Disclaimers in Ch. 1 (what a big surprise). Thanks for your reviews and emails. And don't worry, I didn't forget about the angst. There's a lot more to dish out as we go!

Ch. 16

Fear death?-to feel the fog in my throat,

The mist in my face.

-Robert Browning

"I saw you had a lovely young equine when you came to our castle! What happened to her? Surely she is well?" Tappor asked, having seated himself on a feather cushion he'd thought to bring. It was the first night out, and already the scholar and Saria both were sore to the bone. Ichiro had made a separate fire from them to take the first night watch, and the guard had moved in around their Chief. Link, Saria, and Tappor's fire was nestled in the crook below the hill the Guard had settled on. Link threw bits of grass into the fire, and sighed.

"I left her with the stable hands, and asked them to take her back to Lon Lon. I hope she'll be okay," He added thoughtfully. He would miss Epona, that was for sure. It seemed like the horse had been at his side through thick and thin. The scholar nodded.

"It is never easy to leave behind the ones you care for. Rest easy, though, for I surmise that she would not enjoy a trip over the sea as much as we." Link shrugged, and nodded.

"I guess you have a point, there." He admitted grudgingly. Tappor chuckled, and patted his shoulder.

"I should hope so," He responded. "Or else what have I been doing with all of my time?"

Link didn't really catch the humor of it, but he smiled politely. There was a rustling nearby, and he placed a hand over the Goron sword. However, it was Saria with more dried twigs and bark for the fire.

"It's all I could find," She apologized, plopping down next to Tappor with a tired sound. "Oh, I'm sore in so many places I didn't even know existed! I hope the whole trip isn't going to be like this," She added. Link shook his head.

"You'll get used to it pretty soon. It's the ship thing I'm worried about..."

"You? Worried?" Tappor clucked. "I never would have thought it, seeing your warrior facade. One does find out the most interesting things at the oddest of times!" He said cheerfully, adding bits of bark to the fire. Saria grinned at Link, and he rolled his eyes. They heard another rustling, and looked up to see Ichiro sliding down the hill. He came forward a knelt beside Link, unrolling a map of Hyrule that had recently been updated to include any new buildings or landmarks.

"This is the route we're taking," He told Link, running a hand up the map until it came to a colorful area he took to be the forest. "If you're right, and we're able to travel through the outskirts, we'll have saved several days journeying to the coast." Link nodded.

"Do they know we're coming?" He asked. Ichiro snorted.

"Of course. A message was sent back yesterday with the runner. They'll have known for a few hours yet." He stood up stiffly. "Get some sleep, all of you. Tomorrow's a long day." With that, he turned and trudged back up the hill to his watch.

"He's stern about everything, huh?" Saria asked, watching the Chief in the dark. Tappor nodded, taking off his spectacles to lay down with a huff on his sleeping bag.

"He takes his job far too seriously, I'm afraid. The King and Queen praised him for it though, so I presume he'll continue in it." It was only several minutes later that the scholar began to snore loudly in his sleep. Saria grinned at Link, who gave an exasperated sigh.

"There goes our sleep for the night." He muttered. "Maybe Ichiro had a good idea, going up there to sleep." Link yawned, and went to his own sleeping gear, to settle down for the night. He placed the Goron sword within reach, and contented himself for awhile to lie back and watch the fire dance across the blade. He heard Saria situating herself on the other side of the fire, and leaned up.

"Good night," He called in a low voice. After a moment, Saria answered.

Satisfied that his life had finally achieved some direction for the moment, Link closed his eyes, and settled in the blanket, his thoughts running leisurely over the days events, before he too, like the scholar, succumbed to a deep sleep.

*************

The burn of the grain under his feet touched him through even the thick boots, and he trudged along, his ears deafened by the howl of the wind. He ducked his head, trying to keep the swirling, burning sand out of his face, and paused ever so often to peer through it. It was no use. He eased up, and squinted, looking around. A drop of sweat trickled down his brow, and he blinked, feeling the sting of it in his eyes. He would have to find the path some other way. He turned to try to head back the way he had come, but the wind screaming around him became more insistent, and he struggled to keep his balance.

Narrowing his sore and dry eyes against the thick spray of sand, he looked for any land mark that could help him...

Suddenly, the deafening sound of the wind shifted, and then seemed to twist into a jeering, and became laughter, the mocking laughter that he now knew and hated. He whirled around, and tried to find it, and saw, in the distance, a dark blur. He pulled his boots from the grabbing sand, and started to run towards it. However, when he came to the place where it had been, nothing stood, and he turned, slowly, his eyes taking in the nothingness around him.

He was lost now, trapped in a death pit of sand and sun, tired and burnt under the strain, the screaming wind tearing, tearing, at his soul...

