buSection 3
Cyphas of the Swamp/u/b
Link was feeling rather sick of staying in one position for so long, and was almost relived when Kars announced his wings were getting tired. Link heard Naltha snicker, but secretly the female griffon's wings were also tiring. The griffons began to fly low, looking for the tops of the trees, but couldn't see them through the thick mist. They kept descending at a leisurely pace, expecting to see the decaying treetops any moment.
Sheik, who had been carefully maintaining her enchantment (the enchantment was an easy one for her, so she had no problems sustaining it for long amounts of time), stopped holding it and it faded into nothing. She figured they didn't need it on the ground. Suddenly the enchantment reappeared without Sheik calling it. A startled yelp escaped Sheik's lips as it exploded into a million sharp fragments, some tearing through her skin and some shredding Naltha's feathers. The blood from the cuts looked like red ribbons as the shards flew past.
"Zelda, are you alright?" Link asked calmly. Sheik looked over at Link, who was hard to see through the mist but should have been able to see the enchantment explode.Was he blind? She then looked at herself and found she was alright. She wasn't cut up anymore, and her griffon's feathers were in perfect order.
"Yes, I'm fine." She said, wondering what had just happened to her. One moment she had cuts all over her, the next she was spotless! How could she explain this to Link? "An insect flew into my face, it's nothing." Link nodded, buying the story easily. iI must have been falling asleep or something.../iZelda thought to herself, hoping she wouldn't fall into dreamland while flying ever again. Naltha and Kars had been descending for several minutes now, but couldn't seem to find the ground. It was beginning to get disturbing. "I checked the swampland under us just twenty minutes ago! We weren't ithat/i high, so where on earth is the ground?" Sheik looked at Link, thinking for some illogical reason he might have an explanation. His half-hidden form shrugged. Zelda squinted down, but could barely see ten feet in the mist.
"We should have landed when weather conditions got this bad." Link said, also trying vainly to see the ground. "This mist is so disorienting...I wouldn't even know if we're upside down or not if I didn't feel the gravity!" He complained.
"I know what you mean-" Zelda went silent, suddenly straining to hear something. "Did you hear that, Link?" She asked, looking over at her mist-shrouded friend.
"Yeah, I did...it sounded like the squeaking of an animal or something. Maybe a bat." He said, listening hard. They both heard the noise again, and looked at each other. Just ahead there was a blurred black form materializing from the mist, and it became clearer as it approached. Kars and Naltha stopped flying forward and hovered, waiting for the unknown form to come to them. Both griffons and their riders squinted at it, trying to make it out. Before it came into focus, other black forms appeared around it. The number kept increasing until finally the first one was close enough to be seen clearly. It was an ugly black beast. Its ebony skin was stretched thinly across its pointy bones, making it look very skinny. It had sharp white teeth and claws, and a pair of rapidly flapping insect wings. It made a bat-like screetch as its shiny red eyes locked on Naltha.
"Dive!" Sheik yelled at her griffon, and the creature quickly obeyed. The goat-sized black monster slashed at the space Naltha had been in, then, realizing it had hit nothing, screetched in rage and dived after the griffon. Link and Kars were about to follow when more of the little black monsters appeared out of the mist and attacked. Making an eagle-like war cry, Kars tried to bite one with his sharp beak. To the griffon's surprise, his beak went right through the creature, doing no damage whatsoever. The black monster raked Kars's forehead with its claws and the griffon screamed, going into a dive. As the griffon righted itself, Link saw that they were once again flying next to Sheik and Naltha, who were still being persued by the first creature. Link got out his bow.
"Stop bugging the girls!" He yelled, firing an ice arrow at the black beast. It was forced to dodge the arrow and Naltha flew ahead, out of reach. By this time all the other monsters had followed Kars, and were now swarming around him. The griffon scratched at them, but blood dripped into his eyes and he could barely fly straight, let alone take one down. Link tried to hit them with his sword, but just like Kars's beak, the blade went right through them. The little creeps started slashing at Kars's wings, and the griffon knew he could not stay airborne for long. The first monster, which seemed to be their leader and had forgotten all about Naltha and Sheik, hung back and gleefully watched the beseiged griffon thrash as it was bitten and scratched. Finally it dove forward, aiming its claws for the head of the Hylian who had almost shot it. Link ducked and the creep flew over, nearly running into one of its bretheren, who was gnawing on Kars's tail. It growled and flew alongside the griffon, maintaing speed to match Kars's. The black beast reached out a wickedly curved claw, giving the poor griffon a deep laceration over its ribs. Screaming in rage, Kars kicked/scratched at it with his feline foot. To his surprise the foot collided with the beast's head, claws digging deep, and the creep died instantly. Their 'leader' gone, all the other black beasts vanished in a puff of smoke.
"All right, Kars! That little fly didn't have a chance." Link said, patting the griffon's uninjured side.
"Gotta...land..." Kars said exhaustedly, and without warning his wings gave out.
"Whaaaahh!" Link yelled, clinging to the limp griffon as the wind from falling threatened to tear him out of his seat. He glanced downward and saw rapidly approaching trees through the mist. iWell, we found the ground./i Link thought unhappily as he braced himself. The falling griffon plunged through the trees, their decaying and sharp limbs tearing at him and breaking off as his weight hit them. Finally the injured griffon and his shaken rider hit the wet ground, swamp muck flying in all directions. Although the sticky slime was gross, it cusioned their fall, preventing further damage. "Ugh...I don't think I ever want to do that again." Link said, pulling himself out of the muck and standing next to Kars. The griffon was laying on his side, breathing heavily. "Poor guy..." Link said, rubbing the panting griffon's head. "We'll have to wait until Zelda gets here. Maybe she can heal your big slash." He said, getting out his Arlia plant. "In the meantime, I can take care of your small wounds with this." Kars nodded weakly, and Link got to work. When he had taken care of about half of the small bites and cuts, he heard a voice from above.
"Liiiiink! Are you down there?" It was Sheik, yelling from Naltha's back.
"Yes! From the sound of it, we're directly below you!" Link yelled, still rubbing his plant on Kars's bloody lion tail. Link heard some rapid flapping and looked up. He saw Naltha descending through the open space Kars had created by falling through the trees. Except for the hole the griffon had made, the interlocking branches of the near-dead trees made a sort of twisted, sharp roof over the swamp; so it was somewhat of a good thing that the griffon had broken branches during his fall, making room for Naltha to land. Naltha hovered over to a spot a few feet away from Kars and landed, her paws making squishing noises as her weight pushed them into the slimey ground.
"Is Kars okay?" She asked worridly as her rider dismounted. Sheik ran over to Kars and examined his slashed side.
"He'll be fine if I can heal this," Sheik said. She transformed back into Zelda so she could use her healing power more easily. "Let's see...I can heal it, but it has bacteria in it and it will become infected if I heal it now. We have to wash it or the sealed bacteria will make his condition even worse," She said.
"Uh-oh..." Link said, pausing in the process of healing the griffon's last small wound. "I just healed a bunch of wounds, did I seal the bacteria or whatever?" He asked, turning to Zelda.
"No, Arlia makes sure bacteria is expelled from small wounds." Zelda explained.
"So I can just rub the Arlia on the big wound to get rid of the bacteria and and then you can heal it?" Link asked.
"Um, no. It doesn't work that way. You'll get rid of the bacteria on top, but can do nothing about the deep stuff; and there must be lots of that coming from the claws of our dirty little attacker. That thing looked like it was covered in diseases." Zelda said. She stared at the bleeding wound in front of her, wondering how on earth they would find enough clean water in a swamp to heal it. They had brought drinking water, but if they used that they would have to use almost all of it, and that obviously wasn't a very good idea. "Hey, I remember! There's this plant that grown only in the swamp; it's kinda like Arlia, except it's used for cleaning wounds, even deep ones, when there's no water. I read it in a book. Anyway, this plant's pretty rare, and it only grows around the muddy pools in swamps. Think you can find some, Link?"
"I'll do my best. What's it look like?" He inquired, looking around in case there were any pools nearby. He could see nothing beyond about twenty or thirty feet in the mist, and saw no pools. After thinking for a moment, Zelda replied.
"It has greenish brown petals, so it would blend in if not for the bright yellow stem. Just look for the yellow stem growing out of the muck next to a pool. Try to hurry. Kars's wound isn't bleeding fast enough to kill him any time soon, but the longer he waits the worse it'll get." She said. "And Link...be careful, okay? I thought I heard something out there."
"Don't worry. I'll try to come back in one piece," Link promised. He saw nothing but slimy ground, mist, and dying trees in all directions, so he simply started walking forward. He knew he wouldn't get lost because his weight made deep footprints in the ground. They filled with water as soon as his boots vacated them, and were very visible and easy to track. He thought he would be the only one tracking them. After a dozen minutes of walking forward, hearing nothing but the squish of his boots in the swampy ground, Link stopped and looked around. iStill nothing... well, at least I haven't bumped into any monsters, /ihe thought, trying to look on the bright side. He continued walking, and soon a familiar feeling of foreboding sunk in. Irritated by his own feeling, Link drew his sword and kept going. He stepped over a large root sticking up out of the ground in front of him and stared ahead as he kept walking. The grey mist combined with the dark browns and blacks of the swamp made the place look very dull, but Link forced himself to stay alert despite his boring surroundings.
After about forty five minutes, Link came upon a murky pool. It had plant life in and above it, but nothing like the flower Zelda had described. Link trudged on, searching the misty swamp floor with no results for the next hour and a half. He was beginning to wonder if he'd ever find another pool, when he looked up and saw one in front of him. He looked around it, trying to focus in the mist. The water was particularly dirty, filled with slime,dirt, decaying plants, and who knows what else. He looked on the other side of it and to his relief he saw a small yellow stalk sticking up from the muck. Link began to walk around the pool towards the plant, but froze in his place as he saw a ripple disturb the formerly calm surface of the slimey water. Slowly he turned his blade towards the water's surface, ready for anything. Anything, that is, except what happened.
A fat, muddy, squid-like tentacle popped out of the slime behind Link, and he quickly turned towards it, slashing the tip off with his blade. While his attention was on that tentacle, another emerged from the water and wrapped around Link's ankle, yanking him off his feet. While he fell, the remains of the first tentacle seized his sword, pulling out of reach. The tentacle was instantly disintigrated by the power of the Master Sword, but Link still couldn't reach the sword as the second brown, sticky tentacle quickly dragged his bottom half into the thick waters of the swamp pool. Link looked for something solid to hold onto as he was dragged farther into the pool, but there was nothing close to him. He took out his hookshot and fired the hook at the trunk of a nearby tree. The hook stuck, but as the chain retracted Link was not pulled towards the tree. The hook came out of the tree and back to the hookshot, because the decaying bark was too weak to hold it.
"Not good!" Link said, knowing the situation was slipping out of his hands. He was now up to his chest in thick, filthy water, which sucked him down like quicksand. Of course he had tried kicking at the tentacle which had pulled him into the water and was making him sink faster, but every movement he made only aided the creature's efforts, so he went still. Bubbles rose out of the mudlike water as he slowly sunk deeper, and there was nothing he could do. He sucked in a breath of air as the slime came up to his chin, beginning to swallow his head.
