Thank you, Shadow Chocobo, for adding this story to your favorites and for your enthusiastic thumbs up! Yay!

And thank you to all of my reviewers. Your awesome reviews made me feel so warm and fuzzy, I worked extra hard on my studying for finals. I am not the studying type, so this is big. HUGE. As Jack Nicholson once said, "you make me want to be a better (wo)man." Or something like that.

I know it took me a little longer to update this time around, but the truth is I had 5 finals this past week, and by Friday, my brain had imploded. Every time I tried to type out this chapter, it turned out like crap. So, I took a couple days to chill and slowly piece my head back together, and then finished this. Sorry it took so long… but hopefully it was worth it.

Chapter Eight:

"Six Feet Over"

The Mordeth stood stock still in the darkness of the night. It seemed to be waiting, or watching, for something. Nothing, not even the animals of the night, made a sound. It was unnaturally silent. The creature didn't even breathe. Suddenly, the Hand of the Shadows gave a low, primordial growl. It seemed to be pleased. Then, its roar pierced the night, cutting through the stillness like a knife. It turned around, eyes glowing a bloodthirsty red as it charged—

Jennifer woke with a start, breathing heavily. She could still hear the roar ringing in her ears. She looked around. She and Eric were camped on the banks of Zora's River that flowed from the Gerudo's Valley to Lake Hylia. And there were no Mordeths to be found. Jennifer calmed herself down, taking deep breaths and swallowing hard.

The sun was just beginning to rise. Jennifer was no morning person, but after seeing the Mordeth she couldn't go back to sleep. She scrambled out of her bedroll and glanced at their dead fire. She could see her breath; it was the cold of early morning. Jennifer hastily put on breeches and her warmest jacket.

She glanced over at Eric, still fast asleep in a bedroll across the fire from hers. Jennifer blinked and thought of him. He is my Protector. That, to her, seemed weird. But she was glad for his company. After all, he was the only one who got her jokes. And he managed to smooth over the problems she created with her big mouth. He was cute, too. That certainly helped.

Jennifer sighed and started to stretch. She began practicing the hand-to-hand moves she had learned from Link in order to warm herself up. They were mostly defensive maneuvers; after all, she had a Protector who was supposed to do most of the fighting for her.

Speaking of her Protector, he himself groggily sat up and rubbed his eyes. He didn't see Jennifer in her bedroll and quickly looked around for her. He finally rested his eyes on her and relaxed. Jennifer thought that he was really taking his role seriously. Because it was fate, or for something else entirely, Jennifer wasn't sure.

"I hope I didn't wake you up," Jennifer said softly.

"No, no you didn't. I'm a morning person anyway."

Jennifer frowned.

"What?"

"Nothing. Where are you from?" she asked, tilting her head questioningly.

Eric raised a brow at the sudden question. "Uh, Los Angeles."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Jennifer smiled lopsidedly. "That's pretty cool," she said earnestly. He grinned back at her.

"What about you?"

"Oceanside." She paused. "Do you miss home?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Sometimes."

"Yeah, me, too. Especially now," Jennifer said, hint of longing in her voice. "I wonder what my sister would think of me now." Her eyes crinkled wistfully, looking blankly at their lifeless fire.

"What's her name?"

"Ashley. She's 16." Jennifer shook her head. "She's so much better than I was at that age, though. I gave Mom and Dad a lot of grief. But she's a good kid. I don't know where I went wrong." Jennifer smiled, eyes sparkling. Eric couldn't help but smile back.

"You're lucky you're the oldest. I have an older brother and sister. Scott and Melissa. They've both graduated from college already."

"Wow. You're the baby," Jennifer teased.

"Yeah, well, not anymore. Scott's married off and everything. I have a little nephew, Jake. He's the baby," he trailed off, voice full of love. Jennifer didn't know exactly why, but she was positive he must be the best uncle in the world.

"I wouldn't be so sure," she said cheekily. Eric smiled indulgently and took out his sword to practice with.

