23- Wolfos

Damn, its morning already, last night was NOT a good night. Yes… I got to eat more, and yes it tasted good with the chanterelles, and of course the bed made a HUGE difference, but the wolves never shut up, my concern is that I am sure those were not the maraudo wolves, this beast howls but is different, wolfos are supposed to be extinct already, but it sure sounded like that particular beast, if memory does not fail me. BUT it may also be my mind playing tricks. But what if I am not wrong? And that possibly is what kept me up all night… Zelda did fall asleep rather quickly. We should start moving now that the sun is out.

He sits up groaning, Zelda immediately sits up as well and looks at him smiling.

"You are awake" Link tells her

"Have been for a while, I was waiting and being lazy, … are we still very far from the road?" she asks suspecting they should not be that far.

"No, we get there today in an hour or two of walk"

"REALLY! we could have arrived yesterday then, why didn't we?" Zelda asks questioning his decision to camp in the cottage instead of pushing forward.

"You told me to take care of myself, I don't want to exhaust my body walking, I need energy reserves to hunt and to respond if the situation demands it"

Zelda sheepishly smiles

"I did say that, and it still holds, thanks for fulfilling my request… Let's start walking, the sooner we are rescued the better."

Link grabs the purple sweater and puts it on giving his jacket to Zelda, she sighs and puts it on.

"I will ask you one more question missy, when the castle was attacked you went back to retrieve a doll, why?" Link asks her with genuine interest.

"it's an important memento… my dad gave it to me before he left, I am not going to explain any further… I am sure you already KNOW Daphnes is not my father, and that is all you need to know"

That much I had gathered already. I still don't understand why she continues to be loyal to him, a father that basically ABANDONED her and her mother… yet he still holds a place in her heart, she even refuses to accept Daphnes because she holds dear to the memory of an absent father.

"I understand… we are leaving now, are you ready sweetheart?"

Link joked bowing and offering her his hand to help her out of the bed, he was trying to restore the happy mood she had before he upset her with his question.

"Yes darling" Zelda answers, following him on the joke and taking his hand, her eyes showing she was having fun.

Link half smiles and pulls her out of the bed, turns and opens the door, he takes one step out and his demeanor shifts to survival mode, he does a quick turn and pushes Zelda inside closing the cottage door.

ZELDA POV

Zelda falls back on her butt, he eyes go wide in fear and confusion, she stands up and tries to open the door, but she is locked inside.

WHY? I thought we were friendly now, I thought I earned a little of respect, now he decides to cage me here and abandon me? why is he betraying me? ["But… you will come back for me, right?" "Why wouldn't I?"]
NO! I don't believe it, he would not leave me here, he must have seen something outside.

Zelda hears howling and claws scratching furiously at the door, then something big crashing against the wall, followed by Link´s yell. Zelda drops to the floor and hugs her knees closing her eyes. She hears more howls and panting, then claws clicking on the floor as the beasts circle the cottage, she raises her head in fear and glances at the window, she sees a wolfos glancing right back at her. She trembles in fear and starts to sob.

WHAT DO I DO? Link is getting hurt out there, I CAN'T open the door for him to enter, the fucker caged me in, and I SHOULDN'T be angry at him for this, he is preventing the wolfos from reaching me… he is protecting me. But these fucking monsters are killing him, and I am powerless here.

The wolfos at the window starts ramming on it trying to break it, it does manage to cracking it when a loud yelp is heard from the entrance, the beast leaves the window and head to the font of the cottage, once it sees the corpse of the other wolfos it charges Link, who waits with what is left of his sweater on hand.

Did he managed to kill one? How? He is weaponless out there, I have his multipurpose knife on my pouch, since that is what he gave me to cut the meat. I should have given it back to him, he could be at least using it to defend himself. I hope he is ok… I pray his wound didn't open again.

She can hear barking and panting then CRACK! everything when quiet. Zelda quickly stands up and heads to the door, tears forming on her eyes, she wanted to call out to Link through the door, but was afraid he would not answer, meaning he fell on battle, her world turns grey and starts to spiral around her as despair sets in. KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Are you ok in there?" Link asks from outside

Zelda starts wailing loudly, relief bringing her to her knees once more, her world recovering color.

"I am going to unlock you, but do not come out here until I tell you, ok?"

