a continuation of Duels and Dragons, by Talonclawfange
buSection 4
A Time for Winning and Losing/u/b
The crowd cheered wildly, and all eyes went to the ring, where the soldiers started circling each other. "Who are your friends, Zelda?" The King asked his daughter.
"This is Saria, and this is Malon," she said, gesturing towards each when she said their names. "Their friends of mine and Link's. Malon is Talon's daughter...you know, the guy who delivers milk, cows, and horses; and Saria is a Sage."
"Oh, what an honor," the King said, smiling. "Welcome, you two."
"Thanks," said Saria and Malon at the same time, and started giggling. They were about to jinx eachother but their attention was drawn to the ring. The two soldiers had started fighting.
They were attacking each other with swift moves, one soldier with a sword, and the other, Corb, with a spear. Corb seemed to be the faster of the two and easily parried his opponent's attacks, countering with his own. Corb put many dents into the other soldier's armor, so the soldier jumped back, breathing heavily.
"Dang, you're good." He said, and launched himself at Corb. He was larger than Corb, and attacked with enough strength that it threw him back. Corb raised his free hand and pointed it at the soldier.
"FIRE!" He shouted, and a small fireball flew from his hand, speeding at the other man. It hit him with such force that he was thrown to his back, then he rolled around to put the fire out. He jumped to his feet, tired and singed, and attacked Corb. The fight went on for a little while, but it was obvious that Corb was going to win. The other soldier was tired, and the next time he was thrown to his back, he surrendered.
"Corb is the winner!" The referee announced, and the crowd cheered. "Will the next two fighters, Link and Paro, come to the ring?" Corb and the other soldiers left the ring as Link jumped to his feet and entered it with Paro. Link was excited, and anxiously awaited the announcer's signal to start. Paro was a short man (but Link was shorter still), it was hard to tell how old he was or what he looked like due to his helmet. He carried a pike, and his eyes looked somewhat worried from where Link could see them in the helmet. "Begin!" The announcer shouted.
"En guard!" Link shouted, as he ran at Paro.
"Thanks for the warning," Paro said, bringing up his pike to parry Link's attack. The blades clashed, making a ringing sound, and Link and Paro pushed against each others blades to see who was stronger. Soon Paro was forced back, overpowered. He broke the pushing contest by knocking Link's sword away from his own blade. He tried to slash Link, but Link dodged easily. Paro tried some more, slashing at Link from many angles, as fast as he could. Link, having fun, dodged them all.
"Nice!" said Link, bringing his sword up to Paro's head. Link hit Paro's helmet with the flat of his blade, making it vibrate, stunning Paro. Paro put his hand on his helmet to stop the vibrating. He shook his head as if to clear it, and came at Link. This time Link parried his blows, throwing him back as the Silver Sword clashed with Paro's pike. He stumbled and backed away. Link decided it was time to use his magic attack. He powered up his sword, but vertically rather than horizontally, so the sword would hit Paro pretty hard, but not cut through his armor and him.
"Yeeeaaaa!" When the attack was charged, Link spun around and energy came from his sword. Once again the flat of his blade hit Paro, but this time it hit his chest and sent him flying out of the ring. He lay there for a moment before trying to get up. His chest hurt, but he could rise if he wanted. He decided not to, and laid back down, not desiring to be hit with the magic again.
"I surrender." Paro said, staring at the sky. The referee declared Link the winner, the crowd cheered loudly, and Link walked over to Paro, and helped him up.
"You alright? I tried not to use too much power." Link said. "You fought well."
"I'm not hurt...just my pride, heheh. And you did some nice fighting yourself, young man. Perhaps I'll see you around." Paro walked away and Link joined Corb, who was seated and waiting for the next match to begin.
The next five fights seemed to pass very quickly to Link, who was enjoying watching the soldiers test themselves against one another. The fights didn't get very personal as Link had feared; they were, except the fifth fight, relatively friendly. In the first fight, Sohran easily defeated a man Link had never seen before, and Sohran sat next to Link to watch the rest of the matches. In the next fight, a soldier Link didn't recognize beat a soldier who Link had seen around, but didn't really know. The next fight was between the proud-looking Raykel and Bodac, who was practically shivering in his boots. Raykel made it obvious that he considered his time too important to waste on Bodac, and defeated him quickly with strong attacks. After the fight, Bodac limped over to Link.
"Well.... that really sucked! I don't think I'm going to enter the contest next year..." he said irritably. Link laughed.
"Oh, come on...if you weren't so scared of Raykel, you would have done much better. Just train more, okay?"
"Okay," Bodac muttered, "but first I'm going to the infirmary! Tell me what happens in the next fights when I get back, okay?"
"Sure." Link said, "Do you need help walking?"
"No, I'll be fine." Bodac limped off, and Link watched the next fight between two soldiers he didn't know. One was quick and the other strong, and it took the strong one a while to defeat the quick one. The next fight was between Cosha, Raykel's apprentice, and a soldier Link had recently become acquainted to, Dans. They fought hard, but eventually Cosha's sword was knocked out of his hands.
"I have you now!" Dans said excitedly, but Cosha pulled a quick maneuver, and put himself behind Dans. He reached one hand on either side of Dans and grabbed his long ax handle. Cosha pulled on it and Dans resisted, but Cosha was stronger. He pulled back on the handle until it was up against Dan's neck.
"Give up," Cosha whispered creepily into Dan's ear.
"No!" Dans shouted, and Cosha brought the ax handle back, choking him. Dans tried to elbow Cosha in the stomach, but that didn't work. Eventually Dans weakened, and slumped, unconscious, to the ground. Cosha picked up his sword and walked from the ring proudly as the referee announced his victory.
"Excellent, Cosha," Raykel praised his apprentice as they met outside the ring. "Just like our training." He said, looking at Cosha as if it had been some great achievement. It made Link's skin crawl, and he stood to help the paramedics carry away Dans. There was a break between every seven fights, so Link didn't miss anything while he was away. He got back to the courtyard just in time to see the next fight starting. It also was between two soldiers Link didn't know. One was pretty young, and the other was probably in his forties. The young one tired his opponent with quick strikes, and finished by knocking him out of the ring and preventing him from re-entering within fifteen seconds. The crowd cheered when the young man was announced winner, and the referee stated that the next round of matches would now begin.
Link and Corb were up next, and they came to the ring.
"Good luck, Link," said Corb, and added playfully, "You'll need it." Link laughed good-naturedly and the referee gave the signal to begin.
"Good luck to you, too!" Link said as he dashed across the ring to introduce the Silver Sword to Corb's spear. They clashed and both men jumped back. Link then powered up his sword for the spin attack, but Corb hit the deck as Link released his attack. Corb jumped up and slashed with his spear at Link, who for the first time in the contest decided to use his shield (The Hylian shield, not the mirror shield) to block it. The men kept attacking and blocking and dodging and parrying, and soon Corb began to tire. Link was having a ball.
"C'mon!" Link challenged, "I know you can go faster than that!"
"Easy for you to say," Corb said breathlessly. Corb jumped back and raised his hand to point at Link. "FIRE!" Corb shouted with a grin, wondering what creative way Link would use to avoid being burnt. It really wasn't very creative at all. Link remembered Corb had the fire attack, but hadn't been ready for it at the moment, and raised his shield just in time for the ball of flames burst against it. As the ball burst, flames spread out, and Link's shoulder caught on fire.
"Yow! Hey, do I look like firewood to you?" Link exclaimed, trying to smother the flames before they burnt through his tunic. When he was done with that Corb charged at him. "Whoa!" Link slashed at Corb, whose spear was thrown out of his hand as he tried to parry. His spear was thrown behind him, and he got a dent in his armor. He stood in place with his hands up. "What are you waiting for?" Asked Link. "Go get your weapon."
"No, your are too good a fighter, and I'm already tired. My last chance for attack was that fireball, and I can see that it had little effect on you. I give up." The crowd went wild, especially Zelda, Saria, and Malon, when the referee said Link was the winner. Link simply complimented Corb on his fighting skills, and went to sit next to Sohran.
"I can see your enjoying yourself," Sohran commented.
"Yeah," Link replied, "I'm glad Zelda convinced me to enter the contest. It's been lots of fun and I'm kinda getting to know some of the soldiers better."
"That's good...but I'm up next." Sohran rose and walked to the ring to face the soldier who had won the fourth fight earlier.
As the fight commenced, Link heard someone approaching his back. Before Link had time to turn around, a huge hand clapped him very hard on the back, throwing him forward onto his face. As he got up, wondering if someone had attacked him, a massive hand pulled him up.
"BROTHER!" Darunia the Goron roared. "How WONDERFUL it is to see you again!"
"Yeah, good to see you too, Darunia..." Link said, rubbing his sore back. "Do you think you could greet me in a more gentle manner next time?"
"What are you talking about?? I was being gentle!" He said loudly. Link groaned. "Good work with your fights so far!" Darunia congratulated him. "I can see your feeling very healthy!"
"Well, I was feeling healthy, anyway..." Link said.
"What are you talking about? Let me give you a Goron Hug!!"
"Ack! No! I mean...ah, we're missing the fight! C'mon, let's watch it...maybe you can hug me later." Link said, not really wanting to get squashed in a 'Goron Hug' by Darunia's great arms, now or later.
"Well, if that's the case I have to go back to the other gorons, brother. I'll see you later!"
"Okay..." Link said, relieved that he had avoided getting the breath squeezed out of him. He was glad to see Darunia, but the Goron was just a little ignorant of how much stronger than a Hylian he was. Link sat down to watch the fight.
Sohran was rushing at the soldier Link didn't know, and the soldier could barely move fast enough to block the blows. Eventually the man took advantage of a break in Sohran's attack (Sohran didn't seem to be tired at all despite his repeated attacks). He brought up his sword at Sohran's face, but Sohran jumped back, dodging without difficulty. By now Sohran's opponent was getting tired of blocking, so he threw some more attacks at Sohran. Sohran blocked a few but dodged most of them, and attacked when there was a break in his opponent's assault. Sohran used his speed this time, and before the soldier could bring his sword up, many blows were dealt to him, leaving dents in his armor. Sohran even hit a place where armor wasn't, and the man gasped as Sohran's sword left a slash in his skin. Sohran kept attacking the poor man, and soon he was driven out of the ring, and surrendered. The referee declared Sohran the victor, and the crowd cheered for him as he went back over to where Link was sitting.
"You know," Sohran admitted, "this is more fun than I had last year. I think I'm beginning to have as much fun as you!"
"Good," replied Link, "if this contest wasn't fun, I'm sure that fewer soldiers would enter it. It's weird...I don't remember who I heard it from, but someone said competition was fierce and personal in the Warrior Contest."
"Oh, these are just the first matches, " Sohran said seriously, "it's the later fights that get fierce."
"Shoot...and I was beginning to think the whole thing would be fun. Oh well... maybe I'll get lucky and no one will hate me after this Contest. If I'm really lucky, maybe someone will hate me less." Link and Sohran turned their attention to the fight going on, between Raykel and the strong-attacking soldier that had beaten the quick one in a previous match.
"Oh, I get it...your hoping to prove yourself to Raykel so he wont treat you disrespectfully anymore. He really is a spectacular leader, but I have noticed that he always avoids the subject of you. He treats talking of you as if it will make his mouth dirty. I don't really understand his feelings for you, but I think that he feels like you took something from him," Sohran said quietly.
"I hope he'll realize that I'm a worthy protector for Zelda," Link said, watching Raykel slash the other soldier's chest armor.
"I think he knows you can protect her, I think he even knows that you can protect her better than he can, but he probably thinks it's dishonorable to lose a job you've worked towards for over eighteen years to a fifteen-year-old. No offense about your age, of course. I myself am very young to be second in command." Sohran was partially distracted by Raykel's punch throwing his stout opponent out of the ring, to land roughly flat on his back.
"No offense taken," said Link, slow to respond because he was also distracted.
The strong man got up and ran at Raykel, but Raykel just brought the fist of his free hand down onto the man's helmet. The man, tough but not tough enough, fell backwards, unconscious.
"Raykel uses his fists as much as his sword..." Link observed, "His arm muscles must be pretty strong to knock a man out through a helmet."
"He is very strong, I have fought him many times and always lost. It would be annoying to lose to him so much if I didn't recognize him as my leader. It's too bad he wont let you get close to him, Link. He really isn't so bad. A bit too ambitious, maybe...but very capable."
"Looks like Cosha's up next. Hey, who is that guy putting on his helmet? He doesn't look much older than me!"
"Oh, that's Ector. He's pretty fast, and don't tell anyone this, but I hope he beats Cosha. I never did like the guy."
"Don't worry, I'm not exactly fond of Cosha either. He's almost as creepy as Raykel!"
"Creepy? Hah! You really don't know Raykel's good side."
"Nope," Link agreed. The two men watched Ector repeatedly attack Cosha, but he parried all of his attacks without difficulty. Soon Cosha hit Ector's helmet, just like Link had done to Paro, but imuch/i harder. Ector held his head and fell to one knee, barely aware of what was happening. Cosha kicked him in the face and he flew out of the ring. Ector didn't get up, so the paramedics carried him off.
"Fierce, isn't he?" Link said with a bit of disapproval in his voice.
