After about twenty minutes of walking, they could finally see the last line of trees that gave way to a wide field. What the field lacked in trees,
it compensated in tall, strange objects hundreds of men were working on. The five Kokiri children couldn't make heads or tails of what they
were building because they had never seen the instruments of war, for what the men were building were several catapults the Wolf Prince
had ordered.
"This is our chance," Saria said, pointing at the bridge of a large wall that would lead them to the castle. With the men and soldiers coming and
going through it, she was sure no one would notice their shadows, or at least she hoped no one would.
They hurried through the field with enough distance between them and the men as to not get accidentally bumped and discovered. When they
were near the bridge, they walked behind a cart and walked through it without a problem.
"We have go to the opposite side of a market and then up a path," Saria explained, there was no need for her to whisper, there was so much
noise going around them that no one would notice her speaking. When they arrived to the market, they were shocked at the sight: it was a
destitute place. Barefoot, skinny children wandered around hunched as if they had lost their meaning of life, their clothes were tattered and
covered with filth; they looked so dirty it would not be a surprise if flies started to follow them. Old men and women sat against the wall of a
store, unmoving as if they were dead. The empty look in the eyes of the exhausted men that followed the soldiers' orders was terrifying. Every
building looked as if it was ready to collapse.
The Kokiri children went through the market as quickly as they could, face down, not being able to bear the sight. They were grateful that the
pathway toward the castle was empty.
"This place is dead!" Leah said repulsed "Is like their lives had been suck out of each person,"
"No wonder we are not allowed to leave Kokiri village," Mido added.
"It really is appalling," Mihn whispered, she had shivers running down her arms. She had been clutching Saria's tunic the whole time.
"We can leave, you know? We've seen enough," Maddie said. She was trembling inside, the mental attack of the ravens and the sight of so
much suffering was too much for her. "You could do a portal right here and no one would notice."
Mihn felt tempted to do just that. Where they really meant to be there? She remembered the boy's mysterious eyes and knew that she had to
find him before leaving.
"Come on guys, we said we were going to see what's going on inside the castle and we're not even there yet," Saria said, trying to cheer up
the group. In truth, she wanted to have nothing more to do with the strange, awful place, but the plead of the ancient tree kept coming back
to her mind. She couldn't call herself a plant Kokiri if she wasn't willing to answer to their cry of help.
They kept walking along the path almost unwillingly, afraid of what else they would find, until the path turned right and they could see a gate
ahead with a soldier guarding it.
"Well, it seems this is it," Mido sighed, relieved.
"No, we can climb this wall," Saria looked up at the looming wall beside them. She walked back to before the path turned right and knelt down.
Touching the ground below her, she closed her eyes and made vines grow on the wall until they reached the ledge.
"Oh great," Mido grunted.
Saria climbed first, showing them where to put their feet to make the climbing easier. Maddie went second, trying to follow Saria's directions,
but because of her headache her feet were unstable and her arms were weak. As she reached the ledge, she miscalculated her step and her
right foot met air. She felt herself falling with a strangled cry.
"Who's there?" the soldier at the gate called out. He took a few steps away from his post and called out again. He had heard a distinct cry, but
couldn't see anyone.
"Are you two alright?" Saria asked in a whisper after the soldier had returned to his post. Maddie had fallen on top of Mido who, lucky for her,
had cushioned her fall.
"Yeah," Maddie replied, struggling to stand up "sorry, Mido," she held out her hand for him.
"I don't think this is a good idea," Mido said, shaking the dust from his clothes "none of this is, we really should leave."
"You guys leave," Mihn said stubbornly "I'll make the portal for you, but I'm staying here."
"Why are you making things so difficult? Don't you get it Mihn, we don't belong here," Mido retorted, without looking at her.
"He's right you know," Leah said "we're not ready for this." She suddenly wished they could go back to their boring afternoon.
"We're so close though," Maddie sighed.
Saria descended her vines and looked at each of her friends. "You guys go, I'll stay with Mihn."
"But Saria-"
"Listen to me," she interrupted Maddie "you're not feeling well, are you? I can tell."
