"The Destiny Stone"

Disclaimer: This is me. This is me not owning any Zelda. Any questions?

*****

Author's Note: Shout out thank yous to people, in no particular order: The Writer, FogFrontier, Tyhinolove (aka Sond), canihavea-soda, Megumi, and everyone else who's reviewed/helped out/yelled at me to write more. Thanks people! It means a lot to me, really, it does. Now, I dub this next chapter, the chapter of much ononomonopeia. Bold onomonopeia. ^_^ You'll see. Don't forget to review!

*****

"The Destiny Stone" — Chapter 7: To the Sea

Chiron stood at rapt attention in main hall of Hyrule Castle. For a decade, the castle had been his home, which was a vast improvement over the desert wasteland he'd endured since then. Of course, when Ganondorf had taken over, he'd altered the architecture of the Castle, for the fairy-tale, flag topped spires it had sported were just not in Gerudo taste. Now it was a real Fortress, with blackened stone, a real portcullis, and more winding staircases leading to jagged towers than one could imagine. And it had all been possible with the Triforce of Power.

He'd been a very young boy of ten when Ganondorf had returned, and suddenly he'd found his life completely changed. The witches had said that the violent storm that proceeded Ganondorf's return a week before had been prophetic. Chiron himself didn't remember the storm too much, according to Koume and Kotake; he'd slept through most of it. But sometimes Chiron wondered if he'd been at least half-awake, because he seemed to remember bits and pieces. Some of the memories just seemed to fit badly, as if they'd been scrambled. Then again, it might have been just a dream-

Chiron smiled a little at the thought, but his train of thought was broken immediately as a flat circular plane of energy suddenly came into existence directly in front of him. He was slightly startled, but didn't dare show it, as the double faces of Koume and Kotake appeared in the disk. Twinrova didn't visit the Castle in person very often; they preferred, for some odd reason, the seclusion of the desert sun. At the moment, they were both looking very stern.

"Sssso" Kotake said slowly. "You failed to capture them."

No sense in making excuses. "Yes, Grandmother. They must have escaped Castle Town. The blacksmith had been hiding them at his forge, but when we arrived they had already left."

"But weren't the gates locked, boy?" Koume snapped.

"They were. Perhaps they found an alternate exit-"

"Perhapsssbut sssspeculating on how they essscaped doesss not aid in their eventual capture." The ice witch glared.

"If I might askwhy was it so important to find two people?" Chiron asked, raising a dark eyebrow.

"Thissss issss none of your concern," Kotake hissed at him. "We gave the order that they ssshould be apprehended, and that issss enough importance for you, yessss?"

Chiron blinked.

"You remain loyal to us, yes?"

"We raisssed you, after all."

Chiron bowed his head. "Yes, yes of course."

The two witches looked at each other. "As loyal as you might claim to be, you did still fail us. Do not expect us to simply disregard this," Koume said, a slight smile upon her lips. Both witches gestured slightly, as if grasping something.

Chiron's eyes abruptly widened in pain. It suddenly felt like his stomach were being wrenched from his body by hooked claws. Then, the piercing pain became a sharp twisting, as if his entire gut had been suddenly and forcefully tied in a knot. He bent double, gritting his teeth but refusing to yell in pain. The two witches laughed a little as this slight resistance.

"Bring thosssse two to jusssstice, then we'll ssssee where your loyalties lie, Chiron."

"Yes, you shall complete your assignment - without any reinforcements. Perhaps a position of power has made you soft. We shall see. Go now!" With a loud crack, the disk vanished in a flash of light, leaving a very pained young man to collapse to the floor. He took a few gulps of air as his stomach slowly untwisted, staring directly at the stone floor. He considered himself mildly fortunate. Had Ganondorf thought him disloyal, he'd have probably lost his head right then and there.

A brightly colored winged object suddenly entered the hall from the lower staircase. The bright orange fairy oriented himself, spotted the young man, and quickly hovered over to him.

"There you are!" The fairy said loudly, settling himself on Chiron's spiky-haired head without so much as a by-your-leave. "I've been lookin' all over for you!"

Chiron rolled his eyes, and managed to get up halfway, leaning on his knees. "What?"

Pedro,' as the odd orange fairy called himself, had been around Chiron since before he could remember. He supposed that Twinrova had given him as a gift, maybe for target practice, he wasn't sure. Either way, the fairy was a very useful aid, as he found out, in pointing out targets. This slight tactical advantage, of course, was not without its drawbacks. Like many of his kind, Pedro could be very aggravating. He also was a bit on the loony side, and had an obsession with burning objects that bordered on pyromania. Maybe living in the desert sun for so long had sizzled out the fairy's brain. Either way, Chiron wasn't sure sometimes whether he liked or disliked Pedro.

"Where you been?" Pedro muttered, pulling at a loose hair.

Chiron winced. It hurt after all, to have someone picking at your scalp. "I had to talk to Grandmother. She wasn't very happy."

