A/N: Chapter 11! Please review! (Pretty please?)

Chapter 11

"Come here girl!" I try to call over the horse from yesterday, but to no avail. That damn horse just doesn't like me!

"Try singing it over," suggests Malon. I've already told them that I'm not about to embarrass myself. I look at her, and she looks away. "Or not."

"You could play it over," suggests Mellie. I turn to stare at her.

"What? What do you mean?"

"With your ocarina. Play a song." Malon gives an excited gasp.

"You have an ocarina? Can you play it?"

"I can make noise come out of it, if that's what you mean." Mellie giggles.

"He can play it. Sort of."

I give a derisive snort. "I'd have better luck with the singing."

"Go on, just try it. You never know."

I dig my ocarina out of the backpack on my back. I raise it to my lips, and let out one long note. I feel something wet drip down the back of my neck. "Please tell me that the horse did not just drool on my neck." I'm not reassured by their instant laughter. I turn around, and the horse that was right behind me runs away. Mellie and Malon are both helpless with laughter on the ground. Mellie points at me.

"You should have seen your face!" Mellie breaks out into laughter again. Why does it seem that people are laughing at me more in the past couple days? I walk away, wiping the saliva off of my neck with my hat. That was completely disgusting. I hear Navi laughing at me from on top of my head. I hold out my hat in front of me. It's gonna need washed...

-----

"Thif if wunnful," I try to say with food in my mouth. Mellie rolls her eyes, and Malon giggles.

"Thanks! I try."

We're waiting for her father to arrive. He should be getting here any minute now. After dinner, we all go and sit by the fire, and Mellie and Malon talk while I try to get a song out of my ocarina. Every now and then I'll get snippets of recognizable melody. Not very often does this happen. Mellie finally gets up and comes over.

"You really want to learn a song?"

I nod.

"Okay, follow my lead." She takes the ocarina out of my hand and plays a song I vaguely remember from somewhere.

"You try." I take back the ocarina, and try to remember the position of her fingers for the notes. I don't do a very good job. Mellie sighs. I hate it when she does that.

"Maybe if I wrote the notes down on paper for you. Could you play it if I did that?" I nod again. "Good." She jots down some notes with a quill onto parchment. Never thought I'd live to see the day when you couldn't just pick up a pen and a notepad. She hands me the paper, and I try to play the notes, stopping periodically to ask how to finger something. Mellie's smiling when I finish.

"You managed to produce a recognizable song! Finally!"

"I did, didn't I? By the way, what was I playing?"

She smiles back at me. "Greensleeves. Fitting, isn't it?"

-----

I'm running very fast. I turn around, and see the boy who looks like Mellie chasing me. I turn a corner, and run into Zelda, or is it Malon? I feel something bite into my leg, and look at it. A small dark patch of red is forming. I was expecting green. I look over at Zelda, or Malon, who looks kind of like Navi now. I'm carrying Mellie on my back, but she leaps off, and casts a spell at our pursuer. Zelda and Navi have stopped as well. I turn around, and try to help them, but he's too strong, even with all four of us. He fires arrows at the girls, and then turns toward me, but I rush him, and am able to push him to the ground. However, just when I feel I've got the upper hand, he casts a spell around me, encasing me inside a glass sphere. He's just out of my reach. He whispers 'Got you, Hero...'

I wake at once. The same recurring dream haunts my sleep. That's probably not a good sign. I look over at Mellie. She's tossing and turning. I wonder if she's having a nightmare too...

I walk over to her, and shake her awake. She sits up at once, and pulls me down onto the bed, dagger in hand. I look up at her, surprised.

"Hey! What are you doing?" She looks at me, realization in her eyes.

"Link! I'm sorry! I didn't realize it was you! Oh, I'm so sorry!" She lowers the dagger, and pushes me off of her bed. "What are you doing over here anyway?"

"You were tossing and turning, and I thought you were having a nightmare, so I came to wake you up." She frowns at me.

