About two seconds after I finished the previous chapter. My wrist still hurts, but oh well! A billion thanks to any reviewers!

-Shawshank

Chapter 15 - The Caravan

When Sheik awoke, it was about an hour after dawn, or at least he was pretty sure it was. He sat up, shaking off the feeling of being watched, and rubbed his arms self-consciously. He was cold, and the fire had gone out sometime during the night, leaving only ashes.

He walked through the woods, gathering deadwood and bunches of needles, then headed back to the camp. His spine was tingling, and his intuition was telling him that he was being followed. When he stopped suddenly, there were no sounds but his breathing, and he called himself a superstitious fool before dumping the needles and some smaller twigs in the fire pit. Glancing around cautiously, he gathered some energy between his cupped hands and sent it flying towards the kindling. A cheery fire was soon blazing, and he fed it with heavier wood. Sheik sighed contentedly, and went to wake the others. However, he soon found one problem.

Tyr and Kawhin were gone.

Their stuff was still there, but they themselves had disappeared. Sheik hurried over to Link, relieved to find that he and Epona were still there, sleeping like a friendly pair of rocks. Neither had moved since last night, and he stopped for a moment, drinking in the childlike aura that surrounded them. Link was breathing softly, with his arm over Epona's neck. The horse snorted when his fingers moved, caressing gentle circles on her neck. One of Epona's eyes slid open, and when she saw that it was Sheik, with whom she had been aquainted, she fell back asleep. Her head fell further into Link's stomach.

The weight of Epona's head was shortening Link's breath. He gradually took in more and more air, his breath speeding as he slowly began to wake. Sheik gently moved Epona's head a bit farther away from Link to give him some breathing space. Epona snorted softly, and they both fell back into sleep. Sheik tiptoed backwards, then turned around to walk normally.

Kawhin was standing in front of him. It took all of his self-control to prevent himself from jumping and crying out loud. The red mirror-eyes narrowed, and the child's voice pierced Sheik's head.

And what do you think *you're* doing, Sheikah?

He tried to step around the shorter being, but was immediately blocked by an outstretched hand.

Answer.

He rolled his eyes and whispered as softly as he could, "I'm starting breakfast. What else would I be doing?"

Kawhin crossed his arms over his chest.

Yeah, right. Starting breakfast. I was talking with Tyr last night, and we've become quite acquainted with each other. She says she hasn't seen you before.

Sheik leaped over the boy's head and padded softly over to the fire. The boy followed him, but didn't communicate further. Sheik sat down, and Kawhin sat next to him.

Cold steel was on Sheik's throat before he could blink. A voice hissed in his ear, "What have you done with Zelda, stranger?"

Sheik gulped and stared down at the sabre across his neck without moving his head. In a voice an octave higher than normal with agitation, he answered, "I-I can't answer that. I'm sorry."

Tyr bared her sharp eyeteeth, along with the rest of her slowly sharpening molars.

"Wrong answer, Shadow Rider. Kawhin, what do you think you're doing, sitting next to this?"

He's Sheikah. No Sheikah would ever harm another. It's in the ancient code, held since our race's beginnings.

"Does it say in your code that a Sheikah can never harm anyone, or just another Sheikah?"

Kawhin looked more than a little uncomfortable as he replied, Well, no, but it is expected that we will not commit acts of violence unless absolutely necessary.

Tyr snorted and readjusted her grip on the sabre, slowly drawing her broadsword so Sheik could hear it ringing into the forest glade.

"One wrong move, blondie, and you die. If you even look at Link, Kawhin, or I wrong, I'll slit your throat before I blink. And when you return Zelda, and believe me, you will, you can explain how you captured her. And if you don't want to explain-believe me, you will-I can get my buddy Kawhin here to extract it from you. Don't even try to escape. You're severely outnumbered."

She took a deep breath and smiled.

