To Atchika, I hope that this is quality enough a chapter for you! And yes, since it's hard to tell between Dark Link and Link at night, he will have a little bit off framing to deal with. Also, in Ocarina of Time, I don't really like the look of Dark Link being totally black in appearance. Instead I prefer just black clothes but pale skin, with normal looking red eyes, not huge big red ones.
To Youkai-joseph, I've gotta say that this is probably the best review I'll ever get, thanks! And you put me on your fav author list. I'm really quite flattered, Enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the Zelda franchise owned by Nintendo. All rights are reserved to the official Zelda license (how official did that sound!)
Zelda: The Legend ContinuesChapter 3 –
The night had gone on for a few hours but the young Hylian and his fairy companion still had not found the place that they were searching for. They had not encountered any more packs of Moblins so far, but the forest was becoming more and more threatening as the darkness grew. The Deku Babas and Scrubs that once inhabited the woods had become more vicious than Link had last visited, with the fierce foliage much more desperate to kill it's prey.
Link had noticed how all of the hostile creatures in Hyrule had grown in their anxiety to slice off a pointy ear for a souvenir. He wasn't sure, but he suspected that it had something to do with this quest that he had started straight after he defeated Ganon.
"Link, we've been searching for ages!" the guardian fairy whispered into his ear, she had been sitting in his now slightly messy cloak's hood. It used to be light brown, but now had green bloody stains all over it. One of the dead Moblins fell on top of it whilst he was fighting.
"I think we should leave, the forest gets really dangerous at this hour, its nearly midnight." She continued, "let's come back tomorrow."
"No, we continue searching" Link was determined to find Saria. He first went to the Kokiri to look for her, but the children said that she went to the Forest temple a week ago, and hadn't been seen since. Fearing the worst, the Hero of Time had immediately begun searching in the forest, but still hadn't found the entrance to the forest temple. Even if he wanted to leave, he doubt he could. He hadn't stumbled across the Kokiri village yet like when he would normally have gotten lost.
"I don't understand" Link whispered sharply, "Its like the entire forest has grown a hundred fold. We're not even going in circles" He wasn't kidding either. The woods looked completely new to him, and the pair hadn't come across any familiar landmarks. They were completely lost and taking way too much time.
Navi said nothing, but sat up straight in his hood, watching carefully for any signs of danger.
The forest was getting thicker and much harder to navigate. Link now had to cut away vines and branches in their way with his sword. He stopped and looked up. The full moon was just visible through the branches over head. His ears perked up.
Suddenly Link spun round in stance, poised. There was nothing there, not even the trail he thought that they'd leave behind, just thick vegetation blocking the way. He'd sworn he heard a sound behind them. Thinking that it was just a loose branch, Link eased his posture. He turned back around and came face-to-face with his own face, barely a centimeter away from him staring straight at him only with red eyes, pale skin and a look of a grinning mad man.
"ACK!" in a split second, Link had already fallen backwards with shock. He looked back at where he'd seen himself, but there was nothing there. Link was glancing in every direction possible, trying as hard as he could to spot someone, or at least something. Navi was very startled after Link fell over, but she didn't see what ever it was that made Link react like that since she was beginning to nod off from fatigue.
Link was still in the same spot for at least 5 minutes, sword poised and looking all around him. Navi didn't move from her spot because of the tension that had formed around them. Nothing, not even a sound stirred in the forest. The darkness was enveloping their surroundings more than Link thought possible, and he'd have stayed rooted to the spot all night if he didn't hear a shrilling scream off in the distance.
"Saria!" Link, forgetting the situation he was in, immediately dashed in the direction that the cry for help came from. Dense plants in his way no longer made an effect on the elf as he sprinted, unnecessarily slashing away whatever debris he was quick enough to react upon with his weapon.
The scream was heard again, now much closer. Link definitely recognized it as the young sage's, and found himself running even faster. Seeing light ahead, Link raised his sword in mid-run higher, which was difficult since obstacles were flying past at such a rapid pace.