Link heard a noise in the decaying bushes in front of him, and suddenly a figure jumped out. Link had no time to see what it was though, because he was forced to close his eyes as mucky water came over them. After a few ominous seconds of slow sinking, Link felt two strong hands grip the front of his tunic and begin to heave upward. The force brought his head above water and he spit slime off his lips and breathed. He still couldn't see but felt himself being slowly lifted out of the water, which gurgled reluctantly as it gave him up. At last his feet were out of the water, and Link felt the person holding him sever the tentacle latched onto his boot with a kicking motion. Now that he was completely free of the water, his savior tossed him roughly onto the ground next to the pool. Link wiped the slime off his eyes with the back of his gloves (and it's a wonder that worked because his gloves were slimey, too), feeling the eyes of the guy that saved him watching. As soon as he could see, he looked up at him. Link could barely suppress a gasp at what he saw. It wasn't a him, it was a her. At least Link ithought/i it was a her. He had never seen anything like her before. She looked like a Hylian, except her skin was a very pale teal and her ears looked like fins, just like a zora's. She also had fins on the undersides of her forearms, but that's where the resemblance to a zora ended. She had bright, yellow (slightly tinted with green) eyes with catlike slits for irises. Her hair was navy blue, spikey and kind of short. It would probably be a few inches away from touching her shoulders if it wasn't spiked. She wore a shirt made of leather-looking black material, and her pants and gloves were made of the same stuff. Her pants, which were almost poofy despite the leathery looking material, were tucked into knee-high sturdy brown boots, which had blades on the bottom. The strong-looking female who had saved Link's life looked down at him with a rather annoyed look on her face, hands on hips.
"Idiot! You've never been in a swamp before, have you? You were almost killed by that swampsquid! How could you be so stupid?" She demanded, glaring at the astounded Link. He sat with his mouth open dumbly for a few seconds, then made an effort to compose himself.
"I, ah..." He got up, trying to brush all the slime off his tunic. When he was done, he looked up at the woman, which stood at least five inches taller than him. "I mean...thank you." He said, trying to smile. It was difficult to smile at someone glaring at you so fiercely.
"You sure are lucky I came along, or you'd be bog food now. Try to grow a brain! I've accidentally stepped on creatures brighter than you!" She huffed, turning around to pick up his sword. She held it up, and despite her mean attitude, Link knew she wasn't evil or the sword would have zapped her. "Nice sword for such an idiot." She said, handing it to him.
"Thanks again. My name's Link." He said, sheathing his sword and extending a slime-covered hand. The woman looked momentarily surprised when Link said his name, but said nothing. She glared at his hand disgustedly for a few seconds, then turned away. She walked to the other end of the pool, and picked the yellow-stemmed flower Link had come for. She walked back to him.
"My name is Cyphas." Link thought it sounded like a masculine name, but didn't say so. "You're looking for this, aren't you?" She asked, a mocking smile creeping over her lips. It was kind of freaky because she had sharp teeth.
"Yeah. How did you know?" Link asked, puzzled. Cyphas walked past him and began following his footprints. She then stopped, turning back towards him.
"Well? You coming or not?" Link quickly jogged up behind her and she kept walking. "We need to get back to your girlfriend and your griffons and tell them why it's a bad idea to use this plant on scratches from an illusion imp."
"W-what? Have you been following me or something? What's an illusion imp?" Link asked, surprised by how much the female knew.
"Yes, I have been following you. You're in the middle of the swamp - my territory - and I was going to attack you, but you seemed harmless enough so I listened to your little conversation and followed you to the swampsquid's pool. An illusion imp is the black monster that scratched your griffon. I'm sure you saw more imps, but they were fake magic imps, created by the first one. You didn't know the imp was coming until it was on top of you, did you?" She asked, casting a cold glance at Link.
"Not really. It just sort of appeared out of the mist." He admitted.
"Hmpf. That's what I thought. Experienced warriors know when one is coming, because they see things that aren't real, illusions that are unpleasant and brief. These always preceed the coming of an illusion imp. That's how I know it was an illusion imp you fought." She explained. iSo that's why I saw that freaky image of Zelda,/i Link thought, relieved that he wasn't going crazy. After following Link's footprints for quite a long time, the two reached the area where Zelda was. She and Naltha were standing next to Kars, who was laying upright but had a pained look on his bird face.
"Huh?" Zelda was surprised to see Cyphas, then saw Link behind her. "Who are you?" She asked Cyphas, "And what happened to you, Link? I didn't know you would be gone so long, and what's with all the slime?" She asked. Link had managed to brush off some of the clinging slime, but was still mostly covered in it.
"I kinda got dragged into a slime pit..." He said, embarrased. "This is Cyphas. She saved me." Link said, smiling at the teal woman. Cyphas glared at him, turning towards Zelda.
"Thank you for saving my friend, Cyphas." Zelda said gratefully. She then noticed the swamp flower in Cyphas's hand.
"I am impressed that you know the properties of this flower," Cyphas began, ignoring Zelda's thank-you. "You have a reliable text book. However, it must have failed to mention that the plant doesn't work on wounds from an illision imp. The imps eat this plant, so some chemicals in their bodies mix with it and when they tear the skin of a creature, some of those chemicals are left behind. When this plant touches the warped chemicals from an imp-inflicted wound, it starts a chemical reaction which is poisonous and very deadly." Cyphas tossed the flower to the ground. "The best thing to do before healing a wound like that is to sprinkle some of this on it," She said, detatching a small pouch from her belt. She walked over to the griffon and began sprinkling a brownish powder on Kars's wound. Zelda was too surprised to argue, and hoped she and Link weren't being tricked by this mysterious blue-haired woman. "There. That should have neutralized or killed all the harmful bacteria in the wound. You can heal it now, but I don't know how you intend to, since you don't seem to have any first aid gear..." Cyphas said, backing away from the griffon and eying Zelda.
Zelda smiled at the doubtful woman,and walked up to Kars, positioning both hands an inch above the griffon's laceration. She concentrated her magic power, and healing magic flowed from her hands into Kars's wound. Within a matter of seconds the wound closed up, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.
"What the...? How did you do that?" Cyphas momentarily lost her cold attitude as she stared in wonder at Kars's side.
"Thanks, Zelda and Cyphas." Kars said, getting to his feet and walking over to his worried partner to assure her he was okay. Naltha rubbed up against him.
"You had me scared, you big dumb oaf." She said quietly. Zelda turned to Cyphas.
"It's a simple healing spell. If you have healing magical ability I could teach you how to do it." Zelda said. "But you have to have the magic inside you already, not have it given to you by a Great Fairy, like how Link got some of his spells."
"Magic ability? What nonsense...." Cyphas muttered, folding her arms. After a few moments she looked up. "Well, looks like you two shrimps and your birds are stuck here tonight, unless of course you'de like to fly after sunset. I wouldn't reccomend it."
"It's sunset? How can you tell through all that mist?" Link inquired.
"Moron...I've lived in this swamp practically my whole life. Of course I can tell when the sun is setting! I suggest you two make a fire and sleep here. Belive it or not, you're in one of the safer areas of the swamp. I'll get some dry wood for you..."
"Wait." Link said, stopping her. "Why are you helping us? I mean, we didn't do anything for you, so are you just being really nice or something?"
"Suspicious, huh? Well, you have reason to be. The first time I saw you I just wanted to get you out of my territory, maybe kill you. But now that I've saved your life and seen this girl's strange abilities, I've decided to observe you strange people for a while. At least until you leave, anyway. While I'm watching, I might as well help out. Of course, I could still go with plan A and kill you if you want..." Cyphas said, casually shrugging. Link got a bit irritated. iThis woman saved my life, but she sure makes it sound like it would be easy to take it away. She seems to want to help, but what's with the attitude? I'm a little tired of the name-calling... /iCyphas started walking to some trees, and Link followed.
"Of course I don't want you to try to kill me," Link said. Cyphas raised an eyebrow at the 'try'. "I just wondered about you a bit, that's all."
"Well, let me tell you that you are very lucky to be alive," Cyphas said, drawing a well-concealed sword and cutting some dry branches off an old, mostly alive tree. "I despise Hylians, and I'm not quite sure what possessed me to save you. Maybe it's how pitifully dumb you are." She now had an armful of branches, and Link cut some more down, gathering them.
"That's not very nice." Link said, looking at her and trying unsuccessfully to keep the irritation off his face and out of his voice. The two made their way back to Zelda and the griffons. "If you don't mind my asking, why do you live in Ganon's Swamp? There are more pleasant residential areas."
"That's what you call it, eh? Well, isn't it obvious why I live here? Do I look like a creature that can live among normal people? I think not, and my parents had a similar opinion." She dumped her branches into a dryish dip in the ground, made when Kars had hit it. Link also put his branches down, then looked over at Zelda. The princess stepped up to the pile, using a simple version of Din's Fire to ignite it. Zelda and the griffons found relatively dry patches of ground around the fire and sat down, but Link and Cyphas remained standing.
"Your looks don't bother me." Link said truthfully. "I admit I was surprised at first, but it's not like your a monster or anything; and despite your threats and namecalling, I think you're a pretty nice person. Why do you hate Hylians?"
"Nice? Hah! Nice is the last thing I am, boy. You don't know anything about me. Hylians are scum, and so are zoras. All of them, scum." She said, looking a bit mad. Link began to second-guess his delcaration of her being nice.
"Don't you think that's just predjudice? If one zora and one Hylian were mean to you, that doesn't mean you should hate them all-"
"Why don't you shut up about things you don't understand?!" Cyphas growled, interrupting him. "My mother was a Hylian. My father was a zora. Both of them were disgusting, interbreeding with one another! No one thinks it's possible, but here I am, living proof. They thought they could just love each other and nothing bad would ever happen, but they ruined someone's life - mine!" Link was quiet, looking at Cyphas sympathetically. Zelda and the griffons also had compassionate looks on their faces, but Cyphas ignored them completely. "Those jerks couldn't live with what they had done when they saw what they had brought into the world. A doomed half-breed. For four years I grew up with my mother, but all Hylians were scared of me or thought I was a monster, so she had to keep me in the house all the time. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and dumped me on my dad. The zoras didn't like me either, and even though the King Zora tolerated my prescence in the Zora's Domain, I was shunned and my father couldn't take it either. He took me out to this swamp and left me! I was four and a half years old, and surely would have died if some kind swamp inhabitants hadn't taken me in. You see what I mean? Hylians and zoras are scum!" Silence reigned in the camp, all eyes on the stressed-out Cyphas.
"Now you know my story. I just spilled my guts to two scumbag Hylians and a couple catbirds. What's wrong with me?" Cyphas turned away, obviously emotionally unstable. Link didn't know what to do, so he tried to reassure her.
"Well...a guess a lot of Hylians are scared of what they don't understand, but we're not all bad! I don't mind your looks, and I'm sure Zelda doesn't either. All you are to us is a friend." Link said. Cyphas turned towards him.
