Chapter 12: Southern Swamp

"You fool!" Dark Link roared, his fangs adding to his forbidding appearance. "I told you to stay hidden!" He swung back-handed at Sean and sent the boy flying. His fingers closed around something that seemed like an invisible rope. What ever it was, it was held taunt and connected to the boy. "I didn't request much, but something possessed you to disobey me regardless!"

The wraith swung whatever he held and a wide circle and threw it as far from him as he could.

Upon catching the boy with a local, Dark Link had grabbed him and taken him far from the town to deal with the delinquent. The forest trees surrounded the two as if the small area they stood was the only clear place in the entire forest. All woodland animals had fallen silent, not even an insect hovered above a flower. All had dispersed in response to the wraith's rage.

Sean's body bounced off the ground and he rolled to a scraping halt. He sat up on his hands and knees and was panting for air. His face was covered in scratches and bruises, as was the rest of his body. His ice blue eyes looked up at the wraith from under lowered eyebrows. His eyes were not filled with fear, but with hatred. The childish shine that normally illuminated them was gone and replaced with one of malice.

Dark Link could see the look in the boy's eyes and knew it well. He had seen that look in his own reflection many times . . . the look to kill. There was no doubt in his mind that the boy would try to kill . . . and would be very difficult to stop.

Sean slowly got to his feet, swaying dangerously on his weakened knees. His arms hung limply at his sides, as did his head between his shoulders. He shifted his weight so his torso was bent slightly backward for balance, a some-what insane smile on his young face. A demonic air began to radiate from Sean's body as he wiped the blood off his face, from his bleeding mouth, with his sleeve.

Dark Link was taken slightly aback from the boy's sudden aura change. It unnerved him a bit. He cursed himself when he caught his leg moving to take a step backwards. Why was he feeling fear from a mere child? Dark Link suddenly smiled to himself. It had just hit him as to why and now he simply stood his ground.

"You want to kill me, don't you?" He taunted coolly. "You want to feel my blood spill on your skin—hear my flesh tear." He smiled; unafraid. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

Sean's cold eyes simply watched the wraith's every move, amusing Dark Link immensely.

"Feel free to try to fulfill those lusts of yours. You've wanted to do it for five long years, have you not? I will not stop you." The wraith smiled a smile almost as insane as the one the boy wore. "Try to land your best shot."

If as on cue, Sean hurled himself at Dark Link in a screech of built up hatred. His fingers were flexed as if to rake the wraith's face with claws, but he possessed none. He wanted to slam his full weight into his target, but Dark Link simply caught the boy's wrists and held him easily out of reach. Regardless of all his weight's momentum being forced to return into his small body, and jar his bones, Sean continued to wriggle and squirm in Dark Link's grasp; snarling and snapping at the wraith's face.

Dark Link was seriously enjoying this new source of entertainment. He never really expected the boy to attack him, but he loved this new twist on things. Sean's pupils had shrunk into thin slits—thinner than usual anyway— and seemed to focus on everything and yet nothing at all. Dark Link felt like he had an unhappy, snarling, Wolfos pup in his hands and it was beginning to tick him off.

Shadows appeared the gather about the wraith's red eyes—causing them to gleam brighter— and this new sight caused Sean's snarls to silence into soft, angered, growls. With his own roar of anger, Dark Link spun in a circle and used his momentum to hurl the child away from him. He halted in a swirl of dust, red eyes smiling from under the shadows.

Sean's body twisted in the air and his feet anchored into the ground solidly, one hand down to brace himself, as he slid backwards in a large unearthing of dirt. His head only lifted to finally look at the wraith after the dust began to settle.

"Impressive reflexes," Dark Link said, "but I grow bored of this." The wraith smiled again. "Allow me to jazz things up a bit."

Dark Link's form grew hazy and blurred before it disappeared entirely.

Sean blinked and glanced around, newly grown fangs protruding from his lips and dragon slit eyes scanning the area. Instinct and common sense told him that there was no way the wraith had simply vanished, but was moving too fast to be seen. The boy's long pointed ears twitched and he swung around to face behind himself.

