Note: If you started reading in the original format, look to the bottom of the chapter for a guide on how to find where you left off.
Incursion
Prologue
It was mid-afternoon in Hyrule, and yet, no sunlight penetrated the library of Princess Zelda. From deep within the rocky hall that she'd started using as her personal hideout over the course of the last year, she could no longer hear the sounds of the birds flying above her on the wind, feel the breeze of the mid-afternoon on her face, or see even the smallest glimmer of sunlight. It was a hard way to live, but at least she was still alive, and she was still busy. There was much that needed to be done if her people were ever to be saved from their new ruler.
Princess Zelda was a figurehead in Hyrule's resistance, as invisible and secret as she had to be, and her duties to them couldn't be ignored for anything. Those were the thoughts and feelings that drove her on as she wrote another page in the book of experimental spells on which she was working. With a little luck, she thought, one might be found one day that could actually do the people of Hyrule some good.
As she wrote, Princess Zelda never looked up from the book. She wasn't certain that she could have seen much, even if she had. The only source of light in the room was the small candle that sat on her desk next to her as she wrote. It was in that environment, and in that difficult time, that Princess Zelda heard a knock on her door; a knock she hadn't been expecting at all.
"Come in." she said, not looking up from the paper she was writing, as the door at the far end of her library opened. That, however, was when Princess Zelda looked up at the new arrival. He walked towards her quickly, past shelf after shelf of ancient books, and she needed to at least do him the honor of looking at him. He was the greatest source of hope in her life, and he'd returned to her.
"Hello." said Link, saluting as he approached, "I'm back."
"Already?" Zelda was amazed, but delighted as she stared across the room as the young man, "You can't have found our hijacker that quickly."
"Actually, finding him wasn't a problem." Link replied with a frown, "But he had on this magic mask, and... well, it's a long story, but he won't give you any more trouble. I can guarantee that."
Zelda put her pen back in the ink and turned to face Link, feeling nothing but astonishment and admiration for the young man who'd done so much to assist her in the past. She'd never expected him to solve the mystery of the robber in the mist so quickly. Link had been gone for less than a month on that errand, and she hadn't expected him to solve the problem so quickly. Still, in the end, Link's victory was a minor one, and Zelda had worries that she couldn't ignore.
"I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hide out here." Zelda admitted, her expression turning sad, "Ganondorf is already on the move. There are monsters appearing everywhere, and if he notices me, I'm afraid of what might happen."
"I think" Link began, his face taking on a much more serious expression, "that you should leave right away. If you're in this area when he conquers it, there might be no hope of doing what needs to be done."
It made Zelda feel pretty sad when Link reminded her of that, though she tried her best to smile for his sake, even when she heard those haunting words.
"What needs to be done." It had been several months since she'd had time to think about that, and yet, there was nothing more important. When it came down to it, the two of them were the most important people in the kingdom. If Zelda was captured, then Link would receive no guidance or advice from the mysterious "Shiek" in the future, which he remembered as his own past.
It was complicated, like all things involving time travel, but the long and short of it was that the two of them needed to survive. If one of them died before the end of the next six years, there would be no more hope for the people of Hyrule.
"You're right, of course." Zelda admitted, getting up from her chair to approach Link more closely, "but it's terrible to have to leave so quickly, and lose so much. It's a painful thing for me, Link. If I leave now, Hyrule will lose all of the history contained in these books. That's such a waste."
"Oh!" Link exclaimed, pulling a pouch from the pocket inside his tunic in a flash of what looked like inspiration, and dumping several thousand carrots on the gray, marble floor of Zelda's little library from inside of it, "I think this might solve your problem. It's a bottomless bag. You can carry just about anything in it, as long as you can fit it through the opening at the top. You can use it to take as many books as you like. It was given to me by... a friend, and now it's yours if you want it."
"Oh, Link!" Zelda exclaimed, embracing him in delight over his resourcefulness and generosity, "You're the greatest."
Link, however, didn't really respond to the high compliment that Zelda had just given him. He could see that she was still afraid and upset, and because of that, Link didn't feel all that great either.
"I'd better get back to Kokiri Forest," Link said, heading towards the library door, as Zelda began putting books into the bag, "but just in case we lose track of each other, don't forget your part. I'll need your help in six years. Hopefully, we can talk more when all of this is over with."
"I'll miss the company." Zelda replied, her smile returning for a moment, in spite of the stress of her more recent experiences, "Goodbye Link. May your fate be pleasant."
Link and Zelda did indeed lose track of one another over the next four years. As Zelda went into hiding in an attempt to prevent Ganondorf from discovering her location, there was no chance for her to seek out Link in Kokiri Forest, and it would have been too dangerous anyhow. Ganondorf wasn't aware that Link's physical body was still in Hyrule, and he would have been very eager to see Link dead if he'd known. Zelda was having enough trouble avoiding him as things were, and didn't want to give Link any more of that trouble than necessary.
It was at that point in time that Link finally confronted Saria with what he'd always wanted to say to her, but had never had the strength to. By that time, Link was starting to grow up, and his tasks were becoming easier and easier. He was about 15 years of age, and looked every second of it. He only had two more years to wait before his other self and the sages would return piece to Hyrule, but he had to ask Saria a question.
Saria was sitting on a stump in the Forest, playing her ocarina, when Link approached her. He crouched down quickly, so as to be on eye level with her, before he tried to speak. No matter how much taller than her he grew; no matter how young she looked, and no matter how much time had passed, he found that he couldn't contain it any longer. He spoke out to her in a voice full of emotion, hoping against hope that she might feel just as strongly.
"Saria." Link said slowly, "I... I've felt this way since I was 10, but I... I mean I..."
Saria giggled a little when she saw him stammering like that, but Link knew that he had to continue. If he didn't speak his mind, then and there, he'd regret it for the rest of his life.
"Would you like to go for a walk?" Link finally asked, "Maybe on the riverbank bordering the Deku Tree's meadow? We could talk about... things."
For a moment, Saria looked up into Link's eyes, and she was pleased to see sincerity in his gaze, but something else was worrying her, and she quickly turned away, sorrow filling her heart.
"I'm sorry, Link." Saria said grimly, hoping that he wouldn't take it the wrong way, "but I think it's best if you don't try to pursue a relationship with me just now."
"I suppose you're right." Link said almost at once, turning away from Saria. He was hurt pretty deeply by her refusal, though he tried not to show it, "You're probably too young for me anyway."
"Link!" yelled Saria as he walked away from her. Sure enough, he'd been hurt by her reply, and that hadn't been what she'd wanted. Soon, she was running behind him at top speed. Not wishing to hurt her feelings, Link slowed down, allowing her to catch up.
"It's not that." explained Saria, once she was close enough that she and Link could walk together, side by side, "You see, I'm plenty old enough for you. I'm more than a thousand years old. I know it may seem impossible, but back when the Deku Tree made me, things were built to last. I've never revealed that to any other Hylian, Link. I do love you, but the information you gave me five years ago, about your adventure into the future, where I was a Sage..."
"You don't believe me?" Link stammered. In a way, that hurt his feelings even more than anything else she'd said or done.
"No!" was Saria's immediate response, "I completely believe you. I know you'd never tell me a lie, but if I'm to be a Sage, I don't think that I want to run off to guard the forest temple and leave you heartbroken."
It was a disappointment, but at least Link understood where Saria was coming from. It was hard not to sympathize with her position, and Link cared enough about her that he was willing to respect her wishes. A few more years weren't too much longer to wait anyway. In the end, Link knew that the best thing he could do would be to leave the subject where was, and wait patiently for her to be ready.
Sure enough, the time came, only two years later, when Ganondorf was defeated, and sealed back away in the Sacred Realm. The Hero of Time was hailed as the one responsible for that incredible feat, and thanks to the death and rebirth of the Deku Tree, the Kokiri no longer had any reason to fear the outside world. They could even leave the forest freely, and associate with the other races of Hyrule.
