Chapter Four: On the Road Again

"Here, you say?"

Link turned from his inspection of the ground beside the stream that wandered through the clearing to look at the place K'arah was indicating. "Yes, that's right where we found you."

It had been about twenty minutes since they left the village; the clearing hadn't been that far away, especially not on horseback. K'arah had slid down from behind Link immediately and moved around the clearing, pausing occasionally to examine bent twigs and impressions in the ground.

"I think I came from there." She said indicating a faint trail of foot steps that came from off through the trees on the east side of the clearing. "The foot steps point west and this impression is where you found me and I was heading that way." She pointed toward the afternoon sun, just visible above the tops of the trees. "Let's continue east and follow this trail."

Link gave her a hand up onto Epona again and they continued through the forest.

> > >

About an hour later they were riding through an area of dense undergrowth and the sun was almost to the horizon. K'arah's head was lolling forward against Link's shoulder and he could feel her even breathing against his back. She was leaning against him pretty heavily and her arms were much further around his middle than they had been earlier in the trip; she was very nearly hugging him. He could feel her lean body through all of their clothes, a leanness that was only accentuated by her soft curves.

Feeling distinctly warm, Link was attempting to shift positions slightly without waking her.

When the attack came it came suddenly and without warning. A Moblin and three Miniblins leapt out of the underbrush at them. Link's sword was out of its sheath in a heartbeat. In the next heartbeat K'arah had slid off the back of Epona's saddle, completely awake now, and taken up a fighting stance brandishing her sword-staff like a Bo.

Moblins are pretty stupid but Miniblins are much cleverer. The three Miniblins moved after K'arah and encircled her, waving their wide bladed curved swords low and threateningly. K'arah stood ready, legs well apart, knees bent, hands griping her sword-staff firmly while the blade wove a smooth ∞ figure through the air.

The Moblin however, was extraordinarily dumb and roared a challenge before leaping across the clearing and swinging its massive club over its head to bring it down onto the ground with enough force to leave a small crater. Only Link had had plenty of time to move to the side of the Moblin and it hadn't even tried to change the trajectory of its club. When Link didn't liquefy with the force of the Moblin's blow it looked puzzled and only let out one shriek of pain as Link's sword slid through its back and found its heart. It fell heavily to the ground and didn't move again.

Link spun Epona to run to K'arah's aid… and stopped in his tracks to watch her.

She moved like fluid lightning, her staff whipping out with the blunt end to catch the side of one Miniblin's head with a loud crack. It dropped to its knees in a daze and before it even had time to fall forward K'arah had reversed the motion of her staff, spun it end over end and brought the blade whipping around to stab it through the chest. It fell without a sound and K'arah moved to the next Miniblin, planting her staff blunt end in the ground and using the rigidity of the pole to lift her body and kick her assailant in the head so hard his feet left the ground and he didn't land for several seconds and then about seven feet from where he'd been standing. Leaving her staff upright in the ground, K'arah released the shaft and spun through the air using the force of her previous kick and catching the last Miniblin in the side of the head with her foot. It fell like a sack of potatoes and K'arah spun in midair again moving from a position parallel to the ground to one perpendicular with it. She snatched her staff from the ground, spun it around once to bring the blade forward and raised it over her head, slamming it down through the Miniblin's chest. It gave out one bubbly cry and lay still. She jerked it free and switched ends one more time then threw it like a javelin at the Miniblin she'd kicked in the face. It had recovered and was trying to flee but the staff caught it blunt end first in between its shoulders and it grunted as it collapsed.

Link closed his mouth and surreptitiously wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth. 'That was amazing! I wish I could move like that!'

K'arah walked calmly over to her sword-staff and picked it up off the ground before using the blunt end to flip the Miniblin onto its back so that she could talk to it. Link moved to her side and slid out of Epona's saddle. He reached back and swung his blade to get some of the blood and gore to come off, before squatting down and resting his hands comfortably on the pommel of his sword.

"Hi there, neighbor." Link said amiably. "That wasn't what you had in mind, was it?"

The Miniblin made a harsh grating sound that Link thought was supposed to be a laugh. "Not exactly."

"Tell you what. If you answer our questions, we'll make your end very easy." Link offered.

