6 – Ambush in the Bush

They stood on the very edge of Kokiri Forest, the Shadow Lord with his cloak wrapped around him like a shroud, Mr Red and Simon DeLance standing on either side, the ReDead behind, Navi buzzing happily overhead, and watched the tips of the swaying trees glow crimson as the dawn sun crept over the horizon. Behind them lay the guardpost where they had to present their permit – thankfully, there had been no difficulties in that regard – and even further back was the faint silhouette of Mountbasten, the dragons no more than glistening strands in the violet sky.

Link cleared his throat. "Nice to be back home again," he said.

Mr Red looked around, his round face beaming. "Used to live here, did you, old chap?" he said, cheerful as always. "Lovely scenery, I must say."

"I grew up here, mate," the Shadow Lord replied, his face solemn. "Which, I hasten to add, is far more than the average denizen of this forest can aspire to, and that's a fact." He glanced at his companions, his affable smile in place once again. "Gentlemen, let's begin." He let out a breath. "Oh, and watch out for the monkeys."

Simon started, fixing Link with an incredulous stare. "Monkeys?" he gaped. "Why would there be monkeys in a forest?"

"Oh, come now, old chap," Mr Red piped in. "A monkey in the forest is worth two in the oven, that's always been my motto, what?"

There was silence. Somewhere, a leaf silently snapped off a twig heavy with last night's rain and spun slowly to the ground, buffeted this way and that like a small boat on a rough sea. Small animals watched the newcomers warily, their reflected eyes peeking out here and there before dismissing the interlopers and darting back into the undergrowth.

Ever-so-slowly, Link turned to face Mr Red. "What," the Shadow Lord said, "kind of fool motto is that?"

For a moment Mr Red was actually at a loss for words before Simon, in a fit of uncharacteristic consideration, came to his rescue. "So, Red," he asked as the group moved off. "What's your first name?"

"Mister," the smiling replied, unabashed.

Simon blinked. "Mister?"

"Yes."

"Your parents named you 'Mister'?"

"Why, yes, old chap," Mr Red replied, gazing around the forest in wonder. "Why, didn't yours?"

Simon opened his mouth to reply, then after realising he had no response to that, snapped it shut. Eventually, he went with: "So, how long have you known Mr ...um...Link?"

Red grinned. "Oh, we go way back, what?" He rubbed his hands, as though cold. "Though not always in the most pleasant of circumstances. But all water under the bridge now, eh, what what?"

As if on cue the group came upon a long reed bridge, held together with nothing but knotted rope and swaying gently above a gushing stream that frothed and bubbled against the rocks beneath. Gingerly they walked across, Simon grimacing as the structure creaked under their steps, Mr Red looking like he was having the time of his life. The younger man peered over the edge, a sudden notion shooting from his heart to his mind.

"Don't even think about it, Mr DeLance," the Shadow Lord called, without even turning around.

Sighing, Simon made a face, but made his way safely across, Link and Mr Red in front of him, the ReDead just behind. The air was sharp with the tang of wet earth, and with the sun now warming their faces and stalks of grass snapping under their boots, even Simon had to admit that the forest really was a pleasant place. A steady beat of natural music, a song of chirps and hisses, punctuated here and there by a howl or a hoot, thrummed in their ears. Birds glided overhead, landing on trembling trees that shed a load of collected rainwater splattering to the ground, darted their heads this way and that, then flew off in a blurred flutter of wings.

Link, his eyes narrowed, scanned the horizon, his head moving slowly – then coming to a stop as his gaze set upon a lone moss-covered boulder. "Gentleman, I believe that's-" He stopped short, his entire body tensing.

"What?" Simon asked, giving the Shadow Lord a nervous glance. "What is it?"

Link raised a hand slowly, his fingers waggling, then: "Move!"

There was a rustle of leaves, then a shatter of twigs. Simon, dragging Mr Red and the ReDead along with him, dived to the ground, soil powdering up into his face, and saw a dark blur drop from the trees. He didn't have time to make out what it was, but he heard the twang of a bowstring snapping taut, filling the hollowness in his chest with fear. He flicked his head up to see Link crouching, one hand curling around the hilt of his sword. The arrow flew with a whispered kiss, and in that frozen blink of time, the Shadow Lord flipped backwards, unsheathing his sword mid-air, and landed on a mis-shaped stump soggy with rain. The arrowhead billowed into the ground harmlessly, but the dark shape – Simon was sure he could make out a bronze tan to its skin – leapt, bounding closer and closer to the Shadow Lord of Castleton.

