Hyrule Field
While there were still dead bodies strewn throughout the battlefields, of which many were now rotting by now with crows and buzzards picking at the scraps leftover from what the wild wolves and Wolfos; plenty of the bodies that were once there had been retrieved by the service of undertakers to haul the bodies off to the massive cemetery behind Kakiriko village. It was a dirty and laborious job, compounded by the fact that soldiers were required to aid in guarding the undertakers from the wildlife and beasts, so they could perform their duties unhindered.
The best that the undertakers could take back to the cemetery by now were the bones of the soldiers, some still having flesh that rotted and maggots infesting them.
From atop a hill however, a pack of wolves observed it all from afar, keeping their distance from the humans and other races that had come to collect their dead; among them, sitting back on his hunches, was a large black Wolf. The wolf pack leader. His eyes were seething red, it was the leader that commanded obedience and tributes, else any wolf or Wolfos that dared go up against it, would find themselves dead or maimed in the worst way.
As of the moment, the beast was waiting with its main pack for the majority of the rest to return with the remaining bits of corpses they could collect from the battlefields; he lifted his snout up and sniffed, before lowering his snout. There was one packing, returning with less numbers than when they left.
Standing up on all fours, the beast narrowed its eyes in anger, at both the pack that was returning and the reason they were coming back with less wolves and barely anything to show for it. If there was one thing the beast disdained, it was failure. It reflected back on him, and it made him want to tear the returning pack of wolves apart.
A harsh guttural growl exited out through his throat, prompting the lesser wolves and wolfos that surrounded it to back away in caution, lest they suffer their leader's wrath.
For the beat however, it would not tear the pack apart that was returning up the hill he stood on, their tails down between their legs in submission, some even managed to carry with them some meager meat in some manner of appeasement to him; quite a few wore sword gashes on them, that helped explain the problem of why the wolf pack were returning with less numbers. They foolishly went after some swordsman when they had all the deadmeat available many nights ago.
Serves them right.
The beast narrowed its eyes at the leader of the pack, as he approached him. "You…explain…." The beast barked out, his guttural bark echoed off, making most of the other wolves and wolfos back away more while lowering their heads in subservience.
The wolf leader held a nasty scar across its snout, while a deep wound was gouged through its side; the wolf grouched back at the beast with a snarl, he dared not show cowardice to the beast leader, the beast showed no mercy to the cowards of all the packs under his reign. "We…went after….fresh meat….a human pup…figured it would….be easy…." The pack leader howled back, his jaws moving a bit to allow the language of the beasts to flow through his throat.
The Beast responded to the wolf pack leader, by snapping at the air in front of the wolf, missing mere millimeters from the snout of the wolf. "A mere pup…did this….Nonsense!" He barked back with a nasty snarl, and began to circle around the wolf, like a shark circling its prey, "No human pup…should have been able…to cut your numbers down...much less…take out a number of your pack!" The beast declared, refusing to believe a human pup could take on an entire pack of wolves.
The Wolf however did not stray from his spot, nor falter in front of his leader, he glared back balefully with a gaze of anger, "Believe me…or not….it was a human pup….he fought while injured….but struck back at us…like a beast…a cornered beast…." He snarled, his teeth showing while watching the beast leader circle around him.
The Beast snarled at the wolf as he came to a halt in front of him, and paced forward threateningly at the wolf pack leader, "An injured human pup…took out half your number?... I just kill you all…. just for the offense that such a thing MAY have happened…if it were true…." He barked angrily into the face of the wolf.
Remaining steadfast to show he was not lying, or else, the wolf remained calm on the outside, but held a scornful gaze in his eyes; whether he'd die here or not, he wanted it to be known that against all odds, some random human pup survived an entire wolf pack attack. It was embarrassing, he hated the fact they lost such numbers, and he wanted vengeance back, to repay that human pup with his teeth around his throat and rip it out.
"Mighty one…" The wolf spoke back in a guttural growl, "I know where that human pup went…give me and my back the chance…the chance to bring the corpse of that human back…to make amends and pay tribute for this slight against us!" He howled afterwards.
The beast padded over and snipped at the air again in front of the wolves snout, just barely missing the nose by millimeters, "Again! How do I know…you are not making this up…?" He snarled, before padding back where he was once sitting, and howled into the air, signaling for the entire pack of countless wolves and wolfos to gather.
The beast the turned to face the wolf with a seething snarl, "No…you will not be going alone…everyone will be going…take me to where this human pup bleed…I will sniff out his scent, and follow where you know he went…" The beast explained, as dozens of wolves and wolfos gathering up the hill around their almighty pack leader. It gaze narrowed down at the wolf with contempt.
