A note from the Hime no Argh herself–


Da da, for you, here is the stupendously fabulous (or something to that effect) Chapter 3! I meant to post it sooner, only I was caught up in the hustle and bustle of a very busy week, which culminated in my graduation from high school. ^^ Now that I have the time to lazily bask in the glory of graduation, I should probably take a momentary break from my euphoria to post a chapter of this fic.


And here it is!


***


Chapter 3

The Best Damn Thieves Around


Zelda couldn't help feeling a bit guilty about stealing Link's sword after he'd just saved her life, though examining it quickly banished the feeling. It was a beautifully crafted sword with a long blade of blue-silver, finely tempered steel, a small goddess mark engraved in gold just below the hilt. Zelda drew it slowly to make the blade sing, and it continued to hum in her hand as if alive. The plain leather scabbard hid its true beauty.


I wonder why he carries a goddess-marked sword, she thought, tracing the golden three-piece triangle with her fingers. It was called the Triforce, and it was the mark of the three goddesses who were said to have created Hyrule. Ganondorf had banned their worship long ago, but temples hidden throughout Hyrule were dedicated to them, and hundreds of people still believed in their existence and worshiped in the privacy of their own homes.


Zelda wasn't one of them. She wasn't sure if she believed in their existence, and even if they were real, she didn't care to worship any deity that allowed a man like Ganondorf to rule Hyrule unhindered.


"Zelda! Miss Zelda!"


A furtive whisper caught her attention. Looking around, Zelda saw a familiar face peeking around the corner of a building.


"How goes it, Rune?" Zelda greeted the pickpocket, joining her in the shadows.


"It goes well, Miss Zelda," Rune whispered, her face shining with excitement. She was a young Gerudo with bright red hair and sparkling green eyes, her prominent nose and dark skin marks of her heritage. There was a swollen purple bruise around her left eye.


"Rune," Zelda said, startled, "what happened to your eye?"


"Oh," Rune said, waving a hand, "don't worry about that. I was in the tavern with you when the fight broke out and some jerk's elbow clipped my eye."


"Ouch," Zelda said, wincing in sympathy.


"Yeah. But hey, I saw you leave with that handsome man!" Rune's eyes shone. "Who was he?"


Zelda grinned. "His name is Link. He said he was supposed to protect me."


"Ooh!" Rune exclaimed. "That's so romantic!"


"He was just some kid," Zelda said dismissively.


"Yes, but he was really handsome!"


"I suppose so," Zelda conceded. "But anyway, look at what I got from him!" She held up the sword in its plain leather scabbard and drew it halfway.


Rune's eyes widened in reverence. "It's beautiful."


"Isn't it? And look, it's goddess-marked." Zelda pointed to the gold Triforce. "It'll bring some good money. Here." She pushed the sword into Rune's hands, casting a furtive look around. "I need you to bring it to the wagon for me. Link might be following me."


"Ooh!" Rune squealed. "Miss Zelda is being pursued by a mysterious, attractive, gallant man! How romantic!"


Zelda made a face. "Everything's romantic to you. And he won't catch me," she added with an arrogant toss of her hair. "But just in case..." She shrugged and backed away, waving. "See you in the morning!"


"See you!" Rune called as she turned and darted off.


She skirted the perimeter of the large town several times, reversing direction often to confuse any pursuers–Link or the blue-shirts. After some time she headed back to the market square. The wagon was gone, as she expected–her thieves would have moved it when they heard the blue-shirts were in town. Confident that all was well, Zelda headed back toward the perimeter of the square, passing the clock post, when suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.


She reacted without thinking. Yanking a dagger from her belt with her free hand, she slashed viciously up at her attacker's face. He jerked back just in time that the dagger sliced through a few strands of golden hair.


Her attacker seized her other wrist and twisted it until she dropped the dagger. "You could hurt somebody with that thing, you know," a familiar voice drawled.