"I don't care what you feel about what I am. I just told you my darkest secret, after saving your life for no reason! There's something about you that's making me act strange, and I don't like it! Who are you?!" She asked, taking a step in Link's direction.
"I'm Link! Just an ordinary Hylian, that's all. I don't mean to make you act strange..." Link said, thoroughly confused.
"How can you not mean to? I would never help a Hylian, but here I am, treating you like I've known you for years. You have put a spell on me! Well, now you're gonna get it!"
"Cyphas, stop!" Zelda said, jumping to her feet, but it was too late. Cyphas drew her sword and began slashing at Link. He drew his own sword, wondering why the blade hadn't zapped Cyphas when she had touched it back at the swampsquid's pool. Was this woman good or bad? At the moment it seemed like bad, but the Master Sword destroyed any bad creatured who touched it and shocked any sorta bad creatured who touched it, so Link was very confused.
"Hey, I don't want to fight you!" Link said, parrying Cyphas's quick blows. "You saved my life and helped us out of your own kindness, I didn't put a spell on you!"
"You know what, you're right. That would be giving you way too much credit. I bet you made that Zelda girl do it! She's toast after I'm done with you." Zelda wanted to throw a fireball at Cyphas to help Link, but the two were too close and she would risk hitting her friend. Kars watched uncertainly, not knowing if he should attack the woman that helped him heal or not. Naltha was all for attacking the woman, but her and Link twisted and turned so unpredictably that the griffon didn't dare charge at them for fear she would do more damage than harm. She had seen two griffons fighting once, and when another tried to stop them, it accidentally shoved the back of one's head, making it bite very deep with its beak and almost kill the griffon it was fighting. She held back, ready to charge if the two separated.
"Right, now you've gone far enough! Zelda's done nothing but be polite to you. You're being unreasonable!" Link attacked with powerful blows, throwing the swamp woman slightly off-balance when she parried. After a few parries she stumbled, falling backwards. Link looked down at her angrily. "I don't know why you think we did anything bad to you. I'm grateful for your help, so please don't make me fight you anymore!" Link sheathed his sword and offered Cyphas a hand. She grabbed his wrist and drove her strong right fist into his gut, knocking the air out of him. She then got up and shoved Link against a tree, pointing her sword at his chest.
"I don't like to lose." Cyphas said, grinning but not putting any pressure on her sword.
"Fine. You win, now leave me alone!" Link said, gasping but not moving. Cyphas apparently hadn't expected this answer, and stood thinking a moment.
"What's wrong with me? I should kill you, but I don't want to for some reason!"
"Maybe it's because there is no reason. Have you ever killed someone before?" Link asked, wondering if he should let the woman go or fight her and try to get her back to Hyrule in chains. He really didn't know anything about her, and for all he knew, she might be a killer.
"No..." Cyphas said, feeling rather like a child and hating it. "I always thought I would be tough enough to destroy any Hylian or zora I saw, but now that I have the opportunity I'm getting weak...time to prove to myself I can do this!" She began pushing on the sword, making Link flinch. She looked over her shoulder at his three companions. "If you guys move at all, I'll drive this sword through him. It's razor sharp!"
"Cut it out! It's wrong to kill, and you're making me mad..." Link growled, glaring at her. He wouldn't take much more of this. Just when he was about to make a move, something unexpected happened.
"Cyphas, stop! Leave Link alone, you grouch!" A fairy flew up to Cyphas, yelling at her.
"Kayl? Hey, long time no see!" Link said, half smiling at the fairy, half grimacing from the sword point on his chest.
"Queen Kayl, why are you stopping me? This can't possibly be the Link that defeated Vamparlia. He's an idiot!"
"Cyphas I'm CERTAIN that's the Link that saved us. For heaven's sake, get that sword off him!" Cyphas reluctantly lowered her sword, then sheathed it.
"You know Kayl, Cyphas? Whew...I thought I was going to have to hurt you!" Link said, noticing her skeptical glare.
"Ofi course/i I know her! You see? He's a moron." Cyphas said to Kayl.
"Stop insulting the savior of the Swamp Fairies! Why on earth were you trying to kill him?!"
"He's a Hylian in my territory... Shoot, I don't know if I could have killed him anyway," Cyphas muttered, kicking at something on the ground. "I always thought I was a warrior, but when this guy showed up I didn't feel...normal."
"I know why, Cyphas. He's the first nice Hylian you've ever met. Your brain never registered the idea that there could be a nice Hylian, so you were caught between your true feelings of gladness and the dark memories of the past. Your present side really wanted to help him because he needed you and he was nice, but your past side wanted desperately to destroy him. Now leave the past behind you where it belongs and apologize to Link!" Kayl ordered.
"Even if you are a Queen, I don't take orders from fairies...an apology would be pushing it..." Cyphas folded her arms and looked away stubbornly. Eventually, her feelings got the best of her. "Alright! I'm sorry, Link. I'll try to treat you nicer now. I'm tired of pretending to be a jerk, anyway." She turned towards Link and held out her hand. Link gladly shook it. Zelda let out a sigh of relief.
"There, now everyone's happy," Kayl said, grinning. "Hey, I bet you're wondering what I'm doing here, huh, Link? The Swamp Faires have decided to move their home into this part of the swamp because it's far away from outside threats and one of the safer areas of the deep swamp. We were going to send word to you as soon as we got settled in, but now that you're here you can come to our new home to see where we live! Cyphas can lead you there tomorrow."
"Um, me and Zelda are kind of in a hurry." Link said, looking at his fairy friend. "Oh, and Cyphas called you Queen, so you're the Queen of the Swamp Fairies now? Congratulations."
"Thank you. Anyway, our home is close so it won't take long to visit us. We can just serve you breakfast or something, then speed you on your way."
"All right! Wanna go, Zelda?" Link asked, turning towards the princess that was now standing a few feet to his left.
"Okay, as long as it's short. We didn't see any signs of the weird sound today, so it makes me worry that maybe we'll hear it tomorrow for a long time or something. We have to find the source as soon as possible!"
"Agreed." Link said, turning to Kayl. "I guess we'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye, Link! We'll look forward to seeing you!" With that, Kayl flew off in the direction from which she had come. Zelda, Link and Cyphas joined the griffons by the fire.
"I'm glad ithats/i over!" Kars declared, and everyone nodded.
"How did you meet Kayl, Cyphas?" Link asked, very curious.
"Remember when I told you I would have died if some nice swamp inhabitants didn't take me in? It was the Swamp Fairies who raised me until I was an adult. When I was full grown I explored the swamp and now I know it like the back of my hand. I was on a long trip when Vamparlia took over the Swamp Fairies, so I'm glad you were around to save them. When I got back they told me all about you, but I didn't believe you were the one they told me of when I first saw you, obviously. By the way, whats the 'weird sound'?"
"It's a sound that certain people in Hyrule have been hearing. Sounds harmless, right? Well, it makes the people who hear it extremely violent and crazy. It's the reason we're out here in 'your territory'. Zelda made an enchantment that will point us toward the sound, and it led us into this swamp. We have to find it's source quick, before it makes everyone in Hyrule go crazy for who knows how long." Link explained.
"Hm. Well, I haven't been hearing anything. Good luck with finding it." Cyphas said, staring into the fire.
"Thanks." Link yawned. "I'm going to bed."
"Good idea." Zelda agreed.
"Hey, where do you sleep, Cyphas?" Link asked.
"In a tree." She looked over at Link, who was staring at her. "Seriously. I just find a tree strong enough to hold me and sleep in it. It's better then the ground when you don't have a bed, and I actually kind of like it." With that, everyone in the camp went to bed. Zelda and Link leaned against the griffons in their bedrolls, and Cyphas found a strong tree. At least, she thought it was strong.
"Blast it, Remorie! This time it didn't even make a sound! How am I supposed to make any progress with this piece of junk?" A woman complained to her pet.
"I am sorry, Lady, but like I said, I can't predict what the shell's sound will do or if it will make an audiable sound at all. I only know how to change the frequency, not what the frequency will effect!" The water dragon shot back. iDumb dragon... /iThe woman thought broodingly.
"Tomorrow we try again. We have to be close, there's only a certain amount of things this shell can do, but I think soon we'll get the right frequency. I need an army if I'm going to take over the world!"
"Lady, you are aware of the side effects of the sound, aren't you? If you get the right sound and play it long enough, you could kill a lot of humans. Then you wouldn't need an army!"
"You are missing the point as usual, Remorie. If they're all dead, how am I going to get the joy of killing them personally? I want an army! With the help of the Siren's Shell, I can make the largest, most powerful army ever. With this goal so close to being reached, you want me to change it? I don't think so."
"Of course, Lady. You shall have your army. Perhaps we should try many frequencies in one day; that way you'd make more progress," The dragon suggested.
"Easy for you to say. It's harder for me to enchant it than you know. We'll just continue as planned, so prepare to change the frequency tomorrow morning. By the way, keep researching the shell and the snakes and tell me if you find anything new. Good night." The woman stalked off to her sleeping quarters, thinking irritably of how slowly her plan was progressing. Her dragon made preparations.
Section 4
The Other Side
Link awoke with a start as a loud noise filled his sensitive ears. He instantly sat up and looked in the direction the sound was coming from. CRRAACCKKK!
"Yiiiiikes!" Cyphas yelled as the branch under her snapped and she fell ten feet to the ground, landing rather hard on her bottom. She got up, rubbing her backside, and heard Link laugh quietly. "Hey, shut up! I'm sure you wouldn't laugh if you fell from a tree! I was sure that branch was strong enough to hold me..." Link finally got himself to stop giggling.
"Sorry, but you had a funny look on your face when you fell..." Cyphas glared at him. "Eh, sorry." he said again.
"It's okay. It's time to get up anyway, and if we leave right now we'll be at the Fairy's Pool in about half an hour."
"Right, I'll wake up Zelda..."
"I'm already awake." He heard the princess say. "How could anyone sleep through that? The griffons are awake, too; so let's get going." With that, Link and Zelda packed up their gear and followed Cyphas. Even though it was morning, the swamp was still submerged in a moist fog. The group couldn't see twenty feet in front of them, but Cyphas seemed to know exactly where she was going. The five comrades walked for a few minutes, and except for the quiet squishing of the humans' feet on the swamp floor and the very loud squishing of the griffons', all was silent until Cyphas spoke.
"Even though we're in a less-populated area of the swamp, we could run into monsters. You never know, so stay alert." Zelda and Link made sounds of acknowledgement. As Link walked, he found himself wondering about Ganon's Swamp. No one knew what was on the other side of it, but for all he knew, the strange sound might be coming from the other side and not from within the swamp at all. This information didn't bother him, though. He was glad he and Zelda had the chance to explore. Ever since he was a child, he had wanted to explore and see the world beyond the Kokiri Forest, but the Deku Tree would not let him leave. All the Kokiris knew he had an urge to explore, so it had come as no surprise to them when he left the forest to meet Zelda and save Hyrule. It had been cool to explore all of Hyrule, but every now and then Link found himself wanting to leave and explore other lands, beyond both Hyrule and North Hyrule. Who knew what kind of lands his planet contained? Were there worlds beyond his planet? Link always wondered about that when he looked at the stars. Whatever was out there, Link hoped he would see it one day, but knew that for now he had to stay in Hyrule, where he was needed. His thoughs were interrupted as Cyphas stopped abruptly in front of him.