As Jennifer relit the fire, she watched Eric execute some intricate maneuvers with his sword. He really was quite graceful, and looking at him Jennifer was glad Destiny had chosen Eric.

----------

They packed up and saddled Chez and Fae. Jennifer and Eric started following river down, keeping its banks in sight as they walked the horses through the trees. Nabooru told them that this was the best route to get to Kokiri Forest. She said to follow Zora's River to Lake Hylia and then turn east. It was the long way around, but they didn't have much choice if they wanted to avoid the Hands.

They emerged from the forest near a large castle. The water of the lake was beautiful and clear, the sun glinting off the water surrounded on all sides by a sheer cliff face. The lake had an island in the middle, connected by a long bridge to a smaller island and then to the mainland near the castle. Jennifer stared out along the lake's blue expanse. The city girl in Jennifer gazed in awe at how beautiful and natural everything was.

It was getting late and they decided to stop there for the night. They tethered Chez and Faedra to a tree and unsaddled them. Chez whinnied happily as Jennifer rubbed him down, and Eric began to set up camp.

As Eric went in search of firewood, Jennifer stripped and jumped into the clear water of the lake. The cool water sent shivers up her spine, but Jennifer didn't mind. She swam around for a while, feeling the dirt and troubles slide off.

"I'm on my way back," Eric called.

"Alright, just a sec," Jennifer said, before sliding out of the water and into some clothes. Eric walked up with a bundle of wood in his arms and began to set up a fire. Jennifer shivered happily as she sat by the fire wrapped in her blanket.

"Cold?" Eric asked, misinterpreting her shiver.

"No, I'm cool."

"No, I'm cool. You're okay."

Jennifer smiled at him. He was so cute.

Abruptly, she tensed up. Her senses were screaming that something wasn't right.

"What? What is it?" Eric asked, concerned.

"Something's… weird…" Jennifer said distractedly. She stood up, looking around. She spotted Chez and Faedra shifting uncomfortably tied to the tree. That does it, Jennifer thought, animals always know when something's wrong.

Eric slowly stood up next to her. Jennifer was acting strange, but he didn't sense anything wrong like she seemed to. He thought that they would be safe near the lake. He wouldn't have stopped here if he didn't think that.

Suddenly, they heard a low growl. Eric rushed for his sword as Jennifer turned towards the gap that separated Lake Hylia from the Field. A Mordeth stood there menacingly, eyes glowing with bloodlust.

The creature charged as Eric ran back to Jennifer's side, sword in hand. He immediately put himself between the monster and Jennifer, preparing for its assault. As the Mordeth reached Eric, it pulled out a flaming sword and struck. The sword had come from nothing; it was an extension of the Hand's thick arm. Eric wasn't expecting this and scrambled to block its attack. The Mordeth's sword spit fire as it collided with Eric's. Jennifer watched this with horror and ran back to Chez to pull out her bow and arrows from her saddlebag. She cursed; she shouldn't have stood frozen while Eric battled the monster. She took her bow in shaking fingers and forced herself to relax. She didn't want to be so nervous as to hit Eric.

Jennifer took a deep breath and felt suddenly calmer. She had to do this to save her and Eric's lives. She strung the bow quickly and notched an arrow.

Eric and the Mordeth exchanged blows. The creature was nearly twice as tall and twice as wide as Eric, and so had a height and strength advantage. But because Eric was much smaller, he was also much quicker, and he managed to dodge most of the creature's strikes. He rolled between the Mordeth's legs and Jennifer took the opportunity to bury an arrow in the creature's torso. She quickly notched another arrow, only to look up and witness the Mordeth swing its arms in frustration as Eric dug his sword in the creature's back.

But this still didn't kill the creature. Eric's sword was still buried into the Mordeth's back as it swung around angrily and struck Eric in the chest with its free fist. Jennifer watched as Eric flew backwards and landed on his back. He didn't get back up again.