"Oh. Twist your stomach again?"

"Yeah," Chiron grunted, putting a hand on his torso, which still bore aches. "Wish I could learn the counterspell for that, so they'd stop being able to do that. Still, I did fail them."

"What didn't you do this time?" The fairy asked curiously.

"There were these two criminals loose in Hyrule Castle Town that Grandmother wanted, erapparently they killed off Cuddles-"

"Ya mean that huge lout of a Moblin?" Pedro flickered in surprise. Then after a moment he shrugged. "Eh. Never liked him anyway"

"Well, Grandmother wanted them brought to justice, so I ordered the gates locked. I set out the entire compliment of Gerudo to search the city. Then I and a special squad of Gerudos went out and looked ourselves-"

"How many?"

"Twenty, not counting me," Chiron said. "Anyhow-"

"Twenty? That's a little odd," Pedro remarked. "I specifically only remember a group nineteen coming back with you."

Chiron shrugged. "Maybe I counted wrong," he said uncertainly. "Anyhow, we searched the Town from top to bottom. But they were gone. People said they'd seen em around, so I knew they had been in Town when the gate was lockedI tracked em all the way to the Temple of Time. They'd apparently gone there for some reason, only to leave again."

"Was the Door shut?" the fairy suddenly looked nervous.

"Yeah, it was closed, I don't think they damaged anything. Not that there is much left to destroy in there anyhow. But that's beside the point. We followed some more leads, and it led us straight to Vulcan's forge."

"That old gimp?" Pedro rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, anyhow, we tore the place up, cause he was hiding them. But they managed to get out before we could find them. Then it started raining and a lot of the trails dried up because people went inside. So I had to give up after several hours."

The fairy blinked.

"And now Grandmother thinks I'm disloyal, all because two stupid outlaws gave me the slip. She's making me go get them back, without help this time."

"Lousy criminals," Pedro growled squeakily.

"Yeah," Chiron said. "They'll pay."

*****

"Crimeny!" Aka's voice rang out into the overcast sky. "Who would've known the outside world was sobig?!"

Benz shoved past Aka and grumbled. "Well of *squeak* course it's big," he said condescendingly. Haven't you *squeak* ever been out of th' Lost Woods before?"

"Not this far," Aka murmured. He'd been a little nervous about leaving the place he'd called home since he could remember, but the allure of adventure and such had, for once, been stronger than his desire to remain home. He blinked. "Sohow're we gonna find them in such a big place?"

"Easy," Benz squeaked. "We'll just look at *squeak* human settlements. I've got a map, see?" From underneath his cape he pulled a dog-eared parchment, and unrolled it busily. "See. We're here" he pointed with a stubby wooden finger at an area near the huge mess of green that represented the Lost Woods. "We want *squeak* to gethere. It's the nearest one." His finger traced a route to the center of the field.

Aka blinked. "Where's that?"

Benz could read Hylian, though not very well. It took him longer than usual, because whoever had made this map had decided to print the names on it upside down. "Lon LonRanch."

Aka blinked again. "Er, what's a ranch?'"

"Dunno," Benz shrugged. "But if we *squeak* wanna get to this'" he waggled his finger in the air for emphasis, "we should gothis way!" The Deku spun about and pointed to the east.

"Er," Aka mumbled quietly.

"What? What are *squeak* you doing?" Benz snapped, as the Skull Kid twisted his head to one side, peering intently at the map.

"Th' liddle N' and the arrow are supposed t'point upwards, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, you've got em pointin' downwardsI think you're holding the map upside down, Squeaks."

Benz stared. "I know that!" he squeaked finally, turning the map around. "I was just *squeak* testin' you, that's all! Righttesting you. Okay, then we *squeak* wanna gothis way!"

Aka blinked slowly as the Deku pointed in the opposite direction. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"'Course I'm sure!" the Deku exclaimed confidently, turning his walk in the direction of Lon Lon Ranch. "When have I ever *squeak* led us wrong before?"

Aka was about to open his mouth and say something when the Deku turned and looked at him. "On second thought, don't *squeak* answer that question."

*****

Even as those two were traveling westward, Timbre and Link, who were further north in the field, were emerging from the tunnel, situated behind a large boulder. In the far distance, they squinted and could make out several rooftops of Castle Town. Link whooped and levered himself out of the hole.

"Well, we made it."

"Ugh," Timbre grunted, crawling out of the secret passageway with a groan of distaste. "Thought that tunnel would never end."

"Hey, and it stopped raining, too." Link observed, staring up at the sky, which was still very dark and overcast.

"All the better for travel," remarked a familiar voice from above them. Vulcan was sitting on top of the large boulder, where he was whittling. Apparently, he'd been there for quite some time. "We'll make Kakariko well before nightfall, I think."

"How long have you been waiting for us?" Timbre asked curiously.

"Oh, not too long. Had to wait until they lowered the gate again, and I didn't have much to pack, most of my shop's been ruined-"

"What?" Link started.

