A/N: Hey guys, me again! What? So soon? Well, I'm sure that you'll be pleased to know that i'm actually attempting to stick to an update schedule! Expect a new chapter every Thursday (Or Friday - depends where you live or if i'm a bit late)! Whatever day it is now for you i guess *shrugs* Thursday night for me. Kinda late too.
Anyway, I'll try and keep this short, so i'll just quickly throw in the fact that i've rewritten original Chapters 0 (prologue) - 3 (now prologue and chapter one), And old chapters 4 & 5 (now chapters 2 and 3) will be merged into one chapter and hopefully posted tomorrow. So go back and read if you'd like! I've changed quite a lot. Kept true to the original story-ish, just fixed up my awful writing and got rid of a few things xD If you're a new reader, please ignore the state of current chapters 2 & 3 if they still have 'UNEDITED' in the chapter title! Wow, this was kinda longer than I intended! On with the story!
Aries awoke to the crackling warmth of a fire. Her whole body ached; stinging pains shot through her sleep-heavy arms and legs where she knew numerous tiny cuts laced her skin. She kept her eyes shut, feigning sleep, which was difficult because she had to try very hard to keep from wincing in pain. Someone had to have set up that fire, and they were most likely still around.
Aries was past trying to convince herself that it had all been a dream. The pain spoke otherwise. That and the warm heaviness on her body which was most likely a woollen blanket. It was useless to even try. She sighed heavily, and cracked an eye open to the minimal amount required to see. She peeked around the clearing where she was settled. It was small, and the area was lightly forested. There were a few rocks and fallen scattered around, and a small pile of logs stacked up by the fire.
One of the advantages of her blood was that it slightly enhanced her senses. They weren't great, they were much better when she took her more powerful form (which required a great deal of energy and was hard to hold, therefore kind of useless to her at the time), but from that tiny enhancement, she caught the scent of metal, hay, and something animal-like. Huh.
Aries started and gripped the blanket closer to her body as she heard a noise from outside the clearing, and tried to calm herself to the approaching footsteps and the clopping of hooves. Whoever it was, they had a horse. Well, she hoped it was only one person. She would stand a chance if they were alone. But someone could be riding the horse. If there was more than one… She was pretty weak.
Her sight caught a flash of green and froze like a deer in the headlights. 'Calm down, calm down, it'll be okay, you'll be fine' she silently reassured herself, trying to slow her racing heart. She squeezed her eyes shut and rested her head on her knees; maybe if she just sat here quietly the person wouldn't notice her and just leave her alone. Yeah right.
"Hey, you're awake!" A warm voice broke through her thoughts, and she looked up tentatively. A young man stood there, he looked no older than twenty. Dirty blonde hair, crooked grin, and piercing blue eyes. She had seen those eyes somewhere before…
The young man crouched down in front of her, his brow creasing in concern. "Hey, you okay? You were pretty beat up when I found you. Stalhounds aren't exactly the friendliest creatures," he opened one of the pouches hanging from his belt and dug around, before pulling out a bottle filled with red liquid, "Here, drink this. It'll make you feel better. Stop the hurting and all that."
Aries stared at the bottle suspiciously, still weary of the man. He acted nice but… what if it was a trick? What if he was just like the other humans, happy to kill her as soon as he got the chance. Well, she assumed he was human, she thought as glanced at his long pointed ears that suggested otherwise. Maybe all the people here looked like that?
Without realising, Aries reached out for the bottle. The man pressed it into her hands, and she uncorked it, wearily sipping at it. She scrunched up her face, almost gagging on the taste. He shot her a sympathetic look, "It tastes pretty nasty, but it works. Pity they don't make it tastier."
Why did she feel the urge to trust him? She pondered as she gulped down the rest of the foul liquid, surprised at the feeling of warmth that spread through her body and relieved most of the pain.