"Almost to the point of cruelty." Sohran said, also disgusted with how quick Ector had been defeated. "Hey, guess what?"
"What?"
"We're up next."
"Huh?"
"We have to fight each other next, see? The referee's calling us. It's time for the semifinals."
"Oh....uh, let's go then. Good luck." Link and Sohran rose and walked to opposite sides of the ring.
"And good luck to you as well. May the best fighter win." The referee signaled it was time to start. Link and Sohran, smiling at each other, met swords at the center of the ring. Many times they attacked each other, but each time one did, the other hit his sword back. The swords rung each time they came in contact with each other, and it was kind of like a song, Link thought. It went on for quite a while, each trying to get his sword past his opponent's guard. At one time Link almost got past Sohran's sword, but Sohran jumped back and thrust at Link, who parried. They seemed to be equal to the crowd, but a few of them noticed that Sohran was trying harder than Link. After maybe half an hour of the swords clashing, Sohran backed away from Link, and they stared at each other. Sohran was breathing pretty hard, but Link seemed to be just fine.
"Pretty persistent, Sohran." Link complimented, "This is fun!"
"You didn't think I'd give up as easily as the other men you fought, did you?" Sohran raised his free hand up to his face, with two fingers up and two down. Some strange greenish energy began to form in a circle around his feet.
"Oh, great." Link said, bracing himself for Sohran's spell. Link remembered that it was supposed to be a tornado attack, but had never seen one and didn't know what to expect. The green energy grew around Sohran, and began spinning. It got bigger and spun faster until it was the size of a small twister. The crowd gasped and braced themselves to prevent getting sucked into the whirlwind, but for Link, who was very close to it, there was no way to prevent being dragged towards the magic tornado. Link stuck his sword into the ground and tried to hold onto it, but his grip wasn't strong enough and he was pulled towards Sohran. When Link was close enough, Sohran grabbed the front of his tunic.
"Hold on!" Sohran warned as he let the tornado spin faster. Link soon discovered that the wind was sharp, and with both the wind and Sohran holding him in place, he could not avoid the slicing currents as they made cuts and slashes all over his body. The wind went faster and the cuts got deeper, and increased in number. Link strained his leg against the wind and brought it up to kick Sohran off of him. The spell disappeared instantly, and both men fell backwards.
"Whoa, cool spell!" Link said, struggling to his feet. He yanked his sword out of the ground and turned to face Sohran, who was already on his feet.
"I need to practice it more." Sohran admitted, "It was really supposed to be stronger than that."
"Wow, maybe I could learn to do it sometime." Link thought out loud.
"Later!" Sohran said, charging at Link. Then the sword ringing resumed. Sohran was still a little tired, and Link was now too, because of his cuts and slashes. Link and Sohran kept attacking each other, and it became clear that neither would give up any time soon. They kept going for maybe twenty minutes, until both were breathing heavily.
"Maybe it's time to finish this," Link decided, "before I waste too much energy. No, I think I already have..." They kept slashing at each other, but all of the sudden Link picked up the pace. He attacked faster, and Sohran couldn't quite block all of his moves. Link kept attacking fast for a couple of minutes, until finally Sohran tripped and fell on his back.
"Looks like you win," he said between deep breaths. "Your more worthy to go on than I, so I surrender." Sohran looked so tired that Link thought he would take a nap on the spot. To his surprise, Sohran found strength to get up and leave the ring.
"The winner is Link!" The referee shouted, and everyone cheered again. There was some especially loud and annoying cheering in front of Link, and he looked at the crowd. He saw Ruto there, screaming in her high-pitched voice.
"Yay! Go Link, go Link!! Exactly what I expect from my future husband!!"
"Eh...." Link wiped the blood and sweat from his forehead and turned away to go and sit where he had before. Well, lay actually. Link was pretty tired and cut up, but knew he would be fighting in the match after the one that was just beginning. He put his hands behind his head to hold it up, and watched Raykel and Cosha step into the ring.
"Let's see what my student can do!" Raykel said happily.
"I won't disappoint you," replied Cosha. Raykel put on his helmet, and at the signal the two rushed at each other. The first thing Raykel did was swing his long sword at Cosha's legs. Cosha jumped, and the sword missed. Cosha took a swing at Raykel's head, but the tall man ducked low enough for it to miss. Raykel lifted his sword and brought the end of the hilt down on Cosha's helmet. Not too hard, but hard enough to stun him for a moment. Raykel then punched Cosha's chest, knocking him down.
"You can do better than that! Get up!" Raykel smiled proudly behind his helmet as Cosha jumped up, barely staying on the ground for a second. The two kept attacking, but Raykel's attacks found their mark far more often than Cosha's. Cosha wasn't doing too bad though, and punched Raykel when he saw a pause between attacks. Raykel stumbled and almost fell, but came back with an attack strong enough to throw Cosha onto his back. Once again he jumped up quickly. Cosha tried a low attack and hit one of Raykel's legs, nearly tripping him.
"Nice try!" Raykel said shoving Cosha away. Raykel kept going for a while, but Link got the feeling that Raykel was letting Cosha get the hits that he got. After a while Raykel got bored of it, and slashed quickly and strongly at Cosha. Cosha brought his sword up to defend, but it flew back and so did Cosha as Raykel's sword hit. Cosha got back up, but Raykel hit him again, sending him out of the designated fighting square. Cosha stayed out.
"My Master wins." He said, before getting to his feet. The crowd cheered when it was announced officially. Raykel took off his helmet and threw it over to a soldier, declaring it was too hot, and went to Cosha.
"Not bad, but I told you that you need much more strength behind your blows. Quickness isn't everything, especially in a fight with armor. Have a seat. We will rest until my next match."
Link laid his head back on the grass as the referee said there would be a fifteen-minute break before the final match. Link rested until the break had come to its end. The match came too quickly.
buSection 5
Blood and Fire/u/b
The Queen Dragon slept poorly in her great, soft, nest. It was composed of many pillows, blankets, mattresses, and even some gold. She was an enormous dragon, being the Queen of Dragons on that continent, and she was almost white, with a tint of orange. She had blood red spikes down her back and the undersides of her great wings were the color of fire. Her beautiful, deep blue eyes rested behind their lids, and her loud breathing could be heard a long ways away. Suddenly, she awakened to the noise of voices.
"bMaster, wait! You forgot your staff!/b"
"I knew that, you pea-brained dragon! I was simply testing how fast you would bring it to me!"
The queen recognized the voices to be Dakos, her subject, and the Dragonlord, her captor. She opened her eyes and raised her head. She would not have them catch her sleeping.
She watched the tiny form of the Dragonlord come through the archway, which was the entrance and exit to her room. He was quite a short man, she thought, and far too young to be controlling a great creature such as herself. She felt a pang of dishonor and hatred as the puny man approached her. He had blonde hair and was wearing a red and black tunic, with designs on it. He was, of course, wearing his headpiece, which looked like a dark metal headband with an orange jewel in it, and red-and-black wings coming off the sides for decoration. He had wing-shaped black spikes coming from something strapped to his back, and from those spikes flowed a red cape. He had black armor on his chest, and at his side was his sheathed sword, a weapon that was infused with darkness. He also had a bow and some evil-looking arrows hung over his shoulder, and black boots and gloves. In his hand was the magical staff he used to control dragons.
"Sahoriel," The Dragonlord began. The Queen of Dragons interrupted him.
"bYou are not worthy to speak my name, TINY MORTAL!/b" She hissed.
"And you had better watch your tongue, you oversized WURM!" The Dragonlord brought up his staff, threatening her. As the Dragonlord challenged Sahoriel, he stared up into her great eyes. iSo large, so blue../i.he felt he would drown in the ocean of her eyes. Be crushed by the boulder-sized irises. Be hypnotized by their power to the point of insanity. He didn't show it, but he was very afraid of the Dragon Queen. He knew that if she wasn't under his power, she could step on him, eat him, shred him, cook him, freeze him, melt him, pull him apart, and a million other things that she pleased. But she was under his power, he reminded himself, and she could not break free.
"Queen of Wurms, you will help me summon a great dragon. You will put it under your spell, for all dragons will obey a Dragon Queen, and I shall put a bracelet on it. You will help me summon a great golden energy-element dragon.
"bYou overstep your limits, Puny One. You have not the power to summon an element dragon, and I will not help you. Your tiny staff will not avail you, for I will not allow another dragon to fly to its death at the hands of a human. No dragon should be forced to fight when it does not want to./b"
"Don't worry about another one of your precious lizards dying, Great Wurm. An element dragon, especially an energy element dragon, is too much for the little Hylians I am sending it after. Besides that, I will go myself to ensure the death of Link. Once I have stolen the princess and forced her to give me the Triforce of Wisdom, I will open a path between the evil realm and this one, for by my new wisdom I will know how, and I will free my Master! Once my Master is free I will have no more use of you, Wurm. At that time I will set you free." The Dragonlord grinned up at Sahoriel.
"bYou swear that you will grant my freedom, and never bother my kind again?/b" Sahoriel asked, thinking that the Dragonlord wouldn't live very long after he set her free.
"I swear it, She dragon." The queen thought a moment.
"bMaster/b," Dakos called from far behind him, "bWould it not be so much easier to just kill Zelda and take the triforce?/b"
"No. Zelda may not have realized the true power of her triforce yet, but she can use some of it, at least. If Zelda gives it to me, I will magically get the knowledge and power to use it as she does. If I kill her, it could take a very long time to learn to use it myself."
"bOh/b" Dakos said, feeling rather dumb. The Dragonlord turned back to Sahoriel, madly smiling.
"So is it a deal or what?" He questioned, knowing the answer.
"bIt is done. When the portal has finished it's re-energizing, which should be very soon, I will summon your element dragon/b."
"You have made the right decision, my powerful pet." Sahoriel hissed at him, bearing her six-foot-long, razor-sharp teeth.
"Hahahaha!" The young Dragonlord laughed insanely and went to watch the portal regain it's powers.
"Will Raykel and Link come to the ring at this time?" the referee shouted. Link got to his feet and walked to one side of the ring, and Raykel proudly marched to the other. Link's heart pace increased in anticipation. He and Raykel drew their swords and stared into one another's eyes. Link's face was expressionless, but Raykel's eyes suddenly filled with hate at the sight of Link. It was so abrupt that it almost made Link jump.
"Begin!" Shouted the referee.
"Haaaahhhh!" both men shouted at once as they ran at each other. Link looked at Raykel's face as the distance between them closed, and found it filled with rage. Link was surprised at how fast the man could get mad. Raykel brought his sword above his head, and Link could tell he was going to bring it down as hard as he could.
"Yikes!" Link raised his shield as the sword came down with tremendous force, and as sword and shield met, there was a loud clang. The force threw Link to the ground, and his Hylian shield fell, in two pieces, off his arm.
"Wow!" Link stared at his broken shield halves for a split second. "Close one!" Link exclaimed as he rolled backwards and jumped to his feet. To his surprise and dismay, Raykel was again raising his sword for a powerful strike. Link wasn't about to let him do that again, and slashed his armored stomach with his sword, knocking the breath from him for a moment, and forcing him to bring his arms down.
"Brat!" Raykel said, attacking fiercely. Link parried again and again, not letting Raykel through. Soon he started an attack of his own. He might have attacked faster, but was still tired and cut up from the last fight, so his attacks were of average speed. Raykel also parried, forcing his sword against Link's, trying to throw him off-balance. It didn't work, and Link kept attacking. He got a few hits on Raykel, and then Raykel retaliated, swinging his long sword at Link in quick swipes, clearly aiming for the head. Link thought the man was insane, for if he let his guard down, he could say goodbye to his head. Raykel didn't get through, and the battle continued for a dozen minutes. In that dozen minutes, Raykel hadn't broken Link's guard much, but Link had broken though his a few times. This wasn't such a great thing, though - because when Link idid/i get through, his strikes didn't do a whole lot to Raykel's thick armor. Both began to tire after fifteen more minutes of swordplay, and Link had put many dents in Raykel's armor. Raykel got tired of being outmatched, and swung his sword in a wide arc at Link. Link parried it, but was unprepared for Raykel's fist smashing into his face.
Link was thrown back and got quickly to hit feet, wiping the blood from his mouth. He slashed at Raykel quickly, and Raykel deflected his attack, but Link quickly brought his sword around again. It struck Raykel's left wrist, cutting through the leather and leaving a slash. Raykel growled in fury and attacked. They kept attacking and defending for another ten minutes or so, and both were breathing heavily. Link decided that if he didn't do something soon, he would tire out for sure. He powered up for a spin attack. Raykel backed out of range, so Link surprised him by not spinning, but jumping out of his crouch and attacking.
"What?!" Raykel exclaimed in surprise, not parrying Link's sudden attack very well. Link attacked with as much strength and speed as possible, and knocked Raykel's sword out of his hand.
"DRAT!" Raykel yelled in rage, knowing Link could cut him if he moved.
"Don't just stand there," Link said with a smile, "Go get your sword."
"Are you kidding? If I turn around you'll drive your sword though me!" Raykel said distrustfully.
