Disclaimer: Hyrule and other associations with the Zelda games are not my property.
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to upload. I had some other things to do. It describes Zi's adventures in the area of Lake Hylia.
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Chapter III: Lake Hylia
"What contest?" repeated Zi.
"The king's contest. Didn't they go to your town and tell you about it?" 'The king is giving a contest? Ha! That will turn out well.'
"If this is such a well-known contest, then how come I haven't heard anyone besides you two talking about it?" Zi sneered.
"You've…only seen us?" Tiewal said uneasily.
"That's right!" Zi snapped.
"Why are you so angry all of a sudden?" Karlia asked him.
Zi shrugged, and struggled to get his voice back to a normal level.
Giving him a strange look, Karlia explained the contest. "The king wants the greatest warriors in the land to come to the castle, to help save Hyrule. To prove their worth, everyone must travel to the ancient Gerudo ruins, and bring back one of the ten golden coins that the king has hidden there. Each coin bears the king's face. The first people who find the coins are to bring their coin to the castle, where they will join the party who is going to save Hyrule! But we live on the other side of Hyrule and have taken a long time in getting over here. We were afraid that everyone has beaten us."
"A noble contest."
"Yes."
Zi thought silently for few moments.
"Why doesn't he just go himself?"
"What?"
"Why doesn't the king just take the army and go himself?"
Karlia shrugged. "I think it's better this way. This way, the citizens can help save Hyrule."
"They've never let commoners join the army, why do you think that they'll let you save Hyrule?"
Karlia glared at him. "At least I'm trying, which is a lot better than you! All you're doing is standing around! You can't even save yourself from a simple enemy, much less an entire kingdom!" she said hotly.
Stunned at this, Zi growled, "What if I have a good reason!"
Tiewal stepped in between them warily. "Would you like to join us?" Karlia shot him a look of surprise at the offer.
Zi surprised himself by finding himself saying, "I suppose." 'It'll be an adventure, and I don't have anywhere else to go…' he thought to justify himself.
The look on Karlia's face obviously spelled hatred, but Zi shrugged it off, nonchalantly.
At that moment, Zi heard the cuckoo crow, denoting the dawn of a new day.
"We can reach Lake Hylia faster if we take the horses," Tiewal said.
"Horses?" Zi inquired.
"Do you have a horse?"
"…No." Zi admitted hesitantly.
"Just use my horse, and I can ride on my sister's." Tiewal said sensibly. His sister's mouth was open, as she was about to protest. But there wasn't much she could say, because her brother had offered his own horse and not hers.
She silently led out two war-horses from behind some bushes.
"These two are Thorn and Bullet." Thorn was the larger of the two, but Bullet was sleeker. She handed him Bullet's bridle.
"Here."
Tiewal started to protest, but Karlia shook her head. "Bullet would never last under both of us. It will be faster this way." Zi smiled his thanks. "It wasn't for you. It was for Bullet!" Karlia answered quickly. "Let's just go, okay?" She got onto Thorn expertly, and her brother went behind her.
Zi grabbed Bullet's bridle and hoisted himself up with ease. He was used to horses much higher than Bullet, though they probably weren't as fast. 'Why are those castle horses so much slower than regular ones! Like parade horses or something!'
Karlia rode off toward the rising sun, supposedly toward the direction where Lake Hylia was. Zi followed, catching up to her rapidly.
"He is really fast," Zi said after a few minutes of silence.
"I know."
They rode at a fast rate, pushing the horses, until the still waters of Lake Hylia were in sight.
When they reached the lake, however, their spirits plunged. The banks were teaming with prospective heroes. Many of them were sitting on the side, fishing! 'At this rate, there won't be any fish left in Lake Hylia by nightfall!'
Zi veered off the path, and rode over to a group of people fishing nearby.
"Hey, what are you doing! You're scaring all the fish away with your horse!" The voice came from a youth of about eighteen, the same age as Zi.
"There won't be any fish left by the time everyone's done fishing here," Zi replied calmly.
"So? Fish are meant to be eaten!"
"Not in enormous numbers like this."
"Why don't you go bother somebody else! You think you're better than us, just because you have a nice horse?!"
'What is it with everyone thinking because my weapons and the animal I'm riding on, are good, I'm conceited! Now I'm really glad I'm not in the army! It must be worse, because they have good food, clothing, and a stable roof under their heads, and more! At least my appearance looks weathered. They can't accuse me of that, at least!'
Almost in reflex, Zi rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Do you know how many times I've heard that in the last forty-eight hours!"
The youth was laughing.
"What are you laughing at?!" Zi shook his fist menacingly.
"You!" His answer only made Zi more furious.
"Why?" he said through gritted teeth.
