The Legend of Zelda - The Tainted Blade (Season 3)

The Virtue of Monsters - (S3:E10)

Adara walked into the village of East Akkala late in the night. Thunder rumbled off the shores of the Eastern Sea, a harbinger of rains to come. Inside the inn, she found a snoring attendant, a dumpy old man with his ripe belly peaking beneath a ragged shirt. He sat propped against a wall, leaning back in a wooden chair, and a hat balanced on the bridge of his nose to cover his eyes.

Adara pounded her fist on the tall counter separating them. The man jerked awake, sliding his hat back into place and slamming the chair back to the ground. One eye remained in a half squint as he lumbered to the counter. He rifled in a box of keys.

"I don't need a room," she said.

"Then what the devil are you doing here?" he growled.

"I need to hire a messenger," she said. "And I need parchment, ink, and wax."

The man narrowed his one good eye, studying her. "That stuff's not free."

She plopped down a small bag of gold. "This is all yours for what I ask, a messenger who will leave immediately, and no questions."

The man eyed the bag greedily. He reached for it and Adara snatched it away. She plucked two coins from it and slammed them to the counter.

"This is for good faith. You'll get the rest when you bring me what I need."

He took the coins and nodded. Waving to a table in the deserted dining room, he said, "Have a seat, miss. I'll get you what you want."

"And a meal," she added.

He paused, then nodded with a sigh.

Adara took her seat and waited. Other voices roused in the back rooms where the kitchen and inn keeper's quarters were located. Soon, the man returned with the parchment, a quill and ink, and a candle. She thanked him and smoothed out the parchment. The man hung around until Adara glared at him and he scuttled away back to the kitchen.

It only took a few minutes to pen her letter. She rolled it tightly, flattened it, and dripped wax upon the seam. With the new signet ring given her by King Gazamin, she pressed the seal of her royal station into it.

The innkeeper brought a bowl of stew, a small plate of bread and cheese, and a mug of ale. With him came a scrawny young man of no more than twenty, if even that old.

"Hurchel here will deliver your letter. His horse is waiting for him outside. He'll leave immediately," said the innkeeper.

Adara rose and studied the young man. "You'll ride through the night, as fast as you can, to Tarrey City. Find the Fyson household in the old city. Show him the seal and tell him this letter must be sent to the Citadel as quickly as possible."

The young man's eyes widened and his face paled.

"Repeat it back to me, Hurchel," she said.

Hurchel did, not missing any detail. Adara nodded and handed over the letter.

"Run!" she yelled in his face.

Hurchel spun and rushed outside.

The innkeeper watched him go, concern spreading across his squinty face. When he turned, he studied Adara anew. "Who are you?"

"No questions," she said. "And no one is to know I was here." She plopped the bag of gold into his hand. "Understand?"

He nodded quietly and eased away.

After eating and slipping out of the inn, the innkeeper eyeing her vigilantly from behind his counter, she walked straight to the stables. Heavy drops of rain had begun to fall, not enough to saturate the ground with rivulets, but enough to land heavily on the leaves of the trees towering above. At the stables, she hired a horse, the fastest available, according to the stablemaster. From there, she put the horse to the test, racing along the Akkala highway.