If my previous readers are still on this story, I hope you've noticed I've updated and corrected the previous chapters. Read and Review!

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Chapter: 17

Dyraati had woken up with a pounding in his head as he slowly stood up. When he opened his eyes, he saw the bustle of humans, a large fountain in the center of some strange village. Renaden was unconscious beside him. Apparently, the humans by Ordon had sold them over.

"Blasted humans! I've lost Link's scent!" Dyraati growled, scaring a few people that came near his cage. The owner, a strapping young man with…odd fashion in clothing kicked his cage.

"Quiet you! Or I'll have you skinned!" the shaking woke up Renaden. He blinked at the light that made his head pound.

"Oh…Dyraati? Brother are you here?" The brown wolf licked the muzzle of the black one.

"I'm here, we've been sold." Renaden's eyes opened fully as he stared at the man before him.

"…Does he seem like a male who would prefer other males as his mate?" he asked. The brown wolf huffed as he laid down beside his brother.

"Perhaps. For now, we best not act up, there are too many humans to overpower us here"

"Have you heard of Princess Zelda? I heard that her father had her whipped and she ran off with one of the servants!" a woman said to her friend as they walked past the cage.

"Yes, everyone's in an uproar now! The soldiers are defending the king's name in every way and they've even cut us off from Lake Hylia until people stop talking about a civil war!" their voices lowered as a group of guards marched passed them.

All along Castle Town were wanted posters of Link. Luckily Dyraati and Renaden were not on the wanted list, so they went by unnoticed. The poster was simple, it was a precise drawing of Link's face with the words:

"Rewarded if killed"

Beside his poster was a list of crimes he had committed, which none were true. Renaden whined lightly as he rested his head on his paws, staring over at the people.

"I really hope Link is alright"

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Link and Zelda were walking beside Epona as they traveled across a bridge of Kakariko Gorge.

"We're almost there" he said, pointing at a dusty village up ahead. Zelda nodded. It's been so long since she's seen her care taker.

"What I want to know is what Sheikah have to do with werewolves" she looked up at Link questioningly.

"Sheikah used to willingly accept the blood of werewolves hoping they'd turn into them so they could protect the Royal Family more. It didn't work. A lot of them went mad, some killed themselves. But they did learn so much from the beasts. They wanted to become one with nature with them" he looked back at her.

"So far, the Sheikah have the most unbiased information on werewolves, and I need to know more. I need to know whether it's a curse or a blessing. And whether I need to get rid of it or not"

She nodded her head. Personally, she would rather have kept the curse if it was up to her. But then again, there was so little knowledge they had, maybe during a blood moon Link goes berserk? It was better to just ask Impa for help.

The two had arrived at the front of the gate and peered in.

"Alright, let's go. Hopefully no one recognizes us. You got your gloves on?" Link nodded his head, lifting up his gloved hands and wiggling his fingers to answer her question.

They walked inside the village and to their surprise it wasn't as deserted as they thought it would be.

"Whoa…I've never seen the rock man this close before" he slowly hid behind Zelda as they walked forward.

"Rock man? Link those are called Gorons" she turned her head to look at him.

"Zelda, come on, I know they're rocks but you don't have to go and call them morons" he frowned.

"…No Link. These are Goron people" she emphasized it more. "They live on Death Mountain and usually come here to trade with Kakariko Village"

"Oh" he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I'll go get Epona settled by the lake. Can you find Impa?"

The princess nodded her head as she went off in the town. Not many people lived here. A shaman and his daughter were very nice to welcome her to their town.

Zelda had just about given up hope, she wanted to go back to Link, not having found her protector from years ago. As she approached the male, a strong hand grabbed her shoulder, making her flinch and turn around.

Standing in front of her was a very tall woman with short grey hair and blue armor.

"Impa! It really is you!" she squealed, hugging throwing her arms around the woman.

Impa laughed heartily, patting Zelda on her back.

