A/N: One chapter to go after this, the ending may seem a tad, 'bleh' but all will be explained in full in the epilogue
Chapter two: Instinct
Blue eyes watched the flickering embers cast out by the campfire drift lazily through the cold night air. Though short lived, they flared brilliantly as they caught the breeze, right up until they hit the ground and faded without protest.
Technically speaking, it was bad form for a watchman to stare into his fire, as it was common knowledge that doing such a thing would rapidly destroy one's night vision. Then again, most people didn't have eyes like his.
Squatting next to the warmth the fire provided, Link ran the sharpening stone along the edge of his blade once more, the grating whisper and familiar action comforting.
Unlike the Master Sword, the one he currently held, with its plain cross-guard, sturdy blade, and leather bound pommel, needed constant upkeep and training to use efficiently, and link was aware that every fraction of a slither of a gram in steel he shaved off would effect his strokes in a way to few swordsmen ever considered.
Russel had taught him well.
Raising the sword up to the light, he blew gently over its surface, clearing away the shavings and running one eye over the edge looking for the sharp glint of new metal before bothering to test it with a leaf.
Razor edged and waiting to strike, not a bad comparison to its owner.
Setting the sword down just within easy reach Link let his sense probe out into the darkened woodland around him, detecting nothing out of place with either his eyes as the adjusted rapidly to the gloom outside of the firelight, or with his ears. Just the usual array of nocturnal noises; no padded footfalls or slobbering breath to disturb the peace.
To his right, somewhere just out of range of the fires glow, was the trap, a large steel contraption shaped like the metal maw of some cunning predator, a fresh hunk of meat draped around the catch mechanism that would set the device off if one tried to remove the bait without releasing the catch first.
Operating under the assumption that this creature would avoid the fires, Bo had placed himself, Russel and Link around the perimeter of the ranch, each man armed just in case, and several of the traps Bo had setup placed around the spaces between the watch-points.
In theory, the beast would either shy from the bright lights, seeming a night time predator, and thus be caught in one of the steel-toothed devices that lurked in the underbrush.
And if it attempted to break through the watch-points instead, it would come face to face with men trained and experienced in fighting.
Link frowned distastefully in the direction of the traps, brooding features darkening over with some unnamed emotion.
Even though he'd helped to set some of those traps, he still felt that something about this whole thing was off, the same sense of discomfort that had plagued him earlier that day back in force, and the hours in between hadn't yielded a solution to it.
Frustrations gushing out in one long breath, the sandy-haired boy tugged absently at the gauntlets he'd donned for the first time in months, the red dyed leather out of place with his farmers attire, but he felt more comfortable using a sword while wearing them.
Minutes seemed to drag on like hours and still the forest was quiet and peaceful and Link took to pacing the fire irritably.
Were they wasting their time? Was that what his feelings of misgiving had been about?
Link sneeze violently, backing away from the fire as a plumb of smoke wafted into his face, shaking his head to clear it… but the sensation didn't vanish.
The itching at the back of his nose, the tickle already building in his throat remained steadfast and as he moved swiftly around the fire to his weapon, booted foot scooping under the blade and a flex of muscle kicking it into the air where its pommel met his waiting hand.
Settling low, his sword extended diagonally across his body, rising from pommel to tip and his free hand held back from his body for counterbalance, the warrior could feel the eyes on him once more.
Yellow eyes that saw him in the darkness just as clearly as the light of day and would have even without the fire silhouetting his form.
Link's eyes once more quested through the gloom, his ears pricked, waiting for any sign of four legs making a path through the woods.
His pulse raced and beat in his ears, but he felt calm, detached from the sensation, just waiting for that one sound…
It came, but not as the snarl in the darkness, the crack of a twig under claw, or the near silent thump of something coiled leaping, but as the clear ringing of metal on metal and a spring released from its duties.
The traps.
Taking off into the undergrowth, he moved on impulse, ducking and pivoting around dangling indistinct in the lack of light, and leaping fallen logs seconds before crashing into them as he raced toward his quarry.
The sound of the trap had been close, it shouldn't have taken lng to reach it but it felt like an eternity.
Breaking through the final barrier of tall grass, Link came out at the edge of the small clearing that held the device he was sure had been triggered, and indeed, as the moonlight filtered in through the foliage overhead, he could see the trap, it's teeth clenched around empty air.
At first he wondered if the aged contraption had simply gone of accidentally, but after crouch to examine it, he could make out the absence of the bait.
Something had triggered this trap, but had been smart enough or fast enough to escape being caught.
That was not the part that disturbed him however. The part that worried him was that he felt relieved that the creature had not been caught like this, though he could not explain why.
A heavy, clumsy crashing somewhere ahead told him that Bo had heard the trap go off also and was wading his heavy bulk through the dense woodland with all the limited grace it could muster to investigate.
Link shook his head. With all that noise this beast would be long…
Slowly it dawned on him. The feeling of being watched that he'd felt back by the fire, it had never faded, he'd simply been caught up in the moment and stopped taking notice of it.
Staying as still as possible, he rotated his head slowly right, then left an number of times before he caught it.
Moonlight glinting off eyes too rich to be yellow, better described as amber and glistening along the fatty deposits in the prize it carried, the shaggy, hunched form of the beast stared back from the shadows, a low growl parting its lips, fangs yellowed but large seeming to appear beneath the eyes that hovered in the darkness.
