iAm I dead? Everything is black and I can't feel anything or move. I must be dead, but this doesn't look like heaven.../i Link couldn't remember anything, and this was his first conscious thought as his damaged body tried to repair itself . The storm had quickly cleared up after murdering the iAngel's Star/i, and Link had been floating for hours, the top half of his body barely on the piece of wood raft far enough to keep him on it. Unconcious, the Hylian had drifted under overcast skies and through clinging mists as the extreme cold of the sea waged war with the warmth of his comparatively frail, human body. The mist hovering over the freezing but calm waters was beginning to lighten; the sun rising in some remote place that could not possibly penetrate the still fog. Link's ears were not really working properly, but subconsciously he thought he heard some creaking wood.
"Whot's that over there, matey? Looks like some driftwood."
"You imbecile, it can't possibly be. There aint a 'arbor for miles and miles! Plus, the currents of the sea don't push things this way."
"I tell ye, I see it! Look, row this way." These strange, rough voices drifted on the foggy air, unheard by Link. "See? I told you, mate! Just look at that. A drowned sea rat floating on a plank!"
"By Blackbeard's peg leg, you were right! Let's pull him aboard." Though almost completely numb, Link felt an increase of motion and knew something was happening. Unfortunately, every thought in his head was dulled by his his condition, and he still could not move or feel.
"Dead as a stone...'halmost feel sorry for the lad. Looks like he froze overnight..."
"Naw, he was struck by lightening. See the blood on his lips and in his ears? Electricity, matey. From the storm we saw behind us last night."
"Ah, who cares? Let's get him back to the Captain. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can search 'im for booty!" One of the men in the small rowboat pulled out a whistle and blew on it. The high note was returned moments later by a lower one, and a huge, dark brown-wooded ship appeared, slowly materializing out of the mist. The figurehead of the full-sized ship, which was a beautiful mermaid, was contrasted greatly by the image on the flag flapping at the top of the center mast. It was a skull and crossbones. Painted on the side of the ship in gold letters, was the name iDark Predator/i.
The small boat and its dirty owners were hauled up the side of the ship and pulled onboard. The two men unloaded themselves, along with the umoving, frozen-looking form of Link.
"Good mornin' Captain, sir. Look at this here sea rat we pulled out of the water!"
"By Silver's parrot, did you really?" A deep and cool, manly voice inquired. "I wonder where the dead whelp came from?" The men threw Link on the deck in front of their Captain none too gently, thinking he was dead. Link's ears were starting to get some blood moving normally in them, and he heard some faraway mumbling in place of silence. His formerly numb body felt a piece of the force from getting tossed on the ground. He tried to move again and failed, but his brain was beginning to think clearly again. A gasp arose from a slew of voices, followed by whispers. 'Did you see that?' 'The dead man's hand just moved...'
"I can't believe it, me hearties! The kid's still alive! Don't just stand there, you twits! Warm him up so we can ask him where he's from and if there's lots of gold there." Link heard a rushing of booted feet, and realized for the first time that he wasn't dead. The remaining men whispered about Link under their breaths.
"Look at those muscles, mate. He'd make a fine cabin boy."
"Naw, we should chop 'im up and use him for sharkbait, says I! His boots are encrusted with ice, I'll be a skeleton's buzzard if he doesn't have frostbite. Nice boots, though." Link tried once again to move, and was surprised when he succeeded. The Hylian managed to get his hands under him, but was far to weak from the cold to lift himself. He felt a couple of hands pull him up into a sitting position. He also felt the hands pulling on his eyelashes for some reason.
"That's it, lad...you can open your eyes now that the ice is off." 'aaawk! That's it, lad!' a scratchy, annoying voice repeated. Link was hearing perfectly now and found it was true. He opened his eyes and a blurry mass of colors slowly focused into a man, hunched over, looking at Link's face. He was wearing a red jacket with a frilled white shirt beneath, the ripples sticking out. His pants and boots were black, as was the short, pointy goatee and curled mustache growing on his face. He wore a large, dark hat with a white feather sticking out of it. Under that hat and seated on the wierd man's shoulder, was a brightly-colored bird with a large, curved, yellow beak. A bunch of strangely clad men were standing behind the man with the large, black hat, and more were emerging from a cabin to Link's left. Some had pointy ears like a Hylian...but there was something unHylianish about them. One put a warm blanket around Link. The warmth put feeling back into his body, letting him feel every inch of it fill with pain. He bore it like a man, not complaining.
"Thank you..." Link said through lips that felt very cold. His breath misted on the air. By now Link had his memory back, and he knew he was on a very large ship. "Did you find any other men when you found me?" Some faint laughter played around the crowd of wierd, rough-looking men.
"Maybe we did and we killed 'em!"
"They're all drowned in the sea, whelp."
"Be quiet, you scabberous weasels!" The man with the hat said. "Don't mind them, they're a fine bunch of hearties when you get to know them, lad. I be Captain Jordaan. What be your name, if ye can remember?"
"Link," The Hylian said. He was very confused by the mens' strange clothes, and asked, "What...sort of people are you?"
"Kaisokah, baka!" One particularly stange, slanty-eyed man growled. (if you didn't figure it out, kaisokah means pirate in Japanese)
"Silence to yer foolish foreign speech, Koske!" Jordaan ordered. He seemed to be the leader of the odd bunch. "You really don't know what manner of people we be, lad?" Link shook his head. "We be called pirates, mate. We...er, we catch rich boats and ask for donations of money to give t' the poor. Sometimes the people on the boats need a little convincing, but they always donate. It's great work, mate. Would ye like to join us?" Link was hardly listening. He was wondering what had become of Sohran. No other men had been found... "Be ye joining us, lad?" The pirate irritably repeated his question.
"I'm not going anywhere, it seems I have no choice. You sound like noble enough men. You're quite icertain/i there were no other people around when you found me?" A few of the men grinned, as if hiding something or enjoying Link's confusion. It was very preturbing, especially compared to the kindness the black-hatted man was showing him.
"No mate, none. If there be other men out there, we've yet to find them. Sorry lad, but whoever you're looking for is probably dead." The irritating bird on Jordaan's shoulder said 'Aaawk! All dead, lad!' The words hit Link harder than the lightening had the night before. Sohran, dead? It couldn't be true! Yet, some part of him had worried about Sohran's safety from the very beginning, as if it knew something terrible was going to happen. Looking at the deck, Link didn't see the disgusted look on Jordaan's face. He was already tired of being nice to the little Hylian. Despite this, he continued talking in a soft tone. "Ye'd better forget about dead men, mate. Dwellen' too long on the past 'tis bad luck. Where ye be from?" Link couldn't just forget it. He could never forget Sohran. He couldn't believe he was gone.
"Hyrule." Link said in a detatched voice. His body was warmed up now, and he got to his feet but remained staring at the deck. A confused look crossed Jordaan's face.
"Hyrule? Never heard of that, hearty. Ye must have lost yer memory or something."
"I know I'm from Hyrule. The last time I checked it was...." In Link's detatched state of thinking half about Sohran and half about his conversation, he was not being careful of what he was saying. Though these men appeared to be good people, Link still couldn't let himself completely trust them until he knew more about them. "You're right, I forgot where it is." A few pirates in the group growled in frustration.
"Well, that's dissappointing, mate. Mayhap you'll remember soon. We be sailing to the southwest, so if ye remember a specific direction, we'll turn this here ship right 'round, and go to yer homeland and drop ye off."
"For a small fee, heh heh..." One pirate whispered. Link didn't hear him but Captain Jordaan did, and shot him a warning glance. He turned back to Link.
"Well mate, for a while I suppose yer going to be our new cabin boy. Welcome aboard the iDark Predator/i!" Link could have sword the grin on Jordaan's face was one of evil glee, and it gave him chills.
Link sat in the hammock belowdecks, his eyes closed in deep thought. iSohran was a really cool guy, it's all my fault he's gone! Why didn't I be more stubborn when the King insisted he come with me? This is terrible.../iSorrow welled up inside Link, as he remembered Sohran's wild grin after the two had survived an encouter with the great white shark.
"Wake up, cabin boy!" A pirate said, poking Link in the ribs. "We got our first ship of the night, and yer going to prove you mettle by helpin' us get their treasure!" Link jumped up, glad to have something to do that would get his mind off his lost friend. He had heard stories of people who had too much time to think and blamed themselves for losing people they cared about. Those sorrowful people could waste away if they got too caught up in their thoughts. Link followed the pirate up to the deck, and spotted a large, white ship close by. Both the iDark Predator/i and its query were gliding quickly through the water, but the pirate ship was catching up to the light one. Pirates were lined up on the railing of their ship, grappling hooks with ropes in their hands.
"Get ready to jump to the other ship as soon as we catch it, Link!" Jordaan yelled, spotting the 'cabin boy'. 'Awwwk! Jump, Link!' Jordaan's bird said. Link picked up a grappling hook on the ground and began to swing it like the other pirates as the iDark Predator/i pulled up alongside the white ship. There were men with swords on the white ship, preparing for battle. iWhat's going on? This doesn't look like what the Captain described.../i
"Board the ship, men!" Captain Jordaan shouted.
"Aye-aye, Captain!" All the pirates and Link threw their hooks onto the masts of the other ship. Then they all swung across, everyone drawing a weapon but Link. Link realized he had been lied to. He watched in horror as his fellow pirates began slashing fighting with the men on the white ship. They were trying to conquer it! Link made a quick change of alliances, drawing the Master Sword.
"Hhaaaaah!" The Hylian yelled, slashing a pirate who was about to kill one of the white ship's men. The man was very confused as he saw Link suddenly turn on his former companion. He said something wierd in another language, and helped Link knock the man out. Link wasn't moving fast enough. At this rate, people would die before he could save them, and he knew only one way to break up the fight quickly. Link pulled out a bomb and lit it.
"Aaahhh! Cabin boy's got a bomb! Let's get out of here!" One pirate yelled at the top of his lungs. The pirates quickly found their ropes and swung back over to the iDark Predator/i, despite the angry yelling of Captain Jordaan. As soon as Link thought all the pirates were back on their ship, he threw the bomb into the ocean to extinguish it and shot an ice arrow at the iDark Predator's/i rudder. That way, the pirates could not follow as the white ship escaped. Unfortunately, one pirate remained on the white ship, behind Link, yelling 'baka' over and over again.
The slanty-eyed pirate slashed Link's back with his sword then hit him on the back of the head with its hilt, stunning him. The strange pirate then escaped back to his own ship, taking Link with him, while the white one sailed away, much too fast for the pirates to follow. Link knew he was in trouble now. Recovering from the blow to his head, he punched the pirate holding him and drew his sword again, turning towards Jordaan.
"You lied to me...you didn't say your bunch were murderers! I don't want to be a pirate anymore!" Jordaan glared at him menacingly. His voice was low and dangerous.
"Ye be sure about that, boy...? If ye resist us, you'll be thrown in a cell and not fed until we hit land again, which, I can tell ye, will be a few days. Be wise and join us. We could use your strength, boy. Ye got fire. Besides, you'll be rich beyond yer wildest imaginings before ye can count fifteen dead men. Don't be stupid!"
