Chapter Two: Pirates of the Karab

Link looked out over the vast ocean. He could see nothing but water for miles in any direction. Looking at the scenery was the only thing that kept Link from dying of boredom on his many travels throughout the world. Unfortunately, looking at plain water gets old fast.

Link wore a light long sleeved green coat with a pair of green pants as well as a long cap of the same color to cover is golden hair. Underneath his tunic, Link wore a shirt of chain mail; underneath the steel rings he wore a white shirt. On his back, Link carried a Hylian shield along with his trusty sword that he had owned since he was sixteen. He also wore a pair of brown leather boots that rose almost to his knees and also a pair of brown leather gauntlets. Link was a handsome man, but he never cared much about his looks, he was first and foremost a warrior and everything about him seemed to testify of that.

Link no longer had a real home. He had not had one since he left the Kokiri Forest at the age of ten in order to follow his destiny as the Hero of Time. Soon after he left, Link found himself on a quest to save his homeland, Hyrule, from the clutches of the evil Ganondorf, the Gerudo king of thieves. In an attempt to prevent Ganondorf from obtaining the sacred Triforce he went after the golden triangles himself, but fell into a deep slumber that lasted for seven years. When he awoke he discovered that he led Ganondorf right to the Triforce and that the king of thieves had conquered Hyrule as well as many other lands by using its power. Link felt responsible for what happened so he embarked on a quest to save Hyrule. Link eventually learned that Ganondorf only captured one part of the Triforce, the Triforce of Power, and that it was himself, Link, who held the Triforce of Courage. Using the power of his Triforce piece along with some help from the princess of Hyrule, Zelda, and the sages he had awoken in order to defeat the Gerudo king, Link managed to seal Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm. After he defeated Ganondorf he traveled seven years into the past, back to his original time. Things were never the same for Link after that. He had fully matured as an adult, but he was still technically only ten years of age. However, it was not this that bothered him; it was the fact that it was his fault Hyrule had been plunged into the darkness. He always blamed himself for what had happened. After all he was the one who led Ganondorf to the Sacred Realm.

Another thing that troubled Link was that he remembered the alternate history of Hyrule in away only one other person in the world did. Most people thought Link's adventure to be a mere legend and those that did believe never fully comprehended what Ganondorf did to the world using the Triforce of Power, not even the king of Hyrule understood Link's tale completely.

Other than those who held a piece of the Triforce and the sages who had imprisoned Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm, no one remembered Hyrule's alternate history. Still, those who did remember it only remembered it as if it was a dream and it did not seem entirely real to them. It did not seem wholly real even to the princess Zelda, who held the Triforce of Wisdom. Link on the other hand remembered it perfectly, for he had actually experienced both the alternate future and the real one. Both histories were a part of his life. This caused Link to have trouble relating to others. He always felt he was an outcast, no matter where he was or whom he was with. Deep in his mind he always knew he had seen and done things no one would ever understand. Link was constantly haunted by the memories of the alternate future, but there was no one he could talk to who could understand his waking nightmare, save one little fairy.

Eventually Link could no longer stand being around others. He could feel alone in a room full of people. It always seemed to him that he was different and everyone else knew it. He longed for someone who could comprehend his journey through time the way he did, so he left Hyrule and went in search of the only other being in the world that had been with him through the entire ordeal. It was his guardian fairy, Navi, who he sought. She had been with him during his entire quest to save Hyrule, but she left when his mission was complete. Unfortunately during his search for Navi, a masked Skull Kid stole his horse, Epona, and led Link to a parallel dimension and a land called Termina. As Link soon found out a suicidal moon was threatening to collide with Termina and destroy the entire world and it was the Skull Kid who was using the power of Majora's Mask to bring the moon down (or rather the Mask was using the Skull Kid). Unwilling to let all the innocent people around him die, Link set out on another quest to stop the reckless moon and defeat the evil spirit trapped within Majora's Mask.

Link was successful in his efforts to stop the moon, but when Link returned to his own world he felt that he was an even greater outcast than before. Not even the Terminians could comprehend what Link had done. In order to stop the moon from colliding with the Earth, Link had been forced to relive the same three days over and over again. Everyone else feared the moon would fall for only a few days and it seemed it had stopped just before it struck the Earth, but Link knew about the impending end of the world for about a month as he desperately tried to change Termina's fate. He watched the moon day after day as it crept closer to the Earth. He witnessed the end of the world over and over again and every time Link failed to stop the moon, the importance of his quest grew heavier in his mind. When Link finally left Termina he knew he would never be able to function as a normal person. The plaguing memories of his quests would haunt him forever.

Link never returned to Hyrule, and he had no intention of doing so either. Link wandered in the wild for many years, taking no permanent residence. Once Link turned sixteen he joined a band of mercenaries. He quickly rose to a position of high esteem among the legionaries. Link was eventually given the job of employment scout. It was his duty to travel the world in search of work for his companions.

