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linksthoughtbrambles · 2 years

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Deficit

Part 11 of Adventure Log+ (Sequel to Link’s Thought Brambles. I highly recommend reading in order!). (Edited 9/30/23 to tighten language). WARNING: This chapter is rated mature for horror/violence.

“Link!”

“Yes?!”

“I see hands! North by northwest!”

Where where where where where her eyes are better where the where WHERE holy crap Link what would you do if she wasn’t with you?! My goddess… Hylia preserve… can the horses even tell if they’re there? Or will one of them reach for Rionee’s legs in the dark and break them with the momentum behind her motion?

“Zelda, WHERE?!”

“Far off! Just there—near those bushes!”

Bushes. Link… come on, come ON, eyes, where where where where wh-

THERE. “Got them!” No wonder I didn’t see among all those outlines. Without Zelda I might’ve stumbled right into them myself, never mind the horses. “We attack!” GO, Rionee!

“Link?! What are you doing?!”

“Taking point!” I am NOT letting her get bitten again. Don’t let them touch her, Link. You can- “Hey!”

“ON, Tass!”

“Princess!”

“Don’t you princess me!”

“LET ME TAKE POINT!”

“We’re both injured, Link!”

“Yeah, and I’m the one with a magic sword and spooky speed in close combat!”

Oh yes, oh yes, logic, logic-

“L… ooh. Link, I shall be RIGHT behind you!”

…WOW, I won?!

…She wasn’t thinking with her head, was she? Trying to pull ahead like that? She just…

She must want to protect me. That does all sorts of things to me. Have to be practical, though. “Dismount far off, Zelda!”

“I just SAID I’d-“

“And you will! But I don’t want Tass in Rionee’s way when she veers off!”

“What’s your plan?!”

“I’d tell you if I wasn’t worried these things were more than brainless animals!”

“Horrifying thought! We ought to find out!”

“Not tonight!”

“Indeed, not!”

Good- Tass slowing. Time to GO, GO, girl. GO!

“Good girl, Rionee. Shhhh…’

You can do this, girl. Shhh. I know. You smell them on the wind, don’t you? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. We have to do this and do it fast. Shhh, listen, listen to my voice, girl. Good girl. Good Rionee. You know this one. You do. You feel my feet? I’m going to jump. I’ll fly forward, and it’ll be scary for a second but then you’ll veer left. You’ll veer, girl, won’t you? Of course, you will. You’re the smartest horse I know. You can do this.

Shhhh, shh. I know you’re scared. I’m sorry.

Closer. Closer. I see them now. Hunting hidden, rotten things by starlight. It’s straight out of someone’s nightmares. Glad they’re not mine.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five, six. Seven.

… There are at least two of them.

At least, there are if these have six like the others did…

Nine. Ten, eleven. …The twelfth must be behind that bush. Closer. Closer.

Closer.

If you’re wrong, Link, if there’s one you don’t see, you’ll kill Rionee.

You’ll kill her.

Careful.

…Zelda, quick. “ZELDAAA?! ELEVEN?!?!”

“THIRTEEN!”

S@#$ S@#$ S@#$ WHERE?!

“ON YOUR RIGHT, LINK!”

F@#$, she must be able to make some out even behind the brush. How is she doing that?! It’s so dark!! We started so far, too…

Damn. Damn. At least three, then.

The same plan should work. Just aim Rionee left and closer closer closer feet up Link near balance near on toes near grip ready nearnearnearNOW

FLYING ROLL IN THE AIR THEY’LL TRY TO GRAB BUT MISS AND YES SLICETHEYSLICEMISSEDSLICEMESLICE SLICE

AH!

Five down and soon SLICESIX COMEON COMEON COME UP WHERE ARE YOU WHERE

Six hands, Link, but maybe not from the same body MORE

THERESLICE- SEVEN!

Zelda running I hearSLICEEIGHT if I SLICENINE kill SLICETEN them SLICEELEVEN fast SLICETWELVE she’s THERE’STHIRTEEN SLICE safe!

Thirteen thirteen that’s thirteen where are the centers where are the other handsOHSTUCK

INTHEBUSHESLINK YOUF@#$ING DINGKEESE NONONONOLETGOLETGO PINNEDNONO ARMARM ITSHAND’SSOBIG AROUNDME MYARM FFFFFFFFFFFSO STRONG!

“AAAAAAH!”

“ZELDA NO-“

Oh!