"Here's what I think of your group!" Link yelled, rushing at the Captain. He heard someone yell, 'Shinay, baka Link!' and he was thrown to the ground as a very sharp sword put a second huge, deep laceration down his back. Other pirates ran forward and tied his hands behind his back, and Link felt himself being stripped of all his weapons and valuables. As a pirate tried to take the last thing, the Master Sword, off Link, the sword zapped him, burning his hands.
"Yoooow! He's a devil, Captain! That's a devil's blade!" The pirate screamed, blowing on his blackened palms.
"Then take it off 'im with a grappling hook and put it belowdecks, you sea dog!" Jordaan growled irritably. It was done, and the pirates lifted Link up before their Captain, who looked him over with a grin. "Ye should 'ave joined us, Link. Now you'll be locked in a cage 'till we find a place te sell ye for the highest price. Beat him and throw him in the cell." Jordaan said coldly, turning away. 'Awwwk! Beat him!' came the echo from the bird. Gleefully, the pirates did just that.
ubSection 5
Drowning Hope/b/u
The pirates had done their job well. Link could hardly move without some part of his body flaring with pain. His entire form was bleeding from numerous slashes and bruises, especially his stomach. Pirates seemed to like punching people in the gut. Groaning, Link laid his head back on the cold wood wall. How had he let this happen? Ever since he had left the cliffs of Ganon's Swamp, nothing had gone right. First the shark, then the terrible storm, and finally being rescued by murderous robbers. Link didn't mean to think about Sohran, but the thought strolled right into Link's mind, uninvited. Rather than banishing it, he dwelt on it. iSohran, I'm so sorry I let the waves swallow you.../iLink had finally accepted the devistating fact that his companion was dead. He was sadder than he had been in a long, long, time; but tears did not come to the warrior's eyes. Instead, a hole grew in his heart, and it made him feel sick. Sick of pirates and death. Sick of the fact he would never see Sohran again. Sick that the virtuous man's body was probably rotting at the bottom of the ocean. Sick of feeling pain all over his body and being behind bars. Sick of looking for the one who had sent the shadow assassin.
iI don't think I'll ever find him now...or the one who's making the storms. I don't suppose I'll live another week with these pirates. I'm surprised they didn't cut my throat the moment they saw me. That Jordaan was quite a good actor./i Link had been working on the ropes on his hands since he had been thrown into the cell a few hours ago. They had been making his hands numb from the very start, but now his wrists were bleeding profusely from trying to get them off. Luckily, they had finally begun to loosen a while ago. After a few more minutes of struggling, they fell off and Link rubbed his bloody wrists to stimulate healing. Even his pathetic little Arlia plant had been taken from him, so he couldn't use that to heal himself. The only thing he had now was his tunic, minus the boots. Now that Link's hands were free, he stood up (very painfully, for he could hardly stand to walk in his condidtion) and started checking he cell for weaknesses. The cell was composed of Iron bars evenly spaced about four inches apart. They came from the floor and went all the way up to the ceiling, forming a seven by eight squarish cage. The door was made of the same iron, fastened securely by large hinges and a big lock. Though it was a relatively clean cell, there was no way Link was going to stay in there a moment longer than he had to. Already he had a plan to get off the ship if he found a weakness in his cell. He would simply sneak out at night when his guard and everyone else was sleeping, and take the small boat. Of course, he would have to wait until the ship was close to land or he would just die on the ocean. Link acidentally made a clang on a bar as he was checking its strength, and his half-intoxicated guard awoke.
"So, you got out of your ropes, eh? Well, who cares. The Captain said you would, anyway. Besides, there's no way out of that cell, even with both of your hands free, you little sea dog. Speakin' of water and such, I guess it's time to give you some. If it were up to me I'd just let you dehydrate, but if you're going to be worth anything as a slave, we can't have you gettin' too sickly, can we, now?" The stinky, unshaven pirate grabbed a glass of water that had been sitting next to him and drew his sword, walking up to Link's cell. "I know ye be a tricky one, but if ye try anything, I'll cut your arm clean off, get it?" Link sat down, glaring at the pirate. He could easily do something nasty to him, but it wasn't time to make a move yet. The pirate set the glass down just inside the cell, then backed off and resumed his place on the coil of rope, glaring back at Link. "So, ye think ye can find a weakness in that cage while I'm sleeping, eh? Heheh, don't look so surprised! Yes, I'm on to you. And now I won't let my eyes off you." The pirate was now wide awake, so it didn't look like Link would get another chance to check his cell in a while. Instead, he relaxed his beat-up body and rested against the wall.
Link awoke to rough hands picking him up and shoving his head against the wall. Link didn't make a noise as the hands tied up his hands, reopening a few of the wounds that had formed from the ropes that had been on his hands before. Link was then marched out of his cell, up to the deck. It had been two days since Link had been imprisoned. He was extremely hungry from getting nothing but water, but wouldn't show it in front of his captors. Link had heard the pirates talking about how to handle slaves before, and knew he would be let onto the deck every other day so he wouldn't lose all his strength. Link already felt a lot weaker because his wounds were not healed and he hadn't eaten anything for at least sixty hours, but the pirates did want to weaken him enough that he wouldn't put up a fight.
Sunlight felt incredibly sweet as Link stepped up on the deck. A few crew members standing around eyes him murderously, as if eager to use him for a punching bag again. Fortunately for him, that wasn't what he was brought out of his cell for. As the pirate with a sword to his back made him walk around, Link searched the sea for any sign of land. As soon as they neared land, Link could make his escape if he wasn't completely emaciated by then. He hadn't found a weakness in his cage, however he could easily knock out his guard when he gave him water. The only problem with that was that Link didn't know if all his guards held the key to his cell. He had seen a keyring on one of his first guards, but there hadn't been a sign of a key on any other ones. Still, if that didn't work, he could escape the next time he was let out to exercise. Link began to jog a little, serious about keeping his muscles strong. The pirate behind him got a little irritated.
"Hey, slow down there, ye little guppy! Yer not supposed to be able to run after the beating we gave you a while ago!" Link ignored him for a few minutes, but when the man got tired and started pressing his sword against Link's back, the Hylian slowed to a walk.
"A little out of shape there, Mr. Pirate?" Link asked with mocking playfullness. The pirate was not in the mood to play, and angrilly gave Link a small slash on the back of his arm. With diffuculty, Link restrained himself from doing anything like kicking the pirate's butt. After about an hour, the pirate returned, with Link, to the hatch that led belowdecks. Captain Jordaan was standing by it, and Link almost couldn't resist kicking him. Instead, he smiled at him. "Nice day, isn't it?" Jordaan grimaced.
"Does nothing lower your spirits, boy?" He looked at his subordinate, the one guarding Link. "How healthy is he?" The question sounded like a pet owner asking the vet if their pet was in good shape.
"The blaggard can run faster than me!" The dirty man rumbled, giving Link a poke. Jordaan glared at Link.
"The little brat...I know what will tire him out or at least make him rot a bit. Take 'im down there and tie him completely up." Link did not like that idea at all.
"Hey! You know, you won't get away with this, Jordaan! You won't be very happy when I get out of here."
"Change of plans. Let me take him down, matey." Jordaan said with a petulant grin. 'Awwwk! Take him down!' The Captain's buzzard croaked.
"Aye-aye, Captain!" The pirate left as Jordaan drew his sword and made Link go back down to his cell. He hit Link in the gut hard enough to force him to recover for a few moments, and began gathering some ropes.
"iWhen/i ye get out, boy?" The Captain said, renewing the conversation. "Hah! Just who do ye think ye are, the Hero of Time?" Link was caught off-guard by the question from a man who supposedly had never heard of Hyrule. Did Link ithink/i he was the Hero of Time? The Hylian started laughing. "Shut up, ye insane fool!" Jordaan yelled, punching Link's stomach again, hard. This shut him up quick, leaving him gasping. "Did ye think I really have never heard of Hyrule? I know exactly where it is, and I know that you know where it is. I aint tellin' my crew about it, though. Hyrule's a rich country. It would be a good one to raid, but I made an agreement with a man called Ganondorf to leave it to him a few years ago. The crew wouldn't understand, of course. They'd try to go right through the deadly swamp and slew of sea griffons into Hyrule to get murdered by Ganondorf." Link thought it was hilarious. Not the part about the pirates getting murdered, but the fact that this pirate was staying away from Hyrule because of a promise made to someone who wasn't even in Hyrule anymore, plus it was very ironic that he asked Link if he thought he was the Hero of Time. He wouldn't have been able to keep from laughing if he wasn't so out of breath. Jordaan then proceeded to tie Link up at swordpoint. Link really didn't like it, but had faith that another chance to escape would come in a couple days. He just hoped he was strong enough to take it at that time.
Link yelled in pain as Captain Jordaan kneed the pit of his stomach very hard. Link thought that all the hits he was taking there might rearrange his organs. He actually spit some blood as the Captain threw him into his cell. Link would have said something nasty, but was too busy trying to get his breath back.
"I hope ye rot, little Hylian! Just like the Hero of Time I'm sure you've heard of will rot when Ganondorf gets his hands on him, if it hasn't happened already!" Jordaan left, leaving Link to struggle with the tight ropes digging into his skin all over. Minutes later, a guard came to watch the process of his weakening.
Link faded in and out of consciousness. He had long ago learned to ignore his stomach, that every once in a while pierced him with pain. He knew he would starve to death if this continued. The ropes didn't help, which he had still not gotten out of, even after two days. Instead, he had ony suceeded in making himself bleed more every time he moved. His thoughts wearily drifted from one thing to another, sometimes thinking of Zelda and Hyrule and wondering if he would ever see them again; other times the pirates and shadow assasins; other times of his lost friend. His hope was slowly slipping away. It hadn't occured to the warrior that he would ever lose his enthusiasm. He had thought that no matter what happened, he would find a way around or out of it. No matter what happened, he would survive to protect his country like he had sworn to Zelda. What had happened? He had failed to protect Sohran, and was now drifting on his way to becoming a slave or dying by pirates who had decieved him. His stomach growled hungrily.
iOh, shut up. I'm as hungry as you are./i Link told his stomach irritably. He was brought to his senses out of his half-sleep by someone coming down the stairs that led belowdecks. He opened his eyes and flinched from the ropes digging into him as he twisted to see who it was. It was the domineering Captain Jordaan, with his big, elegantly plumed black hat and exotic bird. He unlocked and entered Link's cell without a word to the sleeping guard, and began untying him.
"We'll see if you can run faster than a pirate now, boy." Jordaan said with a satisfactory snicker. He grinned at Link's flinching as he pulled the ropes out of the little bloody grooves they had made in the Hylian's skin. "On your feet, rat." Jordaan ordered. Link weakly managed to roll to his knees and stagger to his feet, shaking slightly from his stiff muscles. He was in worse shape than he had been in along time. He knew he had to make his move today, now. In another two days, he might be dead or too weak to run. Jordaan prodded Link up the stairs. There was no sunlight this time, the skies were completely overcast, and it was late nighttime. As Link stumbled around ahead of the Captain's sword, he tiredly looked around for land. To his surprise and joy, there was an island nearby! Its black outline was clear between the grey clouds and dark blue sea. iTime to escape!/i Link thought, and the thought alone gave him more energy. Link swiftly turned on Jordaan and kicked the alarmed Captain's sword out of his hand. His exotic bird flew away, sqwacking, frightened by the blade flying right by it. Link turned around as the flipping blade fell, and it cut right through the ropes on Link's hands. Link ran for the small boat on deck.
