Lost in the Death

by Greki

Won't be finished. Check profile.

6. Past dwellers and starting battles

AN: I've decided… I will not read anymore fics aside from those that I've been looking for, which they too update not too soon, I'm off at concentrating on the story, if not, it would more likely take from two to three months to update. So I'll write and write and write, unless a writer's block appear… (sigh)

Actually, that is one of the reasons I did not update frequently in the past, I cut my inspiration abruptly whenever I began to write a new chap of either my stories. As I alternated them to write, I got to cut my inspiration on one of the stories and force it to the other, that's why I decided to suspend my other story… that reminds me, if you like Chrono Cross, please, if you wish, have a quick look on it!

If you have problems with the timing in the scenes, please make me know so I can explain it to you, just read for the descriptions and you'll now when is held every scene, not all the scenes are the same day. Oh, and excuse any possible OOC that might appear, it's quite difficult to know how a character is when it is on a video game…

But well, on with the story…

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The training grounds were a vast stage of flat rocks surrounded by the hot desert. Several types of convex blades were positioned in a small open armory, made out of the same material as the stage. There were from the traditional scimitars, to the all-murderous khopeshs (a sickle-like blade where the spine of the weapon was heavier than those ofmost swords). The Gerudos choose mostly curved, single-edged blades because their fighting style was adapted to them, it would be dangerous if they used other types of blades, unless if it was a spear.

No one aside from the Gerudo knew of the training grounds' location. It was at the backside of the Gerudo Fortress, which only those being part of the bloodline in the proud family could enter it. Not even with a membership card, people were allowed to enter, just the truthful had such luxury.

It was midst day when a pair of women were having a heated spar in the arena. They headed straight for each other exchanging blows with the powerful weapons, each using a different type. Yes, as flippantly as it may sound, those warriors choose real weapons for sparring as it allowed their skills to reach their limits, and also, to have more control.

The woman to the right, with long hair and onyx-eyes, better known as Mina, was using a pair of scimitars, being her favorite weapon. She was concentrated on her target, the last member of that trio from the previousnight, which had short reddish, somewhat orange, hair, and amber eyes. Her skin was even more considerably brown than her two companions, and her looks were those of a rough.

Unlike her acquaintance, she did not have the reddish outfit, which Mina used for being of a higher rank (being the fourth in command after Ganondorf, Nabooru and Aveil –who was currently on a mission-), nor the purplish-whitish outfit, which Yàsté -the woman from the kitchen- used for being the chef in charge. Instead, she held a white one, assigning to her that she was one of the elite force. She had a pair of shamshirs (a pair of thick bladed, large weapon with a distinctive curved-back hilt).

Currently both were in a neutral position, the classic style.

The right arm atop the head was in a curved position, the blade waiting patiently for the attack, being pointed towards the opponent. The left arm being held in a defensive manner on front of their bodies, the blade crossing the lower part of the body, to the height of the knees. Their upper half of the body, facing to the right in a somewhat twisted pose. Their backs straight but lightly leaned forward.

Their legs, facing the front, standing separately from one another. The left one in the front, and the foot facing in the knee's direction, the right one in the back, the foot facing a forty five degrees direction from the front. Both evenly flexed, to keep the proper balance.

One of the characteristic in the Gerudo's fighting technique was on always standing in the same guard, unless your were to fight in a second grade combat, or in the worse case, a third grade, which was only used in wars, or in a battle with various opponents at a time.

Some minutes passed with both still. The wind was blowing softly carrying the sand to the center of the arena; their hair flew with it. Both were carefully watching the other one, seeing the brownie skin soaked with sweat from the hot sun.

With a flash, they both started.

They did the same pattern, as if in a ritual, each starting with a displacement to their respective rights. Crossing the left leg in front of the other one and then returning to its original position, with amazing ability, the upper half of their bodies seemed unaffected by the continuous movement. Always in the same order.

After surrounding each other for some time, and getting close enough, they attacked. Each one making the same movements. Running three steps forward, starting with the right, and at the fourth -once again on the left guard-, they attacked diagonally from the right using their upper hand.

With the motion of it, the defensive hand shouted to their backs at the same time of the given attack, giving a kind of positive/negative retrenchment between the two forces.

Both blades intercepted forcefully, the rough Gerudo having the advantage of strength and a larger weapon, but Mina had a thicker blade, and her ability was useful in that hit. Both attacks were equal with power, which resulted in bouncing back, but as their reflexes controlled them, they leaped backwards (about five feet from the point where their attacks met), putting their swords above their heads to prevent from cutting themselves.

Immediately after that, they stood on guard once again, but as they knew, another assault could be made so they quickly went to a self-protective position -their style was designed so that no risks could be taken-.

The upper blade shouted across their face, protecting it from the oncoming attacks, the lower blade making its part by shielding the mid part. They were flexed almost to the floor, in a curved posture.

After they took an assuring moment they returned to the standing guard.

The ritual continued, as if they were a mirror. Every once in a while instead of taking the three steps forward, they somersaulted for a greater speed and distance length.

If you had ever encountered a Wolfos, by seeing this combat, you'd be surprised.

Their movements were the same as those of a Wolfos, except for that the guard that the Wolfos used was the right one, so they could attack with both, their left and right claws. But the Gerudos improved their mistake of putting too much force into the attack, which often resulted, as a consequence, in turning their backs to their opponents without so much of a choice, receiving the fatal wound that ended with their lives.

The Gerudos copied the fighting style of these creatures because it was effective, but they corrected and adapted it so it would become a fierce weapon that had evolved and perfected through time.

Even thought they remained with some useful moves as their original, the defensive position and backwards leap being an example of it.

Returning to the combat, they've realized that it was time to use the Gerudo's trademark move. A very complicated move that needed years for mastering it completely.

They both leaned backwards, their front leg became entirely straightened, with the tip of the shoe ceasing to touch the floor, instead pointing upwards, so the weight rested on the ankle. Their rear leg went the most contracted possible, the knee facing a forty-five degrees direction. Their higher blade became stiffened, reading the attack, getting closer to the body, the same time of movement occurred for the shielding weapon, but according to its proper function.

It took one second for the pose to be ready. When that happened, both propelled themselves to the air, and forward by using the ankle of their left leg, and the right leg as propulsion. Consecutively both, their arms opened to give enough space for the attack.

Once in the air, their body rotated in their own axis, their legs were flexed to keep an equilibrium within the force. The offensive blade, having the most concentration of energy, pierced through the air, and the defensive blade acted as a negative force to keep the proper direction, albeit also attacking, but from a lower height. They were extended, following the course of the bodies' sides.

When they landed, both attacks intercepted in a way much likely from the normal assail, the defensive blade going to the back, and the attacking blade connecting diagonally to the other one in mutual cases. They had landed in a bended position but with the same leg's posture as the standing guard.

Even thought, from the tremendous force of the attack, they were thrown aback.

Grunting with pain, they got up after a few moments.

This time they would try a second grade combat. Their eyes intersected, each seeking the approval of the other one.

They had it.

Now their style would change into a pretty much-personalized way, with unexpected attacks and postures. Reinforcing their guards, and putting more strength and ability to each assault, without mercy.

Mina opted for the cat-like technique, her blades and head remained the same (thought theswords a little tightened perhaps), unlike the rest of her body. Her upper half was facing the front; she was completely straight. She had the left guard still on, but the position of her legs deviated. The hind leg was flexed the most possible that her body allowed her, the knee's direction was to her front, and the foot to a forty-five degrees. The front leg had too the knee bended obverse to the front, thought the shin was at a same line than the foot, which just had the toes placed firmly on the floor.

It may be an odd position, but it was one of the most effective ones. It may not seem as such but it did take great amounts of force to display it.

