Chapter 14: A Job To Do

Leyla was thrown from the hole by an invisible force. Her fall, however, was slow. She was set down gently next to its opening. Midna was shot out not long after, her arms flailing until she realized that she had slowed down. Once the Twili had landed, the hole collapsed upon itself, and fresh grass thick in the overturned dirt, making it seem as though it was never there.

Midna shivered and rubbed her arms. "Never again," she said, shaking her head, "never. I hate that way of travel. It's too rushed."

"And warping isn't?" Leyla questioned.

"Shut up," Midna growled.

"Well," Leyla said, brushing the subject aside, "I think we're here, at least." She pointed towards what looked like a giant, thick, dark fog.

"There's no barrier," Midna observed, "anyone can walk in or out with ease. Well," she added, "the dark energy might hurt them, and who knows what's in there."

"Let's go, then!" Leyla said enthusiastically. She added a skip to her step, and progressed at a brisk walk to the wall of darkness, Midna following behind. As they approached, the sky grew darker, and the scent of wretched evil permeated the air. The fog grew thicker around them, engulfing them. Then, it vanished, leaving them in a world that was warped and twisted, a perverted version of the pristine Wood-Elf lands. The sky was a deep blood red, and the trees were dark and menacing. Bushes were bare of leaves, yet covered in sharp, fang like thorns.

"I wonder what the post cards are like…." Leyla muttered, trying to amuse herself. Her eyes were vigilant, and her ears strained to hear anything that might be a threat. Then, her stomach seemed to catch fire, and her bones were twisting.

"Crap…" she managed to weakly let out before she collapsed.

Leyla awoke to Midna sitting in front of her. Leyla sat up, her small wolf form protesting in agony at the movements.

"Well," Midna said, standing up and brushing herself off, "we found one similarity between Dark and Twilight Zones."

"Yeah, but at least in the Twilight Zones, I wasn't all sore," Leyla groaned. If she could, she would rub her back, but her canine bone structure prevented her from doing so. Sometimes, being able to turn into sacred creatures simply sucked.

"It'll get better, don't worry," Midna said, patting Leyla's head. "To be nice, I won't ride you. At least, not until your back is better."

"Thanks… I guess…." Leyla said, wincing as she stood up fully. She took in a deep breath, and as she did so, took in the scent of her surroundings. It smelled rotten, but there was one pure scent. It was dim, but there either way. It was the scent of a Spirit, and it was slowly dying.

"This way!" she charged in the direction of the scent, not waiting to see that Midna had understood right away. Not only could she smell it, but she could hear it, no, feel it, calling out to her. Calling for help.

Something knocked into Leyla's side, sending her flying. She crashed into a tree, and was left dazed. That something grabbed her by the front paws and lifted her up. Leyla stared into the face of a lizard. Not a Lizalfos, but a lizard, with wings. It slammed her into the tree again, and hissed at her, its red, snake slit eyes filled with malice.

"What in the name of-?" Midna gasped as the lizard being lashed out at her with sharp claws, holding Leyla with only one hand. Midna dodged barely in time, earning herself a cut on the cheek. The lizard turned back to Leyla, and opened its mouth wide, the sound of a growing inferno coming forth as its throat began to glow with fire.

"Crap!" Leyla squeaked. She kicked out with her hind legs, failing to hit her adversary as it danced backwards, but as it did so, its mouth closed, and small flames leaked from its mouth. It kicked her in the stomach with a powerful leg, leaving her breathless. Then, Midna jumped onto it, a jagged, black-stoned knife in her hand. She attempted to bring it close to the lizard's throat, but it grabbed her arms and flipped her over its own head, causing her to land on Leyla.

The lizard raised opened its mouth again, flames spurted forth as though in hungry excitement. Leyla shoved Midna off of her and launched herself at the lizard, grabbed its leg in her teeth. The lizard let out a howl, as well as a great tower of flame. It turned its head towards her, just as the fire was dying. Leyla felt her tail burn, but ignored it, for now. She unclamped her teeth around the lizards leg and jumped up for his throat. The Lizard grabbed her snout and forced her back down, and then Midna rushed in, her dagger preceding her. She managed to get it stuck in his shoulder, and again, the winged lizard howled. It opened its wings, revealing two hidden short swords. It unsheathed them, smirking.

"I was hoping to kill you without having to use these," it rasped, "seems I've underestimated you."

"Yeah, ya did!" Leyla snarled, hurling herself at the creature. The lizard danced out of the way and lashed out with its swords. Leyla jumped back, and continued to do so as the lizard advanced upon her, its swords a whirlwind of steel.

