The Five Alone
Both the sun and Colin were up by the time Link finally figured it out. Half of that time was spent trying to find where Fado kept the darn fences; the other half spent trying to get them set up. After awhile, Link, with both Ilia and Midna's help, finally got then set up and ready. He looked to Arty, who was standing with Hanako and Colin with no horse besides Epona in sight.
"Well?" He raised an eyebrow. Arty rolled her eyes, put her fingers to her lips, and let out a shrill whistle. A black horse darted up the path from Ordon, its red eyes gleaming excitedly.
"Anela!!" The horse nickered excitedly, stopping in front of the girl.
"Hichta Delcela!" Arty exclaimed, patting the horse's head. The horse had no reins, but had a black saddle. Link and Ilia were both wondering what Arty was saying, which was weird, since it was Ilia who was reading all the Ancient Hylian in the temple. Arty then looked to Link, who was standing beside Epona. "You ready?" She smirked. Link nodded before the two mounted their horses, Arty holding onto her horse's mane.
"I'd like to see if Demon still possesses his strength." Hanako laughed as Arty and Link both rode towards the centre of the field. Hanako and Ilia nodded to each other. "Alright," Hanako started. "You will each go solo once, then you'll race around the course, then you will go solo again. Each time you go you will have to finish five laps, or twenty jumps. Your speed and amount of broken fences will all go into your final score."
"This sounds like a real tournament." Midna muttered, then looked to Hanako. "How do we know who goes first?" She asked.
"Who's older?" Hanako smirked.
"Link!" Ilia looked at Hanako like she was dumb.
"Wrong!" Hanako grinned. Ilia raised an eyebrow. "Still, Link goes first." Link nodded before heading over to the first jump. "Ready… set… go!" Hanako shouted, Link quickly spurred Epona, and the horse took off over the first jump quickly. Ilia, Hanako and Midna were all counting in their heads, while Colin was too busy watching Link and Epona jumping to care.
Link finished with a pretty quick time, and returned to the centre. Arty got ready in the same place Link had, as Hanako called for her to start. Everyone but Colin was counting in their heads again. Arty's face was calm and focused on the task, while the black stallion, Demon just looked excited to be galloping with Arty on his back again. Their score when they finished was five points below Link's, and the horses were given a drink before the two readied themselves for the race. Hanako looked to Ilia, who started round two. Link and Arty took off exactly in sync, and it stayed that way until Arty started getting ahead. Link noticed this, and attempted to hold Epona back, but the ginger mare sped up to pass Demon. Epona jumped a split second before Demon, but somehow Demon landed before her. Magic? Link glanced at Demon, who showed neither signs of being affected by magic, nor any signs of tiring. Then he looked to Epona, who was the same, only starting to show signs of tiring.
"Slow down if you need to." Link whispered to Epona, who nickered defiantly.
Somehow, when they finished Link's score was still barely above Arty's. Arty got to go first on the last round, as Demon didn't seem tired at all, while Epona was near exhausted. Link dismounted Epona and gave her a drink while waiting for Arty.
When Arty finished, it appeared that it would be a sure win for Link. He and Epona got ready to start, and once they did, it still seemed like they'd win, until Epona had to slow down, and knocked a couple on the wooden pieces on the fences off. Link halted Epona as the finish and jumped off. Arty walked over and gave him a high five.
"Good job." Arty nodded.
"Same to you. I don't think I've seen a horse able to beat Epona in jumping or stamina before." Link replied.
"You give your horse credit. That's good." Arty smiled, before turning back to Demon with a nod.
"That was surprising." Ilia commented as the others joined them. Link nodded before heading over to Epona and starting to unsaddle her. When he was done he sat the saddle over by the stables. Epona walked tiredly over to the fence and lay down, resting from pushing herself harder then normal.
Arty waved and left the ranch, her eyes gleaming. Hanako shrugged and followed, while Midna muttered something about not trusting her and leaving.
"Midna hardly trusts anyone…" Link muttered before letting the goats out for the day and sitting near the horseshoe grass, Ilia then sat next to him.