Shemsara -the short haired, amber-eyed woman-, took a much simpler form. Her left side was facing Mina (her body was rotated to her right), her legs were stretched, and the feet followed the direction of her body. The left arm was extended, the sword pointing to the long, red-haired. The right arm was curved to her chest (a little separated perhaps), the sword pointing upwards and lightly forward.

Each posture proved to be a reflection of their personalities, experiences and styles.

Once again they stopped for a brief moment to study each other's guard. Their analytic warrior's minds were searching for any weakness, any mistake committed that was oblivious (or perhaps obvious) to their opponent. It was an act that involved an unconscious state too for having a better visage.

They were almost like ten or eleven feet apart, a perfect radius for Mina's next attack.

Even thought her opponent was far away, she gave a quick vertical attack with her right hand, while doing so she gave a step. Then she gave another attack the same way, this time with her left.

She was giving a combo of several attacks of the same type, alternating the attacking hand within each step taken. It took one or two seconds to she reach her opponent, which, upon seeing the oncoming assault, prepared to intercept.

One of Mina's blade met with Shemsara's defending one, then another attack went, forcing the short haired to step back and use the attacking blade too. They continued like that until Shemsara, while blocking with the left hand, gave a horizontal slice. Mina had to block it with her left hand, she then back-flipped.

Already expecting that, Shemsara leaped forwards, crossing both swords. When Mina was about to land, she uncrossed them, giving a quick attack.

Mina, upon seeing this, made something unexpected. She rotated herself even quicker in the air and then gave a kind of spin (much like the Gerudo's, but slightly different) that helped her to maintain one more second in the air.

The crossed attack failed, Shemsara passed from below the onyx-eyed Gerudo. That is when she landed, and both gave speedy turns, thrusting a horizontal hit.

They intercepted once again, but weren't satisfied with that. With their defensive blades they tried to apply more force to the already attacking blade. They kind of had them crossed and pushed back, with the intention for the other one to fall.

Shemsara, having greater strength, pushed aback Mina. She, to prevent falling, leaped forwards through the air above Shemsara's head. She, in turn, opted for a direct thrust, which she gave with her left hand. Mina, graciously, landed on the blade.

Seeing that, without retiring the sword,she gave a horizontal slice to Mina's legs, with her right hand. Mina jumped forwards, avoiding the attack, giving a turn in the air. Shemsara rotated her body in her own axis and tried now with both weapons to cut the rolling Mina.

Mina held her weapons in front of her, protecting herself. When she landed, she turned to face Shemsara and gave a frontal thrust with both arms.

Shemsara stepped back, held her left blade to deviate Mina's right, and she used her right sword to block Mina's left one (she stood now in a position very much alike to her initial, second grade's guard).

Mina quickly retreated to a safer distance.

It was Shemsara's turn to begin the assault. She gave another horizontal slice with her right arm. Meanwhile Mina gave a slice backwards and stood in the same posture of her second grade's guard, but she crossed her left arm over her right shoulder and used her right one to block the attack.

It proved useful, immediately she sliced her feet so her left side was facing Shemsara (like Shemsara's previous guard), and the left blade went to attack her opponent's neck, the right blade went, extended, to her right side for the motion.

Shemsara used the same type of backwards slice –maintaining her left guard-. Her position was similar to Mina's previous one, except that her legs were straightened out. She made a defense, by crossing her left (deviating the attack) to below the right one; the blade was facing now the back. The right blade was pointing upwards, as was the arm -it stood just above the shoulder, the elbow facing to the right-.

"Nice," Mina smirked.

"You're not bad either," Shemsara smirked too.

And both charged.

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Lost in the Death

"When the Darkness within our self"
"Attempt to got out"
"We only fall into our thoughts"
"And we'll never get back into the Light"
"Just then, is when… we're really dead."

"But…is death all that bad?"

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Chapter 6:
Past dwellers and starting battles

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Sometimes blue and green did not seem to fit at all, that Ruto knew.

They had tried several of Saria's outfits, but none of them had completely crammed their satisfactory box, they just didn't fit the young amphibian princess. It could be too small or too big, too short or too long, perchance light green or forest green, but none seemed to get accord with Ruto's expectations of a good disguise.

If they had once hoped that it would work, now they seemed as not.

First off, to begin with the disguise session they had to clean up the place. It took some long-hard-working hours, but they managed to do it.

It was not an easy task, of course (they had taken several bumps in the meanwhile because Saria's house had some trinkets that were small enough to trip on them and not see them), but they did it.

"First off, we have to clean up this mess," Ruto noted, taking a quick look around. She placed the cup of tea into the small table, and stood up, calculating where to start. Saria took a quick swipe of her tea to finish it up and placed it down as well.

"Then we have a lot of work to do," Saria didn't stand, she just glanced around making a small show of displeasure as she thought of all the things that had to be done. "Almost all the house is messed up, I just think that my underwear's ordered."

"That's a relief!" Ruto exhaled. "Not to offend, but I wouldn't want to encounter… lets put it like this, your… privates?"

Saria smiled. "It's not an offense, I wouldn't want it either… I mean, as you said it, it's part of my… private side," Saria let out a small chuckle suddenly, Ruto looked at her confused.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked. Saria turned to look at her, then at the room.

"It's funny how from a normal conversation we turned to talk about privates," Saria responded, letting out another small chuckle. "Ah… but enough of that, we've got work to do!"

As she said that, she headed for the center of the room the way she could. Ruto closely followed her, knowing that it was going to be a long night.

And indeed it was.

Second, Ruto helped Saria to choose the appropriate equipment for the travel, it consisted in mostly clothes, a comb and some of Saria's useful stuff (at least for her), which included a game of cards in there –Saria said that it could come quite handy if bored-. They've got some food too, just in case.

"So, what do we have to do?" Saria asked, obviously bewildered at to what to pick up.

"First, you must take clothes," Ruto alleged in an experienced air. "Clothes are the most important in a journey… of course that is if you don't want to stay always in the same clothes."

Saria paused, musing. No, she didn't want to stay in the same clothes for so long, she didn't like to be filthy. So she pulled out some other outfits identical to the one she had already on.

"A great amount of variation, I see," Ruto whispered, blinking and with a small tone of sarcasm. Seeing as Saria housed properly her clothes in a small knapsack, she continued, "Second, you have to take what you think will be helpful."

Saria thought for a second. Of most use?

An idea popped into her head. Smiling she went to her vanity, she opened it and searched for something. Ruto just waited next to the table, where the knapsack was on. She gazed curious at Saria's doing.

Finally Saria took out something squared and a comb. "What's that?" Ruto inquired, trying to get a glimpse on the squared thing's contents.

"Cards!" Saria responded with an enlarged grin. She went to the knapsack and put the tiny package on it.

"Cards!" Ruto asked, utterly puzzled. "What for?"

"What if we get bored?" Saria returned her question with her own, with her grin growing wither. Ruto didn't have the time to respond as she continued, "I discovered that cards can be an insurance of well-entertainment. Link and I used to play with them often, when we had nothing to do, or, rather, when it was raining!"

As funny as it may sound Ruto had to admit, Saria got a point.

"Ok," she sighed, defeated. "What else?"

Saria looked thoughtful for a moment, then she gazed at her. "I don't know."

"Maybe we should get some food?" she suggested after a moment. Ruto shook her head, "Nah, the castle guards will probably package some food."

"Well… just in case!"

Ruto sighed, "Ok…"

Saria headed for the kitchen, she took some food and stored it in another pack. Meanwhile doing so she called, inquisitively, at the young princess, "Ruto?"

"Yes?" the amphibian sage asked absently.