Nothing.

Ice blue eyes swiveled in their sockets to catch the blur of something moving. With a growl, he faced it.

Nothing.

A twig snapped and Sean spun towards it, letting out a yowl that sounded like an angry wild cat.

Again, nothing.

He let out a throaty snarl, a corner of his lip vibrating with the sound. The wraith was toying with him; not even trying to stay hidden. He froze when a shadow overtook him and powerful hands grabbed his arms and held them at his sides.

"You're better than this," He heard Dark Link's voice whisper in his ear. "Can't you catch me? Or are you really that weak?"

Sean let out a hissed scream and struggled to free himself, but Dark Link kept him in place without any effort. His squirming ceased, but he continued to growl, maintaining Dark Link's interest.

"Tell you what," The wraith whispered again, "prove to me that I'm wrong about you." His hands removed themselves from Sean's arms.

With a roar, Sean swung around, a clenched fist flying to connect to the wraith's jaw.

He hit air.

One of the boy's legs had flown up to aid him in his power spin and he slowly lowered it by adjusting its position in the hip socket. The wraith had vanished again and Sean could not sense him. Words began coming to him from the trees, but the words weren't spoken, or in his mind. They flowed on the wind's breath.

Nice try, boy, but not good enough.

The words laughed at him.

This is no more than a game of cat and mouse. That's right. You are the cat and I am the mouse and I am the cleverest mouse you've ever fought.

The words laughed again.

The mouse will win this fight!

Sean spun around when the wraith's aura hit him like a whip. There the wraith was, standing casually in a tree; leaning against the trunk with his arms crossed. His eyes laughed manically at the boy and his lips were parted in an arrogant smile.

"Once again, try and catch me," He taunted, jumping noiselessly from the tree to the ground, "or is that still beyond you?"

Sean snorted and, with an angered cry, charged Dark Link. He swung a clawless hand at the wraith's stomach, but only swiped air. He glanced up at his left, saw the wraith standing not too far away, and lunged at him. He got a face full of dirt. Spitting the mud from his mouth and nose, he looked around again. The wraith was back in a tree, glancing at him from over his shoulder.

Sean hissed with narrowed eyes. Was the wraith as to so cocky to turn his back on his foe during a fight? He'd set the wraith straight. Quickly, he was up on his feet and dashing after the wraith.

Dark Link turned his head back ahead of him. Perfect. It seemed his plan was going to work beautifully. He launched himself from his tree to land on one foot in another; bend down on his anchored leg and launch himself forwards again, alternating legs as he went. He easily dodged any branch that got in his way without missing a step.

He could hear the boy following him though surprisingly quiet for one rushing headlong into battle. It was the boy that was cocky, not him. Well, what did it matter? This fight was almost finished anyway.

The wraith jumped from his current tree down to the ground, right in front of a well camouflaged marsh—from a distance at any rate. He turned to meet his on coming foe. He knew for a fact that the boy had not seen this coming.

Sean cleared the trees to find Dark Link simply standing still, waiting for him. He growled in anger. The wraith was making a fool of him and he hated that.

"It looks like you've finally caught me," Dark Link said, smiling in the satisfaction of a good chase, though obviously not defeated. "Now aren't you going to finish what you started?"

Sean thought that was logical and couldn't ask for anything better. Without even giving his surroundings a second thought, he charged the wraith, eager to kill him.

When Sean was just close enough to touch him, Dark Link stepped to the side and, with one hand, shoved the boy straight into the marshy swamp. The force of his push and the momentum of the boy's charge caused Sean to fly quite a way into the murky water with a large splash.

Dark Link watched the boy surface and sputter for air. It brought him relief to see the boy's eyes shining in childish wonder—his face returning to normal. It surprised him when he felt relief. Did that mean that he had honestly had felt fear when the boy had snapped? He tensed his jaw and though nothing more of it.

Sean sloshed his arms about in the water, attempting to keep his head above the surface. He glanced around at some of the rare marsh-dwelling trees and blinked in the sunlight that glared down on him from between the leaves of the land-dwelling giants. His eyes soon found Dark Link standing on the bank. The wraith seemed both happy and mad at the same time and Sean did not know why or how that was possible.

