Chapter V A Big Crush (And A Small Battle)
As Lance made his way to the shore from the tunnel he caught sight of his reflection in the lake. He wasn't the tall skinny kid he used to be. Now, fourteen, he had build and he'd finally stopped growing.
"Enjoying that reflection, Mr. Narcissus?" A voice came from behind him. It was Princess Mandy. Lance turned around. She looked older as well; fair yet still the same old tomboy. She held a fishing rod in one hand and a jar containing a fish in the other. She ran up and hugged him, picking her feet up and forcing Lance to hold her up. This was slightly different from their last greeting.
When she finally let him go Lance sputtered, "Princess Mandy, This…"
"Oh you don't have to call me princess any more, we're friends right?" Mandy sighed.
"Oh okay," Lance answered surprised, "But I thought you said… Oh, never mind. Um, this is Navi my fairy," Lance introduced Navi to Mandy.
"Here, hold on, I've got something to show you!" Mandy said, then brought out her ocarina. It looked very old and worn, but that made it kind of special. She played a song and a strong horse ran up to them. When it reached them it skillfully slowed into a walk and stopped. Lance was impressed.
"Lance, this is my horse Dandy." Mandy introduced. Lance smiled and stroked Dandy's mane.
"Clover, my first horse, couldn't be with us so she's with my friend, Jimmy and he did this and now he's like blah, blah blah blah, like blah blah…." Mandy went on and on about some guy and her horse and how he's doing this for her and such. Lance sort of turned his ears off. While Mandy blabbed on and on about clovers or something, Lance was reminded of Carnation. He was fourteen now, right? And Mandy was about thirteen. She has two horses and rides them both. He came up with the conclusion that: I'm ready to ride! He thought to himself.
"HELLLOOOO?" A giant orb of glowing light flashed in his face.
"Ahhhh!" Lance screamed and fell back into the water behind him. He swam to shore, finally turning his ears back on.
"Did you hear a word I said?" Mandy wondered out loud. Lance tried to think of something to say but Mandy quickly filled the space, "Lance, this is Ritl my fairy."
The orb flew up to Lance again, "Greetings, Hyland. I-COME-IN-PEACE." This fairy is weird, Lance thought. And Lance thought right. Ritl spotted Navi.
Ritl zoomed over to Navi, "What are you looking at?" Ritl challenged, "Oh, you think your so strong? Huh? Is that it? Huh? Huh? Well, BRING IT ON!" Ritl said clenched her fists and began punching the air, bobbing back and forth. Navi just looked at her with one of those looks. (The one that says, "Get away from me, freak!")
"You have serious issues," Navi managed.
Suddenly Ritl dropped the whole "boxing thing" and smiled, "Yup, that's me, Serious Issues!" Navi just stared in awe. Was this fairy for real? Sadly, the answer is yes.
Lance and Mandy had been talking about what they had done over the past two years and were now headed towards Lon Lon for Carnation.
Ritl noticed this and shouted after Mandy, "HEY! Cindy! I mean BRITTANI! Or uh… HEY YOU! Yeah, that's it, HEY YOU! WAIT FOR ME!" Both fairies quickly flew off in their direction, constantly banging into each other as Ritl flew off course.
As they walked southbound, Mandy managed to slip her hand into his. Mandy was totally crushing. Lance was oblivious but Navi saw it all. She saw the same thing happen to Link and Zelda. And what happened there? Link left her for some—girl! This couldn't happen again, Navi could just see history repeating its self! So, Navi didn't say anything. Navi noted that Lance didn't like Mandy, Or at least not yet. This was good.
On the way to the ranch, Mandy explained more about her ranch at home. Her ranch was called the Lucky Four Ranch. It's called Lucky Four because it has many clovers there. Mandy also explained meeting Jimmy and temporarily trading Clover for Dandy again, remembering his inattentiveness earlier.
Next, Lance explained about how he had taken swimming lessons and getting the Kokiri Emerald and the Zora Sapphire in order to defeat Lena.
"Wow, you're going to beat Lena?" Mandy questioned amazed as the made their way through the entrance of the ranch. "I haven't even, whoa—" Mandy stopped and let go of Lance's hand. Good, Navi thought.
But Mandy continued, "Are you sure this is the ranch you were talking about?" Lance looked up and his constant smile slipped off his face. They weren't in the right place. There were strange people patrolling and innocent horses being beaten and forced to work. The people were all women and had red hair and tanned skin classifying them as Gerudo. This was Lena's people. Lance quickly spotted Carnation. But there was no way to get to her. She was heavily guarded. He looked around for Emily, Malon, and Talon…or even Indigo! When Lance had given up on looking for them, he motioned for Mandy, Ritl, and Navi to be quiet. The must have gotten the message because they all shut up. Mandy let Dandy off back to Lucky four and they all crept into the barn on the right, the same barn two years ago where Lance learned how to milk a cow.
When they tip toed in side they saw the cows, but Lance could tell they hadn't been milked in a while. Lance sidled the wall until he turned the corner to see that bars had been built in against one wall. And who was in the jail? None but Emily, Malon, and Indigo. Lance could see Indigo with his hands clutching the bars trying to move them.
He shouted, "I'M ON YOUR SIDE! DON'T YOU REMEMBER? LET ME JOIN YOU! I'M ON YOUR SIDE!" When Ritl heard all this racket she shouted right back at him, even though his shouting was clearly directed towards the Gerudo.