"No, I won't. I refuse to battle a warrior without a weapon. As long as you don't pull some quick maneuver and get behind me like your apprentice did to Dans, I wont attack you until you're armed." Link's smile vanished. "We don't have all day." Raykel raised an eyebrow suspiciously at Link, and backed up until his sword was next to his feet, then slowly bent down and picked it up. Dark thoughts plagued his temporarily unstable mind.
iI can't believe this brat is so confident! I know he's letting me get my sword because he wants to dishonor me in front of my men, as if taking my job wasn't bad enough! I've wanted to have the job of being a personal bodyguard for the Royal Family for longer than his lifespan! Now he wants to take my place as the strongest soldier, too? The NERVE! /i
Raykel glowered at Link, and could feel his enmity rising, his rage boiling. Something deep inside of him warned him of getting angry at Link, warned him that he was being unreasonable and evil. He suppressed that something, covering it with hate.
Raykel yelled and rushed at Link, his anger at its peak. He swung his sword at Link as hard as he could. Link was so surprised at the sudden ferocity of the attack that his sword was knocked from his hand, and flew off behind him to his right. Raykel's fist smashed first into Link's stomach, then into Link's face, harder than last time, and Link was hurled to the ground. Link felt blood drip from his mouth as he began to rise, but stopped when he felt the tip of Raykel's sword against his throat.
"Eh...." Link flinched as Raykel brought his blade down slowly, until Link was flat on the ground again. Link felt a warm trickle of blood come from the point on his neck where Raykel's blade pushed against it. The crowd was silent. Link looked up into Raykel's face, and wondered if Raykel would lose his temper and kill him. Link was afraid to swallow, knowing he would cut himself. He barely dared to breathe. His eyes darted over to the ground to the right of him, where his sword lay, almost within reach. His eyes returned to Raykel's face, and he found that Raykel was no longer looking at him. Sure, Raykel's eyes were pointed in Link's direction, but Raykel seemed to be staring right through him, witnessing another dimension. It was pretty creepy. Link took advantage of Raykel being distracted by his own thoughts, and he kicked Raykel's blade off of his neck. Link rolled to the right, grabbing his sword and springing to his feet in one smooth motion. Raykel was so surprised that he didn't move as Link came at him with a jump slash.
"Heeyaahhh!" Link brought the sword down harder than he meant to on Raykel's left shoulder. It made a huge, deep dent, and Raykel was thrown down, dropping his sword.
"Ahhhhh!" Raykel yelled in pain and clutched his wound, where blood was coming from under his shoulder plate. He got to his feet slowly, panting. His features were twisted, and he seemed to be in a great deal of pain. Link realized that he could have killed the man if his blade had been a few inches away from its mark. Link was glad he had good aim, but not glad he had hit Raykel so hard.
"Oh, man...I'm sorry!" Link approached Raykel. "Man, I really didn't mean to -!!!" Link's sentence was cut off as Raykel's right hand shot up, gripping his neck. The iron grip was so intense that Link accidentally dropped his sword as his hands came up to try to pry Raykel's hand off. Link felt like his neck was literally being crushed, and it was impossible to breathe. Raykel drew him in close, so he had little room to struggle. He punched Raykel's face a few times, but the difference in their heights made it difficult to punch very well. Raykel completely ignored the punches, looking down at Link with an insane expression on his face. Link kicked Raykel's legs, but the armor made it impossible to do damage, and Link didn't have the room to bring his boot up to Raykel's face. Raykel continued to strangle him, knowing his helplessness. Again something in Raykel's mind warned him against what he was doing. Again he ignored it. Link grew weak. iNo! I can't let this happen...if I don't break free he may not let me go at all! /iLink continued choking from Raykel's grasp for half a minute, but finally Raykel extended Link at arm's length, examining him as a fisher does his catch, as it suffocates and wriggles on the hook.
"You're pathetic." Raykel said in a low voice, just before Link's boot made contact with his chin.
"Arrgghhh!" Raykel was thrown back by the surprisingly strong kick, and barely avoided falling over. The half-throttled Link dropped to one knee, holding his sore neck and breathing deeply.
"That's it!" Raykel wiped the blood off of his badly bruised chin and picked up his sword. "Right," Raykel whispered so quietly the Link could barely hear him, "I'll kill you." Raykel raised his sword and thrusted downwards towards Link's chest. Link barely dodged in time to avoid being skewered. He brought his left fist up to Raykel's face, punching him square between the eyes, hard. Even without the gauntlets, Link was no weakling. Raykel was thrown back, maybe ten feet, and landed on his back. He was unconscious. Link picked up his sword; he had won the Warrior Contest.
The crowd started cheering, and within seconds, a suspenseful silence was transformed into a deafening roar. Link couldn't hear himself think! When he had quickly sorted out the chaos of his mind, he became aware that people were running towards him. Link looked to the left and saw Saria, Malon, and Zelda running at him, yelling and cheering. In front of him he saw Ruto, quite possibly making more noise than anyone else in the courtyard, running at him as fast as her flipper-feet would allow. Behind him he felt rather than heard several large people lumbering towards him. One of them was yelling, "BROTHER! Let me and my people give you a big Goron Hug to congratulate you!!" Everything was moving at once, and the Sages, Princess, Ranch-girl, and huge Gorons were closing in and would all reach him in a matter of seconds.
It was too much.
"Aaaahhhhhh!" Link screamed, running away through the crowd. He stopped screaming and ran all the way to his room, where he fell, exhausted, onto his bed; and fell asleep almost instantly in the pleasant, soft, silence.
"Whoops...looks like we scared him off!" Zelda yelled over the roar of the crowd, which immediately began dying down once Link had left. "Now the crowd won't get to see Link get his trophy! Dad'll be mad at us..."
"I think Link just needed some rest," Saria said.
"He's going to bleed all over his blankets," Malon stated.
"AWWW! Where'd Brother go?" Darunia asked, disappointed. "Now who are we going to give a Goron Hug to?"
"Not me!" Ruto screeched. "And I should be the only one hugging Link around here!"
"Not until he's done with his nap!" Saria said. No one heard her very well, due to the noise. Even if the cheering had died down, everyone in the crowd was now yapping loudly.
"QUIET!" The King yelled over the noise. "Settle down!" The crowd slowly quieted down, and turned their attention to the King. "Link has probably just gone to sleep! There's no need to get rowdy! We'll wait an hour and then wake him up, so you all can see him get his trophy. Until then, there is a matter to be resolved. I don't know about the rest of you, but it seemed to me that Raykel was trying to kill Link, rather than just defeat him. We will have a vote on this, but not here, it's getting way too crowded in this courtyard. Anyone who wishes to stay and vote on Raykel's case will go outside on the north side of the castle, in North Hyrule. Refreshment will be brought while Raykel is being healed, but anyone who wants to leave immediately will be escorted out by some guards. Those who wish to leave, go to the southern end of the courtyard where five Royal Guards are waiting. The rest of you, go to the northern end." The crowd quietly did as it was told.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Uuuuuhhhhhhhh...."
......................
Knock. Knock. KNOCK.
"Zzzzzzzz.....hhmmmmmm."
.....................................................
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
"Alright, already! Cut it out!" Link yelled at his door.
"Link, there's a bunch of people waiting for you on Royal Field! It's totally rude to keep them waiting!" Zelda's voice came from behind his door. "They aren't going to leave until they see you, so get up!"
"Coming..." Link drowsily got out of bed and opened the door.
"Link, your a bloody mess! Maybe we should heal you first..." Zelda suggested.
"No, it doesn't hurt much. I can go to Royal Field first." Link said.
"Okay, let's go." Link followed Zelda down the stairs and to the north entrance of the castle. This entrance was really nothing more than a big pair of double doors, connected to the grassy field by a wooden bridge that covered the moat. The doors looked weak compared to the drawbridge at the southern end of the castle, but during times of invasion a huge, thick metal sheet came from an opening above the double doors, and sealed them completely. It would take a lot of strength to break through them. At the moment the doors were open, and Zelda led Link onto the field. Upon their arrival, the people that remained of the crowd started cheering again.
"Oh, come on...can't they cheer any ilouder/i?" Link said sarcastically, holding his head.
"Quiet down, people, quiet." The King said. He approached Link with a weird golden statue mounted on a wooden base. The statue looked like a soldier holding a spear above his head in triumph. "I present you with the warrior trophy, Link." The King held it out to him.
"Uhhhh.... thanks, but what am I supposed to do with that?" Link asked, looking at the object that seemed to be completely useless, except for selling.
"Huh? Well...you keep it in memoration of the event, or sell it, whatever you want." The King replied.
"Ehhh...thanks, I guess." Link said, taking it. The crowd started cheering again, and Link looked around at them, wondering what he was expected to do. Then he spotted Raykel. Two soldiers were holding him, and his hands were tied. iNow why is he being guarded? Why is he out here? /iLink wondered. Cosha was nowhere in sight. When the crowd stopped cheering enough to be heard, Link voiced his confusion.
"What's going on? Why is Raykel all tied up?" Link put his trophy down and looked expectantly at the King.
"A lot of the crowd and I think Raykel tried to kill you during the contest. Most of the crowd agreed, but not all, and he won't confess anything. The law of Hyrule, made before I was born, decrees that a man cannot be executed for attempted murder unless there is a unanimous vote against him, or he confesses. If no conclusion is reached by the jury, or the crowd of witnesses in this case, then the attempted victim must vote, and it will be the final decision."
"iExecuted?/i" Link looked over at Raykel.
"Yes. No banishment, no imprisonment, just execution." The King looked at Link seriously. "So, Link...do you feel that he tried to kill you, rather than defeat you like he was supposed to?"
Link stared into Raykel's eyes.
Flashback...iswinging his long sword at Link in quick swipes, clearly aiming for the head. Link thought the man was insane, for if he let his guard down, he could say goodbye to his head.
Link felt a warm trickle of blood come from the point on his neck where Raykel's blade pushed against it. The crowd was silent. Link looked up into Raykel's face, and wondered if Raykel would lose his temper and kill him.
"That's it!" Raykel wiped the blood off of his bruised chin, and picked up his sword.
"Right." Raykel whispered so quietly Link could barely hear him, "I'll kill you." Raykel raised his sword and thrusted downwards towards Link's chest. /iEnd
Link could see that Raykel was trying to look strong. Raykel was pretending that he didn't care what decision Link made, that it didn't matter to him. Link looked deeper and saw that Raykel was afraid. Afraid of losing his place in life, afraid of death. Link smiled.
"Raykel was very rough during the contest." Link's friendly smile turned serious, as he continued to gaze at Raykel. "But he would not kill me."
Raykel's eyes widened in surprise.
"Very well," The King said, grinning. "I don't want to kill my own man, anyway. Cut his bonds. We'll hold no more grudges against him, since he was only trying hard to win the contest, not kill my daughter's bodyguard." The soldiers holding Raykel released him, and cut the ropes binding him. Raykel simply walked into the castle without saying anything. As he walked by Link, Link thought he saw something glint in those proud, brown eyes. He didn't know if it was gratitude, happiness, bitterness...Link had no idea, but he was hopeful.
"Now then, I know you all have homes to get back to, so let's get back to Hyrule on the southern side of the castle." The crowd started to move towards the double doors, a few stopping to congratulate Link on the way. Some said he should have voted against Raykel, but Link made no comments.
"Brother, how about that HUG, now?" Darunia stopped on his way to the doors to ask Link.
"Well, I'm not really in very good condition for one..." iOh boy...there's no way out of it this time! /iHe thought.
"Nonsense! Your bad condition only makes you more needy of a Goron Hug!" Darunia opened his great arms.
"Wait...!!" They closed on Link and he braced himself to get squashed, but to his surprise, the hug wasn't that bad. Since his arms weren't pinned to his sides like they usually had been in the past, he returned the embrace.
"There, that wasn't so bad!" Darunia said, getting off of him. "Did you think I would CRUSH you or something? I told you I could be gentle, Brother!"
"Guess you were right," Link said. "See you later."
"GOODBYE!" Darunia said, clapping him on the back extremely hard.
"My aching back!" Link was nearly thrown to the ground. "I mean...I'll be iaching/i to get iback/i to the Goron Village to visit you."
"Well, of COURSE you will!" Darunia finally walked away. Link sighed; rubbing his back, but then flinched when he touched a large cut there.
"Sorry about that." Sohran came up to Link, concerned. "You need to clean it and use Arlia. Need help walking to the infirmary?"
"I'll be fine. It's not as bad as it looks"
"If your sure..." He said, walking off. Malon and Zelda walked up beside Link.
"You did great." Malon said.
"Thanks...where's Saria?"
"She had to leave, but she told me to say congratulations to you, so congratulations." Zelda told him. She stared at him admiringly for a few seconds, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Thanks...I can see her later, I guess." The King waited until everyone but Link, Malon, and Zelda was though the doors, and then paused on his way to the castle to talk to them.
"Coming in, Link? Those are some nasty cuts. And by the way, your neck looks a little bruised, too."
"It does? I'll come inside in a moment, just let me enjoy the fresh air for a minute." Link said, sitting down.
"If you insist," the King said, "But I would hurry before those wounds get infected if I were you." iHe's definitely Zelda's father../i.Link said, remembering how Zelda was always fussing about his wounds getting infected.
