Blah, the site was being mean to me. I couldn't upload the document all day Sunday. Sorry!


Chapter 6: Saviors

Link snarled, annoyed at his tormentor. He decided that the best thing to do would be to go back to the village, even though he was a wolf. The beast sloshed through the water and out onto dry land. He shook himself dry and started to turn towards the village.

"Where do you think you're going?" his tormentors voice echoed.

Link ignored it and continued walking until he noticed his shadow. It was no longer his own, but was the form of his tormentor, waving up at him. His eyes widened in curiosity as he pawed the ground near Midna's head. She popped out of the ground immediately and slapped the beast on the nose.

"Put those claws away!" she said playfully. "Did you actually think I disappeared? I wouldn't trust you alone for one minute. But, that's not the reason I got your attention. Listen, you can't just run off and save your friends, it doesn't work that way. Just beyond the bridge, the land is covered in twilight. Last time, a Twili monster pulled you through the shroud but next time you'll need some cooperation from a Twili."

Link cocked his head to one side, as if asking what a Twili was.

"A twilight creature, idiot! You know, one like me."

Link nodded in understanding.

"So really, everything depends on me. Saving your friends depends on what mood I'm in and how good you follow directions. Actions do speak louder than words, or in your case growls." she giggled slightly and turned around to face the village. "Your first task is to get me a sword and a shield." She turned and sank back into the ground forming into his shadow. "Hurry up!"

Link started to walk towards the village, noticing that the sun was setting. He was thankful that there was no unnatural red light; Ordon was still clean of that dark shroud.

The beast quickly made it to the clearing near his house. A few green creatures stood lazily guarding the entrance to the village. One glanced carelessly at the beast and then turned back to the sleepy conversation he was having. He did a quick double take and then screamed in panic. Link pounced on the screaming guard as the other tried to scramble up the nearest tree. The first guard was easily stunned and the second one wasn't very good at climbing; Link made quick work of them. He walked on towards the village, worrying about what he would find when a harmless squirrel ran gracefully up.

"Thank you for taking care of those guards. They've made everything a mess. They even kidnapped the village children, not that I care much. Those children always tried to shoot me with that wretched slingshot!" the squirrel sat on its haunches and crossed its arms huffily. "I can tell you're not one of them, you smell like the woods. If you need any help, any help at all, just talk to the animals. We're all friendly in Ordon, unlike some other unsavory places." here it wrinkled its adorably small nose. "We animals have to stick together; even the cats in Hyrule know that. If you ever go there, talk to the cats, their good friends!" it then sprung up a tree, its tail streaming out behind it.

"A squirrel must be very interesting to talk too…" Midna said softly, almost to herself. "Did it say anything useful?"

Link tried his best to shrug and continued on into the village.

The beast stalked quickly into the village. Torches were roughly thrust into the ground at uneven intervals. A man paced the ground uneasily. He was skinny and had brown, dirty looking hair. He looked up at the full moon that shone down upon the unhappy scene with no emotion. "Why, why did it have to come to this? The children please…say nothing has happened to them." he sobbed violently for a few seconds. "Please forgive your good-for-nothing father…" he whispered as he looked down at his hands. He looked up and strait at Link. He took a few paces back and grabbed a small flute he carried with him at all times. "Vile villain, bring back our Children!" he screeched.

Link backed away and back into the shadows where he could be unobserved.

The mayor of Ordon ran over to the chattering man. "What happened?"

"I saw…something. It was a large beast." the man answered.

"You're in shock. You should go back home, we will take care of everything. The beasts are long gone, they took the children and ran." the mayor stated with concern.

"I'm not in shock!" the man retorted. "I want to help find my daughter."

The mayor looked down at the ground. "We are preparing, the moment we are ready to move we will call you. We have no reason to have every man outside right now."

The man nodded mournfully and started to walk towards a small hut. He collided with another worried looking man who was running towards the Mayor at full speed. They both fell flat on the ground because of the force.

"Mayor, I could not find any shields except the small wooden one." the man who had run into the sobbing man said.

The mayor nodded. "The shield is still in your house right?"

"Yes, it's in the storage loft."

"Good, go grab it as quick as you can. Rusl was wounded to badly to fight, so I'll go in his place."

"But, mayor, Rusl had a sword, and he still got wounded! What will happen to you if you go off unarmed?" the man said in disbelief.

"That's why I need the shield." he said with a wink. "And besides, the sword we were going to present to the royal family is still in Rusl's house. I can use both the sword and the shield."

The man nodded and started off.

Midna maneuvered her shadow self behind Link and pulled his tail painfully. "Move, idiot, you can't let them get the only shield!" she hissed quietly.

Link jumped out, howling at the sky and baring his teeth threateningly. The three men stopped in their tracks.

"Into my house," the sobbing man shouted as he opened the hut quickly.

The other two men ran into the house with as much dignity as they could muster.

Midna sniggered and popped out of Link's flickering shadow. "That's a fair bit of information you heard. Where does the man with the shield live?"

Link signaled towards a small mill on one side of a small river.

