"Talking"

'Thinking'

Chapter One: Stone

Link was fishing. He had only caught two fish so far but he felt very proud of himself, especially since he'd never held a fishing-rod in his life twenty minutes ago. Truth be told, he found it way easier than he'd expected, what with Old Fisherman Grien always complaining about the littlies not biting. Link didn't even know what kind of bait he'd used but the fish were still stupid enough to poke a hook into their mouths.

His line tugged gently and sent a ripple across the surface. He reeled it in quickly and gently took the hook out of the fish's mouth, before setting down his fishing rod. He stood straight up and then held the fish up high above his head in glee, his face beaming, eyes shut. He felt something claw at his belt and land on his shoulders. By the time he'd opened his eyes again, it had leapt onto his head, grabbed the fish and jumped off, landing quite safely and scurrying away in the village.

Link pulled his hands down so he could look at them to confirm. Empty. He growled in frustration and pulled on his hair. 'Cat,' he thought, glaring in the direction it had disappeared. The first fish Link had caught, he had accidentally thrown back into the river. The second, he had tried to give it to the cat because it looked hungry, but it wouldn't even try to take it, and Link had accidentally released that one in the river too because he forgot to take it off the hook (which might have been the reason the cat didn't take it, but it didn't even try to claw the fish off or anything).

"Link!" someone called behind him. It was Haie, the daughter of the owner of the only store in Orlet Village, Barner. He turned around and tilted his head curiously at her. "Ahaha, Link, is that the way you ask a question to a lady?" she teased, pulling her fingers through her long red hair.

Link was shocked for a moment, and quickly shook his head from side to side and waved his hands in denial.

"Ah, I suppose, since you can't speak, will you ever understand irony? Maybe it's one of those things that can only be understood once you've used it. Uh, anyway, Father needs you to help him for a little bit. It isn't too much trouble, is it?"

Link shook his head from side to side politely, as he always did when someone requested help from him. He didn't mind helping people, he actually felt a bit happy when people recognized him as a person and not an object.

"That's great, come quickly," Haie grinned, grabbing Link's hand and pulling him along. He concentrated on not tripping, seeing as the way she was pulling him meant he was walking sideways, especially since she wouldn't slow down.

She flung open the door to Barner's store noisily, the door banging against the wall and then rushing to close again in Link's face, which he avoided by rushing forward after his wrist which Haie was still holding. "Father, I brought Link!"

"Aah, bring him around the back quickly!" Barner called back from the storage room.

Link looked hesitantly at Haie, wondering if it was alright to just barge right in to someone else's store room without asking first, even if he had been told indirectly. Haie sighed and pushed him forward into it.

"Ahahaha, Link, my boy!" Barner laughed. Link knew exactly who Haie had inherited her laughing habit from. "It seems my store room is infested with bugs. Please can you help me, they're hiding everywhere! If you see one, just stamp on it before it scuttles away. Oh, and look out for the shelves when you're chasing after them. Don't want to make them fall, do we? Okay, you can start."

Link nodded seriously and started charging around the store room frantically squashing bugs, with Barner laughing in the background and Haie manning the store front.

'Bug there, running away to the left- Ow!' Link huffed out a little breath of air as he ran into a shelve full of goods and a couple of things fell off with a clatter and a bang with a bright puff of smoke.

"Ahahaha, Link, your scatterbrained ness just makes me laugh. Luckily you bumped into the Sale shelf. I haven't been able to sell the things you broke so there is no need for you to repay me," Barner said with tears in his eyes, blowing away the smoke of the bomb with his hand. "Do be more careful lest you end up with debt."

Link nodded and tried his best to look where he was going after this. After about ten minutes of running around and killing bugs, Barner thanked him and sent him on his way with a brand new bug net - for catching 'those pesky bugs that just can't be killed'. Link bowed his head to Barner in thanks and held the gift to his chest in his hands to show his gratitude. Barner was in the middle of nodding when Mila burst into the store.

"Barner, Haie, come quick - I don't know what's wrong! My brother - he suddenly just-," she panicked. Barner and Haie gathered all the medicinal things they owned immediately, while Link just listened in shock, noting dryly that she hadn't said his name. "You have to hurry, before it's too late!"

The three of them ran out the store, with Link trailing behind. "Mila..." Sari barely whispered as they got to him, lying on the ground.

Link recoiled in shock. Sari was -?! 'Being turned into stone?'

"What happened?" Barner demanded as Haie rummaged through the medical bag, found something, and tried to apply it to stop the petrifying, it had consumed from his toes to his elbow and was steadily climbing.

"I don't know, we were just catching bugs with our nets. One landed on his skin, and then it just flew away. We didn't think much of it until Sari started turning into stone," Mila sobbed.

Haie screamed, and lifted her hands from Sari's chest. Her fingertips were turning gray.

"Mila! I'm scared," Sari started crying too, his breathes becoming shorter as the stone encompassed his torso and crawled over his shoulders.

