A few dry and hot days passed slowly without much incident, but when Dorobis and his men returned from their trading journey into town, Artos saw that they led a black and wild-eyed mustang behind the last man in line, and he knew immediately that he had a problem on his hands. The four men on horseback passed by the stables on the trail, heading towards the large pasture that lay behind the house up ahead. Artos followed them on foot after taking an unused bit and bridle from the stables. Dorobis always took his new horses to the pasture and did them the same way; having Artos tack them up and ride them around the field a few times to see how they handled. As the lot of them passed by the house, Ima stood in the open doorway of her dwelling, her silver hair spilling over her shoulders. She gave Artos a knowing look, then disappeared back into the dark room.

Artos was not sure why Ima had looked at him that way, but when he turned straight again and looked at the back of the horse in front of him, he knew. The black stallion kept stopping and resisting at the pressure on its harness, and it stamped on the ground with nearly all of its muscles twitching. It was now very obvious that this horse was wild, and it unnerved Artos.

They all passed through the small backyard and down the trail over the hill, and after awhile of prompting the wild mustang to keep walking, reached the wide space of flat ground in front of the gate of the fence that surrounded the entire pasture. Dorobis dismounted his white horse, the one Link had just shoed a few days before, and swung open the gate.

"Artos?" he said over his shoulder.

"Yes, sir?" Artos stepped forward and lay a hand on Dorobis' horse's shoulder.

Dorobis nodded to his horse as two of his men saluted and continued on past the field. "You need to take Aquilus back to stable and tend to his wounds."

Artos was confused. "Wounds, sir? What happened?"

Dorobis jabbed a thumb in the direction of the black mustang. "That horse I traded for is wild, and it took to biting Aquilus before I had to have them separated."

Artos looked down at the white horse's flank, which clearly had been bitten by another horse and was bleeding quite heavily. He flinched at there mere sight of the redness on the white hair. "Out of all due respect, sir... but why did you trade for an untamed horse?"

Dorobis took the mustang's reins and waved his last man away, who left. "I suppose that's my business, Artos. Now give me that bridle you've brought."

Artos handed over the heavy bridle, still confused. Dorobis forced the wild and jumpy horse in through the gate and let go of the reins. The horse jumped suddenly and tore off across the pasture at full gallop, jumped over the deep pond, and did not stop until it reached the fence clear on the other side of the field. Dorobis stepped into the pasture and closed the gate behind him, pulling his horse-whip from his belt and giving it a tight snap.

"Sir," Artos said, "isn't it that you always have me break your wild horses?"

"I have only gotten one wild horse for you to break, until now," Dorobis replied, not even bothering to face the young man. "I must say that you did quite a good job, but this horse needs to be broken by the one who will ride it."

Artos knew of the danger of breaking a wild horse, but he dared not argue with his master on the subject. But he decided to protest softly just one more time. "Sir, forgive me for saying so, but I don't think it's very safe for you to be breaking the horse yourself."

Despite the softness in Artos' voice, Dorobis yelled with anger. "Artos, did I ask you what you thought on the matter? Now why have you not taken my horse to the stable like I told you to?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Artos said quickly, took Aquilus' reins, and led him back up the trail towards the stable.

When he was gone, Dorobis started across the pasture towards the wild and stamping horse, whip in hand. When he got close, he started talking. "All right, you. I'll have to use force if you don't shape up quickly," he said, as if the horse could understand his every word. Dorobis faced a difficult task of removing the horse's harness and applying the bridle, and worst of all, the bit. The horse stood beside the fence, it's large eyes focused on the man who was slowly approaching. After Dorobis took another step forward, the horse whirled to its left and cantered across the field.

Dorobis cursed under his breath and ran a hand through his somewhat greying hair. Someone at the gate of the pasture caught his attention, and he looked up to his Matayo leaning on a fence post, staring down at his father.

"Don't you want help?" Matayo called out.

"No," Dorobis called back flatly. He started back towards the horse, which had came to a twitching stop in the middle of the field. It eyed the whip in Dorobis' hand, even from the distance it was at, and sidestepped away as the man got closer. He attempted a soft and reassuring voice, but he was too used to yelling and barking out orders, so his attempt came out more guttural than soothing. He was good with broken horses, but not wild and untamed mustangs.

The horse allowed Dorobis fairly close, but when the man reached out a hand towards the harness, shied away again and ran towards the gate. Dorobis exploded in curses and snapped the whip in his hands in anger. As he walked towards the gate, started asking more questions.

