Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda or any of the characters in the Zelda series (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

Chapter 10 - The Garos

A few minutes later they arrived at Sakon's hideout, that is, if Link's memory served him correctly. A short examination of the stonewall revealed a secret lever and a huge stone door swung open. Link grabbed his Deku stick and jumped in. Romani stayed in the back with her bow ready. Suddenly Garos appeared all around Link and he had trouble dodging their swords. He could take out two of them before his Deku stick broke and knocked out another one with a decent punch. Romani shot four before they directed their attention to her and she was forced to leave her bow behind and kick her asaillants. Link had just kicked another one to the ground when all of a sudden he was kicked in the face. This surprised Link as they all used swords. This led to another kick. Link did a backflip and looked at his new adversary. He recognised Sakon although he had a Garos mask and brown cape.

"You will not stand in the way of the Garos!" he said with a hollow voice. Several Garos enclosed him. Link quickly threw a Deku nut and while they were briefly stunned he drew another Deku stick and slammed another four in the ground. Romani also started to use the Deku nuts and sticks but had more trouble fending off the blows. As the Garos she was fighting trashed her third Deku stick she leaped forward, grabbing his face and drove it hard into the wall. She thought she felt blood splatter on her hand right before the cape fell empty. She drew her final Deku stick and started slashing at her enemies once more. While the Garos she was aiming at jumped to the side, her Deku stick crashed on a glass casing. The Garos laughed, knowing she was unarmed, but when he saw her smile, he knew she just gained an advantage, one she wouldn't have had if she had killed him. Romani grabbed the guilded sword from the casing and slashed the Garos in half.

Sakon had just broken Link's last Deku stick when he heard the worried cries of the others. He made the mistake of looking, although he knew Link was unarmed and there were five Garos with swords surrounding him, anticipating any Deku nuts. But then again, he suddenly realised, Romani was supposed to be unarmed as well. But Link didn't have access to any of the weapons he had stolen. He could only have that big sword that he couldn't carr... Uh-oh.

Sakon turned back to Link just to see him slash all five Garos in half with one strike. That explained the strange lump on Link's back under his cape. He should have known, the Garos hide their swords also under their capes, but he didn't think someone would copy the Garos's ways. No one was even to know of the ways of the Garos, but didn't they whisper of a boy that defeated them several years ago? Could it be? But then he didn't have a chance!

Sakon jumped away, apparantly in the shadows while more Garos jumped before Link. They didn't even have the time to attack, they could only block off Link's swipes with his sword or be cut in half. They knew if they tried anything else than defence, they would perish. Link had something different on his mind. He didn't really noticed the Garos anymore, he just thought fighting the Garos was a strange sensation. From the moment they were dead all evidence of them were gone. That included their blood that should have left a long trail on the ground and his sword (not to mention his clothes) but it all vanished, not even leaving a wet spot. It's strange to have blood splatter in your face, and then there's nothing anymore, not a trace it was ever there. Wow, two Garos trying something new. Link's mind was back in the fight. The first Garos was blocking Link's attacks while the second, right behind his companion, was ready to jump and slash. Link thought of his options. A spinslash would take too long. And if he tried to block the second Garos, the first one would hit him. Ah, but here's a thought. Link hit the Garos low, leaving his sword on the ground. The second Garos jumped up and Link slashed his sword upwards. The first Garos was thrown back and the second Garos impaled himself on the sword. Link let the sword come down and felt how the blood on his hands vanished.

Fuck, this was taking too long. He had to find Sakon back, he was the key to everything. Link turned around, looking for his enemy. He saw Romani fighting with his guilded sword and then he saw Sakon. He jumped out of the shadows and grabbed Romani by the neck.

"I have your girl, now surrender." Sakon hissed.

Link came slowly closer.

"I'll kill her." Sakon suddenly had a dagger in his hand, holding it just under Romani's chin.

Guess Romani would find out if she was more important than Sakon.

Link stopped and looked at the yellow holes in the Garos mask. Sakon laughed. Untill Link started to smile. His eyes turned over to Romani's and Sakon, feeling he was missing something followed her gaze. Link thrashed the glass next to him and grabbed the longshot. Before Sakon knew that Romani was a diversion he felled the hook entering his shoulder. Romani slipped away and once again, Link advanced towards Sakon. Sakon jumped forward, trying to surprise Link but he underestimated the speed Link had with the large weapon. A large red stripe appeared on Sakon's chest and face. This was the first human kill Link had made (not really counting Ganondorf, since he had become a monster). The poor man collapsed as the Garos started to vanish. Link heard a whisper in the air, sounding like "free again, at last" and could have sworn it was Sakon's voice. He pulled of the mask to reveal a skeleton under the cape.

"He was already a corpse?" Romani asked.

"Apparently he died after he had put on the mask. The power of the Garos kept his body alive and fed them." Link said. "Or something like that, I don't know, I just kill monsters, not analyse them."

Link turned his attention to Romani who had a big cut over her right arm.

"Let me look at that!"

"Don't worry, I'm lefthanded."

"Really?" Link paused for a moment as he thought back, "I never noticed it before but now you mention it, you are."

"Hey," Romani smiled, "aren't you as well? Isn't that the perfect proof we were made for each other?"

"I would think the perfect proof we were made for each other is that we fought off a bunch of Shadow assassins."

Romani grinned but than shrieked painfully as Link examined her cut.

"Hm, this is pretty deep. But don't worry, I have something that won't even leave a scar."

He went to one of the glass casings and smashed it. He got out a bottle containing a fairy.

"This little fellow will make it all better, and what's better than a potion, this restores you to your full health while a potion just accelerates your healing, which always leaves a scar."

Link opened the bottle and the fairy flew over to Romani to heal her.

"So, you got your stuff back." She said.

"Yep."

"So, you have to leave again?"

"Not until tomorrow." Link closed to Romani and kissed her, knowing he would never leave her, and she would never leave him. But then again, a little voice in the back of his head said, what is knowing?