She sniffs "why?"

"hehe… I made a mess out here, believe me you don't want to see this, let me clean this up a little so it does not insult your presence my lady" Link tells her almost whispering through the door

She stands up and grabs the corner of a sheet to clean her nose and tears from her crying

Zelda you must get a hold of yourself. YOU are ok, HE is ok… I mean, he must be, he is kind of joking, isn't he? BREATHE, and stop trembling, there is nothing to fear right now.

Once she has cleaned her face, she jumps back on the bed to wait, her mind starts traveling to unwanted scenarios, she shakes her head and starts breathing deeply, after what felt like FOREVER, but must have been like 10-15 minutes, Link opens the door and calls her. Zelda looks at him puzzled, he covered himself on a wolfo's -pelt, he gives her a small grin.

"I know… they ripped the sweater, so I took it back in a way, don't get too close, it reeks… I am not taking it off"

"I am not going to ask you to, I know its cold out there. Are you… did the wound opened?"

"No, surprisingly it didn't, let's get out of here"

They exit the cottage walking slowly, Zelda does not comment about it since she suspects he may have strained a muscle or something, but she looks around searching for traces of what happened there, there is blood on the door and on the floor, and the wolfos were thrown to the side of the cottage, one was skinned obviously, and the skull had a HUGE dent, the others head was twisted 90 degrees, Zelda widens her eyes, scoffs a little and walks away following him.

After walking a few minutes, she finally starts talking

"I saw the wolfos you know" Zelda points to him

"It's not like I tried to hide them, I just removed them from the entrance" Link states

"I know, I wanted to say it was impressive how you managed to kill them weapon less"

"Anything is a weapon" Link stops and looks at her

"I need you to MARRY that belief because it's an absolute truth, ANYTHING CAN BE USED AS A WEAPON" Link states in a serious tone and looking at her in the eyes

"Anything… what did you used?"

"After being thrown around a little I saw a rock with an edge, ripped the sheared sweater off and wrapped the rock in it, then swung it at the wolfo´s head killing it. The rock flew off with the impact ripping the sweater even more, so I used what was left of the rag as a rope to choke the other wolfo when it came at me, I ended up cracking its neck in the struggle"

I would have paid to see that, damn… he is a bad ass, I would have been screaming and covering my eyes for most of it, but I still… no it's not that, I want to BE like him, I want to see it so I can imagine its me doing that… and then be incredibly depressed because I know I could never do that.

"WOW, that´s… I would never be able to do anything remotely similar"

"That is why I am here, to temper your metal and sharpen it, if you know what I mean"

FUCK, and I thought the King and my mother had unrealistic expectations of me… but is it really all that unrealistic? Could it be possible to turn this failed attempt of princess into a speck of what Link is? I really, REALLY hope this is achievable for me.

LINK POV

I don't feel my legs… but I don't really mind that, my sight though… Its closing in, like looking through a narrow tube that keeps shrinking, THIS is not good. I should not be moving at all, even walking slowly is painful, and I am risking spilling my guts out at any moment, the vendage I quickly crafted out of my inner tunic is holding everything in place so far, but I won't be able to protect her or hunt for her any more, our best shot for survival is arriving at the rescue spot ASAP, she will be reunited with her family, and I could get medical attention.

They continue walking slowly, Zelda catches a glimpse of a rabbit running to its hole.

"IT WAS THE WOLFOS!, they were the reason you could not find a hunt, I am glad they are dealt with, now home species are safe and will be able to repopulate, thus making them easier to hunt if needed" Zelda shares happily.

"I don't think we need to anymore" Link answers gasping for air and points ahead

Zelda looks at where Link is pointing and sees a road between the trees, she smiles dashing off towards the road yelling and waving when she hears a carriage close by. Link smiles and tries to follow but after a few more steps his legs give in and he falls on his knees spewing blood out of his mouth. Then he sees a small pool of blood forming under him.

[Daphanes staring back at him furious] Hahaha… blood DOES have a strong distinctive smell; how come I had never noticed this before? I was too focused on my goal and the anger I felt back then to notice.
Well… I guess this is it for me, at least I got her to the rescue spot, don't hate me for this my King, Claudio will take care of everything, I am sure.

Link falls face down on the snow, everything went black once his sight finished closing in.