"Hi-i-i-i-i, Dark Link!" He called, waving one arm in the air to attract the wraith's attention. Sure enough, the wraith was already giving Sean his attention.

"Why am I in a marsh?" Sean shouted.

"You attacked me!" Dark Link shouted back since the distance between them was too great to talk normally. "So I pushed you in to bring you back to your senses!"

"There's just one problem . . . I can't swim!"

Dark Link cursed.

"Well I'm not coming to get you!" And he turned his back to the boy.

Sean's spirits dropped, but he was brought out of that when a sudden wave bobbed him in the water. He glanced about and saw the water ripple as something swam just below the surface.

"Dark Link? There's something in the water!"

Dark Link didn't reply.

Sean continued watching the ripple until the water began to break. Several spikes, with a crude fin stretched between each of them, rose from the water and quickly descended.

"Dark Link!" Sean shouted, his voice beginning to quiver with fear. "There's something with spikes in the water! It's circling me!"

"Well, swim away from it!" The wraith shouted back, not even turning around.

"But I can't swim!"

Dark Link gritted his teeth with an annoyed growl. "Fine! I'll come and get you!"

Just as he turned around, Sean screamed and the wraith saw a huge spike-laden fish erupt from the water; spray flying from its wide tusk filled maw. The fins between the spikes of its back, tail, and sides were horribly tattered and yet the fish could still swim with ease. Its scales were once a deep mahogany, but were now coated with the mucky green slime of the swamp. Dark Link could only stand and stare as the fish slammed its head back into the water on top of Sean. Luckily, the water that was being forced away from its head carried Sean (in a screaming mess) away to safer water.

"Shit!" Dark Link hissed, tossing off his cloak and unbuckling the leather straps of his boots.

He was having trouble getting to the water since he was stumbling over his boots that wouldn't come off right away. He grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head; running for the water and cursing the entire way. He took a deep breath and dove into the water, uncaring of what awaited him in the murky depths.

Sean was simply floating in the water, whimpering, and watching the roiling water where the giant fish had submerged. He had seen many terrifying creatures, but this fish was the worst by far. He watched the water for any sign of the fish, but found none. How a fish of that size could hide so perfectly in this deep swamp, he did not know, or wanted to find out.

The boy's blood froze when he heard something surface behind him and almost screamed when he felt something grab him, but a hand clamped over his mouth to silence him.

"Shut up!" Dark Link hissed. "I don't need you announcing your presence to every predator in this swamp!"

Sean wrenched himself from Dark Link grasp and clung to the wraith's body in sheer panic.

"Oh, Dark Link!" He cried. "I'm so scared! So very, very scared!"

"Just let go of me!" The wraith snapped and tried, unsuccessfully, to pry Sean from him. "If you let go, I can help you."

"But if I let go, the fish will eat me!"

"It won't eat you because you won't be here!"

Taking advantage of Sean's distraction, Dark Link pulled Sean from him and hurled the boy into shallower water. He only had enough time to glance behind himself—eyes trembling in true terror— as a shadow covered him, to see the greenish teeth of an endless black maw rush at him in a wave of water.

Sean's eyes were open wide when he had sprung to his feet and turned to see the spiked fish swallow Dark Link into its large mouth. He forced back his scream and headed for the shore, careful not to utter any squeaks of his restrained shout. Once again, Dark Link had saved his life, but this time as what cost? Dark Link had been able to plan the others out and enjoy the fight that followed, but this time he was fighting for his life.

Sean sat down on the shore since there was nothing he could do to help. The swamp water was settling a bit, though still roiling in small waves. Had the wraith been killed and eaten by the fish? At this time, Sean believed it to be very logical, but he also doubted that a mere fish could defeat the wraith so easily. Then again, Dark Link's attention had been on Sean and not the enemy. Sean placed clenched fists next to his mouth and continued to watch the marsh with trembling eyes.