Link didn't move, barely breathed as he continued to lock gazes with the creature that had been killing the village's livestock.
An exchange seemed to take place, a clash of wills that had nothing to do with the physical world as solid amber met crystal blue, and though his human heart rattled around his chest in alarm, the cold clarity of his mind remained just as it always had in battle, and the thing inside roared a challenge to the one that waited outside.
The beast growled at him, a trembling sound that seemed to be telling him not to come closer and suddenly it broke contact, its furry bulk slipping away into the woods.
Barely hesitating as it vanished, Link was back on his feet, his sword shining as he took off in pursuit, ears deaf to Bo's shouts as he finally made it to the clearing, calling for him to wait, to not go alone into the night.
The chill night air scrapped against the former Hero's cheeks as he ran, tingeing sun-kissed skin a light pink where it was exposed to the open air, and thick hair bounced, swinging into his eyes every other step but somehow it didn't matter. With the thing inside guiding he knew exactly where he was going even if his eyes couldn't penetrate the blanket of night.
He ran until the air in his lungs began to burn, during to mist as he expelled it, and only dimly did it occur to him that he was charging half blind through a forest in the dead of night toward a monster he couldn't even seen in such conditions.
Even an experienced warrior should have felt some concern at this point and yet something was telling him he had nothing to fear.
Ahead he could just make out the beast as it cut across a patch exposed to the light, zigging back and forth across trails that only it knew, moving effortlessly over the changing terrain, and the blue eyed boy felt the urge to laugh as he followed.
Leaping to avoid an extended tree root, Link crossed his arms over his face to protected it from the lowest branches that hung down like scratching fingers and burst into sudden light.
For a moment he was soaring through the air unfettered, wild and free and then gravity reclaimed him. Only, the ground was no longer where he had expected, a rocky hill sloping down into a small clearing below.
Landing poorly, he let out a cry of pain as his ankle wrenched in a direction he knew it wasn't supposed to go and he tumbled head over heels, sharp outcroppings of stone grazing his back and arms, jarring his sword from his grasp and opening cuts along his face as it clattered away in another direction. On he fell, until momentum deposited him roughly at the base of the slope.
For the longest time, he lay there, gasping for air and wincing as his body protested his attempts to make it move, though thankfully nothing seemed to be broken.
His eyes focused slowly, the blinding pain at the back of his head making it difficult at first but eventually he could see clearly once more, the faint light helping him make out the shape of the creature he had been chasing standing only a few feet away.
As its fangs barred at him once again, Link braced himself, willing up the strength to fight it off unarmed and prepared for an attack that never came.
With a faint snort the beast shook its head and trotted away, the hunk of meat it had liberated from Bo's trap bouncing along in its mouth.
Uncertainly, Link managed to force his way to his knees, surprise sliding across his face as the beast walked under the full moonlight, it obviously canine body suddenly very visible as it cast a quick glance and a warning growl back at him and came to a halt.
As the wind shifted the branches of the spares trees, the warrior was able to see what the bea- no, what the wolf was doing.
Beneath the fallen branch of old oak, lay another wolf, this one smaller than the other, less muscular in appearance.
Female.
Dropping the slab of raw flesh down in front of the other, the first nuzzled its companion until it stirred, awkwardly chewing on the proffered nourishment, the pair keening and yapping at one another.
The tree against which the smaller one was trapped must have been damaged in the storm several nights ago, dropping one of it's branches down on top of the unfortunate creature.
That would explain why the larger male had suddenly begun raiding Ordon's livestock, it needed food to keep its companion alive and couldn't afford to venture too far away in dangerous woods like this, nor could it drag the whole body back with it.
Links gut clenched as he realised what would have happened if he'd killed this one, or if the others had succeeded in trapping it. Two lives would have been extinguished because of the all too human fear of things that lived in the dark.
Rising, the sandy-haired boy made his way cautiously forward, raising his hands and pausing when the larger wolf snarled at him and lowered itself, ready to pounce if he came any closer.
Link locked eyes with it once more, willing it to understand that he meant no harm, projecting friendship into his expression, or so he hoped.
Stepping closer, one foot at a time and ever so slowly, link kept the beast's gaze as he finally reached the pair, crouching and placing his hands on the branch.
The male snarled again, barking, it's claws sliding out as its fur began to bristle, standing on end all over its body and making it suddenly seem twice the size it had a moment ago.
Swallowing heavily but maintaining his eye contact and getting a firm grip, Link pulled, the surprisingly heavy branch creaking as he lifted it upward, the creature trapped below scrambling out of the way as the pressure on its hind quarters was released.
Dropping the branch, the former Hero backed away rapidly, giving them space as the two wolves circled one another, sniffing, nuzzling and licking to reassure each other that both were unharmed and free.
Link felt a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth as they yipped excitedly, looking back over his shoulder as he heard something; human voices coming this way and fast.
If Bo and Russel came across them, they would insist on killing both creatures, refusing to believe they were no longer a threat.
They would never understand.
"Go", he whispered as the larger of the pair looked up at the sound also and for a moment as their eyes met, he was convinced he saw gratitude there before they both wheeled about and sprang away into the forest.