A.N.- Here's chapter 9. Sorry for the delay. I'll try to write the next one a little faster.

__________________

Chapter 9: Flight
By: Shadow Link

Arkan tossed and turned in his bed: his breathing increased. Something called out to him from his mind, yet he did not know it. He saw images that no child should be exposed to; scenes of death and destruction. A coldness overcame his mind; the darkness crept in around him.

We are coming, can you see us? We are closing, can you save yourself? You shall die, along with the rest of them all! Ha! You, the hero of time!

Arkan sat up, his bed sheets soaked from his sweat. He stared at the opposing wall, trying to slow his breathing. The blood still pumped through his head, and he was dazed from the quick switch between the dreaming world and reality. Arkan's thoughts dwelt on the dream that had awakened him. But, as is the nature of all dreams, it faded back into the recesses of his mind and was soon forgotten: yet, though it did fade into an endless oblivion, there was a feeling instilled into Arkan that compelled him to leave. He looked over at his father: he slept peacefully, unaware of Arkan's awakening.

Ever so slowly, Arkan quietly got out of his bed and crept over to the desk. He took a single backpack from among the other things, and put the relic sword into it. Why he chose to do this, he did not know. It might have seemed practical to take a sword for what he planned to do on his own, but this thought should not be dwelt on. He quickly put on his shoes and left the room silently.

The corridors of the castle were empty and soundless, save Arkan and the hollow echo of his footsteps on the stone floor. The torches that lit the corridors helped instill a sense of being at home in Arkan. He was saddened that he had to leave, but the dream compelled him to go. Arkan was afraid, afraid of the darkness he had felt in his dream.

Darkness is a thing which cannot be fully comprehended by most people: since its very nature would be normal to anyone, it is not noticed as frequently as one might expect. But to a boy, one who had a great destiny awaiting discovery in the inner depths of his mind, he understood. The distinction between darkness the light was apparent, and he had felt the darkness. It awakened something inside of him that told him to leave, to protect those around him. The darkness was after him, and would eliminate anyone who became an obstacle; this was the wisest choice.

He walked on silently, his thoughts focused on one central, at-the-moment point; to leave. Arkan walked through the exit of the castle and entered the courtyard.

The flowers were beautiful in the moon light: Arkan paused for a moment to admire it. Flowers of all colors and types dotted the entire garden. Flowers that only bloomed in the night shone their sparkling silver petals. Paths ran throughout the garden, intersecting at different junctions. Trees stood around the garden as well, casting faint shadows onto the ground.. Arkan sighed and continued walking through the silent garden.

He heard footsteps closing, the time Arkan had chosen to take to admire the garden was his folly. A sentry rounded the corner of another exit and walked in the general direction of Arkan. The adrenalin pumped through Arkan's head, he glanced at the nearest tree; its boughs were covered with overwhelming amounts of leaves and its trunk was thick. As quietly as was possible for him, Arkan darted to it and scrambled up into the branches; but the climb wasn't perfect. As Arkan climbed into the tree, the boughs were weighed down by his weight, causing the leaves to rustle. The sentry stopped; looked over at the tree Arkan had taken to hiding in. "Hello?" Arkan froze. The sentry neared the tree and looked up. Arkan moved to the other side of the tree and made his way down. The sentry examined the leaf- covered boughs. "Hello?" he said again. Arkan landed on the ground silently and made his way down the path, bending low to allow the flowers to cover his form. The sentry sighed and continued walking, grumbling.

Arkan reached the end of the drawbridge and confronted his next difficulty; the bridge was not down since it was night. It would be a while before the guard would lower it: Arkan had to find a different way out. Hiding in another tree, Arkan examined the wall, looking for some kind of opening. His eyes moved down the wall and then stopped at a thick group of vines that had grown to the top of the wall. He smiled to himself and descended the tree.

Arkan glance around him, no one was in sight. Taking hold of the vines, he tested his weight; they would hold him. Using his arms, he pulled himself up the vines. He was halfway up when he heard voices nearing.