"Where's Artos?"

"Off in the stables following orders," Dorobis barked. "Do you think I would be out here doing this myself out of no choice? Don't you know that a horse needs to be broken by its master?"

Matayo's gaze fell on the shining black stallion. "It's a beautiful horse."

"Yes, and he will be my hunting mount," Dorobis said shortly. He suddenly glared at his son. "Why aren't you in the house with your tutor?"

"It's late afternoon, Father," Matayo replied. "The tutor is with Jennan now."

Dorobis ignored the reply and started off back towards the horse, seething with annoyance, which showed with every step. He made sure to approach the horse from the side, and when he got close, slowed down his pace and reached out his hand to the quivering flank. So far, things were looking good. Dorobis' fingers brushed the horse's side gently, and nothing happened. Cautiously, he ran his hand slowly up towards the stallion's neck, and when he got to the front shoulder, the horse suddenly whirled around struck out with its hooves savagely. Dorobis was unlucky to take the powerful kick right to the ribs, and he was unsure of what had happened until he wound up on the ground a few feet away.

Matayo quickly jumped over the fence and ran across the field, scaring off the horse on the way, and dropped to his knees beside Dorobis, a hand shaking the man's shoulder. "Father, are you all right?"

Dorobis coughed and sat up halfway, then clutched his ribs and laid back slowly. He cursed the horse quietly. "I guess that's what I get for trying to break a horse myself. Artos was actually right." He coughed again. "Help me up, Matayo."

"Are you sure you can walk?" Matayo said with concern, standing up and grasping his father's hand.

"Of course I can walk," Dorobis said through his teeth, trying to shut out the pain, and failing. "It's just a few fractured ribs, is all." He used his son's hand and arm to pull himself up, and once standing, realized that it would be harder to walk than he had thought. But he had pride, and he put an arm around Matayo's shoulder and tried to walk erect.

"Father, you're going to hurt yourself even more," Matayo said. "Hopefully Ima can do something for you."

"Ima has treated many a broken bone in her life," Dorobis panted over the pain. He could not help but double over a little, and put more weight across his son's shoulders. "Just getting me back to my dwelling afterwards is going to be the hard part. It's not like I can just mount a horse easily now."

Matayo managed to open the gate with one hand and swing it shut behind him on the top of his boot. "It'll take awhile for it to heal. Remember when I broke my wrist a few years ago?"

Dorobis groaned with pain and nodded. "I still need that horse broken. I am determined to have him as my hunting mount. But wild as it is, I'm not so sure if Artos can do any better than I did."

Matayo panted as he hauled his father up the hill and to Ima's door. "Link's a wrangler," he said. "Used to horses. Have him do it."

"Oh be quiet, Matayo," Dorobis snapped. "I'm not going to have that boy breaking my horses. There's no telling what he'll do to them."

Matayo shook his head at his father's stubborness and looked into the open door of Ima's dwelling. "Ima?" he said.

Ima quickly came to the door and gasped. "Master," she said, waving the two of them inside. Matayo helped his father sit on the edge of Ima's bed, then stood back against the wall and massaged his own shoulder.

"That new horse of mine," Dorobis said, before Ima could ask. "I think I have a few cracked ribs; that's all."

As Ima started peeling the layers of leather and cloth off of Dorobis, the latter started grumbling again about who he was going to get to break the horse now, furious that he was unable to do it himself now.

"Link," Matayo said again, as if his father had not heard him the first time. Ima paused her work and looked up at the young man is if to say, "Good idea", but Dorobis just growled.

"Can you not think of anything better to suggest?" he snapped at his son.

"I'm not the best with horses, Father, and you already said that you don't think Artos can do it." Matayo crossed his arms. "Link's a wrangler," he repeated.

Dorobis was silent for a few moments while Ima wrapped his ribs in a tight bandage. Finally, he said, "Can he break a horse?"

Matayo pushed himself from the wall. "I guess we'll find out."

-O-

Link was in the stable these days more often than not, and today he had the task of grooming each horse. Every stall was occupied today, for the pasture was needed for Dorobis' new horse. Link only knew this becaue he had overheard Memnet and Ima talking about it earlier in the day, and though he was interested, acted as if it was none of his business. Now he had finally gotten down to grooming Epona, and she had seemed to perk up as soon as Link stepped into her stall. He made sure to brush her thoroughly, for he had not had a lot of time with her lately, but now was a good time to make up for it.

