CHAPTER 3

Link crossed the threshold and was greeted by a grisly sight. This room was filled with bodies. The stench hit his nose almost instantly. The metallic scent of blood.

Link scrunched up his nose as he weaved his way around the dead. He must brave the very worst if he was to find Ed. Link knew this, but he was not ready for the terrible scene that was about to unfold.

A hoarse shout broke through the scilence. "No! Stop! You can't sacrifice more!"

A new voice, harsh and cold cut in. "I can and I will; now tell me exactly where it is."

Link's hands balled into fists. The person who was killing all these innocent people was around the corner. He felt rage bubble up inside of him. Drawing his sword with a metallic scrape, he ran to the other side of the wall, ignoring the slick of fresh blood that covered the floor. He could not issue a battle cry, so instead let out a feral growl. He had not lost his wolfish side.

A man was crouched at the far side of the room, with a small child in his grip. A short sword was pressed to the its neck, while it wailed and thrashed about. There was one thing that stopped Link however. There was one other person who he had neglected to spot before. A youth sat huddled up in the very corner of the room, their face hidden in shadow. Link slowed his reckless attack, his eyes wide.

Everything seemed to happen all at once. The man's sword slipped at the sudden distraction, and he dropped the child, who had ceased its pitiful crying all too suddenly. Link fell to his knees, his sword skittering across the floor to come to a stop at the base of the concrete wall. He turned to look at the burly man. He was covered in blood; dried and fresh. The grin across his face was terrifying. An empty feeling spread throughout Link's body, and he felt small; Almost as if he was an ant waiting to get stepped on.

"Well would you look at this?" The giant teased. "Another sacrifice I presume? How would you like to be cut into tiny pieces?"

"No! Don't hurt him!" There was a tinkling of chains, and a crash as the figure let them drop back onto the floor.

"Oh ho!" He grinned toothily, "Do you know him?"
There was a twinge of recognition in Link's eyes, and the man picked it up instantly. "So you are the one! How fortunate for us! Now we won't have to search for you!"

Link struggled to get away from the man, who had grasped both arms with such strength that he thought the blood might have trouble circulating to his hands.

"Well boy, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." He put his hand on his bearded chin, mocking the action of thinking. "And, you see, I have the very boy you so valiantly came to rescue. Now if you cooperate, I won't have to do the same to him that I did to all these innocents." He gestured vaguely to the field of corpses.

Link scowled. There was no way that he would allow this man to harm anyone else.

A whispered name was all it took to snap him out of that state. "Link."

His eyes were pleading and desperate for the short moment that they had made eye contact, but the second after, the light was extinguished, as Edward fell backwards, unconscious.

Hopelessness consumed Link, eating at him from the inside out. If this man could break Edward, then he was no match for him.

"Well, no use cutting you up if he's not talking." The man looked at Link savagely before yanking him to the wall beside Ed and placing similar shackles roughly on his own wrists.

Link studied Ed with dismay. His wrists were ripped open from the cuffs, blood dripping down his arms to stop around his shoulders. Ed's clothes were torn and dirty, and Link could see many wounds through the holes. Some were fresh cuts, and others looked as if they were burn marks. Had they burned him with a branding iron? Link felt terrible, he had not been able to get here in time, and now they were both captured.

The big man spoke once again, his voice significantly more threatening now that Link was restrained. "Alright boy, I'm going to give you a choice." He pulled Ed's limp body up, one arm across his chest, while the other held the bloodied sword in front of Edward's neck. "You can either cooperate and tell me what he wouldn't, or you can let him die. Your choice kid."

Link ignored him. Even if he could answer, he wouldn't. There was a good reason Ed had kept his secret, else he would never have gone through so much pain to protect it.
The blade was getting closer and closer to Ed's neck, inching towards its target. From that point on, things seemed to play out in slow motion. "Come on boy, won't you save your friend here? Don't make him suffer, I just want information. Tell me, and I'll let you both go." An evil grin spread across his face. "Do you want to be the cause of his death?" Link looked helplessly at Ed, but his eyes were lifeless, the usual mischief that filled them was gone. Link felt useless. The blade was now pressed directly to Ed's throat, and beads of blood dribbled down onto the collar of his black shirt. Ed was unconscious, and Link was shackled to a wall. What hope did they have? Ed would be killed because of him, and there was no way out.
The blade cut deeper, and another dribble of blood flowed from the wound. Link had to act now; obviously this man had no problem with killing innocent people, so what was one more to him?

Link was starting to panic, a thousand emotions rushing through him all at once. He tugged frantically at his shackles, but he knew it was no use. The blade had cut deep into Edward's throat now, slicing through his skin so easily. Link tried to calm down, and as soon as he had control over his mind once more, his hand glowed with faint recognition of the courage he was demonstrating. He gathered all of the power of the triforce, concentrating it, and using it, he ripped his chains right out of the wall. In his attempt to keep Link imprisoned, the burly man let Ed fall to the floor and ran back to Link, sword in hand.

A sudden urge filled Link, and almost entirely out of instincts, a shout broke forth from his lips.
"GET UP EDWARD!"

Ed's eyes flicked open, his hand flying to his neck. He saw now, the scene before him. Link was very agile, but the large man chasing him look longer strides, and was soon right behind him. Ed wasted little time. Removing his hand from the severe wound, he clapped his hands and bringing them down hard on the ground, wincing as the scabs on his wrists cracked. In seconds, a tall wall of concrete had stopped the man, and Link was able to get away. The only problem was that Ed was now too tired and injured to catch up to him. Ed collapsed, his knees weak and his head spinning. At least Link had been able to escape.

And as Edward's eyes shut, he could swear he saw a blurry streak of green sprinting towards him.