A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
Wow, Chapter 9 got a lot of feedback! (Thank you! ^^) One question that seemed to be on everyone's mind is, just who is this Ronin guy, anyway? Well...I'm not telling! Nyah nyah! ^^;; That's one of those mysteries that might eventually be solved, so you'll just have to keep reading! Ain't enigma fun?
In the meantime, enjoy Chapter 10!
***
Chapter 10
Wanted by the Crown
The next morning they set out from Koto-Ho–and so, it seemed, did the rest of the city. Hundreds of peddlers towing their wares and travelers, both mounted and on foot, crowded the main road out of the city. The gate was clogged with traffic. The thieves' wagon was forced to move at a pace so slow it set everyone on edge.
"I told you we should have left before dawn," Impa snapped at Zelda. They sat atop the roof of the wagon along with Marek.
"Don't tell me what we should've," Zelda snapped back. "We'd have had to leave at midnight to avoid this traffic."
"Then that's what we should have done!"
"I'm not depriving everyone of sleep just so you can be satisfied!"
"Oh, so you'd rather have us packed like sardines in a tin, is that it?"
"I'm the leader of this troupe, it's my decision!"
"What's going on up here?" Dagger complained, hauling herself onto the roof with her friend Rune close behind. "I'm getting a headache just listening to you two!"
"Great," Impa snapped. "More to crowd us." Without another word she swung herself over the edge of the roof and descended the ladder.
"I don't mind the company," Marek said smoothly, wrapping an arm around Dagger's waist.
"Shove off, Marek!"
"I'm impressed, Lady Zelda," said a new voice below them. "You and your friends make enough noise to be heard over the entire crowd."
Zelda glanced down into Ronin's smiling face. The man was mounted on what appeared to be an ox.
"Interesting transportation you've got there," Zelda commented.
Ronin grinned. "Old Blue, here? She gets me around."
Link abruptly appeared between Ronin and the wagon, mounted on his heavyset gelding. Zelda was impressed, as he'd been lost in the crowd mere moments ago. "Ronin," he greeted the man stonily, scowling.
"Morning," Ronin replied cheerfully. "What a happy bunch!"
Dagger elbowed Zelda. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" she demanded, gazing intently at Ronin.
"Yeah, who's your friend?" Rune piped up, squeezing between Zelda and Dagger to get a good look.
Zelda sighed, rolling her eyes. "Ronin, these are my friends Dagger and Rune. Girls, this is Ronin."
"A pleasure, ladies," Ronin greeted with a warm smile. Dagger and Rune abruptly seemed overcome by a fit of giggles.
"Got a way with people, do you?" Link demanded sourly.
"With the ladies especially," Ronin retorted with a wink in Zelda's direction.
"Yeah, I guess a man like you has no better talent to his name."
"In nature," Marek commented softly behind Zelda, "the two males inevitably find themselves locked in combat for the female–"
Dagger and Rune snorted, covering their mouths to stifle laughs. Zelda whirled around and silenced all three with her worst scowl.
Ronin merely smiled at Link, then looked at Zelda again. "My lady, I found something this morning that I thought might interest you." He dug around beneath the folds of his cloak and extracted a crumpled piece of parchment. "It was tacked up in the market square."
Link snatched the parchment from his hand and looked it over. "What?" he said suddenly, dropping his scowling mask as he stared at the parchment, eyes widened. "What do they mean, 'crimes against the crown?'"
"Give me that!" Zelda reached down and seized the parchment. Beneath an official-looking seal read,
Wanted,
Zelda Harkinian and the Best Damn Thieves Around
For thievery, resistance to arrest, engagement of law enforcement agents in battle, and willful crimes against the Crown of Hyrule.
FIVE THOUSAND RUPEE REWARD
Zelda could feel the blood draining from her face as she read the parchment a second and third time. Marek, Rune, and Dagger crowded behind her, reading over her shoulder. "What?" Rune gasped, just as Link had done.
"No laughing matter, to be accused of crimes against the crown," Ronin said quietly.
"What is this?" Zelda whispered, frightened. "So we–so we picked a few pockets. That's a crime against the crown? The king doesn't waste his time on thieves!"
"Maybe it's not a thief he's looking to catch," Ronin suggested.
Link rounded on him. "You know something, don't you?" he demanded. "Out with it!"
"I know nothing," Ronin said with a shrug, "other than my own estimations. I'll tell you this much, though. I think something's cooking up there in the north, and you–" He glanced between Zelda and Link, as if he were speaking to the two of them alone, "–just might be the focus of it."
* * *
Eventually they got out of the city and on their way south along the main road. Much to Link's displeasure, Ronin seemed content to follow them. Zelda didn't protest his presence for the time being; he could prove useful, and she was still curious about his unusual qualities.
When they stopped for daily training, Zelda showed Impa the wanted notice. Impa read it, pursed her lips tightly, and handed it back to Zelda. "I suppose it was to be expected," she announced.
"What's to be expected?" Link asked swiftly, giving voice to the question on Zelda's mind. "Us being wanted by the crown? Why would that be expected?"
"I don't know," Impa said densely. "Aren't you all supposed to be training?"
As it was obvious they'd get no answers out of her, the thieves grudgingly set about to their exercises. Ronin walked his ox around in the field near them, letting her graze. No one asked whether he'd like to join in, not even Impa.
