Chapter 9

Finally in Faron Woods, Link, Raize and Colin hurried to see Faron with the hopes of learning more about the evil that now threatened the land of Hyrule. Across the bridge, they made their way through a clearing and as soon as they passed, Link dismounted. The spirit spring was on their right. They wasted no time. The sooner they got answers, the sooner they would be able to find the evil and stop it before it covered the land.

Link waded into the Faron Spring as he had in Ordon, closely followed by Raize and Colin. For several moments, nothing happens and there is only silence. Raize, like before, grew impatient. He turned to Link. "Must the spirits make us wait?"

Before Link could offer an answer, a voice spoke. "You must learn patience."

Raize rolled his eyes. "If we don't hurry, this evil could take over all of Hyrule!"

"I think not."

"Really? We know nothing of this enemy. What makes you confident he won't succeed in conquering the land?"

Link laid a hand on Raize's shoulder. "Raize, as long as there is someone to stand against evil, evil cannot and will not prevail."

"Well spoken, young one." As the last words were spoken, the light spirit appeared before them. Faron took the form of what appeared to be a kind of monkey and peered down at the three who waited in his spring.

Link looked to the light spirit. "Light Spirit, Faron, can you tell us any more about this evil we encounter?"

Faron thought a moment before answering. "Time has been bent. What is past and what is present are nearing one and the same." Meeting Link's gaze, he finished, "The darkness that threatens the land is not as you've faced before, young hero. To face this, you will need more than what you have now."

"More than we have now?" Link wasn't entirely sure what Faron could mean by that. Perhaps the Master Sword?

Colin asked, "Do you mean we need the Master Sword to defeat the enemy?"

The light spirit nodded. "Yes, but that is not all."

Link asked, "What more do we need?"

Faron began to fade. "That I cannot say. You must find out for yourselves."

The light spirit was gone. Raize sighed. "We know little more than we did before."

Link mounted Epona. "We know more than we did. Let us move on."

Colin mounted his horse, Alexa, without a word. Raize mounted his steed and followed and the three of them continued through Faron Woods, past the entrance to the Sacred Grove. Their pace had slowed, and Raize couldn't help but wonder what Link could be thinking. How could he remain so calm? Hyrule was threatened and Link was determined to take his time traveling to all the light spirits and the two they had already spoken to had been little help.

Link noticed Raize had slowed considerably and coaxed Epona to a slow trot to ride alongside him. Link said, "Raize, I am as concerned for the fate of Hyrule as you are, but we must be prepared. All we knew was there was a man with the power to open portals and a boy had the Master Sword. Now we know that man likely has some power over time or is working with someone or something that is."

Raize nodded. "I hadn't thought about it like that." Glancing at Link, he asked, "How did you piece that together from what the light spirits said?"

Link shrugged. "Practice."

Raize shook his head, a small smile on his lips. Link was more qualified than anyone for their journey. With renewed confidence, they headed into Hyrule field, just south of Kakariko.

As soon as they entered the field, they found themselves faced with four bokoblin. The monsters took quick notice of the three. Link drew his sword from his back and Raize from his hip. Link glanced at Colin. "Stay close and ready your bow."

Colin nodded and readied his bow, an arrow on the string. Link rode forward and sliced down at the nearest monster, his sword cutting through the blue-tinged flesh of the creature. Angered, the creature shrieked and raised its weapon. Epona reared, knocking the creature to the ground. Link dismounted and impaled the creature with his sword and the now deceased monster disappeared. He withdrew his blade from the ground and turned to face another monster rushing toward him, bladed weapon raised high. Link dodged aside and sliced horizontally, but it only wounded the creature. The creature swung again. This time, Link's own blade met with that of the creature's and it turned to a battle of strength. Bokoblins had been fairly common and it never took much to kill them. Link quickly overpowered the creature and ran him through. The creature disappeared and Link looked to Raize who had just killed another. That left one more.

The remaining one had gone for Colin. Raize and Link both raced to Colin's side, but were not needed. Colin had pulled back the string of his bow and the arrow had flown true, embedding itself in the creature's brow. The creature disappeared. Link breathed a sigh of relief and mounted Epona once more.

Colin rode up to him and Link asked, "Are you alright, Colin?"

Colin nodded after a moment. "I did it." Colin almost didn't believe it.

Raize nodded. "It was a fine shot. I'm impressed."

Link turned Epona, "There are, no doubt, more monsters ahead." He glanced back at Colin. "Will you be alright?"

Colin nodded. Raize spurred his horse forward. "Then let's be off."

