Setting up the Stage, Part III

Link closed his eyes and laid his head back against the wall of the building. "So," Link said while glancing at Schala, "according to Zelious's note, the safest route to Mt. Evray is also the longest one. Just how long would it take?"

"Assuming we don't have any trouble trying to find passage across the two lakes between here and the capital, I'd say we could make it in about two or three weeks' time." Schala flew up close to Link's face and glared at him. "You did manage to find passage across the first lake, didn't you?" she asked bitterly.

"Yes, I did," Link answered just as bitterly. Link took in a deep breath and then blew air into Schala's face, causing the little fairy to have difficulty staying in the air. Ignoring a few choice insults from Schala, Link took another look at his surroundings. The pirates had managed to force him deep into the city alleyways. "The best way to get out of here would be to use the rooftops. It'll make taking care of the snipers easier too-" Link's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

"Link, I swear if you do that one more time-"

"Schala, hide," Link said in a hushed tone. "I can hear pirates coming from around the corner." Schala immediately did as she was told, and hid underneath Link's hat.

"I sure hope you're not one of those clumsy fighters that constantly loses his hat during fights."

"I'm not," Link stated simply. As the voices and footsteps of the unknown persons grew louder, Link once again crouched down behind the wooden cargo box with his sword at the ready. "They'll see the dead bodies. They'll know that I'm near-by."

Link poked his head out from behind the crate, and as expected, saw three more pirates come around the corner with their cutlasses drawn.

The tallest of the three bent down and examined the body of the dead sniper. "The kid's near-by. Search around for him, but be careful."

Link waited until the tallest pirate came near his location before making his move. In a flash Link ran towards the man, sword at the ready. The pirate's reaction was quicker than Link had anticipated, and he immediately aimed a horizontal slash at Link's head. Link dodged the attack by rolling underneath of the blade, and then immediately thrust his sword into the man's chest. Gathering up the strength in his legs, Link then jumped up from his crouched position and slammed his left knee into the man's chin. The force of the blow caused the man's head to snap backwards and made him lose his balance, causing him to fall backwards which only worsened his chest wound for Link had not yet removed the sword. The man was dead before he even hit the ground.

Hearing the fast paced footsteps of the now-alerted pirates, Link ripped his sword out from the corpse, and aimed an upward slash towards the pirate directly behind him. Tiny droplets of blood flew out and splattered against the wall of the nearest building as the tip of the Gilded Sword sliced through the man's torso. Before the man had a chance to counter Link ran forward a few steps, and swung his sword in the opposite direction of the previous slash. The cut was much deeper this time. The pirate stumbled back into the wall and slowly slid to the ground. He was still alive, but just barely.

"You son of a bitch!" Remembering the presence of a third opponent, Link turned around only to be punched hard in the face by an armored fist. The mighty blow left Link staggering, and the remaining pirate had no difficulty in tackling him to the ground, causing Link to drop his sword. Repeatedly, the man continued to pound on Link's face, each punch more painful than the last. Link raised his hand and caught the man's fist before it hit him again. Realizing that he could never overpower the physically stronger pirate, Link used his magic abilities to conjure up an ice shard. It lanced straight through the man's hand, causing him to let go of Link, and clutch his hand in agony. Link wasted no time, and stabbed the ice shard through the man's left eye and into his brain, killing him instantly.

Link took notice of the man's protective, armored gauntlets. He slipped them off, and pulled them over his own, unprotected arms. The gloves fit perfectly, and they had been reinforced with a thin layer of iron. "Not bad."

Link tried to stand on his shaky legs, but lost his footing and fell back onto his back. He looked up at the sky with a tired expression.

Schala poked her head out from underneath Link's hat. "Link, are you okay?"

Link smiled tiredly, finding humor in how the rude, little fairy could actually show some concern for him. "I have had one rough day, Schala. I've been trapped in this alley for a few hours now fighting these guys. I think the fatigue is finally starting to catch up with me."

Schala flew out from underneath Link's hat and landed on his shoulder. "Just how many of these guys have you fought?"

"Including those three, I'd say about twenty, maybe twenty-one."

"Sounds like you've wiped out most of the gang."

Link slowly turned his head towards the heavily wounded pirate. "I'm amazed your still alive."

"Yeah," the man said in between small gasps of pain, "me too." Despite the excruciating pain he was in the man managed to smile. "The name's Jarvis."

Link stood and sheathed his sword, the unexpected motion causing Schala to fall off of his shoulder and hit the ground. "You just tried kill me. I don't care about your name."

"Wait, please," Jarvis said in a pain wracked voice. "If I give you information about the gang, will you get me some medical attention?"

Link stared at the man suspiciously. "Why should I trust anything you tell me?"

"I don't want to die, kid. If giving you some information will save my ass I'm all for helping you out. So, whaddya say?"

After a few moments of thinking, Link decided to agree to the deal. "Alright. You help me, I'll help you." Link reached into one of his belt bags and removed a red potion, and gave it to Jarvis. "Here, drink this. It's a medical potion that greatly alleviates pain. It won't heal your wound, but it'll make moving and speaking a lot less painful for you."

Jarvis accepted the red potion gratefully, and drank it all in a few gulps. Immediately, the pain lessened immensely. What had once been a mind shattering pain was now just a dull throbbing pain.

"Don't be fooled by its effects, though," Link warned. "As I said, it just alleviates the pain, it doesn't heal wounds. You're in no condition to even attempt to stand." Link watched as Jarvis laid his head back against the wall. "You have some information to give me."

Jarvis smiled wearily. "You said you've killed about twenty pirates?" Link nodded. "Heh, not bad, kid. There's only about thirty of us, including me. I don't know what went on between you and the boss, but when you killed him you alerted the entire gang to your presence. We've been hunting you ever since. We thought we could easily take you down by force of numbers." Jarvis ran a hand through his long, brown hair, and looked down at his badly wounded chest. "Doesn't seem like such a great idea now," Jarvis stated with a laugh. "I'm pretty sure the rest of the gang retreated back to the ship. It's that lovely red galleon down at the docks. If you want to finish what you started, that'd be the place to go. Might as well do it. With so little numbers now, the townspeople will eventually get rid of them if you don't."

Link raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Why would they do that?"

"The pirate faction rules this town," Schala stated. "The town is just barely outside of the kingdom's border, so the Princes have no say in how things are handled here."

"But I've seen guards patrolling the streets," Link protested.

"Just pirates in disguise, kid. We just do that so visitors to the town will have no clue how things are actually ran here. Guess that's going to change now, thanks to you. Anyway, that's all the info I got for you."

"I appreciate the information. I'll be sure to inform a doctor of your location."

Jarvis looked up at the sky appreciatively. "Thanks kid. I owe you one."

Link turned around and proceeded to walk away, planning on heading straight for the pirate gang's galleon.

"Hey kid! Didn't catch your name."

Link looked back over his shoulder at Jarvis. "It's Link." With that said, Link proceeded on, finally allowed to leave the dark and dusty alleyways of Derter.

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I apologize if some of you found the action parts in this chapter a bit too violent. If you'd like, I could tone it down a little. As far as combat scenes go in this story, I'm aiming to make it seem realistic. So don't expect there to some scene where Link hits a guy so hard he goes flying through a wooden wall or something like that. Let me know your thoughts in a review.