AN: I'm quite busy at the moment since I'm an university student and work part time, I'm saying this just to let the people that are reading this story know that updates will probably be monthly for a while after chapter 3, but I will not drop this if it were the last thing I do, mainly because if there is one thing that I hate the most is unfinished stories.

That being said…

Hope you all enjoy.

I also own nothing.

And just a reminder:

' ' Thought

" " Speech


Chapter 2 - Friends, Enemies and magic.

It was strange, his beloved friend don't usually stop without a reason, not when both of them were so set on doing something as they were now. It was with this realization that made Links awareness stop traveling through time in old and half-forgotten memories and made it back to the present in an unpleasantly sudden way.

Two things immediately came into view as Link was turning his head in amazingly fast movements so he could notice the surrounding he had ignored up until now. The first was that a road had been finally reached by them, and even though it was a dirt road and appeared to be quite unkempt, it was still a confirmation that some kind of civilization other than the one made up of loud and annoying bird was indeed present in this land. The second and most important thing was a group of four… people? To say that they were strange would be an understatement, so he kept any classification to himself. What they looked like though, was different than any person he had encountered in his travels yet.

All of them were about his height, if just a little smaller, and while that was frankly nice in a selfish way, since he was not the tallest of the Kokiris by any means, it was still quite strange that they all had in fact the faces of a grown man. If it were only one person he could simply come to the conclusion that they might have some condition, at least that was the assumption he made when he met Tingle, and was one of the reasons why he never asked why the man was so small, well that and the fact that he was rather odd made Link approach the strange man due to professional reasons only, since those maps were in fact quite well made.

The other characteristic that the four odd people in front of him shared, like the big and hairy feet and the curly hair just screamed at him that they probably were from a different race, and one that he had not met yet. This fact was actually making the poor Kokiri rather confused. Of course in his travels he had met a lot of different and not so different people, but the actual races were mostly the same between Hyrule and Termina. Now in front of him there were people that looked completely… new, it finally made the whole different world idea sink in, because strange vegetation was one thing, since while traveling one would certainly find new kinds of plants eventually, and oddly behaved birds were just odd and not that uncommon. But really small adults with big hairy feet, and four of them to add up, was a loud and unignorable scream not to take things for granted this time around.

After deciding that a perpetual child finding other kind of people strange was quite ironic if not hypocritical from his part, he decided to approach said group and finally break the silence that must have been in the air for quite a while. He realized, just before he spoke up, that all the time he was considering the strange group they were in fact watching him with just as much startle in their faces, and that little thought just helped his confusion set more deeply in his mind.

Thankfully it was not his destiny to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled in. As Link was about to speak up he was actually beaten up by one of the little adults, the one with black hair that after a quick consideration could easily be recognized as the leader of the group. He made a step forward and asked in an evenly and calm voice: "Are you lost little elf?"

The first thing that came screaming in Links head was 'YES! The language is the same! Having to deal with a language barrier would be terrible, time consuming and quite frankly too much work. I hated not being able to understand what the giants of Termina were saying.' the second thing that came to his mind was 'How could he call me little, has he no self-awareness at all?' the third thing was 'Elf?' There was just too much new information for him to make any sense of it all, so he decided to just say something before anyone consider him a mute.

"Well I don't actually know where I am right now, so you could say in a sense that I am in fact lost" and that was quite the understatement, "and my name is Link by the way, nice to meet you." he finished with a small smile, hopefully it would be friendly enough.

"Hello little one, my name is Frodo, "the leader of the group began, in a patronizing tone that just made Link a quite cranky, he knew exactly what it was and what it represented and that was the tone of someone that thought he was a lost little puppy. "Where are your parents Link?"

"They died when I was a small child" Link responded, seeing the reaction from the strange man and adding quickly "It's alright, you couldn't have known." At least he hadn't found the need to lie just yet, but he had an uneasy feeling that the need would present itself sooner rather than later.

"Even so I'm sorry about your loss, were you traveling with a group of elves? We've just came upon them last week." 'Oh crap that's it…' "I…I wasn't, I…" Link stammered but the opportunity for lying was lost since in the next moment everyone present was startled by the gallop of what appeared to be a big horse becoming louder by the moment. Just before any of them could react the biggest, blackest and meanest combination of horse and rider all of them have ever seen (which says a lot considering Link knew Phantom Ganon) came from down the road, it's intent was quite clearly to run all of them over, and terror surged in the minds of everyone present, well at least four of them.

