A/N: Ok then, fourth chapter. I would just like to thank the only two people who read my story. Sakurelle and PyroPrincessOfPeace, thank you ever so much for taking the time to read and review.

Everything in this story is still owned by Nintendo. Except the characters Nexaserma, the Gerudo Necromanceress, and Vulpumbra, Sheikah swordsman. They are my own creations.

Chapter 4

Nexaserma

Fighting back panic, I forced myself to calm down and coolly assess the present situation. The red haired one was an accomplished fighter and swordsman, not that he needed to be, the hero could probably beat me in swordplay. Looking into his scarlet eyes, I remembered a talk with the ghost of a Sheikah traveler in the Haunted Wastelands:

"You Sheikahs sound so powerful", I had said in awe, "you can manipulate shadows, you have heightened senses, and from birth you are trained as a weapon. How could one of you possibly die?"

The dead man just laughed. "We are not as strong as most believe, we are very weak against elemental magic, and even the lowest of light magic will injure us gravely. But even the slightest of wounds is troublesome to my kind: we heal very slowly."

Coming back to the present reality, I realized that none of that would help me before the Elfin Shadow executed me. Just as I was about to give up, though, I felt a sudden surge of power. Calling to my mind words of magic, I hastily started to reanimate the bones that lay beneath the ground.

"Ah!" The hero shouted, taken completely by surprise. "Stalchilds! In the day!"

The Sheikah youth also gave an exclamation of shock as numerous small skeletons rose up from the ground around him. Despite being small and weak, they were quite capable of cutting you to ribbons with their sharp, bony claws. As he turned away from me to deal with the Stalchilds, I leapt up and ran away, but not before I took the time to paralyze the hero. The small skeletons wouldn't kill him before the other youth intervened, but he would still be cut up. And, more to the point, humiliated. Getting beaten up by Stalchilds would make him more hot headed and angry next time we fought, and I needed every advantage I could get. Let them have the Water Key, I would claim the next one.

Zelda

One hour, some swordplay, a big pile of bones, and a red potion later we were back on track for recovering the water key. Which happened to be sitting on a shelf inside the Lakeside Laboratory. Two feet away from where Link got beaten up by Stalchilds. He said something about the Gerudo paralyzing him, but I could barely hear him over my bodyguard's laughter. According to the wizened professor, a Zora found the key at the bottom of the lake, under a rock. The Zora then presented it to him as a gift.

"Hey, Zelda," Link spoke up, "what did the Gerudo want anyway? You said she was after the Water Key? Does that mean she is after this crown thing as well?"

My Shadow interrupted: "Oh Benevolent Goddess Nayru, holy being of Wisdom. We humbly thank you for this miraculous and wonderful stroke of genius you have seen fit to give the Hero of Time."

It was, fascinatingly enough, funny, interesting, and shocking all at once. Funny because Link did not catch the joke, interesting because I had never heard such sarcasm, and shocking because my Shadow had obviously meant his cutting malice to wound the Hero. I tried to catch his eye, so I could frown and reprimand him, but my Shadow steadfastly refused to look at me.

"Well," I said, "we should go back to the castle. There we can figure out what a Gerudo necromanceress would want with an artifact of a dead race. I mean dying, a dying race. We have the Water Key, but she will be after the others. Do we try to stop her, or collect all the keys first?"

"We should find her and stop her immediately." Link spoke up.

"And how do you expect to 'stop her'?" My Shadow laughed scornfully, "you already fought her, had to call me for help, got the shit beat out of you and she still escaped."

I had had enough of his verbal abuse of Link. "Well then, if you have such a low opinion of the Hero, you can just track her down and stop her by yourself. Now."

He snapped to attention and finally met my eyes. Such a fierce and angry fire burned there that I actually took a step back. He opened his mouth, no doubt to shoot off another bitter, scathing remark. But he just glared wrathfully and tossed something high into the air. I watched it climb into the sky and fall back down. The Sheikah had disappeared in the way Shadows are wont to do.

A chill ran up my spine. Somehow I felt like a little child. Frightened of my own Shadow…