The three of them rode deeper into the field, dodging as many of the monsters as possible. Bokoblins were everywhere and never passed up a chance to strike at one of them. Link and Raize fought on horseback, neither daring to dismount. Colin shot arrows, though sparingly. For a while, it was going well. They were able to keep the monsters at bay as they rode through the field, albeit, their progress was haltingly.

Then, a kargarok attacked them. The strange bird flew down and knocked Raize from the saddle. Raize quickly picked himself up and drew his sword as several bokoblin charged at him. The kargarok began to swoop down again. Link quickly got out his bow and nocked an arrow. Riding around to keep the creature in sight, he aimed, drawing back the string in the same instance. Another moment and he allowed the string to slip from his fingers, releasing the arrow. It flew straight on, hitting the large bird. The kargarok fell and disappeared.

Pushing Raize from his mind momentarily, Link hurried to Colin who was trying to fend off two bokoblin with his sword. By the time Link got there, one was already gone and the second was badly injured. Link hesitated, still holding his bow. Keeping an eye on the bokoblin, he nocked an arrow and aimed for one of the creatures that was attacking Raize. He let the arrow fly and it hit the creature firmly in chest, effectively killing the creature. As soon as the arrow left, Link returned his attention to Colin. The boy had moved closer to him, but was no longer in immediate danger. Colin certainly had improved with the bow and blade, but Link still worried about him.

Raize killed the remaining monsters and, a bit clumsily, mounted his horse. Glaring at Link, he asked, "Where were you? There were five of those monsters and you left me to fend for myself.

Link didn't answer, but looked around them. He could see several monsters, some of them moving toward them.

Before Link could make any attempt to answer, Colin spoke up. "Link never left; he killed one of them."

Link glanced at Raize. "How badly are you injured?"

Raize shrugged. "Minor flesh wounds. Nothing to worry about."

Link was a bit skeptical, but there was no time to tend to him. Coaxing Epona to a trot, he said, "We'll take the most direct route to Kakariko. There are too many monsters to try to defeat them all."

Neither Raize nor Colin argued and the three of them spurred their horses to a gallop.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, Ren woke. He raised his arm to shield his eyes and nearly lost his balance. He quickly realized he was still in the tree. A quick glance around told him there were no monsters waiting for him. He quickly climbed down the trunk, glad to be able to step on solid ground. Although, once he was on solid ground, he could see the field was littered with countless monsters. There were the same monsters that had attacked him the night before as well as some different ones that reminded him of how a bandit might look, though he couldn't recall ever seeing one. Regardless, he didn't want to draw the creatures' attention.

Quickly and cautiously, Ren began to make his way through the large field. He knew he was just north of Kakariko and it shouldn't take him long to reach the village if he was careful. However, as careful as he was, a monster caught sight of him and its shriek alerted the others to his presence. Groaning, he quickened his pace. "Why do they want to kill me?"

As several monsters approached him, he drew the sword. He may have been lacking in skills with a blade, but he was sure he could at least fend some of them off so he could run to safety. Quite suddenly, a monster lunged toward him. Ren stumbled backwards, landing on his backside, but effectively dodging the attack. He scrambled to his feet and swung blindly at the creatures.

For a while, he was able to fend them off as he inched backwards, but then one of the monsters knocked the sword from his hand. For a moment, time seemed to stand still as Ren watched the sword fly from his hand to land some ways away. Without thinking, he ran toward it. He had no other way of defending himself. Running passed the creatures, he picked up the sword and ran.

As he ran, more of the monsters became aware of him, but he didn't stop. He ran until he realized he was standing in water. He turned around and saw the monsters all gathered at the edge of the water, but none ventured to step into the water. The body of water wasn't huge, maybe the size of a pond and wasn't too deep. Looking down, he figured he was standing in the deepest part of it, the water rising no higher than his knees. For whatever the reasons, the monsters did not pursue him. Realizing how tired he was from running, he sat in the water, not really caring it would result in him being drenched. Keeping an eye on the monsters, he allowed his body to rest.

Link, Raize, and Colin galloped into Kakariko, finally reaching the village after battling countless monsters. The three of them were exhausted, as were their steeds. They had taken the most direct path, ignoring the roads and had made the trip in only hours as opposed to the better part of a day. All dismounting, they made their way to the sanctuary to see Renado while the horses grazed and drank from the spring.

Upon entering the sanctuary, Renado greeted them warmly, but immediately sent them off to the inn to get some rest. Exhausted as they were, they did not argue. It would do no good. After covering such a large expanse of land in a short period of time while dealing with monsters, the horses needed to rest before they could continue. So, the three of them made their way to the inn and soon fell asleep in the beds, grateful for rest.

*Okay, so I hadn't really described any fighting until this chapter. Hopefully, I did okay with it. Until next time, leave a comment/review if you enjoyed.*

**Edited July 2018**