True darkness had fallen over Hyrule, even the full moon rising above the mountain ranges did little to banish the sinister feeling of the black night. It was quiet, many creatures were retiring to the comfort of their homes after a particularly long day. But it would not be silent long, for while some slept, others were just awakening.

Ganondorf called to these 'others', commanded their assistance, and while the less corrupt were able to ignore him some were eager to respond to his summoning.

The King of Thieves sat in the guest room of the Castle, patiently awaiting his guests arrival. It was ironic really, such evil things being performed right in the King's own castle.

"He hasn't a clue." Ganondorf mused softly to himself, "His daughter is the only lit candle in this entire palace, and no one will listen to her."

Ganondorf looked into the inky blackness of his scrying pool where he had first seen the young girl leave the Market. She was still walking through Hyrule Field seemingly without a care in the world, but she would not remain that way for long.

His thoughts were interrupted suddenly as the tiles in the floor erupted, granite squares flying forcefully into walls, followed by clods of wet earth. A ball of black energy in hand, Ganondorf raised an eyebrow at what had crawled into his room.

Red eyes emerged, attached to a skeletal body. Sharp uneven teeth snapped at nothing in particular as the rest of the bones pulled themselves out of the hole. It's cruelly curled claws made eerie noises as they clicked against the remaining light brown tiles.

"You called?" it cracked, vocal cords long since decayed from centuries underground. "What is it that you wish?"

"I want her dead." The thief replied, gesturing to the girl's image in the black pool of water. "And I want it done quickly, tonight if possible."

"What do we receive in return?" the Stalchild questioned, gnashing its teeth together.

Ganondorf's eyes flashed angrily, he admittedly hadn't expected such arrogance from the creature. He threw a bolt of black magic at the floor next to the beast's feet. "You can keep whatever life animates your bones!" he growled low in his throat, a mask of fury overtaking his features.

"My life is unimportant, there are thousands of us." The monster replied, its threat bellied by the indifference in it's cracked voice.

Ganondorf muttered several curses, pondering whether or not to kill the horrid thing anyway. He regained his composure and after a moment's thought made a compromise, "If you do in fact kill her," he snarled, "Then you can keep her body."

The Stalchild laughed gruesomely, its crimson eyes glowing brighter as it considered the assortment of things it could accomplish with such a rare item. After a moment it gave a mock bow and hissed, "It's a bargain." Then jumped back into the floor and disappeared.

When the abhorrent little monster had gone Ganondorf allowed himself a small shudder, whatever the Stalchildren did to the young girl's body would be decidedly unpleasant.

He glared at the hole in the floor and reluctantly began to repair it; he was pretty sure that no matter how dense the King of Hyrule was, even he would notice a crater to the hells in the floor of his best guest room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Malon hated the night, the darkness swallowed up all the colors of the world, leaving everything black, gray, and white. She hated plain colors, but not quite as much as she detested the fact that she couldn't get Link off her mind.

The crickets chirruped in the grass, and the young girl tried fruitlessly to hum the melody along with them, attempting to forget all about Link and her unreasonable attraction to him. "Just a flight of fancy." She murmured absently, this feeling was probably just something that was there one moment and gone the next. "Then why am I still thinking about him?"

Malon once again looked up at the moon that was slowly making its way across the sky and realized how late it really was. Her father would be infuriated she was sure, although it was enough to make her laugh when she considered how her father was always late for everything.

She kicked absently at a loose rock, swinging her bag from the Market around, when something scuffled behind her. Turning around, all she saw was a mound of stirred up dirt. She frowned, and only then did she realize that the crickets had gone silent.

She quickened her pace, irrational fear overriding her senses while somewhere in the back of her mind she prayed she was just being paranoid.

Malon tripped suddenly, then jumped up to resume running only to realize that she was stuck. She hissed fearfully, looked down at her foot and untangled herself from the bramble.

She got up, feeling the adrenaline subside and reason come back to chastise her. Malon dusted off her backside and reached out for her fallen Market bag.

Only to figure out she was no longer alone.