At that time, however, when both Link and Saria returned to their people, no words of love, and very few of friendship were shared between them. Link had suspected that Saria was simply too busy, just as he was, helping with repairs to Hyrule, and doing what she could to restore the glory of the forest, but months passed, and then years, and she still said nothing about it.
Two years after the defeat of Ganondorf, the repairs were largely complete, and yet, Link and Saria were still silent. Each seemed surprised that the other hadn't said anything since the repairs had been finished, and yet, neither was quite ready to speak on the subject. Even at that point, when they thought that their troubles, and Hyrule's troubles were over, they never expressed their true feelings, and unfortunately, that was when evil surfaced in Hyrule again.
Chapter 1: The Pirates
By that point, there was no doubt that Epona belonged to Link, though he would often be generous enough to let other people ride if Epona was willing to cooperate. Malon visited Link and Epona every day to check up on the horse's health, and make sure her food supplies weren't running low.
Much of Link's time, however, had been spent in teaching his unique fighting style to a small group of students, who were apparently in line to become Hylian guards and soldiers very soon. Link was pleased that his techniques were generating such success, and had plans to teach a slightly larger group as well. They were unambitious plans, perhaps, but it never occurred to him that more might have been needed from him.
By that point, Link had become something of a local champion. People looked up to him, and respected him as the Hero of Time, and from their faith in him, Link knew that he couldn't disappoint them, and he had to keep up his training, just in case another danger to the kingdom ever surfaced. Link was probably the most recognized champion of Hyrule by that point, and it was his job to protect his people as best he could.
Because of that, Link had begun finding the simple errands in Kokiri Forest too easy to keep up his training over the course of the past several years, and had started to develop a schedule of sorts for himself to follow each day.
In the early morning, Link would roam through Kokiri Forest, hunting monsters and stopping them from doing any harm. By late morning, he was off through Hyrule Field, firing off arrows at bushes from a distance of ninety yards. When he'd hit his target enough times in a row, he'd start firing them from further away.
When noon came, Link did the exact same thing again, only perched atop Epona, who was running at high speed. In late-afternoon, Link would practice unarmed combat with the gerudo, wrestling their greatest champions bare-handed.
Finally, as the evening started to approach, Link went to the freshly-rebuilt Hyrule Castle, where he met with Zelda for the last phase of his daily regiment. He was trying to perfect a technique of disrupting magic spells, and Zelda, he knew, could help him with that.
Zelda had moved from using simple spells, to medium-level ones, and Link had succeeded in disrupting them, by cutting through the energized magic that made them up. It was an incredible feat. That was Link's final exercise for the day, but it wouldn't be his last responsibility. It fact, it was only the beginning.
The invisible force of the magic spell flew through the air, sending a crackling sound in every direction. Link clutched his sword tightly, closing his eyes to listen for the noise, as he swung his weapon. Invisible as it was, he could find it by concentrating on the sound, and once he'd found it...
Link swung his weapon with great force and accuracy, disrupting the energy flow at the very heart of the spell, and causing it to dissipate. The air gave a low whine as it was torn through with enormous speed, and the spell faded, like a river, that had been dammed up.
For several moments, that same feat was repeated. Link's sword cut through the air like a powerful wind, and finally, as each spell was dissipated, Link lowered his weapon. He could see that Princess Zelda was starting to sweat, even though he was still feeling perfectly fresh.
Zelda relaxed as Link gave a signal that he was finished for the night. It was obvious that expending that much magic at once was becoming difficult, even for her. Those spells weren't hard to cast, but doing it over and over all evening was a chore.
Zelda waited for Link to put his sword away and pick up his bag of equipment, sliding it into a pocket inside his tunic before she said anything. She was feeling magically drained, even though her physical body wasn't tired per se, but she'd seen just how much Link had been getting out of their recent training together, and she had to speak up about it.
"I don't think I'm really helping you at this point, Link."
Link started to feel pretty sad when he heard that. He had some idea of what Zelda meant by those words, but nevertheless, he turned to face her, concern growing in his expression.
"What do you mean?" Link asked, "I have to keep at my best, right? I mean, if problems arise, I have to be able to rise to the challenge."
"Every night you come here and chop apart waves of mana." Zelda noted sadly, "I'm just not sure how that's supposed to help you fight evil, though. Link, I'm not trying to make light of your training ideas, but that's all this is; training. We've both been in battle before, so you know that no training is the same as really being on a mission, or in danger."
"If you want to live in peace, then just forget this training and live in peace, but if you don't think you can do that, then you don't have to come back here every night just for this. You know that what you really need isn't practice at disrupting magic spells. That doesn't keep you sharp."
Of course, it was true. Link's skill had grown since he'd started training, but his reflexes had suffered, because he hadn't been in any genuine danger, or needed to protect people from harm. He wouldn't have wished danger on his people for any reason, but there was only so much that simple training could teach him at that point.
However, as Link thought about those things, his sharp ears picked up the sound of someone approaching quickly towards Zelda. She was clothed in a simple Hylian dress, with a light skirt to allow for large strides, and she looked absolutely terrified. Link had seen the young lady once or twice before. She was a royal messenger named Nalabal, and one of the fastest sprinters in the kingdom.
"Princess!" Nalabal exclaimed as she got closer. The closer she got to Zelda and Link, however, the more clearly Link could see the fear on her face. There was something that she was terrified of; maybe even more than one thing.
"Nalabal..." Princess Zelda said, as soon as the young messenger was close enough to hear her, "What is it? What's wrong?"
"M'lady," Nalabal hurriedly announced, straightening up as best she could, to make her announcement, "Ruto town is under attack!"
Link was shocked to hear that. Ruto was a port town that had only recently been established to the south of Lake Hylia, and, it occurred to him after thinking about it for only a moment, anyone attacking Hyrule from the south would strike there first.
"Attacked?" Link asked quickly, intruding into the conversation in a way that wasn't customary to Hylians, "What kind of attack?"
Nalabal knew who Link was, of course. Everyone did, so in spite of the minor breach of courtesy he'd committed, she answered his questions quickly.
"A ship pulled into the Ruto harbor a couple days ago." Nalabal explained, "They didn't explain their business, or signal us in any way, and we're not even sure whose ship it is, or what they want. They just started firing on Ruto from on-board cannons after about a day in port. Many buildings have already been demolished, and there are numerous injuries. The inhabitants of the town needed to move further inland to escape the bombardment for the most part."
"So they just sat in the harbor for a whole day before attacking?" Link asked curiously, drawing a nod of confirmation from Nalabal, "I wonder why."
"There's more..." Nalabal continued, "Apparently, the zora are sending an advance party to try to conquer Hyrule Castle."
"The zora?" Link asked, confused and alarmed, "I don't understand. I thought they were our friends."
"No one I've talked to knows their reasoning." Nalabal replied, shaking her head sadly, "Maybe if you can track them down and reason with them, they won't follow through with their threats."
"Well, I'll do what I can..." Link said, showing just a little irritation, "The zora are very powerful, though. If they really do want war, I can't think of any way we could prevent it. I just hope they're willing to listen to reason."
Quickly, Link turned to face Zelda, and his expression was stern and committed when he spoke.
"I'll need to take care of this right away." Link insisted, "It's... Well, you know how urgent it is."
"I wasn't expecting tonight to turn out like this," Zelda replied, "but I've already signaled for additional help."
"Help?" Link asked, a little surprised at first, but adapting to the new information quickly, "You mean the sorcerer you told me about?"
"Right." Zelda replied with a nod, "I sent him a telepathic message just now, and he's agreed to help us with this emergency. He'll be waiting for you at the entrance to Gerudo Valley, and... Link, there's a chance he might be hard to get along with. Just... try to be patient with him, alright? You might need his help."
Zelda tried to smile as she watched Link's determination rise in him. That, she knew, was why she could never allow herself to fall in love with Hyrule's hero. He'd always be up and off to fight some new danger, and whenever he did, she'd be consumed by worry. They'd both be better off, she realized, if she kept their relationship platonic.
"Don't worry, Princess." Link said with a smile, as he headed towards the exit of the courtyard, "I'll take care of this. No matter what, I'll make sure our people are safe."