The wolf stared back at the beast with a puzzled expression, "Mighty one…it has been many nights…and the water from the sky has fallen during one of them…none of our noses are that good to track a scent that old…." The scent should have been gone by now, along with whatever blood that had fallen from that human pup.
Speaking back to the wolf with a snarl while he padded forward, the Beast spoke with pride in itself while allowing the edges of its mouth to mimic that of a smirk, "For a common wolf…such as you…it is…but I am above all beasts…" He explained, not bothering to look back at the wolf as he followed the Beast.
As the Beast led the way, allowing the wolf to trail after him the wolf spoke back to the beast king, "What is your intention…with the human pup…wants we pin his location down?" The wolf questioned.
Not pausing in the slightest in his steps, the Beast gave the wolf a rabid and nasty grin while giving him a sideways look, "Simple…I'm putting your entire pack up against him…you either kill him, or he kills you and the remaining number of your pack…" He answered.
"...and…if he manages to survive again?" The wolf questioned the beast once more, and earned a guttural chuckle of mirth.
"Then the human pup's reward is my teeth ripping out his throat." The beast answered, leaving the wolf's question answered.
For the wolf, he had some modicum of assurance in this. The human pup has to have already healed by then, and nowhere near the state he was in when he survived the attack on him by his pack; even after he would no doubt fall under the blade of that pup, the Mighty Beast King would make sure to end the human pup's life.
Castle Wall
Atop the walls of the gate, standing outside a gatetower, Judeau had been observing the ongoing process of their people collecting whatever remained of their dead soldiers; part of the reason that it took them a while to collect their dead, was to steer clear of the wondering beast king and his packs of wolves and wolfos.
Judeau was sure their remaining soldiers and possible ceasefire allies could help fend off and defeat the Beat King, but everyone was already tired from the long civil war; at most, the wandering packs of wolves and wolfos minded their own business in eating the corpses across the battlefields.
With the peace talks and everything else that was going on, it was best to leave the Beast King and his packs of canines alone for the few weeks of peace talks; they could simply hunt down the major threat later on, as the canines never paid much attention to the lively soldiers and other races that roamed the battlefields. There was already enough dead meat for them to feast on, which would leave the undertakers to simply collect the bones of their people.
"Hey." A voice piped up from beside Judeau, earning his attention to his left to look at the owner of the voice. It was Bosh, one of his fellow Sheikah, the man was an adult member of the clan, and a subordinate to Impa, just like he was. The man gestured with his chin towards the front, "See what I'm seeing?" he asked Judeau, curiosity laced in his tone.
Judeau frowned a bit, before looking where Bosh's gaze was aimed at, and spotted what he saw. Just barely within viewable eyesight in the distance, Judeau held his hand over his eyes to block the glaring son, and saw what Bosh was talking about. "...Yeah…that's the Beast King…looks like he's…heading towards the woods…" he mused, an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Bosh scratched at the back of his head with his finger, and expressed a confused look on his face, "You think they're done feasting on the corpses all of a sudden, or perhaps they found a new place to gorge on meat?" his fellow Sheikah asked, curious about his own opinion.
Judeau however had other thoughts about what was going on. He had seen Guts fend himself from afar that fateful night, decimate an entire wolf pack while injured; now it looked like the Beast King had learned that one of his pack of wolves were attacked back, and was now on a hunt for the boy.
Judeau began to think quickly, his master had some express interest in the boy, and he would be a poor student of Impa if he didn't look out for the interests of her. With a narrowed gaze, Judeau gave a sideways look to Bosh, "I'll be back, I need to check on something. Tell Impa that something important came up that demanded me to head back to the woods." he requested, before hopping off from the wall and leapt to the moat below with a soft splash, disappearing from sight in the process.
Bosh looked curious but didn't argue with the boy as he peered over and saw no trace of the student of Impa, "...sure…" He answered to no one in particular. Whatever was going on, he didn't doubt the boy to stay safe. More than likely, he was probably heading off into the woods to warn the Great Deku Tree of the Beast King intruding into his woods.
Lost Woods
Having chopped up a decent amount of wood and removed plenty of debris from the old ruins, the group of Kokiri children were given the go to head back home with the supplies they needed for the slingshot contest; most of them having rushed on ahead after figuring which way to go, that left a sparse few others behind.
The only ones that remained behind were Fado, Saria, Mido and Guts. The present group that traveled through the woods were silent for a bit as they traveled through the lost woods; with a curious smirk on her face however, Fado decided to speak up as she walked in step with Guts.
"So, what sort of plans do you have on leaving?" She questioned, causing an annoyed look to pass over Mido's face, an uncertain gaze from Saria, and an unbothered look from Guts as he carried over his shoulder the axe.