"How did you know what to pack, if you don't even wear clothes and you, Zoras, travel in the water?"

"That is… my secret," Ruto giggled. "But better known as common sense."

Once done with the packing, they began to try to find a suitable outfit for the young princess, yet it looked now as a total failure.

Saria walked up to her closet, now close to be empty. She took the last green kokirish dress (in fact the Kokiris had various types of outfits, but they seemed to have a choice for a very particular kind), it seemed slightly old, but it mattered not. She handed it to Ruto, who went behind a cupboard to put it on.

"It doesn't fit," Ruto said, "it's too small."

Saria sighed, "What are you searching for, princess? You've already tried everything on!"

Ruto appeared from behind the cupboard, seemingly disappointed. The dress was on her right arm, she looked at it kind of worried.

"It's just that even with these, my father's men will notice me," she returned the dress to its owner.

"I know… but I think a cloak will be more suspicious," Saria answered putting the dress down the bed, which was filled with more green clothes. She then walked up to the kitchen and prepared another pair of teacups.

Ruto walked to sit on the table, she was relieved that now she didn't have to fight her way to it. She sat stifling a yawn sleep was already gaining control. She was worn-out from the stress of the day before, and the sun was close to rise. She has not slept a bit, so it was natural her fatigue.

But Saria seemed not to bother at all, possibly owing to her eternal youth.

The fairly sound of the instruments being played outside did not flatter even this late, they held all the joy that just children could produce. She was stuck in awe at such ritual to pray blessings for the Sage's departure.

Now that she thought of it, she wondered how Saria managed to explain the Kokiris of what happened to Link. She voiced her thoughts.

"How did you tell them?" Ruto suddenly burst out.

Saria looked startled, she turned to face the young princess.

"Care to explain?" she arched an eyebrow, "what do you mean by that?"

"You know, them, the Kokiris."

A sudden hit of realization came forward to Saria, Ruto tried to know how she did told them about Link's death.

"Ah, you mean how I told them…" Saria looked abashed. "It was everything but easy."

Saria just returned from talking to the Great Deku Tree, she had explained what she learned from the situation and what she was going to do, along with the other Sages. The Great Deku Tree seemed knowingly, he asked a certain degree of discretion towards the other children, who might not understand well enough what happened to Link.

Saria knew perfectly that just Mido, who was the oldest aside of her, would understand. She decided first try to explain the circle of outer life.

"What do you mean by having children?" one of the girls asked, her eyes sparkling with inquisitiveness and naiveté.

Ah, hard question. Saria couldn't explain about the sexual-reproductive life, she wasn't part of that kind of behavior (being a Kokiri). She didn't understand fully about those aspects, but knew enough than crucial.

"For now… that's not necessary," Saria responded, sweating. "Well… another part of the mortal life is… the death."

Mido raised an eyebrow at that, he was wondering why Saria was explaining all those things to the younger Kokiris, he suspected that something was wrong.

"Like what happens to us if we leave the forest?" one of the boys asked.

Saria sighed, "Yes and no… we are bounded to the forest so, because of that, we cannot die, but if we leave the forest, our… energy source will become… empty. If we stay long enough away from the forest, we'll just become mortals."

"So what do you mean exactly?"

Another hard question. She had to do it, it was now or never.

"You remember Link?" she asked gazing around. She received some nods from everyone, "You know that he's a Hylian right?" she received more nods. "Well… the case is… that Link's… dead…"

Everyone gasped, some girls started to sob. Mido looked shocked.

"No, no… W-wait! Don't cry!" Saria pleaded hurriedly. "He's not totally dead! I…-we can save him!"

The sobs quieted somewhat, albeit hesitantly. "Y-you… m-mean… it?" a girl asked with a little hope.

Saria nodded solemnly, "Yes I do, but… for that… I must go… for a while, thought."

The children seemed to understand; somehow, they sensed that it had to do with her being a Sage. Mido stepped further, gravely he stated, "We do wish the best for your journey, Sage of Forest."

Ruto was shocked when she heard that. "You really mean that he didn't act like a fool? That he actually agreed?"

Saria looked thoughtful at her, she held a cup of tea to her companion. "As strange as it sounds, yes."

"I can't believe it!" Ruto squealed.

"Me neither."

"Well… what about the ceremony-ritual thing?" Ruto wondered, curious like a cat.

"Just to wish me luck, and to have something to clear up my mind… before we start," Saria took a quick sip and continued, "Thought usually one's in the ritual for them…"

"Oh… I'm sorry to have interrupted you! I-…" Ruto apologized, ashamed, knowing well that it was her fault.

"Don't worry, after all, you've got me some quite useful help there," the green-eyed pointed towards the small knapsack.

Ruto just smiled. After some minutes of silence she held a frown. "But what about my… cover?"

Saria smiled mischievously.

"Don't worry, I've thought of something that might help."

---

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The eerie hot breeze flew to the brownish fur that belonged to the pair of stallions, which so happened to be pulling a cart, Lon Lon Ranch's cart. A pair of people sat there, enjoying the warm sun as they made their way through the castle, two big smiles adorned their features. Indeed it was a fine day.

Malon let the loose breeze to caress her face as she hummed her distinguishing song to the mild horses. She was slackly tired from the hard labors she had done, but felt refreshed at even the sole thought of the nice ride.

But Talon did not. He was happy, undoubtedly, to carry off his daughter to see the princess, but he wasn't happy that the sleep -he so well longed all the day through- would be disturbed and not obtained. Ah, he just wanted to rest, but how could he say no to the puppy-like face of his daughter.

"Hey dad, look… over there!" Malon cried out, abruptly cutting her song when she saw something over the distance, pointing to it, she let her father catch the view.

"Hmm… what's it?" Talon wondered following with the gaze the tiptop point of his daughter's index finger.

A small group of men mounted on horses, stood in the distance. They wearied old, rusty clothes, mostly thorn apart. Some of them were muscular, rough with large mustaches and beards. Yet others seemed tricky, small and with a wicked grin on their faces. They all held a particular characteristic that seemed as their group's emblem, a black, large tattoo of a serpent on the left side of their faces.

Had not been for the rough, almost grotesque picture of their presentation, maybe Talon would have mistaken them for mercenaries, as they all carried weapons with themselves. No, they were bandits, from the look of it, and he could see that they were not friendly ones.

Talon was almost immediately filled with fright as he fully digested the situation they were in. The word of danger seemed to repeat itself in his mind, registering with horror the meaning of it.

Malon squirmed, letting out a gasp, towards him with terror in her eyes; she had understood the perilous circumstances in which they were. At a better look, there were exactly eleven men. Five stood tall, like some ferocious monsters and the other six were skinny but no less hazard.

"Malon…" Talon said to his daughter in a hushed but a bit strained exclaim, complete seriousness in his voice. "We must leave now!"

Malon, feeling a lump on her throat, nodded shakily without leaving staring the group. Talon then nodded back to her, he gulped as he pulled lightly the reins to his left.

But luck was not at their side. The horses refused to move to the left from the light pull, they didn't recognize entirely the order and they continued forward.

"No! Wrong way…! Turn around…!" Talon ordered with the same hushed voice, yet the horse's ears twitched slightly not knowing exactly what to do.

They were going straight to the bandits. Malon just sat there not knowing too what to do, she was just too scared to think properly. Talon instead was trying frantically to turn the horses without so much force to prevent being heard, yet his actions never worked.

Unfortunately for the red-haired and his dad, they were spotted by the smallest, but vilest –as his face reflected his nature- man. He shouted to the others and then they all turned their horses to the pair's direction, iniquitous grins were plastered across their ugly, ghastly faces.