"What's wrong, Cy-"
"Shhh! Be silent!" There was a fifteen second pause as Zelda, Link, and the two griffons watched the rigid Cyphas, who seemed to be listening for something. "Hm...alright, it's nothing. Let's keep going." Cyphas began to walk again, and the rest followed.
"Hey Cyphas, I've been meaning to ask you," Link began, "Just what kind of monsters might we meet here? We can probably fight them better if we know about them."
"Well, there's tons of different monsters, really. Two of the most common are swampsquids and illusion imps, obviously. The biggest one is probably the mire wurm, but I doubt we'll find one of those...let's see, there's mer-demons that swim in ponds, dead birds which look like they're dead but really aren't, then there's morphers..."
"Is that anything like a shiftbat?" Link asked.
"Shiftbat? What the heck's that? Never heard of it. I suppose a morpher could turn into a bat if it wanted to..." She trailed off, looking back at Link.
"Can they turn into anything?" Link thought they sounded pretty dangerous.
"Pretty much, but there's a few limitations. You see when they're not morphing, they're in their natural form, which looks kinda like a ghost. But when they want to kill something, their brains put hormones inot their blood which lets them morph while they're hunting. The only thing is, they have to stay the size of the thing they want to kill when they morph. For example, if we were being hunted, one could turn into a human-sized knife. If the griffons were hunted, they could be a griffon-sized knife, or whatever they want. I don't think we'll run into any, though. It's their mating season so they'll group together, and they're pretty rare so it'll be just plain bad luck if run into some."
"Okay, so what's the thing we're most likely to find?"
"Very inquisitive, aren't we? Oh well, it passes the time. Other than imps and squids, the most common monster is a giant leech. You think normal leeches are gross? This one drops out of trees and wraps around part of your body, then makes a wound two inches in diameter and sucks your blood. If you tear em' out you'll make the wound imuch/i bigger, so the best thing is to let them finish so they'll go away. Sounds simple, but they can suck a lot of blood and you'll be very drowsy and weak by the time it's done."
"Ew..." Zelda said, shivering.
"Don't worry, I won't let a leech get on you." Link promised. Zelda felt somewhat comforted, but Cyphas snickered at the cornyness. The group kept walking for about fifteen minutes, and Cyphas knew they were getting close. If they walked straight ahead they would reach the new fairy pool in just a few minutes, but there was something else straight ahead as well. Very thick mist. The companions had no choice but to walk into the mist, so Cyphas stopped them.
"This is some of the worst mist that ever occurs in this swamp. When we go forward, we wont be able to see two feet in front of us. To prevent getting separated, we have to hold hands." She said it in a tone that clearly said she didn't want to hold hands, but knew they had no choice because she had no rope to link them.
"Just asking...how do you find your way in this mist?" Link asked, hesitantly putting his hand in hers.
"I am a tracker and I've lived here so long I would know my way around if I was blind. Don't worry about where we're going, just worry about what we might find on the way." Cyphas replied. Link nodded as Zelda sliped her hand into his, smiling shyly. He didn't notice her smile because he was focused on the mist ahead as the group moved forward once again. Naltha couldn't really hold Zelda's hand, so she layed a corner of her wing on the princess's shoulder and Kars held Naltha's tail carefully in his beak. They entered the thickest part of the mist, and as Cyphas had said, they could hardly see anything but their own bodies.
"How is it possible that such thick mist exists?" Kars asked, mouth full of Naltha's tail, "I've never seen anything like this in the mountains!" He heard Cyphas's voice from far ahead, but could only see Naltha's haunches in front of him.
"The swamp is always a little misty because it's so damp, but once in a while a cloud comes all the way to the ground and makes it much worse. That's why this mist is so wet, we're in a low cloud. The thick canopy of trees is keeping it in, so it's even worse here than if you were in a cloud at the top of a mountain." She explained.
"Oh, I see." Kars replied, squinting. It didn't help at all. The group trudged on in ominous silence, each having to trust the one ahead for guidance. The silence was only broken occasionally by Cyphas calling out 'root' or 'pit' every time she came across one, warning those walking behind her. No one could see anything but grey, wet, ominously still mist. Link was watching carefully for signs of danger in the mist when suddenly Cyphas's hand was pulled out of his quicker than he could stop it. He couldn't see her at all.
"Cyphas!" He called, trying to see.
"Root." Cyphas said belatedy, getting to her feet. "Sorry about that." She grabbed Link's hand again, then stopped. "Huh? Where'd it go?"
"What, the root?" Link asked.
"Duh, what else?" Cyphas snapped.
"Well, roots don't just move! Or...do they?" Link trailed off, wondering if maybe it wasn't a root.
"It was here a moment ago and now it's gone, okay? I think - ack!" Cyphas was surprised when the 'root', which was actually a skeleton-looking monster that had tripped her, pulled her away from her companions. She wrestled with it even though she couldn't see it very well, telling Link to stay where he was. "Be careful, there might be others close by!" Cyphas warned, but her voice was cut off and Link heard a thud and a moan.
"That's it! I can't just stay here!" Link declared, drawing his sword with his free hand. As he walked forward, something pounced on him and pulled him away from Zelda, who screamed. Naltha and Kars ran up and stood on either side of the princess, protecting her and trying vainly to see Cyphas and Link. The thing pinned Link, then got off him before he could see what it looked like. Its form disappeared into the mist and Link sat up, looking around. "Cyphas? Are you alright, Cyphas?!" Link called.
"Yeah, other than a fat monster sitting on my head, I'm just fine!" Came the muffled reply. Link heard some wicked and fleeting laughter, but couldn't discern where it was coming from. He stumbled in the directing Cyphas's voice had come from. He reached the spot he thought she was in, but there was nothing.
"Cyphas?" He called again, getting very annoyed at the mist. Something in front of him materialized from the mist. It was Cyphas. "Whew, I was getting worried." Link admitted, "Now let's go find Zelda-" Link stpped talking as Cyphas punched him in the face, sending him backwards. He fell into something, and felt arms supporting him. He turned his head and saw Zelda. "Zelda? Where's the griffons?"
"Link, I'm over here! Who are you talking to?" A faint voice came from the mist to his right. The Zelda behind him put him in a chokehold, dragging him backwards. The fake Zelda's skin started turning green, and soon it looked like Link! Link knew this had to be a morpher, and so was the Cyphas he had seen. Or maybe that was the real Cyphas and she punched him because she thought he was a morpher, or...Link stopped thinking about that and pulled on the tightening arms of the morpher. He finally used his gauntlets while he could and flung the beast into the mist in front of him.
"Oof!" Cyphas said as the morpher slammed into her and made her fall. "Link? Oh, good." Then the morpher started punching her. Soon the morpher transformed to look like her again, and she kicked it off, making it fly back into the mist, hitting Link.
"Huh? Cyphas?" Link layed on the ground, with the fake Cyphas on top of him. The real Cyphas came into view, her mist-shrouded from dim in the mist. Unfortunately, another Cyphas came right after her.
"Link, that's a morpher. I'm the real Cyphas." Both said at once. The one in front turned around, startled to find another one. Meanwhile, the Cyphas on Link started growing blades for fingers and tried to scratch him.
"Link? What's going on out there?" Zelda yelled, looking between her two griffon protectors. "Oh, this is ridiculous! The first thing I'm doing when I get home is learning a spell that gets rid of mist!"
Link kicked the morpher off him, accidentally sending it into the midst of the other two, who were wrestling with each other. All three fell to the ground, and when they got up, all looked the same, from what Link could see of them through the mist. They all punched at each other and Link held back, not knowing which ones to attack.
"Link, what are you doing? Help me, you twit!"
"Don't help her, she's a morpher! Destroy her, Link!"
"They're both morhpers, Link! Use your sword!" Link just stared on as they attacked each other.
"W-which one of you is the real one?" Link wondered, really wanting to take action but not willing to risk killing the real Cyphas. "What monster did you save me from?" Link asked, thinking only the real Cyphas would know.
"A swampsquid!" Cyphas yelled, but then another Cyphas dragged her into the mist and Link lost track of which had said it.
"Man, that's it!" Link took out the Eye of Truth, looking at the Cyphases with it. He saw two ghostlike forms attacking the real Cyphas. He shot an arrow at one's chest, but it did no good.
"Link, aim for the lower left of the head! That's where-" Her sentence was cut off as a morpher punched her gut. Link quickly shot an arrow into the lower left of the morpher's head, and the creature let out a loud screetch as it died.
"We must do something!" Zelda said urgently to the griffons, hearing a terrible screetch.
"No, if we move it will only be harder to find Link and Cyphas. We must stay here!" Kars said sternly.
The last morpher was quickly shot down by Link, who put away the Eye and rushed to Cyphas's side. She was on the ground, all cut up and bruised.
"Took you long enough." She muttered.
"Can you blame me? What would you have done if there were three Links?" Cyphas grinned and Link decided he'd rather not know. He took out his Arlia and began healing her. "Zelda! Stay where you are and we'll come as soon as I'm done with this."
"Okay!" She said as loud as possible, so Link would know where she was. She was then silent, gazing into the mist she thought Link was behind. The griffons were still, listening and looking for Link and Cyphas. After a few silent minutes, Link appeared from the mist, walking toward them.
"Good, I found you." He said, grinning widely. Then a sword was sticking through his head.
"Ahhh! Link!" Zelda yelled, but then saw what she thought was Link slide lifeless from the sword and the real Link, accompanied by Cyphas, walked up to her and the griffons.
"Sorry to scare you." He said. Zelda looked at him suspisciously. "Don't worry, I'm really me! My horse's name is Epona."
"Okay." Zelda said, convinced. She looked over at Cyphas.
"I fixed up your griffon's illusion imp scratch, can we get going now?!" She asked, irritated. Zelda nodded, and the group got into the same single-file formation as before. After a few minutes of walking, the mist began to clear up. It kept thinning until it was quite easy to see at least ten feet ahead, and the companions didn't have to hold hands anymore. They all disconnected except Zelda, still holding Link's hand. He paused in his walking and looked back at her.
"It's safe to let go of me now." He informed her.
"Of course," She said, blushing. She reluctantly let go of his hand. He gave her a weird look, then smiled reassuringly and continued on. The griffons and Hylians followed Cyphas, who was striding confidently through the hazy, mucky swamp, as if daring another attack. She informed them that they were not far from the Swamp Fairies.
for those of you who are reading this and want pictures, I'm trying to post them on deviantart and post the link. Just go to the ending chapter of any story and click on the link at the bottom to go to the pic. If the links aren't working (and I suspect they aren't) You can see the pics by becoming a member of devinat art, then go to my homepage (my name on it is the same as here: Talonclawfange). You'll find the pics there, hopefully...