Bursting into the opening in the forest at full speed, Link spotted a black hooded figure directly ahead of him. Before the man could even spin around to see his attacker, Link had already charged straight into him, whacking the figure in the head with the hilt of his sword. The one receiving the blow flew back, it was a Stafloes and was at least knocked out.
Taking in his surroundings quickly through squinted eyes, Link noticed that the area was clear of trees and brightly lit due to the campfire. There were another two enemies, one in a red hooded cloak and another Stafloes in black that stood beside a tied up green-hared child who seemed to be in a lot of pain.
Enraged beyond belief, Link shot into the one nearest Saria incase if he done any more harm to her. The black robed sadist didn't even have time to react as Link shoved his right arm forward, both punching the enemy in the face and smashing his forehead with the edge of Link's Hylian shield.
Navi only managed to get out of the hood of Link's cloak at this point and flew over to the sobbing infant to see if she was okay. Noticing this, Link turned his attention to the last threat and lunged for him. Or her for that matter, as her frame was much smaller than the other two. Falling on the ground, her hood fell off, showing Link that she was a Gerudo. He pinned her and brought his sword swiftly an inch from her neck.
"Give me one good reason why I should let you live!" snarled Link, anger over-bearing him.
The woman simply laughed in his face. Link soon noticed that a whole pack of Gerudo warriors slipped out of the shadows, wielding two scimitars each. All of them bore the tattooed symbol of the Gerudo in red. "Now you'll pay for what you did to our master." The pinned Gerudo spat at Link. He knocked her out with the butt of his sword more violently than necessary.
Link rose to his feet and jumped to the side before the first attacker could hit him. Landing between two of them, Link smacked one with his shield, but the other dodged the swipe from his sword by flipping graciously backwards as the blade swung just above her stomach. Link continued swinging his sword around to try and get some space, but one Gerudo jumped from a nearby tree branch from over head and kicked him in the jaw, sending Link to the ground. He rolled backwards as one Geroudo drove a sword into the ground where he landed. Seeing that she narrowly missed her target, the frustrated woman threw her second weapon at Link who just got up on his feet and barely managed to deflect it with his shield.
He hadn't taken down any attackers so far and there was still more flooding the area to join the fight. This was obviously a trap, and a well thought out one too. He wouldn't last much longer if he kept this mindless rage up; he needed a plan and quick. Another assassin lunged for him, about to swing for his neck, Link didn't notice this but another kicked him in the back of the knee in order to put Link off guard. The distraction saved Link's life as he fell to his knees whilst the scimitar swiped above his head.
Link leaped up while spinning around with his sword like a helicopter blade, making him rise right over the mass' heads and the distance was further in his jump. Now landing in a slightly less crowded position, Link jabbed at a couple of the Gerudo, but the two in front of him simply parried his attacks, waiting for someone else to strike Link from behind.
Sensing this, Link quickly spun around with his sword again. As he expected, one thief was about to deliver a fatal blow from behind. He only managed to graze her arm since she was so quick to react. He continued swinging his sword as the other two tried to attack while they assumed he was off guard, but again his attempts to inflict damage were not very successful as one dodged out of the way and the other blocked his sword, making him stop spinning.
Another jumped from the left, with both weapons horizontal at Link. He blocked both of the scimitars with his sword vertical, and deflected an attack from the one in front with his shield. The woman with still both of her scimitars blocked by Link grinned wickedly, as she lowered her head to allow another Gerudo to jump over her and kick Link again in the face, hard. Link was sent flying right in front of the fire in the middle but because of his momentum he continued rolling towards it. He was just able to shove his hand to the ground, sending him high enough to arch himself over it.
It was lucky that his clothing didn't catch fire, since he still had his cloak on as there hadn't yet been time to take it off. Wait a sec, Link thought as this came to mind. That's it! Fire! Link got back on his feet, and hoping that there was no one close enough to attack him for the moment, he closed his eyes, and gave a split second of in tense concentrating.
