Chapter Eighteen

Link, clothed in his new ninja-outfit, crawled through the shadows of trees and bushes, staying as low to ground as he could and making as little noise as possible. He had left Epona at a stream half a mile back, and had walked the rest of the way to make sure they wouldn't hear him approach. He had also brought a long a certain item that would help incase things got out of hand...

He now knelt in the shadow of what was once Lon Lon Ranch. Getting over the wall would be easy enough; Malon had grown leafy vines over part of the ranch walls to try to make the outer perimeter look prettier. Link might have smiled to himself about it if his mind hadn't been so dead-serious at the time.

The hero looked around, surveying the area. Okay, there were three guards at the entrance, one to the left above Link's position, and one other stationed a ways down the wall.

Link quietly pulled an arrow from the quiver at his waist and strung it. The bowstring was released, and the arrow silently pierced through the night air, striking its target in the neck. He then used what little power he had left in Farore's Wind to push the body off the wall with a gust off wind before it collapsed, then before it hit the ground he levitated it using the same magic. No point in causing extra noise.

After he hid the body in a few bushes away from the ranch, he gripped a hanging vine and began to ascend. The climb wasn't without noise, no, but minus the closest guard, he seemed to go unheard.

Once he reached the top Link instantly dropped down the other side. Upon his landing he rolled behind a crate that sat behind the house building. He could now feel the presence of both the shard of the Triforce he gave to Malon, and Zelda's Triforce of Wisdom. So Malon was there, and alive too.

Now, where would they keep a princess and a stable girl? He assumed that the housing quarters would be for whomever the leader was, so... the barn maybe? The only other buildings were the storage room at the back of the ranch and the hen house (and he seriously doubted they were in there).

Link crept out and peeked around the corner, now able to see all the construction going on for the fortress they were building in the large field area. The stone base had been constructed already it seemed, and they were using wood frame or something like that. Laying everywhere was piles and piles of stones. He pondered on where they had gotten all the rocks. Oh well, with the construction going on, he may not have to be as quiet and some of the Sheikah were being kept busy with the work, so it helped more than anything.

The whole area was dark, lit only by the illuminating glare of the moon. Link got on top of the crate and climbed up to the top of the house. Glancing over the slanted roof, he saw a guard walking down the path to the barn, then back up to where the path split out into the large, gated-in field. He waited awhile, watching the guard go back and forth to make sure that was his routine, then began crawling down the roof, like a spider crawling down a web to its prey.

As soon as the guard was close enough, he let himself fall to the ground, where he gripped the guard's head quickly snapped his neck. He lifted the body in his arms and tossed it over his shoulder, then walked back behind the house and hid it in the shadows there. Hopefully no one would discover it.

--------------------------------------

Sighing softly, Zara stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep unlike her two companions. Rittowa and Sheik slept silently, without a snort or anything, whereas Isuke was snoring as loud as was humanly possible, louder than Link even. Since she was a fairy, she had never had to sleep before, but after coming from the sanctuary she had begun to feel things such as weariness.

As much of it she felt though, it wasn't enough to overcome the dragon-roar-like snore emanating from the zora that lay a few feet from her. Because she left the sanctuary was she now cursed to always sleep near a boy that snored so loudly she would never get any rest? Oh, woe to her...

Getting to her feet, she walked out of the tree house and slowly climbed down the ladder. Around the forest were tiny forest sprites floating here and there. Putting aside the noise coming from Link's house, the forest was very quiet. Zara was suddenly stricken with sadness, feeling that the forest was slowly withering away.

"This...is terrible."

"It is, isn't it?"

Zara jumped in fright, having not heard Sheik come up behind her.

"Sheik, what's going on?" Zara questioned.

"Different things," the young Sheikah started. "Some of it is from the Sheikah's killings. All of Hyrule is alive... and its life-force rests on the shoulders of Hylians. When they die, that life gets weaker."

"I know this. However, that cannot be the only reason. The forest stayed alive through the war between all the races of Hyrule. That war lasted over twenty years, and many people died, yet this forest still stands."

Sheik nodded. "Indeed, it wasn't enough. The person leading the Sheikah is responsible for most of it. He is spreading his evil power throughout the land. It's sucking the life of Hyrule away and bringing it to him, to make himself stronger."

"What?!" Zara exclaimed. "Why haven't you told us about this before?"

"No one asked. There is nothing we can do anyway. There is no way to stop it unless we kill him. Which is next to impossible."

"Impossible??"

"This guy...he's incredibly powerful. Not even the Hero of Time would be able to defeat him."

"What...what about Ganondorf?! I thought...!"

"Ganondorf was powerful. But in a different way. Besides, Link is not as strong as he was when Ganondorf was defeated. And the leader, he is...."

Sheik stopped. Zara looked at him, wondering why he didn't finish.

"Sheik, you never did tell us about how the Sheikah escaped from being sealed."

"That is a story for later. When Link returns." Sheik turned to leave but Zara griped his arm.

"No, please tell me now."

Sheik sighed. "Fine."

---------------------------

Perhaps it wasn't the smartest thing in the world to crawl over the roof of the barn when there were guards stationed all over the wall around the ranch, not to mention all the Sheikah working higher-up on the fortress, but, it was way smarter than just waltzing right in through the front door. Plus, the moon was now hidden behind the black clouds overhead, making him less noticeable.

Malon used to hang clothes up to dry on the roof, so inside the barn there was a ladder that lead up to a door that opened up to the roof. Link saw the two poles up that had been used for the clothesline. He searched the ground, feeling the roof with his hand until he found the rope that the clothes had been hung on.