Grass flew in all directions as Link's feet collided with the ground dozens of times per minute at incredible speed. His path took him out of the castle and towards the entrance of gerudo valley, to meet up with the mage, who Zelda had told him about.
Hylians in general seemed to think the same way Link did about the gerudo; that they were exciting, interesting, and different, just like all the peoples of Hyrule. No one held it against them for Ganondorf's betrayal, and as for the thieves guild, no one held it against them either. After all, the thieves guild was the only reason the gerudo were able to maintain a civilized society. It was the glue that held them all together. The gerudo were unscrupulous, as a people, and as a civilization, but they definitely weren't all evil.
However, as Link approached Gerudo Valley, he was shocked to see that the person waiting for him to arrive, standing by the valley's entrance was definitely a gerudo, and what's more, a man as well.
The wizard was dressed in thin, leather armor, which covered everything but his head, and a long cloak and hood. In one hand, he held a long staff, with a large crystal set into its top.
Link could barely believe it. He'd never expected to see another male gerudo since Ganondorf's defeat, especially after what Nabooru had told him about the unique aspects of her races' procreation.
"Greetings from all three points of the Triforce, Hero of Time." said the gerudo, as Link approached, "You don't need to introduce yourself, of course, but you may call me Stalflare."
Naturally, Link was surprised. Males were normally a rare thing to the gerudo, and yet, he could see quite plainly that Stalflare was indeed a male, and a male whose hair had begun to gray around the edges. The large, blue crystal at the end of his staff gleamed slightly in the sun, as he and Link looked at each other, each wondering if the other would be the first to speak. At last, though, Link's curiosity got the better of him, and he spoke up first.
"Greetings, Stalflare. I'm a little confused, though..." Link said, drawing a smirk from the gerudo sorcerer, "I mean, I thought males were only born to the gerudo once every hundred years. Ganondorf was the male born to the gerudo during this century, and yet... here you are."
"Your confusion is quite expected." Stalflare replied, still smirking a little as he explained things, "You see, I wasn't born among the gerudo. I was born a Hylian, then transformed into a gerudo by a spell when I was very young. That was when I knew that I needed to master magic to a great degree, to get what I truly deserved. Now, here I am."
"I see." Link thought silently, "This must be the work of Koume and Kotake. I'm glad those two can't cause any more trouble..."
"Actually, there is one more thing I'm curious about." Link admitted aloud, "You see, I only met Ganondorf a couple of times, and only for a few minutes, but I've heard the gerudo talk about him with so much respect in the past, and... Well, I guess I'm just wondering what Ganondorf was really like. When I fought him, he seemed like such a maniac. Was there any more to him than that? Is there part of the picture I'm missing?"
"Well," Stalflare said, looking thoughtful for a moment, "our queen Nabooru knew him much better and longer than I did, but this much I can tell you; he was a master of both sorcery and science, and he knew how best to use those arts to heal and harm at a level far superior to my own. I'm afraid, however, that I didn't know him very well when he was younger, or during his early reign. From what I've heard, that was the time before things went wrong."
However, Link was starting to get worried. In that moment, Stalflare had compared his own mastery of magic effortlessly with Ganondorf's, and that made Link just a little suspicious of him.
"Did you know him, Stalflare?" Link asked, trying to keep himself from seeming untrusting of the mage.
"He taught me many spells in the years prior to the great war, and fortunately, few philosophies." Stalflare replied quickly, "It was during, and just after the war that many of the gerudo who sought to understand magic were taken in by Ganondorf as his pupils. I was perhaps the most gifted, with the exception of Ganondorf himself."
Naturally, the thought that Stalflare had not only known Ganondorf, but had actually been his student sent a pang of dread through Link's mind, which Stalflare seemed to have noticed. In a moment, each had grown a bit more worried about the other, but they remained silent about those worries as they began their travels together.
Neither Link nor Stalflare spoke, and both were still worrying when they arrived at the waterfall outside the zora's domain... Even so, they were still traveling together, and still determined to stop whatever or whoever threatened the peace in Hyrule. Perhaps that was what really mattered, in the end.
At last, when Link and Stalflare reached the waterfall at the end of the zora's river, Link saw something that he feared even more than his recent suspicions about Stalflare. Just outside of the zora's domain, four zoras stood, one a bit taller and broader than the others. All four were carrying weapons which, in the Zora fashion, resembled Tridents, though.
Link frowned as he realized that Nalabal's message had been true after all. Of course, there was nothing more to do than confront the problem head on, but Link didn't like the idea of having to fight zoras, especially since he'd once thought of them as such good friends. With Stalflare still following behind him in uncomfortable silence, Link slowly approached the water-dwelling warriors, hoping that he might be able to get through to them.
"Hail." Link said, as he got closer to the armed zoras, "I've heard some disturbing rumors, I'm afraid, and I wanted to investigate them. Is it true you've declared war on the hylians?"
"No one wants war, hylian." the largest of the zoras; their apparent chief replied, "However, we cannot allow the hylians to continue occupying the Temple of Time."
By that point, of course, Link was becoming very curious. The motives of the zoras were becoming clearer, and yet, he wanted to be sure that he understood them completely.
"What does the Temple of Time have to do with it?" Link asked, hoping that his hunch was wrong.
"It's because the Temple of Time is the doorway to the Triforce." responded the zora chief at once, "Years ago, waves of control swept over this land from the Triforce, bringing anguish and misery to the zoras, and freezing our domain solid. If we want to prevent such a thing from ever happening again, we must seize control of the Temple of Time."
When he heard that, Stalflare spoke up immediately, in a voice full of utter contempt, and soon, all eyes were on him, "That is the height of arrogance! Do you honestly believe you can better defend the Triforce from betrayal?"
Hoping not to seem rude, and trying to cover for Stalflare's outburst, Link quickly spoke up again, attempting to be as gentle with his words as possible, "Try to look at this from our point of view. Two years ago, a gerudo we thought we could trust seized the Triforce. We were fooled, because we let him near the Temple of Time. As its guardians, do you think we'll be so ready to let someone near the Temple of Time again?"
"After all," Stalflare commented suspiciously, "if a gerudo can betray Hyrule, certainly a zora..."
"I've heard more than enough!" The large zora growled, raising his trident menacingly, "You hylians won't stop until we're all dead and dust! We must take the Temple of Time now, and if you want to get in our way, then you'd better defend yourselves!"
At once, the zoras charged Link and Stalflare, tridents outstretched! Quickly, Link leapt back, and fired off a volley of arrows at the first two zoras, who stumbled, but kept coming...
Stalflare, in the meantime, was firing off bolts of electricity from the gem on his wooden staff. Link drew his sword to parry the tridents of the three smaller zoras, before he struck the ground with his fist, and a dome of flames erupted from his body, driving them back. Then, in seconds, he was in the air, and before the zoras could respond, Link was behind them, and the first three warriors fell to the ground dead.
Their leader, enraged and determined, fired off an electric bolt from his Trident, but Stalflare intercepted it with one of his own. Then, by the time the large Zora could raise his weapon again... His torso was no longer in one piece...
...Stalflare stood by, surveying the damage they'd done, in a way that made it almost seem as though he did that sort of thing daily. Link, however, was kneeling in the midst of what remained of the battle, with his sword embedded in the ground, and a very sad and penitent expression on his face.
"May Nayru, immortal Goddess of Wisdom, founder of the laws by which all life forms are governed, forgive me for what I've been forced to do this day... May Din protect the fallen as they journey to their home everlasting."
With those final words of prayer, Link pulled his sword back out of the ground, and plunged the four Tridents into the dirt side by side, one at a time. It was an ugly sort of ritual to have to complete, but its importance couldn't be denied. People had died in that place a very short time ago, and that death was something to be honored, even for the worst enemies that Link had.
Slowly, the Hero of Time rose to his feet, put his sword back into its sheath, and started walking south, towards Lake Hylia, and he didn't say a word to Stalflare about it, leaving the gerudo sorcerer with many questions about the young hero.