Never mind Link she’s smart don’t be an ass, she’s cutting the bushes, of course, and SPINNING TOWARD ME WITH THAT SWORD WITH SO MUCH MOMENTUM OH F@#$ PLEASE DON’T HIT ME

CUT- AH! “THE HEAD, ZELDA!”

“RRRRAAAAAAH!”

Her battle cries will live in my soul FOREVER now GET THIS FRICKING HAND OFF YOU, LINK, IT’S SEVERED YOU’D THINK IT WOULD LET GO SHE’S OKAY SHE’S OKAY SHE HAS IT SHE’S WAILING ON IT SHE’S OKAY GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GETTHEF@#$OFF WHY IS IT STILL SO TIGHT?!?!?! “NGGGGGGGGGGGGGHH!”

“LINK?!”

“DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME, KILL-“

“BEHIND YOU!”

“SH!” LEAP NEVER MIND WHERE!

I heard it hit the dirt behind me whatever it was and A ROCK A ROCK BASH BASH BASH BASH BASH GET OFF ME BASH BASH BASH YES!

SHE HAS THAT HEAD THEY’RE SLOW THEY’RE SLOW, CUT THAT HAND, LINK!

Fourteen.

At least four… four more… where…. Stay away from the- No. CUT the bushes. Circle them fast.

Cut cut cut cut cut cut cutAH! Missed me SLICE- and that one’s clenching, too, it’s different—

Fifteen.

“DONE!”

“BUSHES, ZELDA!”

“YES- AH!”

WH- ohhh she’s- okay… she got through that arm, harder with her sword!

Sixteen.

Keep cutting, Link, HAND SLICE- seventeen… the field’ll be less pretty in the morning butFACE. Guess number seventeen was your hand, huh?

Go ahead. Try and biteOH nopeSTRIKESTRIKESTRIKESTRIKESTRIKESTRIKE

And you’re down.

Yes?

Yes you are.

One more. “Do you see it?!”

“I do not.”

“Bushes!” Not here not here not here not here no not here either where the hell is it one more one more one more one more

“AAaaAH!”

”ZELDA!” WHAT?WHAT? WHEREDIDTHESECOMEFROM NONONONONOLETHERGO! SLICE SLICE DODGE THE HEAD’S UP TO BITE HER “NO!” THENECKTHENECKTHENECK YESTHROUGHITSLIDESLIDE YOUCANDOITLINK CUT ITS HEAD OFF “RRRRKH-GHAAA!” YES “HH” YES “HH” YES “HH” YES- “hh” yes?

“Killing the head appears to render the remaining hands still.”

She says with hardly a tremor! I know her eyes are on me now. Wish I could see them better. …Resist, Link. Resist. You can look deep into her eyes later. There may be more hands. And… “Looks… like the hands grow back, or…”

“Indeed. Or… there may simply be more of them beneath the earth… waiting to emerge, when needed.”

“It took… what? How long were we looking for the eighteenth before the others showed up?

“I’m not sure. Not… not long at all. Thirty seconds? I … shall endeavor to pay closer attention next time.”

“Next time, Zelda…. We take them out as fast as possible.”

“Heh. As though we weren’t trying this time.”

Ohhh, no, don’t put that hand on my arm, I’ll totally lean into it and there I go…

I’m… sensing a smile on her face.

“A brief investigation of the area, I think.”

“…Yeah. Bushes.”

“Indeed, but—“

…She’s checking the ground?

“…Link… feel the earth. Just here.”

Alright.

“It’s… just grass. Dirt.”

“Link, these things were moving here. Why is nothing disturbed? It ought to have occurred to me before.”

Oh.

OH.

“What the HELL?”

“Indeed. I… have no explanation for this. Link, when the main body emerges, oughtn’t it leave a gaping hole in the earth?”

“Wow…. Wooow….. they move, too—the bodies—but there’s no trench. There’s nothing!”

“This must be some manner of magical effect.”

“Didn’t Fi say… she did. Fi said I had to rip it apart to break the spell. Oh, Fi?!”

Cue Zelda getting the slate out. Trying to shield its glow with her hair…

I’ll help. Huddle-time.

She didn’t answer me.

“Fi.”

I must assume you wish me to pause, master.