*************

Link awoke with pain, and jerked about for a few seconds until he realized the root of his agony. His leg was spasoming, the muscle cramped. Leaning forward and pushing the blanket away from his body, he grasped the leg and tried to soothe the taut, straining muscles.

When the pain finally eased, he sat up, and looked around. It was still night, though streaks of gray were already coloring the dark sky. The fire had dimmed low, and he shivered, pulling himself up to add the last remains of twigs to it, and pushed the embers around. It slowly rose again, until he could put his hands forward and warm them. Link sighed. There was no sense in trying to sleep any more, the nightmare had startled him too much now. He went back to retrieve the sleeping bag, and sat by the fire, wrapping it around his chilled frame. Tappor was sleeping several feet away, and his snoring had diminished during the night to a heavy breathing. Saria was curled up close by, her face hidden below a blanket she clutched tightly. Her hair spread out from underneath the blanket, richer than the grass she had slept on. Link turned thoughtful, and let his eyes raise to take in the darkness above. Here and there, a scattering of morning stars still winked, though soon the rising sun would block them out.

To his left, he could here someone rising to their feet, and he looked up as Ichiro came down the hill, and stopped down beside him. Link waited, and for several minutes Ichiro said nothing. Then:

"I didn't stake you for an early riser," He said, telling Link without words that he still believed him to be a kid, and not worthy of journeying with Hyrule's finest. Link breathed deeply of the night air, his breath fogging in the cold.

"I used to work at Lon Lon," He responded. "I had to be up to work with the horses this early, and sometimes earlier." Ichiro seemed to think on this, and then nodded slowly.

"Let them sleep a bit longer," He changed the subject. "Girls and old men should not be traveling like this to begin with." Link looked up at him.

"Saria can handle herself," He said curtly. "She isn't just some girl." He felt oddly protective of the woman curled up vulnerably on the other side of the fire. Ichiro nodded again.

"Of course. Its good to have a level-headed woman with us. I didn't mean to imply anything about your lady." He rose up again to rub his cold hands together briskly. Link rose also.

"Look, we're friends." Link told him seriously. "Please don't go around saying that."

Ichiro shrugged. "My apologies, then," He said. He turned abruptly, and headed back uphill, to where the Guard was waking up.

Link sighed, and turned to gather his own equipment together.

*************

A little later, as faint streaks of color started to lance across the sky, Link woke both Saria and Tappor. Saria scolded him gently for letting her sleep later, but he could tell she was grateful for the extra rest. It would take a few days for her to get use to the jostle of the wagons. Tappor donned his foggy spectacles, and began a conversation immediately with the two of them on the benefits of certain foods for breakfast.

"...For instance, a hundred years ago, Hylians would eat fruit only for breakfast. It was believed to hold certain qualities if consumed at certain times of the day, and the Zorons..."

And so on.

They ended up having a quick breakfast of day-old bread rations. Ichiro had acquired bread and cheeses for them to eat until they reached the ship, where they would stock up on nonperishable foods to take overseas. By sunrise, they had the wagons repacked, and were setting off again for the day's travel.

This time, Link suggested that Tappor walk a bit to work at the soreness that developed from riding too long sitting still. The stocky scholar proclaimed this an acceptable idea, and he got out several times to walk along the wagon side. Up ahead, Saria, having taken the advice from Link also, was walking beside the horses. By noon, they had reached another fork in the rode. This one proclaimed that not far ahead lay the beginnings of the forest. The forest in itself was harmless if one should wander through, as long as you stayed where you could see the sun above. However, the deeper you went, the thicker the canopies became, until the sun was blocked out, and the woods became murky and quiet, devoid of any natural life. Here, the darkness was enchanted, and to become lost was to forfeit ones natural life. Anyone: Hylian, Goron, or Zoron, who wandered here became monsters, cursed creatures.

Ichiro shaded his eyes, and scanned the terrain which had become less hilly. More vegetation had started to grow the farther east they went, and several trees were scattered about: telltale signs of their approach of the forest.

The stern Chief swished the reins of his two steeds, and they went on, taking the route towards the forest that would either provide them a shortcut, or steal their lives.

*************

All were now silent, including Tappor, who sensed the danger in the still air. The wind had stopped, swallowed up by the thick forest that lay on the horizon, in a long, dark line. When they came close enough to make out individual trees on the forest outskirts, Ichiro halted them again. He turned to Saria, who realized her job. She stood up on the seat, and turned to all of them.

"Okay, now, listen up you guys. Up ahead is the forest, and deeper in is the Lost Woods. We'll all be fine as long as we stay together, and travel in a strait line..."

"That's right," Ichiro warned. "So if there's any last minute things you must do, I suggest you do them now. If you stop in the woods, you stop alone. It'll be up to you to catch up."