The Miniblin shifted its weight experimentally, then sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"Why are you after me?" K'arah demanded.

"We were commanded to kill you and take something from you."

Link frowned, glancing at K'arah. The Package… He thought apprehensively, eyes straying to where it was strapped to the back of Epona's saddle. What is it that they'd kill her for it? "Who gave this command?"

"My Lord and Master, the Great Aghanim."

K'arah gasped. Link looked at her in alarm and watched her eyes narrow as her lips pulled back in a grimace that bared her teeth. He noticed that her canine teeth were rather pronounced and wondered how he hadn't noticed this before. She hissed between clenched teeth and her hands clenched convulsively on the staff of her weapon.

The Miniblin saw all of this and laughed, a thin, sickeningly bubbly sound. "You are well advised to submit to my Lord's will. He will get what he wants in the end."

"Right." Link mumbled. "You've been most helpful, neighbor. As promised…" Link rose to his feet and kicked the Miniblin in the side of the head, knocking it unconscious. He did not, however, carry out his promise. He was not one to kill his enemies in cold blood. Instead he grabbed it by one ankle and dragged it under some bushes where it would wake in a few hours. It would have one hell of a headache, but otherwise it would be fine.

K'arah was standing off to one side, rhythmically gripping and twisting her swordstaff and staring off into the trees. Link watched her for a moment before moving to her side and saying, "You okay?"

K'arah started and glanced at him, visibly forcing herself to relax. "I'm fine."

"I take it you know this Aghanim character."

K'arah's hands tightened on her weapon once more. "He's a member of the Hierocracy of Andor. My father has been telling the King that Aghanim is bad news since he first showed up a little over a year ago. He came from an outlying province to the north and climbed the ranks of the Hierocracy faster than anyone could believe. His influence is broad and inestimable; he has the ear of the king himself and has been poisoning the king's mind against his most loyal subjects, so his desires are carried out at will with little opposition. He's systematically destroying the government and eliminating his rivals for the Archprelacy. My father is afraid his ultimate goal is to kill the current Archprelate and take over as the spiritual leader of the country. A man as unholy as that does not deserve to even contemplate the Goddesses let alone presume to speak as their voice on this earth."

Link was slightly overwhelmed. Somehow he was uncomfortably reminded of his struggles against Gannon. "Why does he want that package? What is it?"

K'arah bit her lip in hesitation. She looked up at him and her eyebrows drew together showing her troubled thoughts. Her eyes were dark and cloudy, turbulent. "Can I trust you?"

Link frowned. "I've done nothing but help you since I found you this morning. I healed you. I housed you. I'm helping you now. What more do you need?"

K'arah didn't speak for a moment more, but kept her eyes locked with his so that he began to sweat. He felt like she could see his thoughts in his eyes which made him uncomfortable, but he could no more have looked away from her during those moments than he could have picked up all of Death Mountain with one hand. Finally she blinked and he felt himself released from her scrutiny.

"Let's go." She said, moving to stand beside Epona. She glanced around the clearing at the dead bodies of their attackers, her eyes pausing on the clump of bushes where the one Miniblin who was still alive lay unconscious, and then looked at him again pleadingly.

Understanding, Link stooped beside the massive corpse of the Moblin and used a patch of its clothing to clean the gore from the blade of his sword. She wanted to move away from this area so that if any of them weren't as dead as they seemed to be they would not overhear the conversation. Link sheathed his sword over his shoulder and moved to Epona, putting one foot in the stirrup and pulling himself up effortlessly with one hand to the saddle horn. He offered K'arah a hand and pulled her up behind him. Gathering up Epona's reins he gave her a gentle squeeze with his thighs and she stepped into motion, still moving away from the setting sun.

After they had left the clearing behind, K'arah stirred behind him. She scooted close to him until the insides of her thighs were flush against the outsides of his and he could feel the firm softness of her breasts against his back. Link felt a blush rise to burn his cheeks as she brought her hands around his stomach and her mouth up next to his ear, which twitched against the feel of her warm breath.