“Yes, please. Do you know-“

I am aware of your conversation, master. In previous encounters with Dead Hands, they also left ground undisturbed by their passage. I admit I was unaware they were capable of moving here at the surface. I’d categorized them as spider-like, waiting for prey to wander into their limited range deep in the darkest places in the earth. A… previous hero acquired a lens which allowed him to detect them beneath the ground.

“You can’t detect them? I thought you could sense magic.”

There are limits to my abilities, master. To me, these creatures are as invisible as they are to you until they emerge above ground.

“Do you know why?”

Not with certainty. I estimate an 84% probability of repression fields so perfect as to be undetectable even to me.

“Like the Yiga weapons?”

But at a masterful level. Yes.

“I should’ve asked you this before, and I bet the answer’s no, but… can you do the ‘dowsing’ thing to spot them far off?”

Perhaps I could if I could detect them, master. I cannot. In most cases, I cannot detect types of creatures regardless.

“What about the hands, Fi? I can spot them at distance, and I am limited by my Hylian eyesight. Can you see them earlier?”

I have no eyesight, Princess.

Woah. “What? I thought- I thought you could-“

I cannot see, Master. I can detect vibrations… the presence and magnitude of light striking the sword’s surface… but I do not have the benefit of lensed ocular sensory organs.

She makes it sound disgusting. “How does the dowsing work, then?”

The detection method is magical and entirely different from sight, master. I can sense direction, yes, but not shape as your eyes would. Your eyes, in fact, are the only ones I have.

“Wait, what?!”

I see what you see.

“…Why?”

Because you see it. Just as I feel what you feel. I see what you see, hear what you hear.

“… And taste, and smell?”

Everything you experience, master. Yes.

“This hero thing keeps getting weirder.”

“…Thank you, Fi.”

A pleasure to serve, Princess. May I resume my calculations?

“Link?”

“Yeah—of course. Thanks.”

Slate away.

Better give my eyes a second. The screen’s so bright compared to everything else.

“In a moment, let’s move together through the brush—try to ensure nothing else lurks here.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“Eh-hehhh. Link… you need not speak to me so. No one else is here.”

“Habit. You gave me an order. Heheh.”

“It was merely a suggestion!”

“Kmph.”

“What?!”

“So what would you do if I said no?”

“I would attempt to persuade you otherwise.”

“You’re so reasonable.”

“I endeavor to be.”

“You didn’t used to be.”

“…No. No, indeed. I wasn’t. I’m sorry.”

“W-wait, Zelda, I’m sorry, that wasn’t meant—I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad-“

“Of course not, Link—yet it’s true. I was most unreasonable when you first entered my service. I apologize.”

Oh no, oh no if you kiss me even a little I’ll-

Too late.

So soft.

Still can’t see her eye color.

“I’d like to make it up to you.”

“Ohhh, you already have.”

“Not enough.”

“Heh... Well, I’m sure not going to stop you.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

-----

You’re done, monster. That’s. IT!

…Melt into the ground… like all the others… and may all your Goddess-damned hands go down with you…

What… do their remains do to the earth when they sink into it?

Goddess knows…

Seven down.

------

“Do you see any more?!”

“No, Link.”

Eleven down. “How’s the hilt wrap holding up?”

“It’s secure. It’s fortunate Reeb and Laysha had the leather.”

“Even so… you’ll probably have blisters. I’m sorry, Zelda—you shouldn’t-“

“This is where I’m meant to be, Link.”

“Nooo, it isn’t.”

“I am fighting for my people.”

“In close combat without training.”

“It’s clear I don’t have the practiced ease you do with the longsword, but it’s manageable.”

“You’ve taken out your fair share for sure, but it’s still dangerous.”

“Indeed.”

She’s smiling at me, isn’t she? It’s in her voice.

“We shall overcome it together.”

-----

“RRRGH- ugh.” Disgusting. These things, just… it’s like cutting into a rotting ham. The body doesn’t even have any bones. What lets these things move around?

Disintegrating.

Thirteen down.

“I feel rather as though I would prefer some other weapon.”

“A bow?”

“Well, yes, but—for close combat, I think something shorter than this. And perhaps… one in each hand.”

One weapon in each hand? That's not common. You see it sometimes in stories. “When we get back… we’ll try you on everything—let you find what you’re looking for.”

“I hope it exists, and not that I am merely delusional.”

“Hhhh. I doubt itOHHH- that you’re delusional, I mean! Sorry-“

“I understand. Please don’t fret.”