"Bloody boy! He's more trouble than he's worth, but extremely resiliant....catch him! He's going to be worth a bundle on the slave market!" Instantly, all the pirates were rushing for Link. The warrior's wounds burned, but with his adrenaline pumping, Link ignored the pain. He kicked the first pirate to reach him in the face and took his sword as he fell. iSword! I almost forgot about my gear! How am I ever going to get the Master Sword back?! /iThe question made Link pause momentarily, and at least twenty pirates advanced on him. Link couldn't do much with the small curved, sword, but it was enough to fight off the rabble of pirates. Parrying five mens' swords, Link cut them across the chest, making them fall to the deck in pain. Link then put medium-sized lacerations in two other pirates' legs, and they went down as well. Link was about to cut down the rest when Jordaan joined the melee. Link hadn't expected him to join, and quickly brought up his sword as Jordaan brought his down. Jordaan's sword was much bigger and tougher than those of his men, and the two blades made a clang and sparks as they connected. Link was strong. Very strong. However, the last few days had sapped most of his strength, and Jordaan overpowered him and gave him a big slash on his chest. Link was thrown to the deck, slashing at Jordaan randomly as he went down. Jordaan didn't see the blade and it made a huge slash in the Captain's wrist, cutting into the artery.
"Aaahhhh!" Jordaan screamed, holding his wrist. Everyone went silent for a few moments, then someone spoke.
"Captain! Quickly, we have some 'magic' stuff that can help heal cut arteries that we stole from another ship, sir, belowdecks." Holding his gushing wrist, the Captain followed his subordinate to the hatch. Link tried to get up, but found he was too weak to do so. His new wound along with all his old ones plus four and a half days of starvation kept the warrior down.
"Ye know what happens to people who injure the Cap'n, don't ye, welp?" One pirate walked over to Link. Link screamed as the pirate stomped on his chest. "Someone go get the chain and ball," He said to his companions. Turning to Link, he said, "Ye be a very lucky boy. Ye won't become a slave, iand/i ye will meet Davy Jones! Isn't that great?" After a few moments of agony from the pressing foot on his bleeding chest, Link saw a pirate coming toward him will a big, heavy ball and a chain with a shackle. He knew what was going on.
"Stop movin', kid! This won't hurt at all, promise!" The pirates laughed as they restrained the violently struggling Link. iThere's no way out of this one!/i Link thought, all his common sense telling him he would be dead in a few minutes. Still, he did not quit struggling. After kicking a few pirates, Link was finally held down, and the shackle was locked on his foot. The pirates bagan dragging him to the railing. He made it extremely difficult for them, but the ship-dwelling men had enough strength to haul Link to the edge of the ship.
"See ye, boy!"
"Have a nice swim, heh heh!"
"I always knew ye would make a fine piece of fishbait, ye seadog!"
"Seyonara!" Link heard these jeering good-byes and many others as the pirates tossed him over the edge. Link could do nothing but suck in a big breath as he plunged into the cold seawater. As the heavy ball dragged him down, Link tried to pull the shackle off, but even without his boots it was too tight to remove. There was no help for Link now, he was going to drown and he knew it. The dark realization penatrated his skin, making him feel like he was freezing. What he wouldn't do for his gear! Yet, some part of him still could not simply give up, and he kept pulling at the shackle. All of his cuts felt as if they were on fire because of the salt water. It was excruciating, but Link couldn't think about that. He kept sinking deeper for a minute, and began to feel the water pressure. While in his Zora's Tunic, Link could both resist extreme water pressure and breathe underwater, but now he could do neither, and the pressure began to build. The ball dragged him relantlessly deeper, and time seemed to slow as the water became darker and pressure more unbearable. Link could hardly hold his breath, the water was squeezing his lungs.
iWhat can I do? I hate to admit it, I didn't think it was possible...that this could be the end of my road./i Link's thinking fogged as the water constricted his body. The water was a very dark blue by the time he hit the ocean floor, after another minute of sinking. But, Link couldn't tell if the water was dark or not because the pressure turned his sight red. It was all he could do to keep his burning lungs to retain the small amount of oxygen they had. Soon, even that became impossible. The water crushed all the remainig air out of Link, and he could hear a faint and faraway stirring of saltwater as he choked on the sea and Davy Jones stole his consciousness.
"Impa!" Zelda, extremely upset, clung to her Sheikah caretaker. "I just had the most horrible dream!" Impa patted her comfortingly.
"There, there. It was only a nightmare. What could possibly cause you to come to me in the middle of the night like this?"
"Link is dead!" Zelda yelled. Impa started in amazement.
"Zelda! What are you talking about?!"
"I saw him...saw him sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown!" Zelda yelled, near tears.
"Calm down, princess..." Impa said gently, calming down herself. "It was nothing but a dream. I'm sure Link is fine." Zelda didn't seem so convinced. She was shaken by a dry sob. Impa embraced her, and soon the princess managed to compose herself again.
"I'm sorry, Impa...I'm acting like a child...but it was so real! Like a vision!"
"Well, perhaps you misinterpreted it, dear. Visions never show the whole truth, do they?" Impa asked softly.
"I suppose they aren't usually literal...but Impa, I felt the breath go out of his body..." Zelda said, shaking. "I'm sorry...I'm too old to be acting this way. I need to go back to bed," Zelda said. She was suddenly very weary.
"That's it, princess. You'll be fine after some real rest. Don't worry about Link. He can take care of himself."
"Alright..." Zelda, shaken by her terrible dream, marched stiffly back to bed.
ubSection 6
The Surprise and the Beauties of the Sea/b/u
Remorie the water dragon flung Link down on the sandy beach. She knew there wasn't much hope for him, but began pushing on his chest to get the water out. After a few moments she became desperate, and had no choice but to whack his lower chest with her strong, flat tail. Miraculously, he sat up, coughing out tons of salt water. Remorie watched the warrior, who was bleeding all over, as his body was racked with deep coughs. When he was finished getting rid of the water in his lungs, Link colapsed on the beach, completely exhausted. He had escaped death once again. Brought back to life by the unlikeliest creature ever.
Remorie watched the fatigued Hylian catch his breath, not wanting to interrupt his gasping with conversation. She remembered their fight earlier in the month. Back then, she had been a devious servant of an evil siren called Kadien, but since then she had changed her ways. She was on her way back to her clan of water dragons and hoped to do good in the ocean to make up for her foul deeds. The last person she had expected to find on the way back to her clan was Link. Link tried to get up after he had caught his breath, but found that he was too weak. Instead, he twisted a bit until he could see the dragon who had destroyed his shackle and pulled him up from the depths of the sea.
"Thanks, Remorie," Link said, breathing raggedly. "Why did you-"
"Shhhh. Let me heal you before you hurt yourself." Link didn't know that water dragons were better at healing spells than all but the King and Queen of dragons, but he soon found out as Remorie slithered up to him and worked her spell. Instantly all his searing pain and feeling of being squashed was gone. He didn't feel weak from being stiff anymore, and the only pain he now felt was that of being half-starved. He sat up and looked into Remorie's bright orange eyes. This was the dragon he had been nearly killed by weeks ago. After quite a struggle, Link had managed to freeze her with her own breath. Why would this dragon he had defeated aid him? And what was she doing all the way out here? Before he could ask her, his stomach rumbled loudly and he held it as pain from his empty stomach tore through him.
"Before we talk, I have to get some food for you, I see." Remorie bounded off to the waves, her body looking like a greyish-blue wave itself as she half ran, half slithering on her small, webbed legs. She dissappeared under the water like quicksilver, leaving Link to wonder. He desperately hoped this was not another deception. He was sick and tired of being tricked. Remorie had looked sincere, though, and it warmed Link's heart that she had turned good. He loved it when old enemies became friends rather that getting bitter.
Mere moments later, Remorie emerged from the ocean, bearing three, fat, football-sized fish. She used a small and unpowerful but useful flare spell to quickly cook them. She then stripped them of everything but their bones and meat and gave them to Link.
"Don't eat too fast now, or you'll get a major stomach ache." Remorie watched the Hylain pathetically try to follow her instructions as he consumed the delicious fish. "Wow, you look pale. It must've been days since you last ate." Link nodded.
"Thanks very much for helping me, Remorie. And thanks for this," Link said, holding up the fish, "It's delicious." A flattered smile came over the young, female water dragon's face.
"You're welcome. What the heck are you doing all the way out here? I thought you were back in Hyrule! I never expected in a million years to find you here, especially chained to a metal ball from getting thrown off a pirate ship!"
"Heh heh, yeah, I bet I'm the last one you expected to see. I'm out here looking for someone, and I got rescued then imprisoned by those pirates. By the way, you didn't happen to see another Hylian in the ocean, did you...?"
"No, sorry. My clan is swimming this way, though. I'll ask them if they've seen a Hylian when I catch up with them. However, I don't know if they would take kindly to a Hylian if they saw one. They like to eat humans, you see. Especially young pirates." Link experienced a familiar sinking feeling that he got whenever he thought about Sohran. Was his newly found friend really gone forever?
"So, that's what you're doing out here, following your clan?" Link asked between bites of juicy, warm fish.
"Yes. It took about a week for the ice around me to melt. As soon as it did, I knew I was fed up with being evil. I decided that since I couldn't live on land and help the Hylians, I would stay in the sea and do good for all the creatures I meet. Between good deeds, I will follow my clan until I catch up with them. Imagine my surprise at finding you out here, at the bottom of the sea, mostly drowned? I'm glad I was able to help you. By the way, thanks for defeating me and helping me make my decision to be good." Link smiled happily.
"I'm so grateful, Remorie. Finally something good has happened to me! I was beginning to think fate hated my guts." Remorie laughed.
"No, not yours, Hero of Time. I don't think it was merely chance that I happened to be swimming by when you hit the ocean floor. Well, what are you going to do now? I have to get going if you have no further need of my help."
"I might need a ride out of here in a few days or so." Link said.
"Well, I myself am not big enough to bear you across the sea, but some water dragon-leviathan crossbreeds in my clan are more than big enough, and can probably get you back to Hyrule in a day or two. As soon as I catch up with my clan, I will try to convince them to help you."
"Really? You're great, Remorie." Link said. The dragon blushed.
"No I'm not, it's what friends do for eachother, right? I would be honored if I could be your friend, Link."
"No problem there! I love new friends. You know, I'm so happy I could hug you!" The Hylian declared. Remorie, overcome with emotion, bounded up to Link and hugged him. Tears streamed from her large, puppyish eyes, and she had a rather silly-looking grateful expression on her scaled face.
"This is just the kind of thing I've been yearning for my whole life! I was never meant to be evil, and you helped me realize that! Thank you so much!" She was being very corney.
"No problem...." Link said simply, happy for the dragon but not knowing why she was being so dramatic. Remorie pulled herself off Link, and began running gracefully toward the sea.
"Farewell, Hero of Time! I shall help all the poor creatures I find on your behalf and make all the sea creatures as happy as me!" Just then, she slipped in the wet sand and fell face-first into the water. Knocked out of her spell of cornyness, she got to her feet, rubbing the back of her head. "Bye, Link. I'll be back!" With that, she was gone.