"Child I almost didn't recognize you! Your hair is-"

"Shh!" scolded Zelda. "Don't you remember me Aunt Impa? I'm your niece! Karliah!" the woman stared at Zelda blankly then looked around at the others.

"Ah, Karliah. Forgive me it's been too long." They started to walk down the isolated path toward the graveyard. Link was by the lake, undoing the rein's from Epona's mouth to let her eat and drink peacefully. Both of them made subtle eye contact with each other. After a few minutes of Zelda's disappearance, Link followed them to the graveyard.

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"Your father did what!?" Impa seethed as she paced back and forth. Link was settled under the tree as he watched.

"It's true. Look" Zelda pulled up the sleeve of her dress, showing the long scar that went up her arm from when the whip connected with her skin.

"Word hasn't reached us here of a civil war. But I'll be damned if someone doesn't stop him. I knew he was manipulative. Evil! Corrupt! A liar!" Impa raged on, stomping and crushing a golden bug under her boot. Link flinched.

"And who are you?" she eyed at him. Link lowered himself under her gaze.

"Ah…Link. I'm here for-" he turned his head to Zelda who nodded in reassurance. "I'm here for…advice"

Impa raised a brow. "Advice? Advice on what?" her arms folded across her chest.

"Advice on werewolves, and what should someone do if they were one" Impa paused and looked around to make sure no one was around.

"Boy, show me your hand" she pointed to his left one. Link frowned.

"No, why? What do you need to know?" Impa came forward to him and grabbed his hand with a force that he wasn't expecting. With ease, she flicked off his glove and stared at the dirty triforce.

"Hmph, so it is you." She lifted up her head. "You're the lost Prince and the shame of the Sheikah" He blinked as he pulled himself away from her.

"What do you mean the shame of the Sheikah?"

"You weren't supposed to be born. You're a defect of the Royal Blood Line and it's our fault that you even had the wolf blood." She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, pacing again.

"It was the Sheikah's fault you had the wolf blood in you. We were desperate and we made a mistake. That mistake was you. And now look at you, we should have been so proud to create this but we were wrong"

"What…what do you mean? Just what on earth is going on?" he turned to Zelda for answers but she just gave him a confused look and shrugged.

"Link. You are a werewolf, I know that. It was said that at some point in time, a descendant of the Royal Family would be one. We didn't know when. Years had passed and we thought that the wolf gene was long gone. But we were wrong. Your birth was supposed to be celebrated. Rejoiced! The Sheikah had accomplished what they had always dreamed of!" she scoffed.

"What we didn't know was that werewolves are dangerous. Their blood twists them to do unspeakable things both good and bad. You don't know what a werewolf can do, not like I do" she turned to face him and grabbed his Triforce hand, twisting it to look at the mark. He winced and made a subtle attempt to tug it away.

"This mark on you has been touched by both the goddesses and by an untold ancient being. It's been whispered amongst the trees that the goddesses didn't create the land on their own. No, they had help. And who ever helped them shape nature, put that power into you at a cost. Nature is your most powerful ally and your fear and anger are your enemy." She squeezed his hand more, the triforce began to glow red as he tugged away stronger.

Impa held him still. "A wolf's blood can cure the land of all ailments! But, it twists the mind of its host slowly" Link growled and forcefully pulled his arm away from Impa, making her stumble.

"That's what I was talking about. Your anger" she frowned. "Don't let it consume your soul Link. If you do, all that trails behind you will be blood"

Link faltered as he looked down slowly at his hand. He was shaking gently and his triforce was emitting a red glow. The instant shock made the glow disappear, fading away back into his skin as just a mark.

"There is no cure. None that we know of. It's up to you whether you want to live this way or not. I cannot help you any further"

The world was spinning under him as he fell down on his rear. "But…but if I'm a Prince-"

"You can succeed the king as ruler" Impa stated simply. "This is your land you know. A land that was taken away from you"

"How come I don't remember that? Why do I only remember being in a little village that everyone was killed?" His voice rose and his eyes appeared to be wet.