Ohhhhh her hand on my face is mesmerizing even with how filthy it is. I’d be neglecting it if I didn’t give it the nuzzle and kiss it deserves.

“Hmhmm.”

Her hair… a dark sail against the stars. Still beautiful, the way it moves. “Any new wounds?” Wrist. Kiss that, too.

“Hhh-hh. No. You?”

“No. They’re not too difficult to deal with if you know how.”

“And… if one is strong and quick as we are.”

“Yeah.” The one that pinned my sword-arm to my side… even my strength couldn’t release me from it. Without Zelda, that one would’ve bitten me for sure. I… have to be more careful. If I can’t break free, anyone else is utterly screwed.

Including Zelda. “…We should go. I do NOT want them to reach that farmhouse with nine kids in it.”

Nine… kids…

No, no Link. You’ll make it. They won’t be like… Marc. And Challa.

You won’t. You won’t have to kill nine kids.

You won’t.

If they-

If they ARE-

I am not letting her do it.

I’ll do it.

She seems okay now, but I know how she is.

She takes her time thinking about things.

It bothered her that it 'didn't bother' her to kill Carok guy. It means she was thinking about it. Spending her energy… picking her own decisions and feelings apart.

I won’t let her kill nine kids.

Can I handle it?

Who knows.

But if it comes down to it, I’ll… I’ll do it-

“Link?”

Crap, Link, wake up! “Sorry.” One more kiss for that hand. “Let’s go.”

“…Yes. Hph-hh. Tass!”

“Rionee!”

Here- good girl… these two are so smart. They know what to stay away from. It’s just so dark tonight… “There… you still okay?”

That’s not the happiest sound she’s ever made. Better check that haunch… Where… no… there it is. It doesn’t feel hot or swollen. Good. No upset-noises at me while I poke it, either. Double-good.

She’s okay for now. Up I go. “You good, Zelda?”

“Ready. Tass is unharmed.”

“Good. Go, girl!”

That air feels so good on my face. I don’t even want to know what I look like. Spattered with… whatever those things spout when we cut them.

Eyes out, Link. Scan, scan, scan, scour to the horizon’s edge everywhere you can, anything sticking up, anything at all, keep watch, one good grip on any of Rionee’s legs and she’s down for good. There’s no coming back from that out here.

For a horse, there’s no coming back from that anywhere unless it’s the mildest fracture ever.

There’s never been something like this. Something where there’s a good chance of losing Rionee. I’d have turned away from it until now. I never put her at real risk if I could help it.

CAN’T help it. Not this time. If this was their plan… whoever they are… it’s working. It’s us. Alone. Out here, at speed, vulnerable in the dark. Zelda’s horse is the most visible thing for miles with his white coat, and even he looks close to black. We’re putting all our trust in the horses’ instincts.

I hope Reeb and Laysha’s horses are as smart as ours… “Zelda!”

“Yes!”

“How fast do you think these hand things move?”

“Hooves, too loud!”

“How fast do you think these hand things move?!”

“I’ve little sense for it! We come upon them so quickly! We’d need to watch them closely while hidden, while still! As we approach I see little but the speed of our own horses!”

“Same here!” Even she can’t tell with that eyesight of hers. Her sense of timing. We get through this, we should test it.

Well, look at me. Scientist-Link.

“It does at least seem unlikely these creatures had passed Reeb and Laysha’s home!”

“It does!“ They’d’ve been better off making camp on a roof if we thought otherwise.

“…It was the right thing to do, Link!”

“I know! I know… I just- can’t help but think…” we might’ve sent them to their deaths.

And that poor dog could die alone in their barn.

Priorities, Link…

“They wished to aid us!”

“I know!” Don’t feel bad, don’t feel bad… How else could we tell anyone else what’s happening?

What’ll it be like in Castle Town if we disappear into the darkness out here along with all the inhabitants of Irch farmland?

Total panic?

…It’ll take them all night, minimum… unrealistically insane minimum. To warn the farmers to the east… then loop around to the logging village. That’s if they can convince their neighbors to use a fresh horse to do that. Laysha and Reeb really ought to be the ones to go. They saw the creatures and us first-hand…

The slate would prove it’s true but no way by all the expanses of sky above us can we allow that. We’d have to go ourselves, and it’s just not okay to do that. Because there’s no one… NO one… more capable of taking these things out than us.

Than me, really, since arrows aren’t effective. Damn shame, that. She’d have to hit one of those arms five or six times in the same spot to sever it completely.