Cyphas of the Swamp/u/b
Link was feeling rather sick of staying in one position for so long, and was almost relived when Kars announced his wings were getting tired. Link heard Naltha snicker, but secretly the female griffon's wings were also tiring. The griffons began to fly low, looking for the tops of the trees, but couldn't see them through the thick mist. They kept descending at a leisurely pace, expecting to see the decaying treetops any moment.
Sheik, who had been carefully maintaining her enchantment (the enchantment was an easy one for her, so she had no problems sustaining it for long amounts of time), stopped holding it and it faded into nothing. She figured they didn't need it on the ground. Suddenly the enchantment reappeared without Sheik calling it. A startled yelp escaped Sheik's lips as it exploded into a million sharp fragments, some tearing through her skin and some shredding Naltha's feathers. The blood from the cuts looked like red ribbons as the shards flew past.
"Zelda, are you alright?" Link asked calmly. Sheik looked over at Link, who was hard to see through the mist but should have been able to see the enchantment explode.Was he blind? She then looked at herself and found she was alright. She wasn't cut up anymore, and her griffon's feathers were in perfect order.
"Yes, I'm fine." She said, wondering what had just happened to her. One moment she had cuts all over her, the next she was spotless! How could she explain this to Link? "An insect flew into my face, it's nothing." Link nodded, buying the story easily. iI must have been falling asleep or something.../iZelda thought to herself, hoping she wouldn't fall into dreamland while flying ever again. Naltha and Kars had been descending for several minutes now, but couldn't seem to find the ground. It was beginning to get disturbing. "I checked the swampland under us just twenty minutes ago! We weren't ithat/i high, so where on earth is the ground?" Sheik looked at Link, thinking for some illogical reason he might have an explanation. His half-hidden form shrugged. Zelda squinted down, but could barely see ten feet in the mist.
"We should have landed when weather conditions got this bad." Link said, also trying vainly to see the ground. "This mist is so disorienting...I wouldn't even know if we're upside down or not if I didn't feel the gravity!" He complained.
"I know what you mean-" Zelda went silent, suddenly straining to hear something. "Did you hear that, Link?" She asked, looking over at her mist-shrouded friend.
"Yeah, I did...it sounded like the squeaking of an animal or something. Maybe a bat." He said, listening hard. They both heard the noise again, and looked at each other. Just ahead there was a blurred black form materializing from the mist, and it became clearer as it approached. Kars and Naltha stopped flying forward and hovered, waiting for the unknown form to come to them. Both griffons and their riders squinted at it, trying to make it out. Before it came into focus, other black forms appeared around it. The number kept increasing until finally the first one was close enough to be seen clearly. It was an ugly black beast. Its ebony skin was stretched thinly across its pointy bones, making it look very skinny. It had sharp white teeth and claws, and a pair of rapidly flapping insect wings. It made a bat-like screetch as its shiny red eyes locked on Naltha.
"Dive!" Sheik yelled at her griffon, and the creature quickly obeyed. The goat-sized black monster slashed at the space Naltha had been in, then, realizing it had hit nothing, screetched in rage and dived after the griffon. Link and Kars were about to follow when more of the little black monsters appeared out of the mist and attacked. Making an eagle-like war cry, Kars tried to bite one with his sharp beak. To the griffon's surprise, his beak went right through the creature, doing no damage whatsoever. The black monster raked Kars's forehead with its claws and the griffon screamed, going into a dive. As the griffon righted itself, Link saw that they were once again flying next to Sheik and Naltha, who were still being persued by the first creature. Link got out his bow.
"Stop bugging the girls!" He yelled, firing an ice arrow at the black beast. It was forced to dodge the arrow and Naltha flew ahead, out of reach. By this time all the other monsters had followed Kars, and were now swarming around him. The griffon scratched at them, but blood dripped into his eyes and he could barely fly straight, let alone take one down. Link tried to hit them with his sword, but just like Kars's beak, the blade went right through them. The little creeps started slashing at Kars's wings, and the griffon knew he could not stay airborne for long. The first monster, which seemed to be their leader and had forgotten all about Naltha and Sheik, hung back and gleefully watched the beseiged griffon thrash as it was bitten and scratched. Finally it dove forward, aiming its claws for the head of the Hylian who had almost shot it. Link ducked and the creep flew over, nearly running into one of its bretheren, who was gnawing on Kars's tail. It growled and flew alongside the griffon, maintaing speed to match Kars's. The black beast reached out a wickedly curved claw, giving the poor griffon a deep laceration over its ribs. Screaming in rage, Kars kicked/scratched at it with his feline foot. To his surprise the foot collided with the beast's head, claws digging deep, and the creep died instantly. Their 'leader' gone, all the other black beasts vanished in a puff of smoke.
"All right, Kars! That little fly didn't have a chance." Link said, patting the griffon's uninjured side.
"Gotta...land..." Kars said exhaustedly, and without warning his wings gave out.
"Whaaaahh!" Link yelled, clinging to the limp griffon as the wind from falling threatened to tear him out of his seat. He glanced downward and saw rapidly approaching trees through the mist. iWell, we found the ground./i Link thought unhappily as he braced himself. The falling griffon plunged through the trees, their decaying and sharp limbs tearing at him and breaking off as his weight hit them. Finally the injured griffon and his shaken rider hit the wet ground, swamp muck flying in all directions. Although the sticky slime was gross, it cusioned their fall, preventing further damage. "Ugh...I don't think I ever want to do that again." Link said, pulling himself out of the muck and standing next to Kars. The griffon was laying on his side, breathing heavily. "Poor guy..." Link said, rubbing the panting griffon's head. "We'll have to wait until Zelda gets here. Maybe she can heal your big slash." He said, getting out his Arlia plant. "In the meantime, I can take care of your small wounds with this." Kars nodded weakly, and Link got to work. When he had taken care of about half of the small bites and cuts, he heard a voice from above.
"Liiiiink! Are you down there?" It was Sheik, yelling from Naltha's back.
"Yes! From the sound of it, we're directly below you!" Link yelled, still rubbing his plant on Kars's bloody lion tail. Link heard some rapid flapping and looked up. He saw Naltha descending through the open space Kars had created by falling through the trees. Except for the hole the griffon had made, the interlocking branches of the near-dead trees made a sort of twisted, sharp roof over the swamp; so it was somewhat of a good thing that the griffon had broken branches during his fall, making room for Naltha to land. Naltha hovered over to a spot a few feet away from Kars and landed, her paws making squishing noises as her weight pushed them into the slimey ground.
"Is Kars okay?" She asked worridly as her rider dismounted. Sheik ran over to Kars and examined his slashed side.
"He'll be fine if I can heal this," Sheik said. She transformed back into Zelda so she could use her healing power more easily. "Let's see...I can heal it, but it has bacteria in it and it will become infected if I heal it now. We have to wash it or the sealed bacteria will make his condition even worse," She said.
"Uh-oh..." Link said, pausing in the process of healing the griffon's last small wound. "I just healed a bunch of wounds, did I seal the bacteria or whatever?" He asked, turning to Zelda.
"No, Arlia makes sure bacteria is expelled from small wounds." Zelda explained.
"So I can just rub the Arlia on the big wound to get rid of the bacteria and and then you can heal it?" Link asked.
"Um, no. It doesn't work that way. You'll get rid of the bacteria on top, but can do nothing about the deep stuff; and there must be lots of that coming from the claws of our dirty little attacker. That thing looked like it was covered in diseases." Zelda said. She stared at the bleeding wound in front of her, wondering how on earth they would find enough clean water in a swamp to heal it. They had brought drinking water, but if they used that they would have to use almost all of it, and that obviously wasn't a very good idea. "Hey, I remember! There's this plant that grown only in the swamp; it's kinda like Arlia, except it's used for cleaning wounds, even deep ones, when there's no water. I read it in a book. Anyway, this plant's pretty rare, and it only grows around the muddy pools in swamps. Think you can find some, Link?"
"I'll do my best. What's it look like?" He inquired, looking around in case there were any pools nearby. He could see nothing beyond about twenty or thirty feet in the mist, and saw no pools. After thinking for a moment, Zelda replied.
"It has greenish brown petals, so it would blend in if not for the bright yellow stem. Just look for the yellow stem growing out of the muck next to a pool. Try to hurry. Kars's wound isn't bleeding fast enough to kill him any time soon, but the longer he waits the worse it'll get." She said. "And Link...be careful, okay? I thought I heard something out there."
"Don't worry. I'll try to come back in one piece," Link promised. He saw nothing but slimy ground, mist, and dying trees in all directions, so he simply started walking forward. He knew he wouldn't get lost because his weight made deep footprints in the ground. They filled with water as soon as his boots vacated them, and were very visible and easy to track. He thought he would be the only one tracking them. After a dozen minutes of walking forward, hearing nothing but the squish of his boots in the swampy ground, Link stopped and looked around. iStill nothing... well, at least I haven't bumped into any monsters, /ihe thought, trying to look on the bright side. He continued walking, and soon a familiar feeling of foreboding sunk in. Irritated by his own feeling, Link drew his sword and kept going. He stepped over a large root sticking up out of the ground in front of him and stared ahead as he kept walking. The grey mist combined with the dark browns and blacks of the swamp made the place look very dull, but Link forced himself to stay alert despite his boring surroundings.
After about forty five minutes, Link came upon a murky pool. It had plant life in and above it, but nothing like the flower Zelda had described. Link trudged on, searching the misty swamp floor with no results for the next hour and a half. He was beginning to wonder if he'd ever find another pool, when he looked up and saw one in front of him. He looked around it, trying to focus in the mist. The water was particularly dirty, filled with slime,dirt, decaying plants, and who knows what else. He looked on the other side of it and to his relief he saw a small yellow stalk sticking up from the muck. Link began to walk around the pool towards the plant, but froze in his place as he saw a ripple disturb the formerly calm surface of the slimey water. Slowly he turned his blade towards the water's surface, ready for anything. Anything, that is, except what happened.
A fat, muddy, squid-like tentacle popped out of the slime behind Link, and he quickly turned towards it, slashing the tip off with his blade. While his attention was on that tentacle, another emerged from the water and wrapped around Link's ankle, yanking him off his feet. While he fell, the remains of the first tentacle seized his sword, pulling out of reach. The tentacle was instantly disintigrated by the power of the Master Sword, but Link still couldn't reach the sword as the second brown, sticky tentacle quickly dragged his bottom half into the thick waters of the swamp pool. Link looked for something solid to hold onto as he was dragged farther into the pool, but there was nothing close to him. He took out his hookshot and fired the hook at the trunk of a nearby tree. The hook stuck, but as the chain retracted Link was not pulled towards the tree. The hook came out of the tree and back to the hookshot, because the decaying bark was too weak to hold it.
"Not good!" Link said, knowing the situation was slipping out of his hands. He was now up to his chest in thick, filthy water, which sucked him down like quicksand. Of course he had tried kicking at the tentacle which had pulled him into the water and was making him sink faster, but every movement he made only aided the creature's efforts, so he went still. Bubbles rose out of the mudlike water as he slowly sunk deeper, and there was nothing he could do. He sucked in a breath of air as the slime came up to his chin, beginning to swallow his head.