Time to react. Talon pulled with almost all his force the reins, scaring a bit the horses that even so, for the mighty pull obeyed instantly. They turned to the left with a certain amount of difficult, but they had some time of advantage due to distance. Of course the bandits, upon seeing the intentions of the ranch owner, withdrew their weapons and smacked their horses to full gallop.

Malon had to get a hold of the cart to avoid being thrown from it, the cart didn't have the white mantle protection, so it was bare and wasn't of great help in terms of safety. Talon yanked the reins several times, almost like a madman, he was not going to waste any precious time, he could almost feel the thieves at their heels.

His actions just helped to purse farther the followers; they held sadistic smirks and amused looks. They were screaming and shouting with vicious mirth, even their steels looked brutally enjoying the sensation of helpless that the old man radiated.

But the weight of the cart compared to the weight of a man, was something that helped to erase the small distance advantage that the ranch's owners had. The bandit's stallions were fast enough to soon be at least three feet apart, and the cart's were tiring in a rapid rate as they were just too.

"Darn!" Talon swore when he glanced over his shoulder and saw just how close they were. Malon, at the other hand, shook her mind out of her reverie and a scornful frown crossed her eyes, yet a determined look flashed within them.

Knowing fully that the bandits would try to get into the car, Malon jumped to the back of it, starting Talon.

"Malon, what're ya doin'?" Talon demanded, worried for his daughter's safety. Malon took a farms fork from the inside of the hay that they were transporting.

"Don't worry, dad. Just a few tricks!" Malon turned at him with a smile and winked. "Just try to get as fast as possible!"

Talon wondered whether he should hear her or not, he knew for certain that she was going to do something completely out of mind. But when an arrow flew past his head he now couldn't think properly, so he didn't say a word of protest. He had a strange feeling that the red-haired knew what she was doing.

As they continued at a fearing high speed, one pair of bandits catch up with their pace. They were galloping at either side of the cart, swinging their swords in the air, and snickering, and shouting to no one in particular. Malon held the fork tightly to herself, prepared for anything.

Both bandits stepped on their horses, and then jumped to the cart. Talon could only watch from his shoulder in fear for his only daughter. Malon, aside from her father, swing the fork to the nearest bandit, which stood at her left. The one in question blocked her attack easily, but didn't expect Malon's next attack.

A painful score to an extremely sensitive area of his body.

The man opened and closed his mouth like a fish, and his eyes seemed like a pair of huge plates. Releasing his sword, his hands flew to cover that part and he doubled over in agonizing pain. Talon and the other bandit winced imaging how excruciating could that be.

Now one was immobilized, and there was just one left. Malon quickly turned to the other one who seemed in a state of rage.

"Damn you little wench!" he shouted as he tried to run at her, while swinging his sword downwards. But he didn't count the petite fact of his feet being in an unstable floor, covered with hay. As predicted, he tripped over. But before he fell completely, Malon connected the fork with his head, knocking him out cold.

"Way to go Malon!" Talon laughed cheeringly. Putting half of his attention to the front and the other half to the fight. Malon smiled at him.

"I learned at the ranch," Malon said proudly. Her small celebration was interrupted as four of the other bandits climbed to the cart.

"Now, now, missy," the one who seemed the leader congratulated, amused. Malon prepared herself once more, but before she could even react she was caught and clasped against his muscular chest.

"Now, mister… if ya don't want this girl to… suffer unbearable consequences, ya'll have to stop the cart this instant," he demanded with a smirk on his face, licking the Malon's cheek in an ill way. Malon felt sick and Talon felt wrath.

He stopped the cart with a pull. The other bandits, who were also fallowing, stopped too.

"Get… your… hands… off… her… this… now!" Talon said sharply standing up. The man was absolutely pleased with his reaction.

"And if I don't, what're ye goin' to do?" he asked snickering. His companions were laughing too. Malon managed to free her face from his hand and yelled.

"This!"

Soon after, she bit her hardest the man's hand that released her from the instant pain. Malon hoped off his arms and ran as well as she could towards her father. Talon embraced her protectively, thanking the goddesses.

"Now you bitch!" the man growled and motioned to his fellows to capture them. Father and daughter jumped from the cart to just be met by the other bandits.

Talon put Malon behind himself.

"Now…" the leader barked not in the least pleased. "If ya resist I will kill ya… if ye don't ya'll have probably a chance to live."

"We haven't done anything to ya… please let us escape, ye don't have any use for us," Talon pleaded.

"After that wench bit my hand? Ya gotta be kidding, man!" the man spat angrily.

"Seize them!"

---

.

Time seemed to have frozen itself as the creature spoke those words. They were still ringing into his mind, refusing to leave his soul, stating painfully frustrating the truth. He could not comprehend it; he sensed that it was due to the reason the creature had acknowledged.

Because you are mortal, my friend.

But was he still a mortal even after his death? Was he dead at all? How could he really be sure if this was not just a dream, an illusion perhaps?

He wondered why was he seeing all this incoherent scenes, why was he talking about something that should matter not to him, if he was supposed to be dead. Why had he his body, armor and conscience? Wasn't it supposed to be a restful plane where he wouldn't have the need to ask questions and be forever at peace? Did the Goddesses found it amusing to put his grief-stricken soul into such a torment; even after all he had done for them, and for their people?

His mind was wondering with questions that he knew couldn't be answered. He was feeling a heartache at those excruciating words spoken by some beast, which made him feel woe and regret at just being born. That same beast, creature, or whatever may it be, was just helping to reopen old scars and add new questions to his already throbbing psyche.

He did not like it, anything at all.

Your grief does not end to amaze me, my friend, for you are one who should not feel such a hilarious thing. You had the right meaning to claim that it was not your fault, after all, you are their Hero.

And it was even more upsetting the actual detail of this creature saying that he was his friend. The complete untruth, albeit he wasn't certainly, anymore, if it was at such.

All your angst caused by the unique touch of wonder. You hold your honor tightly, Hero of Time, but doubting destiny itself is as if calling forward to a hole of nothingness.

What was the creature talking about? That it was part of his destiny to met it? Link now was sure that he disliked, for some odd reason the beast in front of him. What should he do? Should he run away from the torture inflicted by this stranger, or should he stay and listen to its words of distress?

Sorrow is a word as dangerous as death. Why do the mortals have to suffer from it? Why not simply exist in a plane where it does not have survival?

Link could not take it anymore, he ran. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, not daring to stare back, because of the sullen feeling that it was speaking the truth, that it was correct.

Had he stared back he would have seen a malicious sneer in the creature's face. It did not run after him, simply waited there staring at the departing Hero, caring less.

Link continued running, cupping his hands forcefully against his ears. His chest was lacking from oxygen, even thought he need not of it. Exhaustion was gaining quickly control over his body, but his pace did not feeble. Something within him told him to sprint, to dash as far as he could from the torturous eyes of the mythical creature; he heard that voice.

The scene of war that was before his eyes moved in a hasty motion as he could just take glimpses of it, owing to his speed. At a moment, he took into consideration the verity of summoning the Bunny Hood's mask's power, without realizing it. He scraped off quickly that idea, he knew the masks needed to be wearied to summon their powers.

As abrupt as his leaving was, the scene seemed to reach an end. The far opposite of it gave the impression of being the same stony, flat surface covered with the familiar thick haze that had the stench of death upon it.

When Link reached the line where the panorama of Hyrule's war and the stony surface met, it felt as breaking through a window, shattering it to pieces. The sound of breached glass was heard as well as seen. Hyrule's sky smashed to smithereens, and after a few seconds, the complete vista disappeared, leaving nothing but fogginess and stone.

Not even the castle he saw before was there.

Nor was the creature in sight.