Intentional?

Probably.

Right? “Zelda!”

“Yes?!”

“Do you think they meant for arrows not to work well?!”

“I suspect so!”

There you go, Link.

We’re in a trap and riding deeper into it every second. We can’t turn around because we’re not total dicks. We’re… not dicks at all. You established, didn’t you, Link, that even Mipha’s more of a dick than you are? “Ha!”

“Link?!”

“Sorry!”

“What is it?”

Do I tell her?

She won't be mad at me, will she? “…Saving foxes?!”

“People aren’t foxes, Link!”

“That’s not what everyone said about Ria!”

“There’s a difference!”

Is there? “What difference?!”

“You’re not currently at death’s door, Link! It’s not a one-to-one trade!”

“But it’s a trap!”

“Certainly!”

“…Do you think the hands are the trap?!”

“I doubt that’s the last of it!”

“…Same!”

-----

SLICE- AUGH! So disgusting…

Fourteen.

-----

CarefulZELDAZELDA- YES! “You are AWESOME. I hope you know that.”

“Someone keeps reminding me!”

“Heh-hh.”

Fifteen.

None have managed to bite us since that first one, but I know I’m bruised to s$#@. She must be, too.

-----

F@#$- “STAY THE F@#$ AWAY FROM MY HORSE, YOU ROT-PILE!” OH- YOU MISSED ME. YOUR MISTAKE- STRIKESTRIKESTRIKESTRIKESTRIKE

DONE?

DONE??!

Dammit, notHAND SLICE- ANOTHER- ZELDA! ”BEHIND Y- YES! LAST HAND!” Cut this thing to ribbons, Link, cut it cut it CUT IT CUT CUT CUT

… You’re done, now, monster. Done…

Zelda. “You’re… hh… getting better at this fast.”

“Hmm, so I was already, ah- awesome-“

“Kmph.” How can her smile sparkle when I can’t even see it?

“-but I’m improving?”

“Hph. Yeah.”

“Are you certain?”

“It’s pure truth.”

“You couldn’t possibly be biased?”

“We’re fighting magically animated rotting meat monsters or whatever in near-darkness and you’re holding your own. If I’m biased, it’s not much.”

“Hhh. I see.”

…That… sounded different- “Are you okay?”

…That’s too long, she’s not, she’s not okay- “Zelda-“ Cup her face, Link. Can’t tell-

“Link, I…“

She’s not crying… “I dragged you out here. I shouldn’t-“

“You did no such thing.”

“I told you I recommended-“

“And I agreed with you. I cannot leave these people to die.”

“I’m your knight, Zelda. You say the word, and we’ll turn around.”

“That word shall most certainly not be said.”

…Hey, self? You could’ve talked to the slate while she was still south of you. You could’ve told her specifically to send Beraya or Margil. You didn’t. She could’ve stayed with Chee, headed to the lab.

But no, I didn’t do that at all. I just said I recommended we check the farms.

“I can hear your mind making its predictable spiral into self-recrimination even without the slate, you know”

“Hphh. I am pretty predictable.”

“Indeed. Your mother agrees with me.”

“So would my father, if he were here.”

“Well, before your thoughts continue their course, please don’t misunderstand me, Link. It’s not the monsters themselves which disturb me so, unnatural as they may be.”

“…What is it, then?”

“Rather as dealing with our would-be assassin, Link… this is… a practical matter.”

Ohhh no. No, don’t do it, this is what I was worried about when she thinks-

“I find myself in a great deficit of shock.”

“…You’re not surprised. That’s okay-”

“Surprised, certainly, I am that. I’d never have expected such things to infest this idyllic plain. I am NOT, however, shocked. I do not feel this horror, this dread, at their very existence. They are… as pests to be dealt with, and I shall deal with them. It seems… uncanny. But- listen to me, wasting precious time. TASS!”

“…Here, Rionee! …Zelda, you WERE… SO shocked… so upset, by the child we found-“

“That’s different. That’s one of our people, dead. A child, dead. I feel for that child, Link, and I would avenge him. Yet the monsters themselves—they hold little horror for me. Do you not find this odd for one such as I, who has spent a lifetime comfortable and sheltered, shielded even from the least threatening of creatures to roam our land?”

“…Not really, no?”

“Truly? Why?”

“Because… I was the same way.”

“I thought these creatures disturbed you far more than I.”