Zelda grinned. "Well, Link, that's kind of the point."


"Apparently," he said dryly, but his blue eyes were as hard as diamonds, glittering in the moonlight. "So where's my sword, Zelda?"


"Wouldn't know. Did you misplace it?"


He scowled at her. "I'm not in the mood for games. Where is it?"


"Don't have it."


"I can see that. Is it with one of your friends?"


"Which friends?"


"You know damn well which friends. Your little troupe."


"The performers?"


"The thieves! The Best Damn Thieves Around!"


"Wow, are they that good?"


Link slowly drew in a deep breath. Zelda eyed him, aware that he was very close to losing his temper. He gets riled up too easily, she decided, amused. After a moment or two, though, Link seemed to get himself under control.


"Fine," he said in as calm a voice as possible. He turned and began dragging her across the square. "Then you're coming with me."


She offered no resistance, trotting along beside him. "Where are we going, Link?" she asked innocently.


He cast her a glare. "To the inn." Sure enough, he was dragging her toward the inn in which the fight earlier had occurred.


"What about the blue-shirts?" Zelda demanded, suddenly wondering exactly what he intended to do.


"Gone," he replied shortly as they stepped through the remains of the ruined door and into the inn. Maids and servers wandered back and forth amongst the wreckage of the tavern, up righting tables, sweeping up glass shards, nursing the wounded. Link stalked past them without hesitation and headed up the stairs to the second floor of the inn, still dragging her along. No one noticed or stopped them.


He stopped outside one of the rooms, fishing around for the keys, then unlocked the door and shoved her through first. He stepped inside and closed the door behind them, locking it again.


They were in one of the small bedrooms the inn rented out for the night, furnished with only a bed, a small table, and a chair. Moonlight streamed through the lacy curtains covering the window. Zelda turned to Link and smiled impishly.


"Now what?"


In response he dragged out the chair from the table and pointed to it. "Sit," he ordered.


She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why?"


He folded his arms and looked her in the eye levelly. "Since you feel so much like playing games, here's one for you–I call it 'the waiting game.' You get to sit here and wait to see if your friends decide to return my sword."


"And if they don't?"


He scowled. "Then we'll see what happens. Sit."


She obeyed, crossing her legs and folding her arms over her chest, meeting his gaze defiantly. "This won't work, you know. The thieves might try to find me, but they won't give back the sword."


"What will they do without a leader?" Link said ominously.


Zelda shrugged. "Elect a new one, I suppose."


For a moment he gaped at her. "Some friends!"


Zelda smiled. "That's life in Hyrule. Only the fittest survive. So if you're going to kill me now you may as well get it over with!"


There was silence for a few long moments, then Link sighed and shook his head, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "What's the point in killing a little girl, anyway?" he muttered.


"Little girl?" Zelda demanded. "I'd bet my right arm that you're not a year older than me!"


"How old are you?"


"Seventeen." Link was silent. "Thought so!" Zelda crowed triumphantly. "You're an old soul, which might have made me mistake your age, but you lose your temper too easily, like a little boy. What did you think you were going to get in dragging me here, anyway? Company for the night?"


"H-hey!" Link said, eyes wide. "Don't get the wrong idea!"


"Hn." Zelda shook her head. "You really are just a boy. If you had been anyone else I would have put my dagger through your heart." She sighed. "Something about you makes me want to trust you. Don't ask me what."


For a moment Link gazed at her in silence. "Zelda..."


A faint noise outside, just a light tap, really, made them both freeze and look quickly at the door. "A blue-shirt?" Zelda whispered, tensing.


"Might be," Link whispered back, climbing slowly to his feet. "Or something worse. Of course, if I had my sword..."


"Oh, just use that lamp on the table there," Zelda hissed.


Finding nothing better, Link took hold of the heavy lamp and slowly approached the door. There was silence outside the door. He reached carefully for the knob, raising the lamp above his head, and flung open the doors.