Link looked around at the the island he was on, and began thinking. iThis heavily vegetated island is probably the 'green land' the shadow monster had spoken of. After all, it's only been just over seven days since I left Hyrule and I've been traveling to the southwest the whole time. So, I think the one who sent him must be on this island. I don't know where the pirate ship went, but I imagine they'll be resting here a few days, so I have to find them and get my sword back...but what if they don't rest here, and sail on by? There's no way I'm leaving the Master Sword to pirates. The spirit of the Master Sword chose me and has saved me numerous times...why, without that sword, Ganondorf would have crushed me! /iLink put his arms on his knees and rested his head on them, staring out into the beautiful but very deadly ocean. If he didn't spot the pirate ship soon, he would just have to begin searching the island. Of course, he could probably lure them to the island if he made a fire... Link sat a few minutes, enjoying the cool breeze off the ocean even though it would have felt better to be warm. Unfortunately, as it usually did when Link was sitting still, the thought of Sohran creeped into his head. It couldn't leave him alone!
Flashback i"You like biting, shark?!" Link chomped down on the shark's tender dorsal fin, biting it painfully hard. Link had never heard a shark yell before, but this one let out a beastly screetch. The frightened shark threw Link off, and cringing in stinging pain from the caustic bite, it swam away. A cold wind blew over Link and he shivered. Shark fin tasted nasty. Breathing raggedly, Sohran stopped swimming and turned to Link, who was spitting out the salty, sour taste of shark fin.
"Thank you." He said, swimming over to him. "That was really close." Link finished spitting and spoke.
"You're welcome, but I hope I never have to bite a shark again!" The whole idea of biting a shark was pretty ludicrous, and, ignoring the cold wind that had suddenly sprung up, the both men burst out laughing. "Well, we had better get back to the ship..." Link and Sohran turned to look at their ship. It was sailing away.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going? You can't leave without us!" Shouting callow pleas for the ship to slow down, Link took off swimming after it.
"Wait for us, you stinking ship! Come baaack!" Sohran followed Link, both swimming as fast as their tired bodies would take them. They were gaining on the ship, but the ship was slowly gaining speed.
"Stoooop!" Link yelled, practically flying through the water with Sohran right behind him.
"It's speeding up, Link! We'll never catch it!" Sohran yelled, trying to swim faster.
"It's alright! If we can just get it within range of my hookshot, we'll be fine!" Shoving thier way through the cold, salty water, Link and Sohran got a little closer to the ship. "Hold on to me!" Link said, and Sohran held onto his waist firmly. Link took out the longshot and its chain sprang forth, barely reaching the ship. The hook stuck in the railing, and Sohran clung to Link as the two were yanked to the ship. Sohran climbed over the side, and helped Link up. They bent over for a minute, panting to catch their breath, grinning at eachother. /iEnd
Link missed him greatly. Other than Remorie, Sohran had been his only friend on the entire trip. And a good one, at that. Link could feel that if he wasn't gone, Sohran and Link would be great buddies now. He sighed, hanging his head in sadness. He was really quite tired, and decided to go to sleep and search the island in the morning. Link walked into the jungle a little inland, and quickly found a tree shaped perfectly for sleeping in. Crawling into it, Link fell asleep and dreamed of Hyrule.
The next morning, he was awoken by getting his arm shook by a webbed foot. Link was awake instantly, and was surprised to find Remorie staring up at him.
"Guess what? My clan were closer than I thought. It appears that they were eating fish from the reefs close to this island. It took a lot of doing, but I convinced them to help you. But of course, it would have been much more difficult without the help of a certain someone...I've got a surprise for you!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Link asked, jumping down from the tree.
"You'll see!" Remorie ran and Link followed her, until they came to the sea shore, out of the trees. Link thought he was going crazy. He saw Sohran standing on the shore, completely untouched!
"W-what? Are you a ghost?" Link asked, still not believing it.
"Heh heh, no. Good to see you alive, Link." Sohran said, smiling warmly.
"Sohran!!" Link couldn't stop himself from dashing to Sohran and hugging him tightly. Sohran was a little surprised, seeing some of the eight-year-old left in Link. "I thought you were dead..." Link said emotionally. Sohran returned the embrace, patting Link's back
"I wasn't sure if you were alive either, buddy. But I'm sure glad you are." Feeling extremely relieved to see his friend again, Link stepped back and smiled at him.
"So, what happened to you, Sohran?" Link inquired.
"Well, I thought I was going to die after all that wood fell on me and we jumped in the water and were struck by lightening. I was unconscious, and the dragons tell me I sunk down and landed on top of them. A lot of them wanted to eat me, but the one I fell on created a bubble around me and healed me, then they say I was asleep for a day and woke up. When I did I was still underwater with them and they said they hadn't seen you and weren't going back, and I was lucky they didn't eat me. The reason they didn't is that the one I had fallen on had a giant urchin quill stuck into its skin very deeply under a scale, and none of its companions could get it out. I pulled it out, and they said they would drop me off at the next piece of land they saw. Well, after a long time we came to this island and they were eating before they would let me go to the land, then Remorie showed up. Being a dragon of high status, the dragons listened to her and we came here to help you; I was very glad to hear you were alive. Now, thanks to Remorie, we can travel together again and the water dragons will take us home when we're ready. Cool, huh?"
"Excellent!" Link said.
"Hey...where's your boots and sword, Link? And what happened to you between the storm and now?"
"Well, it's kind of complicated..." Link said. Remorie interrupted him.
"Ahem, before you two start chatting all morning, you need to talk to my clan." She turned around and called to the sea dragons just below the waves. Several sleek, reptilian heads emerged. Some were as small as Remorie, most were twice or three times as big, and a few were huge. Two of the dragon-leviathen creatures' heads were as big as wagons. One of the big ones spoke. Most water dragons had voices as quiet as a humans, but this big dragon's voice was deep and loud, like a mointain dragon's.
"bMy name is Eucheso, I am a messenger for the leader of our clan, Lady Miradden./b" The big dragon had brownish-green scales and many fins around his head and down his neck. The fins were black, and his eyes were bight greenish-yellow. His scales, though a dull color, shimmered briliantly in the sunlight. "bWe have agreed to take you Hylians back northeast to your home, Hyrule. When is it that you will need our assistance?/b"
"Come back tomorrow at this same time," Link said. He figured he would have the small island searched by then.
"bVery well./b" The dragon creature said, and all the sea dragons left just like that. The only one left was Remorie.
"Sorry about the abruptness of their departure, but they wanted to go to an island quite a long way from here to eat fish. Because us sea dragons are such fast swimmers, we'll surely be back by tomorrow morning. Good luck, Link and Sohran!" Remorie slither-walked to the water and dissappeared after her clan. Link and Sohran decided to talk to eachother and have a bit of breakfast before searching the island. They picked some fruits from the jungle, and returned to the shore to enjoy their meal and chat. Link told Sohran what had happened to him, and Sohran declared that if he ever met with Captain Jordaan, Jordaan would be sorry he ever layed a hand on Link. Sohran explained that the water dragons, though possesive and a bit predjudice, were really quite nice if you were on thier good side. The one that had saved him was a particularly nice one named Jaconoru. While they were talking, something unexpected happened.
Link's eyes grew wide as suddenly the head of a female popped up from the waves in front of him and Sohran.
"Whaaaa? What's a girl doing in the sea?" Link asked. It was very surprising. The only human-looking girl Link had even seen in the ocean was Kadien the siren, but this girl certainly did not look like a siren. Kadien had had big, freaky yellow eyes. This woman looked normal, and quite pretty. "Um...hello." Link said to the smiling head. The woman began pulling herself out of the water, and Link and Sohran couldn't believe their eyes. She was a mermaid!
"Hello, there." She said with a foxy grin. She had red hair with a touch of brownish-blonde in it, and the long, wet hair hung past her small waist. At her waist, her skin turned to scales, and she had a beautiful, shiny green fish tail with rings of silver all through it. Her chest and shoulders were covered by a shirt-like thing made of green seaweed. Her eyes were a dazzling green, and she had a silver, thin, diamond-encrusted ringlet on her brow. "And who are you young men?"
"I'm Sohran." Sohran said quietly, still amazed that he was seeing a real live mermaid.
"My name is...uh, Link..." Link said, looking at her pretty fin. It was even prettier than Remorie's grey-blue scales, he thought, especially the way it shimmered in the sunlight.
"And where are you from, uh, Link?" She asked with a girlish giggle. "What brings you and Sohran to this island? Are you two pirates?"
"No, we're idefinately/i not pirates. We came here to look for someone." Link didn't know what possesed him to tell so much to this fish-maiden. Perhaps it was the innocent, pretty look on her face that told him she was trustworthy. "Who are you?"
"My name is Cattanya, I am the princess of mermaids and mermen. I just happened to be coming up on this island to pick flowers and saw you men! Are you sure you're not pirates?"
"Yes, very sure. We don't even like pirates!" Link responded enthusiastically. Sohran nodded.
"Good, I like you already, then." The woman pulled herself closer to the Hylains by flopping her fin and dragging herself along with her arms. As she got closer to Link and Sohran more mermaids began emerging from the sea, giggling childishly.
"Is it another two, Cattanya?" A young, white-haired, red and black-finned mermaid asked.
"No, Shehira. These guys aren't pirates. But they're cute." Link blushed. What were these pointy-eared mermaids up to? Sohran shifted uncomfortably. iWierd girls,/i he thought. "So, Link and Sohran, who are you looking for? Maybe we can help you." Cattanya seated herself five feet in front of the Hylians, staring at their faces, and five other mermaids sat behind her, doing the same. All were smiling.
"Eh...two people, actually. We're looking for someone who sent a shadow monster after me a while ago, and also a band of pirates in the iDark Predator/i who stole my stuff." Link said. Cattanya nodded.
"I don't know about the first one, but we can help you with the second. The pirates have anchored just offshore of the other side of this island. They'll stay here for another day and then leave, so if you want to get your stuff back, you two had better hurry. But how, may I ask, are you going to do it? Do you have anything to trade to them?"
"No...we're just going to steal it back, right, Sohran?"
"Absolutely." Sohran agreed. They had talked about it earlier. The mermaids gasped.
"Steal it back? They'll just kill you. Are you guys really brave or really unwise?"
"Maybe something in between," Link said, grinning. This made Cattanya and Sohran laugh.
"Well, girls, I say we help them! After all, we've always been the best at distracting pirates. They even call us the Beauties of the Sea! First, let's introduce ourselves."
"I'm Shehira." The whitish-silver-haired one said. Her shiny red fin had stripes of black on it, and the flat of her fin was particularly big and curled. She had pretty, orange-yellow eyes and looked only about sixteen or seventeen years old, while the rest of the mermaids looked about twenty. "Nice to meet you."
"I'm Reynora," The next one said. She had very long, brown hair that fell past the middle of her long, thin fin. Her fin was dark blue streaked in a few areas with light blue, and she had intelligent-looking tan eyes.
"My name is Jedara," A blonde-haired, purple finned one said. Her violet fin was small and only one color, but flecks of shineyness made it look like it sparkled. She had blue eyes.
"Heronda," The next one said. She had short black hair and had a black fin with gold speckles. Her eyes were an intense dark green, almost black.
"I'm called Fenosa," The last one said quietly. She had a sky blue fin with white swirls on it, and her hair was curly and shiny grey. The grey hair did not make her look old because of its silver tint. She had grey eyes. All of the mermaids had the same seaweed shirts.