Saria looked at him in shock. "Um, well... Just, everybody pay attention, okay? Link and I will take the lead..." Link nodded at the unspoken request, and climbed down from his own wagon. Ichiro looked annoyed at the idea that he would have to ride with Tappor, but he was a soldier, and all personal likes or dislikes were to be ignored in such times. He trudged back and climbed up into the drivers seat of the supply wagon.

"Listen," He growled to Tappor. "Don't even try to talk to me right now, unless you want to find yourself walking behind the wagon, understand?" Tappor blinked frostily at him.

"I believe I understand the importance of this situation, Chief Ichiro. And I think it also necessary that we're able to communicate in times of need."

Ichiro muttered something under his breath, and picked up the reins. "All right!" He called. "Let's move out!"

**************

Link swished the reins along the two steeds backs, and they moved on.

"How're you doing?" He said, turning to Saria. She was getting jostled around a bit more now that the ground was becoming rocky and grassy. She turned and gave him a thumbs up.

"As well as one could expect under the situation, I guess," She responded. "It's going to be strange being so close to home, Link, don't you think?" She asked, peering forward at the foliage. Link shrugged.

"...It was never really home for me," He admitted quietly. "My childhood wasn't exactly that great." Saria turned to watch him thoughtfully for a few minutes as they rolled under the shade of the forest's first wave of trees.

"I think I understand. Children can be very cruel to those who are different. I'm just sorry I wasn't there for you to talk to... and Navi-"

"Navi?" Link interrupted. "I heard you mention her... was she a fairy?"

"She was your fairy," Saria responded. "She came to you when you were about eleven, I think..." She sighed. "That's about when you left... You stopped the evil that was spreading inside of the Great Deku Tree, though he died shortly after- It must be amazing to hear all of these things about yourself," She said, catching his look.

"Yeah," Link responded. "I never saw myself as the hero type..."

"Being a hero is a lot more than fighting monsters and saving the land," Saria chided with a slight smile. "It's also about being brave and strong and-"

"All right, all right, I get it. You really think I'm a hero, huh? I mean, maybe I ran around saving people in your time, but now I haven't done much."

"Yes you have! And besides, just because you don't remember it, doesn't mean it didn't happen. You're the same person who went out and saved Hyrule from Ganandorf, Link."

Link looked around, and shushed her. "Its starting to get quiet... I guess we should concentrate on where we're going now." Saria nodded, dropping the conversation for later, and turned to keep her eyes on the trail.

Saria pointed a tree out to Link. "See that? You carved your initials on it. Mido was really mad. As an unspoken rule, Kokiri aren't supposed to harm the trees. I wonder if you conveniently forgot that." Link peered through the slight mist, and nodded.

"I remember doing that when I was about ten or so... And you're right, Mido was pretty ticked off about it." Saria smiled.

"You can't see it, but my name's carved under yours, too. I did it so Mido couldn't really stay angry. Once he saw what I had done he couldn't very well scold you and not me."

"He had a thing for you, huh?" Link asked, and a very faint blush rose on Saria's cheeks. "Thought so. It seems like in all of your stories you're as bad as me, but you get away with a lot more." Saria laughed softly.

"Oh no, no one has ever been as bad as you Link, in or out of the forest. But I was- am, respected among the Kokiri because of my closeness to the forest itself. And I guess because Mido, our great self-proclaimed leader, was a little soft on me."

Link suddenly thought of something. "What happened to your fairy?" He asked. Saria looked startled at the change of topic.

"Oh, he's gone, back to the Great Deku Tree, I suppose. When I began to grow older, I started to wander farther and farther away from the forest... Sooner or later, he just... drifted away." Her tone was thoughtful, and sad at the same time, and Link felt bad for bringing it up.

"Sorry," He muttered. "I know how close a fairy and a Kokiri can be."

Saria nodded. "I'm surprised one of your first memories wasn't of Navi. You two became close because of all of the danger you put yourselves through. I wonder if she remembers-"

She was cut off, though, by the abrupt stop of the horses, who began to twist and try to struggle out of their reins. Link saw the fear in their dark, widened eyes, and leaned forward over the wagon to try and calm them. Their panic was sharp, and it was caught by the two horses attached to the supply wagon behind. Ichiro lunged forward to catch them before they could twist themselves up too badly. He looked up and ahead.

"What the hell's going on?" He called up to Link irately. The Royal Guard had surrounded them again in a semi-circle. Link stood up and jumped out of his seat, looking around as the horses started to calm slightly. The forest had seemed to stop in its very living, and not a leaf rustled. The air was still and thick. Suddenly, a piercing, echoing sound poured in from somewhere in the dark woods. The horses began to panic again, this time twisting until they had snapped the ropes that held them. Link lunged forward to catch the ropes, and was dragged several feet before he could stop the flight by shoving his boots into the twisted roots of a tree.

"Wolfos!" He shouted, twisting from his hold to watch the suddenly rustling bushes with widened eyes.