"The Package is a Book of Magic." She told him. Her voice was quiet and tense. Link realized that she wasn't trying to make him uncomfortable as he had first thought. Instead she was merely getting as close as possible so that she could talk as quietly as possible and he could still understand her. "It was entrusted to my family by the Hierocracy many years ago. In that time there were a number of corrupt Prelates who wanted the power of the Book's magic for themselves. The Archprelate at the time was aware of the threat, so she gave it to my great grandfather for safe keeping. My family has guarded it closely since then and most outside our clan forgot of the exchange. When Aghanim came along last year he did some digging in the Library of Records in Andorahl, the Capital city of Andor.

"He uncovered the exchange and knew we still had it, and began whispering lies into the ear of the king, saying that we were using the Book's magic for our own purposes. The king recently proclaimed that the Book was the property of the crown and commanded my father to return it. The king had forgotten something that was never recorded in the Library of Records, something that was common knowledge about the Book until the Book itself was forgotten. The Book doesn't belong to anyone in Andor. It was put under our protection centuries ago by a Queen of Hyrule.

"During that time there was great political upheaval in Hyrule while Andor was stable and peaceful. This queen knew that the factions were after the book and so she entrusted it to the king of Andor to keep it out of the hands of her enemies. She told no one. When she was assassinated the secret of the Book's whereabouts was lost to them. The Book is written in ancient Hylian and few in Andor can read that dead language. Still, there are those who can, so when my great grandfather was given the book by the Archprelate he Sealed it so that no one but a rightful heir of the Hylian Royal bloodline could open it again. My great grandfather was a powerful sorcerer. His Seal has stood the test of time and is as strong today as it was the day he cast it. But my father has become convinced that Aghanim has found a way to break the Seal. So he sent me to return the Book to its rightful owner, the Princess Zelda."

Link gave a low whistle. "That's quite a story. But he only sent you? No guards?"

He felt K'arah shift against his back. "One person can move much faster than a whole troop. The thought was the faster I could get it back to Princess Zelda, the better."

"So you were supposed to have guards."

"I left three days before I was supposed to!" K'arah snapped. "Under the cover of night. By My Self. There was no way of knowing who Aghanim had bought over and so I knew the only person I could trust was myself. Yes, I set out on my own. Wouldn't you have done the same in my place?"

Link sighed. "I probably would have." K'arah didn't reply to that. Link sighed again. "Thank you for telling me."

"Why? You were right. You've done nothing but help me. I should thank you."

"Well, for trusting me, for starters." Link shifted in the saddle and readjusted his grip on the reins. "It couldn't have been easy to let go of all that suspicion and tell me your mission. But now I know exactly how important this Book is, so we can move at a better pace. By the way, you're wel—"

He cut off abruptly, pulling Epona's reigns and bringing her to a halt. Off in the trees he had heard something. Ears twitching, he turned his head to look for the cause of the sound.

K'arah sensed the intensity of his frame and remained silent, even though she hadn't heard anything.

Off in the trees the sound came again, and this time K'arah heard it as well. The sound of a hoof on packed earth, the jingle of reins and harnesses. K'arah recognized the note as that of her own saddle. She whistled a rapid chirp.

The horse stepped out of the trees where he'd been hiding, awaiting his mistress' call. He was a gorgeous black gelding of about fifteen hands with a long braided mane and tail. He was very leggy and looked like a fast runner. The saddle was of a different make than Link had ever seen; made of black leather and some dark polished wood with copper colored trappings and studs. There were several saddle bags hanging on either side of his flanks and they seemed full, bulging strangely in places.

"Dark!" K'arah exclaimed. She pushed away from Link and slid off the back of Epona's saddle. Her horse moved to intercept her, stepping lightly and tossing his head. K'arah laughed when he nuzzled her shoulder hard enough to push her into Link's leg. She turned her head to smile up at the blonde. "This is my horse, Dark. He has a bad habit of thinking he's a big dog and not a horse, so watch out for his surprise attacks."

Amused, Link said, "I'll keep that in mind. Does he have everything?"

K'arah clamped gentle hands over Dark's nose and pulled his head down so that she could gather his reins before moving back to check her saddle bags. She popped them open one by one and rifled through the contents. "Everything seems to be here."

"Then let's make camp for the night." Link said. He looked up at the rapidly darkening sky and then around at the clearing they were in. "This seems like a good enough spot. We should move quickly or it will be too dark to see what we're doing."

(A/N): It took me a while but there you are! I'll see how long it takes me to get the next chapter out...