Obviously, Link had just killed several times in a row, in almost a ruthless way. The zoras had, admittedly, committed to a fight to the death, and never tried to yield, but Stalflare wondered how anyone as compassionate as him could deliver the death blow so readily...
As Link dashed across Hyrule Field just a short time after that brutal confrontation with the zoras, trusting that Stalflare would be able to keep up with him on the way, however, he gradually found himself encountering monsters of various types. At first, it was only simple peahats; fiercely territorial plants, that could fly through the air by spinning their blade-like roots, but as he progressed further south, Link noticed that a small troupe of moblins was hiding in the woods just north of Lake Hylia.
The moblins were large, brutal creatures; some of them as many as eight feet tall, with enormous muscles, and faces like bulldogs. They carried large, dangerous-looking spears, and in his adventures, Link had seen those kinds of moblin spears used for both charging and throwing attacks, and knew how to respond to each. The problem was that there shouldn't have been any moblins in Hyrule.
In a few swift motions, the Hero of Time dashed out towards the moblins, and fired his hookshot at them repeatedly in the legs and shoulders, striking their vital points, until they'd begun to evaporate into enchanted smoke, but he didn't utter a final prayer for the sake of the moblins. They weren't, after all, even really alive.
However, as Link put his hookshot away, he noticed something about Stalflare that he hadn't realized before. Although the gerudo sorcerer had been relatively silent for most of the time that they'd been traveling together, he'd watched Link's last fight with the moblins carefully, barely even blinking at any point. It was as if he was studying Link, in an attempt to learn more about him, and it was hard to fault him for that desire. It made perfect sense to study one's enemies and allies alike, if only to learn from them. However, it was obvious that Stalflare still didn't trust Link, which was a little sad, he thought.
"You don't seem pleased with your victory." Stalflare finally said, speaking directly to Link for the first time since the fight with the zoras.
"The victory isn't really what's on my mind right now." Link admitted, trying to wave off the mage's concern.
"If you're not thinking about the battle, what are you thinking about?" Stalflare asked, though for some reason, he was frowning deeply as he asked that.
"Well," Link finally admitted, "peahats are bad enough, but at least they're a type of monster that occurs naturally in the world. What I just fought were moblins; soldiers of darkness, that move according to the will of black magic, and they shouldn't exist in Hyrule at all."
Immediately, Stalflare's eyes narrowed, as he realized what Link was trying to say.
"Yes." The gerudo wizard replied, looking thoughtful for a moment, "I read something about that in one of Ganondorf's old tomes, though I've never created a moblin myself. Apparently, they subsist on dark sorcery, and are incapable of existing without it."
"Yes," Link replied with a nod, "but it's more than that. Moblins and other dark creatures are harder to make in Hyrule than in other lands, because Hyrule is a holy land, protected by numerous purifying spells, that are as strong today as when they were first cast. To bypass those spells requires magic of incredible power, and a great deal of talent on the part of the sorcerer involved. In fact, I've only met two beings who could wield dark magic on that scale in all my travels, and both were extremely dangerous. If there's a third out there, it could mean a lot of trouble for Hyrule."
"Perhaps." Replied Stalflare, and with that single, enigmatic word, he looked away from Link again, and didn't say another word to him until the two had nearly reached Lake Hylia.
As bad a sign as three moblins were, however, Link had managed to find one that was even worse by the time he and Stalflare reached Lake Hylia. Five stalfos were patrolling back and forth along the northern banks of the lake; their bones clattering as they moved. As fighters, they certainly weren't as strong as moblins, but as an omen of dark magic, they were just as bad.
As great as their numbers were, Link didn't hesitate. In a moment, his sword was drawn, and he was cutting through the boney monsters left and right. As he fought with the stalfos, Link found that he'd lost track of Stalflare, but he did notice that one of the skeletal creatures would occasionally be struck with a powerful electric charge, or a small burst of flame, seemingly as if from nowhere. That was the only clue Link had that Stalflare was even still around during the fight, until the last stalfo fell to pieces, and a large raven with black and gray feathers descended to the ground nearby, staring intently at Link.
In moments, however, the raven had grown larger, then its feathers had changed into hair, and its wings into leathery armor, and suddenly, there was Stalflare, his whole cloak and staff seeming to crackle with electricity, just as the remains of the stalfos had, and that was when Link realized what Stalflare had been up to during the fight. While Link had been in the thick of it, fighting the monsters directly with his weapons, Stalflare had kept his distance and attacked from the air, in avian form. It was certainly an easier way to do things.
Of course, Link was glad to know more about the powers of his new ally, even if he still didn't quite trust him. Stalflare's knowledge of magic seemed very well-rounded, even if he claimed not to be as powerful as Ganondorf had been.
At last, the two reached the south end of Lake Hylia, where the path carved by Link's Hylian brothers and sisters traveled south towards Ruto.
"This is the path we're looking for." Link told Stalflare, as they paused for a moment, "Ruto is just south from here. Are you ready?"
"I have to be." Stalflare replied sensibly, although his scowl never vanished from his face as he spoke, "There are people in danger, and they need our help. Nothing else matters right now."
There was no real need to respond to a statement like that, though Link did nod with a smile. Stalflare took a slightly different approach to fighting evil than he did, but he was starting to realize that deep down inside, the gerudo wizard wasn't a bad person.
With that, the two figures continued south down the carved path, out from the borders of Hyrule...
However, at the very moment when the two champions of Hyrule left, something was happening at the place where the three Moblins had been killed only recently. A small cloud of bats descended from the sky in a single, rapid movement, and in seconds, they were gone again. In their place was a man, decorated in a long, black cape, and by his side, what appeared to be a stalfo, only larger, and with more sharp, boney protrusions around its teeth, elbows, and shoulders. The two figures stared south, as though watching Link and his companion leave, content in the knowledge that even Link's far-ranging eyesight wouldn't be able to spot the new arrivals...
Slowly, in a voice that was light and airy, like wind traveling through a pipe, the stalfo spoke out, saying "The Hero of Time could prove to be a nuisance, master. Shall we pursue him?"
However, the man in the cloak simply waved the offer aside with a soft smile, saying, "No. I don't see any reason to fight him just yet. After all, we have time to establish a power base of our own right now, and if we can do that, it'll take away virtually everything that he has to fight for. With a little luck, we may not need to confront the Hero of Time directly at all."
Link and Stalflare traveled many miles south, along the path between Hyrule and the port town of Ruto, but as Hylians never tire from running, it wasn't so difficult to make the journey. Stalflare, having similar powers, had no problem speaking when the ocean came into view, and he could see the tiny town that bordered it, but it was Link who spoke first, as the glimmering ocean to the south filled their field of vision...
"That's Ruto." Link said, pointing out the walls of the port town to the south, as the two travelers slowly got closer. He'd only been there a couple of times in the past, but Stalflare, it seemed, had never been there before at all, and was pretty curious about the place.
"Ruto." Stalflare contemplated aloud, as he slowed down for a moment on the road to their destination, "It's an odd name for a town of any kind."
"It's an odd name for anything," Link admitted with a chuckle, "but Zelda insisted out of respect."
That caught Stalflare's interest, and when he replied, it was in a more inquisitive tone, "Respect to who? Who or what was it named after?"
"Ruto" Link explained quickly, "was the name of the sage of water, who helped me save Hyrule two years back."
Stalflare's eyebrows rose just a little when Link said that. Obviously, he found that very interesting, though not, it would seem, terribly surprising.
"Ah, I see." He observed aloud, "Water; thus the name of a port town."
Link started to feel a bit shocked as he realized the pattern Stalflare was referring to. That had never even occurred to him.
"Hmm?" Link asked in surprise, "Well, I suppose that may have been part of the reason, but you see, Ruto was always the least humble of the sages, and she was the only one proud enough to accept having an entire town named after her."
"Proud… arrogant… capable in certain things…" observed Stalflare, slowly going over facts in his head, "She sounds not dissimilar from the other Zoras of Hyrule."