Red eyes pierced through the shadowy night, and ivory bones gleamed in the weak moonlight. Its maw was pulled back in a grotesque smile as it reached out a pale, skeletal hand to grab the stricken child.

A scream tore its way through Malon's throat and she bolted the other way, the nightmarish monster following closely behind her, the click-clack of its bones grinding together echoing strangely in her ears.

Another creature rose out of the dirt before her, forcing her to dodge to the left. Her blue eyes were wide with fear as she watched half a dozen more emerge from the ground in front of her. It occurred to her that she was being herded away from the ranch and back towards the castle's closed drawbridge.

'They're driving me into a trap!' her mind shrieked, as she avoided a pair of razor sharp claws. She had heard of these things before, but had thought them to merely be ancient legend, used as a warning to little children who had wanted to brave the outside during the night. They were called Stalchildren, denizens of the dead whose only weakness was sunlight. She looked up hopefully at the sky and felt her heart skip a beat; the sun would be well hidden for at least another two hours.

"I can't run that long!" she cried aloud, her small muscles already aching. The Stalchildren, hearing her fear, laughed in unison, an ugly sound that made her blood run cold. It was then that a thought flew into her mind, a thought not entirely her own.

"Water." Her mind whispered, "Water and sunlight."

Malon turned to the nearest water source, which happened to be the moat near the entrance to the Market. She jumped in, and narrowly avoided a fatal blow to the head from a Stalchild. The chilly water instantly seeped through her clothing and froze her to the bone, making her gasp in pained surprise.

Several of the Stalchildren jumped in after her, instantly burning away. The fragile magic that held them together falling apart when pitted against an elemental magic in its truest form. Malon shivered as the tortured screams reached her ears, but she felt no real pity.

The eldest of the Stalchildren waited at the river bank for a moment, glaring down her with their glowing ruby eyes before disappearing back into the earth. She had evaded them; they knew they could not follow her into the water.

Malon cried in relief when she saw them leave, her tears falling into the moat that had saved her as she waited for the sun to rise.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A chicken crowed from somewhere as the sky lightened into shades of faint pink and orange, banishing the darkness.

The guard lowered the drawbridge and breathed in the fresh morning air, stretching to relieve the cramps in his rested muscles. It was then that he noticed something floating in the moat. He frowned, and went forward to investigate, yelling for assistance when he realized it was a child.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The guard carefully wrapped a warm towel around Malon's trembling form while the fruit vendor held her. Everyone from the Market clambered over each other to see the poor child who had fallen into the moat. Many sympathetic people offered their homes and fireplaces to her, but the young girl politely refused them all, claiming she only wanted to go home.

The guard escorted her to Lon Lon Ranch, questioning her as to why she had been in the moat in the first place.

"Did you fall?" he asked for the twentieth time, "It's nothing to be ashamed of, I've fallen in a couple of times myself."

"No." she whispered woodenly, clutching the towel around herself more tightly, and then she asked, "What's your name?"

The guard seemed surprised by the change in subject but replied anyway, "Evan."

There was a loud yell and Evan turned to see a middle-aged man running toward them, waving his hand wildly in the air.

"My dad." Malon said as way of explanation, then pinned Evan with a serious look, "I didn't fall into the moat last night," she said quietly, "Some monsters chased me in, Stalchildren I think they're called."

Malon smiled slightly at his dubious expression, but her voice was firm, "I know that Stalchildren are of the Old World, I know that you have probably only heard of them because you use the legends to keep your own children in line, but I'm not kooky, I know what I saw."

Talon was closing in on them, looking worriedly at Malon who smiled reassuringly at him but continued to talk to the guard. "Watch out for anything unusual Evan, I'm afraid that whatever is going to happen it's going to happen at the Castle first."

The rancher grabbed his daughter and hugged her to him, demanding to know what had happened, then forgot what he had asked when he looked at Malon's tired face and dripping clothing.

"Go in an' get into some different clothes!" he ordered, grabbing her hand and escorting her toward the door, "Yer soakin' wet!"

Evan watched them go in and stood in the field for a moment longer, wondering just how far to take the girl's claims. Then turned on his heel and marched back to the Castle, determined to speak with the King.