released the blast of power, and sent Link flying into the solid rock retaining wall
below the windmill, in fact, he his so hard, a few cracks were sent into the wall.
Link got up stunned. He looked at Zelda, stunned disbelief mixed with pain on his
muzzle. Zelda formed another ball of energy, and fired, missing Link by about a foot.
"Get out of here you cur. Gannon is gone, go back to the wild, before I am forced to kill
you!" She yelled at him.
Link was in shock. He lay there stunned. While the townspeople, who had come out to
see what all the commotion was about gasped in alarm, and grabbed whatever weapon
was at hand, like pitchforks.
Link slowly trotted, four legged toward Zelda, the guards readied their spears again, but
Zelda stopped them with an arm gesture. Link circled wide around them, and Zelda and
the guards watched him intently.
Link stopped momentarily at the gate, turned and looked at Zelda, a tear rolling down
his muzzle, and then went running down the steps to the field. Followed by a pack of
villagers, who continued to chase him until he passed into the lost woods, which the
townsfolk were even more afraid of.
* * * *
Link stopped in the underground cave in the lost woods, where the Deku scrubs would
have once appraised his looks in the masks. There he curled up into a ball of fur in a
back corner and started sobbing.
"Why didn't she believe me? It was as if she didn't hear a word I said, why?" he
sobbed.
"If the person you were talking to was a Hylian, then she wouldn't have." A small high-
pitched voice said from behind him.
Link whirled around in surprise, only to find one of the Deku scrubs standing there,
looking at him with those solid, glowing green eyes.
"What the…?" Link said confused.
"You were crying so loudly and pathetically, that I thought I'd find out what was wrong.
You're lucky, usually none of us get out of our flowers unless there's somebody there for
a showing." The little thing babbled on.
Link snorted in annoyance. "What did you mean when you said 'she wouldn't have'?"
The Deku scrub sat back on his stubby, root legs. "Well, see, you're a Wolfos, or a
pretty close facsimile of one. So you speak in a different language."
"Whoa, wait a minute there. I got cursed and changed into a Wolf man, and I've been
speaking Hylian since then!" Link explained.
"Actually, you haven't." the Deku scrub said flatly.
"What?" Link said really confused.
"It's actually simple. You're mind changed with the rest of you. You think you're
speaking Hylian, but actually, when you talk, the sounds you make are translated
automatically into the Hylian language in your mind. Did you get that?"
"No."
"Well, suffice to say, you're speaking wolf, but you hear Hylian. It's the same as if you
hear another of your kind speaking the tongue. You're speaking it now in fact."
Link was confused again. "Then how can you understand me?"
The Deku scrub shook it's head, making its leaves rustle. "That's a really simple one.
All monsters have their own language, but it translates magically for other monsters. For
example, we Deku scrubs are magical creatures, so we can understand all other ones
perfectly."
Link's questions were almost all answered, except for one.
"Ok then, tell me one other thing. When I do speak, what does it sound like to a
Hylain?" he asked.
The Deku Scrub cleared its vocal chords, spat on the ground, and breathed in deep.
"GRRRR!! BARK BARK! YIP YIP YIP! HOWL!!!" The Deku scrub finished
abruptly.
Link looked at the scrub stunned. "You mean…"
The scrub nodded. "Yup, to them, you just bark, growl and howl. Now if you excuse
me. I have to get back to my flower."
"Wait!"
The scrub sighed, exasperated. "What?"
"What kind of other creatures can understand me?"
The scrub sighed. "That's quite a list, but let's suffice to say, anything but Humans, the
Hylians, the Zora, the Gorons, and the Gerudo, except for Ganondorf, he can speak to us
magic beasts fluently." The scrub said, and hopped back into its flower.
"Well that answered a lot." Link thought.