For one boy felt a lot of things, but terror was certainly not one of them, he instantly recognized the rider as evil, so evil in fact that it seemed to suck the happiness of everything around it, any doubt in his mind of what to do was summarily gone. Acting almost on instinct, he grabbed the small bow he kept in his back behind his shield, took one arrow from the quiver located at the same spot, concentrated for one moment and suddenly for everyone else present a bright light began to surround the arrow that the small strange boy was aiming at the terrifying figure.

And in the next moment, as said arrow made contact with the black rider, the cone of light that surrounded the piece of wood grew in size until it became a small explosion. A shriek of utter agony could be heard for at least the radius of some miles, and the being that was ready to cause so much death and pain was caught off guard while a little bit of that was being directed to him. The arrow seemed to be effective in making said rider stop, but before he could react a second arrow made contact, and then a third. It was after the sixth arrow hit that a retreat sounded indeed reasonable and the terrifying couple of beings turned back and went the opposite direction from the source of so much bright annoyance.

There was a moment of silence broken by a sigh of relief coming from the boy 'Thanks Farore he went back, two more arrows and I would be out cold for the rest of the day' "Let's get out of the road, I probably just annoyed that thing and I don't want to stay and find out how his rage would look like" he said while turning to the other four small adults. Since he was answered with only stares the boy continued "let's get out of the road! Do any of you know an alternative route to wherever you were going?" Then one of them, not the leader this time, whispered "Bucklebury Ferry" "Let's go then, now! I can't use any more of those arrows until the end of the day!" Link said in quite an exasperated voice, the small lie being uttered only to make his point get across the stunned little men. That seemed to make the trick because all of a sudden they started to run to the opposite place where Link just came from and back to the woods the boy and the little foal went.


The ride thought the strange vegetation was quite tenser and oddly enough a lot quieter than before as if the mood shift that had fallen the little Kokiri was somehow shared to the previous inhabitants of these parts. The track also gave Link a moment to consider his new companions. 'Although one of them is caring a sword, they all seemed to be more prepared to make supper than to fight anything more terrible than a chicken…', and with a shudder the boy quickly corrected himself '…than a rabbit, and they would probably defeat it with one of those pans.' What was apparent then was that he was the only fighter within the group and with that evil being possibly after them, that was an unsettling thought. Link decided to ride as close as Epona could physically tolerate from the other four, because he would not let that black thing get a chance of harming any of those present if could help it.

As the sun was setting, the light began to fade, increasing the number and size of the shadows all around them. As the darkness grew, so grew their uneasiness, and just as their courage was valiantly fighting back the waves of fear intruding their mind, a loud and high pitched shriek echoed in the blackness of the woods, and in shambles they were as their wits fled from them. Run they did, as fast as they could, from the source of so terrifying scream. And just then the voice of the strange child echoed in their ears, "Run, run to the ferry, I'll try to delay him, do not wait for me, for I'll be there before you are gone, and if not, you must go on!". And as he finished saying that Frodo turned around just in time to see a small triangle shinning in the boy left hand as it grabbed the hilt of the sword the little elf kept in his back, and then the moment was lost and the run resumed.

Link turned his back to his new companions to face their pursuer, and he felt his courage waver for a second as he saw not one but three black riders in front of him. He could only cast two light arrows, and forever lost he would be since even if for a miracle both of the riders ran after being hit, losing one's conscience in the presence of even one of those terrible enemies would definitely bring doom upon himself. 'So the light arrow is out of question…' he thought as the three riders made their way towards him, confident the small being in their presence would be crushed before long. 'Coming towards me… that's it! I must put everything I've got in this spin attack.' "I'll be right back old girl, wait for me here, ok?" and without waiting a reply the boy jumped off the little horse and ran, ran to his doom, with a shining light in the hand that valiantly held his sword and with a determined gaze the boy ran towards evil.