A pair of shocking crimson eyes met his.


"Impa?!" Zelda gasped. It was the last thing Link heard.

* * *


There was a loud, grating, squeaking noise in Link's ears, accompanied by a constant jostling. His head was throbbing fiercely and all the muscles in his body pulsed with a slow, steady ache. His eyes fluttered, then opened.


A pair of slanting green eyes in a dark-skinned face filled his vision.


"YAH!" Link yelled, bolting upright. His head reeled with a sudden, sharp pain and he fell back, gasping.


"Careful." A cool, dry hand soothed his forehead. Link looked up into midnight blue eyes.


"Zelda?"


She smiled. "Good, you know me. I thought Impa might have hit you a bit too hard, but you'll be all right."


"Hit me…?" Abruptly Link understood the reason for his fierce headache. He tried to put a hand to his head and couldn't—looking over his shoulder, he found that his hands were bound behind his back.


For the first time Link took a good look around. He was lying on the wooden floor of what appeared to be a large wooden wagon. The walls around them were made of wood; bright colored canvases hung over the back entrance to the wagon. Boxes, crates, and chests were piled everywhere, on which a number of young men and women lounged, many of whom Link recognized vaguely. He suddenly realized that he must be in the wagon of the Masked Players, or rather, the Best Damn Thieves Around.


Zelda and a young Gerudo sat on the floor on either side of him. "He's even more handsome than I thought," the Gerudo crooned. "Look at his eyes! They're so pretty!"


"What's going on?" Link demanded of Zelda.


"I've turned the tables," Zelda exclaimed brightly. "Now you're my prisoner!"


Link struggled to sit up and nearly fell back again, but the Gerudo held his shoulder, steadying him. "Thanks," Link said to her gratefully.


She winked at him very suggestively. "Any time. I'd be happy to help you in any way I—"


"Oh, quit it, Rune," Zelda interrupted, suddenly irritated. "You sound like a prostitute."


"Well, I am a prostitute."


"Not anymore," Zelda said shortly. "So quit playing around."


"I think we should all quit playing around," came a woman's dry voice. Link looked around for the source of the voice and found a tall, hard-looking woman, middle-aged, with silver hair pulled back in a no-nonsense bun and eyes of a stark blood red. Link recognized her immediately.


"Hey! You're the woman who knocked me around the head!"


"That's Impa," Zelda put in. "A Sheikah. She's the second-in-command of the Best Damn Thieves Around."


"You really need to come up with a better name for your group," Link said bluntly to Zelda.


"I told you," Impa said dryly.


Zelda threw up her hands. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"


Impa gazed at Link, her crimson eyes resting on him thoughtfully for several long moments. "I apologize for hitting you. I reacted somewhat hastily."


"No harm done," Link said dryly, "aside from the huge bump on my head."


Impa gave a small smile and looked at Zelda. "Well?"


"I know, I know." Zelda knelt beside Link and untied his hands, then tugged on his arm until he stood, steadying him with an arm around his waist. "C'mon. We need to talk."


Link followed her out the back of the wagon and onto solid ground. Outside it was sunny and warm, the sky blue and cloudless. The wagon rumbled over a bumpy dirt road, climbing higher and higher on what appeared to be a Death Mountain trail.


The wagon groaned and squeaked as a pair of lowing oxen towed it. Demon, tethered to the wagon by a long rope, plodded along placidly behind it.


"Demon!" Link exclaimed as the horse saw him and butted his chest affectionately.


"Is that his name?" Zelda said with a laugh. "He's too sweet to be a Demon."


"I didn't name him," Link informed her, patting the gelding's neck. "And he would have given you a much harder time if he didn't trust you. I trust his judgment, so I guess you must be okay after all." He added dryly, "Although you still haven't returned my sword…"


Zelda laughed. "Don't worry, it's in the wagon. I just wanted to be careful. How am I to know you can be trusted?"