"SHUT UP YOU BIG BUFFOON! WE'RE TRYING TO SNEAK IN AND SAVE YOU GUYS!" Ritl shouted. Smooth. They found them selves added to the small cell. As they were thrown in Lance was carelessly dropped to the floor where he hit his head on the hard stone wall. Lance was knocked unconscious. For a moment, Lance was eight years old again. His parents were tucking him in to bed. Link straightened out his sheets. Zelda leaned over him with a confused look on her face, then she grabbed him by the shoulders and began shaking him fervently.
"Lance! Can you hear me? Lance?" Her voice sounded urgent, and far from her own.
"Lance! Wake up, Lance!" another voice joined in.
"Duuuuuude… what's wrong with him?" a much higher pitched voice asked finally waking him up. Three beautiful girls and two fairies gazed down at him.
"Am I still dreaming?" Lance joked.
"EWWWW!" shouted Ritl in disgust.
"You wish," came from Malon and Emily nodded in agreement but all the while smiling. Mandy just stared at him, her heart melted. Lance looked at her too. He didn't quite see her the way she saw him. Lance had to admit, she was pretty. But she just wasn't his type, or was she?
"Heloooo?" this time Navi had something to say, "Back to Hyrule, people!" Instantly, Mandy snapped out of it, but Lance kept looking.
"Lance, did you hear me?" Navi asked in an almost angrey voice. Lance broke his stare and looked at Navi now.
"What do you care?" Lance asked knowing exactly why Navi stopped him from staring.
"Hush up, you," One of the guards mumbled as she slumped to the floor, slowly falling asleep.
Lance walked over to Malon and wrote in the sand on the floor, Where's Talon? Malon couldn't answer, she just looked away and Emily hugged her. Lance got the message.
Together they stayed in the cell for hours waiting for the guard to fall into a deep sleep allowing them to sneak out. Mandy had already crafted a key out of a hair clip that she found in her bag and was making perfections. Indigo, alone, sat on a crate in the corner dozing off. Malon and Emily sat in the back leaning on one another, mourning the death of their weird, yet beloved Talon. Lance paced, trying to think up an escape plan, while Navi sat on a clump of hay and sulked.
Finally the loud snoring of the Gerudo filled the barn and they began their escape. Mandy skillfully unlocked the cell, she later explained that she'd had plently of pactice at home. They creeped around the the sleeping Gerudo and made their way out of the barn. Indigo who had tagged along began complaining about his knee hurting, so Mandy and Ritl waited outside with him while Lance, Navi, Emily, and Malon went back for Carnation.
She wasn't hard to find, luckily she was the horse closest to the exit and loosely tied. At the sight of Carnation, Emily quickly ran towards her. As she reached the horse, she tripped on a discarded stick, but catching herself on the young horse. The startled Carnation gave a soft whinny in surprise. Lance silently prayed that no one heard. But his prayers were not answered. Malon and Emily untied Cartation as fast as they could while Lance stood guard.
Lance akwardly held his sword, he still didn't know how to use it properly. A young Gerudo that had heard the stirring Carnation was woken. Out of nowhere, the Gerudo ran forward striking at Lance. Her two lond curved swords slashed at his middle. Just when it seemed Lance was a gonner for his slow reactions, Mandy jumped in. Mandy pushed Lance aside and easily blocked every swing and using the same technique she used on Lance, pinned the poor Gerudo to the ground.
"I…I…I'm…" the Gerudo studdered.
"You what?" Mandy spat. Out of nowhere, the Gerudo pushed Mandy's sword out of the way and flung her back, reversing the situation. Mandy gasped.
"Impressed," the Gerudo finished. Lance stood there like an idiot whatching his friend struggle, not knowing what to do. On the other side Malon and Emily struggled with an extra big knot. The Gerudo as if changing her mind, sighed and let Mandy go, letting her sword fall to her side, and helping Mandy stand back up.
"You're good," the Gerudo continued, "You deserve to escape, I only request that you let me come with you, and learn the ways of your people," she finished looking Mandy in the eye.
"Sure," Mandy replied, "My name is Mandy,"
"And I am Leyla, I am—"
"Guys? A little help here?" Emily asked through gritted teeth as she, Malon, and now Lance all struggled through this certain knot.
"We'll finish introductions later," Mandy concluded. As they tugged and pulled at the knot, Carnation grew restless and stamped her hoofs in frustration.
"Shh," Leyla hushed, "Do any of you know any soothing music they could hum, or sing?"
Emily spoke up, "Lance! Can you sing Epona's Song? I'm much too stressed to do it myself, and I know you know it!" With out thinking, Lance quickly dropped his bad and suffled through it and pulled out his ocarina. Easily matching the notes on his ocarina to the words of the song, Lance softly played Epona's Song. The song instantly soothed Carnation and she settled down. Minutes later, Carnation was free and they all hitailed it out of the hostage Lon Lon Ranch. Lance decided he would defeat Lena, and all her little friends. He would save all those innocent horses back at Lon Lon. And (maybe) go back home?
They all bravely ran off out in the direction of Kakario Village, the village just to the left of the Kokiri Forest. (How did he miss this before?) All the while, they quickly made introductions for Leyla and congratulated each other on their acomplishments.
Two stones all ready, maybe Lena wasn't so far away after all…