"Good," she affirmed as she scanned the house for a way of entry. "Ugh…look, an open window. This village is full of idiots." she sighed as she pointed a claw towards a small window on the second story. "We could jump up there, the mill wheel is right next to the window so we could jump from there to the window…" she muttered as her head swiveled around. "Hurry, follow me."

Link followed Midna towards a small incline that jutted out over the river. She then neatly glided across the river and onto the spoke of the mill-wheel.

"Over here!" she beckoned. A hand that looked orange sprouted from the top of her helmet and waved temptingly in front of Link.

Link stared at it with a puzzled expression.

"Bite me," she commanded with a giggle.

Link obliged willingly.

The hand allowed itself to be bitten. "Don't let go." Midna whispered softly. The hand drew Link towards the wheel until he landed safely on the spoke. Midna then glided up to a small ledge right under the window. The orange hand came out again and beckoned to Link.

Link bit it again and was dragged up to the window. He scrambled through after Midna.

The small wooden shield hung loosely on the wall of the small room he entered. Midna was nowhere to be seen. He looked down at his shadow to see the shadow creature waving back at him. He smiled slightly and looked at the shield. It was wooden and intricately carved, it seemed like it wouldn't stand up to much force. He slammed into the rickety wall and the shield came loose. It clattered to the floor loudly. Midna popped out of the shadow and picked up the shield.

"It…It looks kind of cheap." she said with a hint of disappointment.

Link nodded sullenly.

"It will have to do, now go get the sword." she said with a grin. "I hope you don't mind stealing from your fellow comrades."

Link growled once before scrambling back out of house and onto the ledge. He jumped lightly down onto the ground and scanned the village for signs of movement. The town seemed dead. The sound of screaming broke the silence.

"You can't go, I need you here!" a woman screamed as a door opened. "You're injured you have served this town well. You do not need to fight anymore!"

"The children may be back, I thought I heard a strange voice talking."

"They are not coming back, Rusl. They're probably dead already." the female voice wailed as a strong looking man walked out of the door.

"I will not give into that kind of talking. I must go and search for them." Rusl said as he turned to a woman who was stomping around inside the house.
"I need you here. What if something happens, I can't protect myself!" she cried.

Rusl said nothing but grabbed her hands comfortingly.

"Please, Rusl, I need you hear incase the baby comes…" she pleaded as she rubbed her swollen stomach lovingly.

"Colin is out there, I need to get him. He is our son and we have to do everything we can to get him back."

The woman nodded with tears in her eyes.

"I have placed the sword that was to be our gift to the royal family on the couch. If the mayor comes for it, please give it to him."

"I do not agree with this, Rusl. I've never approved of you running off for weeks on end with that group you are associated with!"

"Even if you don't agree, it's my duty to Ordon and all of Hyrule."

The woman turned away and walked back into the house. "Is your duty to your country more important than the duty to your wife?" she asked bitterly.

"It is not just Colin out there, every child has been kidnapped. This is devastation to the community; we need to get them back." Rusl said sternly.

The woman turned to face her husband and slammed the door in his face.

Rusl sighed, grabbed a torch, and started walking along the rough path towards Link.

Midna pushed Link deeply into the shadows as he started walking around Rusl quietly. They arrived at the small hut Rusl lived at without him catching up. Midna studied the wall closely. "We could dig under the wall, but that would be too time consuming." she stated matter-of-factly. She floated gracefully up to a window and unlatched it. She swung in open quickly and motioned for Link to go in. He jumped in neatly and landed quietly on the floor. The woman sat moodily on the couch next to the sword. She glanced over at the monster and sprung up nervously. She grabbed the sword defensively and held it unsteadily at Link.

"W-what are you doing here?" she stuttered.

Link walked forward a few cautious paces.

The woman jabbed the sword forward, coming dangerously close to Link's nose.

Link sat down slowly and looked straight into the eyes of the frightened woman. His eyes exuded calmness and peace.

"You're eyes are not those of a beast." the woman said, dropping the sword.

The wolf nodded slowly.

The woman looked deeper into the creature's eyes. "You are a friend. I know you." she said softly. Her gaze left his and wandered over the beast. "You…are…" her eyes shot back to the beast's eyes, "Link!" she screamed as she ran over to the beast. She fell on her knees and touched the monsters face with one hand. "What happened?" she asked sadly.

Link looked down at the sword.

"Do you need the sword?" she asked.

Link nodded in reply.

The woman dutifully picked up the sword and handed it to Link.

He gently took it from her grasp with his mouth.

"Whatever happened to you is of first concern of course, but…please, help our children."

Link nodded and then backed away towards the window.

Illia awoke with a start. She couldn't move, her body ached to much. Her laden eyes seemed crusty and her eyelids felt like sandpaper. Tears of pain came into her eyes and took the feeling away. Her vision was blurry and she felt warm blood trickling down one side of her face. Her body lay like a corpse on something soft. She wiggled her toes and fingers apprehensively, they responded with a pain that felt like fire. Her body let out a small shudder and a very weak cough. The sound seemed like it was very far away. Illia's eyes closed and she started to fade out. Before she left the world of the conscious she felt a feeble hand on her forehead. Something hard pressed against her lips. Her lips parted involuntarily and drank in life giving water.