The King went in and closed the doors behind him. Link laid down and stared up at the sky, noticing that the dark rain clouds had once again covered the sun. Now that he noticed it, the shade from the clouds and the cool breeze felt very nice.
"Link, you should wash those immediately!" Zelda nagged.
"Oh let him rest a moment, for goodness's sake!" Malon said to her.
"Okay." She agreed reluctantly. She hated to see Link hurt.
Link just kept staring at the clouds, and thought they were very beautiful, despite their dark grayness. Link didn't even mind that much, because he liked rain most of the time. He waited a few minutes in silence, and just as he was about to get up, he spotted something. It was a tiny black dot...no, not really a dot...it looked like a far away bat! iMaybe my eyes are deceiving me and it's just one of those birds that usually hang around the lake,/i he thought. The breeze picked up, and it smelled like rain.
"Brrrr! Link, it's cold out here!" Malon shivered in the cold. "Father will be getting worried about me, so I should be going," she said. Link sat up.
"Okay. Want me to walk you back to the ranch?"
"No, I'll be fine...and you're in no condition to be walking anywhere but the infirmary, mister!"
"Hehehe...I know, I know." Link said. Malon walked towards the double-doors and saw Link's trophy, still on the ground.
"Hey, you want me to take this inside?"
"Sure. Just give it to Sohran. You can trust him, and he knows where my room is."
"Sohran? Isn't he the reason your all cut up?"
"It's okay, he's a good guy. And thank you...I'll see you later."
"Bye!" Malon waved as she picked up the trophy. "Heavy, isn't it?" She hefted it and left.
"We should be going in too, Link." Zelda suggested.
"Listen to the wind, Zelda." Link said for no apparent reason. "Doesn't it sound weird? And isn't it weird how fast it picked up? It was just a breeze a few seconds ago!" Link listened to the wind, and thought he heard something wrong with it. A faint sound...
"You're right..." Zelda agreed. "It's almost unnatural...but you know how weird weather can get around here once in a while."
"Ssshhhhhhhh" Link could almost identify the sound, but the wind prevented him from telling where it was coming from yet. Zelda was the first to name the sound.
"Hey, that sounds like the rustling of...wings!" Zelda exclaimed, and they both searched the skies. Link looked for the black thing he saw a few moments ago, but there was no sign of it. It could have disappeared into the low clouds, he thought.
"I hear it but I don't see it! It must be far away!" Link pointed out.
"If it's far than how can we hear it?" Zelda asked.
"I don't..." Just then, Link looked in the direction of the Ethereal Forest, and the thing he saw approaching them was the biggest living creature Link had ever seen. He jumped to his feet.
"It's a DRAGON!" Link shouted over the wind and flapping. He pointed at the enormous golden dragon, which was quickly closing in on them. It had large scales; golden as the King's crown, and stormy gray wings. Its strait horns were as white as it's wickedly sharp teeth, and there was a familiar orange glimmer on it's left wrist. It was so enormous that the flapping of it's wings seemed to fill the air with more sound than the wind, yet it was at least a mile away.
"It's-it's ENORMOUS!" Zelda stammered. "Its wingspan must be as big as the castle!! We have to lead it away from the castle before it gets here and destroys everything!"
"Let's run out and meet it, then!" Link said.
"Are you icrazy/i?! That's an energy-element dragon! With its energy fire, it could melt or blow up entire villages! We're no match for it!"
"We have to do something!" They were both yelling now, to be heard over the gale. An idea, not a very good one, but the only one they had at the moment, struck Link. He called Epona. She came running to him quickly.
"Zelda, ride Epona as deep into the forest as you can! I'll lead it away from you!"
"That's noble, but there's no way - hey! Put me down!" She yelled indignantly.
"No arguing!" Link said, lifting Zelda onto Epona. "The dragon's here! RUN!" Epona took off like a lightning bolt to the right, where the forest was closest, and Link ran away from the castle, toward the dragon. He paid no heed to his cuts and slashes when they re-opened with the strain of sprinting. Suddenly, the dragon was upon him. He drew the Silver Sword, and realized he had no shield. Link was nearly blown over as the dragon flew over him. It swooped around and came back, flying low with its four claws on each paw extended. Each claw was almost as long as Link was tall. He threw himself on the ground, and the sharp claws missed by mere inches.
Link jumped to his feet. Already he knew it was nearly impossible. There was simply no way he could beat this dragon with just his sword...but he had to try.
Zelda and Epona reached the edge of the forest, and Zelda ordered the speeding horse to stop. Reluctantly, Epona halted and Zelda jumped off.
"I know Link wanted me to ride deep in the forest, but he's defenseless out there! I'm going to use a summoning spell to get his bow and arrows. I'd summon more, but I don't think I can handle more than that. When I get the gear, you have to go to him with it, okay?" Zelda looked Epona in the eyes. Somehow the horse understood, and nodded. Zelda summoned the weapons, and slung the quiver over Epona's neck, then Epona took the bow in her teeth.
"Go!" Zelda commanded, and Epona raced off. The quick horse reached Link in a few moments, just as the dragon was about to fly over again.
"Get down!" Link shouted at Epona, and pushed her over, falling with her. Again, the dragon's spear-like claws barely missed. Link and Epona jumped up.
"I don't know how you did it, but good girl!" Link said, equipping the bow and arrows Epona brought. "Wait...weren't you supposed to take Zelda deep into the woods? Maybe not such a good girl!" Epona whinnied in urgency, and Link got on her. He got out his bow and aimed an ice arrow at the dragon's claws as it prepared for another pass.
"bSay goodbye!/b" It roared, lowering and aiming its sharp talons. The dragon roared again, as it felt something bounce off of its hard paw scales and its paws were suddenly encased in ice. "bWhat the heck?!/b" The dragon pulled up, and hovered high in the air, examining it's frozen appendages. A hot, powerful blast of yellow fire shot from it's jaws, and the ice half-melted, half-exploded instantly. "bYou'll have to do better than that! Time for me to fry you, and eat whatever's left!/b"
The dragon dived towards Link and Epona, taking a breath, about to engulf them in energy fire. It didn't know that Link had a light arrow aimed for its eye.
"I hope you can enjoy your meal with one bloody eye!" Link shouted, and let the arrow fly. Just as the dragon was about to flame Link and Epona, the arrow logged itself in the creature's left iris. It screamed in rage and pain, letting out the energy fire in exploding flares, and came tumbling through the sky. Epona quickly ran out of the way, and the enormous dragon barely missed falling on her and Link. However, the shock of the huge body hitting the earth threw horse and rider to the ground. Epona got up immediately, and took hold of Link's tunic with her teeth, pulling him up.
"Thanks..." He said breathlessly. He was so tired and beat up that he was having trouble mounting Epona, so she got down. Soon Link was mounted and Epona stood up, and the dragon rose also.
"bIt's time for a horse-and-Hylian HAMBURGER!/b" He yelled, glaring at them with his one good eye. Epona charged at the dragon, and Link slashed at it with his sword, but discovered that the scales were too thick to be cut. He noticed that there was an unarmored spot between the dragon's neck scales and it's underside scales, and aimed for it, but the dragon reared back it's huge head, and bit at its attackers like a snake. He didn't bite them, but his snout hit, knocking them both over. Immediately the creature grabbed Epona in one great paw. "bSay good-bye to horsey/b!!!" It yelled mockingly.
"NO!" Link shouted as the dragon hurled Epona at the Ethereal Forest to the north. Link was amazed at how far the creature could throw. Epona, neighing in terror, flew all the way to the forest, and disappeared behind the trees! "Blasted dragon! You'll pay for thaaaaat!!" Link yelled, losing his temper. He didn't fight very well when he lost his temper. Even though he was completely exhausted, he jumped to his feet. He tried to cut the dragon with his sword again, but he didn't use magic and it just glanced off of the thick scales.
"bFool!/b" The dragon slammed its paw down on Link, pinning him to the ground. "Forget the hamburger, I'll have a pancake! Hahahaha!" A cold rain began trickling from the heavens, and quickly turned into a heavy downpour, just as Link thought things couldn't get any worse. The dragon slowly applied pressure to Link's body, which was completely covered by the paw, except for his head and left arm. Link grimaced in pain, and the pain of the claw was almost as bad as the pain of losing Epona. He reached for his sword, just an inch away from his grasp!
"bOh no you don't/b!" The dragon said, grinning. Gleefully, it put more pressure on Link. He screamed in agony, feeling a couple ribs breaking under the dragon's weight. He couldn't breathe, and knew if the dragon put any more weight on him, he would be crushed. He could almost reach his sword! He knew that even if the sword didn't pierce the dragon, the light magic would burn it; but there was no way he could reach it if the dragon didn't let up.
Suddenly, the dragon started roaring and the paw stopped crushing. Link looked to his right and saw Zelda, of all people, half a mile away, attacking it with a light spell! Most of the pressure was off of him, so Link grabbed the Silver Sword. He clashed it against the dragon's hand, calling up its magical light powers. The dragon growled as it's paw burned, and he took it off of Link.
"bI don't have time for this/b!" The dragon jumped into the air, and flew after Zelda, who had run out of light magic. She screamed and ran, but the dragon was closing in.
"Get back here, dragon!" Link yelled hoarsely, barely able to speak. Link got up, holding his side and breathing hard. Rain mixed with blood, and immediately there were red streaks down Link's entire body. Hopelessly, he drew his bow, but knew the dragon was almost out of range. Suddenly he heard a sound to his left, and nearly fell over with surprise when he saw Epona galloping towards him! He saw some lily pads stuck in her mane, and realized she must have landed in a lake.
"You are sooo lucky!" Link said with difficulty, painfully throwing his arms around her neck in a quick hug of gratitude. "Let's save Zelda!" Epona got down and Link found the strength to get on her, and they ran after the dragon. By now the dragon had reached Zelda.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! Heeeelp!" She screamed as the dragon scooped her up. It quickly flew left towards the part of the forest it had come from, but the fatigued Epona somehow pursued fast enough to get Link within range of shooting the beast.
"Take me lower, Dakos! Quick!" The Dragonlord and Dakos hovered high above the battlefield, hidden behind a thin cloud, from which they were watching the fight. Although Dakos had used much of his magic powers to enhance the storm, it hadn't exhausted him physically, so he quickly obeyed his master's order. "That little punk won't know what hit him!" The Dragonlord said, taking out his bow.
"This'll stop it!" Link said in his sore voice, notching an ice arrow and aiming for the dragon's wing. The dragon was still too far away for Link's liking, but if anyone could make the shot with broken ribs, cuts and bruises everywhere, and exhaustion creeping over, it was Link. Nothing could stop him from saving his princess. But he would never know if he would have made the shot. Just as he was about to let the ice arrow go, he heard an arrow already whizzing through the air. "Huh?" Link thought he was hearing things, but then a large, sharp, black arrow buried its ugly head in his left shoulder.
"Eeeaaauughh!" Link screamed, dropping his bow. Immediately he knew that this was no ordinary arrow. His strength failed him, and he fell off of his exhausted horse. Epona slowed and stopped, then fell over, too tired to do anything else. Link could feel dark energy radiating through his entire body. It was excruciating. "Aaaahhhh!" Link yelled, as he tried to pull the arrow out, but found he had no strength left to do it. He felt his body being infected with dark power from the arrowhead...in a minute or two, he knew it would kill him if the arrowhead wasn't removed. Link heard someone approaching him.
Raykel walked over the slippery wet grass towards the green and red form on the ground, which he assumed was Link. He saw Link's bow and Epona also lying on the ground, and made a mental note to send some soldiers to get them when he got back to the castle.
By the time the energy-element dragon had grabbed Zelda, the King had grown worried about his daughter and Link, and sent Raykel and a few Royal Guards to go get them. The soldiers that had been with Raykel ran in fear when they had seen the golden dragon, but Raykel, seeing that the malicious beast had got what it came for and was not coming back, had begun crossing the field towards Link.
When Raykel reached him, he watched in surprise as Link struggled to pull an arrow from his shoulder.
"Please, Raykel..." Link asked in a voice creased with pain, "pull it out!"
"What have you done? Some bodyguard! You were supposed to be protecting the princess!!" Raykel glared down at Link. "I should pull it out, it will take half of your shoulder with it!"
"Out...." Link said weakly. Raykel looked at him for a few seconds, then bent down, putting a hand on the arrow.
"This is going to hurt a lot.... Here it comes..." Somehow Link kept himself from crying out when Raykel ripped the arrow out. Perhaps he was just too tired to yell. His breath came in short, painful gasps, and he laid back in fatigue, trying to smile at Raykel. Suddenly he coughed, and blackish-red blood came spilling from his lips.
"My gosh...is that your blood? What's happened to you...?" Raykel stared at the liquid without expression. Link closed his eyes tiredly, and in doing so, missed the look of compassion that abruptly crossed Raykel's face. Raykel leaned down and took Link in his arms, and carried him back to the castle.
hello! If you liked this, please review! Even if you didn't like it review. I won't cry over constructive criticism. I have some art for this story I drew, if you want it click this link: http: or just paste it in your bowser adress. Please e-mail me at talonofdayyahoo.com to comment on the art or include it in your review if you want. Thanks for reading! -Talonclawfange
buSection 4
A Time for Winning and Losing/u/b
The crowd cheered wildly, and all eyes went to the ring, where the soldiers started circling each other. "Who are your friends, Zelda?" The King asked his daughter.