"Midna!" Leyla called out. "DO SOMETHING!"

Leyla tried to look past the lizard at her friend, but the swords were getting to dangerously close.

The lizard came very near cutting off Leyla's snout when a large, silvery spike protruded from its chest. The spike retracted, letting the lizard fall. Behind it, Midna had donned all four of the fused shadows, including the broken one, and had become the many armed, orange creature. The silver spike had disappeared, as Midna had no more use for it. She took off the helmet, then kicked the lizard thing, which was still gasping for breath on the ground.

"Surprised that didn't finish him." She muttered.

The lizard sneered. "You can't kill a Draktar that easily!" it snarled. "Especially not an Assassin."

"Draktar?" Leyla inquired.

"A powerful race, powerful enough to rival the Wood-Elves! Created by the king of evil to create an army."

"Oh, great, there's more of you?" Midna moaned.

The Draktar's sneer became even bigger. "Much more. And we only account for half of the army the dark Lord has planned."

"Sounds like fun," Leyla muttered without a hint of amusement in her voice.

The Draktar let out a loud cackle, which turned into an array of hacking coughs. After a while, the Draktar said, "Let me tell you this." He paused for breath before continuing, "Give up now. No matter what you do, you can't win. There is no hope. I am being kind in telling you this."

"I've heard enough," Midna growled. She grabbed the dagger that stuck out from the Draktar's shoulder and brought it down on its chest. The Draktar caught fire, the flames starting from where Midna had stabbed it. In a few seconds, the fire went out, and the Draktar was gone.

"Well," Leyla said, stretching, "my back feels a lot better."

Midna raised an eyebrow at Leyla. "After being thrown into a tree, and having me land on you?"

"Yeah, I think it stretched it out, popped the right pops, you know?" Leyla rolled her shoulders and stretched again. It did feel better, a lot better.

"Well, whatever," Midna said, waving her hand. "Where to?"

Leyla took in a deep breath again. The scent of evil was considerably less than before the Draktar had appeared. Not too far away, Leyla could feel the ever-weakening Spirit. "Over there, its close!" Leyla said, bolting off again.

AAAA

Tam cautiously approached the fog. He reached forward with one hand, his head turned the other way and his face screwed up as though expecting a monster to chomp his hand off. He met no resistance, but he felt evil enveloping him. He immediately hurried back, tripping over his own feet in his haste, and crawling out away on all fours until he reached blue skies again.

Arctic Fox, who had been sitting patiently just out of reach of the fog, raised an eyebrow at him. "Chicken," she announced.

"Arctic Fox!" Tam said chidingly.

"Not you!" she exclaimed, jumping up. "The brown weasel attached to your leg!"

Mink had wound his claws into Tam's pants. He had been around the tall boy's neck, but Tam's stumbling about caused him to fall off. As he fell, he had latched onto Tam's thick, bear-skin pants.

"N-not a w-weasel," Mink chattered, "not a-a chicken."

Arctic Fox rolled her eyes, "Sure ya ain't."

"Grizzly Bore says that 'ain't' ain't a word," Tam said, recalling the droll speech made by the scholarly bear not too long ago. The amount of words that Grizzly had used to complain about one word still baffled Tam.

"Then why do you use it?" Mink asked, getting control over his shivers.

"Because I can, and I ain't going to let Grizzly stop me!" Tam argued back.

"Well, are you going to follow the girls or what?" Arctic Fox asked. "They just entered that fog thing."

Tam whirled around. Midna and Leyla were no longer in sight. "So much for getting here early," he heard Arctic Fox grumble.

Tam growled and dove into the fog, ignoring the feeling of something trying to break into his mind. Or was that just Mink clinging to his head? Either way, he ignored it. After a few more steps, the fog cleared, and the sky was as red as raspberry juice mixed with cranberries. A combination that still made Tam shudder and feel the need to gag.

"Tam," Arctic Fox started, "why do you have a tail?" She looked up at him with very serious eyes. "Are you hiding something from us?"

"I don't have a tail, anyone with eyes can see that," Tam answered, swishing his tail in annoyance.

It took Tam a couple of seconds for the feeling of something extra coming from his tail bone to sink in.

"Guys," he whispered, "I have a tail." His words were hesitant and unsure. He twisted himself a little to see it. Coming put from just under his shirt was a thick, black, panthers tail. Then, Tam felt every other part of his body begin to twist and bend. He fell to the ground, his mind relieving him of the experience, turning everything black.