Vulcan shrugged. "What're you gonna do, you know? It was coming sooner or later. I'd rather still be in command of all my wits when it does. I don't want to die serving Ganondorf's minions. I almost did" he murmured.

Timbre started to speak. "Sorry we got you into this-"

"Don't apologize, young oneit isn't your fault." Vulcan shouldered his rucksack and slid carefully off the boulder. "Besides, we don't have time for that. We might be out of Castle Town, but we're not out of danger."

Timbre nodded. Luckily, the Wolfos would have a hard time tracking them in the damp. Even if it wasn't raining at the moment, the brief shower had probably washed away a lot of scent. It would take them a few hours to recollect the trail, which meant they'd probably make it to Kakariko without any problem.

Vulcan started walking, his braced leg stiffened, but still supporting his weight. For a lame man, he certainly could move when he felt the need. "Chiron will be most upset that he failed to find you two."

Timbre and Link stared. "Who?!"

Vulcan smirked. "Chiron, third-in-command of the Gerudos. Only under Twinrova, and Ganondorf himself. You-"

"Chiron!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"Just like in that dream I had last night," Link murmured, recalling. "Of course he'd be under the spell too-"

"Pardon?" Vulcan looked confused, and slowed his walk so that he became level with the two young men. "You know Chiron?"

"Well, depends. Is this Chiron' tallish, with dark hair and eyes, and a guitar?"

Vulcan nodded.

"So it is Chiron," Timbre murmured. "He was once an assassin for the Gerudo-"

"What do you mean, once?' He is their assassin. And he's been sent to kill you." Vulcan looked very serious for a moment. "You two need to get your ideas straightened out if you want to survive to see that Sword reforged."

"It's hard to explain," Link said. "Even if we did, you might not believe us."

"Try me." The older smith smirked.

"Alright," Link said, leveling a look at Timbre. "You wanna explain?"

Timbre sputtered in indignation. "Gee thanks, Link." He rolled his eyes, and cleared his throat. "Alright then. Hope you have an open mind, Vulcan."

Vulcan shrugged noncommittally.

"Alright. Rewind to abouta decade ago. You were wondering why we didn't seem to remember anything before then? Its because we've been sealed away since we were ten."

"Okay" Vulcan nearly stumbled, but kept his pace. "And how exactly did that happen?"

"See that stone around Link's neck there? The one that talks?' That's supposedly called Destiny Stone, ever heard of one?"

Vulcan stammered. "A Destiny Stone? But there hasn't been records of one of those for agesnot many people know about them, anyway."

"Well, we sure didn't" Timbre muttered, thumbing over to Link. "We found it in the Lost Woods, and Mr. Grab Happy here decided he'd go an pick it up. And whoosh, here we are." He gestured grandly. "And a lot has changed. A lot."

"Alright, even if you're telling me the truth," Vulcan muttered, "What's this about knowing Chiron? And you mentioned a spell, what's that on about?"

Timbre shrugged. "We're not too sure ourselvesbut before we were sent here, we were part of the Heroes of Time-"

"You mean there were more?"

"Eight of us, actually." Link said, counting on his fingers.

Timbre smirked. "Heck, you used to know us. You're the one who tempered stuff for usof course you'll say you don't remember that."

"I don't remember that."

"See? Anyhow, before we got sealed away, things were fine. But apparently, while we were off in who-knows-where, courtesy of the Destiny Stone, somebody cast a spell. Actually, scratch that. Twinrova cast a spell-"

"Wait, how do you know that?" Link said, eyebrow raised.

"The Wolfos said as much," Timbre murmured, making Vulcan raise an eyebrow. "Anyhow," he said quickly, "That spell apparently made everyone forget us, even ourselveswell, most of us anyway"

"Except you two," Vulcan finished.

"Except us," Link agreed. "And that's basically it. We're here to fix things. Problem is," he said, patting his ever-important bundle, "The tool to fix things is currently broken."

"I said I'd reforge it for you," Vulcan said quietly. "You just have to find me that missing piece. Since you've got a lead, I suspect you should follow it."

"We'll see you to Kakariko first," Timbre said. "It's only polite. You did help us out, and pretty much saved our lives back there."

The former knight just smiled a little, the small wrinkles around his eyes more apparent than usual. "All in the line of duty. Any enemy of Ganondorf's is a friend of mine."

They didn't speak up again for a while, instead choosing to walk along in silence. Link, for some reason, felt less ill at ease now that they were traveling towards the ever-increasing pull,' that is eastwards. Soon, the small village of Kakariko would come into view, nestled comfortably in the foothills of Death Mountain, which already rose before them to the north like a stern grandfather. A circle of dark clouds encircled its peak, and Link squinted, hoping it wasn't about to start raining again.

Vulcan stopped at the bridge crossing Zora's river, and abruptly turned around. "You still sensing that piece?" He asked Link suddenly.