"This is Saria, and this is Malon," she said, gesturing towards each when she said their names. "Their friends of mine and Link's. Malon is Talon's daughter...you know, the guy who delivers milk, cows, and horses; and Saria is a Sage."
"Oh, what an honor," the King said, smiling. "Welcome, you two."
"Thanks," said Saria and Malon at the same time, and started giggling. They were about to jinx eachother but their attention was drawn to the ring. The two soldiers had started fighting.
They were attacking each other with swift moves, one soldier with a sword, and the other, Corb, with a spear. Corb seemed to be the faster of the two and easily parried his opponent's attacks, countering with his own. Corb put many dents into the other soldier's armor, so the soldier jumped back, breathing heavily.
"Dang, you're good." He said, and launched himself at Corb. He was larger than Corb, and attacked with enough strength that it threw him back. Corb raised his free hand and pointed it at the soldier.
"FIRE!" He shouted, and a small fireball flew from his hand, speeding at the other man. It hit him with such force that he was thrown to his back, then he rolled around to put the fire out. He jumped to his feet, tired and singed, and attacked Corb. The fight went on for a little while, but it was obvious that Corb was going to win. The other soldier was tired, and the next time he was thrown to his back, he surrendered.
"Corb is the winner!" The referee announced, and the crowd cheered. "Will the next two fighters, Link and Paro, come to the ring?" Corb and the other soldiers left the ring as Link jumped to his feet and entered it with Paro. Link was excited, and anxiously awaited the announcer's signal to start. Paro was a short man (but Link was shorter still), it was hard to tell how old he was or what he looked like due to his helmet. He carried a pike, and his eyes looked somewhat worried from where Link could see them in the helmet. "Begin!" The announcer shouted.
"En guard!" Link shouted, as he ran at Paro.
"Thanks for the warning," Paro said, bringing up his pike to parry Link's attack. The blades clashed, making a ringing sound, and Link and Paro pushed against each others blades to see who was stronger. Soon Paro was forced back, overpowered. He broke the pushing contest by knocking Link's sword away from his own blade. He tried to slash Link, but Link dodged easily. Paro tried some more, slashing at Link from many angles, as fast as he could. Link, having fun, dodged them all.
"Nice!" said Link, bringing his sword up to Paro's head. Link hit Paro's helmet with the flat of his blade, making it vibrate, stunning Paro. Paro put his hand on his helmet to stop the vibrating. He shook his head as if to clear it, and came at Link. This time Link parried his blows, throwing him back as the Silver Sword clashed with Paro's pike. He stumbled and backed away. Link decided it was time to use his magic attack. He powered up his sword, but vertically rather than horizontally, so the sword would hit Paro pretty hard, but not cut through his armor and him.
"Yeeeaaaa!" When the attack was charged, Link spun around and energy came from his sword. Once again the flat of his blade hit Paro, but this time it hit his chest and sent him flying out of the ring. He lay there for a moment before trying to get up. His chest hurt, but he could rise if he wanted. He decided not to, and laid back down, not desiring to be hit with the magic again.
"I surrender." Paro said, staring at the sky. The referee declared Link the winner, the crowd cheered loudly, and Link walked over to Paro, and helped him up.
"You alright? I tried not to use too much power." Link said. "You fought well."
"I'm not hurt...just my pride, heheh. And you did some nice fighting yourself, young man. Perhaps I'll see you around." Paro walked away and Link joined Corb, who was seated and waiting for the next match to begin.
The next five fights seemed to pass very quickly to Link, who was enjoying watching the soldiers test themselves against one another. The fights didn't get very personal as Link had feared; they were, except the fifth fight, relatively friendly. In the first fight, Sohran easily defeated a man Link had never seen before, and Sohran sat next to Link to watch the rest of the matches. In the next fight, a soldier Link didn't recognize beat a soldier who Link had seen around, but didn't really know. The next fight was between the proud-looking Raykel and Bodac, who was practically shivering in his boots. Raykel made it obvious that he considered his time too important to waste on Bodac, and defeated him quickly with strong attacks. After the fight, Bodac limped over to Link.
"Well.... that really sucked! I don't think I'm going to enter the contest next year..." he said irritably. Link laughed.
"Oh, come on...if you weren't so scared of Raykel, you would have done much better. Just train more, okay?"
"Okay," Bodac muttered, "but first I'm going to the infirmary! Tell me what happens in the next fights when I get back, okay?"
"Sure." Link said, "Do you need help walking?"
"No, I'll be fine." Bodac limped off, and Link watched the next fight between two soldiers he didn't know. One was quick and the other strong, and it took the strong one a while to defeat the quick one. The next fight was between Cosha, Raykel's apprentice, and a soldier Link had recently become acquainted to, Dans. They fought hard, but eventually Cosha's sword was knocked out of his hands.
"I have you now!" Dans said excitedly, but Cosha pulled a quick maneuver, and put himself behind Dans. He reached one hand on either side of Dans and grabbed his long ax handle. Cosha pulled on it and Dans resisted, but Cosha was stronger. He pulled back on the handle until it was up against Dan's neck.
"Give up," Cosha whispered creepily into Dan's ear.
"No!" Dans shouted, and Cosha brought the ax handle back, choking him. Dans tried to elbow Cosha in the stomach, but that didn't work. Eventually Dans weakened, and slumped, unconscious, to the ground. Cosha picked up his sword and walked from the ring proudly as the referee announced his victory.
"Excellent, Cosha," Raykel praised his apprentice as they met outside the ring. "Just like our training." He said, looking at Cosha as if it had been some great achievement. It made Link's skin crawl, and he stood to help the paramedics carry away Dans. There was a break between every seven fights, so Link didn't miss anything while he was away. He got back to the courtyard just in time to see the next fight starting. It also was between two soldiers Link didn't know. One was pretty young, and the other was probably in his forties. The young one tired his opponent with quick strikes, and finished by knocking him out of the ring and preventing him from re-entering within fifteen seconds. The crowd cheered when the young man was announced winner, and the referee stated that the next round of matches would now begin.
Link and Corb were up next, and they came to the ring.
"Good luck, Link," said Corb, and added playfully, "You'll need it." Link laughed good-naturedly and the referee gave the signal to begin.
"Good luck to you, too!" Link said as he dashed across the ring to introduce the Silver Sword to Corb's spear. They clashed and both men jumped back. Link then powered up his sword for the spin attack, but Corb hit the deck as Link released his attack. Corb jumped up and slashed with his spear at Link, who for the first time in the contest decided to use his shield (The Hylian shield, not the mirror shield) to block it. The men kept attacking and blocking and dodging and parrying, and soon Corb began to tire. Link was having a ball.
"C'mon!" Link challenged, "I know you can go faster than that!"
"Easy for you to say," Corb said breathlessly. Corb jumped back and raised his hand to point at Link. "FIRE!" Corb shouted with a grin, wondering what creative way Link would use to avoid being burnt. It really wasn't very creative at all. Link remembered Corb had the fire attack, but hadn't been ready for it at the moment, and raised his shield just in time for the ball of flames burst against it. As the ball burst, flames spread out, and Link's shoulder caught on fire.
"Yow! Hey, do I look like firewood to you?" Link exclaimed, trying to smother the flames before they burnt through his tunic. When he was done with that Corb charged at him. "Whoa!" Link slashed at Corb, whose spear was thrown out of his hand as he tried to parry. His spear was thrown behind him, and he got a dent in his armor. He stood in place with his hands up. "What are you waiting for?" Asked Link. "Go get your weapon."
"No, your are too good a fighter, and I'm already tired. My last chance for attack was that fireball, and I can see that it had little effect on you. I give up." The crowd went wild, especially Zelda, Saria, and Malon, when the referee said Link was the winner. Link simply complimented Corb on his fighting skills, and went to sit next to Sohran.
"I can see your enjoying yourself," Sohran commented.
"Yeah," Link replied, "I'm glad Zelda convinced me to enter the contest. It's been lots of fun and I'm kinda getting to know some of the soldiers better."
"That's good...but I'm up next." Sohran rose and walked to the ring to face the soldier who had won the fourth fight earlier.
As the fight commenced, Link heard someone approaching his back. Before Link had time to turn around, a huge hand clapped him very hard on the back, throwing him forward onto his face. As he got up, wondering if someone had attacked him, a massive hand pulled him up.
"BROTHER!" Darunia the Goron roared. "How WONDERFUL it is to see you again!"
"Yeah, good to see you too, Darunia..." Link said, rubbing his sore back. "Do you think you could greet me in a more gentle manner next time?"
"What are you talking about?? I was being gentle!" He said loudly. Link groaned. "Good work with your fights so far!" Darunia congratulated him. "I can see your feeling very healthy!"
"Well, I was feeling healthy, anyway..." Link said.
"What are you talking about? Let me give you a Goron Hug!!"
"Ack! No! I mean...ah, we're missing the fight! C'mon, let's watch it...maybe you can hug me later." Link said, not really wanting to get squashed in a 'Goron Hug' by Darunia's great arms, now or later.
"Well, if that's the case I have to go back to the other gorons, brother. I'll see you later!"
"Okay..." Link said, relieved that he had avoided getting the breath squeezed out of him. He was glad to see Darunia, but the Goron was just a little ignorant of how much stronger than a Hylian he was. Link sat down to watch the fight.
Sohran was rushing at the soldier Link didn't know, and the soldier could barely move fast enough to block the blows. Eventually the man took advantage of a break in Sohran's attack (Sohran didn't seem to be tired at all despite his repeated attacks). He brought up his sword at Sohran's face, but Sohran jumped back, dodging without difficulty. By now Sohran's opponent was getting tired of blocking, so he threw some more attacks at Sohran. Sohran blocked a few but dodged most of them, and attacked when there was a break in his opponent's assault. Sohran used his speed this time, and before the soldier could bring his sword up, many blows were dealt to him, leaving dents in his armor. Sohran even hit a place where armor wasn't, and the man gasped as Sohran's sword left a slash in his skin. Sohran kept attacking the poor man, and soon he was driven out of the ring, and surrendered. The referee declared Sohran the victor, and the crowd cheered for him as he went back over to where Link was sitting.
"You know," Sohran admitted, "this is more fun than I had last year. I think I'm beginning to have as much fun as you!"
"Good," replied Link, "if this contest wasn't fun, I'm sure that fewer soldiers would enter it. It's weird...I don't remember who I heard it from, but someone said competition was fierce and personal in the Warrior Contest."
"Oh, these are just the first matches, " Sohran said seriously, "it's the later fights that get fierce."
"Shoot...and I was beginning to think the whole thing would be fun. Oh well... maybe I'll get lucky and no one will hate me after this Contest. If I'm really lucky, maybe someone will hate me less." Link and Sohran turned their attention to the fight going on, between Raykel and the strong-attacking soldier that had beaten the quick one in a previous match.
"Oh, I get it...your hoping to prove yourself to Raykel so he wont treat you disrespectfully anymore. He really is a spectacular leader, but I have noticed that he always avoids the subject of you. He treats talking of you as if it will make his mouth dirty. I don't really understand his feelings for you, but I think that he feels like you took something from him," Sohran said quietly.
"I hope he'll realize that I'm a worthy protector for Zelda," Link said, watching Raykel slash the other soldier's chest armor.
"I think he knows you can protect her, I think he even knows that you can protect her better than he can, but he probably thinks it's dishonorable to lose a job you've worked towards for over eighteen years to a fifteen-year-old. No offense about your age, of course. I myself am very young to be second in command." Sohran was partially distracted by Raykel's punch throwing his stout opponent out of the ring, to land roughly flat on his back.
"No offense taken," said Link, slow to respond because he was also distracted.
The strong man got up and ran at Raykel, but Raykel just brought the fist of his free hand down onto the man's helmet. The man, tough but not tough enough, fell backwards, unconscious.
"Raykel uses his fists as much as his sword..." Link observed, "His arm muscles must be pretty strong to knock a man out through a helmet."
"He is very strong, I have fought him many times and always lost. It would be annoying to lose to him so much if I didn't recognize him as my leader. It's too bad he wont let you get close to him, Link. He really isn't so bad. A bit too ambitious, maybe...but very capable."
"Looks like Cosha's up next. Hey, who is that guy putting on his helmet? He doesn't look much older than me!"
"Oh, that's Ector. He's pretty fast, and don't tell anyone this, but I hope he beats Cosha. I never did like the guy."
"Don't worry, I'm not exactly fond of Cosha either. He's almost as creepy as Raykel!"
"Creepy? Hah! You really don't know Raykel's good side."
"Nope," Link agreed. The two men watched Ector repeatedly attack Cosha, but he parried all of his attacks without difficulty. Soon Cosha hit Ector's helmet, just like Link had done to Paro, but imuch/i harder. Ector held his head and fell to one knee, barely aware of what was happening. Cosha kicked him in the face and he flew out of the ring. Ector didn't get up, so the paramedics carried him off.
"Fierce, isn't he?" Link said with a bit of disapproval in his voice.