"I can divert the petrification if I touch him again, but all it does is delay it. Can you get anybody in time?" Haie shook, placing her hands back on Sari.

Barner slowly shook his head, "This kind of spell, you need someone from the High Court of Hyrule to dispel. It takes about two days to get there and come back, and even then, you need to be able to convince a Court Magician to come back with you."

Link tapped Barner's shoulder, then pointed at himself, and pointed at the castle in the distance. He then pointed at Barner, and then at Sari and Haie.

"Yeah, you can go if you want to, Link, but you need to be able to communicate with people there to help us."

"Can't Link communicate by writing?" Mila said. Link nodded eagerly, then looked at Sari and Haie. The virus had stopped momentarily for Sari, and was at Haie's waist. He pointed at her, then did a thumbs up.

"I'll stay as well as I can like this, Link. Don't worry, Mila and Father are here with us, and so is Mother, Mila's parents, Dane and Grien. Just hurry back to us before..." She trailed off as it reached her chest. She giggled a little, " If it wasn't contagious I'd almost be tempted to ask you for a kiss before I die."

Link shook his hands hastily. 'Not dying.' Haie smiled grimly.

Then Sari and Haie were sealed in stone. Mila, Barner and Link stood there for a while in shock, and then Barner pushed him.

"Well, get a move on, quickly. No one else can go to Hyrule, we're all too old to travel that far now, especially Dane and Grien. I have to take care of everyone, and we can't send off Mila, they might take advantage of her. Hmm, I think I might have a saddlebag for you to use. It's always safe to be ready, so I'll lend you my old Army sword and shield, and you should pack some food and milk too." Link nodded, following his back to the store and wondering if Barner was trying to keep his mind off Haie and Sari by thinking of other things.

"Here you go," Barner handed him a saddlebag already full of food and drink, and a rusty old shield that was made of iron. "Here's my old sword as well. Let me just fit the scabbard on you. Did you know, that this little hook here coming off the scabbard can be used to hook your shield on, if you're not using it, that is. The shield may be rusty but the sword isn't. I've taken special care of it all these years. Well, off you go, I'm sure Mila's saddled Epona by now."

Link jolted in surprise. Epona? But she was Mila's special friend and only hers.

"Looks like Mila's willing to make an exception if it can help save her brother and friend," Barner chuckled, as they walked out to see Mila standing there with Epona ready.

Mila attached the saddlebag and stroked Epona's nose as Barner picked up Link and put him on the saddle.

"Wow, are you sure you're a guy of 17 years? You weigh less than Haie when she was twelve!" Barner exaggerated light-heartedly.

Mila frowned at Link. "There's no time to learn how to ride properly so just wing it. Put your feet in the stirrups, hold the reins and don't fall off. Now, go!" She yelled, slapping Epona's hind. Epona neighed and started galloping towards Hyrule.

Link found himself trying to scream, but his voice wouldn't work, as always. Instead, he just exhaled air. A silent scream, if you will.

His legs automatically latched onto the only thing they could - Epona. He found himself gripping the reins and saddle so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. The wind was blowing in his face so furiously he wondered if the horse was angry at him. Everything was so green and bright and blurred.

By the time Epona slowed down, he couldn't see Orlet anymore, and it felt as if he was already halfway across Hyrule Field. The sun reached the place in the sky where it hovered after midday and before mid afternoon. After a while of walking, Epona suddenly started galloping again, giving Link a fright and he almost fell off. The sun kept lowering in the sky, until it was disappearing as he approached the drawbridge of Hyrule Castle.

Link could see the drawbridge, about 200 metres away, when it started moving, very slowly. He kicked Epona, and she got the gist. She sped up, as if sprinting for her life. Link wondered if she was doing it for Mila.

'Wait!' he tried to scream at the people raising the drawbridge. 'Wait for me!' his mouth merely released air croaks. Epona seemed to pick up on this, and neighed. They were only 50 metres away now, but the drawbridge was almost halfway already.

"Ah, there's a person out there!" A guard called as Link and Epona drew up by the moat.

"The sun's already gone down, how do we know it's not another one of those monsters?" another said.

"Look at him, the other monsters don't look human, and their mounts don't look like horses. Quickly, lower it a little, we can't leave him outside to die," said the first. The drawbridge started lowering - and then something hit Link's back.

"The bugs!" one of the guards said, as Epona panicked, ran back a little then leapt forward onto the rising drawbridge, and slid down the wooden planks until she reached the stone bricks of Hyrule's interior. Link knew that somehow the monster had fallen off his back when Epona jumped, yet he still felt like he was in shock. He felt as if he couldn't even muster the energy to tilt sideways and slide off Epona. He managed to do so anyway, but landed on his stomach on the cold ground.

Everything seemed to be darkening, but it wasn't because it was after sunset, it was because Link's eyelids were slowly closing, closing, closing. He faintly saw a figure approach him, and he stretched out his hand towards them, not perceiving that his arm was turning into stone...

A/N: Yes, there is a reason Link is mute. He won't be forever, though, just in case you got annoyed ^w^