“The ReDeads… those, yes. Those…”

“Good boy, Tass. Let’s check…”

“They’re… th- Goddess. Goddess, Zelda they’re people. They’ve… Goddess, Zelda. They’ve turned me into a murderer.” No, Link. No. No. Shaking? Bad time for it.

Rionee. “Good girl.”

“No they haven’t, Link. They haven’t. Those... were no longer people. We oughtn’t- ah-uh-"

"Zelda?!"

"One apparently feels a jammed knee keenly when mounting.”

“Jammed, are you okay?!”

“I’m well enough. Link?”

“...Okay. Just checking Rionee.” Very briefly. And… up. “Shhh. There, there, good girl.” On. Let's go.

“You’re not a murderer, Link.”

Almost to that farm, I think. Nineteen Dead Hands so far. Right? I don’t think I lost count… “Nineteen, Zelda?”

“…Yes...”

So far.

-----

Twenty-two.

-----

Twenty-four.

----

House.

Please.

Please?

It’s been a while since we saw one of those things…

It’s so late. It’s unlikely there’d be light, at least not much, at this hour. They’ll all be asleep… some embers in a fireplace, maybe, and that’s about it.

I don’t see any ‘baby trees.’

Hell. How do we even approach them? We’ll scare them half to death in their beds. “It looks peaceful!”

“Agreed!”

“Do we shout?!”

“…I think so, but not quite yet!”

Not yet, no. They could probably hear the galloping at this point if they’re awake, but shouting now at best would be hard to make out.

How long has it been? How much of the night has passed?

The lovers’ constellation would’ve been on the eastern horizon at sunset. Right? Right? Why don’t you pay more attention to these things, Link? You don’t have to be an astronomer. Just look up at night more than once or twice a month.

It used to help. At least a little. When hunting those f@#$ing bastards who killed-

No. No, don’t think about that either, Link. You have enough bad things to not think about.

She can check the slate next time we dismount. Check its clock. That works.

I don’t feel tired. Hunting. It keeps me focused.

“HELLO!”

She can really project.

“HELLO! WE BRING NEWS! HELLO! WE BRING NEWS!”

Come on. Come on, please. Anyone?

Come on. Make the sweat and this… fluid-grime… worth it. Come on.

“WE BRING NEWS! WE BRING NEWS! HELLO!”

“NEWS! WE BRING NEWS!”

Oh no.

No, come on. Please.

“HELLO!”

Please.

“WE BRING NEWS! WE-“

YES!

“HOOOOY!”

“HELLO!!”

“HEEEY!” Guy’s in his jammies which is frankly the best possible sign-

“TAKE IT EASY THERE! WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT NEWS?!”

”A MOMENT! WE’LL DISMOUNT!”

…He’s holding something. An axe for splitting wood, maybe.

Just… just be careful, Link. Your presence here is strange to say the least. They have a right to be cautious.

Big house. Looks like it’s been built in patches. Probably every time a couple more kids showed up.

“ALRIIIIGHT! FAR ENOUGH, OFF NOW, OFF!”

“Woah, girl-“ “Easy, Tass. Good boy.”

“Yes. Yes, that’s it, boy. You must be tired.”

Bet he’s frothing. Bet they both are.

Ground. So much riding.

Approach first, Link… hands up. “Sorry to give you a scare. Are you Cawlin, or-“

“I’m Gorsdadd. HEY CAWL!”

“WHAT?”

“IT’S JUST TWO! Sorry, but it’s strange you out here like this. I know how to use an axe, so don’t get any closer.”

Yeaaaah. And here’s Cawlin with a bright oil lamp.

And wow, both their eyes just got real wide. We must look like some absolute s@#$.

“What in blazes is all over you two? Mud?”

“It’s bloody green, what did you roll around in?!”

“It’s monster blood. Or… whatever you call what’s been coming out of them.”

Zelda’s grabbing the sla- “Oh!” My GODDESS it’s worse than I thought!

“W-what is it, Li- oh. Ohh.”

Yeah. I must… look as bad as she does. Worse, actually. We’re covered in spatter. It’s staining her hair.

Can you-?

Yeah… you can kind of see the designs on our tunics. It’s not a pretty sight.

Hylia.

Hylia, her wound.

MY wound.

We’ll have to change everything again. We can’t… just leave that crap to inch its way through bandages. Reeb’s clearly good at patching things up but once a bandage is dirty it’s useless, no matter how well-dressed the wound is.