Maddie looked down at the ground, her head was pounding painfully.
"And it's not fair for you two to stay here when you don't want to," Saria turned to Mido and Leah "I can stay with Mihn, we'll be fine, you can
go to the Deku tree and inform him what we have found."
They nodded reluctantly at leaving them there, but at the same time relieved that they could finally leave the place.
Saria walked a few feet further away from the gate.
"Mihn, do your portal here against the wall," she said "and remember, you need to think strongly of home as you do it. Guys, you need to
leave quickly, I don't think they'll notice but I don't want to take any chances."
Mihn made the portal, closing her eyes to better visualize her far away home.
"Go!" Saria said and Maddie, Leah and Mido quickly disappeared.
"Come Mihn!" Saria took Mihn by the hand and they trotted away from the portal. It closed and vanished as soon as its maker left it.
"Let's now go to the cast-"
She was interrupted by a commotion in the sky. Ravens were flying from the direction of the forest to the castle, cawing like lunatic birds. They
went round and round up in the sky where the two girls were standing, and then they flew towards the castle.
"Is it possible? Could they have sensed what you did?" Saria asked herself troubled, holding a trembling Mihn in her arms. "I wonder what
those birds really are."
"The gate!" Mihn pointed. The gate was opening to let a group of about fifty soldiers go trough.
"Be still Mihn!" Saria said, backing against the wall. She knew they couldn't climb the vines as the soldiers might notice their movements.
"B-but they might be looking for us," Mihn said, wriggling within Saria's grasp, wanting to run as far away as she could from the spiteful looking
men marching toward them.
"Be still! They can't see us silly!" She held her firmly, begging her to stop moving. And here I thought she was becoming tough! She
thought angrily.
"Those are-those are wolves!" Mihn cried out.
Three black wolves were running toward the gate.
Without loosing a beat, Saria ran with Mihn back to the vines and held held high up for her to grasp the furthest branch she could. "Climb
Mihn! Climb!"
The wolves were nearing. Saria started climbing as fast as she could until she was safely up on the ledge with Mihn. However, they didn't have
time to catch their breaths for the wolves stopped at the bottom of where they had been and started howling at them, while several soldiers
were pointing at the vines confused.
"Come on Mihn, hurry!" Saria grabbed her small hand and they started running as fast as they could towards the stone arch of the gate. With
the size of those wolves, I wouldn't be surprised if they could jump to the ledge, Saria thought nervously.
"Saria!" Mihn was close to tears, while Saria was trying to think quickly for a solution to their problem, but the only thing they could do is run.
They ran across the stone arch and through a small field that preceded the looming castle.
Her fear came true when she heard the wolves running behind them. We are done for, Saria thought, this was not a good idea.
There was no other option.
"Mihn make a port-"
"Stop!"
The wolves suddenly stopped on their tracks. Saria looked up at the castle recognizing the voice: Link was leaning out on one of the windows,
looking worried and surprised at the wolves.
He had heard the commotion from his room. He had been laying on his bed thinking of the Kokiri children when he heard ravens cawing.
Confused, he stood up and went to his window, and looked up at the sky when a group of soldiers began pouring out of the castle, and then
the wolves appeared.
"What are they looking for?" he wondered. He lost sight of the wolves as they went through the gate, and then he heard them howling. He
saw them jumping on the ledge and running as if chasing something.
"What are they-" and then Link's face paled. Could it be? Could it be that the Kokiri children had decided to answer his plead? And now they
would probably die because of his stupidity. The wolves were running through the field, most likely a few seconds away from their prey.
"Stop!" he yelled desperately, hoping against hope that he could save them. To his utter surprise, the wolves stopped and looked up at him
as if waiting for further commands. How did I do that? Link asked himself in shock, Is it a spell? It can't be, I can't use magic here.
I feel like that this chapter is a bit rough. I apologize for all the spellings I might have made, English is not my first language so I'm doing everything I can to improve my writing :). Thank you all for your reviews! (If you find any spellings that you can't stand, please let me know, it'll help me a lot)