He stood there, blinking with arisen perplexity, not knowing what to do next. If he should continue running or not. But if he stayed there he would gain nothing, he was sure. So, instead he walked.

His meaningless walk seemed to last for an eternity, notwithstanding he couldn't make for sure the time that has passed.

The broad mist wasn't his friend, he had just discovered, for it made no attempt to aid him by giving at least a friendly sight to orientate him. This wasn't his lucky day.

Link continued to walk aimlessly, searching for anything that might help. He undergo the same experience when he first stepped on this place.

Heaven and Hell doesn't exist.

Link could recall the words of the Fierce Deity, he could feel some heated rage at them.

But if your soul wants it… then prepare yourself!

Link thought that the deity had put a kind of spell into this land, the line of Zeith was it? He believed that it was the deity's doings that he had fallen into such a hellish place.

"But… this is far more complicated than that…" Link thought, sure enough.

The bafflement of the situation could just help to disorientate him more and more, and he couldn't think of a possible explanation as to why the deity had killed him and thrown him to a place where there was no single trace of movement but wandering souls that taunted not to face him.

Nor that he could feel any presence around after all, it was as if only his being was there. But perhaps, the spirits in their own terrain felt differently than those he had met in life, it was a possible explanation, and valuable too.

Link may possibly just believe that the Hell and Heaven written in old scripts was really an image of one's essence. That conceivably the flat, stony surface he was stepping was also a reflecting part of his own, an emotionless core.

A possible explanation of that could be the never-ending bloodied battles he fought so frequently in life. That his heart was hardened to the point of not sensing anymore and it concluded into a detached state of stillness. Thought he felt no regret at his deeds at time, he protected those he loved by his immolating performances.

Yet Link had to admit, he had made a mistake. He was no one to take away the lives of those fiends who were controlled by the power of a major force. They were just trying to survive, as the creature had appointed. He did felt repentant at having killed.

His thoughts were interrupted as an enormous, worm-like silhouette appeared as if from nowhere before his eyes. It moved in a tranquil pattern, as if piercing through the mist's breadth, upwards and downwards.

His wary instincts took the better of him. He reached for his sword and shield quietly and shifted to a guarding position, his eyes never leaving his possible predator. His body curved almost to the floor, his muscles tensed with anticipation, and both, sword and shield prepared for any attack.

But it did not come.

Not totally confide he waited patiently, refusing to leave his gaze from the new figure. It fallowed the same pattern than before, as if it had not noticed his presence, but Link knew better than to reliance on mere appearances.

His anxiety went up a few notches when the figure disappeared from sight. He wondered how was it that even in death he was so cautious. Maybe it was due to some uneasy feelings of any of his former enemies trying to smolder his very soul to oblivion. He just hoped that it was not like that.

He stood up, his senses high for any potential assail.

Then he saw once more the shadowy silhouette, going straight at him.

For a moment, Link could just stand there, his eyes wide with surprise. He saw the gargantuan worm heading directly to him, that was when, when he saw something that he before hadn't seen.

The worm was covered in fire.

Link became conscious of the figure's identity. It was the only explanation, unless there were more like him. The one owning the silhouette was a dragon.

"Volvagia…" Link thought.

The mighty dragon, in question stopped before the Hero, staring at him.

"It has been so long… Hero of Time," the dragon addressed politely, encircling Link with his body and lowering his head to his level. The difference of size was frightening, yet the Hero did not shudder. "But I never expected to see you here anytime soon."

"I didn't expect it either…" Link thought, looking untrustingly into Volvagia's eyes. "I never thought that you could talk."

The dragon seemed to chuckle. He then lifted his head modestly, only to stare absently towards the unseen horizon. "I could do a lot of things when Ganondorf was not controlling me…" Volvagia told him with a nostalgic murmur.

Link's body relaxed moderately, those words made him feel more secure. Moreover, there's nothing to lose once being dead. Yet his past related to this dragon was not a friendly one, he just hoped that he held no remorse against him.

"So… Hero… what was the cause of your death?" Volvagia inquired, a curious smile never departing from his lips. A well, perspicacious glint could be seen within his eyes revealing to Link that he knew more than he seemed.

The Hero remained silent, his own eyes shining with the experience, enlightening the fire dragon, whose eyes excelled with knowledge. "So… there is one who have killed you…? I'm not surprised… after all, your tasks were riskier than most, if not the most."

"But I do wonder who was the one who had taken your life… must have been a powerful being…" Volvagia mused closing his eyes. Then he opened them again, glistening with amusement.

"We aren't the talkative type, are we? Just like the first time we met… such concentration!" he chortled, remembering well enough the events of that fateful day.

Somehow, those words seemed like chilly piercing water that were thrown from a basin to his head. Link was affected in a way he could not understand, maybe it was the feeling of him being the cause of Volvagia's dead.

"I'm almost positively sure that you're wondering if I'm resentful at your past doings?" Volvagia told him in an inquiring tone, thought he knew the answer already. "You do not have to worry, Hero, I have no rail against you."

Those word completely shocked and befuddled Link. How could he not be angry at him for have killed him?

"I see in your eyes that you're wondering my reason… it has no sense to feel angry at someone who is in the same state as you… but as well, because you were trying to protect your people, your friends, and I highly respect that. I appreciate your courage and bravery."

Link could see that this dragon was wise, he was astonished of course. "I also understand that you were just trying to survive… I was controlled at the time, and I could not control my own body… I know I deserved this," Volvagia admitted with a satisfied smile.

An arising sense of respect appeared in the blue-eyed. Volvagia desired no harm against anyone, he was just an unfortunate victim of Fate's doings.

"Then why did you attack the Gorons in the past…? I mean… before Ganondorf," Link asked formally, not wanting to intrude too much in the dragon's past, however curiosity commanded his tongue.

"A wise question… yet the answer is the same as to why I did not attack after that, even thought I was awake," Volvagia answered with a mysterious air around him. Link was even more confused than before, but he did not show.

"Everything is reigned by balance, Hero, even I. The reason I attacked and ate Gorons is because they were my food. I had to eat them to survive, they were the only things I could eat," at this point his stopped his explanation, a hint of regret crossed his face, just for a moment. "I just needed about once in a thirty hundred, thousand years period to eat… I used to eat just a pair of huge Gorons, then tried to sleep."

"So why you attacked?" questioned the young Hero. A somber look appeared in the fiery dragon's eyes.

"For two reasons."

"Which are those?" Link mused to himself, arching a suspecting eyebrow, controlling his curiosity was not his forte. This time, along with the somber look, a dreary grin emerged from Volvagia's maw as if he had just heard the question.

"The first reason, because they attacked first… the second reason…" the ancient dragon stopped, leaving Link with the anxiety. "Because I… I wanted the Goron Hero to knock me."

Link almost fell upon hearing such an unbelievable answer. Staring in disbelief, he asked, a little disturbed thought, the dragon, "B-but… why?

"Well… you know, staying at the Fire Temple for thirty hundred, thousand years can become quite boring," Volvagia answered with a sheepish smile. "I had to entertain myself!"

"But… didn't you have the fire monsters, like the Flare Dancers, to keep you company?"

"Well… yes, at first it was fun how they battled each other for minor reasons…but after a while, it seemed no so much of a fun anymore, their combat was always the same way," Volvagia explained half-defended himself. Link could understand that it must be tedious to stay in a single room with creatures who were brainless and that you couldn't talk to them.

"Sleep was far more of an interesting pastime, lucky enough the Gorons maid a hammer who send me into an unconscious state with just but one hit, yet didn't kill me."

"Even so, they could have killed him," the blonde pondered.

Volvagia nodded, once again sensing Link's thoughts, "the Gorons are respectable for that, they, each time, forgave my life… knowing full about my situation."