Link heard a noise in the decaying bushes in front of him, and suddenly a figure jumped out. Link had no time to see what it was though, because he was forced to close his eyes as mucky water came over them. After a few ominous seconds of slow sinking, Link felt two strong hands grip the front of his tunic and begin to heave upward. The force brought his head above water and he spit slime off his lips and breathed. He still couldn't see but felt himself being slowly lifted out of the water, which gurgled reluctantly as it gave him up. At last his feet were out of the water, and Link felt the person holding him sever the tentacle latched onto his boot with a kicking motion. Now that he was completely free of the water, his savior tossed him roughly onto the ground next to the pool. Link wiped the slime off his eyes with the back of his gloves (and it's a wonder that worked because his gloves were slimey, too), feeling the eyes of the guy that saved him watching. As soon as he could see, he looked up at him. Link could barely suppress a gasp at what he saw. It wasn't a him, it was a her. At least Link ithought/i it was a her. He had never seen anything like her before. She looked like a Hylian, except her skin was a very pale teal and her ears looked like fins, just like a zora's. She also had fins on the undersides of her forearms, but that's where the resemblance to a zora ended. She had bright, yellow (slightly tinted with green) eyes with catlike slits for irises. Her hair was navy blue, spikey and kind of short. It would probably be a few inches away from touching her shoulders if it wasn't spiked. She wore a shirt made of leather-looking black material, and her pants and gloves were made of the same stuff. Her pants, which were almost poofy despite the leathery looking material, were tucked into knee-high sturdy brown boots, which had blades on the bottom. The strong-looking female who had saved Link's life looked down at him with a rather annoyed look on her face, hands on hips.
"Idiot! You've never been in a swamp before, have you? You were almost killed by that swampsquid! How could you be so stupid?" She demanded, glaring at the astounded Link. He sat with his mouth open dumbly for a few seconds, then made an effort to compose himself.
"I, ah..." He got up, trying to brush all the slime off his tunic. When he was done, he looked up at the woman, which stood at least five inches taller than him. "I mean...thank you." He said, trying to smile. It was difficult to smile at someone glaring at you so fiercely.
"You sure are lucky I came along, or you'd be bog food now. Try to grow a brain! I've accidentally stepped on creatures brighter than you!" She huffed, turning around to pick up his sword. She held it up, and despite her mean attitude, Link knew she wasn't evil or the sword would have zapped her. "Nice sword for such an idiot." She said, handing it to him.
"Thanks again. My name's Link." He said, sheathing his sword and extending a slime-covered hand. The woman looked momentarily surprised when Link said his name, but said nothing. She glared at his hand disgustedly for a few seconds, then turned away. She walked to the other end of the pool, and picked the yellow-stemmed flower Link had come for. She walked back to him.
"My name is Cyphas." Link thought it sounded like a masculine name, but didn't say so. "You're looking for this, aren't you?" She asked, a mocking smile creeping over her lips. It was kind of freaky because she had sharp teeth.
"Yeah. How did you know?" Link asked, puzzled. Cyphas walked past him and began following his footprints. She then stopped, turning back towards him.
"Well? You coming or not?" Link quickly jogged up behind her and she kept walking. "We need to get back to your girlfriend and your griffons and tell them why it's a bad idea to use this plant on scratches from an illusion imp."
"W-what? Have you been following me or something? What's an illusion imp?" Link asked, surprised by how much the female knew.
"Yes, I have been following you. You're in the middle of the swamp - my territory - and I was going to attack you, but you seemed harmless enough so I listened to your little conversation and followed you to the swampsquid's pool. An illusion imp is the black monster that scratched your griffon. I'm sure you saw more imps, but they were fake magic imps, created by the first one. You didn't know the imp was coming until it was on top of you, did you?" She asked, casting a cold glance at Link.
"Not really. It just sort of appeared out of the mist." He admitted.
"Hmpf. That's what I thought. Experienced warriors know when one is coming, because they see things that aren't real, illusions that are unpleasant and brief. These always preceed the coming of an illusion imp. That's how I know it was an illusion imp you fought." She explained. iSo that's why I saw that freaky image of Zelda,/i Link thought, relieved that he wasn't going crazy. After following Link's footprints for quite a long time, the two reached the area where Zelda was. She and Naltha were standing next to Kars, who was laying upright but had a pained look on his bird face.
"Huh?" Zelda was surprised to see Cyphas, then saw Link behind her. "Who are you?" She asked Cyphas, "And what happened to you, Link? I didn't know you would be gone so long, and what's with all the slime?" She asked. Link had managed to brush off some of the clinging slime, but was still mostly covered in it.
"I kinda got dragged into a slime pit..." He said, embarrased. "This is Cyphas. She saved me." Link said, smiling at the teal woman. Cyphas glared at him, turning towards Zelda.
"Thank you for saving my friend, Cyphas." Zelda said gratefully. She then noticed the swamp flower in Cyphas's hand.
"I am impressed that you know the properties of this flower," Cyphas began, ignoring Zelda's thank-you. "You have a reliable text book. However, it must have failed to mention that the plant doesn't work on wounds from an illision imp. The imps eat this plant, so some chemicals in their bodies mix with it and when they tear the skin of a creature, some of those chemicals are left behind. When this plant touches the warped chemicals from an imp-inflicted wound, it starts a chemical reaction which is poisonous and very deadly." Cyphas tossed the flower to the ground. "The best thing to do before healing a wound like that is to sprinkle some of this on it," She said, detatching a small pouch from her belt. She walked over to the griffon and began sprinkling a brownish powder on Kars's wound. Zelda was too surprised to argue, and hoped she and Link weren't being tricked by this mysterious blue-haired woman. "There. That should have neutralized or killed all the harmful bacteria in the wound. You can heal it now, but I don't know how you intend to, since you don't seem to have any first aid gear..." Cyphas said, backing away from the griffon and eying Zelda.
Zelda smiled at the doubtful woman,and walked up to Kars, positioning both hands an inch above the griffon's laceration. She concentrated her magic power, and healing magic flowed from her hands into Kars's wound. Within a matter of seconds the wound closed up, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.
"What the...? How did you do that?" Cyphas momentarily lost her cold attitude as she stared in wonder at Kars's side.
"Thanks, Zelda and Cyphas." Kars said, getting to his feet and walking over to his worried partner to assure her he was okay. Naltha rubbed up against him.
"You had me scared, you big dumb oaf." She said quietly. Zelda turned to Cyphas.
"It's a simple healing spell. If you have healing magical ability I could teach you how to do it." Zelda said. "But you have to have the magic inside you already, not have it given to you by a Great Fairy, like how Link got some of his spells."
"Magic ability? What nonsense...." Cyphas muttered, folding her arms. After a few moments she looked up. "Well, looks like you two shrimps and your birds are stuck here tonight, unless of course you'de like to fly after sunset. I wouldn't reccomend it."
"It's sunset? How can you tell through all that mist?" Link inquired.
"Moron...I've lived in this swamp practically my whole life. Of course I can tell when the sun is setting! I suggest you two make a fire and sleep here. Belive it or not, you're in one of the safer areas of the swamp. I'll get some dry wood for you..."
"Wait." Link said, stopping her. "Why are you helping us? I mean, we didn't do anything for you, so are you just being really nice or something?"
"Suspicious, huh? Well, you have reason to be. The first time I saw you I just wanted to get you out of my territory, maybe kill you. But now that I've saved your life and seen this girl's strange abilities, I've decided to observe you strange people for a while. At least until you leave, anyway. While I'm watching, I might as well help out. Of course, I could still go with plan A and kill you if you want..." Cyphas said, casually shrugging. Link got a bit irritated. iThis woman saved my life, but she sure makes it sound like it would be easy to take it away. She seems to want to help, but what's with the attitude? I'm a little tired of the name-calling... /iCyphas started walking to some trees, and Link followed.
"Of course I don't want you to try to kill me," Link said. Cyphas raised an eyebrow at the 'try'. "I just wondered about you a bit, that's all."
"Well, let me tell you that you are very lucky to be alive," Cyphas said, drawing a well-concealed sword and cutting some dry branches off an old, mostly alive tree. "I despise Hylians, and I'm not quite sure what possessed me to save you. Maybe it's how pitifully dumb you are." She now had an armful of branches, and Link cut some more down, gathering them.
"That's not very nice." Link said, looking at her and trying unsuccessfully to keep the irritation off his face and out of his voice. The two made their way back to Zelda and the griffons. "If you don't mind my asking, why do you live in Ganon's Swamp? There are more pleasant residential areas."
"That's what you call it, eh? Well, isn't it obvious why I live here? Do I look like a creature that can live among normal people? I think not, and my parents had a similar opinion." She dumped her branches into a dryish dip in the ground, made when Kars had hit it. Link also put his branches down, then looked over at Zelda. The princess stepped up to the pile, using a simple version of Din's Fire to ignite it. Zelda and the griffons found relatively dry patches of ground around the fire and sat down, but Link and Cyphas remained standing.
"Your looks don't bother me." Link said truthfully. "I admit I was surprised at first, but it's not like your a monster or anything; and despite your threats and namecalling, I think you're a pretty nice person. Why do you hate Hylians?"
"Nice? Hah! Nice is the last thing I am, boy. You don't know anything about me. Hylians are scum, and so are zoras. All of them, scum." She said, looking a bit mad. Link began to second-guess his delcaration of her being nice.
"Don't you think that's just predjudice? If one zora and one Hylian were mean to you, that doesn't mean you should hate them all-"
"Why don't you shut up about things you don't understand?!" Cyphas growled, interrupting him. "My mother was a Hylian. My father was a zora. Both of them were disgusting, interbreeding with one another! No one thinks it's possible, but here I am, living proof. They thought they could just love each other and nothing bad would ever happen, but they ruined someone's life - mine!" Link was quiet, looking at Cyphas sympathetically. Zelda and the griffons also had compassionate looks on their faces, but Cyphas ignored them completely. "Those jerks couldn't live with what they had done when they saw what they had brought into the world. A doomed half-breed. For four years I grew up with my mother, but all Hylians were scared of me or thought I was a monster, so she had to keep me in the house all the time. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and dumped me on my dad. The zoras didn't like me either, and even though the King Zora tolerated my prescence in the Zora's Domain, I was shunned and my father couldn't take it either. He took me out to this swamp and left me! I was four and a half years old, and surely would have died if some kind swamp inhabitants hadn't taken me in. You see what I mean? Hylians and zoras are scum!" Silence reigned in the camp, all eyes on the stressed-out Cyphas.
"Now you know my story. I just spilled my guts to two scumbag Hylians and a couple catbirds. What's wrong with me?" Cyphas turned away, obviously emotionally unstable. Link didn't know what to do, so he tried to reassure her.
"Well...a guess a lot of Hylians are scared of what they don't understand, but we're not all bad! I don't mind your looks, and I'm sure Zelda doesn't either. All you are to us is a friend." Link said. Cyphas turned towards him.