"Yeah," Link said quietly, turning his head eastwards. "It's still pointing us east."

"Well, the source of the Zora's river is to the northeast-"

"Not northeast, either, due east."

"Hmm" Vulcan said, putting a rough hand to his chin. "Only thing due east of here's the ocean. Maybe the piece is-"

"It must be over the ocean," Link agreed. "In Termina. But how're we going to get there? There used to be a secret way there through the Lost Woods, but that was closed."

"We'd need a boat," Timbre observed. "Where are we gonna find a boat in such short notice?"

Vulcan squinted. "You might go ask the Zoras," he said. I'm sure they're against Ganondorf's rule as much as the rest of em. He froze over most of their Domain-"

"Again?" Timbre said suddenly, before Link elbowed him.

"Well, their princess swam all the way to Termina for help. Actually, she didn't swim all the way, that would've been too slow-they made her a boat. It took her there and back safely, and she was able to find a way to control the climate in the Domain. Maybe they'll allow you to borrow it."

"Maybe," Link said, not relishing the thought of having to visit the Zoran princess. Her name was Ruto, and she'd been a complete and utter brat of a girl. Not to mention, he'd been the unwanted receiver of the fish-girl's affections. The look on his face told Timbre everything.

"Aww, cheer up Link," he said, grinning. "She won't remember us, cause of the spell."

That's true, Link thought. Well, if one good thing came out of all of thisHe came back to reality, and handed Vulcan the precious bundle. His whole heart ached at the thought of leaving it behind, but he knew it was for the best. Apparently the Triforce agreed with him, as no spasms or shots of sudden pain came from his left hand. "Take care of this until we get back,"

"Yes, of course. Anyhow, I thank you two." Vulcan said, nodding.

Timbre looked very confused. "You're thanking us? For what? Thanks to us, your forge is ruined, you're a fugitive, and you're homeless."

Vulcan smiled. "Those things aren't what matters. I can always find a new home, make a new forge, and start a new business. You've given me something so much more valuable."

"What's that?" Link asked curiously.

The old smith's eyes twinkled as he spoke. "Hope. Good luck you two, and I mean it."

*****

It still wasn't quite dusk out when they arrived in Zora's Domain, though the sun was starting to curve heavily towards the west. Timbre and Link almost immediately noticed a slight change in the climate as they stepped towards the gigantic waterfall — the temperature had risen nearly 20 degrees.

"Whew," Link breathed, taking off his hat a moment and wiping his forehead. "He wasn't kidding about them thawing out the Domainit's practically a sauna now."

"Feels kind of like Great Bay during the summer," Timbre murmured. "Still, they'd like that, they're pretty tropical"

"Who goes there?" a voice suddenly echoed from behind the waterfall. The voice had a kind of bubbly quality to it, almost as if the speaker were perpetually underwater."

"We need to speak to King Zora," Link blurted, thinking of the first Zoran name that came to mind. "It's very important."

The voice paused, as if considering. "You might be spies."

"We aren't!" Timbre exclaimed desperately.

"Prove it, then," the voice said rebelliously.

"Alright then," Link reached into his pocket and retrieved his old brown ocarina. It wasn't the Ocarina of Time by any sense, but it still had a clear beautiful sound to it. Without another word, he put the instrument to his mouth, and played a simple three-note melody. Timbre recognized it, and in spite of himself, found himself humming along.

It was the song of the royal family, a tune that had been dubbed Zelda's Lullaby.

An invisible hand slowly parted the waterfall as if were a sheet of curtainy silk and not falling water. As the falls opened, they revealed a tunnel leading to Zora's Domain. Standing at its front was a very surprised looking Zora male. He clasped a spear at his side, and gave the two new arrivals a very inquisitive look.

"Most wouldn't dare play that melody," he burbled in his odd voice. "For Ganondorf has decreed death to any who dare make its sound heard in Hyrule."

"Well, it's news to us," Link said before thinking. Timbre smacked himself in the forehead. Nice going, dummy.

The Zora would have raised an eyebrow if it had hair. However, it simply scowled instead. "You want to see King Zora," he said uncertainly.

"Yes please," Timbre said hopefully. "Urgent business."

Seemingly unconvinced, the Zora nodded slowly. "If you insist," he said slowly.

They were led into the damp caverns, down a slick stone staircase, into the very source of the river itself — Zora's Domain. Aquatic blue heads left and right turned as they were lead down the passageway. It was clear to the both of them that non-Zorans just didn't visit too often. Link swallowed. He wasn't sure if the glances in some of those dark black eyes were ones of curiosity or distrust. He hoped for the former.

They were brought into the audience of King Zora with little flourish, watched suspiciously by all the nobles and members of the court. The king of the fish-folk was a huge and rotund specimen of his race; though there were wrinkles about the giant bulbous eyes of King Zora that just hadn't been there a decade ago. There was also a kind of depressed glossiness in the King's eyes that hadn't been there either.