"Don't worry dear, everything is fine now." a shaky female voice comforted.

Illia opened her eyes to look at her savior. It was a feeble old woman; her face was worn with care. Her eyes seemed to be pools of knowledge, and her wispy hair fell over her face mysteriously. The woman reached out a hand and touched the soft skin of Illia. "Poor child," she said mournfully.

An image of Colin suddenly flashed into Illia's mind. She righted herself with amazing agility and started to breath heavily. "Colin!" she screamed in a horse voice.

"What's wrong, dear?" the woman asked.

"Colin, oh no, Colin I have to find him!" Illia sobbed as she sank back onto the pillows, her body couldn't take anymore movement.

"Who's Colin?"

"My friend, he's in trouble." she explained with a cough.

The small bowl of water was pressed to her lips again. "Drink, dear. I'm sure Colin is fine."

Illia shook her head away from the water and rolled over on the side away from the woman. "No, he's not fine. He was kidnapped by the awful monsters like the rest of us. He's too weak to hold up against them." she sobbed.

"Go to sleep." the woman commanded and walked away unsteadily.

Illia faded out of consciousness willingly; the last thing she saw was a strange wand hanging menacingly on the wall. "Why did I have to be spared? Why couldn't Colin have escaped?" she groaned to the object.

A man in his mid-thirties peered cautiously through a window at the desolate landscape surrounding his house. His raven-black, shoulder length hair fell over his oversized features. He blew the offending hair away deftly and turned away from the window. Another man sat on the hard packed earth that made the floor of the home. A fire crackled comfortingly near the man. The man pulled a strange object out of the fire cautiously and stared at it a while. He grabbed a few things out of his pack and started to fidget with the strange object.

"Barnes, what are you doing?" the black haired man said.

The man looked up from his work and paused thoughtfully. His reddish-brown hair was covered by a protective metal mask. He brought the metal mask down over his face and went back to work. "Why do you think everyone else abandoned this village, Renado?" he asked gruffly.

The black haired man looked out of the window, "The stories of strange creatures have been circulation for a while now. They are just myths."

"Then why did the inhabitants of this village take these 'myths' seriously."

"You never answered my question." Renado said evasively.

Barnes laughed and looked up from his work. "I'm making protection, what else? If the stories are true than that means we will need weapons. What did you think the local bomb-man was making?"

Renado chuckled mirthlessly. "I don't know what I expected, Barnes, do you think bombs will hold them off?"

Barnes held his hand out to shush Renado. He held a hand to his ear tentatively. "I think we'll be able to find out soon enough…" he said after a minute.

Renado looked at him, puzzled. "What do you hear?"

"A group is riding slowly towards us…" he said with a grim smile.

Renado decided not to question his friend about his uncanny sense of hearing.

A group of monsters rode confidently on their wild boars into the abandoned town. A small spring burbled tranquilly in the hot noontide. Four children, bound by their hands were forced to stand next to the water. Three were young boys but one was a fitfully sobbing girl. The monsters looked around the spring thoroughly. One of the monsters had a large signal horn strapped to him. He was the largest of the green monsters. His boar was massive and he had boar tusks spurting from the top of his helmet. He signaled to the four captives that they should get closer to the spring. They all stepped into the spring and drank thankfully from the water. The monsters hesitantly grouped around their leader, he had been in a bad mood since one of their prisoners had escaped.

"Sir, there is nothing around to stop the procedure." one of them stated.

The leader nodded and grabbed the horn from around his neck. One of the monsters grabbed the children and dragged them roughly away from the stream. The leader raised his head and brought the horn to his mouth.

Barnes peered through the window of the house, watching the captors and their captives. "Those monsters, their planning on doing something to the spirit spring!" he gasped. He grabbed one of his bombs and started to walk towards the door.

"Wait, you must be careful if you use those, there are innocent children out there." Renado said.

"You save the children; I'll deal with the monsters."

The horn split through the silence piercingly. The children winced as the scream of it echoed around the deserted housed and roads. The sky grew dark suddenly, and a black mist seemed to hide the pure water from site. Out of the mist came several creatures with long tentacles for fingers and around the mouth. They advanced slowly towards the center of the spring. An explosion distracted them for a few moments. The monsters all turned away to look at what had happened.

A blade slit through the dripping bonds of the children. "Hurry, come this way." a kind voice ushered as a dark figure started to sneak away from the monsters. The children obeyed without question.

Another explosion sounded and scorched a few of the monsters into retreating. The leader quickly turned his boar around and started for the exit of the village. Their job was done. Barnes watched the creatures scurry away and noticed that the dark, tentacle creatures had progressed to the middle of the stream and seemed to be drinking water. The man shrugged and scurried back inside, glad that he didn't have to use all of his bombs to drive off the monsters.