The Mordeth smiled, satisfied, and started making its way over to Eric, who had begun to stir. But Eric didn't have a weapon; his sword was still in the creature's backside. Hoping to distract it, Jennifer loosed another arrow, hitting the Mordeth's shoulder. It howled in pain before turning to Jennifer. Recognition blazed in its eyes. It shuffled wildly over to her as she shot it twice more, nearly missing both times, her hands were shaking so much. Eric crawled to his feet and scrambled over to the Mordeth. Jennifer continued to distract it, but it was now too close to shoot. She pulled out a dagger and threw it at the creature, who stuck its sword in front of his face to deflect the knife.

Jennifer turned to grab another dagger, but the Mordeth was too close. It grabbed her by the throat and held her up with satisfaction plastered to its face.

"The Key," it whispered maniacally, as Eric approached from behind.

In one fluid motion, Eric pulled out his sword from the creature and shoved it back in so forcefully that it pierced through the other side. The Mordeth looked down as its vile, dark blood spilled to the ground. It dropped Jennifer and crumpled over. Jennifer turned and vomited as the creature writhed horribly and died.

Before Eric could pull out his blood-soaked sword, the Mordeth turned to ash and disappeared into the Sacred Realms. Eric's sword clanked to the ground, but he didn't give it a second thought. He kneeled over Jennifer as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked anxiously.

She nodded quickly and noticed that Eric looked pale and sweat-soaked. They were both pale and sweat-soaked.

"Are you alright?" she said.

"Yeah, I'm cool," he said and smiled, still catching his breath.

He straightened up and winced.

"Hey, are you sure?" Jennifer asked, concerned.

"Yeah." But when he leaned over to pick up his sword he winced again.

Jennifer stood up and said, "Okay, I saw that. Where does it hurt?" She led him over to the fire and sat him down. He pointed to his stomach.

Jennifer made him lean back as she pulled up his shirt. There was a large round bruise above his abdomen, where the Mordeth punched him. The bruise was a sickly purple about the size of his head. The line between Jennifer's brows deepened.

"Is your breathing okay?" she asked. She didn't know much about medicine, but she had broken enough bones to know that it hurt like a bitch to do the simplest things.

"Yeah, mostly," he murmured, surprised that she didn't even bat an eye as she pressed on his chest to check for broken bones. He knew that if he had to press on her chest he would be blushing furiously, but Jennifer was all business.

She scowled at his response. He was doing the guy thing, not admitting how much pain he was really in. Eric had managed to hide his hurt when Jennifer touched his bruise pretty well, but she wasn't convinced. She felt the bones of his rib cage. There. Eric sucked his breath in painfully.

"I think something's broken," she said worriedly, glad for her crash course on first aid from Impa. "Just stay here."

She sighed and went to grab a bottle of healing potion the apothecary had given her. They had a limited supply, so she made Eric drink only enough to repair the bone. By morning, he should be back to normal. He sputtered about wasting the potion but Jennifer insisted. He wasn't going to pull that 'I'm cool' stuff on her. She couldn't stand the thought of him being in pain.

The bruise faded slightly as Jennifer went to put the potion away. Eric tucked his shirt back in and picked up his sword to clean it. He ran a cloth up and down the blade silently as Jennifer relit the fire and sat across from him.

Jennifer thought about the fight. Eric didn't hesitate at all in putting himself between her and the Mordeth. She should have been quicker to act; she should have done something instead of standing around like a useless chit.

"Jen?" Eric said quietly. "Thanks for saving me."

Jennifer looked up, startled.

"Eric, you saved me."

He smiled softly.

"So we're even."

I hope my first fight scene went pretty well. I tried my best. Yea or nay? Let me know.

Yes, Chocobo (awesome name), I have read Sabriel, but I didn't really notice my Hands were similar to those ones until now. I guess I can't help but be inspired by brilliant works. The reason I named them Hands was because 1) I'm not very creative with names (Shadows? Protector? Powers? Insert eye roll here) and 2) their purpose is to serve the Shadows, be their minions, their hands, so to speak. So now you know. ;)

Anyhoo, don't forget to review! I love you all!

Over and out,

BB