"Well, now that the pleasantries are taken care of, why don't we get cozy? Kawhin, you watch him from where you are. If he makes any funny moves, or even *points* at Link or I, freeze him. I'll-"

"Put down your sword and sit by him, as you would any friend."

Link smiled as Tyr whirled around to face him, anger etched into her deviously delicate features, riddled by scales though they were.

"Link, he's a stranger. Neither of us have seen him before-"

"He's no stranger. Don't worry, he's perfectly safe. Sheik was my only friend in the world for almost a year. He won't hurt you, or me, for that matter."

Tyr snarled as she replied, "If he was your only friend, where was he when I found you bleeding in the glade? If he was your only friend, what has he done with Zelda? I went from treetop to treetop looking for her, and she's nowhere to be found. I wouldn't have missed her, believe me."

Link looked troubled, but he smiled. "I believe you, Tyr, but-well, I'll explain later. For now, just trust me, and him."

Tyr clamped her jaws shut angrily, and sat down away from the fire, facing the forest and keeping watch. Link shook his head at her silently, then sat down by the fire, sitting across from Sheik and Kawhin.

"Well, two Sheikah on the same journey. That's something I never expected to find. But why can't you talk out loud, Kawhin?"

I don't know. I never could; all of my people speak this way.

Sheik, too, was curious.

"Do you use magic to do that?"

Link quickly cut off any further questions. "No, he doesn't. I would be able to sense it. I can tell when you're moving on the Spatial Plane, but only when you're nearby, Sheik."

What is this 'Spatial Plane'?

"My Sheikah use it to travel from place to place in an instant."

I see. That is a rare gift among my people. Very few have the ability to travel instantaneously.

"All of the Sheikah of my world can. Strange, but then again, it is to be expected that different worlds have different peoples."

I'm sure that if you can teach me to use this Spatial Plane, I could teach you to develop and use your mental abilities. I have been taught from birth, so I'm sure I could teach you.

Excitement actually shone in Sheik's eyes.

"That'd be great! It doesn't take long to learn how to summon up the magic needed to travel; it's controlling it that takes time."

It's the exact opposite for communication through the mind. It takes time to figure out how to form your thoughts and send them in a way that allows anyone to hear them. Forming your thoughts is easy enough.

"Then it's a deal?"

Deal.

The two Sheikah pressed the ends of the fingers of their left hands together, then clasped each other's hands to seal the pact. Link looked on in fascination. He knew very little of Sheikah customs, except that they were all vague and kept too many mysteries for their own good.

A shape dropped out of an ancient tree nearby, and as it silently treaded into the circle of firelight, Link saw that it was Tyr. She was miraculously smiling, a small little grin that only turned up one corner of her mouth. Link wondered why.

"And while you sit here making groundless friendships, a caravan approaches. They have guards; it's best we were hidden."

She pulled Kawhin to his feet, then gathered the contents of her small pouch, tying it back onto her waist. Link strapped on his sword and quiver as quickly as he could, also typing a bag around his waist to hang at his hip. Kawhin had brought nothing, and Sheik never carried anything. Link made for the depths of the forest, but then stopped.

"What about Epona? Epona! Where are you, Epona?"

He called the horse's name into the leaves as softly as possible, but there was no answering whinny. Tyr rubbed at the deep blue bruise on her lower leg as she snarled at him, "Leave it be. It's only a horse."

Link kept searching.

"Yes, but she's my friend too. Besides, if the people see her, they might think somebody's here. I mean, are stray horses with saddlebags and tack all that common in these parts? They sure aren't where I come from."

Sheik looked back. "Good point. Let's find her, fast."

They searched around the clearing, and became so engrossed that they never saw or heard the loud caravan passing just outside of the thin border of trees. Nor did they notice that several creatures dressed in complete black were leading a red mare without any life in her eyes.

***

"I can't find her. How about you guys?"

Everyone shook their heads. It seemed like Epona had just disappeared. Link sat on a rock beside the obsidian obelisk, where their search had come to an unwilling end. His head fell into gloved hands, and he let out a shaky sigh. They had been reunited for such a short time, then that horse had to go and get herself lost.