Link shrugged. "I did help you out back there in the inn."


"I suppose," Zelda admitted. "Anyway, look—I'm sorry about dragging you along with us. I know you might have something important to do in Kakariko, but we really couldn't wait—"


"I understand," Link said with a shrug. "What I want to know is, why did you drag me along?"


"Well…" Zelda stopped walking and turned to face him, suddenly looking serious. "The thing is, I don't know why. We were going to leave you in the inn, but Impa suggested we take you along—"


"Why would she suggest that?" Link asked, frowning.


Zelda shrugged. "Dunno. But when she said it, I suddenly thought it sounded like a really good idea." She sighed. "I don't get it any more than you do."

But Link thought he might have some idea. It all had to do with that destiny stuff Saria had told him about—or at least, it seemed to. Were he and Zelda really fated to stick together, at least for now?


He was beginning to think it might be so.


"Anyway," Zelda continued, "we're going over the mountain to the town of Bayside. Ever been there?"


Link shook his head.


"It's a nice town," Zelda said brightly. "It's right on the beach. We have a few buyers there."


"Oh? You mean for the stuff you steal?" Link asked dryly.


"Yeah, that stuff. This one buyer, well–" Zelda's voice suddenly pitched lower. "He likes old things, and, err, relics and things..."


Link stared at her, wondering what in the world she was getting at.


"Y'know, valuable stuff," Zelda rambled on, "ancient stuff, stuff from other worlds...goddess-marked stuff..."


Abruptly Link deciphered her meaning. "Oh, no you don't! No possible way you're selling my sword!"


"Oh, come on," Zelda whined. "It's valuable! Really valuable! I'd give you a quarter of the profit!"


"Even if I did let you sell it, you really think I'd take just a quarter?"


"Oh, all right. Half."


"It's not for sale."


"Sixty percent."


"It's not for sale!"


"Come on, you have no idea what you're cheating yourself out of!" Zelda argued. "It's goddess-marked. You have any idea how valuable that makes it? They say that Ganondorf destroyed every single thing that's goddess-marked in Hyrule. We'll make a killing! And you can always get another sword!"


"No, no, and no," Link said firmly. "No," he added as Zelda opened her mouth again. "That sword has been with me since I can remember. It's the only possession I have that's worth keeping. I won't sell it, not for any price."


Zelda sighed. "I should have just taken the sword and ran. I must be stupid or something."


"If you had, I would have come after you," Link said patiently.


She laughed. "Yes, and look how well that turned out the last time!"


"It was your choice to drag me along," Link pointed out.


Zelda grinned. "I concede. So are you sticking with us or not?"


"I'm no thief," Link warned.


"S'okay. We'll make use of you." Link wasn't sure he liked the gleam in Zelda's eye, but as he had no job and nowhere to go at the moment, he supposed he could do worse than stay by her side. For a little while, anyway, he thought firmly, in case the forest spirit was listening.


"I'll stay," he told Zelda.


"Great!" Zelda said brightly. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to the crew."


They went first around to the front of the wagon, where two men sat side by side, driving a pair of oxen. One of them was a Hylian a year or two older than Link, tall and lanky, eyes and hair a reddish-brown, his tanned face dusted with freckles. The other, with blue-tinged skin and webbed hands and feet, was obviously a descendant of the Zora race. Both dressed in patched shirts and breeches, and the Zora went barefoot.


"Hello, boys," Zelda greeted them with a clap on each man's shoulder. "Meet the new guy. Link, this is Marek—" the Hylian reached over to shake Link's hand, nodding in greeting, "—and Parcleus." She indicated the Zora, who eyed Link mistrustfully.


"You didn't tell us we had a new member, Miss Zelda," Parcleus said gloomily.


"Well, I didn't know myself 'til a few minutes ago," Zelda said airily. "He's all right."


"I hope so," Parcleus said mournfully, switching the oxen lightly.