"You said that the Megaton Hammer managed to knock you, why is it that you kept on attacking when I fought you?"

"Ah, Hero, you're far too much curious for your own good," Volvagia answered with an amused grin. "Thought I will respond to your question. It was because of the enormity of Ganondorf's control over my body, he could prevent me from fainting, but no from getting killed."

Link once again felt like cold water thrown to his head. A light shiver traversed his body.

He nodded, knowing full enough that at least, he had a new companion.

---

.

So long the morning had been a hell since he woke up, and even before. His night had been painfully long and throbbing, he had woken up covered in sweat and with a general malaise. A terrible headache and nausea threatened his sore body, making him fall constantly from lack of equilibrium. He just wanted to throw up.

An awful morning was always accompanied with a dire temperament, the servants had noticed.

His body was shivering from soreness, his eyes were red from troubled sleep, but his face was atrocious from the feeling of seasick. Each person who passed by his side, discerned that he was not in the humor to be molested, as a fearful, red-eyed glare was sent to their direction if they even had the guts to stare.

The pleasantries of a first-try drunk, a hangover.

The servants gossiped about his condition, some laughing quietly to themselves knowing well enough the calamities that the general suffered, they served in the bar last night.

They saw him along with the King, Harkinian and the Big Goron, Darunia. They made bets about who could resist more alcohol, Darunia won.

It was not a secret that the gorons had a diet of purely rocks, but that only made their stomach stronger. Alcohol seemed like water to them, that's why he won. Of course, neither King nor General could have known about that, so they lost a great deal of money in those fool bets.

The good-natured remarks of the gamble.

The blonde was absolutely convinced that he would never, ever drink alcohol again, even less get drunk. And he had a confirmation for his conclusion within and in the outside part of his body.

"Nice going, smart-ass…" Kun thought dryly to himself. "You've done it quite fine!"

The worst part of it was the he had to train the novices that exact same day.

"Why today?" Kun lamented, half-asked to no one in particular inside his mind. "Of all days, why today?"

As the General made his way through the castle to the training grounds, he was thinking of a way of escaping from them. He would put in command someone capable of doing the job. Maybe the newcomer that Impa and he met the day before?

No he was just too weird for his own sake.

Maybe that someone should be the one who will retain his post while he was off with the sages. Who could be capable enough of doing the job?

There were just too many officers.

His head hurt by thinking such things. His body protested with every step, to get back once more to bed. It was in agony and it just wanted to rest. But sadly, he didn't have that luxury.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he got to the training grounds. He opened the wooden door that leaded to the outside just to be met by some amazed, yet confused stares and the hot, deadly sun.

Yes he wanted to die.

He made his way to the front of the lines, and with a sour throat he called to attention. The people there immediately stopped what they were doing and snapped their full attention to the General.

"Gentlemen!" Kun started, his voice sounding grave and arid. His lips were dry and he just wanted to drink a lot of water. The sun wasn't helping that much either, but despite all of that, he still held a straight face.

"You're here not to play, nor to just act like 'knights in shining armor, rescuing damsels in distress. Slaying dragons and stuff'. No! this is the army, and it is not a place for fantasies. You'll most of the time train hard. And when I mean hard, I mean that you will train even when raining, even if fire is falling from the sky!"

He paused to see the faces of his listeners. "Your schedule will be like this until you get to be a knight. You are going to wake up at five hundred hours, eat breakfast at six hundred hours, and at six hundred and thirty hours you'll go to train. You'll train up to one thousand, three hundred hours, eat lunch at one thousand, three hundred and thirty hours and get then, at one thousand, four hundred hours, to militarized classes."

He stopped once more to amuse himself a little with the faces of the several men who were watching him. His head was hurting like hell, but he tried to ignore it.

"The militarized classes will last up to one thousand, eight hundred hours. You will have a break up to two thousand hours, you'll have dinner then. At last, you'll go to bed at two thousand, one hundred hours."

He gave another quick glance around the novices.

"If you get late to any meal, you'll have none of it, plus a small punishment for no having the enough responsibility. But if you get late to one of the other activities within the precise specified time, you'll get a severe punishment depending on the occasion."

Somehow he was starting to enjoy his work, even when he was suffering from the hangover.

"Now on with the training," he said. "We'll start with a small spar… you, take a wooden sword!"

He pointed to a young man that stood at the middle of the front line, he had reddish hair and blue eyes. Then he pointed to another one, which had raven hair and chocolate eyes . "And you are going to be his foe, get another sword!"

"Sir!" both men saluted, following his orders quickly enough, they went to the army's stock and dragged out a pair of wooden swords. They returned to the line's front, where their General stood patiently waiting.

"Good," he nodded, then he turned to the other cadets. "Break up the lines."

They did as told and the General walked to the center, fallowed closely by the two young novices. Officials were looking with mild interest, wondering how good could this novices be.

"Now, any of you two know anything about swordsmanship?" Kun asked. The men's looks connected, both blinked and turned to the General again, they shook their heads.

"Thought so," Kun sighed. "Well just try to get a square hit. The hit that seems more deadly is the one that'll win."

Both nodded. Kun retreated a few steps and the men took their positions. By now the remaining men were either standing or sitting, watching and commenting about who had more probabilities to win.

Kun then shouted, "Go!"

So obviously both lunched forward to the other, swinging their swords horizontally. Both swords linked, a hallow sound was heard and some wooden chips flew from it due to the force. They didn't expect so much force, the red-haired stumbled backwards while the other one tried to keep his balance.

Finally the chocolate-eyed controlled his stability, and lunched forwards with a thrust pointed directly to the blue-eyed. The one in question gave a startled yelp, and rolled over to the side to avoid being hit. Then, when he stopped, he kicked the raven's legs who stumbled forward.

The red-haired stood up and swung his sword vertically towards the chocolate-eyed. As having no experience in battle, the swinging was too slow so it gave time to the other one to react. Using the same trick as his opponent had showed before, he kicked him. The difference was that he kicked him on the groin, and as the young blue-eyed man doubled over, falling to his knees in pain, the chocolate-eyed stood up and held his spear to his foe's throat.

A quick fight, but it was understanding, because of both men's lack of experience. The officers looked with amusement and mirth the fight, thinking about how tricky they were.

"Seems I won," the raven-haired said with a faked mocking grin. In fact he thought that his opponent disserved a certain amount of respect by battling so well.

"Yes," Kun replied with a mix of amusement and pity in his voice. "Well done, now return to the line, and please somebody help this boy!"

Almost every men present grinned sheepishly, and sympathetically at the scene. The young man sure had suffered a lot. A pair of men, along with the chocolate-eyed, helped the young man up. They led him to a side to rest.

"Now you've seen a fight were no planning was made. Do you think any of these two would survive in a real battle?" Kun asked looking around with his hands on his hips. Several men shook their heads as a response.

"You're all right… to thrust yourself into battle, relying on dumb luck, would be almost like suicide," he explained. "A battle is like the real world. You must have courage, audacity, but above all… cleverness."

The rookies seemed to digest carefully the General's words, who seemed to have forgotten about his earlier predicament.

"A battle of wits, is a battle of life… the one who wins is the one who has the quickest mind. If you rely just in strength and agility… you'll for a certainty lose," he said. "Technique is also necessary, but if you have it and don't use it properly, then it'll be a waste."

"Do you understand?" the General asked.

"Yes sir!"

---

.

"Papers," he thought with authentic disgust and exasperation.

There was a bunch of trifling documents above his desk, waiting to be signed for who knows what purpose. The King sat among a mountain of papers, most of them designed with meaningful purposes and evil ambitions. He knew exactly that he had to read every one he will have to encounter upon, before doing something he could repent later.