"Except they hate Hylians and she doesn't." Link replied sadly, though he didn't feel like talking any more about it as they continued towards the town to the south.
By the time the two defenders of Hyrule had approached the north gates of Ruto, they saw that the gates were already wide open. As soon as they stepped in between the massive stone structures, a young male Hylian, even younger than Link, ran up to the two of them, and announced, with beads of sweat cascading down his face, "Thank Din you're here, Link! The pirate ship is firing on us, and no matter what we try, it seems invulnerable to attack!"
"Then how do you suggest we defeat them?" Stalflare asked at once, looking very irritated with the boy, perhaps because of his pessimistic attitude, but more likely, he was genuinely concerned that their mission might be truly impossible for once. However, it seemed that the young man had been expecting a question like that, because he replied to it quickly.
"Well, none of our attacks have worked, but I think that's because we've only really been trying to damage their ship. If the pirate ship's been enchanted to withstand attacks somehow, then the best bet is to get onboard, and fight the pirates themselves, but it's really your call."
Link barely had to consider it for a moment. It was the best approach he could think of, but he wasn't sure how to go about getting on board the pirate ship.
"Do you have some way to get onboard?" Link asked, hoping that the young man could help him just a little more.
"I can think of one way right now." The young hylian said, "I have a goron friend named Banuni, who lives in the southern sections of town, and he's strong as an ox. I'll bet he could toss one of you right onto the deck of the ship if you asked him to. His area of town was one of the first hit, so I'm sure he'd love to be a part of it."
"He's not injured, is he?" Link asked, suddenly growing worried, but the hylian boy shook his head.
"Don't worry about that." The boy said, "He's fine, but there are a lot of other injured out there, and things aren't getting any better. We have to do something now, or the whole town'll be destroyed."
Link only had to think about it for a moment. It was, he realized, as good as any plan he could think of, and given how little time they had, he figured that they might as well go through with it.
"Alright." Link finally said, "If Banuni needs somebody to throw, he can throw me."
"Agreed." Stalflare said, looking cool and confident. Obviously, Stalflare's reason for not arguing with Link on that matter wasn't fear.
In moments after the decision had been made, Link and Stalflare were running towards the southeast side of Ruto, as cannonballs fell all around them. Before long, they could see the goron who must have been Banuni standing in the middle of a section of broken boards and crushed rubble, which, for all they knew, might have been the remains of his house. He certainly didn't look happy with those boards, and he was the only goron that either of them could see.
As Link and Stalflare rushed through the rubble, they saw that the goron was much taller than most. Link supposed him to be at least eight feet tall, and his rocky skin seemed to grind together when he spoke, as if his whole throat were made of granite.
"I've heard what you wanted of me." Banuni said in his grinding voice, looking absolutely determined, "Are you ready?"
It was entirely possible that Stalflare had never seen a goron before, because although he tried to remain impassive, it was evident to Link that the gerudo was in awe of the rocky man's size and stony appearance.
"I suppose I am," Link replied, then crouched down in preparation for the swift journey he had to make. With more speed than Stalflare would have given him credit for, Banuni lifted Link in one of his enormous, rocky hands, and sent him flying in the direction of the enemy ship. That time, Stalflare truly did gasp in awe. The goron's strength was unbelievable! Link was flung over a hundred yards through the air, and yet, he seemed perfectly at ease with this situation, and had both arms and legs outstretched, as he plummeted towards the deck of the pirate ship down below...
Seconds passed in free-fall as Link plummeted further towards the ship's deck, the wind whipping by him as he fell. At last, a mere 20 feet above the deck of the pirate ship, Link curled his body into a mid-air summersault, letting the moving air effect his speed of descent slightly, before uncurling and landing on the deck on all fours. Link's muscles yanked themselves downward one layer at a time, to soften his fall like a cat, and in the end, he got back up after the long trip through the air, his arms and legs only aching a little bit.
Shaking his sore hands and feet, Link stood back up and looked around. He was on the deck of the ship, with a locked door to the south, and another to the east, but there was also a man in heavy armor, and a long, yellow beard approaching him with an axe. The bearded man was obviously a pirate, but Link had never seen a pirate so well-armed.
Still, armed or otherwise, Link wasn't afraid. He'd fought a lot worse than pirates in his life, and the journeys that he'd been on had prepared him to face that situation. With ironclad boldness, Link spoke up to the pirate, determined to get his point across, as long as the pirate could understand his language.
"Listen to me." Link said, standing up to his full height, "Stop this right now! Why are you attacking Hyrule?"
However, the pirate replied to that with an ugly grin, and with obviously no intention of stopping, "I need not explain our reasons to the likes of you. Our glorious leader has commanded us to attack this land and plunder its treasures while our passengers are still on board."
"Then I need to speak to your leader immediately!" Link insisted, determined to get at the root of the matter as quickly as possible. However, the pirate still looked completely unwilling to cooperate.
"Harharhar!" the pirate exclaimed, letting out an annoying horse-laugh, as he brandished his weapon, "I guess you think you're pretty tough, but nobody talks to our glorious leader unless they go through me first. In fact, I'll bet my mates would probably feel the same way. If you're really that desperate to stop the ship, I'd say you've got quite a few fights on your hands."
Link felt pretty bad when he heard the pirate say that. He was obviously hylian or hylian-like, and that made what had to be done seem even more barbaric than it was, but if those pirates had really decided to oppose both Link and Hyrule, he knew he didn't have a choice. Still, he would have preferred not to kill any of them if he could help it, so he made a silent decision in the back of his mind.
"I'm sorry it had to be like this, but so be it." Link said sadly, "I'll stop you without using any of my weapons."
The pirate's eyes widened in distain when he heard that, and in just a moment, he was charging Link with his axe at top speed. However, Link still wasn't afraid, and soon, he'd removed his sword, shield, and the pouch in which he kept most of his weapons, and assumed a very ancient and effective fighting stance. He had to stop the pirates, and without killing them, if possible. The only way to do that for sure, though, was to attack them unarmed.
As the pirate charged, Link leapt into the air and vaulted over the smaller man's head, deflecting his first attack with a kick, and landing easily behind him. Link didn't make any real headway with that first move, but it gave him some time to analyze the weak points in the armor the man was wearing.
Link had never seen armor like that before. It was plainly enchanted, but the only weakness he could find was in the face itself, where the helmet exposed the eyes and nose.
Slowly, Link held up his left hand as the pirate charged him again, and when the pirate's axe headed towards him, Link stepped swiftly to one side, avoiding it, then grabbed it with his own left hand.
For a moment, neither moved, though the pirate seemed to be making some attempt to yank his axe free of Link's grip. Then, Link's left elbow shot out, and collided hard with the pirate's face. He felt the pirate's grip on the axe relax, and watched him slump to the floor with a crash a moment later. Obviously, the fight was over, and he was left standing over the unconscious body of the poor pirate, with a large, heavy axe clutched in one hand.
"He's a fairly strong fighter," Link thought to himself, rubbing his elbow, which felt just a little sore from the maneuver he'd just performed with it, "but not strong enough to have obtained that battle armor by force. He obviously got it as a gift, but I wonder who gave it to him, and why."
Tossing the axe into the sea, Link put his sword and shield into his bag, and put the bag into his tunic again, then continued through the door that the pirate had been guarding, hoping that all the fights with the other pirates would end that quickly.
In the ship's hold, Link fought a weak, young pirate, who had very few weapons, but as he progressed across the deck of the vessel, the enemies he fought became stronger and stronger. For the most part, their armor and weapons were the same, but as Link progressed through the ship, it was obvious that the training of some pirates had been more extensive than others. Some even required many punches to defeat, and when Link defeated two particularly large and strong ones at once, he couldn't help but wonder "What sort of terrible fiend could be commanding these warriors? What kind of man is strong enough to earn the respect and allegiance of so many powerful fighters?"
At last, the final door swung open, and Link entered the last section of the ship's deck, before reaching the passenger's cabin. As soon as he made it through the doors, however, and got a good look at their leader, Link could hardly believe his eyes... It couldn't be, but there was no denying it...
