Chapter 7: Rough Rides, and Rapids
As Neri stepped inside the passage way, the door had closed instantly, leaving them in darkness.
"Well, we won't be going back that way." came Tuano's voice from behind her.
She flicked her ears at the comment but said nothing.
The pathway was pitch black, but Neri could see somewhat due to her current state of being.
But even still it was annoyingly dark and there was a smell that irritated her nostrils.
'Urgh...what is that stench?' Neri thought, getting annoyed by the new smell.
She was unsure of what it was, but it was dusty and it was making her angry.
The young wolf shook it off and began to pad forward. The two of them didn't speak much.
The passageway seemed pretty straight forward, and beneath the dusty smell of mold, Neri smelled something refreshing.
"Hey..Tuano?" Neri asked.
"Yes, Neri?" came the reply.
"I smell water up ahead. I think this tunnel is linked to a set of waterways."
"So...?"
She sighed but it came out as a snort. "It means we might be getting wet."
Her words rang true sooner than she expected. As she walked forward she stepped into a puddle, totally soaking the fur.
Snorting, she kept going until she reached a large rounded chamber.
The burning torches on the wall provided better lighting for Neri to see better.
In the middle of the chamber there was a large depression filled with water.
Water flowed in from the ceiling to fill the depression, which branched off into one huge tunnel.
Neri's green and bronze ears twitched at the sound of flowing water as the refreshing smell of the continuous supply filled her nostrils.
She came to the edge of the pool and examined the moving water.
The current was fast moving from what she could tell from the reflections.
"Urgh..." Neri snorted flopping down, so hard she dislodged Tuano from her back.
"Hey! What are you doing?" he asked getting up and dusting himself off.
"I'm resting. That current is moving way to fast and I'm not going to jump in and tackle it." she grunted, closing her eyes.
"What, you don't want to save Hyrule or help out the Queen or your father?"
"I do. The thing is that I just need to wait for the water to go away." she replied, sounding quite tired.
She never revealed that she didn't like to swim.
And another reason was she couldn't due to her exhaustion.
She was also trying to figure out a way to go on without the currents dragging her down.
"Currents don't just stop." Tuano said in an matter-of-factory tone.
Neri growled at him, but the small imp looked around.
He noticed some pedestals meant for lanterns on the wall.
They weren't too far apart and one could sit on them comfortably. 'Even a whiny mutt..'
That's when the imp boy got a clever, ingenious idea.
Tuano jumped on one of the pedestals and looked down at Neri.
He saw a large pebble near his foot and picked it up. He weighed it in his hand for a bit, before he lobbed it at the resting wolf.
The pebble soared through the air and knocked Neri square on the mark that adorned her forehead.
He watched as the she-wolf yelped and jumped to her paws.
Growling, she turned to him. "What the HELL MAN?" she snarled.
Tuano smirked and grabbed a few more. "There's more where that came from, you know." he said impishly, before throwing another one.
This time Neri had the sense to duck.
Snarling at the attempt, she hopped up on the ledge to follow after him.
The imp smirked to himself. The stupid little wolf was doing exactly what he wanted.
With this in mind he skipped to the next platform.
Neri followed him, snarling under her breath.
This pattern continued until Tuano had no where left to jump.
So, he jumped off the edge into the air. He stayed suspended in midair, floating over the opening where the water was flowing into the chamber.
Neri looked at him. Something seemed off about the way he was hovering. She smirked and took the leap.
Tuano waited a few more seconds before letting go and landing roughly on her back.
Before Neri had realized that the little jerk had tricked her, they both fell and smacked into the water with a crash.
The impact made Neri lose consciousness, whereas something inside of Tuano awakened as he himself faded out.
From his fogging half fading sight, he saw what looked like latter rungs leading upstream through the tunnel where fresh water was being pulled in.
He then saw a great blue flash of energy before experiencing a pulling sensation.
He couldn't understand what was going on, nor could he keep himself conscious any longer.
~Time Passes~
When Neri awoke she found that she was soaking wet and on dry land.
"Huh...? We're..." she looked up at the castle's great form. They were right outside one castle's walls, on a small patch of earth next to the water of the mote.
She looked around at the yellow sky, where black clouds passed by lazily. Everything looked deformed and twisted in the half light.
"Huh, so...This what Twilight Covered provinces look like." Neri said, scratching her ear with her hind paw. "It looks more like I'm high."
Neri snickered at her own silly little joke and then imagined her father yelling at her for making an immature comment like that.
The wolf then suddenly felt a sense of worry and loss. She missed him so much right now.
'I wonder if he's okay...'she thought quietly, sitting on her haunches. It was quiet for a bit, but then Neri heard a faint groan.
She looked over at Tuano, whom was laying face down holding his right arm which adorned the strange arm brace.
He was groaning in pain, and like her, was soaked. His flaming orange hair was flat on his head, which looked odd on him.
Neri got up and padded over to him. "Hey, Tuano. You okay?" she asked, nudging him with her nose.
The imp groaned louder and flipped over on his back. "No...I think I pulled my arm when we fell."
Tuano got up rubbing his arm before walking over to Neri.
"Neri look over there." Tuano pointed over to a gate that lead into North Hyrule feild.
"A gate?" Neri asked, looking at the direction he was pointing. There was a huge gate where water was flowing through it.
Tuano jumped on Neri's back, trying to land on her softly.
"Let's try to go that way." he suggested.
Neri nodded and swam into the water, but the current was too strong.
Tuano held on to Neri as they went down the rapids of the river.
The water current only let up when they plumeted into Lake Lylia.