The boy waited until he was only a few paces away from the black things before coming to a complete stop. Wasting no time at all his sword began to shine, blue light surrounding it with great intensity. And so, most intriguingly if an outsider was ever watching this scene, the tall and terrible riders that were the personification of everything that was bad and horrible in the race of Man hesitated in front of a small child. As their gaze sat on the shinning blade their pace quickened in an urge to reach the pathetic creature before it had any chance to annoy them further. And to said creature apprehension settled in, he was almost done, and as a black sword came his way his own sword turned orange, signaling that it was time, with an eager and determined face he began his technique. With an explosion of light that had in its middle a spinning green dot, three black capes with their users still attached flew backwards, until they became but a blur mixed together with the shadows of the woods.

As the world became still again Link could see that he was thankfully alone in the woods, no unnatural darkness hovered in front of him. He let out a sigh of relief, only to spot a black sword laying just a few inches from his feet, realization settling in that he had been but moments from never finding out what this world could offer. He took a step back and almost fell as strength began to leave his legs, but then he forcefully decided that thinking about what could have been was quite unfruitful and that he must leave that spot at once since he probably only pushed back those creatures just a bit and when they come again they would surely be madder at him. Just as he turned around he was greeted by his old time companion, and a smile took over his troubled face. "Come on girl, time to make a run for it and keep my promise to the little people, think you'll be fast enough to reach them before they leave or the black riders catch up with us again?" And with indignation building up said little horse darted ahead in the direction the others had gone with as much speed as she could muster just as the boy was finishing climbing up.

They rode for just about fifteen minutes before the sound of the river went directly to their ears, and just a moment later said river, a small pier and a small set of wood planks that could barely be called a ferry was in sight and on top of it his four previous companions were working to unmake the knots that kept the little vessel in its place against force of the violent waters. Just as they were working in the last rope Link yelled "Hey, wait up!" He was close enough to hear sight of relief coming from them and then, one moment later he was there, at the ferry, surrounded by impressed looking, hairy feeted and smaller than they should have been adults as the last rope was thrown away and the will of the river was obeyed at last.


The next hour and a half was quite uneventful if not informative. As he began to settle in the small raft, making some place where Epona could rest a little since the foal was quite uneasy near so much water, his lack of magic and stamina finally began to be noticed as adrenaline left his blood stream, he decided that a talk would be perfect to fight a will to nap that insisted in making itself present. So he began to chat with his new companions, he learned their names: Frodo the leader, Sam the gardener, Merry and Pippin the singers and general mood raisers. After being told that they were Hobbits from some place called Shire and asking about what Hobbits really meant, he finally got the confirmation that they were indeed from a different race. Unfortunately for the Hobbits there were little Link could do to satisfy their curiosity about himself. He decided to stick with half-truths and so he began his tale.

He told them that his parents died when he was really young and that just before his mother passed away she left him in the care of a powerful and kind guardian. After his guardian was killed, he decided to leave his home so that the slayer could be brought forth to justice. He eventually managed to prove the man was guilty and made sure he would be imprisoned for a long time. After his quest was done, there was little else left in his home, so he decided to journey to new lands, and eventually after one adventure or two, he ended up where he is now. But he wandered far, so far that he became lost, and most of the land surrounding him became unknown. They seemed to accept his tale and he was happy, he would rather avoid lying.

As the journey in the small ferry continued Link learned that there was a great likelihood that the riders were indeed after them and that they must reach a village called Bree because a great wizard would be waiting for them there. 'A wizard, now I'm really curious, I've just ever met a couple of witches, well two pairs to be exact, I wonder how a wizard would be like.' and as he wondered he noticed that a worried look came to the hobbits, tilting his head he asked what was wrong. "Well you see" Frodo began "we are supposed to meet Gandalf, that's the wizard's name, in a tavern, and we just realized that a tavern is not really a place for a small boy to be at night". That hit a nerve, hard, he had to fight with all the strength he had left to not frown or pout. Finally he manage to calm down and said in a not quite honest happy tone "Don't worry, I used to go on a tavern all the time, the place was really depressing I tell you, but the drinks were quite superb, especially the milk, and I really liked the bartender, nice chap he was." 'Yeah that didn't feel convincing at all…' He thought bitterly, 'but by Farore let them drop the little boy thing, I have the same height as them!' and then a pout formed anyway, and if it was noticed by any of the hobbit no words were uttered. It was with a sour mood that the boy found himself in as the small group finished their travel by the river.