When Tam awoke, he stretched, but in the most cat-like way, flexing his claws, scratching them along the dirt. He sat up, and looked down at his heavily muscled, fur covered arms.

"T-Tam?" Mink asked, he was staring at the tall dirty boy, eyes filled with fear.

"What?" Tam asked, his voice a grumble. He then let out a loud yowl, jumping up into the air. "MINK, WHAT DID YOU DO?" he screamed.

"How is this my fault?" Mink questioned.

"I DON'T KNOW, IT JUST IS!" Tam shuddered, feeling his hackles rise and fall, then rise again. His tail puffed up, giving him the appearance of an impossibly fluffy kitten.

"Tam, you're a panther. How did Mink do that?" Arctic Fox argued, on Mink's side, for once.

"He- he-" Tam said. At loss, he plopped down, his tail losing some of its fluffiness. "Good point. Mink isn't smart enough to do something like this…."

"Exactly!" Mink said proudly, puffing up his chest and holding his head high.

Tam rolled his eyes. "See?"

Arctic Fox nodded, then smacked Mink upside the head with a white paw.

"Well," Tam stood up, and shook himself, his fur coat correcting itself as he did so, "you two stay here, I'm going to go look for Midna and Leyla."

Arctic Fox nodded again. "OK. Wait, WHAT?" she yelped. Now, it was Mink's turn to slap her.

"Stay here," Tam repeated, before delving further into the darkness.

It didn't take long to catch Leyla's scent; apparently, she had been transformed, too, and because of it, she was also knocked out for a few minutes. Tam tried to stick to as many bushes as he could, hoping his black coat will help him hide amongst them. Then, he remembered, the lady in his dream had said that she would render him invisible at the right time. Was now the right time? Tam galloped to get in front of Leyla, then tried to draw as much attention to herself as possible; attempting to do a tap dance in his current form, which proved a clumsy mistake. Doing jumping jacks, another mistake. Chasing his tail, a rather ridiculous activity for a cat.

None of these attracted Leyla's attention. She walked right by him without so much as a glance in his direction. She didn't even seemed phased when he made sounds, nor did she pick up on his scent!

"Cool!" Tam said, awestruck at the Dream-Lady's work.

Tam was knocked to the side when something rushed in to attack Leyla. He struggled to his feet, but was held down by another one of those, things, almost as soon as he was standing.

The thing was a giant lizard, built like a man, with large bat like wings. Its strong fingers were wrapped around his thick throat, tightly. Tam was using his forepaws to try to push him off, but he was evenly matched, it seemed. The lizard thing wouldn't budge, but it did open its mouth, revealing an array of razor sharp teeth. Its throat began to glow, and Tam started to feel a growing heat, like a fire slowly coming to life.

Tam squirmed around until his hind legs were beneath the creature, then he pushed hard, sending the beast over his head and into a pile of bushes. The creature spat out the fire ball, just as he landed, lighting the bushes. Tam paced in front of the fire, his green cat-eyes searching for the creature. It came up from behind him, somehow having escaped his notice. It grabbed his tail and yanked on it. Tam let out a loud yowl, then turned and struck back furiously, his claws raking against the lizard's scaly skin.

The lizard thing screeched and clutched its arm, which had begun to intensely bleed what looked like glowing yellow and red blood. It snarled at him, then lunged forward again. Tam raised himself and brought his front paws down on its shoulders. The force of the lizard thing's lunge had caused him to slide back slightly, but it had also dislocated at least one of the creature's shoulders. By the looks of it, it was the one that had been unscathed. What a pity.

Tam snarled in its face, its red-glowing, snake-slit eyes showing slight fear, which was hidden quickly. Something inside Tam awoke, telling him to take its life, to use his teeth to rip at the life giving vessel on the creature's throat. Tam felt disgust rise in him, yet the urge, the need, to do it, grew even more. Without letting himself think about it more, Tam lunged forward, his jaw agape. There was a sickening, crunching sound, and the body jerked. He let it fall, gagging and spitting, his mouth burning from the creature's fiery blood. It looked at him, and gasped, "A worthy… opponent…. At least I die… knowing I fought… such…." Its body caught fire, and was reduced to nothing but cinders.

Tam stared at where the… thing had been, then muttered, "That ain't cool." He shook his head, and then turned away, sniffing the air for any sign of Leyla. She wasn't too far away, and seemed that she and Midna had just finished off another one of those things, the fire just blowing itself out as he approached. The girls spoke a few words to each other, then continued on, following Leyla's nose as it twitched and was swiveled about. Tam followed closely, keeping a sharp eye out for those things. What were they, anyways? He had never seen them before. He wondered if Grizzly knew. Most likely, Grizzly knew about a lot of things, and boasted about knowing everything. But something didn't sit right with Tam about those creatures. They seemed to be created. Well, all monsters were created, but those ones seemed unnatural, far more unnatural than any other monster he had encountered. Tam sighed, and pushed the thought away to dwell upon later. He had more important things to focus on right now.

