Chapter Two

It was getting dark, as we arrived. The guards at the door questioned us, and let us pass.

As we neared the house, a servant, wearing nothing but a tunic, greeted us.

"Good evening, sirs. You may proceed through the door, then along the hallway to your left, to join the others."

"Thank you." We said, as we dismounted, slipping him a few rupees. And he led our horses to what we assumed to be the stable. We proceeded as he said, through the door, then along the hallway to the left. When we entered the room, a circle of chairs and couches had been formed around a well lit furnace in the middle.

"Well, then. This must be our competition." I said to Roy, rather quietly.

"Ah, this should be interesting!"

We took a few on the opposite end of the room. Everything seemed silent. No one spoke; no one even uttered one single word.

Then, a moment or so after we sat down;

A loud boom, as the wooden doors crashed into the wall.

"Good evening, men. I assume all of you have come to begin the quest."

They all had, so he proceeded.

"I don't know anything about these men with the exception of their names."

He said, drawing a piece of paper.

"Taolar, Z'amour and their female, Feria." As it was normal for females to be owned, we didn't think anything of it.

"Shouldn't be too hard." I whispered to my partner, Roy.

The next morning, we set out before but a few. A rocky trail scattered with trees was our chosen path. Two hours or so after we left, oddly enough in a rather large clearing. We met a man dressed in mining clothes with his face, except the mouth under the dark of his hood and the left arm was caked brown with dried blood. The area around us, of course, was a fairly good mining area. I also noticed he seemed to have a bag which he was being rather overprotective of.

"Good day, sirs." He said in a rather peculiar voice as he slowed his walk to a standstill.

"Yes, yes. It is a fine day, isn't it?" I said as my partner also sat rather still on his horse, Lon.

"Look, I've got some mining equipment I just got done with, you guys want it?" He said with a conspicuously smiling face.

"No, no. We're not miners, but one might wonder why you smile as you say that?" I said while eyeing his little pouch.

"Ah, yes, that would be the reason I'm selling my equipment. I've got enough platinum here to buy the king himself." He said, clutching it strongly.

"And why have you decided to tell us this?" Roy said, clearly devising a plan to steal it from him.

"I suppose I'm a man who likes to show off his good fortune." He said with a puzzled look on his face.

"Most men are. Listen, we've got to get moving now. Enjoy your kingly life, sir." I said then resuming the canter.

"Good day then, sirs" He said beginning to walk away.

As soon as we were out of earshot I asked "Did you get it?"

"Nah, I took pity on the man."

"You what? But I saw you! Just barely, but I did."

"I only took some of it."

"So then, how much?"

"Just this." He said, holding up a rather small, arrowhead sized piece

"Well that'll last us a while"

"Yeah, a few hundred years at least"

"If we live that long." The small red haired man was incredibly quick, so much barely anyone would notice his stealing the platinum, even from atop the horse. This quickness made him nearly invincible in sword-to-sword combat. I, however, haven't even come close to his speed, and can just barely notice him when he does things like stealing the platinum.

Just then we heard a sound as if someone were running up behind us.

"GIVE IT BACK!" He shouted as I turned my head to see who it was. Of course, it was the same miner we had met before.

"Give what back?" I replied calmly.

"THE" He paused for a few deep heaving breaths. "The platinum you stole you moron!"

"What platinum would this be?" I said, still rather calm.

"Maybe the platinum in that one's hand" He said, pointing at Roy, who swore insolently.

"Ah, yes, this. Was this yours?" Roy said beginning to lose his tranquility.

"Give it back!"

"What if I don't want to?"

"Then I'll kill you for it."

"You'll what?" He said, drawing his sword.

"You didn't hear me?" He already had his drawn

Roy jumped down off of his horse and stood, holding his sword in his right hand.

"Might I at least know the name of the man who wishes to kill me?" He said, regaining his serenity as he always did in battle.

"Who said anything about a man?" It was a woman's voice this time.

"I can't fight a lady!" Roy said with a rather confused look on his face

"Come on Roy! Don't' be such a gentleman."

"Yeah! Don't thing just because I'm a girl I can't fight." She said, lowering her hood to reveal a dirty, and yet still rather beautiful face, shoulder length beautiful blond hair and the most accentuating green eyes.

He stood there, gaping open-mouthed at her.

"Well?" She said, giving him a look that just said 'oh I'm so bored of this'.

"I guess, I guess lets fight!" He said, regaining his composure which was so abruptly lost.

"Not many would actually fight me sir, my being a lady and all." She said, eyeing him with a relatively odd look affection.

"I guess I'm not many then. Besides, didn't you say you wanted to fight?" About this point I noticed the now seemingly obvious attraction between them. But, of course, once you start a fight no matter how much you like the person, you just can't back down.

So, they both half-heartedly began the fight. A few overhand swings, blocks, the usual. Neither of them were straining themselves. They actually seemed rather equal, at least from this kind of a fight.

Then I suppose Roy decided he was getting bored. That or he didn't like the chance that he might hurt this woman. So finally he struck her with the side of his blade and knocked her off balance. After a few seconds of trying to regain this stability, she, seemingly purposefully fell into toward him. His reaction was rather forced. He caught her in his arms. I couldn't really see very well from my angle, but from what I saw their faces moved closer and closer until they finally touched. At the lips, of course. They held their pose for a minute or two before I spoke up;

"Ok, I'm getting kind of bored. Could we move on?" They remained in their pose for another 10 seconds at best then slowly separated.

"You guys got half a minute before I ride off without you. I know you want her to come, let's just skip the chat and go!"

"Ah, yes. But we haven't got another horse?"

"I can ride with you." she said, obviously speaking to Roy. "But first, might I know your names?"

"Of course. I'm Roy, and this is Link." He said then pointing at me.

"Oh but, what about your platinum?" I said as they walked over to his horse. And as neither of them responded, I could tell what was going on in their heads.

"Love at first sight, huh?" I said trying to get them out of their trance, just as they walked by Lon without even noticing.

"What? Oh! Uh, I don't know." He said while it actually looked like he was blushing. No, that couldn't be. Roy? Blushing? I've known this man since my youngest days of childhood. I've never know him to care for a girl or woman at all other than a friend. And he had just met this one.

She laughed at those words, and we started to ride at a brisk trot. I could tell about now this would be a rather boring journey as my best friend would be more devoted to entertaining his new girlfriend than I. Not that I couldn't entertain myself you understand, it was just more interesting doing things with someone instead of alone.