Chapter Three

The morning sun once again did its merciless toll. Groaning and tossing onto his side, Link opened his eyes and found himself staring at a familiar wardrobe. Back in his room. He checked his palms to see if there was any blood, and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't find a trace.

"Good morning young sir, I brought you some…oh goddesses!" The maid hadn't suspected anything when she entered the room; it was of course part of her job to enter without anyone's permission. She dropped the tray of food at her feet. Link looked around himself and found that he was buck-naked; the messy bed sheets were hanging off the end of the bed. "If only I had known…I'm so sorry."

"I should be the one apologising," Link said, rising and grabbing a robe, quickly wrapping it around him. The maid put her hands on her cheeks, her face turning red. Link snickered, he knew that she envied him; her scent wasn't that hard to tell by.

"Do you do this often?" she whispered, and shut up quickly when she realised what she had just asked. "I'm stupid, I'll get back to my job." Link walked out while the maid cleaned up the mess and headed for the showers. He let the robe fall on the cold floor and stepped into the open bath, letting the water flow. He leant his head back slightly as the icy water ran down his face and body. Strange, the showers always used to calm him down, but now he felt nothing.

"Even the damn water fails me!" he growled, slamming a fist into the stonewall. He hated it, hated the fact that he loved the power of the beast yet regretted when he killed. But…he 'liked' the taste of Hylian flesh, 'liked' the smell of fear coming off his prey. Shaking his head he stepped out and walked over to the mirror. For once he was appalled by his image. His eyes held that look of a predator, reflected off light like one. There was intensity in them that scared him.

After getting dressed, Link realised how hungry he was. Of course he had refrained from killing innocent bystanders, and he had failed to catch anything else. He was terribly famished, and normal food offered little nutrition. He had to find a supplement.

"Ah Link, what can I do for you?" Harn the chef asked. Link looked around the kitchen, his eyes resting on raw steak.

"Give me the rarest meat you can get me," he said. The chef laughed.

"You know I can't give you that. There's a certain limit to which the meat must be cooked to," the man explained. "If not, it's dripping with blood."

"I can handle it," the boy replied. The chef was silent for a moment before laughing.

"Whatever you say," he chuckled, "If you drop dead, neh, its not my problem." Link watched as the man chopped the meat into slices, grilled it approximately for twenty-seconds and smacked it down on a plate.

"Here you go you freaking animal," the chef laughed good-naturedly. The boy sat down on the floor, took the meat in his hands and ate as if he hadn't eaten for a while. The blood, the tender meat, it reminded him of the night hunts. The more he thought the more he ached. Why couldn't he keep his eyes off the chef?

            Xanath sat in the garden, the fabric in his hands. How did it get here? All the murders had taken place in Kakariko Village, so how was it possible that it got all the way to castle's boundaries? Unless, unless the murderer was right here within the castle. But who? Who possibly could it be? He had suspected Link from the start because of his worrying behaviour. If Link went out killing people for no reason then they would have to put him away, permanently. Yet, the nature of the attacks cancelled him out. The victims had torn out throats, slashed abdomens, and partially eaten body parts. An animal nonetheless. Still, Link and these deaths, they were related somehow…he just had that gut feeling. Xanath let out a long breath.

"Bah. The only chances I stand to have is if I do a night watch," he said to himself. "Then the culprit will be revealed."

            "I can't believe how quickly these people have settled down," Princess Zelda commented. "Its really nice to see them this way, keeping in mind they have already gone through a lot." Paer, a gaunt fellow who was her advisor, gave a cold smile.

"Yes, you have done well to them. They'll be ever in you debt," he said.

"I know, but its all for their benefit, not for my personal gain. They stay here until we get Kakariko Village newer and safer than before," Zelda explained. As they continued talking a woman cradling a child in her arms came running up to them, screaming and crying. Two soldiers kept her at bay before she got too close to Princess Zelda and Paer.

"Please, you must help my daughter," the woman wailed.

"Let her pass men. She means no harm," Zelda ordered the two guards. The woman ran up to her, the child in her arms seemed injured.

"What happened to her?" Zelda asked, her soft hands running over the child's face.

"She was attacked some time ago, the day before yesterday, by a wolf monster," the woman explained, panicked. "She was doing fine but now she's lapsing into unconsciousness. The lost of blood is too much for her to handle. Please help her."

"Paer, take her to the medical room," the princess handed the girl to the advisor. Once he was gone she turned to the woman, "so, are you saying it was a wolf monster attacking these people? Could it not be a mere wolfos?"

"No. Wolfos run on their knuckles, this one ran on its paws like a dog," the woman explained. "It was so large and intelligent, just thinking about it gives me the creeps."

"So this must belong to your daughter then," Xanath approached, holding up the bloody fabric. The woman winced at the sight of it.

"That belongs to her alright. Her dress was torn to shreds. Where did you find it?" she asked.

"Within the castle boundaries, yesterday morning," he replied. Zelda looked suspicious.

"But how did it get all the way over here?" she queried. Xanath shrugged.

"That was what I was worrying about. We got these people here yesterday around noon, and I found this prior to that," he said.

"That means the killer must be in the castle!" the woman shouted, horrified. "Princess! Why would you do such a thing? Why would you only draw us closer to the danger?"

"I had no idea," Zelda worried. "It's not that I'm learning of this. But don't say a word to anyone. We can't afford to frighten the people even more." During that time, a man had meekly come to them.

"I—I saw something last night," he whispered. The trio turned to look at him. "I saw that awful monster when I was walking around."

"Really?!" Xanath cried, shocked. "Did it do anything?"

"No. It was crouched down and it spoke to me…it told me 'get away'," he answered. "It can talk, well kind of. It seemed to be struggling to keep itself from attacking." Princess Zelda shook her head sombrely.

"It seems to be a much closer threat than I thought. Tonight, I'll order the men to be on their highest alert," she told them. "That way, we might be able to capture this thing before it claims another life."