Tricky papers upon which the problematic it could cause so as to even compromise with it by signing, were undoubtedly the most common in his job. Those kind of governmental archives could easily cause major problem like such as those of a war. Placed in the wrong hands might become fatal, and prejudicial to the happiness of a country's people.

But such text files were not unchallenging to arrange in his current state.

Yes, the fun he had the previous night had been disagreeable after all. Albeit he was accustomed to drink, he was not used to drink that amount of liquor. Now, he was suffering the consequences known as katzenjammer.

But as the King, he had to dealt with it and he had no choice.

At times like this, he accursed his supposed noble blood. Freedom he did talk too much, but freedom he had not, as well as his beloved daughter, and soon-to-be queen. He almost felt bad for her, he supposed that he was not a good father since money can't be replaced with genuine love and care, material things counted the littlest for him.

But he was born with the fate of being a king, and he had to live with it. Besides, Zelda understood perfectly that his job was for their country, which she loved so much.

"I just hope she doesn't do anything reckless in the future just because of that love…"

---

.

The mourning called her swiftly back to the woken world. Her eyelids fluttered, struggling slightly to be opened. The warming new light was welcomed wholly when she stirred to arouse. A new day was starting, but part of her wanted to stay behind the comfortable sheets.

A small, lazy smile emerged in her face. Slowly, half-asleep, she uncovered her still-child's body, and her legs stirred to the edge of the huge bed. While doing so, she sat up, using her arms as any possible support they could give her still sleepily form. Rubbing her eyes from her sleep, she took a quick glance towards her bedroom's window.

Silky, pinky curtains hanged loosely making a trivial barrier to the full displayed light. From the amount of it, sensing that it was still not hot enough to be midday, she estimated that it was about nine o'clock or so.

"Too late…" she thought, wondering why nobody went to wake her up before, since her royal duties start by seven.

Getting up from the bed, she proceeded to go to her closet. She bothered not to open the curtains of her unique, little window. The light was nice at the level it was, enough to see clearly throughout the room.

Opening her closet, she took out a simple, and pleasant purple dress, too much alike to her traditional, and favorite one, yet different. She closed once again the closet, not before taking out too a pair of violet shoes that matched with the outfit. She headed for the bathroom to change.

Some minutes passed by and she emerged once more from it, the nightgown in her arms. She put down the clothes on a basket standing at one corner of the room, and then headed for her vanity. She took a comb placed on top of it and sat down in the neat chair, proceeding then to comb her shiny, slightly mess of blonde hair.

Staring back at the blue-eyed image in front of her, musing deep in thought, she felt a kind of incantation set in her. A reverie flashed through her mind, remembering the events from the day before after Impa surprisingly jolted in a rush at the library, when she was speaking with the new uninvited guest.

Hollow wind was the only sound heard as a disturbing silence fallowed his words. The princess could not even blink away the confusion and surprise that still overwhelmed her in every possible way from the moment he appeared. His gaze was fixed firmly on the scenery outside from the window; it was a relief to her since she didn't want to be trapped once more into those enthralling eyes.

Unexpectedly, the man flinched. Zelda was staggered, she couldn't see why he winced out of nowhere. There was no thing that could have provoked that kind of reaction into that cold man, at least no yet.

"She's coming," he whispered frozen in his spot.

"Wha-…?" started Zelda, blinking. But even before she could finish her question, the doors burst open, startling the hell out of her. It goaded her to nearly jump around to face the new company. To her amazement, it was her trustful attendant and protector, Impa.

"Impa?" the princess called unsurely, seeing a dead serious sheikah glaring suspiciously at Cayl. De Cyaleh didn't turn around to meet the new intimidating conversation's join. Should had he, the two female occupants would have seen his satisfied leer.

"Princess, are you all right?" Impa inquired with concern, thought her ruby eyes did not leave their quarry.

The blonde nodded, worry betraying her face. "Yes, yes… don't worry," she assured more to herself than to her protector, she was not quite sure herself.

"Good," the sheikah stated shortly, knowing about the diminutive trembling tone inserted upon Zelda's voice. For now she will put it into the back of her mind to take care of it sometime later. Pressing matters were upon hand.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

Cayl lowered his head, silver locks, alike Impa's own, fell in front of his face. Still facing the window, he whispered, "I suppose you couldn't have know… isn't it? But then again we never met before, at least not in this era…"

"What do you mean?" Impa demanded, bewildered.

Cayl shook his head. He closed his eyes and his head turned upwards. He let out a slight sigh, and lowered his head to the normal level. He turned around, and for the first time since the Sage of Shadows arrived, they connected gapes.

Violet, amethyst-like eyes, and scarlet, ruby-like eyes fixed upon one another examining with detail their depths. A strange bond was discernible in the ambiance, and Zelda looked with a newborn mix between awe and dread.

"What I do mean, or what I do not mean doesn't matter, now does it?" he requested in a scanty sardonic manner, his expression a veil of callousness. Impa blinked, she couldn't talk. "I thought so…"

"You don't have to worry, Sheikah, sooner or later… you'll understand…… but not now…"

It appeared that the bewitching placed upon Impa was not as strong as the one placed upon Zelda. The princess could figure out just one reason, both people controlled the power of shadows. Well, she wasn't sure if the strange man controlled them or not, but she sensed that he had a power related to that kind of magic.

Suddenly Impa winced, a bizarre further sensation dwelled inside of her. Zelda could see a flash of recognition in her eyes, and did not liked it in the least, and yet, on the contradictory, she was reassured for it, whatever it was.

"You may stay and accompany us in our search," the sheikah nodded without hint of hesitation.
Zelda, of course, was shocked, but Cayl didn't show any kind of expression. "But Impa…? Wha-… why?" the young hylian princess stammered.

"I do not know myself, Zelda…" Impa responded back, turning towards the door. "Please, follow me, I'll show you to your room."

The young man nodded, and put his hood back up. Impa headed out of the room without another word, Cayl following shortly behind, leaving Zelda alone to herself.
The doors closed, and the blue-eyed girl could just stare astound, gripping sturdily the book.

The princess blinked, for the first time noticing that she had stopped combing her hair. Placing down the comb, she stood up. Her gawk playing around her room in search for the treasure of her sudden thoughts, the book.

There, placed upon a small table, was it. She went at it, but did not take it, she just kept looking at it.

Good morning, Your Highness.

---

.

"Damn... I lost condition!"

Walking for short periods of time is nothing as strenuous as running or trotting. But walking for more than six hours in a row is even more painful than jumping two hundred times. No, rather, it is the same.

Nabooru may be a great fighter and one of the strongest in the whole country. But that, to do an exercise from where she needed an excellent respiratory capability, is something quite different. She's been aware of it; the fact that there hadn't been any interesting fights had lead her into a self-confident, no-longer-training warrior. So, undoubtedly, she's lost condition.

And her sore body was remembering her that.

It is of no doubt that riding is an exhausting work, but thanks to her responsibilities as deputy of the Gerudo King- also, the ambassadress, diplomatist, in other words, representative of her tribe-, she hasn't have time to do so in the preceding months. She would have suffered a pain in her back-part, positively, however, that would have been nicer than an entire aching body.

Sadly to her, her horse was now in the land of who-knows-where, and she was stuck with an oversized worm, which she had kept as hostage just because of vengeance. The worst part of it is that the scaly animal didn't talk back.

She was bored to the bone, tired to her soul, and throbbing to her back.

What would she do for any amount of entertainment. "Don't ya agree?" she queried her scabrous companion. An almost perceptible look of apparent confusion crossed its eyes.

Nabooru sighed, "I really think that I need to put you a name…"

She paused for a moment, her free hand flew to her chin in a thoughtful pose. Tapping it with her index finger, her features adopted an expression of little amusement; she had a cat smile on, and her eyes were glistening with ideas.