"Thanks, but it was an informative nightmare, and I would've liked to see the end of it."

"Informative nightmare? You believe in prophetic dreams?"

"You don't? You, of all people, don't believe in prophetic dreams?" I stare at her.

"Of course not."

"Your coming here was predicted."

I roll my eyes. "I was to be summoned on my eighteenth birthday. They knew I was coming here."

"Bad example."

"What were you dreaming about anyway?" She averts her eyes.

"I'd rather not talk about it..."

I walk back over to my bed. I probably won't be falling back asleep, but I don't want to wake anyone up. I notice that Mellie's crying. "Is something wrong?"

She looks up at me with tear-stained eyes. "It's just... Well... I dreamed..."

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, if I don't tell someone soon, I'll burst. Link... I dreamed you died."

Whoa. She what? "It's okay. I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Do you often dream that your friends die?"

"Only one other. I dreamed they died a day before they actually did."

I gulp. "It's a coincidence. It must have just been their time."

"They were fifteen. So was I."

"Oh." It's all I can think of to say. This is probably hard for her. I walk back over to her bed and sit down on it. "Like I said, I don't plan on dying anytime soon."

"Your job is a dangerous one," she points out. No point in arguing over that one. I completely agree.

"I know, but I'll be careful. And besides, I've got you."

She looks down at her feet. "It's just... It's really who killed you more than it is the fact that you died." I raise my eyebrow at her. "Not that that's not important!"

"And who was this mystery murderer?"

Tears stream down her face anew. "My brother."

Gulp. "Mellie?" She looks up at me. "Is it bad if we had the same dream?"

-----

It's morning. Somehow I managed to have a nightmare-free night. We're sitting at breakfast with Malon and her father. He came back sometime during the night. He's eyeing me with increasing dislike, as if I shouldn't be here. I overheard him asking Malon if I was sleeping in her room. He must not think that a boy alone with two girls is going to be very responsible. I don't really blame him. If I came home to my daughter (if I had one) alone with a boy in the house, she'd be grounded. I hope I didn't get Malon in trouble. She's been so kind to us. Mellie looks over at me. She hasn't eaten anything. Neither have I. I'm still thinking about the fact that Mellie's having the same dreams I am. That's got to be a bad omen. Not that I believe in such things. I return to my eggs. The table's really quiet without the constant chatter of Mellie and Malon.

"Someone say something," Malon comments from across the table.

"The eggs are good," Mellie says blandly. Like she would know. She hasn't eaten one bite of them.

"You might be able to say that truthfully if you'd eaten any," says Malon. "What's wrong with you two? You usually never shut up."

Mellie gives her a look that says 'Don't ask'.

"Well, if you two aren't going to eat your eggs, let me give them to the pigs. They'll be glad to get them." She walks out of the house, carrying our dishes with her.

"Well, I'm going out to the horses. Malon said that Raven's arrived. That's my horse if you're wondering." Mellie walks towards the door.

"I'll go with you." I make to follow her, but a booming voice from behind me stops me in my tracks.

"You, boy! I'd like a word with you." I turn around slowly.

"Yes sir?" Don't want to offend him, especially when he seems upset with me. Mellie hurries out of the room, but I can hear her snickering under her breath.

"What's your name?"

"Link, sir."

"Link, is it? Well then, Link, I just want to tell you that if I see you put just one toe out of line around Malon, it'll be the end of you. I'm not pretending for a second that I'm pleased that she had you here while I was away."

"Yes sir."

"You may go now." I walk out of the door. That was a close one. I walk toward the corral, ocarina in hand. That horse is going to like me whether it wants to or not. I reach the corral to find Mellie already there with her horse Raven. I walk in, and the red horse runs to the other side of the corral. I sigh.

"She really doesn't like you, does she?" Mellie says. I put the ocarina to my lips, and recall as best I can the song Greensleeves. The horse looks over at me, and continues chewing on the grass.

