Copper Songbird II
By Princess Ruto

Malon fought back tears as she ran to the stable, and brought her new master a bottle of ale.

"H-here, Ingo....." She trembled as he took a swig, and glared at her with hate. He abruptly slapped her face, and seethed;

"From now on, it's Mr. Ingo to you! Now go clean out the whole barn!!!" Malon decided to stick up for herself. She stood straighter, and bravely chirped;

"I will not be your slave!!!" She realised her mistake when Ingo's fist met her jaw.

"If you don't obey me......I'll hurt you really bad........and I'll beat those horses of yours senseless!!!" He began to laugh maniacally, and went into the farmhouse...HER house. Malon ran to the stable, and to the stall of Epona. She grabbed an empty milk pail, and sat next to the horse on it. The small girl sobbed into Epona's silvery mane, and the horse snuffled her face in comfort.

"I'll never leave you alone with that man, Epona.....never!" Malon wiped her eyes on the dusty hem of her skirt, and reached for the pitchfork to shovel out the stalls.

***

Malon shivered as a chill wind blew through the cracks between the logs of the stable. Steam rose from the pail of cream under the cow that she was milking. Malon squeezed the last bit from the cow's bag, and stood;

"There, Bessie." She patted the cow's flank, and hung the milking stool up. Malon set the milk on a wooden shelf and covered it with a clean cloth to keep out bugs. She looked forward to the warmth of her bed, and crept to her house wondering where Ingo was. Malon opened the door, and crept up the steps to her rrom, to find it locked. She rattled the door, but then, chills of fear washed over her as Ingo threw it open, and hate covered his face.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ingo seethed.

"Ingo, it's 22:00! I want to go to sleep!" Malon whispered.

"What did you call me?" Ingo's voice rose dangerously.

"I-i mean M-mr. Ing-go, s-sir......." Malon was truly scared now, but Ingo showed no mercy. He roughly shoved her off the rail-less staircase, and shots of pain exploded in her as she landed. Ingo tromped down the steps, and began to take out his drunken fury on her, kicking her head and stomach, and ribs as Malon lay in a crumpled quivering heap on the floor. Finally, Ingo tired of this, and said;

"You sleep in the stables." And he stomped up the steps to the bedroom, slamming the door. Malon didn't move for a long time. Every inch of her body was bruised, and throbbing with pain. Finally, she dragged herself up. slowly, and painfully, and limped stiffly to the log stable. Epona greeted her with a whinny, and Malon scratched her head, searching for a soft place to sleep. Her azure eyes landed on a pile of sweet hay. Shivering at the drafts, Malon took a horse blanket from a nail on the wall, and threw it over herself as she snuggled into the crackling straw. Her broken body ached like anything, and tears rolled down the child's face. The stable was dark as tar, and strangley silent, save for the snufflings of the horses. Malon suddenly became scared and felt abandoned. Her voice trembling, she began to hum the song her mother wrote. As the notes floated through the silence, Malon felt secure as if she were being embraced by her mother's spirit, as it washed over her again. Soon, her tune trailed off, and the only sound was of her even breaths.

***

Malon quickly ran into the cow byre as a familiar dark clothed figure with carrot orange hair rode up on his charcoal steed. She knew, after a month of daily beatings, to avoid Ingo and any of his friends. A large bruise covered her right eye from trying to announce the arrival of company a week ago, and it still was tender to the touch. Malon closed the byre door, as she pressed her ear to it to listen;

"Hullo, Mandrag Ganondorf. May I help you?" Ingo piped as if he was an equal to this evil King in rank.

"Well, my current horse is growing old, and I should be needing a new one."

"And?" You could almost hear the sound of rupees clinking in Ingo's voice as he spoke.

"You will train a new one for me." Ganondorf said.

"Alright, but...." Malon heard a bag of rupees be passed from one hand to another. "Oh, we have a lovely saddlebred filly only a few months old in the stable named Epona."

Epona????

"Done. Let's talk about the full price." Ganondorf growled gruffly. Malon heard them enter the house. Immediately, she raced to the stables, where Epona greeted her with the usual whinny. Malon wrapped her bruised arms about the horse's neck, and sobbed into her mane.

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