It was a woman.
She was no older than Link. She had a very severe tan, as though she'd spent all her life in the sun. Her facial features were very beautiful, almost to the point of being high-class, and her hair was long, and a beautiful blond color, but she was dressed in faded clothes, with a long, purple cloak that she seemed to have stolen from somewhere, since it was the only thing she had on that wasn't faded. In her right hand, she held a staff. Link could tell at once that both the cloak and staff were magical.
However, magic or no magic, woman or man, Link had a job to do. Quickly, he approached her, and spoke to her aloud.
"If you're the leader of these pirates, you need to stop your attack right now. I don't like having to hurt a woman, but I will, if you don't stop this."
When she heard his words, the young woman laughed at him derisively, however. She obviously had something to prove to him, because in a moment, she'd scoffed, "Fool! Women can do whatever we want to do. We're the stronger ones; the better ones. I've abandoned my natural instincts toward kindness, and I'm completely confident that if all other women did the same thing, we could rule all men in under a week. You're just being arrogant if you think you can stop me. No man I've ever met could overpower me."
At once, Link's thoughts returned to Zelda, Saria, and especially the gerudo. He recognized the womanly pride that the pirate captain had, and the strength she must have had in order to earn such respect among the pirates, and he remembered what the women in his life were capable of, but there was something about that young lady that was different from all of them; something that he couldn't just ignore.
"I understand perfectly well that women have the power to create and destroy," Link said, choosing his words carefully, "but I'm a defender of life in all its forms, and you've decided to kill people. Normally, I wouldn't fight a woman, but if you want to kill the innocent, I have to stop you. I don't have any choice but to fight you."
The pirate captain didn't seem about to argue with that. After all, she wasn't afraid of Link in the least. With an evil gleam in her eye, the young lady assumed a fighting stance, and in no time at all, the fight had begun.
With her staff tucked away in her belt, the young woman leapt high into the air with enormous speed and skill, and soon, Link had leapt into the air too. Suddenly, the woman spun around in mid-air, and threw a powerful kick directly at the Hero of Time's midsection.
With only a second to decide how to respond, Link lifted up his legs and kicked outward, swatting the young woman's leg backwards, and sending her careening to the other side of the ship, but just in time, she flipped over again, and landed sideways against one of the masts, jumping almost directly horizontally from there, to charge at Link again.
Once again, however, although her speed was almost unbelievable, Link landed, then jumped sideways out of her path. In response, she planted her feet on the ground, leapt after him, and started firing volleys of punches and kicks at him with lightning-fast speed. Her speed was so much like his own, in fact, that even he couldn't dodge all of the blows, but he did deflect most of them with the backs of his hands.
However, the pirate captain seemed to have realized just what she was up against by that point. In seconds, she'd drawn a scimitar from where it hung at her belt, and Link was forced into a defensive position. The long, curved blade shone in the sun, as his enemy whipped it around against him, as if it weighed less than a twig. The moment that Link saw that, he knew he couldn't keep blocking the same way he had been before. Blocking punches and kicks was one thing, but it wasn't so easy to block a sword, and considering how fast his enemy was moving, it was becoming difficult to get a hit in...
In the end, Link realized that he had to make a risky move. His enemy was moving so fast by that point, that if he made one slip, he'd probably be cut to ribbons, but if he didn't take a risk, he had no way to get under her guard.
Quickly, Link slid downward, and brought both feet up in different directions. It was a move that he'd needed to plan out considerably in advance, but it paid off. He slid easily out of reach of the sword's latest slice, then one of his feet knocked the sword from the young woman's grasp, and into the ocean, while the other caught her in the stomach, and sent her flying towards the other side of the ship again.
In a flash, Link was on his feet again, and prepared for a fresh strike, but as he looked at the young woman, he could see that all she was doing was standing in one place and staring at him. It surprised Link, but he didn't drop his guard. As he watched her, however, she yanked the magic staff from her belt, and Link began to get a bad feeling about that staff, and about what its owner was planning.
"You're the best fighter I've ever faced," the young woman muttered in something like awe, "and normally, I'd offer to let you be my first mate, but right now, I'm under orders. I'm sorry that you have to die."
Link's eyes narrowed in skepticism when he heard that. The pirate captain was definitely a good fighter, but when Link replied to her a moment later, there was still no fear in his voice.
"Do you still think your magic is strong enough to kill me, pirate leader?"
"Don't call me 'pirate leader.'" the young lady said in irritation, "I'm Tetra; Queen of the pirates, and the most ruthless warrior on the ocean."
"Tetra." Link thought to himself. It was a word meaning "four." He could only wonder why her parents had decided to name her that. It certainly wasn't the kind of name most people would give to their children.
Swiftly, Tetra turned a knob on the top of her staff, and it started to glow with some unnatural power, as she slowly swung it over her head in a wide arc, bringing it to bear against her enemy.
At once, the pirate captain was upon Link, swinging her weapon with an overhead swipe, in a smooth, rapid motion. Link leapt to the left to avoid it, and it was a good thing that he did, because no sooner had the staff collided with the hull of the ship, than the wood it had struck was eaten away before his very eyes; seeming to tear itself apart, and evaporate, as if it were nothing more than a mass of bubbles, vanishing on the edge of the sea.
"The orb at the end of my staff disintegrates anything it touches," Tetra said with an evil grin, "and soon, you won't be able to dodge my attacks anymore!"
With that announcement, Tetra gripped her cloak in one hand, and threw it back in a practiced flourish...
Then suddenly, she was gone.
Link felt a chill travel through him, as Tetra continued to use her magic from somewhere nearby. She was completely invisible, but he could still hear her voice; taunting him, and daring him to try and stop her...
"Am I to your left? To your right? Am I invisible, or am I really even here anymore? Maybe I'm just talking to you from a great distance away... or maybe I'm right in front of you!"
Link dove forward just in time. There was a sharp "CRACK" from behind him, and the deck boards in that location began disintegrating. He'd narrowly missed being hit by his enemy's staff that time, but with a weapon like that, even one attack could be lethal.
Link's eyes zipped back and forth, trying to track down his enemy as quickly as he could. Obviously, she was invisible, and worse, she'd stopped talking and taunting him. She also seemed to be skilled enough in the art of stealth, that he couldn't even hear her footsteps. He closed his eyes and concentrated, however.
After a few moments of intense concentration, Link leapt backwards, and heard the sound of disintegrating floorboards where he'd just been. Link had kept his eyes closed, and was concentrating on trying to hear his enemy, but it wasn't easy. She had a weakness, but it was hard to make use of it, even for someone with as much combat experience as the Hero of Time.
At last, a lingering hypothesis that had been bugging Link came to the surface, and he decided to act on it. With a sudden burst of motion, he rushed forward across the deck of the ship, and at once, he heard a sound very familiar to him by then. With a powerful leap, he soared to the right, landed in another section of the ship, reached behind himself, grabbed something that he found there, and yanked it as hard as he could!
Suddenly, Tetra was on the deck of the ship again, entirely visible, and entirely without her magic cloak. Her weapon had also fallen from her hand, and before she could get hold of it again, Link had kicked it way out of range. At once, the Hero of Time drove his fist downward, and Tetra, trying to dodge it, found Link's fist colliding directly with her throat!
Link gasped in shock as he drew back, but it was too late. Tetra was injured; maybe even critically. Still, she persisted in speaking to him, in spite of her weakening breath...
"How? How did you find me?"
Link could tell that Tetra was dying, and that asking any more questions about the fight was a waste of those final moments. Still, they were hers to waste, and under the circumstances, Link felt like he ought to honor her enough to give her the answer she was looking for.
"When one can't see the enemy, it's best to try to hear them instead."
"I made no noise!" Tetra gasped, "My technique was flawless! I..."
"It's true," Link said, "You made less noise than even my ears could detect, but I heard your motion by the rustling of your cloak, and your attacks by the sound made when your staff rushed through the air. Without your weapons, you would have made no noise at all, but then, I suppose your strength and weakness were the same thing in this fight."