Link, grin in place, held his ground and, at the very last moment with Simon looking on, heart in his mouth, the Shadow Lord sliced the air with a graceful arc, the tip of his sword flashing, as though it were a diamond of captured emerald coated sunlight. The blade stuck the bowstring with a tight snap, smashing the weapon in a rain of splinters. Link, as though smoothly going through a practised motion that he'd done a million times in the past, dived, rolled, kipped-up, then spun on his heel, plunging his sword straight through the back of the-

"Puppet?" the Shadow Lord said, frowning as his eyes studied the sagging remains of the wooden 'man'.

"Hey!" Navi, hiding herself in Link's hat from the first moment of the attack, popped out. "It's no puppet!" She buzzed in the air, excited. "Well, it is – it's coated with Fairy Dust, that means it's controlled by- she yelped as she narrowly dodged a log sent hurtling through the air just at that very moment. The Shadow Lord wasn't so lucky. It struck him on the side of the head and he collapsed to the ground in a heap.

The silence was deafening. Slowly Simon, the ReDead and Mr Red got to their feet. "My word," Red said, brushing the soil from his clothes, "What did I miss?"

"Link?" Navi called, her voice forlorn and lost as she floated over the fallen Shadow Lord. "Link? Wake up!"

Then it happened – like a million multi-coloured eyes opening at once, the Fairies appeared, filling the forest with their incandescent glow. Simon swallowed when he realised that each one, as small as they were, carried a tiny bow with a quiver peeking out from behind their sparkling heads. One hit from one of those arrows would probably be nothing more than a scratch – but a thousand upon a thousand of them? Simon, suddenly hugging the stranger known as self-preservation, didn't want to find out. If he was going to die, it would be on his own terms.

Mr Red's eyes widened as he saw what was facing them. "Alright, chaps," he said quietly, flicking a glance at Simon and the ReDead. "Stay calm."

"I don't think they can hurt me, Mr Red," the ReDead said, looking point-blank at the Fairies without even a flinch of fear. "I think I can take them."

"But, old chap," Mr Red reasoned, "will you be able to stay in one piece?"

The ReDead was about to shrug, then though better of it, realising he didn't want his arm dropping off at such an inopportune moment.

Mr Red stepped forward, his demeanour expressing the fact that he was in charge. Simon was amazed at the man's sheer brazen guts – or was it his completely insane stupidity?

"Chaps," Mr Red went on, his voice commanding. "They won't do anything to hurt us so long as we don't make any sudden movements. Don't provoke them and don't do or say anything that might be interpreted as disrespect, what?"

The Fairies stared at the small group. The small group stared at the Fairies. A twig snapped. A squirrel scurried into its hole. A bird sang.

With a pain-drenched moan the Shadow Lord of Castleton stood up, stumbling as he tried to steady himself. Simon, his jaw set with fear, desperately tried to pass on Mr Red's instructions with just his eyes. Link, completely oblivious, pushed his hat out of his eyes and groggily looked up. He froze as he saw the Fairies. His jaw dropped open. "Well, slap me sideways with a bent ocarina."

Simon closed his eyes slowly, groaning.

The Fairies released their arrows. Sheer chaos followed as the air was filled with both the screams of the Shadow Lord's crew and tiny spinning projectiles of death. A tree exploded in a Fairy Dust-drenched puff of splinters as the arrows hit home, the tiny shards of wood cutting into Simon's tunic and skin. Navi spun overhead, her little face aghast, screaming, "Hey! HEY!"

Link chopped the air with his spinning blade, desperately trying to deflect as many of the arrows as possible. "You insane little buggers!" he cried. "I'll swat you all!"

A rumble shook the forest, snapping branches and making the woodland animals scatter, shrieking. Glancing over his shoulder, the Shadow Lord saw another phalanx of glowing orbs wink into existence, all armed to the teeth. Dimly, he was aware of Navi shouting above, "The Service Fairies! The Service Fairies are here!" Out of the corner of his eye, Link saw the ReDead staggering about, a million tiny arrows jutting out from his torso. He had no idea where Red and Simon were, and at this particular point in time he couldn't care less. Hitting the dirt Link covered his head and closed his eyes.

The battle was now joined as the two Fairy forces turned their attention to the other. The morning sky darkened with a hail of miniature enchanted arrows flying across the woodland. Trees exploded, cries of pain rang out and, occasionally, a dead bird dropped from the branches. An expanding cloud of dust and splinters choked the air, smudged only the dim glow of fairy light, sometimes crimson, sometimes emerald, but mostly just a dirty white.

Navi screamed and shot straight upwards, clutching her head as she sought to escape the madness. "Noooo..." she moaned, her heart bursting not just because she'd lost sight of Link and the others, but because, though she'd heard rumours, seeing the sheer horror of her people fighting each other was just too much for her to bear. Tears, blackened by the burnt remains of fairy dust clinging to the air, ran down her face. There was a spark as something collided into her, making her drop into a spin. Steadying herself, she looked up angrily. "Hey!"

