The Legend of Zelda: Zelda's Honor

Chapter 66 - Charlie Foxtrot

Seething wrath broiled up inside her as she looked down upon the trembling form of Ruto, the Zora princess who had violated her love and almost had her killed. Malon wanted nothing more than to dive her spear tip deep into the Zora's heart and watch in delicious elation the life leave the wretched woman's eyes. It was quite unlike Malon to harbor such ill will towards someone but when it came to Link, she felt very protective of her relationship to him.

"Who?" Ruto asked feebly. It was clear she had swum for countless miles and only now just stopped. She was on her hands and knees, limbs wobbling from the toil of the journey.

"You!" Malon repeated with virulence. "What are you doing here?" She raised her weapon level with Ruto's head, demanding an answer from her.

Without even looking at Malon, Ruto answered shakily, "Do you see them after me? Did I lose them?"

Malon was taken aback by the question, confused as to what the Zora meant. She looked up and scanned the frozen waters around uncertain of what Ruto was referring to. "What are you talking about? I don't see anyone."

Ruto sighed deeply before chuckling a bit at her success. This irritated Malon. "Thank the Goddesses! I was finally able to escape. They wouldn't let me leave. You have no idea how it is, being locked up as a prisoner and never being allowed to do what you want or be what you want."

Malon curled her lip in disdain at the Zora, "I clearly don't. Now answer me, what are you doing here?" She persisted.

Ruto finally looked up at her, "Where am I?"

"Why should I tell you?" Malon spat, still furious that Ruto was evading all her questions.

Ruto looked around taking stock of her surroundings, "I need to know how far I have left to travel."

Malon made a sound of frustration before responding, "Urgh! You are just east of the Gerudo desert, on the western side of the Negev Marshlands. Happy now?! Now what are you doing here? I won't ask you again!" Her voice rose to a higher pitch, but her intent was clear.

"Oh..." Ruto lamented, putting a hand to her face as she looked across the bog, "I went entirely the wrong way. Well, thank you for your assistance, I'll be going now." She acknowledged, before turning back to the water.

Seeing the Zora princess completely disregard her presence, treating her like some casual peon here to service her needs, something inside Malon flipped. She cried out in anger as she thrust the spear towards Ruto's heart. Hearing the shout, the Zora spun around only to have the wooden tip tear through the membrane of her fin that trailed down her right forearm. The force of her movement enabled the weapon to tear a gaping hole straight to the edge of it, coercing brownish red blood to spray everywhere.

Ruto screeched in agony at the sudden onslaught, "What are you doing?" She demanded.

"You don't remember me?" Malon accused, pressing forward with another attack.

Cradling her injured arm, Ruto sidestepped the maneuver and backhanded Malon across her head as she lurched past, "Should I? I've never met you before in my life." She admitted.

Recovering quickly, Malon twirled around before jabbing the spear at a slightly upward angle hoping to skewer her opponent's face, "You ambushed us here, in this very marsh. You had your assassins shoot me full of arrows!"

Ruto pitched her upper body backwards to avoid the well-aimed stroke, "Assassins? Wait...you mean Naar's men?" A semblance of who this girl was began to form in Ruto's mind. With effortless grace born from her combat training given to her while in the service as Naar's Dark Mistress, she swung her leg out low tripping Malon, causing her to tumble sideways.