As Epona got good and relaxed, Link found his thoughts drifting around to the hug Jennan had given him a few days ago. He was very thankful that she had given him back his sword, which he had hidden in a large slat in a rock near the creek. No one seemed to know that it was missing, save for he and Jennan, and he still put off escaping until he somehow recovered his shield. But mostly he was thinking about Jennan than anything else. She had done all she could to thank him for saving her that night in the woods, but he did not think he needed thanks, though the hug was nice. Link could count on one hand the times he had been hugged in his life, which were not many, but something about the way Jennan embraced him had made his heart flutter. He did not usually feel that way around girls, but for some reason Jennan was special. It was not just her physical beauty that attracted him to her, but there was something else that he had just not figured out yet.

Link suddenly had a conflicting thought; more of a memory, actually. He and Princess Zelda had hugged once... before she had left. After he had asked her not to go, after she had kissed him good-bye. She had told him that she was not choosing to go, but that she had to. He had not understood at the time, and he could not say that he exactly did now.

Link quickly banished the thought from his mind, so he could not think too much. He did that sometimes; he would be working or traveling, and then get to thinking so hard that he forgot his surroundings or what he was doing. Better that he did not get into that state of mind again.

He distracted himself by talking to Epona in Hylian. She seemed to respond to the language more than she did English, so he usually spoke to her that way. Some people he met, or even people at home, seemed surprised that he was so fluent in both languages, but he had learned English from the start, right along with Hylian. And he was glad for that; it served a good purpose these days.

Link was startled by the sound of heavy footsteps coming into the door of the stable, and he quickly stopped his grooming and whirled to see who was entering. He felt a slight relief to see that it was just Matayo. He still did not trust the boy fully, but Matayo had never done anything wrong to him, so Link trusted him much more than Henry.

"Hello," Matayo said, and Link nodded silently at him. Matayo took a few more slow steps forward, his hands behind his back, and looked around the stable as if he was absentminded, but Link could tell that he had something on his mind. "Did you hear what happened to my father?"

Link ran his hands over Epona's brown neck and shook his head.

"That new stallion of his kicked him in the ribs. Ima said a few of them are broken. That horse is nearly all wild, and my father made the mistake of trying to break him himself."

Link was silent as Matayo laid a relaxed hand on the door of Epona's stall. What should Link care if Dorobis got a few broken ribs? Better the horse getting to him than Link himself, he figured.

"I know that doesn't hurt you any," Matayo said with a laugh, "but my father doubts that Artos can break the horse either."

After a few moments of silence, Link felt like saying, "If you want me to try and break the horse, you could just ask me, you know", but he would not say that to the master's son and he did not feel like putting that many words into a sentence. So he just said dully, "I'll break the horse for him."

"You sure you can do it?" Matayo asked, cocking a dark eyebrow.

Link sighed. He would not say he would do it if he was not sure he could. "I don't promise anything in record time. But yes, I can do it."

"Good, then," Matayo said with a smile. He was good-looking like Jennan, except he had a manly-shaped face and thicker eyebrows, as well as a very small beard that only complimented his face, if anything. Not that Link noticed all this in great detail; just that he looked like Jennan.

"When should I start?" Link asked.

"As soon as possible, I would say. My father couldn't even get near the horse, but I thought that since you were a wrangler and all, you might be able to do better."

Link wanted to demand to know how these people knew all of these things about him without his telling, but he held his tongue and nodded.

Matayo turned towards the door, then stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "If it helps the breaking any, the horse's name is Night Rider."

Link nodded again, and Matayo left the stable.

Link finished up with his grooming on Epona, and it seemed as if she tried to stop him from leaving as he stepped out of the stall. He patted her velvet muzzle sympathetically and told her in Hylian that he had to go to work. He had just bathed in the creek up in the woods the night before; Ima had given him some goat's milk soap, and Artos had given him a razor, but Link figured that he would have to go to the creek again tonight. Horse breaking could get dirty.

-O-

An hour or so before dusk, Memnet sat just outside of the front door in a wooden chair, sewing up a tear in one of Matayo's work shirts that he could not fix himself. She grumbled to herself that men were helpless as she worked, and she was jabbing the needle so hard that she accidentally poked her own finger.