"Hey, yourself," came the reply, another Fairy, Navi realised. "Just get out of our way and you won't get-" The words seem to die in the Fairy's throat. Tendrils of black smoke - Fairy Dust was quite the explosive - curled across the sky, obscuring her face, but Navi could tell that she was being stared at intently. "Navi?"

A shock of recognition jolted Navi to her senses and, her heart thudding, she flew in closer. "Hawthorne?"

"Oh, no!" the Hair Fairy replied, her face pale. She pulled a horn from a sack hanging from her waist, then lifted it to her lips. "HEY!" she screamed. "Stop! STOP!"

2

His sword was so polished, Link mused as he sat on a stump, that he could see the reflection of the forest in the flat of the blade. It distracted him from what was going on around him – his fellow travellers were sitting beside him, Mr Red and Simon picking at the tears in their tunics, the ReDead still pulling arrows free from his chest, watching the two small groups of Fairies glare at each other under the sparkle of the mid-morning sun.

The Fairies wearing stern expressions above their robes were, Link had come to discover, known as 'the Righteous Keepers of the Flame.' The other group – the Service Fairies – had a different, less than noble name for them. He saw Navi mingling with the Service Fairies, her face beaming, but the lines around her tiny eyes tight with worry. The one named Hawthorne walked with her, holding her tightly by the hand.

One of the senior Fairies of the Righteous Keepers stepped forward, clearing his throat, indicating (and probably used to) an order for silence. This one was the leader, and he was known, simply, as The Leader ('no imagination, that man,' the Shadow Lord thought to himself).

"It would appear," the Leader said, his voice grave. "That this particular attack on this particular occasion was not initiated by yourselves. We assumed that the intruders," he inclined his head towards Link and company, "were your wrongdoing agents, spying on our ever-so-humble activities."

As he spoke, one of the Service Fairies, a frown of curiosity lining his face, hovered up to Link's head. It gazed up at the mountain of a green hat looming over him, his mouth open wide, then, after a moment's hesitation, he tentatively reached out with a hand to touch-

The Shadow Lord glared. "You come one inch closer to the hat, mate, and I'll pull off your wings one by one and then feed you to a rabid cucco." Duly alarmed, the Fairy darted away, hiding himself behind an irritated Hawthorne.

"We, of course," the Leader went on, "will be expecting a full apology from whatever passes for leadership in your neck of the woods."

A hiss of protest rose from the huddled mass of the Service Fairies. "We're not apologising to you!" one shouted. "We weren't spying," another added, "and even if were, it'd only be to find out where you've hidden the Treasure of the Ancients!"

The Leader rolled his eyes. "Come now, let's not resort to this deluded fiction that we are in possession of the Treasure, when it is clear that it is you who have it." His eyes seemed to spark. "And, not only do you have it, you are well aware that it relates to us our true destiny-" everyone save the Shadow Lord jumped as a brief flash of lightning surprised the sunlit sky "- as the Chosen Ones of Hyrule."

"The only thing it says," Hawthorne retorted, her tiny face contorted with rage, "is that we Fairies can choose one our own way to live, to be,no doubt, and we have chosen that we are going to serve others! And I'm sure it's one of you that hasthe Treasuresomewhere!"

Shaking his head with a sigh, the Leader said, "Yet another fiction – a slanderous one at that. How long must we keep up this charade? Perhaps until the day when you all lie broken and defeated at my feet, hmm?"

"Not likely!" Hawthorne spat, her hands on her hips.

Link watched the exchange in fascination, his eyes darting from the Leader to Hawthorne and back again. He raised his hand. "Excuse me," he said. "Mates, loves – if I could be just bold enough to make a tiny suggestion?"

The Leader, the corner of his mouth curling up in disgust, turned to regard the Shadow Lord. "Yes?" he said, his voice like ice. "Does the wrongdoing oaf have something to contribute?"

Link didn't rise to the taunt, choosing instead to smile. "Well, it seems to me-"

A low buzzing cut him off, a fat, gold-drenched Fairy hovering into view. "Quit your yapping, fool!" Mr C snapped. He turned to the Leader. "Is this sucka bothering you, boss?"

The Leader held up a hand. "Mr C, I appreciate your concern, but I don't think-"

But Mr C couldn't be stopped. He flew up to the Shadow Lord's face, tiny fists at the ready. "You want some, do you? You want some, sucka?"

Link raised a bemused eyebrow.