“S@#$. You- come. Come inside. You- holy-“

“I’m afraid we can’t stay long.”

I’m glad she’s recovered enough-

“We’re on an errand of mercy.”

-to speak at least…

“We’ve been to two of your neighbors’ homes and hunted creatures between them. We’re pleased—so pleased—to see you alive and well, and unconcerned, for the things roaming this plain in the dark tonight are deadly. They’ve taken the lives of Marc and Challa, and their family.”

“What?!”

“M… Cha… the kids, too?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I…”

...And now that axe is loose in his hand. He believes us.

“I bring… I’m sorry, but I do feel it’s necessary to show you proof of what we’ve seen. Please… this is a Sheikah Slate. This image… is what became of… Marc.”

They can’t even close their mouths.

Can’t say I blame them.

Don’t.

Don’t picture it, Link.

There’s no silver lining in that. Just regret.

Don’t.

Come on, Link.

You can put it out of mind. Like when they killed-

Nope.

“G-Goddess. Hylia. They… all like this? Even Rin?”

…They mean the kid, don’t they.

Zelda?

Oh-

“All of them, yes.”

A shiny streak. “Hey.”

Her eyes in the oil light. They still end up looking almost black.

“Ah- ah, miss. Wh- what can we do for you?”

“Nothing, indeed, I thank you. We’re here to warn you of this. Creatures attacked Reeb and Laysha’s home as well- ah- they’re safe. They’ve ridden east first with a warning, and also intend to warn the loggers near shore.”

“Bloody- that’s not an easy ride this time of night. Sometimes you get bokos skulking outta those hills.”

“Indeed. They’d said as much. But- as you see- whatever is happening is extremely dangerous. We recommend evacuation. Temporarily, at least.”

Here we go. This is going to take a few minutes of talking at least. Better… better clean my hands-

“Hey!”

“Sorry! Just-“

“Yeah, I see the alky you pulled out. Don’t bother. We have plenty and we’re not dealing with… the horrors you’re obviously meeting. We’ll help. Keep your own supplies. You need clean clothes?”

“No. Just- eh. She has a bandage.”

“Yeah, let’s see to that, too.”

“I thank you, sirs.”

“Nah, no sirs here. But you’re welcome, anyway.”

We’re lucky, really, to have decent people in our path.

“OY, RANA!!!”

It helps a lot.

“HALLEN!! EVERYONE UP!”

Link? When you… eventually… hopefully… get back to the castle? You’re going into castle town and buying an absolute cartload of supplies and you’re stuffing this pouch full of them.

I’m an idiot for not doing it sooner. I have a good amount, but clearly a good amount isn’t enough. I need to be ready for surprise splinter-trips that might last many days and involve getting sprayed with monster guts a dozen times or more in a night.

“Link. Come. We ought to be finished and gone as quickly as possible, on to the next farm.”

“Yeah.” The next one.

That map. We raced here first because of the kids, and with how many Dead Hands we killed, it was absolutely the right move. They would have already passed the one further west.

We’re going to find death there, aren’t we?

Probably.

Her hand in mine.

“There is hope, Link.”

“The faster we are, the more there is.”

“Yes.”

“Alright, Hallen’s boiling water, we’ll get those wounds cleaned. You gotta clean those torsos, too. We’ll give you privacy.”

“We must be quick-“

“It won’t take long. You’ll thank us when you don’t get gangrene. Awww- hell, miss, that hair. HALLEN!”

“YEAAAH?!”

“THERE’S LONG HAIR INVOLVED!”

“MOOORE WATER, THEN.”

“I… suppose I ought to put it out of the way after this.”

Should’ve braided it like Beraya.

Actually, that’s not good enough for this. It can still swing and spread stuff to her shoulder.

Nope. We’re going to put it all up on her head, somehow. Finally, all the times I did my sister’s hair’ll pay off. Other than it being nice at the time.

Speed, Link. Speed-braid and speed-twist and speed-pin. You got this.

Oh.

If… there are pins. Hair-ties, those I have.

I’ll ask.

Will it be weird?

Nnnnno, it won’t. Because it’s obvious why she needs them.

Heck, I can use twigs off the ground if I have to.

“Link?”

“You first, Princess. I’ll keep watch. Just in case. Oh- thanks-“ alcohol for hands, definitely a good idea in the meantime-