"I don't care what you feel about what I am. I just told you my darkest secret, after saving your life for no reason! There's something about you that's making me act strange, and I don't like it! Who are you?!" She asked, taking a step in Link's direction.
"I'm Link! Just an ordinary Hylian, that's all. I don't mean to make you act strange..." Link said, thoroughly confused.
"How can you not mean to? I would never help a Hylian, but here I am, treating you like I've known you for years. You have put a spell on me! Well, now you're gonna get it!"
"Cyphas, stop!" Zelda said, jumping to her feet, but it was too late. Cyphas drew her sword and began slashing at Link. He drew his own sword, wondering why the blade hadn't zapped Cyphas when she had touched it back at the swampsquid's pool. Was this woman good or bad? At the moment it seemed like bad, but the Master Sword destroyed any bad creatured who touched it and shocked any sorta bad creatured who touched it, so Link was very confused.
"Hey, I don't want to fight you!" Link said, parrying Cyphas's quick blows. "You saved my life and helped us out of your own kindness, I didn't put a spell on you!"
"You know what, you're right. That would be giving you way too much credit. I bet you made that Zelda girl do it! She's toast after I'm done with you." Zelda wanted to throw a fireball at Cyphas to help Link, but the two were too close and she would risk hitting her friend. Kars watched uncertainly, not knowing if he should attack the woman that helped him heal or not. Naltha was all for attacking the woman, but her and Link twisted and turned so unpredictably that the griffon didn't dare charge at them for fear she would do more damage than harm. She had seen two griffons fighting once, and when another tried to stop them, it accidentally shoved the back of one's head, making it bite very deep with its beak and almost kill the griffon it was fighting. She held back, ready to charge if the two separated.
"Right, now you've gone far enough! Zelda's done nothing but be polite to you. You're being unreasonable!" Link attacked with powerful blows, throwing the swamp woman slightly off-balance when she parried. After a few parries she stumbled, falling backwards. Link looked down at her angrily. "I don't know why you think we did anything bad to you. I'm grateful for your help, so please don't make me fight you anymore!" Link sheathed his sword and offered Cyphas a hand. She grabbed his wrist and drove her strong right fist into his gut, knocking the air out of him. She then got up and shoved Link against a tree, pointing her sword at his chest.
"I don't like to lose." Cyphas said, grinning but not putting any pressure on her sword.
"Fine. You win, now leave me alone!" Link said, gasping but not moving. Cyphas apparently hadn't expected this answer, and stood thinking a moment.
"What's wrong with me? I should kill you, but I don't want to for some reason!"
"Maybe it's because there is no reason. Have you ever killed someone before?" Link asked, wondering if he should let the woman go or fight her and try to get her back to Hyrule in chains. He really didn't know anything about her, and for all he knew, she might be a killer.
"No..." Cyphas said, feeling rather like a child and hating it. "I always thought I would be tough enough to destroy any Hylian or zora I saw, but now that I have the opportunity I'm getting weak...time to prove to myself I can do this!" She began pushing on the sword, making Link flinch. She looked over her shoulder at his three companions. "If you guys move at all, I'll drive this sword through him. It's razor sharp!"
"Cut it out! It's wrong to kill, and you're making me mad..." Link growled, glaring at her. He wouldn't take much more of this. Just when he was about to make a move, something unexpected happened.
"Cyphas, stop! Leave Link alone, you grouch!" A fairy flew up to Cyphas, yelling at her.
"Kayl? Hey, long time no see!" Link said, half smiling at the fairy, half grimacing from the sword point on his chest.
"Queen Kayl, why are you stopping me? This can't possibly be the Link that defeated Vamparlia. He's an idiot!"
"Cyphas I'm CERTAIN that's the Link that saved us. For heaven's sake, get that sword off him!" Cyphas reluctantly lowered her sword, then sheathed it.
"You know Kayl, Cyphas? Whew...I thought I was going to have to hurt you!" Link said, noticing her skeptical glare.
"Ofi course/i I know her! You see? He's a moron." Cyphas said to Kayl.
"Stop insulting the savior of the Swamp Fairies! Why on earth were you trying to kill him?!"
"He's a Hylian in my territory... Shoot, I don't know if I could have killed him anyway," Cyphas muttered, kicking at something on the ground. "I always thought I was a warrior, but when this guy showed up I didn't feel...normal."
"I know why, Cyphas. He's the first nice Hylian you've ever met. Your brain never registered the idea that there could be a nice Hylian, so you were caught between your true feelings of gladness and the dark memories of the past. Your present side really wanted to help him because he needed you and he was nice, but your past side wanted desperately to destroy him. Now leave the past behind you where it belongs and apologize to Link!" Kayl ordered.
"Even if you are a Queen, I don't take orders from fairies...an apology would be pushing it..." Cyphas folded her arms and looked away stubbornly. Eventually, her feelings got the best of her. "Alright! I'm sorry, Link. I'll try to treat you nicer now. I'm tired of pretending to be a jerk, anyway." She turned towards Link and held out her hand. Link gladly shook it. Zelda let out a sigh of relief.
"There, now everyone's happy," Kayl said, grinning. "Hey, I bet you're wondering what I'm doing here, huh, Link? The Swamp Faires have decided to move their home into this part of the swamp because it's far away from outside threats and one of the safer areas of the deep swamp. We were going to send word to you as soon as we got settled in, but now that you're here you can come to our new home to see where we live! Cyphas can lead you there tomorrow."
"Um, me and Zelda are kind of in a hurry." Link said, looking at his fairy friend. "Oh, and Cyphas called you Queen, so you're the Queen of the Swamp Fairies now? Congratulations."
"Thank you. Anyway, our home is close so it won't take long to visit us. We can just serve you breakfast or something, then speed you on your way."
"All right! Wanna go, Zelda?" Link asked, turning towards the princess that was now standing a few feet to his left.
"Okay, as long as it's short. We didn't see any signs of the weird sound today, so it makes me worry that maybe we'll hear it tomorrow for a long time or something. We have to find the source as soon as possible!"
"Agreed." Link said, turning to Kayl. "I guess we'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye, Link! We'll look forward to seeing you!" With that, Kayl flew off in the direction from which she had come. Zelda, Link and Cyphas joined the griffons by the fire.
"I'm glad ithats/i over!" Kars declared, and everyone nodded.
"How did you meet Kayl, Cyphas?" Link asked, very curious.
"Remember when I told you I would have died if some nice swamp inhabitants didn't take me in? It was the Swamp Fairies who raised me until I was an adult. When I was full grown I explored the swamp and now I know it like the back of my hand. I was on a long trip when Vamparlia took over the Swamp Fairies, so I'm glad you were around to save them. When I got back they told me all about you, but I didn't believe you were the one they told me of when I first saw you, obviously. By the way, whats the 'weird sound'?"
"It's a sound that certain people in Hyrule have been hearing. Sounds harmless, right? Well, it makes the people who hear it extremely violent and crazy. It's the reason we're out here in 'your territory'. Zelda made an enchantment that will point us toward the sound, and it led us into this swamp. We have to find it's source quick, before it makes everyone in Hyrule go crazy for who knows how long." Link explained.
"Hm. Well, I haven't been hearing anything. Good luck with finding it." Cyphas said, staring into the fire.
"Thanks." Link yawned. "I'm going to bed."
"Good idea." Zelda agreed.
"Hey, where do you sleep, Cyphas?" Link asked.
"In a tree." She looked over at Link, who was staring at her. "Seriously. I just find a tree strong enough to hold me and sleep in it. It's better then the ground when you don't have a bed, and I actually kind of like it." With that, everyone in the camp went to bed. Zelda and Link leaned against the griffons in their bedrolls, and Cyphas found a strong tree. At least, she thought it was strong.
"Blast it, Remorie! This time it didn't even make a sound! How am I supposed to make any progress with this piece of junk?" A woman complained to her pet.
"I am sorry, Lady, but like I said, I can't predict what the shell's sound will do or if it will make an audiable sound at all. I only know how to change the frequency, not what the frequency will effect!" The water dragon shot back. iDumb dragon... /iThe woman thought broodingly.
"Tomorrow we try again. We have to be close, there's only a certain amount of things this shell can do, but I think soon we'll get the right frequency. I need an army if I'm going to take over the world!"
"Lady, you are aware of the side effects of the sound, aren't you? If you get the right sound and play it long enough, you could kill a lot of humans. Then you wouldn't need an army!"
"You are missing the point as usual, Remorie. If they're all dead, how am I going to get the joy of killing them personally? I want an army! With the help of the Siren's Shell, I can make the largest, most powerful army ever. With this goal so close to being reached, you want me to change it? I don't think so."
"Of course, Lady. You shall have your army. Perhaps we should try many frequencies in one day; that way you'd make more progress," The dragon suggested.
"Easy for you to say. It's harder for me to enchant it than you know. We'll just continue as planned, so prepare to change the frequency tomorrow morning. By the way, keep researching the shell and the snakes and tell me if you find anything new. Good night." The woman stalked off to her sleeping quarters, thinking irritably of how slowly her plan was progressing. Her dragon made preparations.
Section 4
The Other Side
Link awoke with a start as a loud noise filled his sensitive ears. He instantly sat up and looked in the direction the sound was coming from. CRRAACCKKK!
"Yiiiiikes!" Cyphas yelled as the branch under her snapped and she fell ten feet to the ground, landing rather hard on her bottom. She got up, rubbing her backside, and heard Link laugh quietly. "Hey, shut up! I'm sure you wouldn't laugh if you fell from a tree! I was sure that branch was strong enough to hold me..." Link finally got himself to stop giggling.
"Sorry, but you had a funny look on your face when you fell..." Cyphas glared at him. "Eh, sorry." he said again.
"It's okay. It's time to get up anyway, and if we leave right now we'll be at the Fairy's Pool in about half an hour."
"Right, I'll wake up Zelda..."
"I'm already awake." He heard the princess say. "How could anyone sleep through that? The griffons are awake, too; so let's get going." With that, Link and Zelda packed up their gear and followed Cyphas. Even though it was morning, the swamp was still submerged in a moist fog. The group couldn't see twenty feet in front of them, but Cyphas seemed to know exactly where she was going. The five comrades walked for a few minutes, and except for the quiet squishing of the humans' feet on the swamp floor and the very loud squishing of the griffons', all was silent until Cyphas spoke.
"Even though we're in a less-populated area of the swamp, we could run into monsters. You never know, so stay alert." Zelda and Link made sounds of acknowledgement. As Link walked, he found himself wondering about Ganon's Swamp. No one knew what was on the other side of it, but for all he knew, the strange sound might be coming from the other side and not from within the swamp at all. This information didn't bother him, though. He was glad he and Zelda had the chance to explore. Ever since he was a child, he had wanted to explore and see the world beyond the Kokiri Forest, but the Deku Tree would not let him leave. All the Kokiris knew he had an urge to explore, so it had come as no surprise to them when he left the forest to meet Zelda and save Hyrule. It had been cool to explore all of Hyrule, but every now and then Link found himself wanting to leave and explore other lands, beyond both Hyrule and North Hyrule. Who knew what kind of lands his planet contained? Were there worlds beyond his planet? Link always wondered about that when he looked at the stars. Whatever was out there, Link hoped he would see it one day, but knew that for now he had to stay in Hyrule, where he was needed. His thoughs were interrupted as Cyphas stopped abruptly in front of him.