One of the Zorans flanking the king, a burly male with a handsome sleek head, declared in a loud voice, "You stand in the majestic presence of King Zora. Kneel." They slowly complied. "You will now state your names, and your purpose in intruding in our Domain."

Link swallowed, suddenly feeling that this really had been a bad idea. "Er" he cleared his throat. "I am Link of Kokiri Village, and this is my companion, Timbe-" Timbre narrowed his eyes, and Link winced as he was sharply punched in the shoulder. "Er, I mean, Timbre Firral." Link swallowed nervously. "We come with a humble request."

"A request?" The spokes-Zoran scowled. "Hylians and Zoras have kept distance, ever since your old King was overthrown. We'll have nothing to do with Ganondorf, thanks to him our race was nearly wiped out!"

"But-" Link began to protest. King Zora had not yet moved, save for blinking now and again. "We're not with-"

"Silence!" The Zoran smirked. "I could have you imprisoned for insolence. Do not waste His Majesty's time with such trivial matters-"

"Hold," the King suddenly spoke, and many of the Zora blinked in surprise. It was not often that the King decided to speak for himself.

"But, your Majesty!" The spokes-Zoran insisted, "Why should you be so concerned about what two dirty commoners have to say-"

"That will do," King Zora said. His voice was very low, almost sad sounding. The Zora, cowed, bowed and stepped back, now silent. The King's ponderous eyes turned towards the two youths. "Now then. What is your request?"

Feeling slightly foolish, Link explained. "We are on a quest, a quest to stop Ganondorf's reign-"

He was interrupted by several derisive snorts from the other Zoras in court. Apparently they'd become more cynical than Link had remembered. Timbre growled a little under his breath. His mood hadn't been very good (being called Timbe sometimes did that to him), and these Zoras weren't making him feel any more cheerful.

"Look here," Timbre said sharply. "We're going to reforge the Master Sword, and save this land from desolation. We need your help to cross the ocean-"

Again, there were several waves of muted snorts and guffaw at these words. Link rolled his eyes, and hoped that Timbre wouldn't say something that would anger the fish-people further.

Timbre stood up, despite Link's attempts to tell him not to. "Since when has the Zoran race become so cynical?" he challenged. "Has Ganondorf cowed you completely?!"

"More insolence!" The spokes-Zoran stepped forward again, quivering a little. "Your Majesty, please allow me to throw these two ingrates into prison! How dare they insult us in our very midst?!"

"Wait a second," a female voice rang out, from King Zora's other side. His bulk had thrown the area to his right into a kind of shadow, and now a figure stepped out of that shadow. It was none other than Ruto herself, Princess of the Zoras. Link groaned, though luckily it went unnoticed.

"Ruto!" King Zora exclaimed, slightly shocked.

"Father, as much as I hate to admit it, he's right." The Zoran Princess passed a glance over the both of them before continuing. "We cannot just allow Ganondorf to decimate the land-"

"We cannot interfere ourselves," King Zora said simply.

"We aren't asking you to," Timbre said. "We're trying to simply cross the ocean. We heard that you had a vessel-"

"My boat?" Ruto looked mildly surprised. "Well, yes, but-"

"Would it be able to take us to Termina, and back if the need arose?" Link asked, trying hard not to grimace. Ruto gave him the willies, even though she was obviously on their side.

"It wouldit isn't an easy voyage, or a short one, however," the Zoran Princess said, with a wave of her wing like fins. "It took me nearly a week of straight sailing."

"Please, Ruto, for the good of Hyrule, we need to cross the ocean. Part of the Master Sword lies in Termina. If we're able to reforge the Master Sword-" Timbre started.

King Zora scowled slightly, which looked rather odd on his fishy face. But Ruto did not scowl, in fact, she grinned.

"I'll let you have the boat," she said. "Keep it. It is mine to give, after all."

"Ruto!" King Zora said for the second time, turning a slightly shocked eye on his daughter. "Why are you suddenly being so generous to two complete strangers? You don't know if you can even trust them!"

"I think they're trustworthy," Ruto said wisely. "Besides," she added with a bit of a smirk. "The blond one's kind of cute."

Timbre couldn't help but laugh at the expression Link's face suddenly twisted itself into. It resembled the look the Hylian might wear if he'd just swallowed a Tektite whole.

At least they had their boat now, Link thought miserably. Unfortunately, the boat, which was a very tiny affair, more a large canoe or rowboat than anything, was currently dry-docked. It was a simple enough affair, about twenty feet long, five feet wide, and capable of setting up a single sail. Ruto was gracious enough, but the Zoran hospitality did not extend to helping them carry the boat to the ocean. Timbre and Link were left to themselves to do that.

As they exited the warmer area of the Domain, they learned the good skill of portage. They found that if they carried it upside down over their heads, they could actually make good time.

However, as good time' went, they were soon quite exhausted. The boat was heavy, and it was now almost completely dark out, as their audience with the Zoras had taken some time. Link wheezed.