A bright light made him blink, and when his eyes had finally adjusted, he looked up to see that the girls had made it to their destination.

It was a small pond, fed by a gurgling, underwater stream, then traveled from the pond to another underwater stream. It had a faint, green glow, and just above the water was a large, glowing ball of light. It was gold, with a green center, which seemed to pulse weakly inside it. To Tam, it seemed as though the gold part was simply a waning shield, protecting the heart from outside forces.

"You have done well, hidden one." Tam jumped as the voice sounded in his head. He felt warmed from inside as though the light above the pond had entered his body. "You shall be rewarded, in time. For now, continue your post as a hidden protector."

"Um, OK?" Tam answered. The voice vanished, the warmth replaced with the coldness of the Dark Zone. Leyla was holding something in her canine teeth. It was green, and also glowed with a pulsing light, beating in time with the light above the pond. An arch of light shot from the gem in Leyla's mouth, pulling itself to the light above the pond. Leyla let go, and the gem was quickly drawn into the gold shield.

Pitch black. Tam blinked. "Who put the lights out?" he panicked. Suddenly, color filled his eyes, and the aroma of sweetly scented flowers filled his nose. Birds chirped peacefully overhead, and the pond gurgled and chuckled to itself. In place of the pulsing green light, a tall woman of gold with grass-green hair stood in the air above it. Her garments were white, and seemed to be fashioned after the clothes of a long lost era, as it was a simply cut dress with brooches in the shape of the Triforce to adorn the thin sleeves. Her eyes were pure green, with pupils of gold.

The golden woman looked down at Leyla, who was in her normal form. "Well done, young Wood-Elf," she said, her voice full of wisdom of the ages. She bowed deeply to Leyla and Midna, her arms spread apart to take in the two of them and, Tam thought, himself as well. The two girls bowed, and Tam himself, felt inclined to do so. As he did, he found that he, himself, was back to normal as well.

"For saving me, I shall grant you power." She held out a hand to Leyla. "Come, learn it."

Leyla looked back at Midna, then took the Spirit's hand. Both women were engulfed in a bright green light, and when it disappeared, Leyla had three, green claws marks on her face, and her eyes glowed fiercely with power. Leyla looked down at her hands. "Thank you," she breathed, barely audible to Tam's enhanced ears.

"You are most welcome," the Spirit responded. She pointed to the north, where the castle stood in desolation. "Return to the Queen of the kingdom, and save my sisters. Use your new-found powers to travel faster."

The Spirit bowed once more, then turned into an orb of pulsing light, which dissolved into the water.

Leyla smirked at Midna, who was worried by this. "What?" the Twilight Princess asked apprehensively.

"We get to travel underground, again," Leyla said, her eyes glowing even brighter. She was engulfed in bright light, and reappeared as a large, white wolf, still bearing the green claw marks on her right eye.

"What, are you going to dig a tunnel?" Midna replied snarkily.

"Not quite," Leyla answered. She reared up, her mouth open, exposing large fangs. She dug her teeth into the ground, and the earth gave way, revealing a tunnel, much like the one the bear had created. Leyla sat back up. She didn't even look like it hurt! No scratches, no blood. Tam took his hand from his own mouth; as soon as Leyla's had made contact with the ground, he had started feeling at his own teeth for any sores or empty gum sockets.

"Come on!" Leyla said, jumping down, tucking her tail beneath her as she did. Midna groaned, then stepped into the hole. As soon as both the girls disappeared, and the hole had closed up behind them, Tam felt the comforting warmth and the voice in his head again.

"I shall personally transport you and your friends. If you are ever lost, or simply can't keep up well enough, simply call upon me, and I shall help you." Green light surrounded Tam, and he found himself back at the entrance to the castle, Mink on his shoulders, and Arctic Fox sitting by his side in a daze.

"What just happened?" Mink asked.

"I dunno," called up a dizzy Arctic Fox.

Not far away, the ground opened up, and a pair of white wolf ears stuck out.

"I'll tell you later," Tam said hastily, walking over to where Leyla was helping Midna out of the hole, all the while ignoring her complaints about traveling in such an 'atrocious' way. "I have a job to do."