He ground his teeth together as a gentle, comforting hand touched his shoulder.

"We'll find her again. And we'll find Zelda, too."

It was Tyr, and she still hadn't guessed.

"Tyr, Sheik-well, he isn't really-uh-"

Link stopped, trying to figure out some way to explain it. Tyr crouched down facing him, her face the picture of composure and her mouth locked in an eternal neutral frown.

"Sheik *is* Zelda, Tyr. Zelda can become Sheik, and turn back into herself."

Tyr stared at Sheik in amazement.

"But Sheik doesn't know that he's actually Zelda, so don't tell him."

The corners of her mouth turned up a little bit.

"Sheik is a person who is another person, hmm? So Sheik doesn't exist. Interesting."

Her smile widened a bit.

"Your only friend for almost a year doesn't exist. You people *are* strange."

Link stared over her shoulder at the obelisk, letting his vision mist over. *Your only friend for almost a year doesn't exist.* Now that he thought it over, it did make sense. Just when he needed Sheik the most, when the odds were against him and he was cut up to the point of being more holes than Hylian, he wasn't there.

He shook himself free of the old and familiar blanket of depression that had settled on his shoulders, and looked back into Tyr's silently questioning eyes.

"What was that you called him? Shadow-"

"Shadow Rider. It's an older name for his kind. I found it in a book I read in my mother's library. Nobody has seen one of them for centuries! The author of the book believed that the Shadow Riders were mere legend."

"Legend?"

"Yes. It was because of the powers their enemies said they had. They could lift things ten times heavier than themselves without breaking a sweat, without effort. It was also said that they move as one without speaking. When they fought in the Great War, they were a force to be reckoned with. I thought it was just a collection of old wives' tales, but now that I've met one, it all makes sense. They can lift huge things with their minds, and so they don't use their bodies. And if they communicate using their minds, it makes sense that their enemies can't hear how they're planning to attack. A spy would be useless."

Link's gaze rested on the obelisk again, and Tyr fell silent. When he spoke again, it was only hesitantly.

"When Zelda sent me back in time, after Ganondorf was sent back to the Evil Realm, she thought I would lose all of my memories. And I did, for a time- but they started coming back to me as I neared the time I had originally left Kokiri Forest. I felt the instinct to leave, to just walk through that log-but I fought it, until I was thirteen. I stayed with the Kokiri, and Saria, for three years. Time seemed to *drag*, and for the first time I could ever remember, my life in the forest was *boring*. It was strange. I felt that there was something more, something I was missing; some part of me was missing. The need to leave grew stronger and stronger, until I noticed one day that I was taller than the tallest Kokiri, and that I was starting to grow a beard. Milo called me a freak of nature."

He paused, and Tyr looked at him expectantly.

"I knew then that I was different, so I left. I walked through that log, over that bridge; I swore to never see Zelda again, because of what had happened in the alternate timeline. She and I-well, it's hard to explain. Anyway, I travelled around Hyrule, meeting up with all of my old friends, or at least the friends I had made in the alternate timeline. But, somehow- I don't know, I felt like-"

"Like something was missing?"

Link nodded, surprised. Tyr smiled again, just a little bit. Link thought that the reptilian half of her wasn't so noticeable when she smiled, which she was doing more often now than when they had first met.

"I know what you mean. I felt the same way, like some part of my destiny was missing. It was almost as if my life was just passing me by, and in a way, it was." She paused, looked at him. "You love her, don't you? I can see it in your eyes, when you speak of her."

Link's cheeks turned crimson, and she snorted at him. Link noticed a little bit of colour coming into her cheeks and neck as well, and his left eyebrow hiked upwards.

"I was in love once. He was-attractive. And kind to me, when the rest of them had already labelled me as an outsider. We met by night, under the moon and the branches of leafy trees. We talked about what we thought of the world, and one night it just slipped off of my tongue. I told him how I felt."