A sparkling sapphire barrier surrounded Link in the blink of an eye as he cast the spell dawned upon him by Nayru. A huge amount of clanging of weapons was heard as the band of thieves desperately tried to penetrate the field protecting the Hylian.
Now knowing that he was temporarily safe, Link heightened his concentration. He never tried casting more than one spell before, and he didn't doubt that it would likely consume all of the magic that he obtained. While still trying to hold the barrier, Link summoned a small spark of flame in both of his hands. The blue light flickered slightly as he done this, causing the Gerudo to attack even harder, if Link failed to pull this off, he'd definitely be turned to mince-meat.
The flame grew at a slow steady pace, brightening as it did, turning into a confined raging fire with the first spell weakening all the time, becoming dimmer and dimmer. Links eyebrow twitched from his intensifying thoughts. He prayed to the Goddesses that Navi had took Saria to a safe place as the barrier broke the instance Link threw the fire to the ground, which encircled him from the flurry of blades that surrounded him. The entire band of assassins startled backwards, yelping as the fire burned their hands or anything else that went near Link.
Link, who was starting to look very tired from the strain, commanded the flaming circle with the flick of both wrists, for it to grow larger in diameter. This began to drive away the mass of enemies as they threw Deku nuts and cast spells to make themselves vanish and retreat to their home ground. Since Link was covering one half of the opening in the forest, he was cornering the only few left and they were in front of him.
Seeing his chance to finish this and get some answers, he threw his arms forward, which broke the flaming circle around him and made it snatch around the Gerudo that were left. Link managed a weak grin as he began to bring his hands closer together, making the flames draw nearer to the panic-stricken women. Their will to fight was completely shattered as they thew Deku nuts to the ground and vanished. But before the last one could disappear, Link broke the spell by lowering his arms, and using his last ounce of strength, he charged into the last Gerudo and flung her into a tree.
The young woman was completely terror-stricken as Link, with difficulty (although he didn't show it) grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her against the rough bark.
"Tell me!" Link growled menacingly, "Tell me why you done this! Or I'll be sure to make that your last fight!" Link could tell that she was trembling with fear.
"O-one of our spies found out that you were coming to the f-forest from Termina..." Link glared at her to continue, "S-so we found that girl near the temple and though of using her as bait to ambush you."
"What did you do to her! Why did she scream?!" The Gerudo's eyes widened in horror as Link yelled this at her. "I-I did nothing to her! Gera probably got tired of waiting for you! S-so she made the girl scream out for you!" The words came out in a panic as the tanned woman squirmed to free herself.
Disgusted at the bandit, Link threw her to the side and stared at her as she fumbled in her pocket to find a Deku nut as quickly as possible and threw it at the ground, and was gone.
Link stood there for a second and dropped to the ground in exhaustion. Resting for a few seconds, he reached into a shirt pocket with a trembling hand and took out a bottle of unfinished milk. He gulped the last of it down to gain enough strength to get back up again.
Navi had flown out of the shadows and into the dying light of the campfire, concerned if Link was okay.
"Where's Saria?" asked Link, not trying to speak very loud.
"She's back here." Link followed the fairy through a few trees that hid Saria from any more Gerudos. She was no longer crying, but her face was still tear streaked and hands and legs were still tied together. There were rips on the sleeves of her top were she must have been cut with a dagger, but it seemed that Navi healed her wounds during the battle. Link walked over and cut the rope binding her wrists and ankles with his sword, and then she crumbled into his arms, sobbing harder than before. Link was never so sorrowful in his life, no child should have to go through an ordeal like that.
He had so many questions that he needed to ask her but he didn't dare for she was in such a state. From the look of it, she seemed to not have slept in days.
Link noticed that she was freezing cold, so he took off his cloak and wrapped it around her, picked her up and set back for the Kokiri village.
End chapterA/N: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, it took quite a while to write. Expect to find out what's really going on in the next chapter.
P.S.: I'd really like to know what you think of the fighting scenes in this so far. This is honestly my first fic so it would be helpful. Should I lay off the action a bit? Do you think the fights are complicated? Please leave a review, and thanks again!