"Hush" scolded Impa. "It was the present King who felt threatened of you. He wanted to be the only ruler of Hyrule and not share it. So, he destroyed your palace and took all your servants as his own. The King and Queen were murdered but the son wasn't found. One of the Sheikah men had taken you away and hidden you in a village. Apparently that didn't work. Tell me, boy, how did you survive this long?"

Link wiped his eyes as Zelda soothingly rubbed his back. "Two wolves took me in. I've lived with them as a wild child all my life until I was captured and turned into a servant for the King" at that, Impa had to snort.

"Good thing you both didn't know who you really were. Now knowing all this information, what do you plan on doing?"

"I'm going to make him pay" he growled lowly.

Zelda blinked and slowly moved back. Could she do it? Her father…was horrible. A cheat to the entire population of Hyrule. But did she have the gall to actually plan his death? No, this wasn't about her. She just…she just needed to steel herself. He is a poison to the land and needs to be removed. Just like a tumor.

"Now these wolves you said took you in. I find it not so uncommon considering you have wolf blood within you. But where are they now?"

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"Renaden I'm going to kill every single child here" shook Dyraati in a silent rage as children from all over Castle Town prodded at the two wolves with sticks.

"Calm yourself. At least they aren't hurting us" the black wolf licked at the finger of a child who giggled.

One of the children shoved their sticks into Dyraati's eye, causing him to snarl and snatch the stick away with his mouth, snapping it in half. The child wailed at having the stick broken and that caused the owner of the cage to stroll by and kick their cage.

"Stupid animals! Don't you ever do that again!" the kick caused the cage to tip over and landed on its corner, opening the door for a short while. The loud echoing clang of the metal brought everyone's eyes to the cage as Dyraati took the chance and dashed out as fast as he could, speeding toward the exit.

"Dyraati wait!" Renaden gave a high pitched bark as the owner cursed and quickly shut the cage door.

"Damn it! We let one escape!"

The brown wolf stared intently as he panted. He stared back at the large doors of Castle Town and gritted his teeth, running into Hyrule Field.

"I'm sorry, brother" he spoke quietly to himself. "I promise to come swiftly with the wind carrying my back!"

There was no way he could go back to Ordon, even if there was Link's scent. He wasn't there. As he walked along in Hyrule field, a gentle scent tickled against his nose in the breeze. He tilted his head and slowly walked forward, putting his nose to the ground.

He wasn't sure who it was, but it was definitely a horse. He had no other leads and he had to follow the trail.

Night fell quicker than Dyraati had noticed. He was too busy tracking down the faint scent of a mare. It wasn't long until he crossed a bridge and ended up by a spiked iron gate of a village. The wolf looked skeptical as he looked around. Ahah! A soft pile of dirt! No doubt a dog's entrance.

He padded over to it, leaving large wolf prints as he dug under the gate and back up. All the humans were asleep, it should be easier for him to move around now. The scent was stronger too, perfect.

Dyraati quickly lowered his nose back to the ground again, walking along the shadows as he tried to find the scent. It wasn't long before he spotted a black mare by a lake of water.

"Excuse me?" he gave a yip to the black skinny mare. Her eyes fluttered open as she looked down at the wolf. Her large neck lowered to have her head meet his.

"It's very rare to see a wolf in these parts. What do you need, friend?" Dyraati gave her a courteous sniff as a greeting and moved back.

"Have you seen a muscular mare with a white mane? She has two human companions I must meet with." The black horse lifted up her head as she stared at the graveyard.

"Yes I've seen them, there were here during daylight. But I'm not sure if they've left or not. Why not sleep in this cave over there until morning to find out?" she whinnied lightly and shook down her mane, slowly moving her way over to the side by the lake where a large cave was.

Dyraati nodded his head. He couldn't go out with in front of humans, he's already learned that. Better to just rest up and wait for morning.

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Wow, an excellent chapter if I do say so myself! Hopefully that's cleared up all the mystery behind the "curse" eh? Haha, well. Please leave me a review! It will help me out a lot! Next chapter will be posted tomorrow hopefully.