"Ohh," she moaned, and sat down the shirt to look at her finger. A small spot of blood rose to surface of the skin, and she dabbed it off with her other hand. She picked up her work again and did not even get a chance to continue sewing again. The red-haired Minhan rushed by the house on the trail, pausing only for a short time beside the porch.

"Miss Memnet, you are not going to believe what just happened," he panted, then rushed on towards Dorobis' dwelling.

"Oh, what now?" Memnet snapped to herself. There seemed to be no end to the strange and surprising things that went on around here. She threw her sewing to the side again and stood up from her chair. The sound of weeds and sticks rustling and crunching came from the other side of the house where there was close woods and no trail, and three figures came around the corner.

Memnet saw Henry first, then looked lower and saw a huge white hound beside someone's legs. It stared at her with dark and narrow eyes, as if it was wary of what harm was going to come its way. It was so large that it leaned its head on the person's thigh beside it. She heard a deep growl from the dog, so Memnet tore her eyes away and looked to the left at the person, starting with knee-high brown boots that buckled up to the upper-shin, then on to tight, burlap colored pants, up to a thick leather belt that was slanted to the right on the waist with a dagger stuck inside, up over the nicely-abbed and tanned stomach, war-painted chest, and up to the hard and defiant face of a boy with dark, thick hair that hung in his eyes. But there was a distinct characteristic of the boy that caught Memnet off guard; his ears. And she had thought Link's ears were strange! This boy literally had the erect ears of a wolf that stuck out of his thick hair, not human ears; it was no jest. He had a thick metal collar clasped around his neck, and Memnet realized the deep growl was not coming from the dog- it was coming from him.

"And I thought the strangeness ended with the elf-boy!" Henry cried out, and the boy beside him deepened his growl.

Memnet was so startled at what she was seeing that she did not know what to say. The war paint on the boy's chest was there as well under his left eye, a light blue in color and in strange shapes and designs. His wrists were together in front of him, bound in a thick knot of chains, and Henry's hand was tight on the back of his neck. Memnet was more in awe than shock or fear. And the growl the boy was emitting was deeper and more savage than any dog Memnet had ever heard. His blue eyes were narrowed behind the dark brown bangs, and his mouth was open in a snarl- and to complete his wolf-like features, though mist of his teeth looked human, all four of the canine teeth were long and sharp.

Memnet met Henry's eyes, her expression filled with confusion. She wanted to ask questions, but did not know where to begin.

"We found him in the woods," Henry said, holding up his free arm and nodding to it purposefully. Memnet only now noticed that he was cut up and bleeding. "The boy bites like a dog, Memnet! He's got jaws just as strong as any hound I've ever seen." Henry motioned at his own torn clothes and shook his head. "I would have almost just as well dragged down a mountain cat!"

Memnet placed a hand on her hip. "Then why didn't you just leave him where you found him?"

"Well, I saw the white dog first and was alarmed," Henry said, nodding down at the large hound that was still leaning against the dog-boy's thigh. "That was until I saw the boy. Minhan and I were quite surprised."

"You didn't answer my question."

Henry looked confused, as if he had not even thought of the reason why he had captured the strange boy. "Well, you never know. He could serve some purpose."

"You're going to show my father, aren't you?"

"Well of course I am. Dorobis needs to see, doesn't he?"

Mement descended the steps slowly. "No, he doesn't. So why don't you just take this boy back where you found him and leave him alone?"

"I'm sorry, but I must show Dorobis." Henry reached for the metal collar around the boy's neck, and there was a sudden quick movement, a short and savage growl, the flash of fangs, and Henry took a step backwards and held onto his now bleeding hand, howling a stream of curses.

Memnet cringed at the foul language, but she couldn't help but smile a little at the fact that Henry had got bitten. The dog-boy cautiously kept his eyes on Henry, who was still clutching his bleeding fingers and finally stopped cursing. "Minhan!" Henry called out furiously. There was no reply, save for Memnet's small laugh.

"Just let him go, Henry," Memnet said, a hint of humor in her voice. "If you don't, he'll just bite you again." Memnet stood as close as she dared to the boy and the dog. "Does he speak?"

"I don't know," Henry snapped, examining his hand. He looked up at Memnet and quickly added, "Miss."

Memnet ignored him and looked closely at the boy. "Maybe he doesn't understand English."

"Maybe he just doesn't speak at all," Henry said. He thrust his wounded hand towards Memnet and said, "Isn't there anything you can do for this?"

Memnet glanced at it, then back to the boy. "Take it to Ima."

