The wind whipped the cloak behind Zelda as Epona rode against the breeze towards the tree line. She started to slow down as she reached a narrow path that had been carved out by the Ordon people generations ago. Intimidating rock walls covered in thick trees that were bunched together in tight-knit groups; Epona seemed to know automatically where to go as she carried Zelda into the heart of the small village.

The houses seemed to be made out of hollowed out tree trunks with roofs made of clay tiles (they reminded her of a village she read about in the history of Hyrule. Kokiri was it?) Each house had a pair of goat horns hanging by the door which the occupants of the house had attached something symbolic onto. The little stream that ran through the middle of the village cascaded over a small ledge into a lake filled with fish. The water wheel attached to a house on the other of the little bridge (in front of the pumpkin patch) creaked with each turn of the wheel.

Zelda looked around at each house from where she was standing and was surprised to see only 4 houses were visible. She had passed another one on the way in so that made 5 but she doubted that the path with a sign saying 'ranch' would have any houses up there.

By instinct (and common sense) Zelda made her way across another small bridge to her left, up the shallow hill and knocked on the door of the largest house. Please say this was the mayor's house – she didn't want to wake anyone else up.

There was no response. She knocked again, a little louder this time, and waited. Now, she heard the creak of steps as someone was coming down to see who could be knocking at the door in the middle of the night. The handle of the door turned and Zelda was met by a large man with a pot belly and a moustache that was separated in two and in the shape of horns. He was yawning and had his eyes closed so when he saw Zelda, she was not surprised that he shouted "MONSTER!" before slamming the door in her face. Maybe she should have taken her hood off first…

"Mayor Bo? Please open the door, I'm princess Zelda of Hyrule."

"P… P… Princess!?" he stammered.

Just in time Zelda pulled off her hood so as not to startle him again and gave a slight smile when he opened the door and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Come in, please. I just hope I didn't wake up half the village!" he chuckled as he gestured with his hand into his home.

Zelda stepped onto the wooden floor of the Mayor's home. She could barely see where she going and wondered how on earth the man had made it down the stairs without falling when he lit a lamp, mumbling about it 'going out'. There was a rounded dining table in the middle with four chairs surrounding it and a bunch of flowers in the centre in a beautifully painted vase.

Mayor Bo pulled out a chair for Zelda and brought out a large plate with a half eaten cake sitting on top of it. He placed it on the wooden surface along with two smaller plates and a knife as Zelda took her place at the table.

"Oh, no thank you. I only have until dawn before I have to ride back to the castle… no one really knows I'm gone."

"Well, if you won't I will. Pumpkin cake, my daughter made it. What brings you here your majesty?" his voice was deep and intimidating but also gentle and jolly.

"It's about Link. Please, I need to know where he's gone. One minute he's living in the castle and the next he's vanished off the map without a trace. None of the guards can find him and it's been a whole year now."

He considered this for moment before sighing. "That's the thing. No one here has seen him and just before he disappeared he kept going into Faron woods and coming back, he would tell my daughter Ilia about a 'skull kid'. He said that it was a child like creature dressed in orange with a trumpet and a face like a skull. Every day he would come here on Epona and try to communicate with it. He said it liked to play chasing games and if he won, he would ask it something and it would gladly reply. That's all I know at the moment but he said he didn't tell you about it in case you got worried, the games could be dangerous. Ilia might know more but she said that that was everything Link told her and I don't want to wake her, I asked her if she knew anything when he disappeared." he finished his story and stared at the princess. She was deep in thought until her eyes widened and she stared at the man.

"Where can I find it?"

Mayor Bo finished his slice of cake and licked his fingers (he had been taking bites between sentences). Standing up, he hobbled over to a large blue chest and opened it. After some rummaging in the papers, he emerged from its contents with a single, rolled up scroll in his hands. He returned to the table and rolled out the paper, using the cake plates and flowers to stop the paper rolling up again.

"Link drew this shortly before he disappeared and gave it to me for safe keeping. Follow the arrows he's drawn and instructions are in the corner. You can keep this one, I have a spare."

Zelda rolled up the paper and placed it carefully into her cloak pocket before looking out of the window… it was already dawn.

"Thank you Mayor but I really must go. I'll tell you if I find anything."

She opened the door and leapt onto Epona's back. The Mayor had followed her and, seeing Epona, smiled.

"I see that your using Epona, I'll tell Ilia that she's OK." he paused before adding: "Um… Princess? Was there anything going on between you two? And if there was, just so you know, there was nothing between Link and Ilia."

Zelda considered his question before answering.

"I… I think there was." and with that she nudged Epona and galloped over the bridge, out of the village, and out of sight.

Sorry I didn't write over the weekend but I was away. I'll put chapter 5 up tomorrow and I would love a review considering no one had done so yet...

Thanks for reading!