Symphony of a Stranger

[Eldrin/Vai]

A harmonica wailed its sad song in long wavy notes. Reverberating off of the trees and drawing the gaze of the Kokiri. Cai was the strangest man the children had seen in a long while. He had wild brown hair and his green eyes almost seemed to glow in the dying light of late evening. He had charmed the Kokiri with his melancholy melody, gaining their trust easily. They offered him shelter, and even some supplies for his journey. And now he lead a bay horse by the reins, trudging through the thick foliage. His strange eyes were set with a kind of aloof determination as he left the domain of the Kokiri. His horse was named Sinuile, she was a fine steed, one of the few creatures that understood her master. He had bought her from a stranger for two lies and a fine bottle of gin when she was just a filly. Like her master, Sinuile seemed not to notice the wildlife around them.

After walking for a long while Cai stopped to take a break for a while and seated himself on a stump. He rummaged around in his bags until he found an apple for Sinuile. He had always had a strange connection with animals, and it was strongest with Sinuile. "Don't worry Sinny, the hard part's over anyway. We're in Hyrule, and we've escaped our pursuers. I'd call that progress!" He said, feeding the apple to the horse. Cai made a small campfire, and with a little pilfering from a nearby snare, had dinner started within the hour. It was a rather scrawny rabbit, but a good enough meal for one person. Sinuile busied herself with grazing in a nearby patch of grass. There was no need to tie her down, as she had no reason to leave. He found a flask in one of his bags and was just about to look for a water source to fill it in when he heard the telltale crunching of leaves around him. He looked up to see himself surrounded on all sides. One man stepped forward, addressing Cai, who sat in the grass in front of the fire.

"Ahem, sir, I am Second Lieutenant Kistev Irithus. Me and my men have come to represent the interests of the-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're here representing one or more of the many people that want me dead... What else is new?"

"W-well," the man stammered, a little surprised at how forward Cai was "Then you will understand why we have to end your life?"

"Believe me, you're welcome to try, I'm not gonna stop you..." He responded casually, turning the rabbit over to cook the other side.

Irithus stared in shock for a moment, then approached cautiously, drawing his sword. He stared at Cai warily, but the other did not even move. He simply stared at his rabbit as the pink meat slowly browned. Irithus raised his blade over his head ceremoniously, preparing to strike Cai dead.

Cai's movements were faster than his executioner had expected. He was on his feet and had grabbed Irithus's swordhand before the other could react. Before Irithus could fight back, Cai had twisted the blade out of his hand and ran him through. The man coughed violently, blood pouring out of his mouth. "Y-you said-"

"I've changed my mind." Cai said, letting Irithus fall with the blade still stuck through his chest. "And now, for the rest of you..."

Cai ran forward and slammed into his first assailant with brutal force. The man gasped in pain and reached for the hilt of his sword, but Cai had already drawn it. Cai plunged the blade into the man's abdomen. He slid the sword out of the man's gut just as a second opponent came. Cai easily dodged the man's attack and finished him with a diagonal slash across the torso. A third enemy jumped over the second just as he fell, screaming a battle cry. Cai maneuvered under the attack and caught the man on his sword. The blade burst from his back, spraying blood on the face of a fourth man. Cai shoved the man off of the blade and threw him at one of his allies. He jumped back, dodging a spear thrust, and deflected a throwing knife. Another blade came from behind, but Cai buried his sword to the hilt in the owner's chest without even looking back. He released the sword, leaving it in the man as he fell, and ducked just as an arrow flew at him. The arrow struck a tree behind him with a dull thud and quivered for a moment.

Cai backed up as his enemies got closer. He moved to the side, dodging a spear, and grabbed it. He kicked the owner of the spear in the chest, knocking him off of the weapon. More enemies ran forward as Cai spun the spear around into fighting position. Another assailant ran forward, but Cai ran him through with the spear and lifted him into the air with a grunt. He tossed the man off of the spear and swung it again, slashing another man's throat. Another arrow whizzed passed his head, telling Cai that he had to do something about the archer quick. He backed up a couple steps and threw the spear with all his might. The spear shot through the crowd and landed in the archer's sternum, sending him flying backward into a tree.

Cai moved swiftly, running through the crowd, dodging in and out of a sea of blades. He snatched the bow from where the archer dropped it and pulled the quiver off of his corpse. Shouldering the quiver, which hung by a leather strap, he ran back through the forest toward Sinuile. His enemies followed him closely. Cai picked them off slowly as he ran, ducking behind trees to avoid retaliation from enemy archers. As he drifted in and out of the forest cover his enemies slowed their pursuit, fearing his arrows. Cai took a chance and sprinted the rest of the way. When he reached the campfire, he turned and released the remaining contents of his quiver into the crowd. The first enemy to reach him had the bow broken across his skull and his sword taken. Cai clashed blades with his next opponent, smacking the other man's blade away and decapitating him. He parried three more attacks, taking one step back with each blow. Cai smiled and quickly dispatched his latest attacker with a jab between the ribs. The man stared at him in shock and fell as Cai pushed him off of the blade with his foot.

"You boys just keep coming," he muttered, catching this latest opponent's sword as it fell. "Shame you all gotta die. You're certainly a brave bunch, if a little lacking in intelligence." He dual wielded the two blades, one in front of him and the other over his head. Four men ran at him, one in front and three following. He killed the first easily with a scissor slash, ripping open his jugular vein. Then he flew into a flurry of slashes, spinning like a bladed tornado. One of the three was decapitated, and the other two were eviscerated. Cai stepped forward, blocking a sword swipe with one blade and stabbing his opponent with the other. He ripped this blade out and turned, parrying a blow from behind. He buried both blades in his assailant's chest and left them there.

