Into the Wild

Chapter 2

"Who's the new guy?" Groose asked the soldier sitting beside him in the mess hall. The transferee had been going on, loudly, about all the thing's he had heard about their Princess Zelda. Most of the things he was saying were far from respectful. While Groose agreed that Princess Zelda was a fox, he knew better than to speak that way in this company.

"Can anyone confirm that?" The ginger new guy said, smirking. "I heard her ass is..."

Everyone was silent and staring at the doorway. The new guy turned to look and a young, blond haired, blue eyed knight stood in the doorway.

"That's our princess you're talking about." The blond youth said without a hint of amusement before making his way to the table.

The new guy felt cocky upon looking at this young man. He was clearly way too young to be of any authority. "And what is it to you?"

The boy calmly stared down the newcomer. From the corner of his eye, the new guy could see a few of the other knights shaking their head as if to tell him to quit while he was ahead. Who did this guy think he was?

In the blink of an eye, the boy had a sword to the new guy's throat. "It is a matter of honour. I will not have my men speaking about any woman that way, much less our princess."

The new guy stood up in anger, knocking the bench he'd been sitting on over in the process. "What's your problem? I'll kick your ass!" The new guy went to pull his sword from his side.

The youth used the flat of the blade to knock his hand away from the pommel of his sword. "If you need me to drive the point home, I'll gladly do it outside."

The boy turned on his heel and paced out the door to the practice yard. The new guy stood there stunned for a moment then turned to the soldier nearest him, "Who is that guy?"

"That's Link. He is the best fighter here... by far." The soldier responded soberly.

"Well he has never fought me!" The new guy said stubbornly as he followed Link outside.

Out in the yard, Link was waiting with his sword in hand in the practice ring. Everyone in the mess hall followed the new guy outside. He took his spot across from Link and everyone formed a circle around the ring.

"You'll regret messing with the great Mido!" Said the red haired soldier. Link only held the sword at ready – an invitation to begin.

Mido launched forward in an assault slashing and bashing downward with his sword. Link blocked three attacks before pushing in and body checking Mido backwards to create some space between them. The two circled each other and Mido launched in again, this time with a horizontal strike. Link blocked it again and this time hit Mido with the flat of his sword in the side.

Mido smirked at what he thought was a missed opportunity for Link to finish the battle. He'd been clumsy but he'd been lucky. Everyone else watching was smirking for a different reason though. They all knew it had been done purposely.

Mido started to lunge to the side with a strike but deked the other way last moment and did another horizontal slice. Link parried the blade and tapped Mido with the flat of the sword on his rear as he went by. The audience roared with laughter and Mido raged. He launched in with an all out offensive. Slash, strike, slash, swipe, stab! One after another his attacks came. Somewhere in his flurry, he managed to hit Link in the gut with the pommel of his sword. Link grunted and bent over. This was his chance! He swung his sword in a downwards strike but Link shot to the side and came in with unbelievable speed with a flurry rush of his own. Mido was flat on his back, his sword on the other side of the ring before he even knew what happened. He did a mental check of his body – only bruises. Link had been careful to only use the flat of the blade during the entire fight.