Restlessly Link turned from one side to the other. Even though the bed in the room Telma had assigned to him was warm and soft, he could not fall sleep. Something troubled him.
Their whole endeavor seemed much more complicated to him than it had been a few hours ago. Zelda had disappeared and the shadows had settled in the castle. The only glimmer of hope at the moment was that meeting the Daughter of the Goddesses was within reach. Unless Link and Enora needed another magical item. Link sighed and prayed inwardly to the goddesses that this was not the case.
He heard Enora's steady breathing beside him and opened his eyes.
Everything around him was black. The moon provided barely enough light to illuminate the rooftops of the houses in front of the window. There was no light to fill the room.
He didn't know how long he was lying there, for the darkness had made him lose all sense of time when he heard a faint sob.
"Enora," he whispered and sat up to look into her eyes. Despite the darkness her eyes shone towards him like two blue beacons.
"They are coming... already very close...looking for us...betrayal", she murmured, croaked and in a strangely high pitched voice.
Link pricked his ears. Enora had always acted strangely, but this was a whole new level of strange even for her and it made his hair stand on end.
"Enora, are you alright?"
She shook her head and the blue beacons disappeared after closing her eyes for a moment.
"Link! We have to leave!"
A knock woke up Telma, who had only a light sleep so early in the morning.
Half asleep, she grabbed her lamp, lit the small flame and finally got up.
"Dear Nayru, who's out so early in the morning," she groaned softly as she shuffled down the stairs.
There was another knock. This time more intently and louder.
"I'm coming," the landlady exclaimed before she fumbled at the lock.
The door swung open and a tall woman appeared in the door frame, behind her gathered a small group of tired soldiers.
"At last," she said coldly and Telma got the urge to close the door again, but the visitor has already entered the room.
The newcomer wore a long and dark gray hooded cloak. Some blood-red spots shimmered in the light of the lamp. The body was completely covered by the fabric, though, judging by the slender figure it must be a woman. Only a pointed chin, red eyes and spiky hair was visible under her hood.
"I have a message for Sir Link," she began immediately. "I demand to know where he is."
Telma gulped unsettled by the intimidating appearance. A message for Link? The landlady mustered the guest. There's no way this was a good thing. She remembered what Link had told her.
'Dang! Link is in danger,' she cussed in her mind. She remained as calm as she could muster and spoke clearly: "There's no one here who's name is Link."
The eyes of the stranger narrowed to horizontal slits. "Reliable sources have told me that he arrived here last night. You know he's here, right?"
The gaze sent an icy chill down Telma's spine. Adrenaline shot into her veins.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I politely ask you to leave my bar immediately," she replied, not quite managing to suppress the slight trembling in her voice any longer.
The woman did not answer, but was already walking up the stairs, closely follow by the landlady who didn't wast a second to catch up with the mysterious figure.
"There is no one named Link in this place," she started another attempt, but only got a sore look that silenced her.
As if she knew where the Ordonian was, the woman in the cape headed straight for the door behind which he and Enora were peacefully slumbering.
Restlessly, Telma shifted her weight from one foot to the other and sent multiple prayers to the goddesses that Link and Enora just happened to be absent.
The unwelcomed guest noticed this with a smirk. It only confirmed her assumption. Thin fingers wrapped around the door handle before she pushed open the door.
The room was empty. The sheets were scattered on the floor.
Narrowing her eyes to slits her gaze wandered across the room. There was no one here, no mind that she could read.
"He's gone," she concluded.
'Yet this landlady was so sure he was here. She let him in after all.' She clenched her fists, but immediately eased up again. 'Whatever. I'll find him!'
She turned around, ready to leave, as her gaze fell on an opening in the wall, which was a few meters from the floor. Directly below it was a table, and next to the table was a broken glass. Water slowly crawled across the stone floor.
The woman grinned as she crossed the room in one huge leap and landed on the edge of the opening, elegantly like a cat. She stuck her head into the musty air to listen.
Water splashed a few meters below her...
She listened even closer.
There! Footsteps!
Just as she had thought.
With an arrogant grin on her face she let herself slide down into the darkness that lay behing the opening.
'That was a close call', Link thought again and again as he struggled to find his footing on the slippery surface.
Just before Telma had hurried down the stairs, the Ordonian had managed to escape with Enora into the shaft that led directly into the sewers. A secret passageway Link happened to know about.
They escaped, but that didn't mean they were safe yet. Their biggest concern was to get out of here as fast as possible. It was well known that the underground passages were not the safest place in Hyrule and the place was swarming with nasty creatures. There were also rumors that it was haunted by ghosts, which, as Link knew, was actually true.
A cold breeze indicated a small side corridor, from which dirty water flowed into the main tunnel, which Link and Enora followed.
Far behind them, something splashed into the water.
"They're coming," whispered Enora and the Ordonian hastened his steps.