"Because. You looked hilarious when you made that face!" the other youth grinned.
Zi got off the horse, and handed it back to Karlia and her brother, who were both watching with anticipation.
"Real funny. Who are you?" Zi said.
"The name's Duke. I travel around Hyrule looking for people to do tricks for."
"Why are you here then?"
"Money. What else? I have no aspirations to be a hero." He grinned, showing a mouthful of teeth. It reminded Zi of a wolfos. "People get bored. So, me and my friends do puppet shows, card tricks, and acrobatics. It's a living."
"Are you going to…" he started to say.
"Zi, we found a spot to rest the horses," Tiewal interrupted him.
"Are you here to be a hero?" sneered Duke.
"No!" Zi shouted fiercely, nearly drawing his sword. "Anyone who says differently will have to deal with me!"
Duke shrugged. "What are you doing here then? You're not a trickster, you dress like a warrior, and you're not here to be a hero?" He scoffed at the idea.
Zi ignored him and followed Tiewal to the spot. "When are we leaving?"
"Aren't we going to do something about…all this?" He waved his hand towards the people.
"What can we do?"
"He's right Tiewal," Karlia said, walking up to them, though looking as if she disliked the idea of Zi being right. "Besides, we want a head start, right?"
Tiewal seemed to think about it. At last, he looked up, and nodded.
"The horses are ready," Karlia informed them.
Grabbing Bullet's reins, Zi pulled himself up, while Karlia and Tiewal got onto Thorn. They rode towards the exit to Lake Hylia, making their way to the Gerudo ruins. As they neared the ruins, the ground became sparse with grass and sandier. They were now inside the canyon. The neigh of a horse caused Zi to look up.
In front of them was a band of nasty-looking bandits.
"This is our territory now!" snarled a bearded man, who sat atop a horse.
"Who says so!" Karlia yelled back. The man laughed at the thought of a girl threatening them, causing the others to laugh with him.
Anger surged within Zi, who leaped off of his horse, with Karlia and her brother doing the same.
"Oh, what's this now? You kids want to fight us?" They roared with laughter. Drawing his sword, Zi readied himself in the ways he was taught. But this time, he looked alertly for any sudden movement; he wouldn't be caught off guard again. 'There!' A man's arm raised swiftly, cocking, and releasing the arrow. Zi yelled, "Look out!" but it was too late. The arrow had hit its mark.
"Tiewal!" The cry burst from his sister's lips. 'What is she doing? She's just making more work for me! This is no time for sentimentality!' Another arrow was being released, but Zi moved quickly, shoving Tiewal down, and deflecting the arrow with his ready shield. Then, Karlia seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation, and shot an arrow towards the bearded archer on the horse. It missed him by a hair's length.
Zi saw two of the bandits racing towards him, each bearing a heavy sword. He calmly waited for them to near, and when they were within two feet of him, swung his sword, piercing the leg of his first opponent. The bandit grimaced with the pain, and lay sprawled on the ground. He jumped over him, and faced the second bandit. This one was large and swung before Zi could bring up his shield. 'Whoa!' It had almost chopped off his nose. Grimly, Zi swung in order to injure his oppponent, but ended up slamming the smooth blade of his sword down onto the bandit's head, knocking him out.
"Help!" He whirled around and spotted Karlia greatly outnumbered by the last of the robbers. As he came closer, he noticed that she was shielding her brother. 'No wonder! She's putting herself in place of her brother!' Adroitly, he battled them until they were either on the ground, or had fled. He paused to catch his breath with his back turned away from the road toward the ruins.
"Watch out!" A sharp cry came from Karlia. Zi whirled around, and saw the sharp knife about to descend upon him. One second it was there, and then it wasn't
"All right! He went down like a rock!" Zi heard the thunderous shout of a familiar voice. He turned to look at its owner. It was Duke, the acrobat from the lake.
'I'm so out of shape. If I were still in training I could have made it out without his help!'
"Aren't you going to say anything? Hello??" Duke's voice brought Zi back to the present.
Zi ignored him, and turned toward Karlia. "How's your brother?" he asked walking toward her, who was perched next to her brother on the ground.
"He's…" her answer was barely a whisper, but her tone was enough.
"…Karlia," Tiewal's voice was hoarse. He reached out a hand toward his sister.
"I'm here," she said immediately.
"Take my sword. Use it. For the good of Hyru…" His voice droned off, and his body became motionless. A tear crawled down Karlia's face.
Taking his sword, she stood up, a look of fierce determination in her eyes.
"Let's go. The coin is mine. I'm not going to let him down!" Her fist clenched tightly around the sword like she would never let it go…
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Note: Thanks for reading it! Please review. I would like to know what you think.