He grinned crookedly at her expression. "It does a pretty good job of making the pain go away. It helps speed along the healing process a little bit too. We'll have to get you to someone who can fix you up properly though." He said with a small frown. His frown deepened as realisation flickered across his eyes, before it eased back into a sheepish grin and he absentmindedly scratched at the back of his head. "I'm Link by the way. Sorry, I should've introduced myself sooner." He stuck his hand out with a smile. Aries tentatively took it, and shook it lightly, mentally noting the roughness of his hands. Together with the slight twang in his accent, she guessed that he was no stranger to hard work, probably a farmhand or something like that. "I'm Aries," she mumbled.
An offended whinny came from the other side of the clearing, and Link laughed and stood up, brushing his bangs out of his wolfish eyes. He crossed the clearing to pet his horse lightly on the nose. It looked kind of miffed. "Aries, this is Epona. Epona, Aries."
The flaxen chestnut mare shook her mane impatiently, and plodded over to Aries, dropping her nose down to her level on the ground. Epona nickered, blowing warm air on Aries's face, whiskers tickling her forehead. Aries let out a light laugh, scratching the draught horse between her eyes. Epona whinnied in contentment, before trotting off the other side of the clearing to where the grass was long and sweet, an air of approval surrounding her. Aries had never seen a horse with such personality. It was something that she definitely liked.
She sat closer to the fire, staring into the flames as they danced in the night. She had awoken quite late in the afternoon, and the sun had long since gone down. Her thoughtful mood was disturbed when Link trudged over and dropped to the ground next to her, leaning against the fallen tree that she was using as a backrest. He passed her a stick loaded with roasted meat. "I hope you like rabbit," he grinned, biting into his own with a contented sigh.
Aries sniffed at the rabbit, revelling in the delicious scent. She had eaten rabbit plenty of times before – it was one of her favourite meats. Nibbling at the meat, she savoured the taste. It was cooked perfectly, and the juices dripped down onto her chin. She gulped down the meat, murmuring her thanks. In the last few hours she had spent in him she had learned that he was kind, cared a lot about other people, really liked to talk (a lot) and that he knew his stuff when it came to cooking over a fire.
Link gulped down the last of his meat, tossing the stick into the fire and rocking back on the heels of his palms. "At sunrise tomorrow we'll head to Kakariko village – I know a shaman there, good friend of mine, who can patch you up all good. I bandaged your ankle the best I could, but those Stalhounds got you good," he spoke quietly, "And Renardo can fix it permanently. I was gonna head by there anyway, let the kids know that I'm okay."
'The kids' were the children who lived in his village, Aries knew that much. He had told me a little bit about his home – he had lived in a small village in the woods named Ordon (She remembered that the light spirit had mentioned the place), where the locals were farmers (Her guess had been spot on). He had also briefly mentioned that the children had been taken in the chaos that the Light Spirit had talked of, and wound up at another village named Kakariko – the place we were headed.
Aries felt a little bad as she curled up under the blanket – she wasn't sure if he was telling the truth and had been planning on stopping in anyway or if he was just going out of his way for her – she wasn't used to strangers being kind. She was used to ridicule and hate – when she was younger, she had wanted to play with the human villagers, to join in with their games. The children, as children do, had not seen her as any different, just another person to join in with their games and make them more fun. Their parents, however, had seen her for what she was, not who, and told their children, her 'friends', to stay away from her, that she was dangerous. It had been lonely. The thought struck her. Maybe that was why she had internally been so ready to trust Link. Because she was lonely, and he had treated her like any other person. Because she was tired of being alone, and wanted a friend so badly.
Aries sighed, glancing over to where Link was sitting watch. She had offered to take a shift, already feeling bad that he was willing to do so much for her, someone he barely knew, but he had insisted that she needed the rest more. He sat by the entrance to the clearing, Epona lying down by his side. He was murmuring softly to himself, talking to himself to keep himself awake, she guessed. With another sigh, she squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to sleep.
That night, Aries dreamt of unhappy things. Her parents' deaths. The villagers' cruel smiles as they watched her break before them. The suffocating darkness. And the next morning, she woke up crying.
A/N: That's all folks! Sorry that it's a bit of a slow chapter. Oh well, at least it didn't end with Aries falling asleep (again)! Please R&R, it really helps get the creative juices flowing! Also it helps with my confidence in writing :) I really appreciate every review I get! Follows and Favourites are really great and cool too!