"He's a pessimist," Marek told Link lazily as he chewed a stalk of dried grass. "But he pickpockets and dives for treasure, so he's worth keeping on."


Next, Zelda led Link up a ladder onto the wooden roof of the wagon from which the canvases were hung, where three lookouts kept watch with telescopes. Link recognized Rune immediately, and the other two he knew vaguely from the show.


"This is Cleo, our announcer—" Link shook hands with an attractive women in her mid-twenties, her hair a vivid, flaming red and her eyes green like the canopy of the Lost Woods, "—and Dagger, a tumbler. You know Rune, of course."


Dagger beamed as she shook Link's hand. She was a short, slightly plump adolescent with frizzy black hair and sparkling brown eyes, her smile pearly-toothed and bright. "Finally, a good-looking man in our troupe!"


"There's plenty of gorgeous guys where he came from," Marek called from the driver's seat below.


"Where?" Dagger shot back. "I don't see any."


"Maybe your mirror's broken, Marek," Rune chimed in. "It's obviously showing you the wrong face."


Cleo smiled at Link. "Don't mind the girls." Her voice was low, musical and rich. "They come from the brothels, that's why they're like that."


"You too?" Link demanded of Dagger, shocked. "But you can't be more than sixteen years old!"


"Dagger used to live in Hylia City," Zelda said gently. "She's an orphan. It was the only way she could survive."


"But I'm fine now," Dagger said cheerfully. Link got the impression that she didn't want pity. "We all are. We get to eat as much as we want, and Miss Zelda spoils us rotten!"


"Only because you'd whine if I didn't," Zelda said hurriedly.


Link grinned at her. "Well, who'd have known? You're just a big ol' softie, aren't–"


"Let's move on, shall we?" Zelda interrupted loudly, glaring at him.


They hopped down to the back of the wagon and pushed their way through the curtains. The blond-haired, green-eyed youth whom Zelda had shot at with her arrows and the brown-haired, blue-eyed teenager who was part of the sword routine were playing chess, the board laid out between them on a crate. In the shadows stood Impa, Zelda's second-in-command.


"Bolo, Oberon, meet Link." The two boys looked up long enough to say hello and quickly went back to their game, brows furrowed in concentration. Zelda turned to Impa. "This is my second-in-command, whom you…err…already met…"


Link nodded, gazing at the woman with respect. She was at least a head taller than he and head and shoulders taller than Zelda, her body lean and hard-muscled, dressed in skin-tight clothes and a tunic with a strange red design embroidered on the front, like a ornamental eye weeping one large tear. Her face was elegant and youthful, but her silver hair and the lines around her mouth and eyes spoke of hardships and age. She looked to be about middle-aged, but the longer Link looked at her, the more uncertain he became. Her eyes still shocked him, the most vivid crimson, like fresh blood.


"Impa," Zelda began, "this is–"


"Wait." Impa regarded Link silently for a moment, her eyes locked on his. Link gazed at her as steadily as he could, trying not to blink. "I want to hear it from him."


"Hear what?" Zelda asked, puzzled.


"His name."


For a moment Link was silent, his gaze never wavering from Impa's. "Link," he said quietly at last.


Impa sighed. "As I feared. Well...I suppose you'll do."


Link looked at Zelda, bewildered, but the thief only shrugged.


"Miss Zelda!" A shout from outside caught their attention; it sounded like Rune. "Miss Zelda, you'd better come look at this!"


Zelda leapt from the wagon without hesitation and shimmied up the ladder. Link paused for a moment on the ground below and looked toward the trail behind them. In the distance he could see a dust cloud rapidly climbing the trail, drawing closer to them every moment. Pursuers? he wondered.


He looked up toward the roof of the wagon. Zelda sat on its edge with a telescope to her eye. "Blue-shirts?" he asked.


"I don't think so," Zelda said absently. "They couldn't..." Suddenly she gasped. "Those are bandits!"

* * *


To be continued.