He stood next to the fire and looked back at Sinuile. "Sorry, Sinny. I know you don't like violence while you're eating. I'll end this real quick for you!" The mare simply whinnied slightly through a mouthful of grass.

[Iona]

There was a tree, a rather ugly, ancient thing of live oak infested with different parasitic vines, near the campfire. The din of the fighting reached it, and its many occupants chattered or chirped nervously and retreated into their respective nests or dens. Its largest occupant was awakened from her slumber, opening her eyes in confusion to the sudden sickly sweet tang of the scent of the spilling of blood.

Iona shifted from her position on the low hanging limb, the limb only a few feet taller than the average male human, hanging at about seven feet. Laying on her back, the Gerudo looked a like a piece of the tree; her long hair could have been mistaken for a curtain of moss, her dark green Gerudo outfit blending in with the leaves, even though her excessive jewelry off set everything. Most of all, the smell of cooking meat was the most important scent she picked up and she smiled.

The Gerudo flinched as a man stumbled, blood spewing out from his wounds and fell under directly under the tree, more men replacing the dead one. She slowly lifted her hanging leg back unto the tree limb and watched as wave by wave, the men fell, only to be replaced, but their numbers dwindling until the sole man responsible for their killing was closest to the tree and somehow had created an opening from the center of the seemingly endless sea of adversaries. Iona studied the man as he spoke to his horse, who was somehow unusually aloof to the blood and the danger.

There was a break in the fighting as he did so, and she positioned herself and let herself fall from the tree, hanging by the backs of her knees, facing eye to eye with the stranger with less than an inch of distance between them. Her hair fell down in a black, thick curtain and her expertly placed makeup lined her huge, amber colored eyes. She blinked and smiled. "Food?" she inquired in a high, innocent voice, glancing at the browning meat hanging deliciously over the fire, its grease dripping into the flames. Her stomach grumbled loudly. "Food," she decided, then straightened her legs, falling from the tree roughly and hitting the ground with a painful crash.

Iona laughed for no reason than in the joy of the promise of food and whipped out a hand, effortlessly killing another archer and drawing her chainblade, twirling the wicked-looking thing around her as she drove headfirst into the fray, the chain snapping with ice-blue colored electricity.

[Eldrin/Vai]

Cai stared at the strange bejeweled woman in bemusement. She had just popped out of a tree like some kind of woodland creature. There was obviously nothing normal about this woman, but she was fighting his enemies, and that was enough. Cai could not help noticing the large amount of jewelry she wore. "Must be rich..." He assumed. It could hardly hurt to become acquainted with a wealthy woman who asked only for food.

A man charged at Cai in yet another vain attempt to kill him. Cai barely even took his eyes from the woman, roundhouse kicking his assailant into oblivion. "Is she actually helping me because she hopes that I'll reward her with my food?" He wondered as he kicked the fiery embers under the fire into the face of an enemy. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground, clutching his scorched face.

Cai quickly wrestled a sword out of the hands of another and killed him with it. Using this sword, Cai fought his way toward Sinuile and the woman, killing only those in his way. "You're pretty good," he said to the woman, thrusting his blade into the open mouth of an opponent, "but, what do you say we blow this scene? Little too crowded for my tastes..." Cai suggested. In his distraction, Cai let an attack slip through, a small slash across his side. It tore the skin and scraped his ribs, but did no severe damage. Blood soaked his clothes regardless. "And dangerous apparently," he grunted with a smirk. He kicked the man who had cut him, knocking the poor fellow into an arrow that was aimed for himself. The man fell to the ground dead, the arrow protruding from his chest.

[Iona]

Iona threw her chainblade at the throats of three adversaries closing in on her and the curved sword caught one did get one in the throat, the other across the chin and the last one across the face, cutting his eye. She finished them with electricity. Her breath caught when she saw Cai's wound. The Gerudo was concerned it would interfere with giving her a constant suply of food, and because it looked painful. "Food?" she inquired once more, moving in closer to him to strike down more enemies as he was slightly uninhibited to do so, her back almost touching his side as she rather took over the fight.

[Eldrin/Vai]

Cai relied on this strange new woman to hold back the enemies as he ran for Sinuile. One of the mercenaries had been trying to steal the horse, but she was putting up a lazy fight. Cai grabbed the mercenary by the shoulder and thrust his blade through the man's back. The mercenary let out a helpless cry as he watched the blade slide out from between his ribs, dripping with blood fresh from his own heart. Cai let the dead man drop, leaving the sword in his corpse.

"C'mon Sinny, it's about time we were on our way," he said, quickly mounting the horse and snatching up her reins. He was just about to ride off into the forest when he noticed the woman who had assisted him. She was now surrounded. It seemed that the mercenaries saw her and her electricity as a more imposing threat than Cai. She had proved a perfect distraction. And yet, he felt an inkling within him to return the favor. Of course, he knew she was a goner if he left her here. Really, it shouldn't have bothered him. He'd left plenty of pretty faces to worse fates than this, marriage among them. Still though, she was rich. Rich was good...

The mercenaries surrounding the woman scattered in fear as Cai rode through (and over) them. He held out a hand and swept her onto the back of his saddle as they rode off into the forest.

It was no easy feat, riding through such a dense forest at high speeds, but Cai managed. Before very long (though it seemed like hours), they came to a halt at the edge of the forest. Cai swung a leg over the saddle and dropped into the luscious grass that grew where Hyrule Field met Kokiri Forest. He sat down in that same grass and leaned up against a tree. "So... What do you want?" he asked bluntly. All good-natured comradery and battle-born trust gone from his face, replaced by a calm determination. In all his travels, he'd never met a person who would jump into a dangerous battle just for a bite to eat. He knew she must have some ulterior motive, and he had little patience to find out the truth the hard way. Better to take care of this now, whether it be through an exchange of words... or blades.