Arty returned to Link's house, entering with Hanako and Midna, then going down into the basement, seeming to walk blindly, but shifting thing around. Hanako sat and watched, somehow seeing perfectly in the dark. Midna was blindly blinking, trying to spot Arty.
Arty climbed up a set of shelves and grabbed a jar from the top, jumping down and heading back upstairs, Hanako and Midna rushing after. She sat the jar, which was a dusty, greenish brown midsized jar with the Triforce engraved all around it. Arty reached in and pulled out an instrument so dusty you couldn't tell what colour it was, small enough to fit in your hand.
"Geeze… only seventeen years and this thing is so dusty you can't tell what it is!" Arty exclaimed, before blowing the dust off it, revealing that it was a dark blue with the Triforce symbol at the base of the mouthpiece.
"What is that?" Midna looked closer. Arty grinned.
"Does it even play any more?" Hanako looked at Arty, who nodded.
"I'm sure it does. It's only the Ocarina of Time, after all." Arty smirked.
"Is it really? Well then, I'll just have to take it from you." A man's voice rang out, the cold sharp of a sword blade against Arty's neck. She spun around, grabbed the blade, drawing blood. Hanako winced, Arty's pain getting increased and passed on to her. Arty growled, looking into two bright crimson eyes, a black scar going over the right one.
"Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh" Hanako looked like she was about to faint, as the seventeen year old man in front of them brushed his purple hair from his eyes. "SHADOW LINK!" She said in a half-yell half-scream tone.
Arty stared up the blade of the evil Master Sword at the black hilt, held by Shadow Link himself.
"I thought you would've died when Lk did." Arty yanked the sword from the Evil Incantation, who rolled his eyes.
"As long as the Hero's bloodline goes on, I live on."
"Oh, and when the original bloodline died out you still survived? That makes no sense." Arty then looked to Midna and Hanako. "Get out while you still can. I know what happened to Ordon now." She then looked back to Shadow Link as Midna and Hanako dashed for the door. Hanako glanced back.
"Careful Arty." She whispered before opening the door and leaving, Midna following.
"Want me to scar your other eye?" Arty glared. "I hate knowing who you once were. Impa has all right to hate you."
"What about Saria?" Shadow Link smirked. Arty glared at him.
"She may be the only Sage who thinks you had reason."
"The irony." Shadow Link smirked. "So you're being called Arty now? Ha… it fits. Anna Runie Twilight. Should've known. Fron Anna to Aqua to Arty."
"And Runie." Arty darted to her feet, narrowly missing the blade. She unsheathed the two black bladed daggers at her waist.
Hanako and Midna darted back to the ranch, where Link, Colin and Ilia were sitting in a circle, or triangle, talking. They darted up to them, panting.
"A-Arty's in trouble. I- I don't know what happened. She pulled out some weird instrument, then someone she called Shadow Link-" Hanako got cut off by the three sitting down, who all in unison said:
"Shadow what?"
"Shadow Link." Hanako repeated. "She called him an 'Evil Incantation' and mentioned that he should've died awhile back." Link raised an eyebrow. "Don't ask me!" Hanako put her hands on her hips. "He did look a lot like you though… only with a black tunic and hat, red eyes… and purple hair."
"Purple?" Ilia raised an eyebrow. Hanako nodded.
"And a dark version of the Master Sword." Midna added in.
"Oh, great. Next you'll be telling me that his sword's the 'Sword of Light's Bane'" Link rolled his eyes.
"For all we know, it very well could be!" Hanako snapped, then fell to the ground suddenly, unconscious. Ilia looked in between everyone.
"What just happened?" She raised an eyebrow. Epona got up and rushed over.
"Demon says that Arty must've been knocked out!" Epona whinnied. Ilia repeated it and everyone shot to their feet. Ilia darted over to Demon and lifted Hanako onto the black stallion's back. Everyone darted towards Link's house, dashing in side, spotting Shadow Link picking up Arty's limp body. Link growled, unsheathed his sword and dashed at his shadow version, causing Shadow Link to drop Arty and grab his sword, pointing it towards Link's heart. Five seconds later, Ilia screamed…