"There. Now let's make a plan to go get those pirates!" Cattanya shouted with a grin
. hi there. thx for reading! eet makes meh so heppeh. I'll update real soon if people r&r, so stay tuned in! btw I have pictures of my fanfictions and if u want them just e-mail me. -Talonclawfange
"Whot's that over there, matey? Looks like some driftwood."
"You imbecile, it can't possibly be. There aint a 'arbor for miles and miles! Plus, the currents of the sea don't push things this way."
"I tell ye, I see it! Look, row this way." These strange, rough voices drifted on the foggy air, unheard by Link. "See? I told you, mate! Just look at that. A drowned sea rat floating on a plank!"
"By Blackbeard's peg leg, you were right! Let's pull him aboard." Though almost completely numb, Link felt an increase of motion and knew something was happening. Unfortunately, every thought in his head was dulled by his his condition, and he still could not move or feel.
"Dead as a stone...'halmost feel sorry for the lad. Looks like he froze overnight..."
"Naw, he was struck by lightening. See the blood on his lips and in his ears? Electricity, matey. From the storm we saw behind us last night."
"Ah, who cares? Let's get him back to the Captain. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can search 'im for booty!" One of the men in the small rowboat pulled out a whistle and blew on it. The high note was returned moments later by a lower one, and a huge, dark brown-wooded ship appeared, slowly materializing out of the mist. The figurehead of the full-sized ship, which was a beautiful mermaid, was contrasted greatly by the image on the flag flapping at the top of the center mast. It was a skull and crossbones. Painted on the side of the ship in gold letters, was the name iDark Predator/i.
The small boat and its dirty owners were hauled up the side of the ship and pulled onboard. The two men unloaded themselves, along with the umoving, frozen-looking form of Link.
"Good mornin' Captain, sir. Look at this here sea rat we pulled out of the water!"
"By Silver's parrot, did you really?" A deep and cool, manly voice inquired. "I wonder where the dead whelp came from?" The men threw Link on the deck in front of their Captain none too gently, thinking he was dead. Link's ears were starting to get some blood moving normally in them, and he heard some faraway mumbling in place of silence. His formerly numb body felt a piece of the force from getting tossed on the ground. He tried to move again and failed, but his brain was beginning to think clearly again. A gasp arose from a slew of voices, followed by whispers. 'Did you see that?' 'The dead man's hand just moved...'
"I can't believe it, me hearties! The kid's still alive! Don't just stand there, you twits! Warm him up so we can ask him where he's from and if there's lots of gold there." Link heard a rushing of booted feet, and realized for the first time that he wasn't dead. The remaining men whispered about Link under their breaths.
"Look at those muscles, mate. He'd make a fine cabin boy."
"Naw, we should chop 'im up and use him for sharkbait, says I! His boots are encrusted with ice, I'll be a skeleton's buzzard if he doesn't have frostbite. Nice boots, though." Link tried once again to move, and was surprised when he succeeded. The Hylian managed to get his hands under him, but was far to weak from the cold to lift himself. He felt a couple of hands pull him up into a sitting position. He also felt the hands pulling on his eyelashes for some reason.
"That's it, lad...you can open your eyes now that the ice is off." 'aaawk! That's it, lad!' a scratchy, annoying voice repeated. Link was hearing perfectly now and found it was true. He opened his eyes and a blurry mass of colors slowly focused into a man, hunched over, looking at Link's face. He was wearing a red jacket with a frilled white shirt beneath, the ripples sticking out. His pants and boots were black, as was the short, pointy goatee and curled mustache growing on his face. He wore a large, dark hat with a white feather sticking out of it. Under that hat and seated on the wierd man's shoulder, was a brightly-colored bird with a large, curved, yellow beak. A bunch of strangely clad men were standing behind the man with the large, black hat, and more were emerging from a cabin to Link's left. Some had pointy ears like a Hylian...but there was something unHylianish about them. One put a warm blanket around Link. The warmth put feeling back into his body, letting him feel every inch of it fill with pain. He bore it like a man, not complaining.
"Thank you..." Link said through lips that felt very cold. His breath misted on the air. By now Link had his memory back, and he knew he was on a very large ship. "Did you find any other men when you found me?" Some faint laughter played around the crowd of wierd, rough-looking men.
"Maybe we did and we killed 'em!"
"They're all drowned in the sea, whelp."
"Be quiet, you scabberous weasels!" The man with the hat said. "Don't mind them, they're a fine bunch of hearties when you get to know them, lad. I be Captain Jordaan. What be your name, if ye can remember?"
"Link," The Hylian said. He was very confused by the mens' strange clothes, and asked, "What...sort of people are you?"
"Kaisokah, baka!" One particularly stange, slanty-eyed man growled. (if you didn't figure it out, kaisokah means pirate in Japanese)
"Silence to yer foolish foreign speech, Koske!" Jordaan ordered. He seemed to be the leader of the odd bunch. "You really don't know what manner of people we be, lad?" Link shook his head. "We be called pirates, mate. We...er, we catch rich boats and ask for donations of money to give t' the poor. Sometimes the people on the boats need a little convincing, but they always donate. It's great work, mate. Would ye like to join us?" Link was hardly listening. He was wondering what had become of Sohran. No other men had been found... "Be ye joining us, lad?" The pirate irritably repeated his question.
"I'm not going anywhere, it seems I have no choice. You sound like noble enough men. You're quite icertain/i there were no other people around when you found me?" A few of the men grinned, as if hiding something or enjoying Link's confusion. It was very preturbing, especially compared to the kindness the black-hatted man was showing him.
"No mate, none. If there be other men out there, we've yet to find them. Sorry lad, but whoever you're looking for is probably dead." The irritating bird on Jordaan's shoulder said 'Aaawk! All dead, lad!' The words hit Link harder than the lightening had the night before. Sohran, dead? It couldn't be true! Yet, some part of him had worried about Sohran's safety from the very beginning, as if it knew something terrible was going to happen. Looking at the deck, Link didn't see the disgusted look on Jordaan's face. He was already tired of being nice to the little Hylian. Despite this, he continued talking in a soft tone. "Ye'd better forget about dead men, mate. Dwellen' too long on the past 'tis bad luck. Where ye be from?" Link couldn't just forget it. He could never forget Sohran. He couldn't believe he was gone.
"Hyrule." Link said in a detatched voice. His body was warmed up now, and he got to his feet but remained staring at the deck. A confused look crossed Jordaan's face.
"Hyrule? Never heard of that, hearty. Ye must have lost yer memory or something."
"I know I'm from Hyrule. The last time I checked it was...." In Link's detatched state of thinking half about Sohran and half about his conversation, he was not being careful of what he was saying. Though these men appeared to be good people, Link still couldn't let himself completely trust them until he knew more about them. "You're right, I forgot where it is." A few pirates in the group growled in frustration.
"Well, that's dissappointing, mate. Mayhap you'll remember soon. We be sailing to the southwest, so if ye remember a specific direction, we'll turn this here ship right 'round, and go to yer homeland and drop ye off."
"For a small fee, heh heh..." One pirate whispered. Link didn't hear him but Captain Jordaan did, and shot him a warning glance. He turned back to Link.
"Well mate, for a while I suppose yer going to be our new cabin boy. Welcome aboard the iDark Predator/i!" Link could have sword the grin on Jordaan's face was one of evil glee, and it gave him chills.
Link sat in the hammock belowdecks, his eyes closed in deep thought. iSohran was a really cool guy, it's all my fault he's gone! Why didn't I be more stubborn when the King insisted he come with me? This is terrible.../iSorrow welled up inside Link, as he remembered Sohran's wild grin after the two had survived an encouter with the great white shark.
"Wake up, cabin boy!" A pirate said, poking Link in the ribs. "We got our first ship of the night, and yer going to prove you mettle by helpin' us get their treasure!" Link jumped up, glad to have something to do that would get his mind off his lost friend. He had heard stories of people who had too much time to think and blamed themselves for losing people they cared about. Those sorrowful people could waste away if they got too caught up in their thoughts. Link followed the pirate up to the deck, and spotted a large, white ship close by. Both the iDark Predator/i and its query were gliding quickly through the water, but the pirate ship was catching up to the light one. Pirates were lined up on the railing of their ship, grappling hooks with ropes in their hands.
"Get ready to jump to the other ship as soon as we catch it, Link!" Jordaan yelled, spotting the 'cabin boy'. 'Awwwk! Jump, Link!' Jordaan's bird said. Link picked up a grappling hook on the ground and began to swing it like the other pirates as the iDark Predator/i pulled up alongside the white ship. There were men with swords on the white ship, preparing for battle. iWhat's going on? This doesn't look like what the Captain described.../i
"Board the ship, men!" Captain Jordaan shouted.
"Aye-aye, Captain!" All the pirates and Link threw their hooks onto the masts of the other ship. Then they all swung across, everyone drawing a weapon but Link. Link realized he had been lied to. He watched in horror as his fellow pirates began slashing fighting with the men on the white ship. They were trying to conquer it! Link made a quick change of alliances, drawing the Master Sword.
"Hhaaaaah!" The Hylian yelled, slashing a pirate who was about to kill one of the white ship's men. The man was very confused as he saw Link suddenly turn on his former companion. He said something wierd in another language, and helped Link knock the man out. Link wasn't moving fast enough. At this rate, people would die before he could save them, and he knew only one way to break up the fight quickly. Link pulled out a bomb and lit it.
"Aaahhh! Cabin boy's got a bomb! Let's get out of here!" One pirate yelled at the top of his lungs. The pirates quickly found their ropes and swung back over to the iDark Predator/i, despite the angry yelling of Captain Jordaan. As soon as Link thought all the pirates were back on their ship, he threw the bomb into the ocean to extinguish it and shot an ice arrow at the iDark Predator's/i rudder. That way, the pirates could not follow as the white ship escaped. Unfortunately, one pirate remained on the white ship, behind Link, yelling 'baka' over and over again.
The slanty-eyed pirate slashed Link's back with his sword then hit him on the back of the head with its hilt, stunning him. The strange pirate then escaped back to his own ship, taking Link with him, while the white one sailed away, much too fast for the pirates to follow. Link knew he was in trouble now. Recovering from the blow to his head, he punched the pirate holding him and drew his sword again, turning towards Jordaan.
"You lied to me...you didn't say your bunch were murderers! I don't want to be a pirate anymore!" Jordaan glared at him menacingly. His voice was low and dangerous.
"Ye be sure about that, boy...? If ye resist us, you'll be thrown in a cell and not fed until we hit land again, which, I can tell ye, will be a few days. Be wise and join us. We could use your strength, boy. Ye got fire. Besides, you'll be rich beyond yer wildest imaginings before ye can count fifteen dead men. Don't be stupid!"
"Here's what I think of your group!" Link yelled, rushing at the Captain. He heard someone yell, 'Shinay, baka Link!' and he was thrown to the ground as a very sharp sword put a second huge, deep laceration down his back. Other pirates ran forward and tied his hands behind his back, and Link felt himself being stripped of all his weapons and valuables. As a pirate tried to take the last thing, the Master Sword, off Link, the sword zapped him, burning his hands.
"Yoooow! He's a devil, Captain! That's a devil's blade!" The pirate screamed, blowing on his blackened palms.