"You're..." Tetra tried to gasp, but it was too late. Her lungs had given out on her, and she was breathing her last.
Slowly, Link walked past the dead pirate captain and bowed his head, pulling his sword from his bag. In just a moment, he'd driven it downward, directly into the upper deck boards, and began once more to recite the prayer of casualties; "May Nayru, immortal Goddess of Wisdom, founder of the laws by which all life forms are governed, forgive me for what I have been forced to do this day... May Din protect the fallen as they journey to their..."
However, before he could even finish, Link heard a noise behind him, as though a mass of flesh and bones were bending in ways it wasn't designed to, and as he turned to face the unearthly sounds, abandoning his ritual prematurely, he saw something that horrified him; not only because it was disgusting, but because it seemed also to represent a grave danger as well.
The flesh of the pirate leader was turning a sickly color of greenish-blue. Her bones looked like they were grating against one another, in an attempt, futile in some cases, to find their rightful place. Her muscles seemed to be disconnecting, and re-attaching themselves freely. She looked like nothing less than the body of a woman dead for years, yet rising to her feet, as though with a power of her own.
"What?" Link gasped in horror and confusion, "What's going on? How are you doing this?"
However, in a moment, Tetra spoke, and her words echoed, as though off far-away walls, yet they seemed almost whispered, though their volume didn't suffer for it. It was an unnatural tone of voice, and because of that, Link felt his spine suffering intense chills when he heard it...
"This isn't as simple as life or death, Hero of Time. Yes, I know who you are. It's part of the curse that I'm suffering from now. The curse consumed my people and my land, but I've been promised that it won't consume me. It doesn't want me... What it wants is... Hyrule..."
As the creature that had once been Tetra spoke, she seemed to start fading away before Link's very eyes, as though her flesh and bones were vanishing, and all that was left was the half-present image of what had come before. Horrified, but not afraid, Link boldly asked, "What? What are you saying? Is Hyrule being threatened by a deadly curse of some kind? Answer me!"
"That isn't for me to tell." Tetra replied in a pitiful sort of gasp, her voice seeming to fade, in almost the same way as her body, "The dark lord has discovered your existence. For now, it's my job to merely keep you busy, but I can't do that myself anymore. If I'm going to delay you any longer, I need the help of my passengers; the Ericsons. You may have beaten me, but that doesn't mean you've won."
As she said that, the spirit gravitated backwards, through the door to the passenger quarters. Before Link could take any action in response to that, however, the doors flew open, and out came two figures, clothed in dark colors, and obviously dangerous.
Link dropped his pack back into his tunic, as he gripped his sword tightly. Its indelible steel edge rotated in his hands as he watched the movements of his two new opponents very carefully.
Like Tetra, the first of Link's new enemies seemed to be a woman, but her skin was a strange shade of light purple, and like Tetra, she wore a long cloak, but as far as Link could tell, she didn't have any magic on her. She had a longbow, and a quiver of arrows slung across her torso, and her eyes seemed glazed over, as though out of what most people would consider focus, but she didn't seem to be carrying anything enchanted on her person, which, for some reason, Link didn't find any less worrying.
The other individual was a man on horseback. His skin color was the same as his partner's, who Link took to be his sister, but unlike her, he was riding on a steed of some kind. In reality, though, it looked almost nothing like a real, living steed. The creature was a mere skeleton, with a saddle attached to it, and it looked like the remains of a beast that half-resembled a horse, half a wolf. Also unlike his sister, the male Ericson had an aura of magic around himself, similar to the kind that all Hylians possessed. Link could only wonder what kind of strange magic he'd mastered, but he could tell from the man's build, and his weapon (a fairly long sword) that his preferred style of fighting was horseback swordsmanship.
Link gripped his weapon tighter as he studied his new opponents. They weren't hylians, but he didn't want to hurt them if it could be helped. As always, he decided to let the enemy make the first move, and hope they could be talked out of a fight.
"I see our employer predicted your actions well, Hero of Time." The male Ericson announced, looking grave as he circled around Link, "He knew you'd be able to vanquish Tetra and the others. What he didn't know was whether you'd be able to defeat us. It's my job to bring a report of your death, in order to give him that information. From what I've seen, though, your skill impresses me. I'll let you die on your feet, like a warrior."
"I don't want to die here," Link replied back, hoping that he might be able to disarm his new enemies with words, "and if you feel the same way, I encourage you to step aside. I have no problem with the two of you, that couldn't be resolved by a simple surrender."
"A tempting offer," the woman said, though from her tone of voice, she certainly didn't sound tempted, "but we're assassins, and we'll slay you for the payment we've been offered. If not, we'll die, and our reputation with us, if you think you can stop us with just a sword."
As the woman made that last remark, she started to grin a little. Obviously, she was completely confident in her skill, and had no intention of giving in. The battle would start in moments, and, Link realized, he had no way to prevent it.
For almost thirty seconds, the three fighters stood across from each other, observing one another carefully; trying to guage potential strengths and weaknesses, before the woman made the first move. In the blink of an eye, her bow was in her hands, and an arrow was flying towards Link. Until nearly the last moment, he stood perfectly still, waiting for the attack to reach him. Then, when the arrow was nearly on top of him, Link ducked to one side, out of its path, and was swept up in an explosion that rocked the ship from end to end.
Link probably would have been flung overboard by the force of the blast, except that fighting back the pain, he was able to grab hold of the main mast, and prevent himself from flying too far as the explosion died away.
Of course, Link knew what had happened at once, just as surely as he felt the searing pain in his back from the blast. The arrows were loaded with some kind of small bombs, which exploded when they hit something solid. That was going to be tough to deal with, especially since Link was wounded, and he still had no idea what his other foe was capable of.
His other foe! Ignoring the pain in his back, Link leapt into the air, and vaulted clear over the head of his second enemy, who'd been charging at him with his sword outstretched! However, as Link plunged back towards the deck, he found that the man had changed course, his skeletal steed responding with pinpoint precision, and in seconds, the man was sitting almost directly underneath Link, with his sword pointing upwards!
With less than a second to think of what to do next, Link muttered a spell under his breath, and landed on the sword, being knocked aside extremely roughly. Then, as though to eliminate all doubt, another arrow collided with Link's chest, and the explosion could be heard all across the shores of Ruto.
Slowly, the female Ericson began to sling her bow back across her torso, when suddenly, impossibly, Link leapt from the smoke and debris, and let fly with a volley of sword strikes from multiple directions! She had less than a second to plan an appropriate defense!
Even so, the lady was skilled enough that she was able to deflect most of Link's attacks with the gilded ends of her bow. In fact, any attack that would have been lethal had been deflected harmlessly by her weapon. By the time Link had finished his assault, she'd escaped with only a few minor flesh wounds to her shoulders and legs, and as Link landed behind her, she spun around, following him carefully, and reached for another arrow...
"What!" she shrieked in panic, groping around behind her back for her arrows, but finding nothing, "Where are..."
Then, with a look of burning hatred, the female Ericson glared at Link, and in response, he held up her quiver of arrows, the strap having been cut in two by his sword during their last exchange. With a quick flip of Link's wrist, the tiny arsenal was sent plunging to the bottom of the ocean, out of reach of the young assassin.
It seemed like the perfect moment for Link to strike and finish her off, so naturally, he did just the opposite; leaping off to one side, as the male Ericson charged past him, his last attack having failed.
"Nayru's Love" was a spell that Link had gotten a long time ago. It was exhausting to the caster, but it could protect him from all harm for at least a moment or two, and in the case of the exploding arrow, and the sword of his enemy, it was all he'd needed to get the drop on them. However, the spell had worn off by that point, and he didn't have the energy to cast another one. That time, he was on his own.
Besides, the male Ericson still had some kind of magic, which he hadn't even revealed up to that point.
It soon became apparent just what that magic was. Seeing Link disarm his sister of her arrows, the man had decided that he definitely needed to use all of his powers against Link if he even wanted to have a prayer for victory.