"Come on then, fool!" Mr C growled. "You want some? Do ya? Do ya? Just because you're a hundred times bigger than me doesn't mean you can't get some!"

With a lazy flick of his finger, the Shadow Lord sent the Fairy of Love hurtling back across the woodland. Link could have sworn he heard Hawthorne snickering under her breath.

"Hel-lo!" All eyes turned to the Shadow Lord. "If I could just have your attention for a moment? My name's Link-" A bird squawked, momentarily drowning out his voice "-Shadow Lord of Castleton. Now, as I was saying, it seems that the solution to your little dilemma is that you dig up this quaint little treasure of yours - no doubt, written in gold upon a richly embellished crystal goblet or some such other fancy and wholly wasteful conceit – and then read what it says. Now, it just so happens that I know where the Treasure of the Ancients is" – he held up the map but not long enough for anyone to get more than a cursory glance – "and I'm willing to find it and hand it over to your good selves."

The Leader gave him a withering look of disbelief. "I beg your pardon, but I do not believe we need to take advice from one such as yourself."

"That's a neat trick, mate," Link replied, smiling. "Polite and condescending all in one. You should give classes on that, you know."

A humourless smile touched the Leader's lips. "Let me explain so that even you can understand." He paused to make sure everyone was paying attention. "We Fairies, we have a Higher Purpose, Higher Ideals. I don't believe you would understand those ideals yourself – no offence intended, of course – and I think you should just let us take recourse in those ideals and make our minds up as to what should be done."

"Oh, I'm all for having a 'higher purpose' and whatnot, mate," the Shadow Lord said. "But, you see, the thing with that is that it's double edged sword, wouldn't you know – on the one hand, you could just shut up and live your beliefs, not really caring whether others notice your efforts or not, and on the other, you could just slap each other on the back, talking about how wonderful your way of life is while, in reality, nothing really changes, none of your big ideas are realised, except for that fact that you manage to make yourselves feel just that bit better than everyone else." Link's narrowed eyes shone. "I wonder which path is it that you and your little motley band of garden gnomes have chosen?"

The Leader fought hard to keep the scowl from his face, anger fighting with his common sense behind his eyes. Finally, he asked, "You know where the Treasure is?"

Link grinned, folding his arms once more. "Why would I lie, mate? Your little fisticuffs are of no interest to me."

The Leader bristled. "These are not mere 'fisticuffs!' This is a matter of-"

"Now, what I propose," the Shadow Lord said, cutting in, "is that I – number one – find this treasure as I've already mentioned and – number two – as a result, end your little disagreement. But," he added, grinning again, "only if I can request two favours from you in return."

There was a murmur of voices from both parties. "We won't help you," a gruff Service Fairy shouted, "until we see the Treasure with our own eyes."

Link didn't miss a beat. "But naturally."

"What," the Leader said, his brow creased in deep thought, "is the nature of your two...'requests'?"

"I thought you'd never ask, mate." Link felt his heart tremble with a mixture of delight and apprehension – this is what he'd been building up towards since he'd left Castleton a week ago. He just hadn't expected it to come so early, his plan being to find the Treasure first and negotiate later with either one of the two sides. Now that a new plan had formed in his head – one a tad more gentler than the other- he wondered whether or not if he was going barmy in his old age. "First, I need all of you – and I mean all of you, working together – to assist me with a little healing exercise for someone very special to me, and second, I want you to cease all hostilities until we return with the Treasure." A pause, then, ""Oh, and whatever is written on that Treasure of yours, both sides are going to abide by it, no matter what. Together." He caught Navi's eye, and winked. She grinned up at him in response. "Deal?"

There was an enthusiastic chorus of assent from the Service Fairies, and one or two from the Righteous Keepers. The Leader, seeing the tide against him, held up a finger. "I just have an amendment to make," he said.

"Amend away, sunshine."

His mouth pursed in a thin smile, the Leader said, "I believe it would be prudent – for the sake of fairness and to make sure that there is no hint of betrayal here – if two Fairy observers accompanied you. One from our Brothers and one from...them." He glanced over to where Cupid had fallen, and saw that the Fairy was beginning to stir. "I think Mr C will be our representative and for the Service Fairies, if they agree..." his gaze swept over the other party, then stopped. He smiled yet another humourless smile. "Why, Miss Hawthorne would be ideal – what do you think, dear?"

"I'll do it, no doubt," she replied sternly, the hem of her skirt fluttering around her ankles.

Link didn't know what two Fairies could possibly to against him and the others if he did decide to double-cross them – which he had no intention of doing – but, like he always said, whatever floated their boat. He held out a finger, let the Leader and Hawthorne shake it. The Shadow Lord smiled. "Then it's agreed."