"What's wrong, Cy-"
"Shhh! Be silent!" There was a fifteen second pause as Zelda, Link, and the two griffons watched the rigid Cyphas, who seemed to be listening for something. "Hm...alright, it's nothing. Let's keep going." Cyphas began to walk again, and the rest followed.
"Hey Cyphas, I've been meaning to ask you," Link began, "Just what kind of monsters might we meet here? We can probably fight them better if we know about them."
"Well, there's tons of different monsters, really. Two of the most common are swampsquids and illusion imps, obviously. The biggest one is probably the mire wurm, but I doubt we'll find one of those...let's see, there's mer-demons that swim in ponds, dead birds which look like they're dead but really aren't, then there's morphers..."
"Is that anything like a shiftbat?" Link asked.
"Shiftbat? What the heck's that? Never heard of it. I suppose a morpher could turn into a bat if it wanted to..." She trailed off, looking back at Link.
"Can they turn into anything?" Link thought they sounded pretty dangerous.
"Pretty much, but there's a few limitations. You see when they're not morphing, they're in their natural form, which looks kinda like a ghost. But when they want to kill something, their brains put hormones inot their blood which lets them morph while they're hunting. The only thing is, they have to stay the size of the thing they want to kill when they morph. For example, if we were being hunted, one could turn into a human-sized knife. If the griffons were hunted, they could be a griffon-sized knife, or whatever they want. I don't think we'll run into any, though. It's their mating season so they'll group together, and they're pretty rare so it'll be just plain bad luck if run into some."
"Okay, so what's the thing we're most likely to find?"
"Very inquisitive, aren't we? Oh well, it passes the time. Other than imps and squids, the most common monster is a giant leech. You think normal leeches are gross? This one drops out of trees and wraps around part of your body, then makes a wound two inches in diameter and sucks your blood. If you tear em' out you'll make the wound imuch/i bigger, so the best thing is to let them finish so they'll go away. Sounds simple, but they can suck a lot of blood and you'll be very drowsy and weak by the time it's done."
"Ew..." Zelda said, shivering.
"Don't worry, I won't let a leech get on you." Link promised. Zelda felt somewhat comforted, but Cyphas snickered at the cornyness. The group kept walking for about fifteen minutes, and Cyphas knew they were getting close. If they walked straight ahead they would reach the new fairy pool in just a few minutes, but there was something else straight ahead as well. Very thick mist. The companions had no choice but to walk into the mist, so Cyphas stopped them.
"This is some of the worst mist that ever occurs in this swamp. When we go forward, we wont be able to see two feet in front of us. To prevent getting separated, we have to hold hands." She said it in a tone that clearly said she didn't want to hold hands, but knew they had no choice because she had no rope to link them.
"Just asking...how do you find your way in this mist?" Link asked, hesitantly putting his hand in hers.
"I am a tracker and I've lived here so long I would know my way around if I was blind. Don't worry about where we're going, just worry about what we might find on the way." Cyphas replied. Link nodded as Zelda sliped her hand into his, smiling shyly. He didn't notice her smile because he was focused on the mist ahead as the group moved forward once again. Naltha couldn't really hold Zelda's hand, so she layed a corner of her wing on the princess's shoulder and Kars held Naltha's tail carefully in his beak. They entered the thickest part of the mist, and as Cyphas had said, they could hardly see anything but their own bodies.
"How is it possible that such thick mist exists?" Kars asked, mouth full of Naltha's tail, "I've never seen anything like this in the mountains!" He heard Cyphas's voice from far ahead, but could only see Naltha's haunches in front of him.
"The swamp is always a little misty because it's so damp, but once in a while a cloud comes all the way to the ground and makes it much worse. That's why this mist is so wet, we're in a low cloud. The thick canopy of trees is keeping it in, so it's even worse here than if you were in a cloud at the top of a mountain." She explained.
"Oh, I see." Kars replied, squinting. It didn't help at all. The group trudged on in ominous silence, each having to trust the one ahead for guidance. The silence was only broken occasionally by Cyphas calling out 'root' or 'pit' every time she came across one, warning those walking behind her. No one could see anything but grey, wet, ominously still mist. Link was watching carefully for signs of danger in the mist when suddenly Cyphas's hand was pulled out of his quicker than he could stop it. He couldn't see her at all.
"Cyphas!" He called, trying to see.
"Root." Cyphas said belatedy, getting to her feet. "Sorry about that." She grabbed Link's hand again, then stopped. "Huh? Where'd it go?"
"What, the root?" Link asked.
"Duh, what else?" Cyphas snapped.
"Well, roots don't just move! Or...do they?" Link trailed off, wondering if maybe it wasn't a root.
"It was here a moment ago and now it's gone, okay? I think - ack!" Cyphas was surprised when the 'root', which was actually a skeleton-looking monster that had tripped her, pulled her away from her companions. She wrestled with it even though she couldn't see it very well, telling Link to stay where he was. "Be careful, there might be others close by!" Cyphas warned, but her voice was cut off and Link heard a thud and a moan.
"That's it! I can't just stay here!" Link declared, drawing his sword with his free hand. As he walked forward, something pounced on him and pulled him away from Zelda, who screamed. Naltha and Kars ran up and stood on either side of the princess, protecting her and trying vainly to see Cyphas and Link. The thing pinned Link, then got off him before he could see what it looked like. Its form disappeared into the mist and Link sat up, looking around. "Cyphas? Are you alright, Cyphas?!" Link called.
"Yeah, other than a fat monster sitting on my head, I'm just fine!" Came the muffled reply. Link heard some wicked and fleeting laughter, but couldn't discern where it was coming from. He stumbled in the directing Cyphas's voice had come from. He reached the spot he thought she was in, but there was nothing.
"Cyphas?" He called again, getting very annoyed at the mist. Something in front of him materialized from the mist. It was Cyphas. "Whew, I was getting worried." Link admitted, "Now let's go find Zelda-" Link stpped talking as Cyphas punched him in the face, sending him backwards. He fell into something, and felt arms supporting him. He turned his head and saw Zelda. "Zelda? Where's the griffons?"
"Link, I'm over here! Who are you talking to?" A faint voice came from the mist to his right. The Zelda behind him put him in a chokehold, dragging him backwards. The fake Zelda's skin started turning green, and soon it looked like Link! Link knew this had to be a morpher, and so was the Cyphas he had seen. Or maybe that was the real Cyphas and she punched him because she thought he was a morpher, or...Link stopped thinking about that and pulled on the tightening arms of the morpher. He finally used his gauntlets while he could and flung the beast into the mist in front of him.
"Oof!" Cyphas said as the morpher slammed into her and made her fall. "Link? Oh, good." Then the morpher started punching her. Soon the morpher transformed to look like her again, and she kicked it off, making it fly back into the mist, hitting Link.
"Huh? Cyphas?" Link layed on the ground, with the fake Cyphas on top of him. The real Cyphas came into view, her mist-shrouded from dim in the mist. Unfortunately, another Cyphas came right after her.
"Link, that's a morpher. I'm the real Cyphas." Both said at once. The one in front turned around, startled to find another one. Meanwhile, the Cyphas on Link started growing blades for fingers and tried to scratch him.
"Link? What's going on out there?" Zelda yelled, looking between her two griffon protectors. "Oh, this is ridiculous! The first thing I'm doing when I get home is learning a spell that gets rid of mist!"
Link kicked the morpher off him, accidentally sending it into the midst of the other two, who were wrestling with each other. All three fell to the ground, and when they got up, all looked the same, from what Link could see of them through the mist. They all punched at each other and Link held back, not knowing which ones to attack.
"Link, what are you doing? Help me, you twit!"
"Don't help her, she's a morpher! Destroy her, Link!"
"They're both morhpers, Link! Use your sword!" Link just stared on as they attacked each other.
"W-which one of you is the real one?" Link wondered, really wanting to take action but not willing to risk killing the real Cyphas. "What monster did you save me from?" Link asked, thinking only the real Cyphas would know.
"A swampsquid!" Cyphas yelled, but then another Cyphas dragged her into the mist and Link lost track of which had said it.
"Man, that's it!" Link took out the Eye of Truth, looking at the Cyphases with it. He saw two ghostlike forms attacking the real Cyphas. He shot an arrow at one's chest, but it did no good.
"Link, aim for the lower left of the head! That's where-" Her sentence was cut off as a morpher punched her gut. Link quickly shot an arrow into the lower left of the morpher's head, and the creature let out a loud screetch as it died.
"We must do something!" Zelda said urgently to the griffons, hearing a terrible screetch.
"No, if we move it will only be harder to find Link and Cyphas. We must stay here!" Kars said sternly.
The last morpher was quickly shot down by Link, who put away the Eye and rushed to Cyphas's side. She was on the ground, all cut up and bruised.
"Took you long enough." She muttered.
"Can you blame me? What would you have done if there were three Links?" Cyphas grinned and Link decided he'd rather not know. He took out his Arlia and began healing her. "Zelda! Stay where you are and we'll come as soon as I'm done with this."
"Okay!" She said as loud as possible, so Link would know where she was. She was then silent, gazing into the mist she thought Link was behind. The griffons were still, listening and looking for Link and Cyphas. After a few silent minutes, Link appeared from the mist, walking toward them.
"Good, I found you." He said, grinning widely. Then a sword was sticking through his head.
"Ahhh! Link!" Zelda yelled, but then saw what she thought was Link slide lifeless from the sword and the real Link, accompanied by Cyphas, walked up to her and the griffons.
"Sorry to scare you." He said. Zelda looked at him suspisciously. "Don't worry, I'm really me! My horse's name is Epona."
"Okay." Zelda said, convinced. She looked over at Cyphas.
"I fixed up your griffon's illusion imp scratch, can we get going now?!" She asked, irritated. Zelda nodded, and the group got into the same single-file formation as before. After a few minutes of walking, the mist began to clear up. It kept thinning until it was quite easy to see at least ten feet ahead, and the companions didn't have to hold hands anymore. They all disconnected except Zelda, still holding Link's hand. He paused in his walking and looked back at her.
"It's safe to let go of me now." He informed her.
"Of course," She said, blushing. She reluctantly let go of his hand. He gave her a weird look, then smiled reassuringly and continued on. The griffons and Hylians followed Cyphas, who was striding confidently through the hazy, mucky swamp, as if daring another attack. She informed them that they were not far from the Swamp Fairies.
for those of you who are reading this and want pictures, I'm trying to post them on deviantart and post the link. Just go to the ending chapter of any story and click on the link at the bottom to go to the pic. If the links aren't working (and I suspect they aren't) You can see the pics by becoming a member of devinat art, then go to my homepage (my name on it is the same as here: Talonclawfange). You'll find the pics there, hopefully...