"Not too much further now," he grunted. Luckily, he was still in possession of the Goron Bracelet he'd received as a child, otherwise the portaging might have been really impossible. Timbre, not having any such magical aid, wasn't as helpful as he had only his own normal strength to contribute.

Weaving their way carefully down Zora's river towards the ocean might have sounded like an easy task. Without their extra burden, it would have been less than a forty-five minute walk, more or less. As it was, it was taking quite a bit longer.

"Even if we get there soon," Timbre grunted, "We're not actually going to sail now? I meanit's not a smart thing to do so when it is so dark out. We don't have any lights or anything to know where we're going."

Link knew his friend was right. "Well, at least we can get this thing ready for sailingthen we'll cast off first thing tomorrow morning, how's that soun-ack!"

In the waning darkness, a trio of Stalchildren had suddenly materialized. Since Link was in the front, he was the first to notice them. Timbre, since he was closer to the rear, had most of his horizontal vision blocked by the boat. "Link?" he asked, confused. "What?"

"Skeletons!" Link grunted. "Worst timing ever-" Normally, he wouldn't be too scared of a few measly Stalchildren, but at the moment, he was in a rather compromising position, with both hands occupied with holding up the large bulk of the vessel. He couldn't draw his sword unless he dropped the boat, and if he did that, he'd risk half a dozen bad things happening. Among those were accidentally crushing his friend, accidentally breaking the boat, and accidentally crushing himself.

"I'll get them!" he heard Timbre yell, and suddenly, he felt the weight of the boat increase slightly. "Hold on to this till then!" Next moment, Timbre emerged, drawing his sword.

Link gritted his teeth, as the extra gravity slowly drained away at his arms, extra strength or no extra strength. Shaking, his arms slowly bent at the elbow, as he could no longer keep his arms extended. The boat sunk lower, until the edge completely blocked his vision of the goings-on. "Timbe, don't be an idiot!" he yelled, his voice echoed inside the vessel.

Timbre had meanwhile stepped forwards. After the last encounter where he'd used a sword, he'd learned not to charge. As the first Stalchild charged him, he ducked backwards and slashed horizontally. He managed to nick the smaller skeleton slightly, but it continued towards him, unperturbed. Unlike the Stalfos, these skeletons weren't armed, however their clawlike skeletal hands were pointed, and sharpened at the edges. Timbre winced inwardly. He didn't exactly want to be carved open like a roast turkey, especially if he still happened to be conscious at the time.

As the Stalchild charged, Timbre heard Link's muffled voice yell. "Sidestep and back-slice!"

"What?" Timbre yelled, throwing himself to the side.

"They're charging you, right?" Link couldn't see anything with the boat on his head, after all.

"Um, yeah!" The trenchcoated youth ducked as another Stalchild flew over his head, ruffling his hair.

"Well, sidestep them, and slice em in the back as they run by. They're brainless, it works every time."

Timbre tried it. The first Stalchild charged with a vicious flurry of claws, and Timbre sidestepped deftly, as if he were a matador. True to Link's prediction, the Stalchild continued straight past him. Timbre whirled and aimed a vicious chop at the skeleton's unprotected back. He still insisted on using two hands, so it looked more like he was swinging a baseball bat than a sword.

It still worked. The sword slammed right into the skeleton's shoulder blades, and snapped the entire bust of the Stalchild off. The skeleton stiffened for a moment, then fell apart into a dusty pile of bones.

"Got one!" Timbre yelled in triumph.

"Watch your back!" Link yelled. "Don't let your guard down!"

It was a good thing the Hylian had a good idea of the Stalchildren's attack pattern. Timbre turned just in time to see another Stalchild bearing down on him, its fellow close on its heels. Timbre attempted to block with his sword.

CLANG!

"Ouch," Link winced. "That sounded like it hurt."

Timbre bit his lip but managed not to drop the sword in pain this time. His block had actually been fortunately a good thing. Out of sheer luck, he'd somehow managed to sever one of the skeleton's hands, halving its weapon capability. But the Stalchildren, sensing that they couldn't take Timbre on alone, decided to change their tactics. Instead of alternating single attacks, they started rushing him at once.

CLANG!

Timbre gritted his teeth in a snarl of discomfort. His fingers were going numb, he was going to drop his sword very soon if this abuse kept up. "Link, a little help here!" he managed to gasp, before they ran at him again.

CLANG!

"They ganging up on you?" Link's voice came.

CLANG! "No, they're having a tea party with me-what do you think?" Timbre definitely had a snarl in his voice now. "Maybe I should change form-"

"Don't do that!" Link said in alarm. "I've seen a Wolfos blinded by a Stalchild with one swipe. They'll go straight for your eyes-"

CLANG! Timbre concurred; he happened to enjoy being able to see. "Alright, then what am I supposed to do then, Link?!"