"Almost to the point of cruelty." Sohran said, also disgusted with how quick Ector had been defeated. "Hey, guess what?"
"What?"
"We're up next."
"Huh?"
"We have to fight each other next, see? The referee's calling us. It's time for the semifinals."
"Oh....uh, let's go then. Good luck." Link and Sohran rose and walked to opposite sides of the ring.
"And good luck to you as well. May the best fighter win." The referee signaled it was time to start. Link and Sohran, smiling at each other, met swords at the center of the ring. Many times they attacked each other, but each time one did, the other hit his sword back. The swords rung each time they came in contact with each other, and it was kind of like a song, Link thought. It went on for quite a while, each trying to get his sword past his opponent's guard. At one time Link almost got past Sohran's sword, but Sohran jumped back and thrust at Link, who parried. They seemed to be equal to the crowd, but a few of them noticed that Sohran was trying harder than Link. After maybe half an hour of the swords clashing, Sohran backed away from Link, and they stared at each other. Sohran was breathing pretty hard, but Link seemed to be just fine.
"Pretty persistent, Sohran." Link complimented, "This is fun!"
"You didn't think I'd give up as easily as the other men you fought, did you?" Sohran raised his free hand up to his face, with two fingers up and two down. Some strange greenish energy began to form in a circle around his feet.
"Oh, great." Link said, bracing himself for Sohran's spell. Link remembered that it was supposed to be a tornado attack, but had never seen one and didn't know what to expect. The green energy grew around Sohran, and began spinning. It got bigger and spun faster until it was the size of a small twister. The crowd gasped and braced themselves to prevent getting sucked into the whirlwind, but for Link, who was very close to it, there was no way to prevent being dragged towards the magic tornado. Link stuck his sword into the ground and tried to hold onto it, but his grip wasn't strong enough and he was pulled towards Sohran. When Link was close enough, Sohran grabbed the front of his tunic.
"Hold on!" Sohran warned as he let the tornado spin faster. Link soon discovered that the wind was sharp, and with both the wind and Sohran holding him in place, he could not avoid the slicing currents as they made cuts and slashes all over his body. The wind went faster and the cuts got deeper, and increased in number. Link strained his leg against the wind and brought it up to kick Sohran off of him. The spell disappeared instantly, and both men fell backwards.
"Whoa, cool spell!" Link said, struggling to his feet. He yanked his sword out of the ground and turned to face Sohran, who was already on his feet.
"I need to practice it more." Sohran admitted, "It was really supposed to be stronger than that."
"Wow, maybe I could learn to do it sometime." Link thought out loud.
"Later!" Sohran said, charging at Link. Then the sword ringing resumed. Sohran was still a little tired, and Link was now too, because of his cuts and slashes. Link and Sohran kept attacking each other, and it became clear that neither would give up any time soon. They kept going for maybe twenty minutes, until both were breathing heavily.
"Maybe it's time to finish this," Link decided, "before I waste too much energy. No, I think I already have..." They kept slashing at each other, but all of the sudden Link picked up the pace. He attacked faster, and Sohran couldn't quite block all of his moves. Link kept attacking fast for a couple of minutes, until finally Sohran tripped and fell on his back.
"Looks like you win," he said between deep breaths. "Your more worthy to go on than I, so I surrender." Sohran looked so tired that Link thought he would take a nap on the spot. To his surprise, Sohran found strength to get up and leave the ring.
"The winner is Link!" The referee shouted, and everyone cheered again. There was some especially loud and annoying cheering in front of Link, and he looked at the crowd. He saw Ruto there, screaming in her high-pitched voice.
"Yay! Go Link, go Link!! Exactly what I expect from my future husband!!"
"Eh...." Link wiped the blood and sweat from his forehead and turned away to go and sit where he had before. Well, lay actually. Link was pretty tired and cut up, but knew he would be fighting in the match after the one that was just beginning. He put his hands behind his head to hold it up, and watched Raykel and Cosha step into the ring.
"Let's see what my student can do!" Raykel said happily.
"I won't disappoint you," replied Cosha. Raykel put on his helmet, and at the signal the two rushed at each other. The first thing Raykel did was swing his long sword at Cosha's legs. Cosha jumped, and the sword missed. Cosha took a swing at Raykel's head, but the tall man ducked low enough for it to miss. Raykel lifted his sword and brought the end of the hilt down on Cosha's helmet. Not too hard, but hard enough to stun him for a moment. Raykel then punched Cosha's chest, knocking him down.
"You can do better than that! Get up!" Raykel smiled proudly behind his helmet as Cosha jumped up, barely staying on the ground for a second. The two kept attacking, but Raykel's attacks found their mark far more often than Cosha's. Cosha wasn't doing too bad though, and punched Raykel when he saw a pause between attacks. Raykel stumbled and almost fell, but came back with an attack strong enough to throw Cosha onto his back. Once again he jumped up quickly. Cosha tried a low attack and hit one of Raykel's legs, nearly tripping him.
"Nice try!" Raykel said shoving Cosha away. Raykel kept going for a while, but Link got the feeling that Raykel was letting Cosha get the hits that he got. After a while Raykel got bored of it, and slashed quickly and strongly at Cosha. Cosha brought his sword up to defend, but it flew back and so did Cosha as Raykel's sword hit. Cosha got back up, but Raykel hit him again, sending him out of the designated fighting square. Cosha stayed out.
"My Master wins." He said, before getting to his feet. The crowd cheered when it was announced officially. Raykel took off his helmet and threw it over to a soldier, declaring it was too hot, and went to Cosha.
"Not bad, but I told you that you need much more strength behind your blows. Quickness isn't everything, especially in a fight with armor. Have a seat. We will rest until my next match."
Link laid his head back on the grass as the referee said there would be a fifteen-minute break before the final match. Link rested until the break had come to its end. The match came too quickly.
buSection 5
Blood and Fire/u/b
The Queen Dragon slept poorly in her great, soft, nest. It was composed of many pillows, blankets, mattresses, and even some gold. She was an enormous dragon, being the Queen of Dragons on that continent, and she was almost white, with a tint of orange. She had blood red spikes down her back and the undersides of her great wings were the color of fire. Her beautiful, deep blue eyes rested behind their lids, and her loud breathing could be heard a long ways away. Suddenly, she awakened to the noise of voices.
"bMaster, wait! You forgot your staff!/b"
"I knew that, you pea-brained dragon! I was simply testing how fast you would bring it to me!"
The queen recognized the voices to be Dakos, her subject, and the Dragonlord, her captor. She opened her eyes and raised her head. She would not have them catch her sleeping.
She watched the tiny form of the Dragonlord come through the archway, which was the entrance and exit to her room. He was quite a short man, she thought, and far too young to be controlling a great creature such as herself. She felt a pang of dishonor and hatred as the puny man approached her. He had blonde hair and was wearing a red and black tunic, with designs on it. He was, of course, wearing his headpiece, which looked like a dark metal headband with an orange jewel in it, and red-and-black wings coming off the sides for decoration. He had wing-shaped black spikes coming from something strapped to his back, and from those spikes flowed a red cape. He had black armor on his chest, and at his side was his sheathed sword, a weapon that was infused with darkness. He also had a bow and some evil-looking arrows hung over his shoulder, and black boots and gloves. In his hand was the magical staff he used to control dragons.
"Sahoriel," The Dragonlord began. The Queen of Dragons interrupted him.
"bYou are not worthy to speak my name, TINY MORTAL!/b" She hissed.
"And you had better watch your tongue, you oversized WURM!" The Dragonlord brought up his staff, threatening her. As the Dragonlord challenged Sahoriel, he stared up into her great eyes. iSo large, so blue../i.he felt he would drown in the ocean of her eyes. Be crushed by the boulder-sized irises. Be hypnotized by their power to the point of insanity. He didn't show it, but he was very afraid of the Dragon Queen. He knew that if she wasn't under his power, she could step on him, eat him, shred him, cook him, freeze him, melt him, pull him apart, and a million other things that she pleased. But she was under his power, he reminded himself, and she could not break free.
"Queen of Wurms, you will help me summon a great dragon. You will put it under your spell, for all dragons will obey a Dragon Queen, and I shall put a bracelet on it. You will help me summon a great golden energy-element dragon.
"bYou overstep your limits, Puny One. You have not the power to summon an element dragon, and I will not help you. Your tiny staff will not avail you, for I will not allow another dragon to fly to its death at the hands of a human. No dragon should be forced to fight when it does not want to./b"
"Don't worry about another one of your precious lizards dying, Great Wurm. An element dragon, especially an energy element dragon, is too much for the little Hylians I am sending it after. Besides that, I will go myself to ensure the death of Link. Once I have stolen the princess and forced her to give me the Triforce of Wisdom, I will open a path between the evil realm and this one, for by my new wisdom I will know how, and I will free my Master! Once my Master is free I will have no more use of you, Wurm. At that time I will set you free." The Dragonlord grinned up at Sahoriel.
"bYou swear that you will grant my freedom, and never bother my kind again?/b" Sahoriel asked, thinking that the Dragonlord wouldn't live very long after he set her free.
"I swear it, She dragon." The queen thought a moment.
"bMaster/b," Dakos called from far behind him, "bWould it not be so much easier to just kill Zelda and take the triforce?/b"
"No. Zelda may not have realized the true power of her triforce yet, but she can use some of it, at least. If Zelda gives it to me, I will magically get the knowledge and power to use it as she does. If I kill her, it could take a very long time to learn to use it myself."
"bOh/b" Dakos said, feeling rather dumb. The Dragonlord turned back to Sahoriel, madly smiling.
"So is it a deal or what?" He questioned, knowing the answer.
"bIt is done. When the portal has finished it's re-energizing, which should be very soon, I will summon your element dragon/b."
"You have made the right decision, my powerful pet." Sahoriel hissed at him, bearing her six-foot-long, razor-sharp teeth.
"Hahahaha!" The young Dragonlord laughed insanely and went to watch the portal regain it's powers.
"Will Raykel and Link come to the ring at this time?" the referee shouted. Link got to his feet and walked to one side of the ring, and Raykel proudly marched to the other. Link's heart pace increased in anticipation. He and Raykel drew their swords and stared into one another's eyes. Link's face was expressionless, but Raykel's eyes suddenly filled with hate at the sight of Link. It was so abrupt that it almost made Link jump.
"Begin!" Shouted the referee.
"Haaaahhhh!" both men shouted at once as they ran at each other. Link looked at Raykel's face as the distance between them closed, and found it filled with rage. Link was surprised at how fast the man could get mad. Raykel brought his sword above his head, and Link could tell he was going to bring it down as hard as he could.
"Yikes!" Link raised his shield as the sword came down with tremendous force, and as sword and shield met, there was a loud clang. The force threw Link to the ground, and his Hylian shield fell, in two pieces, off his arm.
"Wow!" Link stared at his broken shield halves for a split second. "Close one!" Link exclaimed as he rolled backwards and jumped to his feet. To his surprise and dismay, Raykel was again raising his sword for a powerful strike. Link wasn't about to let him do that again, and slashed his armored stomach with his sword, knocking the breath from him for a moment, and forcing him to bring his arms down.
"Brat!" Raykel said, attacking fiercely. Link parried again and again, not letting Raykel through. Soon he started an attack of his own. He might have attacked faster, but was still tired and cut up from the last fight, so his attacks were of average speed. Raykel also parried, forcing his sword against Link's, trying to throw him off-balance. It didn't work, and Link kept attacking. He got a few hits on Raykel, and then Raykel retaliated, swinging his long sword at Link in quick swipes, clearly aiming for the head. Link thought the man was insane, for if he let his guard down, he could say goodbye to his head. Raykel didn't get through, and the battle continued for a dozen minutes. In that dozen minutes, Raykel hadn't broken Link's guard much, but Link had broken though his a few times. This wasn't such a great thing, though - because when Link idid/i get through, his strikes didn't do a whole lot to Raykel's thick armor. Both began to tire after fifteen more minutes of swordplay, and Link had put many dents in Raykel's armor. Raykel got tired of being outmatched, and swung his sword in a wide arc at Link. Link parried it, but was unprepared for Raykel's fist smashing into his face.
Link was thrown back and got quickly to hit feet, wiping the blood from his mouth. He slashed at Raykel quickly, and Raykel deflected his attack, but Link quickly brought his sword around again. It struck Raykel's left wrist, cutting through the leather and leaving a slash. Raykel growled in fury and attacked. They kept attacking and defending for another ten minutes or so, and both were breathing heavily. Link decided that if he didn't do something soon, he would tire out for sure. He powered up for a spin attack. Raykel backed out of range, so Link surprised him by not spinning, but jumping out of his crouch and attacking.
"What?!" Raykel exclaimed in surprise, not parrying Link's sudden attack very well. Link attacked with as much strength and speed as possible, and knocked Raykel's sword out of his hand.
"DRAT!" Raykel yelled in rage, knowing Link could cut him if he moved.
"Don't just stand there," Link said with a smile, "Go get your sword."
"Are you kidding? If I turn around you'll drive your sword though me!" Raykel said distrustfully.