"Then take it off 'im with a grappling hook and put it belowdecks, you sea dog!" Jordaan growled irritably. It was done, and the pirates lifted Link up before their Captain, who looked him over with a grin. "Ye should 'ave joined us, Link. Now you'll be locked in a cage 'till we find a place te sell ye for the highest price. Beat him and throw him in the cell." Jordaan said coldly, turning away. 'Awwwk! Beat him!' came the echo from the bird. Gleefully, the pirates did just that.
ubSection 5
Drowning Hope/b/u
The pirates had done their job well. Link could hardly move without some part of his body flaring with pain. His entire form was bleeding from numerous slashes and bruises, especially his stomach. Pirates seemed to like punching people in the gut. Groaning, Link laid his head back on the cold wood wall. How had he let this happen? Ever since he had left the cliffs of Ganon's Swamp, nothing had gone right. First the shark, then the terrible storm, and finally being rescued by murderous robbers. Link didn't mean to think about Sohran, but the thought strolled right into Link's mind, uninvited. Rather than banishing it, he dwelt on it. iSohran, I'm so sorry I let the waves swallow you.../iLink had finally accepted the devistating fact that his companion was dead. He was sadder than he had been in a long, long, time; but tears did not come to the warrior's eyes. Instead, a hole grew in his heart, and it made him feel sick. Sick of pirates and death. Sick of the fact he would never see Sohran again. Sick that the virtuous man's body was probably rotting at the bottom of the ocean. Sick of feeling pain all over his body and being behind bars. Sick of looking for the one who had sent the shadow assassin.
iI don't think I'll ever find him now...or the one who's making the storms. I don't suppose I'll live another week with these pirates. I'm surprised they didn't cut my throat the moment they saw me. That Jordaan was quite a good actor./i Link had been working on the ropes on his hands since he had been thrown into the cell a few hours ago. They had been making his hands numb from the very start, but now his wrists were bleeding profusely from trying to get them off. Luckily, they had finally begun to loosen a while ago. After a few more minutes of struggling, they fell off and Link rubbed his bloody wrists to stimulate healing. Even his pathetic little Arlia plant had been taken from him, so he couldn't use that to heal himself. The only thing he had now was his tunic, minus the boots. Now that Link's hands were free, he stood up (very painfully, for he could hardly stand to walk in his condidtion) and started checking he cell for weaknesses. The cell was composed of Iron bars evenly spaced about four inches apart. They came from the floor and went all the way up to the ceiling, forming a seven by eight squarish cage. The door was made of the same iron, fastened securely by large hinges and a big lock. Though it was a relatively clean cell, there was no way Link was going to stay in there a moment longer than he had to. Already he had a plan to get off the ship if he found a weakness in his cell. He would simply sneak out at night when his guard and everyone else was sleeping, and take the small boat. Of course, he would have to wait until the ship was close to land or he would just die on the ocean. Link acidentally made a clang on a bar as he was checking its strength, and his half-intoxicated guard awoke.
"So, you got out of your ropes, eh? Well, who cares. The Captain said you would, anyway. Besides, there's no way out of that cell, even with both of your hands free, you little sea dog. Speakin' of water and such, I guess it's time to give you some. If it were up to me I'd just let you dehydrate, but if you're going to be worth anything as a slave, we can't have you gettin' too sickly, can we, now?" The stinky, unshaven pirate grabbed a glass of water that had been sitting next to him and drew his sword, walking up to Link's cell. "I know ye be a tricky one, but if ye try anything, I'll cut your arm clean off, get it?" Link sat down, glaring at the pirate. He could easily do something nasty to him, but it wasn't time to make a move yet. The pirate set the glass down just inside the cell, then backed off and resumed his place on the coil of rope, glaring back at Link. "So, ye think ye can find a weakness in that cage while I'm sleeping, eh? Heheh, don't look so surprised! Yes, I'm on to you. And now I won't let my eyes off you." The pirate was now wide awake, so it didn't look like Link would get another chance to check his cell in a while. Instead, he relaxed his beat-up body and rested against the wall.
Link awoke to rough hands picking him up and shoving his head against the wall. Link didn't make a noise as the hands tied up his hands, reopening a few of the wounds that had formed from the ropes that had been on his hands before. Link was then marched out of his cell, up to the deck. It had been two days since Link had been imprisoned. He was extremely hungry from getting nothing but water, but wouldn't show it in front of his captors. Link had heard the pirates talking about how to handle slaves before, and knew he would be let onto the deck every other day so he wouldn't lose all his strength. Link already felt a lot weaker because his wounds were not healed and he hadn't eaten anything for at least sixty hours, but the pirates did want to weaken him enough that he wouldn't put up a fight.
Sunlight felt incredibly sweet as Link stepped up on the deck. A few crew members standing around eyes him murderously, as if eager to use him for a punching bag again. Fortunately for him, that wasn't what he was brought out of his cell for. As the pirate with a sword to his back made him walk around, Link searched the sea for any sign of land. As soon as they neared land, Link could make his escape if he wasn't completely emaciated by then. He hadn't found a weakness in his cage, however he could easily knock out his guard when he gave him water. The only problem with that was that Link didn't know if all his guards held the key to his cell. He had seen a keyring on one of his first guards, but there hadn't been a sign of a key on any other ones. Still, if that didn't work, he could escape the next time he was let out to exercise. Link began to jog a little, serious about keeping his muscles strong. The pirate behind him got a little irritated.
"Hey, slow down there, ye little guppy! Yer not supposed to be able to run after the beating we gave you a while ago!" Link ignored him for a few minutes, but when the man got tired and started pressing his sword against Link's back, the Hylian slowed to a walk.
"A little out of shape there, Mr. Pirate?" Link asked with mocking playfullness. The pirate was not in the mood to play, and angrilly gave Link a small slash on the back of his arm. With diffuculty, Link restrained himself from doing anything like kicking the pirate's butt. After about an hour, the pirate returned, with Link, to the hatch that led belowdecks. Captain Jordaan was standing by it, and Link almost couldn't resist kicking him. Instead, he smiled at him. "Nice day, isn't it?" Jordaan grimaced.
"Does nothing lower your spirits, boy?" He looked at his subordinate, the one guarding Link. "How healthy is he?" The question sounded like a pet owner asking the vet if their pet was in good shape.
"The blaggard can run faster than me!" The dirty man rumbled, giving Link a poke. Jordaan glared at Link.
"The little brat...I know what will tire him out or at least make him rot a bit. Take 'im down there and tie him completely up." Link did not like that idea at all.
"Hey! You know, you won't get away with this, Jordaan! You won't be very happy when I get out of here."
"Change of plans. Let me take him down, matey." Jordaan said with a petulant grin. 'Awwwk! Take him down!' The Captain's buzzard croaked.
"Aye-aye, Captain!" The pirate left as Jordaan drew his sword and made Link go back down to his cell. He hit Link in the gut hard enough to force him to recover for a few moments, and began gathering some ropes.
"iWhen/i ye get out, boy?" The Captain said, renewing the conversation. "Hah! Just who do ye think ye are, the Hero of Time?" Link was caught off-guard by the question from a man who supposedly had never heard of Hyrule. Did Link ithink/i he was the Hero of Time? The Hylian started laughing. "Shut up, ye insane fool!" Jordaan yelled, punching Link's stomach again, hard. This shut him up quick, leaving him gasping. "Did ye think I really have never heard of Hyrule? I know exactly where it is, and I know that you know where it is. I aint tellin' my crew about it, though. Hyrule's a rich country. It would be a good one to raid, but I made an agreement with a man called Ganondorf to leave it to him a few years ago. The crew wouldn't understand, of course. They'd try to go right through the deadly swamp and slew of sea griffons into Hyrule to get murdered by Ganondorf." Link thought it was hilarious. Not the part about the pirates getting murdered, but the fact that this pirate was staying away from Hyrule because of a promise made to someone who wasn't even in Hyrule anymore, plus it was very ironic that he asked Link if he thought he was the Hero of Time. He wouldn't have been able to keep from laughing if he wasn't so out of breath. Jordaan then proceeded to tie Link up at swordpoint. Link really didn't like it, but had faith that another chance to escape would come in a couple days. He just hoped he was strong enough to take it at that time.
Link yelled in pain as Captain Jordaan kneed the pit of his stomach very hard. Link thought that all the hits he was taking there might rearrange his organs. He actually spit some blood as the Captain threw him into his cell. Link would have said something nasty, but was too busy trying to get his breath back.
"I hope ye rot, little Hylian! Just like the Hero of Time I'm sure you've heard of will rot when Ganondorf gets his hands on him, if it hasn't happened already!" Jordaan left, leaving Link to struggle with the tight ropes digging into his skin all over. Minutes later, a guard came to watch the process of his weakening.
Link faded in and out of consciousness. He had long ago learned to ignore his stomach, that every once in a while pierced him with pain. He knew he would starve to death if this continued. The ropes didn't help, which he had still not gotten out of, even after two days. Instead, he had ony suceeded in making himself bleed more every time he moved. His thoughts wearily drifted from one thing to another, sometimes thinking of Zelda and Hyrule and wondering if he would ever see them again; other times the pirates and shadow assasins; other times of his lost friend. His hope was slowly slipping away. It hadn't occured to the warrior that he would ever lose his enthusiasm. He had thought that no matter what happened, he would find a way around or out of it. No matter what happened, he would survive to protect his country like he had sworn to Zelda. What had happened? He had failed to protect Sohran, and was now drifting on his way to becoming a slave or dying by pirates who had decieved him. His stomach growled hungrily.
iOh, shut up. I'm as hungry as you are./i Link told his stomach irritably. He was brought to his senses out of his half-sleep by someone coming down the stairs that led belowdecks. He opened his eyes and flinched from the ropes digging into him as he twisted to see who it was. It was the domineering Captain Jordaan, with his big, elegantly plumed black hat and exotic bird. He unlocked and entered Link's cell without a word to the sleeping guard, and began untying him.
"We'll see if you can run faster than a pirate now, boy." Jordaan said with a satisfactory snicker. He grinned at Link's flinching as he pulled the ropes out of the little bloody grooves they had made in the Hylian's skin. "On your feet, rat." Jordaan ordered. Link weakly managed to roll to his knees and stagger to his feet, shaking slightly from his stiff muscles. He was in worse shape than he had been in along time. He knew he had to make his move today, now. In another two days, he might be dead or too weak to run. Jordaan prodded Link up the stairs. There was no sunlight this time, the skies were completely overcast, and it was late nighttime. As Link stumbled around ahead of the Captain's sword, he tiredly looked around for land. To his surprise and joy, there was an island nearby! Its black outline was clear between the grey clouds and dark blue sea. iTime to escape!/i Link thought, and the thought alone gave him more energy. Link swiftly turned on Jordaan and kicked the alarmed Captain's sword out of his hand. His exotic bird flew away, sqwacking, frightened by the blade flying right by it. Link turned around as the flipping blade fell, and it cut right through the ropes on Link's hands. Link ran for the small boat on deck.