As he was talking, Timbre was backing up slowly, towards Link and the boat. The Stalchildren were walking towards him at the same speed, sensing weakness. The three remaining claw-hands flexed viciously, as if in anticipation.

Suddenly, Timbre found the back of his head colliding with the wooden surface of the vessel. He couldn't back up any more, unless he ducked-

The raven-haired youth's eyes widened in inspiration as he suddenly had a spark of an idea. "Link!"

"What?" He heard the Hylian snap. "I'm trying to think here!"

There's a first, Timbre thought. "When I yell, I want you to start spinning in place, going towards your left."

"Why?"

"Just do it, alright?!" Timbre snapped. The two Stalchildren suddenly crouched. They were going to charge him again.

"Ready" Timbre muttered, still holding onto his sword, and adopting a battle stance.

The Stalchildren weaved slowly from side to side, as if gauging the distance.

"Steady" Timbre bit his lip, hoping that this would actually work.

The Stalchildren charged in an explosion of crackling dry bones.

"NOW!!" Timbre yelled, and threw himself to the ground. The Stalchildren, being undead, weren't able to stop a charge once they'd started it. Link threw himself into a pivot, the long canoe-like boat swinging heavily like a giant wooden baton. As the Stalchildren ran at it, they found themselves running straight for the canoe. The heavy stern connected with both of them at a very high velocity.

CLUNK.

The force of the blow sent both Stalchildren flying a fair ways, their heads separated completely from their bodies from the impact. They both landed with a bony clatter some fifty yards away, and crumbled into useless bonepiles, defeated.

"Stop spinning now," Timbre yelled into the ground, his hands clapped firmly over his head.

Link did so, and managed to set the vessel down with a colossal thud. The Hylian blinked several times, his blue eyes out of focus. "Dizzy," he murmured, explaining his problem. He staggered drunkenly a moment, before sitting down hard in the grass, clutching his head.

Timbre rolled up onto his knees. "Whew," he breathed, flexing his fingers, which were still rather sore and numb. His sword lay at his side, no worse for wear from the battle.

"Ugh," Link groaned. "Why'd you want me to spin like that? What did I hit?"

Pointing wordlessly at the bonepiles in the distance, Timbre replaced his sword in its sheath.

"Oh. Stalchild baseball, or something like that."

"Something like that," Timbre agreed.

After a moment, Link's head stopped spinning so much. "You know, I can't believe you didn't know what to do back there. What would you do if I weren't there to tell you what to do, eh?"

Timbre rolled his eyes. Link just had to go and insult people, didn't he? "Hey!" he argued. "Took on a Stalfos all by myself."

"Yeah, but you would've been so dead after that Moblin," Link smirked.

"No I wouldn't ofI got out of its grip all by myself. Besides, weren't you the one telling me I was a big help distracting it?"

"Well, sure you're a good fighter when you've got teeth and claws, butI didn't think you were that bad at swordplayI thought the Moblin was just a kind of lapse in judgment."

"Not really, that was just stupid ol' me." Timbre smirked off-handedly. "Well, let's look on the bright side —the boat's still intact. Better yet, we're not carved meat chunks on the ground."

"Eww." Link scowled. "Not while my stomach's still churning from spinning so much." The Hylian sighed. "Well, now that we're both down, might as well stay here the night. We've got plenty of water, anyhow," he stared over at the river.

Timbre agreed. He was slowly feeling the offsets of battle-fatigue, as his adrenaline level slowly lowered. "Right," he said slowly. "And lucky us, the clouds're clearing up. It'll be colder out tonight, but at least there's no rain-"

"And there'll be stars," Link said. "It'll be just like one of our campfires."

"Only it's just us two, not all eight of us,"

"Yeah," Link agreed sadly.

An hour or so later, they both lay with their backs resting against the upturned boat, staring upwards. Timbre had been against making a campfire, maybe it was because the last one was too fresh in his mind, or maybe it was because they wanted to stay hidden. Fires made two things that were unwelcome when you were a fugitive: light and smoke. It wasn't so chilly that they'd freeze, and besides, most of the monsters weren't afraid of fire anyway.

Link sighed, the Destiny Stone glowing gently on his chest, providing a little light. "Remember when Nick was naming all the constellations?"

"Yeah?" Timbre yawned sleepily.

"I dunno, the ones he mentioned, it was kind of interesting. We named out eight of them, just like there was eight of us."

Timbre nodded agreement. "Wish I remember which ones were which," he murmured.

"Yeah, me too." Link sighed. "I wonder where everyone else is? I mean, we found Sond, and we know where Chiron is, but what about everyone else?"

"I was thinking about that too," Timbre mumbled. "Well, Sond and Chiron were more or less in their place of origin,' you know, Sond originally was from Kokiri with you before you met us, and Chiron-"

"-was with the Gerudos. And they must've relocated when Ganondorf took over Hyrule."

"Yeah, so that means Kat would be in Kakarikoman, maybe we should have gone there with Vulcan-"

"We'll be going back there once we find that missing piece," Timbre remarked.