"No, I won't. I refuse to battle a warrior without a weapon. As long as you don't pull some quick maneuver and get behind me like your apprentice did to Dans, I wont attack you until you're armed." Link's smile vanished. "We don't have all day." Raykel raised an eyebrow suspiciously at Link, and backed up until his sword was next to his feet, then slowly bent down and picked it up. Dark thoughts plagued his temporarily unstable mind.
iI can't believe this brat is so confident! I know he's letting me get my sword because he wants to dishonor me in front of my men, as if taking my job wasn't bad enough! I've wanted to have the job of being a personal bodyguard for the Royal Family for longer than his lifespan! Now he wants to take my place as the strongest soldier, too? The NERVE! /i
Raykel glowered at Link, and could feel his enmity rising, his rage boiling. Something deep inside of him warned him of getting angry at Link, warned him that he was being unreasonable and evil. He suppressed that something, covering it with hate.
Raykel yelled and rushed at Link, his anger at its peak. He swung his sword at Link as hard as he could. Link was so surprised at the sudden ferocity of the attack that his sword was knocked from his hand, and flew off behind him to his right. Raykel's fist smashed first into Link's stomach, then into Link's face, harder than last time, and Link was hurled to the ground. Link felt blood drip from his mouth as he began to rise, but stopped when he felt the tip of Raykel's sword against his throat.
"Eh...." Link flinched as Raykel brought his blade down slowly, until Link was flat on the ground again. Link felt a warm trickle of blood come from the point on his neck where Raykel's blade pushed against it. The crowd was silent. Link looked up into Raykel's face, and wondered if Raykel would lose his temper and kill him. Link was afraid to swallow, knowing he would cut himself. He barely dared to breathe. His eyes darted over to the ground to the right of him, where his sword lay, almost within reach. His eyes returned to Raykel's face, and he found that Raykel was no longer looking at him. Sure, Raykel's eyes were pointed in Link's direction, but Raykel seemed to be staring right through him, witnessing another dimension. It was pretty creepy. Link took advantage of Raykel being distracted by his own thoughts, and he kicked Raykel's blade off of his neck. Link rolled to the right, grabbing his sword and springing to his feet in one smooth motion. Raykel was so surprised that he didn't move as Link came at him with a jump slash.
"Heeyaahhh!" Link brought the sword down harder than he meant to on Raykel's left shoulder. It made a huge, deep dent, and Raykel was thrown down, dropping his sword.
"Ahhhhh!" Raykel yelled in pain and clutched his wound, where blood was coming from under his shoulder plate. He got to his feet slowly, panting. His features were twisted, and he seemed to be in a great deal of pain. Link realized that he could have killed the man if his blade had been a few inches away from its mark. Link was glad he had good aim, but not glad he had hit Raykel so hard.
"Oh, man...I'm sorry!" Link approached Raykel. "Man, I really didn't mean to -!!!" Link's sentence was cut off as Raykel's right hand shot up, gripping his neck. The iron grip was so intense that Link accidentally dropped his sword as his hands came up to try to pry Raykel's hand off. Link felt like his neck was literally being crushed, and it was impossible to breathe. Raykel drew him in close, so he had little room to struggle. He punched Raykel's face a few times, but the difference in their heights made it difficult to punch very well. Raykel completely ignored the punches, looking down at Link with an insane expression on his face. Link kicked Raykel's legs, but the armor made it impossible to do damage, and Link didn't have the room to bring his boot up to Raykel's face. Raykel continued to strangle him, knowing his helplessness. Again something in Raykel's mind warned him against what he was doing. Again he ignored it. Link grew weak. iNo! I can't let this happen...if I don't break free he may not let me go at all! /iLink continued choking from Raykel's grasp for half a minute, but finally Raykel extended Link at arm's length, examining him as a fisher does his catch, as it suffocates and wriggles on the hook.
"You're pathetic." Raykel said in a low voice, just before Link's boot made contact with his chin.
"Arrgghhh!" Raykel was thrown back by the surprisingly strong kick, and barely avoided falling over. The half-throttled Link dropped to one knee, holding his sore neck and breathing deeply.
"That's it!" Raykel wiped the blood off of his badly bruised chin and picked up his sword. "Right," Raykel whispered so quietly the Link could barely hear him, "I'll kill you." Raykel raised his sword and thrusted downwards towards Link's chest. Link barely dodged in time to avoid being skewered. He brought his left fist up to Raykel's face, punching him square between the eyes, hard. Even without the gauntlets, Link was no weakling. Raykel was thrown back, maybe ten feet, and landed on his back. He was unconscious. Link picked up his sword; he had won the Warrior Contest.
The crowd started cheering, and within seconds, a suspenseful silence was transformed into a deafening roar. Link couldn't hear himself think! When he had quickly sorted out the chaos of his mind, he became aware that people were running towards him. Link looked to the left and saw Saria, Malon, and Zelda running at him, yelling and cheering. In front of him he saw Ruto, quite possibly making more noise than anyone else in the courtyard, running at him as fast as her flipper-feet would allow. Behind him he felt rather than heard several large people lumbering towards him. One of them was yelling, "BROTHER! Let me and my people give you a big Goron Hug to congratulate you!!" Everything was moving at once, and the Sages, Princess, Ranch-girl, and huge Gorons were closing in and would all reach him in a matter of seconds.
It was too much.
"Aaaahhhhhh!" Link screamed, running away through the crowd. He stopped screaming and ran all the way to his room, where he fell, exhausted, onto his bed; and fell asleep almost instantly in the pleasant, soft, silence.
"Whoops...looks like we scared him off!" Zelda yelled over the roar of the crowd, which immediately began dying down once Link had left. "Now the crowd won't get to see Link get his trophy! Dad'll be mad at us..."
"I think Link just needed some rest," Saria said.
"He's going to bleed all over his blankets," Malon stated.
"AWWW! Where'd Brother go?" Darunia asked, disappointed. "Now who are we going to give a Goron Hug to?"
"Not me!" Ruto screeched. "And I should be the only one hugging Link around here!"
"Not until he's done with his nap!" Saria said. No one heard her very well, due to the noise. Even if the cheering had died down, everyone in the crowd was now yapping loudly.
"QUIET!" The King yelled over the noise. "Settle down!" The crowd slowly quieted down, and turned their attention to the King. "Link has probably just gone to sleep! There's no need to get rowdy! We'll wait an hour and then wake him up, so you all can see him get his trophy. Until then, there is a matter to be resolved. I don't know about the rest of you, but it seemed to me that Raykel was trying to kill Link, rather than just defeat him. We will have a vote on this, but not here, it's getting way too crowded in this courtyard. Anyone who wishes to stay and vote on Raykel's case will go outside on the north side of the castle, in North Hyrule. Refreshment will be brought while Raykel is being healed, but anyone who wants to leave immediately will be escorted out by some guards. Those who wish to leave, go to the southern end of the courtyard where five Royal Guards are waiting. The rest of you, go to the northern end." The crowd quietly did as it was told.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Uuuuuhhhhhhhh...."
......................
Knock. Knock. KNOCK.
"Zzzzzzzz.....hhmmmmmm."
.....................................................
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
"Alright, already! Cut it out!" Link yelled at his door.
"Link, there's a bunch of people waiting for you on Royal Field! It's totally rude to keep them waiting!" Zelda's voice came from behind his door. "They aren't going to leave until they see you, so get up!"
"Coming..." Link drowsily got out of bed and opened the door.
"Link, your a bloody mess! Maybe we should heal you first..." Zelda suggested.
"No, it doesn't hurt much. I can go to Royal Field first." Link said.
"Okay, let's go." Link followed Zelda down the stairs and to the north entrance of the castle. This entrance was really nothing more than a big pair of double doors, connected to the grassy field by a wooden bridge that covered the moat. The doors looked weak compared to the drawbridge at the southern end of the castle, but during times of invasion a huge, thick metal sheet came from an opening above the double doors, and sealed them completely. It would take a lot of strength to break through them. At the moment the doors were open, and Zelda led Link onto the field. Upon their arrival, the people that remained of the crowd started cheering again.
"Oh, come on...can't they cheer any ilouder/i?" Link said sarcastically, holding his head.
"Quiet down, people, quiet." The King said. He approached Link with a weird golden statue mounted on a wooden base. The statue looked like a soldier holding a spear above his head in triumph. "I present you with the warrior trophy, Link." The King held it out to him.
"Uhhhh.... thanks, but what am I supposed to do with that?" Link asked, looking at the object that seemed to be completely useless, except for selling.
"Huh? Well...you keep it in memoration of the event, or sell it, whatever you want." The King replied.
"Ehhh...thanks, I guess." Link said, taking it. The crowd started cheering again, and Link looked around at them, wondering what he was expected to do. Then he spotted Raykel. Two soldiers were holding him, and his hands were tied. iNow why is he being guarded? Why is he out here? /iLink wondered. Cosha was nowhere in sight. When the crowd stopped cheering enough to be heard, Link voiced his confusion.
"What's going on? Why is Raykel all tied up?" Link put his trophy down and looked expectantly at the King.
"A lot of the crowd and I think Raykel tried to kill you during the contest. Most of the crowd agreed, but not all, and he won't confess anything. The law of Hyrule, made before I was born, decrees that a man cannot be executed for attempted murder unless there is a unanimous vote against him, or he confesses. If no conclusion is reached by the jury, or the crowd of witnesses in this case, then the attempted victim must vote, and it will be the final decision."
"iExecuted?/i" Link looked over at Raykel.
"Yes. No banishment, no imprisonment, just execution." The King looked at Link seriously. "So, Link...do you feel that he tried to kill you, rather than defeat you like he was supposed to?"
Link stared into Raykel's eyes.
Flashback...iswinging his long sword at Link in quick swipes, clearly aiming for the head. Link thought the man was insane, for if he let his guard down, he could say goodbye to his head.
Link felt a warm trickle of blood come from the point on his neck where Raykel's blade pushed against it. The crowd was silent. Link looked up into Raykel's face, and wondered if Raykel would lose his temper and kill him.
"That's it!" Raykel wiped the blood off of his bruised chin, and picked up his sword.
"Right." Raykel whispered so quietly Link could barely hear him, "I'll kill you." Raykel raised his sword and thrusted downwards towards Link's chest. /iEnd
Link could see that Raykel was trying to look strong. Raykel was pretending that he didn't care what decision Link made, that it didn't matter to him. Link looked deeper and saw that Raykel was afraid. Afraid of losing his place in life, afraid of death. Link smiled.
"Raykel was very rough during the contest." Link's friendly smile turned serious, as he continued to gaze at Raykel. "But he would not kill me."
Raykel's eyes widened in surprise.
"Very well," The King said, grinning. "I don't want to kill my own man, anyway. Cut his bonds. We'll hold no more grudges against him, since he was only trying hard to win the contest, not kill my daughter's bodyguard." The soldiers holding Raykel released him, and cut the ropes binding him. Raykel simply walked into the castle without saying anything. As he walked by Link, Link thought he saw something glint in those proud, brown eyes. He didn't know if it was gratitude, happiness, bitterness...Link had no idea, but he was hopeful.
"Now then, I know you all have homes to get back to, so let's get back to Hyrule on the southern side of the castle." The crowd started to move towards the double doors, a few stopping to congratulate Link on the way. Some said he should have voted against Raykel, but Link made no comments.
"Brother, how about that HUG, now?" Darunia stopped on his way to the doors to ask Link.
"Well, I'm not really in very good condition for one..." iOh boy...there's no way out of it this time! /iHe thought.
"Nonsense! Your bad condition only makes you more needy of a Goron Hug!" Darunia opened his great arms.
"Wait...!!" They closed on Link and he braced himself to get squashed, but to his surprise, the hug wasn't that bad. Since his arms weren't pinned to his sides like they usually had been in the past, he returned the embrace.
"There, that wasn't so bad!" Darunia said, getting off of him. "Did you think I would CRUSH you or something? I told you I could be gentle, Brother!"
"Guess you were right," Link said. "See you later."
"GOODBYE!" Darunia said, clapping him on the back extremely hard.
"My aching back!" Link was nearly thrown to the ground. "I mean...I'll be iaching/i to get iback/i to the Goron Village to visit you."
"Well, of COURSE you will!" Darunia finally walked away. Link sighed; rubbing his back, but then flinched when he touched a large cut there.
"Sorry about that." Sohran came up to Link, concerned. "You need to clean it and use Arlia. Need help walking to the infirmary?"
"I'll be fine. It's not as bad as it looks"
"If your sure..." He said, walking off. Malon and Zelda walked up beside Link.
"You did great." Malon said.
"Thanks...where's Saria?"
"She had to leave, but she told me to say congratulations to you, so congratulations." Zelda told him. She stared at him admiringly for a few seconds, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Thanks...I can see her later, I guess." The King waited until everyone but Link, Malon, and Zelda was though the doors, and then paused on his way to the castle to talk to them.
"Coming in, Link? Those are some nasty cuts. And by the way, your neck looks a little bruised, too."
"It does? I'll come inside in a moment, just let me enjoy the fresh air for a minute." Link said, sitting down.
"If you insist," the King said, "But I would hurry before those wounds get infected if I were you." iHe's definitely Zelda's father../i.Link said, remembering how Zelda was always fussing about his wounds getting infected.