"Maybe it's the wrong song?" Just then Malon walks over.

"You have to play a special song if you really want her to like you. Let me show you." Malon comes over and takes the ocarina from me and plays a very pretty song. I think it's the one that she sung on the first day we met her. The horse whinnies and runs over, though it bolts when I reach out to pet it.

"You have to play it." She hands me the ocarina, and I play the song as best I can. To my surprise, the horse comes right up to me.

"Hello there. You're a pretty girl." I can't believe I'm talking to a horse. I notice that she's got no saddle. "Do you have a saddle for her?"

"She won't let us put one on her. You can try though." Malon rushes off to get a saddle, and Mellie smiles at me.

"Told you that you could play the ocarina." She smirks. Malon comes out at that moment, and the horse whinnies.

"It's okay, girl. Malon, what's her name, anyway?"

Malon comes over with the saddle. "Her name's Epona. Hold her still while I get this on." I keep my hand on Epona's neck, and miraculously she lets Malon put the saddle on. "I don't know how she'll react to being ridden. She's never let anyone ride her before."

I walk beside the fine horse. I remember vaguely the riding lessons Malon tried to instill into me. I somehow get onto the horse without falling off, and set off at a slow trot around the corral. Navi comes out to see what's going on, and sits on my shoulder to enjoy the ride. I decide to have a little fun. I urge the horse on to a run, and Navi gets thrown from her perch on my shoulder. I laugh. This is actually fun.

"Hey! She likes you! How 'bout you and I race?" Mellie calls from over near Malon.

"How in the world am I supposed to race you? I'm not that good of a rider."

"Just try it. Raven's been dying to be raced!" I wonder how she knows what her horse wants.

"Just as long as you don't laugh too hard when I lose." I trot over to where Mellie's mounting Raven.

"Okay, how 'bout twice around the corral?"

"That's fine. Malon can start us off."

Malon walks up beside us. "Good luck. Go!" And we're off! Raven's in first for the beginning, but I'm actually closing the gap and pulling in front a little ways in. It's really neck and neck... I'm starting to think that I might actually win this. That would give me bragging rights for a while...

We turn a corner, and I lose the upper hand. Mellie's pulled in front of me. I try desperately to pull around her, but she's blocking me. I let her be in front of me for a while, and make my move while we're rounding the corner. She moves out from the wall a little, and I move up beside her. She makes a face at me. I can't help but grin. I take the corner with ease I didn't know I had. I stay in the lead until we finish the first lap, then Mellie starts to pull ahead again. I frown. I though I was winning. We come upon the first corner, and Mellie pulls in front of me again. I know she's not going to let me around her like last time. I try to pull around her from the outside, but she moves to block me. I'm going to have to try something risky if I want to win, and believe me, I do. As we come upon the last turn, I try to pull around her from the outside, but she turns around, sees me, and pulls to cut me off. Just like I wanted her to. The combined effort of pulling her horse out to block me and turning the corner puts her at the edge of the track, and I quickly move around her. We're neck and neck. I have to move ahead of her if I want to win. I urge Epona on towards the finish line. Mellie does the same with Raven. I can't seem to pull ahead of her... As we near the finish line, Raven starts to pull ahead. I urge on Epona, but I know we're not going to get there. The finish is almost upon us. Raven slows slightly, and we drop back neck and neck. I see my opportunity. We can't be more than ten feet from the finish, and I lean forward, urging on my horse. Epona seems to read my thoughts. With an extra burst of speed, we pull ahead just as we're crossing the finish. I turn around and look at Malon and Mellie. Mellie's put on a fake smile, but I can tell she's fuming. Malon's cheering.

"Yeah! Go Link! Take a victory lap!" She's practically jumping up and down.

I turn Epona around toward them. "No victory lap. That track is the longest I've ever seen! Two laps! I'll bet anything Epona wants a break." I dismount. As I'm walking over to the girls, I notice Malon's father watching me from the house. He's smiling.