A surge of bubbles soon broke the surface of the water, followed by the huge fish. Its lower jaw had been torn and now hung uselessly to its head; splashing deep green blood everywhere. It reeled and shrieked in the muck before a sudden blow punctured its skull, pieces of its brain flying from the broken bone. Dark Link's form appeared on the fish's head and then toppled over into the water.

Sean's breath stopped in his throat. The fish was now dead, but did Dark Link just die? Was it all his fault for bringing this upon the man who had saved him four times now? Sean noticed Dark Link's shirt not too far away, so he grabbed it and hugged it close; burying his face in it. He was brought out of his sorrow when a familiar voice snapped at him.

"Get your dirty paws off my shirt!"

Sean looked up and sure enough, there was Dark Link standing, in a some what exhausted way, in the water; the dead fish's carcass floating in the swamp. Sean did as he was told and tosses the shirt aside, drawing his legs up to his chest and hugging them close.

Dark Link sighed and sloshed up the shore and sat himself down on Sean's right, wiping his face dry with his now dirty shirt.

"You owe me big for this," He muttered eventually.

Sean nodded, though Dark Link wasn't looking at him. The boy was fascinated by the wraith's body build. He was muscular, but didn't truly look it, and his thin body would lead to believing otherwise. Sean's eyes traveled up and noticed a piece of cloth tied about the upper part of the wraith's left arm. The cloth was beginning to sag and there was a black tattooed head partly revealed, though Sean could not tell what it was.

Dark Link's eyes soon found the boy's . . . and where they led. He hastily fixed the cloth and made sure it was firmly in place.

"It's nothing," He muttered in answer to Sean's unasked question. "Nothing that concerns you."

That boy's head dropped slightly and he looked away. He hated these silences Dark Link always threw at him. They made him feel uneasy, like something was wrong. A soft rubbing against his arm caused him to glance down to meet two large orange eyes. Sean smiled and scooped Juto up in his arms, the little Black Boe's eyes asking if they both were okay.

"We're fine, Juto," Dark Link said with a smile only meant for the Black Boe. "It's no big deal."

Juto purred in satisfaction to that reply and begged for Sean to pet him. Sean did just that and looked up at Dark Link.

"What are we supposed to do now that we're covered in swamp water?"

"The smell will keep the Wolfos and other predators at bay," The wraith replied, putting his shirt back on. "I don't need to be attacked again," He added with a snort.

Sean grimaced, knowing that was partly his fault. He stood up and walked away from the swamp, Juto in his arms. Dark Link followed, collecting his discarded sword and cloak and returning them in their proper place.

"What did you mean, before, when you said I attacked you?" Sean asked, Juto cradled—asleep— in his arms.

"Exactly what it sounded like," Dark Link replied, re-buckling his boots.

Sean didn't understand. "I don't remember anything after you took me away from Woodfall, except the color red," He said eventually.

Dark Link snorted a laugh. "I saw what I saw and what you say can't, and will not, change that." With that, he started back through the brush the way he had dashed earlier; Sean once again on his tail in chase, but in the fear of being left behind.

The fish's carcass drifted lazily in the swamp, blood mixing in the muck. Three large spikes rose from the depths, followed by another fin just like it. The large identical fish revealed themselves, water running down their slime covered, knobby scales. Their tusks cleared their jaws and rose up above their nostrils. Their tattered pectoral fins steadied their massive bodies in the water, them having come to see what all the commotion from earlier had been about. Much to their pleasure, something had been left behind for them to dine upon.

The largest of the two moved towards the carcass with one mighty swish of its tattered tail. It came right up the dead fish and nudged it with its tusks to see if it was dead or sleeping, not like it would've made any difference. Satisfied, it opened its maw and closed its teeth around a piece of the caress, ripping it off with a sickening crunch of armor plates tearing.

The smaller fish approached slowly, hoping to not be chased off from this new meal and much to its luck, the large fish was busy filling its belly and so did not notice. The smaller fish went to the opposite end of the carcass and began to chew on the broken skull.

Soon the air was filled with the sound of bones and armor cracking to pieces in the fishes' jaws as they devoured the flesh of the dead.