"Bloody boy! He's more trouble than he's worth, but extremely resiliant....catch him! He's going to be worth a bundle on the slave market!" Instantly, all the pirates were rushing for Link. The warrior's wounds burned, but with his adrenaline pumping, Link ignored the pain. He kicked the first pirate to reach him in the face and took his sword as he fell. iSword! I almost forgot about my gear! How am I ever going to get the Master Sword back?! /iThe question made Link pause momentarily, and at least twenty pirates advanced on him. Link couldn't do much with the small curved, sword, but it was enough to fight off the rabble of pirates. Parrying five mens' swords, Link cut them across the chest, making them fall to the deck in pain. Link then put medium-sized lacerations in two other pirates' legs, and they went down as well. Link was about to cut down the rest when Jordaan joined the melee. Link hadn't expected him to join, and quickly brought up his sword as Jordaan brought his down. Jordaan's sword was much bigger and tougher than those of his men, and the two blades made a clang and sparks as they connected. Link was strong. Very strong. However, the last few days had sapped most of his strength, and Jordaan overpowered him and gave him a big slash on his chest. Link was thrown to the deck, slashing at Jordaan randomly as he went down. Jordaan didn't see the blade and it made a huge slash in the Captain's wrist, cutting into the artery.
"Aaahhhh!" Jordaan screamed, holding his wrist. Everyone went silent for a few moments, then someone spoke.
"Captain! Quickly, we have some 'magic' stuff that can help heal cut arteries that we stole from another ship, sir, belowdecks." Holding his gushing wrist, the Captain followed his subordinate to the hatch. Link tried to get up, but found he was too weak to do so. His new wound along with all his old ones plus four and a half days of starvation kept the warrior down.
"Ye know what happens to people who injure the Cap'n, don't ye, welp?" One pirate walked over to Link. Link screamed as the pirate stomped on his chest. "Someone go get the chain and ball," He said to his companions. Turning to Link, he said, "Ye be a very lucky boy. Ye won't become a slave, iand/i ye will meet Davy Jones! Isn't that great?" After a few moments of agony from the pressing foot on his bleeding chest, Link saw a pirate coming toward him will a big, heavy ball and a chain with a shackle. He knew what was going on.
"Stop movin', kid! This won't hurt at all, promise!" The pirates laughed as they restrained the violently struggling Link. iThere's no way out of this one!/i Link thought, all his common sense telling him he would be dead in a few minutes. Still, he did not quit struggling. After kicking a few pirates, Link was finally held down, and the shackle was locked on his foot. The pirates bagan dragging him to the railing. He made it extremely difficult for them, but the ship-dwelling men had enough strength to haul Link to the edge of the ship.
"See ye, boy!"
"Have a nice swim, heh heh!"
"I always knew ye would make a fine piece of fishbait, ye seadog!"
"Seyonara!" Link heard these jeering good-byes and many others as the pirates tossed him over the edge. Link could do nothing but suck in a big breath as he plunged into the cold seawater. As the heavy ball dragged him down, Link tried to pull the shackle off, but even without his boots it was too tight to remove. There was no help for Link now, he was going to drown and he knew it. The dark realization penatrated his skin, making him feel like he was freezing. What he wouldn't do for his gear! Yet, some part of him still could not simply give up, and he kept pulling at the shackle. All of his cuts felt as if they were on fire because of the salt water. It was excruciating, but Link couldn't think about that. He kept sinking deeper for a minute, and began to feel the water pressure. While in his Zora's Tunic, Link could both resist extreme water pressure and breathe underwater, but now he could do neither, and the pressure began to build. The ball dragged him relantlessly deeper, and time seemed to slow as the water became darker and pressure more unbearable. Link could hardly hold his breath, the water was squeezing his lungs.
iWhat can I do? I hate to admit it, I didn't think it was possible...that this could be the end of my road./i Link's thinking fogged as the water constricted his body. The water was a very dark blue by the time he hit the ocean floor, after another minute of sinking. But, Link couldn't tell if the water was dark or not because the pressure turned his sight red. It was all he could do to keep his burning lungs to retain the small amount of oxygen they had. Soon, even that became impossible. The water crushed all the remainig air out of Link, and he could hear a faint and faraway stirring of saltwater as he choked on the sea and Davy Jones stole his consciousness.
"Impa!" Zelda, extremely upset, clung to her Sheikah caretaker. "I just had the most horrible dream!" Impa patted her comfortingly.
"There, there. It was only a nightmare. What could possibly cause you to come to me in the middle of the night like this?"
"Link is dead!" Zelda yelled. Impa started in amazement.
"Zelda! What are you talking about?!"
"I saw him...saw him sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown!" Zelda yelled, near tears.
"Calm down, princess..." Impa said gently, calming down herself. "It was nothing but a dream. I'm sure Link is fine." Zelda didn't seem so convinced. She was shaken by a dry sob. Impa embraced her, and soon the princess managed to compose herself again.
"I'm sorry, Impa...I'm acting like a child...but it was so real! Like a vision!"
"Well, perhaps you misinterpreted it, dear. Visions never show the whole truth, do they?" Impa asked softly.
"I suppose they aren't usually literal...but Impa, I felt the breath go out of his body..." Zelda said, shaking. "I'm sorry...I'm too old to be acting this way. I need to go back to bed," Zelda said. She was suddenly very weary.
"That's it, princess. You'll be fine after some real rest. Don't worry about Link. He can take care of himself."
"Alright..." Zelda, shaken by her terrible dream, marched stiffly back to bed.
ubSection 6
The Surprise and the Beauties of the Sea/b/u
Remorie the water dragon flung Link down on the sandy beach. She knew there wasn't much hope for him, but began pushing on his chest to get the water out. After a few moments she became desperate, and had no choice but to whack his lower chest with her strong, flat tail. Miraculously, he sat up, coughing out tons of salt water. Remorie watched the warrior, who was bleeding all over, as his body was racked with deep coughs. When he was finished getting rid of the water in his lungs, Link colapsed on the beach, completely exhausted. He had escaped death once again. Brought back to life by the unlikeliest creature ever.
Remorie watched the fatigued Hylian catch his breath, not wanting to interrupt his gasping with conversation. She remembered their fight earlier in the month. Back then, she had been a devious servant of an evil siren called Kadien, but since then she had changed her ways. She was on her way back to her clan of water dragons and hoped to do good in the ocean to make up for her foul deeds. The last person she had expected to find on the way back to her clan was Link. Link tried to get up after he had caught his breath, but found that he was too weak. Instead, he twisted a bit until he could see the dragon who had destroyed his shackle and pulled him up from the depths of the sea.
"Thanks, Remorie," Link said, breathing raggedly. "Why did you-"
"Shhhh. Let me heal you before you hurt yourself." Link didn't know that water dragons were better at healing spells than all but the King and Queen of dragons, but he soon found out as Remorie slithered up to him and worked her spell. Instantly all his searing pain and feeling of being squashed was gone. He didn't feel weak from being stiff anymore, and the only pain he now felt was that of being half-starved. He sat up and looked into Remorie's bright orange eyes. This was the dragon he had been nearly killed by weeks ago. After quite a struggle, Link had managed to freeze her with her own breath. Why would this dragon he had defeated aid him? And what was she doing all the way out here? Before he could ask her, his stomach rumbled loudly and he held it as pain from his empty stomach tore through him.
"Before we talk, I have to get some food for you, I see." Remorie bounded off to the waves, her body looking like a greyish-blue wave itself as she half ran, half slithering on her small, webbed legs. She dissappeared under the water like quicksilver, leaving Link to wonder. He desperately hoped this was not another deception. He was sick and tired of being tricked. Remorie had looked sincere, though, and it warmed Link's heart that she had turned good. He loved it when old enemies became friends rather that getting bitter.
Mere moments later, Remorie emerged from the ocean, bearing three, fat, football-sized fish. She used a small and unpowerful but useful flare spell to quickly cook them. She then stripped them of everything but their bones and meat and gave them to Link.
"Don't eat too fast now, or you'll get a major stomach ache." Remorie watched the Hylain pathetically try to follow her instructions as he consumed the delicious fish. "Wow, you look pale. It must've been days since you last ate." Link nodded.
"Thanks very much for helping me, Remorie. And thanks for this," Link said, holding up the fish, "It's delicious." A flattered smile came over the young, female water dragon's face.
"You're welcome. What the heck are you doing all the way out here? I thought you were back in Hyrule! I never expected in a million years to find you here, especially chained to a metal ball from getting thrown off a pirate ship!"
"Heh heh, yeah, I bet I'm the last one you expected to see. I'm out here looking for someone, and I got rescued then imprisoned by those pirates. By the way, you didn't happen to see another Hylian in the ocean, did you...?"
"No, sorry. My clan is swimming this way, though. I'll ask them if they've seen a Hylian when I catch up with them. However, I don't know if they would take kindly to a Hylian if they saw one. They like to eat humans, you see. Especially young pirates." Link experienced a familiar sinking feeling that he got whenever he thought about Sohran. Was his newly found friend really gone forever?
"So, that's what you're doing out here, following your clan?" Link asked between bites of juicy, warm fish.
"Yes. It took about a week for the ice around me to melt. As soon as it did, I knew I was fed up with being evil. I decided that since I couldn't live on land and help the Hylians, I would stay in the sea and do good for all the creatures I meet. Between good deeds, I will follow my clan until I catch up with them. Imagine my surprise at finding you out here, at the bottom of the sea, mostly drowned? I'm glad I was able to help you. By the way, thanks for defeating me and helping me make my decision to be good." Link smiled happily.
"I'm so grateful, Remorie. Finally something good has happened to me! I was beginning to think fate hated my guts." Remorie laughed.
"No, not yours, Hero of Time. I don't think it was merely chance that I happened to be swimming by when you hit the ocean floor. Well, what are you going to do now? I have to get going if you have no further need of my help."
"I might need a ride out of here in a few days or so." Link said.
"Well, I myself am not big enough to bear you across the sea, but some water dragon-leviathan crossbreeds in my clan are more than big enough, and can probably get you back to Hyrule in a day or two. As soon as I catch up with my clan, I will try to convince them to help you."
"Really? You're great, Remorie." Link said. The dragon blushed.
"No I'm not, it's what friends do for eachother, right? I would be honored if I could be your friend, Link."
"No problem there! I love new friends. You know, I'm so happy I could hug you!" The Hylian declared. Remorie, overcome with emotion, bounded up to Link and hugged him. Tears streamed from her large, puppyish eyes, and she had a rather silly-looking grateful expression on her scaled face.
"This is just the kind of thing I've been yearning for my whole life! I was never meant to be evil, and you helped me realize that! Thank you so much!" She was being very corney.
"No problem...." Link said simply, happy for the dragon but not knowing why she was being so dramatic. Remorie pulled herself off Link, and began running gracefully toward the sea.
"Farewell, Hero of Time! I shall help all the poor creatures I find on your behalf and make all the sea creatures as happy as me!" Just then, she slipped in the wet sand and fell face-first into the water. Knocked out of her spell of cornyness, she got to her feet, rubbing the back of her head. "Bye, Link. I'll be back!" With that, she was gone.