After he had rolled the rope up, Link hung it from his belt for later use, then crawled over to the trapdoor. Opening the door as quietly as he could, he peeked down and looked around. It was no good, it was too dark to see anything. He stepped onto the ladder and started downwards.

"Who's there?" came a voice from the darkness.

Impa's voice.

-------------------------

"I failed in my duty to protect the seal," Sheik started. "This evil man came, and by some power sent me away. He released all the Sheikah and told them that if they follow him, they would have their revenge on the Royal Family."

Zara waited for him to keep going...but he said nothing else.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What happened after that?"

"Nothing, it's that simple. They just agreed."

"It seems a little too simple. But you," Zara said, looking up at Sheik. "You aren't like them. You don't want revenge. Why?"

"I have my reasons." With nothing else said he turned and went back to the tree house.

---------------------------

Link couldn't believe his ears. "Impa? Is that you?"

"Link! I can't believe you're here," said the voice again.

"Where are you? I can't see anything."

"Right here..."

Link felt the touch of cold, sharp steel against his neck.

"Heh, you're so easy, Hero of Time." The voice had changed, still female, but it wasn't Impa's this time.

Link's hand flashed up to the arm holding the blade. Cracks echoed through the barn as Link crushed the bones in the wrist of the imposter. Before she could scream, the Kokiri Sword had cut through the air, and stopped on the other side of the Sheikah's neck. He couldn't see it, but there was a 'thud' as the head and body hit the floor.

There were no windows here, so maybe he could risk using a little light. The Triforce on the back of his hand glowed a bit, giving off a dim light. Link looked down and saw the body of the headless Sheikah, the blood spurting from neck forming a crimson puddle on the floor.

Link turned away and looked around. The cattle were all gone, that was evident. In their place were piles and piles of stone and brick, as well as other things such as tools.

So, they were using the barn as the storage area now. There was no sign of any thing else there, so the only other place to look would be the residence or the storage building. And for some reason he thought that they'd be in the storage building.

Quickly stepping over the body of the decapitated Sheikah, Link grabbed the ladder and silently climbed up. Once back on the roof, the Hero of Time slowly made his way down and then dropped to the ground. There wasn't much cover, so he snuck over to the edge of the wall and slowly made his way to the storage building from there.

Malon shivered, holding herself and curling up. "It's so cold..." She held the Triforce shard in her hands, holding it tightly as a reminder of Link. He will come for me...he will...

Suddenly there was a grunting noise up near the opening at the top of the building, and both Zelda and Malon looked up in time to see a figure hang over the edge, then drop down, landing hard on his feet.

Speak of the devil.

"Link!" Zelda and Malon exclaimed.

"Shhh. Keep it down," Link whispered, going over to Zelda and cutting her bonds. Malon rushed over to Link and hugged him tightly.

"I knew you'd come for me," she said, tears dripping from her eyes.

Link was overjoyed to see her, but he knew now wasn't the time for this.

"Malon, we have to get out of here. Now."

"I know, sorry."

Zelda gave Link a look. "I am indeed grateful for you coming to rescue us, but... How did you get in here and what on earth are you dressed as?"

"You can ask me questions as soon as we're out of here."

"There are guards at the door... how do we get out?" Zelda asked.

"I killed them," Link replied, trying to show emotion from doing it. He couldn't anymore though. He didn't care if he killed any Sheikah now after what they had done and what they were still doing.

"I see. Why didn't you use the keys?"

"They didn't have any on them. We're leaving the way I came in."

"How though?" Malon inquired. "Zelda and I can't get up there."

Link reached for something stuck into the pockets on his belt and pulled out his Hookshot. "This is how."

He put his arm around Malon. "Hold on tight."

Link fired the Hookshot up at a support beam and used it to put Malon and himself up. He waited until Malon got onto the ledge before going back to get Zelda, then he dropped to the bottom, and caught the girls as they jumped down.

"Okay, this is how we're gonna do this," Link said. "We're all gonna sneak to the side of the barn, and once we're there, if nothing has gone wrong, you two go on ahead once I take care of the guards out in front. After that, I'm gonna cause some problems around here and then hide out until I have a chance to leave."

"We won't be able to get away fast enough though," Zelda remarked.

"They'll be too busy in the confusion to follow you. I left Epona about a half a mile to the east, near the river. You can take her and follow the river south. I think you know how to get to Kokiri Forest from there, Malon."

Malon nodded silently and then they began following Link. Once they got to the barn, Link took a quick look around then motioned for them to stay low, as he walked out, he expected to see the backs of guards standing in front of the entrance...but no one was there.

Oh no...

Link turned and ran back to the girls. "Get out of here, now!"

"But, wha-"

"NOW!"

Malon and Zelda got up and took off down the short path and out of the ranch.

Link drew his Kokiri Sword and his Sheikan dagger, and stood there, waiting.

"You can come out anytime. I know you're there."

Shadows appeared all around him, and formed into Sheikah. The shorter one stepped forwards, perhaps five foot two.

"I believe we've met before," he said, grinning. Link had never seen him without the mask, but he knew that it was the same person that had been there at Death Mountain.

Link said nothing, wondering if he should use the item he had brought with him. Using it could cause more harm than good though...and he wasn't sure if he would be able to get out of it. Perhaps he should just wait and see.

"Our lord and master is busy at the moment, and doesn't see the need for himself to destroy you."

Okay, he would use the potion Doc gave him, and then if that didn't work...he'd have to use the other thing.

Link quickly reached into his pouch, grabbed a small bottle and gulped down the contents, then quickly got back into his stance. "If you're gonna kill me, you'd better get to it, don't you think?"