She paused, and the blood drained out of her face.

"He got up and left. I can still hear the splashing of his boots as he ran through the shallow stream. He never spoke to me again. That was why I ran away from my tribe-I couldn't bear to be there, now that they all hated me. I actually cried that night, for the first time in my memory. I wept as I made my plans. I had been trained in woodcraft, so all I needed was this pouch, which I still carry with me."

Her gaze flew downward, to the still-damp hollow.

"The difference between them and me is that they listened to the wind-that was why they are the Winden Tribe. They listened to it, and I longed to run with it. I could never be in one place for too long. I became restless. During my travels, I formed a-relationship, of sorts, with a pack of wolves. I told them of my troubled heart, and they showed me that living in the wilds was a way to ease the pain, to satisfy the longing. They showed me freedom, and for that, I have never feared them. In return, I fought off any who would hunt them, and so people began to call me the guardian of the wolves. Then, I met the dragon who cursed me, and they began to call me the Halfling, the Hybrid."

They sat in companionable silence for a long moment. Then she looked at him with cold fire in her eyes.

"You know, Link, that someday you will be forced to slay me?"

Link sat up in shock.

"What? Why would I ever kill you? You're my friend."

She narrowed her eyes, and her gaze turned to the ground as she spoke.

"You'll be forced to. I'm mutating, Link. I'm becoming a dragon, slowly but surely. My teeth are sharpening, and every day the scales spread a little more. My blood is changing colour, and I'm beginning to lose rational thought. Very soon, I won't be able to consciously think. I might have a year or so left. Maybe less. Probably less."

Link shook his head, cutting her off.

"No, no, we'll find a healer, something-"

She bared her razor-sharp teeth.

"You don't *understand*, you wool-brained idiot! When the time comes, when the Prophecies are fulfilled, you *must* kill me!"

Link's anger cooled in an instant.

"What Prophecies? What do these Prophecies say?"

She shook her head, snarling at herself.

"I can't tell you. You'll find out for yourself-or it might be better if you didn't find out at all. I can't tell you."

Link got up and stalked off angrily.

"Of course you can't. Nobody can tell me *anything* in this place!"

She walked after him, paying heed to his frustration.

"I can tell you something."

He turned to look at her, hope anew in his eyes. Her mixed gaze rested steadily on his face.

"If the Prophecies *are* fulfilled, you'll wish you'd never been born. If you kill me before they are, you might just avert your destiny. You *might* just have a chance."

Her voice trailed off thoughtfully as her bare feet stalked off silently in dewy grass. Kawhin came rushing into the clearing, Sheik just behind him.

Hero, you know of the caravan?

Link nodded, and Sheik finished Kawhin's thought.

"They're coming this way. We need to hide. Gather your things, quickly!"

Link rushed over to Tyr and spun her around by the shoulder, shoving her bodily into the bushes. He rushed back to the rock to grab his bag, which he had taken off, and herded the Sheikah into the foliage. He dived after them, and just as his body was covered by thick leaves, the caravan came into view.

The procession was headed by a guard of four, all carrying long spears tipped with razor-sharp blades. Behind them was a group of ten clad in rags, all pulling at a heavy, expensive-looking carriage. There were more walking guards stationed around the coach, and four more guards, all walking, at the back. In the rear were six guards on horseback surrounding what looked like a crimson bear, leashed, being led by three more with tattered clothing. All were clad in armour and cloth darker than night, and the horses were pure black stallions. Even as Link watched, two-*things*- landed on top of the coach. He drew in a quick breath. They were winged Stalfos, just like the ones he had slain in the library back in Hyrule. Only, unlike the other one, whom had had white wings, these had black wings, and their armour was etched with gold. Their teeth were also painted gold-Link had no doubt that it was with real gold powder-, and their bones were painted black in strange designs.