"And Chiron still doesn't remember us," Link continued.

"Well, we can't do everything right away," Timbre remarked. "I mean, if he's third-in-command, I doubt he's going to listen to usbesides, what could we remind him of us that would make him remember?"

Link shrugged noncommittally. "Lessie, Ty and Nick would have been sent-"

"Back to Volcania?" Timbre offered. "Then again, I think they'd have left again. And Kafei will be in Clock Town, we can check in on him when we get to Termina."

"Mmm" Link agreed sleepily. Timbre, however, suddenly sat half upright.

"Uh," he said quietly.

"What's up?" Link yawned.

"I justgot that weird feeling againhate to sound paranoid, but I think we're being watched," this last part he said at a hoarse whisper that couldn't be overheard.

Link furrowed a brow. "You sure?" he rasped back.

"Dunno," Timbre whispered. "I'll go check." Then, back in his normal voice, he said suddenly. "Guess not, just hearing things." But even as he spoke, he was quietly worming his way out of his trenchcoat.

Link yawned again, though this time it was mostly an act. A moment later, Timbre the wolf rolled to his feet. He sniffed the air a couple of times, and Link saw the wolf's brow furrow slightly.

"What's wrong?" he whispered. "Not more Stalchildren?"

Timbre shook his head no, then turned around. The moment he was out of the light of the Stone, he appeared to melt into the encompassing darkness all around him. Link sighed, and rolled onto his side. The wooden boat wasn't exactly what he'd call comfortable, and they'd neglected to bring sleeping bags with them during their flight from Castle Town.

Too bad, he thought drowsily, letting his eyes rove upwards. It would probably be hard to sleep tonight-

There was a sudden crackle of brush somewhere to his right, followed by several loud growls and barks. Link sat bolt upright, his experienced eyes staring forwards. There was more sound of upset undergrowth, as the massive commotion continued. The Hylian leapt quickly to his feet, all tired feelings leaving him as he did so. The sound continued, still in the same area. Link decided to investigate. It didn't sound like his friend was in a whole lot of trouble, but if the tussle were still going on, he might not be sound for long.

The illumination moved with him, as the Destiny Stone was still around his neck. As he charged towards the sound, shadows were thrown back. The Stone was glowing brighter than usual, as if it were sharing his concern.

As he drew nearer, he suddenly found the source of the commotion. It was hard to see, even in the dim light, as two large shadows collided madly again and again, locked together in enraged combat. The Hylian couldn't discern too much detail, as they were moving too quickly. The only thing he was able to make out was the occasional flash of teeth or eyes, which seemed to stand out from the darkness. Link stared. He'd seen Wolfos fight before, and he was suddenly very concerned with his friend. He knew one of those dark shadows was Timbre, but in the dim light, he wasn't too sure which one he was. He didn't attack right away, he was too nervous about accidentally hurting his friend. He did, however, draw his sword with a grand flourish, hoping to distract the melee, if not break it up.

The two combatants broke apart again, jumping backwards away from each other, both bristling and growling threats at one another. The two began circling each other warily, as if waiting for a second round. However, as the shadow further away spied the flash of the sword's blade glinting in the dim light of the Destiny Stone, it suddenly desisted, and backed away. It whirled, and slipped back into the nighttime shadows without a sound.

For a moment, Link just held his position, not too sure what to do. "Uh," he said quietly.

"Ow," the shadow that remained groaned. Timbre had changed form back again, but he was still panting like an overheated dog, gloved hands on knees. There were several good bruises starting to form on his arms and face, and a good number of scratches to boot. "Ow ow ouch"

"What's up? What was that?"

Timbre sucked in breath greedily. "Don't know. Ache all over nowall scratched and bruisedknew how to defend, that onewas spying on usstopped er, though"

"Spying on us? Was it a Wolfos?" Link furrowed his brow.

"No," Timbre said, his breath returning. "I wouldn't have been able to change back so quicklyno silver claws, eithertoo small"

"Well, whatever" Link said, still concerned. "It's gone now."

"No."

"It's not gone?" Link said, confused.

"Not it.'" Timbre clarified. "She."

*****

Sorry it's a bit shorter than usual, but that's where I'd like to cut it off. Makes the story flow a bit better. Well, some of you might get what's going on here *points at that last scene*. If ya do, don't spoil it in a review, cause I know for a fact some of you don't know what's going on here. ^_^ Now that's all said and donelike some of you, I have these next few days (meaning from Tuesday the 26th onwards) off because of Turkey Day. Since I'm going home from college then, I don't know yet if I'm taking the computer with me. Point is, I might not update for a few extra days. I have the chapter outlined; I just need to write it, and if I have no computer access for a bit, I won't be able to get it up as quickly. Anyhow, everyone enjoy their Turkey Day if they have it, don't eat too much turkey (or tofu turkey if you don't eat meat ^_^). See you!