Link looked around at the the island he was on, and began thinking. iThis heavily vegetated island is probably the 'green land' the shadow monster had spoken of. After all, it's only been just over seven days since I left Hyrule and I've been traveling to the southwest the whole time. So, I think the one who sent him must be on this island. I don't know where the pirate ship went, but I imagine they'll be resting here a few days, so I have to find them and get my sword back...but what if they don't rest here, and sail on by? There's no way I'm leaving the Master Sword to pirates. The spirit of the Master Sword chose me and has saved me numerous times...why, without that sword, Ganondorf would have crushed me! /iLink put his arms on his knees and rested his head on them, staring out into the beautiful but very deadly ocean. If he didn't spot the pirate ship soon, he would just have to begin searching the island. Of course, he could probably lure them to the island if he made a fire... Link sat a few minutes, enjoying the cool breeze off the ocean even though it would have felt better to be warm. Unfortunately, as it usually did when Link was sitting still, the thought of Sohran creeped into his head. It couldn't leave him alone!
Flashback i"You like biting, shark?!" Link chomped down on the shark's tender dorsal fin, biting it painfully hard. Link had never heard a shark yell before, but this one let out a beastly screetch. The frightened shark threw Link off, and cringing in stinging pain from the caustic bite, it swam away. A cold wind blew over Link and he shivered. Shark fin tasted nasty. Breathing raggedly, Sohran stopped swimming and turned to Link, who was spitting out the salty, sour taste of shark fin.
"Thank you." He said, swimming over to him. "That was really close." Link finished spitting and spoke.
"You're welcome, but I hope I never have to bite a shark again!" The whole idea of biting a shark was pretty ludicrous, and, ignoring the cold wind that had suddenly sprung up, the both men burst out laughing. "Well, we had better get back to the ship..." Link and Sohran turned to look at their ship. It was sailing away.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going? You can't leave without us!" Shouting callow pleas for the ship to slow down, Link took off swimming after it.
"Wait for us, you stinking ship! Come baaack!" Sohran followed Link, both swimming as fast as their tired bodies would take them. They were gaining on the ship, but the ship was slowly gaining speed.
"Stoooop!" Link yelled, practically flying through the water with Sohran right behind him.
"It's speeding up, Link! We'll never catch it!" Sohran yelled, trying to swim faster.
"It's alright! If we can just get it within range of my hookshot, we'll be fine!" Shoving thier way through the cold, salty water, Link and Sohran got a little closer to the ship. "Hold on to me!" Link said, and Sohran held onto his waist firmly. Link took out the longshot and its chain sprang forth, barely reaching the ship. The hook stuck in the railing, and Sohran clung to Link as the two were yanked to the ship. Sohran climbed over the side, and helped Link up. They bent over for a minute, panting to catch their breath, grinning at eachother. /iEnd
Link missed him greatly. Other than Remorie, Sohran had been his only friend on the entire trip. And a good one, at that. Link could feel that if he wasn't gone, Sohran and Link would be great buddies now. He sighed, hanging his head in sadness. He was really quite tired, and decided to go to sleep and search the island in the morning. Link walked into the jungle a little inland, and quickly found a tree shaped perfectly for sleeping in. Crawling into it, Link fell asleep and dreamed of Hyrule.
The next morning, he was awoken by getting his arm shook by a webbed foot. Link was awake instantly, and was surprised to find Remorie staring up at him.
"Guess what? My clan were closer than I thought. It appears that they were eating fish from the reefs close to this island. It took a lot of doing, but I convinced them to help you. But of course, it would have been much more difficult without the help of a certain someone...I've got a surprise for you!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Link asked, jumping down from the tree.
"You'll see!" Remorie ran and Link followed her, until they came to the sea shore, out of the trees. Link thought he was going crazy. He saw Sohran standing on the shore, completely untouched!
"W-what? Are you a ghost?" Link asked, still not believing it.
"Heh heh, no. Good to see you alive, Link." Sohran said, smiling warmly.
"Sohran!!" Link couldn't stop himself from dashing to Sohran and hugging him tightly. Sohran was a little surprised, seeing some of the eight-year-old left in Link. "I thought you were dead..." Link said emotionally. Sohran returned the embrace, patting Link's back
"I wasn't sure if you were alive either, buddy. But I'm sure glad you are." Feeling extremely relieved to see his friend again, Link stepped back and smiled at him.
"So, what happened to you, Sohran?" Link inquired.
"Well, I thought I was going to die after all that wood fell on me and we jumped in the water and were struck by lightening. I was unconscious, and the dragons tell me I sunk down and landed on top of them. A lot of them wanted to eat me, but the one I fell on created a bubble around me and healed me, then they say I was asleep for a day and woke up. When I did I was still underwater with them and they said they hadn't seen you and weren't going back, and I was lucky they didn't eat me. The reason they didn't is that the one I had fallen on had a giant urchin quill stuck into its skin very deeply under a scale, and none of its companions could get it out. I pulled it out, and they said they would drop me off at the next piece of land they saw. Well, after a long time we came to this island and they were eating before they would let me go to the land, then Remorie showed up. Being a dragon of high status, the dragons listened to her and we came here to help you; I was very glad to hear you were alive. Now, thanks to Remorie, we can travel together again and the water dragons will take us home when we're ready. Cool, huh?"
"Excellent!" Link said.
"Hey...where's your boots and sword, Link? And what happened to you between the storm and now?"
"Well, it's kind of complicated..." Link said. Remorie interrupted him.
"Ahem, before you two start chatting all morning, you need to talk to my clan." She turned around and called to the sea dragons just below the waves. Several sleek, reptilian heads emerged. Some were as small as Remorie, most were twice or three times as big, and a few were huge. Two of the dragon-leviathen creatures' heads were as big as wagons. One of the big ones spoke. Most water dragons had voices as quiet as a humans, but this big dragon's voice was deep and loud, like a mointain dragon's.
"bMy name is Eucheso, I am a messenger for the leader of our clan, Lady Miradden./b" The big dragon had brownish-green scales and many fins around his head and down his neck. The fins were black, and his eyes were bight greenish-yellow. His scales, though a dull color, shimmered briliantly in the sunlight. "bWe have agreed to take you Hylians back northeast to your home, Hyrule. When is it that you will need our assistance?/b"
"Come back tomorrow at this same time," Link said. He figured he would have the small island searched by then.
"bVery well./b" The dragon creature said, and all the sea dragons left just like that. The only one left was Remorie.
"Sorry about the abruptness of their departure, but they wanted to go to an island quite a long way from here to eat fish. Because us sea dragons are such fast swimmers, we'll surely be back by tomorrow morning. Good luck, Link and Sohran!" Remorie slither-walked to the water and dissappeared after her clan. Link and Sohran decided to talk to eachother and have a bit of breakfast before searching the island. They picked some fruits from the jungle, and returned to the shore to enjoy their meal and chat. Link told Sohran what had happened to him, and Sohran declared that if he ever met with Captain Jordaan, Jordaan would be sorry he ever layed a hand on Link. Sohran explained that the water dragons, though possesive and a bit predjudice, were really quite nice if you were on thier good side. The one that had saved him was a particularly nice one named Jaconoru. While they were talking, something unexpected happened.
Link's eyes grew wide as suddenly the head of a female popped up from the waves in front of him and Sohran.
"Whaaaa? What's a girl doing in the sea?" Link asked. It was very surprising. The only human-looking girl Link had even seen in the ocean was Kadien the siren, but this girl certainly did not look like a siren. Kadien had had big, freaky yellow eyes. This woman looked normal, and quite pretty. "Um...hello." Link said to the smiling head. The woman began pulling herself out of the water, and Link and Sohran couldn't believe their eyes. She was a mermaid!
"Hello, there." She said with a foxy grin. She had red hair with a touch of brownish-blonde in it, and the long, wet hair hung past her small waist. At her waist, her skin turned to scales, and she had a beautiful, shiny green fish tail with rings of silver all through it. Her chest and shoulders were covered by a shirt-like thing made of green seaweed. Her eyes were a dazzling green, and she had a silver, thin, diamond-encrusted ringlet on her brow. "And who are you young men?"
"I'm Sohran." Sohran said quietly, still amazed that he was seeing a real live mermaid.
"My name is...uh, Link..." Link said, looking at her pretty fin. It was even prettier than Remorie's grey-blue scales, he thought, especially the way it shimmered in the sunlight.
"And where are you from, uh, Link?" She asked with a girlish giggle. "What brings you and Sohran to this island? Are you two pirates?"
"No, we're idefinately/i not pirates. We came here to look for someone." Link didn't know what possesed him to tell so much to this fish-maiden. Perhaps it was the innocent, pretty look on her face that told him she was trustworthy. "Who are you?"
"My name is Cattanya, I am the princess of mermaids and mermen. I just happened to be coming up on this island to pick flowers and saw you men! Are you sure you're not pirates?"
"Yes, very sure. We don't even like pirates!" Link responded enthusiastically. Sohran nodded.
"Good, I like you already, then." The woman pulled herself closer to the Hylains by flopping her fin and dragging herself along with her arms. As she got closer to Link and Sohran more mermaids began emerging from the sea, giggling childishly.
"Is it another two, Cattanya?" A young, white-haired, red and black-finned mermaid asked.
"No, Shehira. These guys aren't pirates. But they're cute." Link blushed. What were these pointy-eared mermaids up to? Sohran shifted uncomfortably. iWierd girls,/i he thought. "So, Link and Sohran, who are you looking for? Maybe we can help you." Cattanya seated herself five feet in front of the Hylians, staring at their faces, and five other mermaids sat behind her, doing the same. All were smiling.
"Eh...two people, actually. We're looking for someone who sent a shadow monster after me a while ago, and also a band of pirates in the iDark Predator/i who stole my stuff." Link said. Cattanya nodded.
"I don't know about the first one, but we can help you with the second. The pirates have anchored just offshore of the other side of this island. They'll stay here for another day and then leave, so if you want to get your stuff back, you two had better hurry. But how, may I ask, are you going to do it? Do you have anything to trade to them?"
"No...we're just going to steal it back, right, Sohran?"
"Absolutely." Sohran agreed. They had talked about it earlier. The mermaids gasped.
"Steal it back? They'll just kill you. Are you guys really brave or really unwise?"
"Maybe something in between," Link said, grinning. This made Cattanya and Sohran laugh.
"Well, girls, I say we help them! After all, we've always been the best at distracting pirates. They even call us the Beauties of the Sea! First, let's introduce ourselves."
"I'm Shehira." The whitish-silver-haired one said. Her shiny red fin had stripes of black on it, and the flat of her fin was particularly big and curled. She had pretty, orange-yellow eyes and looked only about sixteen or seventeen years old, while the rest of the mermaids looked about twenty. "Nice to meet you."
"I'm Reynora," The next one said. She had very long, brown hair that fell past the middle of her long, thin fin. Her fin was dark blue streaked in a few areas with light blue, and she had intelligent-looking tan eyes.
"My name is Jedara," A blonde-haired, purple finned one said. Her violet fin was small and only one color, but flecks of shineyness made it look like it sparkled. She had blue eyes.
"Heronda," The next one said. She had short black hair and had a black fin with gold speckles. Her eyes were an intense dark green, almost black.
"I'm called Fenosa," The last one said quietly. She had a sky blue fin with white swirls on it, and her hair was curly and shiny grey. The grey hair did not make her look old because of its silver tint. She had grey eyes. All of the mermaids had the same seaweed shirts.
"There. Now let's make a plan to go get those pirates!" Cattanya shouted with a grin
. hi there. thx for reading! eet makes meh so heppeh. I'll update real soon if people r&r, so stay tuned in! btw I have pictures of my fanfictions and if u want them just e-mail me. -Talonclawfange