Guts offered a hapless shrug as his eyes focused forward while Fado walked beside him. Saria was walking not far ahead of him to his right while Mido stuck to walking a fair bit away to the left. He spoke back to Fado with an unconcerned tone, "Been thinking about that few the past few days, actually." he answered.
"Good!" Mido sneered over at him, giving the Hylian boy a dirty look, "Try thinking of leaving sooner than later!" he exclaimed, and harrumphed after Saria shot him a glare.
"Mido!" Saria chided him, before giving Guts a glance back while she continued walking forward, "Look, Guts, you can live in our village as long as you like! I've even asked the Great Deku Tree, and he even said you are welcome to stay!" she encouraged the boy, expressing a brimming smile.
"What!?" Mido cried out, surprised that the Deku Tree would allow an outsider to stay amongst the Kokiri and Koroks.
Saria simply offered Mido back a rare smug look, "What, do you think you have any authority over us, much less the Great Deku Tree.?" She challenged Mido, earning a grumble from the other Kokiri
Fado took her time to giggle at the two, before giving Guts an amused smirk, "Well looks like you have enough to think on it now, so at least Saria can keep her little Hylian boy for the time being." She said in a teasing manner while at the same time giving Saria a sly look.
"Hey!" Saria protested, rounding on Fado as everyone continued to walk, she herself kept walking but turned a bit to glare at the other Kokiri girl, planting her hands on her hips while giving Fado an annoyed glare, "I'm just trying to help Guts out!" she admitted, before giving Guts an embarrassed chuckle while glancing over at him, who gave her a passing look, "Honest!"
Guts offered a shrug, his expression remained simple and unbothered by the conversation, kept his eyes forward between the two girls, "Doesn't matter to me…gives me more time to figure out what to do…all I've known was fighting for my life…" He remarked, earning a somber look from Saria, a curious one from Fado and while Mido kept to himself, he harrumphed with his arms crossed and head turned away.
As the group continued their trek through the woods, a the sudden sound of howls from dozens of canines could be heard echoing through the entire lost woods, making everyone halt in place and put on guard; Mido had to quickly pull his sword and shield off from his back to wield them, his expression was now uncertain and cautious, "w-w-what the? Why does it sound like there's dozens of them howling!?" he demanded, some nervous sweat fell from his brow.
As the self professed boss of the Kokiri, he did not want to show any cowardice like the last time, especially in front of the girls, not to mention he'd look pathetic compared to the Hylian boy; glancing over at the boy in question, the outsider looked angry and defensive while holding his axe out defensively. No, Mido did not want to look pathetic at all, when compared to the Hylian boy who looked ready to tear the potential threat apart.
For Saria, she was never one to fight, but she did keep a few deku nuts on hand for emergencies; she looked around cautiously as more howls echoed from the far west of the woods, the guttural noises sounded like they were coming closer. Saria looked over at Guts, and noticed he was already looking ready to fight the threat head on; looking over at Mido too, the boy was looking nervous and scared, but he was doing his best attempt at looking brave.
But they were doubtlessly outnumbered, judging by the number of howls.
Fado on the other hand, quickly pulled out her slingshot; the best she could do was aim at the threat's eyes and make a run for it, but with everyone she was with, they all needed to make a run for it. They were nowhere near the haven that was the Kokiri village, the staple of their home and where most of the Great Deku Tree's power persisted and ward off all threats.
But now they were out in the Lost Woods, unprotected by the Deku Tree.
Guts had other broiling emotions swelling up in him, some he didn't understand and others he was more than acquainted with; fear, anger, the need to survive, and a foreign, the need to protect his benefactors that took him in and healed him. There was just one problem, he didn't have his sword, just the axe. It'd do some of the work in fending against the potential threat.
"Oi! Mido!" Guts called out with an annoyed grunt, keeping his guard up with his axe, while facing towards the incoming threat of wolves, "Take the girls back! Make a run for it! I'll hold back whatever's coming back!" He commanded, a snarl escaping his throat as more howls echoed off through the woods, heading toward his direction.
He had stories of wolves hunting down soldiers for killing their fellow wolves in revenge, but it wasn't as if he wasn't going to lay down and let those wolves kill him at the time; he had refused to die, he wanted to live, and now those remaining wolves brought more with them to settle the score.
Fine with him, he'd kill them all, and this time, he wasn't injured nor tired.
Mido sneered over at Guts, but kept his mouth shut. His knees already felt like they were shaking, and the Hylian boy was giving him an out to look cool by taking the girls back to the village for safety.
Saria opened her mouth to speak and protest, "What? No!" she shook her head, and glared at Guts, "We should all leave together!" she insisted.