Two men appeared out of the castle, a bit away. "I tell ya'," said one, "I heard the leaves move." "Does it matter," said the other, "You checked and then we both just did, there was no one there." "Still, I think there's somethin' up." "I doubt that, no one could break in or out of this castle without us knowing. Don't worry Barden, you'll get used to these things." "I know.but still. That could've been someone." "True."

The two guards continued to banter, Arkan tuned out there words. All that was on his mind was how he was going to hide. He was too far up to simply jump down, and he wasn't strong enough to make up the rest of the way quickly. Arkan looked at the wall through the vines; he knew where to hide. Wrapping his one of his feet around a vine, and grabbing hold of some of the vines with his hand, he parted the them a bit. Slipping into the opening, Arkan unloosed his foot. He quickly closed the gap in the vines and wrapped himself in the inner ones so he wouldn't fall. The guards walked past the vines without even casting a glance at them. Arkan realized that he had been holding his breath and exhaled deeply. He froze. He looked over at the guards through the vines, they didn't seem to have noticed. As soon as they were at a safe distance, Arkan came out of his hiding place and continued his climb.

The top was but a few feet away, but his arms were losing immense strength. They burned under the exertion they were being put through. The adrenalin coursed through his veins, the only source of the strength his arms needed to continue the climb. Arkan's throat was hoarse from the cold air rushing into his lungs. Beads of sweat ran down his face. He stretched out his arm and grabbed the top of the wall. With a grunt, he heaved himself onto the top of the wall. For a while he lay there, trying to calm himself. A light wind blew, evaporating the sweat from his face. He sat up slowly contemplated his next move.

Arkan sat at the top of the outer stone walls of the castle. About thirty feet below him was the moat. Guards patrolled the grounds before him. Arkan watched the guards intently, looking for patterns. Standing up, he stepped off the wall and fell toward the water.

Two guards walked towards each other outside the castle next to the moat. They met and began talking with each other in hushed tones; so as not to disturb the silence of the night. As they talked, a great mass impacted the moat, sending water into the air. Startled and surprised, the two guards looked down into the moat. A boy lay seemingly motionless in the water. Reaching down and setting down his spear for a moment, one of the guards took hold of the boy and raised him from the water. Laying him down on the ground, the two watched the boy. Spitting up water, the boy sat up and looked at the two guards. "What happened?" the guard with his weapon asked. "I. I don't know. I.I was standing-" that was all that Arkan said. With great speed, he picked up the spear of the guard who had pulled him out. Readying it, he hit the armed one with the staff of the spear in the head: he collapsed to the ground. The other guard rose and lunged at him. With an upstroke, Arkan bashed the mans chin with the spearhead; he too collapsed to the ground, motionless. Dropping the spear, Arkan left the two to awaken on their own and wonder what had happened.

The commotion Arkan had made with the two guards had roused others to see what was the matter. Hiding in the bushes, Arkan watched as they all passed by. Arkan listened intently to what they guards were saying, but he only heard bits and pieces. "There's.one reason.. would happen. Someone's.. into.castle." As the guards scattered this way and that, Arkan was already running hard towards the town square.

Arkan walked through the empty town silently. His thoughts dwelt a bit on the two guards he had attacked; yet, he did not grieve for them. He wondered how he had been able to do such a thing; he brushed it aside quickly, but the matter still existed. Arkan was a boy of the age of ten, not a warrior.

He heard something behind him. He whirred around and almost burst out laughing at what he saw. A white, scruffy, dog stood behind him wagging his tail happily. Arkan turned back and continued through the square; the dog followed. Suddenly, the dog barked. Arkan turned and tried to quiet it, but the dog barked all the more. "Shut that dog up!" a voice said from a nearby building. Arkan started running, the dog chasing him and barking all the way. Arkan reached the exit and nearly collapsed as he approached it; the drawbridge was up. A figure came from out of the shadows and called to the dog. The dog immediately stopped barking and came to the man. "Please excuse my dog, he tends to bark at strangers. But, if I may ask, what bring a boy like you here in the middle of the night?" Arkan's mind raced for an answer. What should I tell him? If I lie, will he catch me? "Come now boy, what is it?" "I.I'm delivering a message to Kakariko village," Arkan stammered, trying to sound sure of himself. "I see," the man said calmly, "But this late at night? Couldn't it have waited 'till tomorrow?" "N...No. It's very important."