In some distance the hollow sound of clattering heels was echoing from the barren walls. The pursuer seemed to be alone, but he or she was in no hurry, for the steps were slow and yet they seemed more threatening than anything he had ever heard before.
The darkness in front of him grew thicker with every step and no matter how fast he ran, the steps of the pursuer echoed loudly in his head.
Again they passed a junction and Link considered for a second if they could hide in it, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
The footsteps faded away. An eerie silence lingered in the tunnel. Only the ripple of the water still reached Link's ears. Despite the silence, the Ordonian did not slow down his steps.
Enora stumbled. Link responded quickly, grabbed her elbow and dragged her along.
At this very moment, something red lunged at him. Almost at the same time, something blue flashed up and threw itself on the red creature. Both landed in the stinking sewer water.
A golden shimmer, closely followed by a silver one, glided over the walls of the tunnel and disappeared in the same instant.
Cold fingers grabbed Link's wrist and dragged him into the water.
He had just enough time to catch his breath when he was pulled down under the surface. Enora clung to his other arm, eyelids pressed together anxiously.
The Ordonian flailed around wildly. After a blow to its cold fingers, the creature let go of him. Link rowed against the strong current that carried him away mercilessly.
Coughing he pushed through the surface and Enora gasped for breath beside him.
Another wave forced both of them under water.
The current became stronger. Then the water fell down, pulling him into the abyss.
Link lost his orientation in the turbulence, no longer knowing where up and down was.
His lungs contracted and he opened his mouth. He tasted nothing but rotten water on his tongue. No air to fill his lungs with.
He dimly felt something clinging to his chest and dragging him through the water.
Everything happened so fast, he couldn't process the events.
Eventually, he climbed up a shore. A puddle of brownish water spread out in front of him as he dropped onto his back in exhaustion and spit out disgusting brown water. He still had the foul taste on his tongue and fought the urge to vomit. He wiped the wet hair from his face.
When his breath had calmed down somewhat, the Ordonian sat up. He was still in the sewers, but this room here was wide and circular. A stone path, just touching the undulating surface, surrounded the water basin and flanked the rough wall.
His gaze fell on a Zora that was bending over Enora and apparently watched her.
Somehow she was different from the other Zora. Blonde, wet hair fell over her back, which was covered by a short, white dress.
When she noticed Link was awake she gave him a friendly smile. She lifted Enora onto her arms and walked to a passageway that was the only exit from the room - except for a hole far above them, from which a jet of water shot down into the pool.
Still a little dazed, he got up and followed her.
The splashing behind him became quieter the further he followed the Zora. Although there was hardly any light here, her white dress shone in the darkness and showed him the way. Her steps were soft. On the cold stone floor they sounded much more like the splashing of water than steps.
The walls of the tunnel became more and more ridged and sharper, and it soon became clear to Link that they were no longer below Castle Town.
A bright light shone before him as the Zora paused and bent down.
A crystal clear lake spread out directly in front of her. The water wasn't deep such that one could see the stones on the ground. The waves broke the light and painted patterns on the ceiling. It all seemed like it came right out of a dream.
Enora sat down next to the Zora, coughed and drank a few sips of the crystal clear water.
She felt better immediately and she waved Link over.
Quickly the Ordonian joined them.
"Drink", the Zora smiled and handed him a small bowl.
With every sip Link felt stronger and the taste of the dirty water was rinsed from his tongue.
"Thank you," he said as he returned the bowl. "What's your name?"
The Zora hasn't heard his question. Or didn't want to reply.
"That was pretty close," she said instead and held her arm in the water. A deep cut ran across her forearm. Blood was pouring out of the wound. "I'm afraid you won't be so lucky next time. The enemies are strong."
Link nodded thoughtfully. "You seem to know a lot about it."
"Only what I was told..." Slowly she let her body slide into the lake. "...and it wasn't much. Actually, I'm here to teach you something."
She rose and stood upright in the pool with her thighs only halfway covered by the water. "Zelda has sent you something."
The Ordonian immediately remembered. "The ocarina?"
The girl nodded while Enora jumped up and down excitedly. "Does that mean you know how to play it?"
"Actually, it's quite simple," she said, walking towards Link, who had just taken the instrument out of his pocket. She took the instrument from his hand.
"This is how you play it."
Sorry for late chapter, I was busy last week and totally forgot about it. :)
So here it is. Hope I can upload another one next week, though, still super busy so not sure.
Also: I've replied to all comments I've gotten so far but I've never got a message back so I just would like to know if any of you received a reply or not. I think fanfiction net isn't the most user friendly site and I seem to have my fair share of troubles with it ^^; Would be nice if someone could let me know if they received a message regarding their comment and just didn't feel like replying (which is totally fine) or if they couldn't reply because I have a setting to not receive notes or whatever. I appreciate any help.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you next week!
~Freiha