Henry scoffed offendedly, then turned his glaring gaze to the dog-boy. "I ought to have you whipped for biting me."

Memnet was about to argue, but someone called out, "Rhashidi!"

The boy immediately ceased his growling and perked up his silver-haired ears. Memnet looked up towards the trail and saw Link approaching from the direction of the pasture. She crossed her arms and looked at Henry with an eyebrow raised.

Henry's voice got snappy when Link appeared. "You know this boy?"

"Yes," Link replied, and went as far as to shove Henry back. "Get off him. His name's Rhashidi, and he's my friend." Link grasped the chains on the boy's wrists and pried them off, then shoved them into Henry's hands with a glare. Then he looked down and noticed the white hound, who had gotten excited with Link's arrival. He bent down and fondled the dog's ears. "Gelert!"

Henry sighed and said with sarcasm, "So I guess this is your dog, too?"

Link ignored the attitude in the question and nodded. "Yes." He stood up and looked Rhashidi over. "So how did you come about my friend and my dog?"

Memnet spoke up. "Henry found them together in the woods. And I suppose he and Minhan dragged them down, because Henry seems to have a strange habit of doing that to people."

Link smirked as Henry stammered for a protest and failed. "I don't see how the two of you got all the way out here," Link said to Rhashidi, who did not answer.

"I'm going to see if Dorobis has any use for the boy," Henry said, with a defiant toss of his head. Link glared at him.

"Leave him alone, Henry," he warned.

"What will you do if I don't?" Henry challenged, and Memnet thought he was a fool to be flirting with danger like this. Link had already beaten him into the dirt once; he probably would not hesitate to do it again.

Link was quiet for a second, then crossed his arms over his chest and nodded at the rips and tears in Hnery's arms. "Rhashidi can take care of himself."

Rhashidi looked at Henry and snarled on cue, and Henry looked away, then turned his anger upon Link. "You had better get away from the house, if you know what's good for you."

Link looked at Memnet, and uncrossed his arms. "Why?"

"My father doesn't like slaves near the house, but it's okay right now because Father can't leave his dwelling just yet," Memnet replied. "But I wouldn't let Father see you up here if you can help it."

Link looked confused, but just shrugged. "Well, I need to get back to the pasture." He nodded once at Memnet and waved Rhashidi to follow him, who did with Gelert at his side.

-O-

Jennan leaned on the fence and overlooked the pasture field the next morning, intrigued at how Link handled Dorobis' wild horse Night Rider. The black stallion would already stand still and allow Link to run his hands over its head and neck, which was a lot more than Dorobis accomplished. Jennan looked on admiringly as Link stroked the horse's muzzle. She did not think Link knew she was there, he was concentrating so hard on the horse.

She had watched Artos and her father break horses before, but she had never seen anyone do it the way Link was doing it now. It usually took weeks before either of them could touch the horses they were breaking, but one day and Link already had that done. Pretty soon he would have Night Rider tacked up and mounted.

Jennan wanted to call out that Link was doing a good job, but she did not want to make him nervous with her presence, so she remained silent as she watched. He must have a good touch with horses, she thought, no matter how wild or untamed. She was impressed.

Down in the field, it looked like Link was feeding the horse sugar cubes, or something of the sort. Night Rider stretched his neck as far as it would go in caution, but at least he was not kicking or shying away. Jennan shifted her weight on the fence post and sighed. She could sit here for hours and just watch Link work.

She had certainly meant what she had said to Link in the stable; she would free him from this slavery eventually, if he had not done it himself. He did not deserve to be slave to her father, or to anyone for that matter. He had potential, and she was sure he had better things to do with his life than work for some strange man. Besides, he had saved her life and she wanted to return the favor. She may not ever physically rescue him, but she would make up for it in other ways, and freeing him was the next thing on her list. Of course, there was another reason she wanted the best for him. And though she would not admit it, Memnet was right.

Jennan was sweet on Link.

-O-

Ok, here is something to look at if anyone is having trouble with pronouncing names.

Rhashidi:Ruh-she-dee Minhan:Min-hon (short O) Dorobis:Dur-oh-biss Memnet:Mim-net Jennan:Jinn-un Artos:Are-toss (long O)

Aquilus:Uh-quill-us Ima:Eye-muh Matayo:Muh-tay-oh Gelert:Guh-lurt

Now review, please. I mostly like posotive reviews, but even if you've read the story and think it sucks, I accept flames. Mwahahaha!