In moments, the male Ericson's sword had begun to glow with some incredible power, and soon, Link was running again. The deck of the ship vibrated, almost as though caught in an earthquake, as Link's feet collided with them more rapidly than any other Hylian, but the skeletal horse was still gaining on him. At last, the man fired off a blast of light from his weapon, and it would have hit Link, if he hadn't ducked to one side.
As Link watched the beast rotate for another pass, he looked at the damage made by the beam. To his surprise, the marks that the male Ericson's beam attack had left behind didn't look as if they'd been made by energy, but by a sword, hurled into the boards! When he saw that, Link immediately realized that getting hit by that attack would have been enough to kill him.
Once again, the beast-riding Ericson charged, and once again, Link dodged it, that time by sliding under his enemy's mount as it passed by, then squirming to his feet, but as he stood, he felt the wood of the woman's bow press against the front of his neck. Link's eyes darted backward, and he could see that the female Ericson had grabbed him from behind, by sliding her bow over his head and pulling it backwards, against his throat. She seemed less like she was trying to choke him, however, and more as if her aim was to hold him steady, while her brother charged in for one last attack.
"I don't know how you survived my last arrow." she barked furiously, "But you won't dodge my brother's next attack."
A million options were considered and discarded by Link in that moment, with lightning speed, as he realized that she was absolutely right. There was no way of shrugging her off, and dodging the next attack completely.
"So I won't dodge." Link decided, his expression hardening. He'd made another grave decision, and although someone was likely to die very soon, he knew that it was the only way for him to win.
Reaching behind his back, Link grabbed the female Ericson by the shoulder blades, and in one swift motion, picked her up, pulling her over his head, and into the path of the charging warrior and his sword beams. Her back was riddled with sword-wounds, but Link couldn't tell whether she was alive or not, nor did he have the time to worry about it. With another quick maneuver, he'd charged up to the male Ericson with the body of his sister held in front of him as a makeshift shield, and when he was close enough, he threw her directly at her brother.
The number of ways that Link could have claimed victory at that moment were virtually limitless, but instead, he chose to step back for a moment, as the two of them fell from atop the brother's "steed," and once he'd put some distance between himself and the Ericsons, Link calmly said one last word.
"Surrender."
Even as he said that word, however, it became evident to Link that the female Ericson was dead. He could see that as he'd flung her at her brother. The other Ericson had driven his sword directly into her chest. Her blood was all over him, and he was struggling to get to his feet, clear fury in every motion he made. Obviously, Link realized sadly, the male Ericson wasn't going to surrender. In fact, the professional, if twisted motives he'd had before were gone. At that point, all he wanted was revenge.
"You're dead!" the remaining Ericson exclaimed, holding up his weapon, and leaving the remains of his steed behind. Soon, the male Ericson had charged at Link with his weapon at the ready. The whole thing only made Link feel worse, but he readied his own sword, and charged forward at his remaining enemy. As the two approached each another, their weapons darted out at one another, and in a flash, it was all over.
Link stumbled a bit from a wound in the side of his leg. It was, in the end, only a flesh wound though. The male Ericson wasn't so lucky. His sword arm had been severed completely from his body, and he was gradually bleeding to death.
"He's too used to horseback combat." Link realized silently, as he slowly put his sword away, and headed for the ship's wheel, "He aims too low in a swordfight."
However, as the battle ended, and Link claimed control of the vessel, he wasn't relieved by what had happened. He didn't even think the worst was over, really. He was eager to find a potion shop and get a remedy for his wounds, but in reality, he was more worried than ever. He'd claimed control of the pirate ship, but the words of Tetra still haunted him. Curses, after all, were serious things.
The whole time that Link was steering the ship closer to shore, all he could think about was Tetra's comments about the curse, and all he could feel was concern for his homeland. At last, he steered the ship further and further towards the shore, and ran it solidly aground, dashing its hull to pieces on the rocks. He could feel the water rushing into the bottom of the ship, and the vessel itself tilting backwards in response, so at once, he leapt over the side, and swam to shore.
Once Link was back on dry land, he could see Stalflare and Banuni waiting for him. Banuni was smiling at him, in an almost arrogant kind of way, as though he'd won a bet. Stalflare, however, was simply staring in awe.
As Link got to shore, he yanked his equipment back out of his bag, and put it on. Then, he slowly walked up to his two allies, doing his best to ignore the pain he was still feeling, and that was when he spoke to them again, but his words were certainly not what either of them had been expecting to hear.
"We have to get back to Hyrule right now."
Naturally, the urgency of the comment was surprising to Stalflare, who'd rarely been faced with a victory that demanded it. In just a moment, the wizard's brow started to furrow, and he replied to Link with deep concern.
"What? But we won. We should be celebrating now. Is there a new threat?"
Link had to think about that for a moment, but he just didn't have enough information to give Stalflare a definite answer about that.
"Maybe." Link eventually replied, "We'll find out when we get back. Apparently, there's some kind of curse, and it might be too late to prevent it already. I need to investigate this before I'll be satisfied."
Stalflare's eyes narrowed as he heard Link speaking, but obviously, he wasn't going to abandon the Hero of Time while there were still problems that they needed to resolve.
"I hadn't expected this," Stalflare remarked in intense consternation, "but very well. You lead on. I'll follow you."
A moment later, with all the speed that they could muster, the two rushed to the north; back towards Hyrule, while the other pirates, having washed up on shore, were being gradually imprisoned by the Ruto guards.
Never tiring as they ran with great speed, Link and Stalflare returned to Hyrule the way they'd come, across the fields to the north, over the path through the mountains, until they reached the southern edge of Lake Hylia. It was a long trek, and the dread that Link felt the whole way back only made it seem longer, but they did eventually arrive, and when they'd reached the edge of the lake, it was Stalflare who was the first to speak...
"I'm not as familiar with the outer reaches of Hyrule as you are, but it looks like we're back."
"Yes," Link replied, though his worried expression didn't even begin to fade, "and so far, I can't see what could be wrong with..."
However, Link's words, and in fact, the thought that bore them were immediately filed away in the back of his mind. His far-ranging eyesight had picked out two figures he recognized, rushing towards him with all the speed they were capable of; which, for each of them, was a considerable amount.
One of the figures was the messenger known as Nalabal, who worked for Princess Zelda. She had to be fast, because sometimes, she was called upon to get letters and other messages from one section of Hyrule to another in a huge hurry. Still, she was by no means as fast as the other figure, who ran just a short distance in front of her.
Epona was the fastest and most wild horse in all of Hyrule, and she belonged to Link. Link could deduce at once why Nalabal wasn't riding Epona. Even in times of trouble, the horse could be awfully choosy about who rode her, but obviously, the two of them were in enough danger that they had no objections to working together, side by side.
It was hard to tell with Epona, but Nalabal was definitely out of breath, and almost in a panic. It was just as Link had feared. Something had happened to Hyrule; something so horrible, that it was enough to terrify a grown woman, almost beyond the point of reason.
As soon as Nalabal stood before Link, and had caught her breath, she started explaining the situation eagerly, however. Obviously, things were bad enough, that she had no desire to hide the problem from Link.
"Link, you need to listen to me. After you left, dark clouds came in from the sea, blotting out the sun, and now, Hyrule is being overrun by a plague of the dead. I'm the only one left! They've taken everyone else."
Link was shocked and horrified when he heard that. Worse news than that would have been hard to imagine.
"What?" Link asked in shock and terror, "But what about Zelda? The sages? The guardian spirits?"
Nalabal shook her head so furiously, that tears flew from her eyes in all directions, but she eventually replied to Link's question, though she seemed to be fighting back open sobs with every word she spoke.
"All I know is that Princess Zelda and the guards of the castle were the first ones killed, and they were killing the townsfolk when I ran away from them. I tried to get help from the Zora and the Gerudo, but there were undead hoards blocking the way. I couldn't even get close to them."
"No." Link muttered aloud, but his voice trailed off at that point, because he couldn't think of anything else to say.
For several moments after that, no one said anything else. Things had gone from bad to worse.
Note: This chapter covers parts 1-4 in the original format.