He looked closer, and saw that all of the guards weren't quite human. Some of them had bones showing through their dry, wrinkled skin, and others had thick, dark fur instead of hair. When one of the bony ones insulted a furry one, the creature who had been insulted drew its sword in an instant and slashed at the other one. Link waited to see seeping blood, but all that leaked out was tiny particles of dust. Where the dust fell, the grass withered and died. The furry one laughed, and the bony one took the sword from the beast's hand and slashed at it. Its blood was a deep blue-green that leaked through its fur and made the hair stick together. Link felt sick.

A sound that was oddly like a neigh emanated from the back of the grisly procession. Just at that moment, one of the guards on horseback trotted a little too fast, creating an opening through which Link could see the red creature.

It was Epona!

Her coat was dulled somehow, and her head was hanging almost to the ground, but Link recognized her in an instant. He leapt forward, crying out, "Epona!"

Or, at least, that was what he tried to do. He found himself frozen half in and half out of the leaves. Kawhin had also seen the horse, and frozen Link in an instant, knowing what his instinctive reaction would be. Link shuddered and slowly floated to the ground, fighting back the memories that threatened to resurface. Kawhin saw his body shudder, and felt the turmoil in his mind. He relaxed the bonds on Link's limbs, but kept the one on his throat. He launched himself at Link and held him bodily to the ground, Tyr and Sheik sitting on his legs.

Loud snapping and crunching noises echoed through the branches. Kawhin looked up and saw that the procession had driven right through the hollow, crushing the obsidian stone that the others had been so focused on. Link saw too, and he seemed to sag, somehow, under Kawhin's restraining weight.

The caravan passed through the leaves and out of sight, and the trees seemed to stand up straighter, their leaves seemed to be greener. Kawhin stared with wide, red eyes.

***

"Stop here. We will rest under this tree."

The creatures at his beck and call placed down the coach as swiftly and smoothly as possible, setting it between the roots of an ancient oak. He stepped out, rubbing his aching forehead. Even as he watched, colour slowly drained out of the grass beneath his feet and the tree he was standing nearby. He smiled slowly. After all, it was just grass. What difference could that make?

He looked around at the ragged assortment which was now setting up equally ratty tents and lighting unnatural fires. Soon, they would die from being so near to him, but what of it? He would simply recruit more men with promises of riches beyond their wildest dreams.

But the Destined, the three Destined; those, his aura could not touch. Not as long as they had the will to live. They were bright and shining, and he was so close, he was blinded by their light.

He had the Hero's horse. He would soon have the Hero's friends. The Hero was the key to all of this.

He would exact his revenge on the Hero, if it took his entire lifetime. He would agonize him to the point of death, and then hand the dying body over to his master to be rid of for all time.

Yes, all would soon be decided. He sent out the cloud of Waeuls that had landed just moments ago for the first captive. They winged off into the night, their dark feathers making no noise whatsoever.

He smiled as a Borun keeled over, dying from his closeness, and fell into the fire it was sitting by.

The entire crowd of creatures shuddered as he smiled.

***

I hope you enjoyed that one as much as I enjoyed writing it! I think I'm getting better at this whole characterization thing. Feedback is welcomed immensely!

Sorry, no quote from my *wise* (cough, cough) little jerk brother. He hasn't been dispensing many sayings lately, and those he has have not been very wise. Instead, here's some advice from me.

'Live for the moment.'

There you are. This one kinda came to life on me recently, as well as another saying, which I'll put at the end of the next chapter.

Life sucks when you're not up-front with your emotions, and especially when you're a teenager.

Oh, and also, I'm starting up a couple new little section-thingy down here.

Revelation of the Day (or week, whatever): Driving is fun, but only on long windy roads where there are no speed limits.

Lyrical Quote of the Day (or week, whatever): Free the dream within; The stars are crying a tear. A sigh escapes from heaven, And worlds end. -The Dream Within, by Lara Fabian (From the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Soundtrack!)

Also, spring break is here! Feel free to expect another chapter by Monday (in Canada) next week!

Finito.

(Is finito even a word? Oh well.)

-Shawshank