Link was currently twenty years of age, meaning it had now been ten years since Link first left the confines of the Kokiri Forest. He now only had one friend left from his childhood, Epona. Still Link did not get to spend very much time with her when he was searching for employment for his clan. Epona did not like being stuck in the stables of a rocking ship. Whenever she found herself in such a situation, she became very unruly and even Link had a difficult time getting her to calm down again. Thus Link left Epona at the mercenary headquarters in the west until someone hired him. He then sent for Epona and the amount of troops his employer ordered. Because Link was on a scouting mission at the time, Epona was not on the ship with her owner. Now, Link was on his way to Nicrosia, to offer the services of his band of mercenaries. Tensions were rising in the nations to the north of Nicrosia and Link thought the Nicrosians may feel the need to build up their forces in case war broke out.

Nicrosia often traded with Cyntir, its nearest northern neighbor. Two wide bodies of water separated the two lands. At points, the Sea of Gidd and the Karab Sea separated the two landmasses by more than four hundred miles. The closest point between the two was at the strait of Cyntir, where the two countries were just over a mile apart. This made trade easy, between Cyntir and Nicrosia.

The strait was also used by the two nations to make vast amounts of money. Both countries forced ships passing through the strait to pay a heavy toll. Most ships paid the toll, for there was no other way to pass from the sea of Gidd to the Karab Sea, or vice-versa without losing months traveling the long way around Nicrosia. Access to the channel was crucial too many other nations because of the many wealthy countries that were located on the east side of the Sea of Gidd as well as on the west side of the Karab Sea (One of these countries was Hyrule). This allowed Cyntir and Nicrosia to make a large profit from the strait.

On his many journeys, Link often traveled with a fellow mercenary named Calrith. Calrith was forty-five years old and one of the most experienced mercenaries in the clan, he was regarded by many of the legionnaires as the wisest of the mercenaries, he was also an excellent employment scout. Between Calrith and Link, the two were able to find more work for the mercenaries than any other scouting team.

"Link," Calrith said sternly, "Why are you wasting time staring at the ocean?"

"What else is there to do on this ship?" Link retorted with out taking his eyes from the sea.

"You could always be studying," Calrith answered.

Link turned back to Calrith and questioned him, "What is there to study on this vessel of infinite boredom?"

"Anything you want," Calrith said, "You could always study the structure of the ship or how the sailors do their jobs. Perhaps you could find out what the cook puts in the food."

Link turned and gave Calrith a look of disgust and said, "I think it would be better if that were to remain secret. Besides, what am I supposed to use that worthless information for?"

"What may seem useless now may prove be a valuable asset later." Calrith said, "Like I always say, never waste a chance to learn something new. Knowledge is one of the most valuable things you can have. For example, in a battle of skilled warriors, the warrior with the lesser skill may emerge victorious, if he knows how his adversary fights or his opponent's weaknesses. You of all people should understand that Link. Many of our most powerful enemies you've faced while working for the Calrigan mercenaries, you defeated simply because you knew their weaknesses and were able to exploit them.

"If you do not wish to explore the ship take this book on the history of Nicrosia. Knowing the history and culture of Nicrosia may help us find work for our friends. " Calrith handed over a book, which he had brought to read on the long voyage.

Link took the book and muttered to himself, "What friends?" he then retired to his quarters for the night to study.

Link walked to his room rather slowly. He was not very excited to read the book Calrith gave him. He had already been briefed on the history of Nicrosia and did not care to read about it again. As soon as Link opened the door to his room he plopped down on his bed. He began reading the book, but soon found that his eyelids were growing heavy. Link slowly drifted of into a deep sleep.

"How much longer, until we reach Nicrosia?" Calrith asked of the ship's captain.

"Oh, I figure, some time tomorrow or the day after at the latest," the captain answered.

"Excellent," Calrith said, "I'm anxious to begin negotiating with Nicrosia. With tension once again rising in the north, Nicrosia may be growing nervous and in all likelihood will feel a need for my clan's services." Calrith then let out a big yawn and said, "Well, I better get off to bed now." With that Calrith left the captain's cabin and set off for his own.

As he walked across the main deck, Calrith heard a soft metallic noise. He turned his head to the left and spotted some sort of grappling hook, latched on to the ship's railing. Another hook soon attached itself, then another and another. Soon there were more than twenty. Then he saw them. One by one, pirates dressed in blue started hopping over the rails, all their faces covered by grey cloth masks.

Calrith ducked behind a crate to hide himself. One of the men, a Zora, who was apparently the leader, stepped in front and said, "Okay men, you know the drill, get all the valuable cargo you can, then burn the ship."