The King went in and closed the doors behind him. Link laid down and stared up at the sky, noticing that the dark rain clouds had once again covered the sun. Now that he noticed it, the shade from the clouds and the cool breeze felt very nice.
"Link, you should wash those immediately!" Zelda nagged.
"Oh let him rest a moment, for goodness's sake!" Malon said to her.
"Okay." She agreed reluctantly. She hated to see Link hurt.
Link just kept staring at the clouds, and thought they were very beautiful, despite their dark grayness. Link didn't even mind that much, because he liked rain most of the time. He waited a few minutes in silence, and just as he was about to get up, he spotted something. It was a tiny black dot...no, not really a dot...it looked like a far away bat! iMaybe my eyes are deceiving me and it's just one of those birds that usually hang around the lake,/i he thought. The breeze picked up, and it smelled like rain.
"Brrrr! Link, it's cold out here!" Malon shivered in the cold. "Father will be getting worried about me, so I should be going," she said. Link sat up.
"Okay. Want me to walk you back to the ranch?"
"No, I'll be fine...and you're in no condition to be walking anywhere but the infirmary, mister!"
"Hehehe...I know, I know." Link said. Malon walked towards the double-doors and saw Link's trophy, still on the ground.
"Hey, you want me to take this inside?"
"Sure. Just give it to Sohran. You can trust him, and he knows where my room is."
"Sohran? Isn't he the reason your all cut up?"
"It's okay, he's a good guy. And thank you...I'll see you later."
"Bye!" Malon waved as she picked up the trophy. "Heavy, isn't it?" She hefted it and left.
"We should be going in too, Link." Zelda suggested.
"Listen to the wind, Zelda." Link said for no apparent reason. "Doesn't it sound weird? And isn't it weird how fast it picked up? It was just a breeze a few seconds ago!" Link listened to the wind, and thought he heard something wrong with it. A faint sound...
"You're right..." Zelda agreed. "It's almost unnatural...but you know how weird weather can get around here once in a while."
"Ssshhhhhhhh" Link could almost identify the sound, but the wind prevented him from telling where it was coming from yet. Zelda was the first to name the sound.
"Hey, that sounds like the rustling of...wings!" Zelda exclaimed, and they both searched the skies. Link looked for the black thing he saw a few moments ago, but there was no sign of it. It could have disappeared into the low clouds, he thought.
"I hear it but I don't see it! It must be far away!" Link pointed out.
"If it's far than how can we hear it?" Zelda asked.
"I don't..." Just then, Link looked in the direction of the Ethereal Forest, and the thing he saw approaching them was the biggest living creature Link had ever seen. He jumped to his feet.
"It's a DRAGON!" Link shouted over the wind and flapping. He pointed at the enormous golden dragon, which was quickly closing in on them. It had large scales; golden as the King's crown, and stormy gray wings. Its strait horns were as white as it's wickedly sharp teeth, and there was a familiar orange glimmer on it's left wrist. It was so enormous that the flapping of it's wings seemed to fill the air with more sound than the wind, yet it was at least a mile away.
"It's-it's ENORMOUS!" Zelda stammered. "Its wingspan must be as big as the castle!! We have to lead it away from the castle before it gets here and destroys everything!"
"Let's run out and meet it, then!" Link said.
"Are you icrazy/i?! That's an energy-element dragon! With its energy fire, it could melt or blow up entire villages! We're no match for it!"
"We have to do something!" They were both yelling now, to be heard over the gale. An idea, not a very good one, but the only one they had at the moment, struck Link. He called Epona. She came running to him quickly.
"Zelda, ride Epona as deep into the forest as you can! I'll lead it away from you!"
"That's noble, but there's no way - hey! Put me down!" She yelled indignantly.
"No arguing!" Link said, lifting Zelda onto Epona. "The dragon's here! RUN!" Epona took off like a lightning bolt to the right, where the forest was closest, and Link ran away from the castle, toward the dragon. He paid no heed to his cuts and slashes when they re-opened with the strain of sprinting. Suddenly, the dragon was upon him. He drew the Silver Sword, and realized he had no shield. Link was nearly blown over as the dragon flew over him. It swooped around and came back, flying low with its four claws on each paw extended. Each claw was almost as long as Link was tall. He threw himself on the ground, and the sharp claws missed by mere inches.
Link jumped to his feet. Already he knew it was nearly impossible. There was simply no way he could beat this dragon with just his sword...but he had to try.
Zelda and Epona reached the edge of the forest, and Zelda ordered the speeding horse to stop. Reluctantly, Epona halted and Zelda jumped off.
"I know Link wanted me to ride deep in the forest, but he's defenseless out there! I'm going to use a summoning spell to get his bow and arrows. I'd summon more, but I don't think I can handle more than that. When I get the gear, you have to go to him with it, okay?" Zelda looked Epona in the eyes. Somehow the horse understood, and nodded. Zelda summoned the weapons, and slung the quiver over Epona's neck, then Epona took the bow in her teeth.
"Go!" Zelda commanded, and Epona raced off. The quick horse reached Link in a few moments, just as the dragon was about to fly over again.
"Get down!" Link shouted at Epona, and pushed her over, falling with her. Again, the dragon's spear-like claws barely missed. Link and Epona jumped up.
"I don't know how you did it, but good girl!" Link said, equipping the bow and arrows Epona brought. "Wait...weren't you supposed to take Zelda deep into the woods? Maybe not such a good girl!" Epona whinnied in urgency, and Link got on her. He got out his bow and aimed an ice arrow at the dragon's claws as it prepared for another pass.
"bSay goodbye!/b" It roared, lowering and aiming its sharp talons. The dragon roared again, as it felt something bounce off of its hard paw scales and its paws were suddenly encased in ice. "bWhat the heck?!/b" The dragon pulled up, and hovered high in the air, examining it's frozen appendages. A hot, powerful blast of yellow fire shot from it's jaws, and the ice half-melted, half-exploded instantly. "bYou'll have to do better than that! Time for me to fry you, and eat whatever's left!/b"
The dragon dived towards Link and Epona, taking a breath, about to engulf them in energy fire. It didn't know that Link had a light arrow aimed for its eye.
"I hope you can enjoy your meal with one bloody eye!" Link shouted, and let the arrow fly. Just as the dragon was about to flame Link and Epona, the arrow logged itself in the creature's left iris. It screamed in rage and pain, letting out the energy fire in exploding flares, and came tumbling through the sky. Epona quickly ran out of the way, and the enormous dragon barely missed falling on her and Link. However, the shock of the huge body hitting the earth threw horse and rider to the ground. Epona got up immediately, and took hold of Link's tunic with her teeth, pulling him up.
"Thanks..." He said breathlessly. He was so tired and beat up that he was having trouble mounting Epona, so she got down. Soon Link was mounted and Epona stood up, and the dragon rose also.
"bIt's time for a horse-and-Hylian HAMBURGER!/b" He yelled, glaring at them with his one good eye. Epona charged at the dragon, and Link slashed at it with his sword, but discovered that the scales were too thick to be cut. He noticed that there was an unarmored spot between the dragon's neck scales and it's underside scales, and aimed for it, but the dragon reared back it's huge head, and bit at its attackers like a snake. He didn't bite them, but his snout hit, knocking them both over. Immediately the creature grabbed Epona in one great paw. "bSay good-bye to horsey/b!!!" It yelled mockingly.
"NO!" Link shouted as the dragon hurled Epona at the Ethereal Forest to the north. Link was amazed at how far the creature could throw. Epona, neighing in terror, flew all the way to the forest, and disappeared behind the trees! "Blasted dragon! You'll pay for thaaaaat!!" Link yelled, losing his temper. He didn't fight very well when he lost his temper. Even though he was completely exhausted, he jumped to his feet. He tried to cut the dragon with his sword again, but he didn't use magic and it just glanced off of the thick scales.
"bFool!/b" The dragon slammed its paw down on Link, pinning him to the ground. "Forget the hamburger, I'll have a pancake! Hahahaha!" A cold rain began trickling from the heavens, and quickly turned into a heavy downpour, just as Link thought things couldn't get any worse. The dragon slowly applied pressure to Link's body, which was completely covered by the paw, except for his head and left arm. Link grimaced in pain, and the pain of the claw was almost as bad as the pain of losing Epona. He reached for his sword, just an inch away from his grasp!
"bOh no you don't/b!" The dragon said, grinning. Gleefully, it put more pressure on Link. He screamed in agony, feeling a couple ribs breaking under the dragon's weight. He couldn't breathe, and knew if the dragon put any more weight on him, he would be crushed. He could almost reach his sword! He knew that even if the sword didn't pierce the dragon, the light magic would burn it; but there was no way he could reach it if the dragon didn't let up.
Suddenly, the dragon started roaring and the paw stopped crushing. Link looked to his right and saw Zelda, of all people, half a mile away, attacking it with a light spell! Most of the pressure was off of him, so Link grabbed the Silver Sword. He clashed it against the dragon's hand, calling up its magical light powers. The dragon growled as it's paw burned, and he took it off of Link.
"bI don't have time for this/b!" The dragon jumped into the air, and flew after Zelda, who had run out of light magic. She screamed and ran, but the dragon was closing in.
"Get back here, dragon!" Link yelled hoarsely, barely able to speak. Link got up, holding his side and breathing hard. Rain mixed with blood, and immediately there were red streaks down Link's entire body. Hopelessly, he drew his bow, but knew the dragon was almost out of range. Suddenly he heard a sound to his left, and nearly fell over with surprise when he saw Epona galloping towards him! He saw some lily pads stuck in her mane, and realized she must have landed in a lake.
"You are sooo lucky!" Link said with difficulty, painfully throwing his arms around her neck in a quick hug of gratitude. "Let's save Zelda!" Epona got down and Link found the strength to get on her, and they ran after the dragon. By now the dragon had reached Zelda.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! Heeeelp!" She screamed as the dragon scooped her up. It quickly flew left towards the part of the forest it had come from, but the fatigued Epona somehow pursued fast enough to get Link within range of shooting the beast.
"Take me lower, Dakos! Quick!" The Dragonlord and Dakos hovered high above the battlefield, hidden behind a thin cloud, from which they were watching the fight. Although Dakos had used much of his magic powers to enhance the storm, it hadn't exhausted him physically, so he quickly obeyed his master's order. "That little punk won't know what hit him!" The Dragonlord said, taking out his bow.
"This'll stop it!" Link said in his sore voice, notching an ice arrow and aiming for the dragon's wing. The dragon was still too far away for Link's liking, but if anyone could make the shot with broken ribs, cuts and bruises everywhere, and exhaustion creeping over, it was Link. Nothing could stop him from saving his princess. But he would never know if he would have made the shot. Just as he was about to let the ice arrow go, he heard an arrow already whizzing through the air. "Huh?" Link thought he was hearing things, but then a large, sharp, black arrow buried its ugly head in his left shoulder.
"Eeeaaauughh!" Link screamed, dropping his bow. Immediately he knew that this was no ordinary arrow. His strength failed him, and he fell off of his exhausted horse. Epona slowed and stopped, then fell over, too tired to do anything else. Link could feel dark energy radiating through his entire body. It was excruciating. "Aaaahhhh!" Link yelled, as he tried to pull the arrow out, but found he had no strength left to do it. He felt his body being infected with dark power from the arrowhead...in a minute or two, he knew it would kill him if the arrowhead wasn't removed. Link heard someone approaching him.
Raykel walked over the slippery wet grass towards the green and red form on the ground, which he assumed was Link. He saw Link's bow and Epona also lying on the ground, and made a mental note to send some soldiers to get them when he got back to the castle.
By the time the energy-element dragon had grabbed Zelda, the King had grown worried about his daughter and Link, and sent Raykel and a few Royal Guards to go get them. The soldiers that had been with Raykel ran in fear when they had seen the golden dragon, but Raykel, seeing that the malicious beast had got what it came for and was not coming back, had begun crossing the field towards Link.
When Raykel reached him, he watched in surprise as Link struggled to pull an arrow from his shoulder.
"Please, Raykel..." Link asked in a voice creased with pain, "pull it out!"
"What have you done? Some bodyguard! You were supposed to be protecting the princess!!" Raykel glared down at Link. "I should pull it out, it will take half of your shoulder with it!"
"Out...." Link said weakly. Raykel looked at him for a few seconds, then bent down, putting a hand on the arrow.
"This is going to hurt a lot.... Here it comes..." Somehow Link kept himself from crying out when Raykel ripped the arrow out. Perhaps he was just too tired to yell. His breath came in short, painful gasps, and he laid back in fatigue, trying to smile at Raykel. Suddenly he coughed, and blackish-red blood came spilling from his lips.
"My gosh...is that your blood? What's happened to you...?" Raykel stared at the liquid without expression. Link closed his eyes tiredly, and in doing so, missed the look of compassion that abruptly crossed Raykel's face. Raykel leaned down and took Link in his arms, and carried him back to the castle.
hello! If you liked this, please review! Even if you didn't like it review. I won't cry over constructive criticism. I have some art for this story I drew, if you want it click this link: http: or just paste it in your bowser adress. Please e-mail me at talonofdayyahoo.com to comment on the art or include it in your review if you want. Thanks for reading! -Talonclawfange