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 21 - On the road to Termina
Link sat at the back of the milk wagon as they rode next to the Lost Woods, looking at the Goron trying to keep up.
"Come on, Link, a bit faster!" he shouted.
"I... I don't see you... running... here..." the poor boy panted.
"I don't need the exercise anymoah..."
The Goron could just jump away as Link fell on the road. He jumped up and saw Romani smiling on the wagon.
"You could use the exercise, Grasshopper, Romani thinks your condition is dropping a bit."
Link grumbled and started to run. It was a long trip to Termina but he knew that there would be a stop soon... in a few hours.
The two Links sat next to the campfire, catching their breath. The driver was really uncomfortably looking around and suspicious of everything in the woods.
"What's the matter?" Link asked.
"They say these woods are haunted," the driver said quietly, afraid the ghosts may hear him, "you can hear luring music sometime which lure people in the woods."
"Luring music does that sometimes," Darunia's son said, mockingly, "always lures people away, real problem that luring music."
The kid, only ten and already a smartmouth, reminded Link of himself when he was young.
"That's not a joke," the driver hissed, "don't joke about things you don't know about..."
He stopped as he heard the melody drift through the air.
"That's it..." he whispered.
Link's hand went instinctively towards his ocarina as he saw Darunia's son nod his head to the music.
"No," the driver said to the Goron, "don't listen to it. That's the..."
He came silent again when he heard the melody right next to him. He looked over in terror and saw Link playing the ocarina. The music in the woods had stopped as Link continued to play. Several Skull kids came out from under the trees and came closer to the campfire, searching for the one playing their song.
"How do you know that?" one of them said.
The driver looked terrified and pale, ready to flee at any time.
"Saria taught me." Link said with a smile.
"Wow Saria! Saria taught him! He knows Saria? Saria! He knows the Sage! Saria? Wow, Saria!" the gang of Skull kids were definitely in awe because of this news.
The first Skull kid came closer again.
"How do you know Saria?"
"I grew up in Kokiri forest."
"Wow Kokiri forest! That's next to the Lost Woods! Kokiri forest? Wow, that's were the Deku tree lives! He grew up in Kokiri forest!"
Link couldn't help but laugh at the kids. Just like the Kokiri, the Skull kids remained children and always acted like children. They were lost kids in the Lost Woods, Saria once told him. Hylian kids that wandered off in the woods became Skull kids. Others became Stalfos, the words of Sinkia, the yellowhaired Kokiri girl he met when he was grown up, came back to him. It was true that Saria's song had a enchanting effect but the woods would never take anyone it didn't want, did it? A small itch just on his collarbone reminded him of the fact how Skull kids disliked grown-ups, so there wasn't really a chance someone would stay in the woods too long. Although, the son of the carpenter boss...
"What are you thinking of?"
Romani brought him back to reality.
"Oh, nothing, just some things I don't know but aren't really important right now."
He looked back at the Skull kids who were playing and dancing around the campfire. Now he had done it, now they would never get some sleep, all because he wanted to make a fool out of that driver. How was he gonna get away from this without trouble? Hmm, maybe the hardest puzzle yet. Luckily, it were the Skull kids that gave the answer. More of them looked back at the woods and started to move in that direction.
"We have to go." One of them said while he jumped towards the woods.
"We can't leave the forest..." a voice echoed between the trees while the melody started again.
Link sighed. They were kids also under the protection of the Deku tree. The others were scared away or just died without help of the forest. That kid was very depressed and knew life had no more meaning to him. It was either the Lost woods or the sword of one of Ganondorf's minions. At least now he had a pleasant death, Link thought. Suddenly he heard a rooster crow in the woods. Or maybe, just maybe...
"Are...are they gone?" the driver asked, shivering.
"Yes, they are, and they do no harm." The Goron said.
"They do, but only to those that intrude the woods." Link said quietly. "Let's sleep."
A little later the travellers slept, except for one person who kept on feeding the fire, just to make sure the shadows stayed in the woods.
Link ran over the pad, trying to do his best not to be out of breath. If he kept this pace up, he could go one for miles, but if he went just a little faster he would crash within the hour.
"Come on, faster!"
Great, he just knew it. Link sighed and sped up, hoping he wouldn't crash. Oh, how his heart had rejoiced when the great Goron Hero had to run besides him, but after the hike, he wasn't tired at all. He had ran all over Hyrule field without stopping when he was ten, he had said at the campfire, testing his limits. Now it was Link's turn to test his limits. He would make it, well, at least he hoped he would. He tripped over a boulder he didn't see and fell on his face. He crawled up and look at the wagon riding on. He rolled up in a boulder and started to move. He stopped abruptly when an explosion threw him off course.
"No rolling! Just running!"
Fuck. He started to run again, completely out of breath because of that bomb. He could do this. He had to.
On the milkwagon the Hero of Time looked at the young Goron and grinned. This was good, the kid had lots of potential, he would make a great hero...