"Oh no," Calrith mumbled to himself, "I've got to find Link!" Calrith drew his sword and took off to Link's room. Unfortunately, the Zora spotted Calrith as he started running and went after him. Calrith tried to lose the Zora as best he could, by knocking things over as he ran, to make the Zora slow down, but to no avail. Calrith made it all the way to Link's door, but as he started to open it, the Zora grabbed the knob and pulled the door shut.

"Very well," said Calrith pointing his sword towards the Zora and lunging at him, "we'll do this the hard way."

Link awoke to the sound of his door slamming. "Calrith?" Link said still half asleep. He got up slowly and sluggishly opened the door. To his shock, he found Calrith lying dead on the floor. He was covered in blood and part his small intestine was hanging out of his abdomen, "No," Link gasped. Just then he caught a glimpse of a Zora fleeing up the stairs. Link drew his sword in anger and took off after him.

When Link got up to the main deck he saw the mast of the ship engulfed by flame. He also saw many men dressed in blue and grey diving off the ship and into the ocean. Link ran to the edge of the boat to see where the men were headed. He saw them all swimming towards a small group of lifeboats, loaded with the recently raided ship's cargo.

Link did not know whether he should chase after the men in blue and grey or try to save the people still on board the ship. Link ended up having to make his decision in haste, for just then the base the mast buckled and the pole fell over. Link was forced to jump off the edge of the ship and into the water to avoid getting hit.

Link swam back up to the surface and found a wooden plank floating on the water. He grabbed on to it and began looking around for the men in blue and grey, but they were nowhere to be seen. The last thing Link remembered seeing that night was the ship sinking while still aflame.

Link awoke on a beach that he did not recognize. It took him a few seconds to recall the events of the previous night. He was full of confusion and despair. Calrith was dead, his ship was destroyed, and he was stranded in a land he had never seen before. Link wasn't sure what to do in his current state; eventually he began thinking clearly again. Then a thought occurred to him. Could he possibly be in Nicrosia? Or had he landed on some uninhabited island? Link decided to find out if there were other people around. He started off heading away from the sea. Link watched the landscape as the sandy beaches slowly transformed to grassy plains.

A few hours after he entered the plains he came across two men dressed in blue and grey, mounted on horses. They were obviously part of the group of pirates that raided Link's ship. They were looking down at another young man, who was dressed in plain farming clothes. Upon seeing this Link began running towards them.

"Give it to us!" demanded one of the men on the horses.

"I don't have it," the young man replied.

"Don't give us that, we know you have it," the other man commented, "Our commander told us you have it."

"Well, your commander is mistaken," The young man said boldly.

"Wrong?" both the men in blue laughed, "General Ormek is never wrong. But, if you refuse to give it to us, we'll just have to take it."

The two men in blue drew their swords, as did the young man. The young man fought his best, but he could not defeat two men on horses. His sword was quickly knocked away and then he fell on his back. One of the men in blue and grey jumped off his horse, stood over the young man and raised his sword up over his head with the tip pointed towards the young man. A large grin came over the man's face, but it swiftly turned to a look of to of pain. He dropped his sword and suddenly fell over. The young man scrambled to his feet and noticed an arrow sticking out of his foe's back.

The young man got up turned his head to find Link with bow in hand and an outstretched arm. Link reached for another arrow to take care of the other man in blue, but he was already riding away. Link ran over to the young man to offer his assistance. "Are you injured?" Link instinctively asked.

"I don't think so, hey thanks!" The young man answered.

"No problem," Link said calmly.

"You really saved my neck there," the young man said.

"Think nothing of it." Link said, trying not to make a big deal of his own heroism. He had never liked drawing attention to himself. That was one of the reasons Link never went back to Hyrule, he was too well known there. One of the main reasons Link had left Hyrule in the first place was to find anonymity, he was know by few people outside of Hyrule. However, Link had many other reasons for keeping away from his childhood home, though he never told anyone what they were.

"I owe you everything, and I don't even know your name?" the young man continued.

"It is Link," answered the hero.

"Nice to meet ya, Link. You can call me Chiron," the young man said.

"I'm glad I found you, Chiron," Link said, "For a while, I was beginning to think this place was uninhabited. Which reminds me, where am I?"

"You my friend are in the great land of Cyntir," Chiron said.

."Well, that's not to far from my intended destination," Link stated.

"And where's that?" asked Chiron.

"Nicrosia," Link answered.

"If you go to South Port Town, you could catch a transport and be there in minutes," Chiron said, "I'm headed to South Port Town tomorrow morning. If you're interested, you could come and stay at my ranch tonight and I'll take you there tomorrow." Link agreed to go with Chiron. "Great," said Chiron, "Let's get going. My ranch isn't far from here. We can be there in half an hour. With that Link continued on with his new companion. He was extremely relieved at this point. He would be able to notify his fellow mercenaries of what happened to his ship in no time.