Guts didn't look back at her, but replied back with an annoyed grunt, "whatever those wolves are coming for, it has to be me. I'm probably the one they are after." He explained, "I fought off a pack while escaping into the woods, and now they're coming back with more numbers to retaliate back!" he snarled in distaste, seething at the threat headed his way. He'd make sure to finish the job this time.
Fado on the other hand, knew something was wrong with the picture, and it was that Guts had no sword and only the axe to fight with; Running over to grab Saria's hand, who looked at her in a betrayed way, Fado looked back at her with a rare stern look, "Come on! We need to run back home and get Guts's sword! He can't fight with just an axe!" she pointed out.
Eyes widened in realization, before looking at Guts with uncertainty, she moved her mouth to speak before Guts cut her off.
"Get going! I can't fight whatever wolves are coming while you're all in the way!" Guts shouted back at the three of them, his gaze was wild in nature as if his primal nature was going into flight or fight, and his was going full force into fight; his mouth snarled in anger at the three of them.
But Saria was beginning to understand why Guts wanted the three of them to leave, for the mere week of peace and kindness he was given in contrast to the harsh life outside the woods, the boy had found something more than himself to fight for rather than simply fighting for survival. With a quick nod from Saria, she looked at Fado and gave her a firm look, "Right! We need to go!" she said quickly, before the two sprinted off, with Mido tailing behind to cover the rear.
While Mido was just outside of sight though as he ran, he gave a backwards glance to the outsider, "...Better not die…" he moped under his breath. The last thing he needed was Saria and Fado to be depressed for who knows how long over a single outsider.
The Beast King
Sniffing at the border of the woods, he howled to the sky after finding scent again of the human pup that had slain the pack of wolves under his control; it was a week old smell, but his powerful snout was able to pick up the scent against all odds and impossibility. The beast was above all other wolves and wolvos, over twice the size of any ordinary wolf and on his hind legs he stood over all wolfos.
The Beast's commanding force of dozens of canines howled with him, before he continued his trek into the woods, the injured wolf pack leader not far behind him with his pack as well. "Sniffed something else in the air…the human pup was just with some other…" The Beast sniffed again as he sprinted through the woods, his mouth curled into a nasty smile, "Smells like grass pups…that Tree's pups…" He described.
"Was?" The wolf barked back at his mighty leader, his eyes giving the beast a cursory glance before looking on ahead in his sprint, "Our Howls…it alerted the pup…he sent them away?" He questioned.
The beast laughed evilly in a guttural fashion, delight in his red seething eyes, "The pup knows we are coming…I intended our barks and howls to let our presence be known…he intends to fight us all off…such arrogance!" The beast crowed in eagerness to focus on tearing the boy limb from limb.
The wolf however was uncertain, the human pup was already able to fight off an entire pack on his own, while injured, he even remembered how the boy looked; tired, dazed, weary, and on his final breath.
But in the end, the human pup fended off his entire pack and sent them off from sustaining any more loss in their numbers.
And yet, here they were, about to try and settle the score; the wolf was entirely unsure if the second time would be any closer in the death of the human pup, a week was more than enough time for the boy to heal significantly up. Giving his mighty leader a glance, the wolf took in some satisfaction that beyond his death against the boy, there was no way he'd survive the fight against the mighty beast.
No other beast, wolf or wolfos had ever come close to managing any semblance of digging a claw into him or sink their fangs into his hide; the beast was just on another plane of beasthood, it was one of the main reasons the beast commanded so many packs under his authority.
As the Beast continued leading his entire packs through the woods, keeping the scent of the human pup in his mind and following it to where he could tell where the boy was, he steered clear of the boundary of the Tree's domain; as much as it annoyed him, he could never enter the territory of the tree and his pups. The tree had some sort of barrier of some kind that repelled any and all beasts, including him.
He sniffed the air again. The smell he sniffed earlier, clued the beast that the human pup had taken shelter at edge of the woods, an attempt to most likely recover from his wounds; the other scents he picked up, were three separate other ones, leading the beast to believe the children of the tree picked the human pup up and took him into their village of protection.
After having sniffed again, he had smelled the three same scents that had parted from the human pup and were already in their village; whatever they intended to do, they should just cower in their village and stay there if they knew what was good for them.
"Are we anywhere near… the pup?" The wolf pack leader questioned the beast, earning an annoyed guttural snarl, but expressed an amused toothy grin nonetheless.
"Yes…" The beast spoke back to the wolf, the scent of the boy becoming clearer and closer, "He's waiting for us…such foolishness…" He remarked devilishly.
For the wolf however, his gaze was full of uncertainty, he still remembered how feral and wild the boy fought, how the human pup snarled like a wild dog barking at a threat, willing to take them all down with him.