The man nodded slowly, turning towards the wall as he did so. Arkan struggled to look at the man's face, but all he saw was a face masked in shadow; no distinctions could be made.

Arkan followed the man slowly with his eyes. The man reached the stonewall and searched about it with his hands. Arkan watched anxiously, wanting to be out of the range of any guards that might be headed his way. Soon, the man's hand sunk into the wall, and a chunk of the wall moved away to reveal a doorway about two-and-a-half feet wide and six feet tall. The man beckoned for Arkan to follow him inside.

The hall he had entered was dark, however the moonlight that flooded in from the many windows that lined the hallway he seemed to be in helped. Metal semi-circles along each side of the hall indicated that at one time there were torches that lit this hallway. It had the feeling of abandonment in it; as if at one time it had been used more frequently.

"Follow me," the man said, turning right and walking down the hallway with confidence.

Arkan walked slowly down the never-changing corridor. "They used these to get the princess in and out of the castle without drawing any attention from the people," the man commented, seeming to read Arkan's mind, "However, her father's strict rules have stopped her playing outside of the castle; so these hallways have fallen into disuse. I myself use these quite often. During the busy times at the market, these make it easier to get around."

Arkan saw the end of the hallway in sight, and a wooden door to the left; the door had a heavy metal sliding lock on it. The man stretched out his arm and with a grunt, moved the heavy iron into an un-locked position. The man pushed the door open and let the moonlight shine onto him; his face still could not be perceived, but Arkan thought he saw a massive scar and the man's left forearm.

"Here you are child," the man said calmly, "Go and deliver your message."

Arkan quickly exited the hallway and was almost ready to forget about the man when he turned. "What's your name?"

The man stood for a long moment, as if pondering whether or not there was actually an honest answer he could give to the seemingly easy question. "Names are not needed in a situation such as this," the man said finally. "The fact that you are outside the walls is enough. Now go along; I thought that message was important." Arkan, remembering the actual reason why he was running from the castle, nodded quickly and began walking at a brisk pace towards Kakariko.

Arkan breathed lightly as he walked across the quiet plains of Hyrule. The moon shone brightly on the blades of grass and the leaves of trees; a light breeze blew across Arkan's face and ran through his long blonde hair.

Reaching the bride that crossed the river, which fed through the castle walls, Arkan sat down at the edge of the river to rest his sore legs: it had been several hours since he had made it out of the town and started the main leg of his journey. Dawn was coming up rapidly; the sun was beginning to show it first rays of light over the distant mountains; creating a light grey color in the sky.

Arkan rose with a deep breath and started his journey again, but he didn't get far. A strong and bony hand reached out of the ground and grabbed Arkan by the heal of his left foot. He turned quickly to see that about five sets of skeleton arms were rising quickly out of the ground. Too terrified to move, Arkan forgot about the sword which he carried in the backpack he had; he simply stood there; gripped with fear. Before long, the skeletal creatures had risen from the ground and were moving towards Arkan; the hand, which gripped his ankle, remained firm. Arkan Struggled to free himself, but only succeeded in tightening its grip.

By now, one of the creatures had come close enough to Arkan to prepare to strike him. In a last ditch effort, motivated mostly by fear and adrenalin, Arkan leaped towards the river. As he did, he remembered the deadly grip that the hand had on his ankle. He felt his leg pop out of the socket; however, the hand released its grip. Excruciating pain shot throughout Arkan's entire body; all his senses dulled. The pain was too immense for his mind to comprehend; he heard the splashing of the water as the creatures started pursuing him.

Arkan black out.

______________________

A.N.- That's all for this chapter, hoped you liked it; review and tell me yea or nea (yes or no). I'll get to writing chapter 10 as soon as I can.