As always, Impa fought Link during freestyle combat, and as always the thieves abandoned their own training to watch. Zelda glanced aside once to see that Ronin was watching as well, a thoughtful, calculating expression on his face. He grinned at Zelda when he caught her staring at him, and she turned away, feeling her heart thumping in her chest. Who was he, that merely a look from those odd amber eyes sent her emotions in tumultuous disarray? He was no simple wanderer, of that she was certain.
Shaking her head to free herself of Ronin's queer spell, she realized that the duel was over. Link, looking very disgruntled, held a hand to a shallow gash on his cheek while Impa lectured him. "Ridiculous," the Sheikah fumed. "You haven't improved a bit since we started. How do you expect to defeat any opponent larger and stronger than you?"
"Most larger opponents don't possess your speed," Link replied quietly, though the dark blush on his cheeks gave away his anger.
"But many do," Impa snapped. "Which means you must be faster."
Link took his hand away from the wound and let blood spill heedlessly down his cheek. "Why?" he demanded, blue eyes flashing. He seemed to have forgotten their audience. "Why exactly are you so intent on training me?"
Impa's eyes locked on his. "I have my reasons."
Link shook his head. "That's not good enough." He reached down to pick up his sword, discarded on the ground, and slid it back into its sheath. He straightened and looked at Impa again. "You know something that you're not sharing. Until we get some answers out of you, I'm done with your training."
He walked away and into the wagon without so much as a backward glance. The thieves all gaped after him openmouthed. They, like Zelda, could hardly believe that anyone would have the courage to defy Impa.
Cautiously Zelda looked toward Impa, and was shocked to see a tiny smile on the woman's lips. She caught Zelda staring. "Yes?" the Sheikah asked coolly.
"Nothing," Zelda replied, looking away. Link's definitely right, she thought grimly. Impa knows something, but what?
* * *
They stopped again in the evening by the broad, cold Hylia River, which ran from the Zora's domain further north to Lake Hylia in the south. Zelda emerged from the wagon to discover that Ronin was nowhere in sight. He and his ox had disappeared.
"I wonder where Ronin went," she said, surprised.
"Off skirt-chasing, probably," Link muttered, tending Demon nearby.
Zelda looked at him, amused. "What are you so jealous of, anyway?"
Link scowled. "I'm not jealous. I just don't like him."
"Really? I couldn't tell."
"I'm not kidding, Zelda. There's something wrong with him. Can't you feel it?"
"Yes," Zelda admitted, recalling how uneasy Ronin made her feel every time their eyes met. "He's an odd man. But then, so are you," she added teasingly.
Link's scowl deepened. "Don't compare me to him."
They fished in the cold river and cooked their catches over a large fire as night fell, blanketing Hyrule in darkness. A cool breeze picked up and soon turned into a rushing wind, chilling them to the bone. Zelda felt the hair prickling on the back of her neck. It might have been the cold, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that something else was the cause.
Most of the thieves went to sleep early, tired from the long day of traveling. Zelda wrapped herself in a blanket near the fire and watched as the last embers slowly died. When Impa rose from her bedroll and headed toward the river, Zelda shed her blanket and stealthily followed.
Impa went straight to a thicket of trees near the riverbed. There she met a stranger, a small young girl with green hair and bright blue eyes. She carried no lamp, yet was lit with a soft green glow.
Zelda tucked herself behind a broad tree trunk as the two began to speak.
"They're getting suspicious," Impa told the girl, her voice very low. Zelda was fortunate the wind carried the conversation to her ears. "They clearly realize that I'm hiding something from them."
"This was expected," the girl replied, her voice clear and pure.
A touch on Zelda's shoulder made her start, but it was only Link, crouching beside her. He put a finger to his lips, and they turned back to Impa and the girl, listening.
"I wasn't expecting it so soon." Impa sounded frustrated. "Part of it is thanks to the interference of the Feather Man."
"The Feather Man?" the girl echoed, surprised. "He's appeared already?"
"Yes. Zelda encountered him in Koto-Ho, and now he is following us."
"Where is he now?"
"He's disappeared, but I've no doubts he'll be back."
"I see." The girl was silent for a moment. "What do you think?" she inquired at last.
Impa shook her head. "I can't tell. He is an unknown, just as we suspected."
"The Feather Man will cause trouble, or not," the girl said firmly. "We will deal with that when the time comes. For now–"
"Perhaps it's time to tell them," Impa interjected.
"No! We've been told to keep quiet–"
"–by entities that have no concept of time and urgency in mortal terms," Impa finished flatly. "The cycle is moving forward. Ganondorf already knows of Zelda and Link's existence. He has even sent assassins."
"Assassins? You mean the twins?"
"Precisely."
"I see," the girl said again. "Then it is all happening, exactly as it was told."
"I can't keep it from them much longer," Impa said wearily. "Especially now that Ganondorf is after them. If they aren't told, they'll find out on their own."
"Maybe that would be for the best," the girl said gently. "I must return to the forest, Impa."
"Go then. I'll speak to you again soon."
"Until then, my friend." There was a sudden burst of green light, and when it faded the little girl was gone. Impa remained in place for a few moments, staring wordlessly through the trees at the silver waters of the river. At last she turned and headed back toward the camp.
Zelda and Link stared at each other, speechless.
* * *
To be continued.