"Mmm… what about…?" she wondered out loud, not caring if anyone was hearing her. She had tossed aside the funny accent, she was tired of using it all time. The viper in question did not care for a fact, it was now accustomed to her acting like a complete lunatic. Nabooru's eyes widened with concentration, as did her grin.

Then, in an act of pure inspiration, she remembered some words some strange foreigners, she met a long time before, said. They were in another language but she could recall one word in special, it was how the foreigners called her after she helped them with some Wolfos, amiga.

She could remember that it meant friend, so since she was not good with names, she decided to use it.

"What about, Amiga?" she asked, knowing for sure that she was not going to get any type of response. "Then, it's settled!"

She was giggling very girly-like, and grinning like an idiot, the heat was affecting her.

But she stopped abruptly as faint sounds reached her ears. Her face was now serious and menacing, her body tensed, and she stopped moving trying to localize the origin of the sound. Even Amiga seemed to tense at its mistress's stillness.

Nabooru could now hear the sound of laughing men, and it came from some distant bushes. She sprinted silently towards them, noticing the tied horses and a cart at the side of the bushes that she was facing, while the men were at the opposite side. She hid Amiga behind her back, she didn't want to attract too much attention from the horses.

She was leaning forward, albeit not too much thanks to the bushes that were high enough to give her sufficient space. She peered partly her face within the scrub, trying to get a peek of the men who sat around a fire, drinking and teasing around; for her, it was a repulsive sight. Furthermore, she could see a pair of people tied to a tree, one was a young girl, more or less Zelda's age, and the other was a man, about his late forties.

"That explains everything… these men are thugs!" Nabooru thought, frowning. She had to help this people, she felt that she had to, but how?

Just then a idea popped into her head. She eyed the horses carefully, trying to see which would be the fastest. There, a chocolate stallion, which seemed friendly enough to not opposite her others with too much trouble. She could use the horse to trample over the non-expecting thieves, cut the ropes of the two persons, and then get the shit out of there. But she had a risk at hand, that the bandits could hurt the hostages.

So?

That was when Amiga sliced through her arms and bushes, and into the front of her face. The viper's head went to the same level as its mistress, in an expecting manner. Nabooru eyed it curiously, trying to understand the viper's actions.

Her solution.

When she was about to whisper, a man stood up. Seemingly furious he went to the two tied people, and stood in front of the girl. Nabooru couldn't make the words out of him, but seemed to understand a little when he pointed to his pants, while speaking to the girl. The girl seemed determined, but fearful. She spat at the bandit's shoes while the older one, the one tied up with her, looked with fright and disapprobation.

Knowing fully what was about to happen, Nabooru looked once to Amiga, confirming her thoughts, and letting it on the ground to slide towards the now-filled-with-rage man. It quickly dashed as expected, but Nabooru did not wait to see it fulfill its work. Instead, she made her way towards the tied horses, heading for the chocolate one.

The horse at first seemed non-trustful of her, as predicted, but he quickly softened his features when Nabooru hummed at it. Luckily, Nabooru had a touch with horses.

"Ahh! Get it off me! Get it off me!"

There, the signal for her start, a girlish cry from the man. Nabooru leaped atop the horse with a swift movement, and then she unsheathed one of her scimitars. The horse neighed somewhat, gaining half of the bandit's attention who were busily trying to get the snake off their acquaintance. Nabooru hit the stallion's sides and it jolted into a sudden gallop, then she made it jump through the bushes startling the thieves and the two tied people.

"What the-…?" one shocked man cried, he couldn't finish the sentence since Nabooru knocked him with her foot while she made her way to trampling the others.

"Hiya!" Nabooru shouted with glee, a smirk plastered on her face. She glanced over her shoulder. "Sorry for that, man!" she waved innocently.

The reptile leaved the previous man, it dashed away from him, and waited for its mistress (it got attached to her). Nabooru, between shouts and trampling, spotted her new friend in the ground. She lead the horse to it, and it stretched out, Nabooru leaned to a side from atop the mount, stretched her arm out, and cached it.

When she resumed her position, she gazed at Amiga and with a satisfied smirk, said, "Wow, you turned to be useful!"

The viper just rolled on her arm. Nabooru directed the horse, once more, towards the bandits, who tried to take her off, but unsuccessfully failed. She knocked some more, and used the little amount of time to direct this time the horse towards the captives.

As with the viper, she leaned to a side, this time sword in hand, and cut the ropes. She made an u turn and shouted to the rising pair, "Get to the cart, now!"

The two nodded. They ran to the cart, practically jumped in, and the older man slapped the reins with all his force. The horses jerked into full gallop, towards the direction of Hyrule Castle, which was not so far beyond.

Nabooru seeing this from the corner of her eye, waited a bit to let them have a head start. She was surprised that the horse was actually helping her fight the bandits, he kept kicking them, not allowing them to get close. They were not too many, just eleven, but they kept coming as if they were more.

Satisfied with the distance between them and the pair, she turned the horse towards the direction of the castle and hit this time gentler than the first one, but with the same intensity, so the horse could know that she meant gallop. The bandits looked furious at their doings and immediately went for their horses.

Now Nabooru just had to made sure that she arrived at the castle town before the bandits reached her. The two farm people, she supposed, were fair away to reach the gates, that was a relief.

But that relief suddenly banished when she had an arrow passing just at the side of her head. She glanced over her shoulder to see the thieves in full persecution, firing arrows. "Damn!" she growled.

Releasing the reins for a minute, and sheathing her scimitar, she went to search into the mount's pockets anything that could serve as weapon. The goddesses seemed to be at her favor since she spotted a bow and arrows. Taking them, she leaned to the front, just above the horse's neck, and whispered, quite forcefully, due to the air, to his ear, "I trust that you'll keep running?"

Then without any other words, she stringed bow and arrows. Then fired the arrow, one after the other, without stopping. The bandits knew about the bow in her mount, so they were prepared with shields, which just frustrated Nabooru more.

They went like that until they were near the gates. At there, the two farm people passed through them startling the guards. They yelled out to them, "Close the bridge!"

The guards turned to look at the outside and saw why they requested it. They just hoped that the Gerudo thief could reach them in time. They began to close them the slowest possible.

The red-haired, upon seeing this, released the bow and arrows currently in her hands. She pursued the horse to run faster. When the gate was at a level were she couldn't pass through it, Nabooru, for the surprise of both the thieves (who thought that they had her), and the guards, pushed the horse to jump.

The time seemed to slow up. Nabooru heard her voice scream in low motion and could almost swear that she felt that the guards, and the bandits held shocked expressions, all thinking the same thing, she wouldn't make it. The three, horse, woman, and snake, held determined faces and glistening looks.

They barely landed inside the safer side of the bridge, but, they landed. The bandits could just stare with disbelief as the horse had seemed to jump at an unreachable height, and the guards applauded and cheered with awe.

Nabooru- and it seemed that the stallion and viper did also- sighed with relief.

A loud whistle was heard, and dozens of soldiers lined up from the top of the gates, bows and arrows at hand, pointing towards the bandits. They arrested them.

And Nabooru laughed.

---

.

How difficult can be trying to find three floating light bulbs in a huge mass of people?

A headache, if we are talking about a horse and a skullkid, most of time pestered around because of the horse's fame, trying to find three diminutive fairies in a huge, crowded town.

They couldn't find them. One moment they were at their side and the other puff, disappeared. They had no clues, no referring spots, or anything in the least that could help them find them.

"What you think happen to them?" the Skullkid asked, looking around as did his companion. The young mare shook her head as response.

The were wondering around when they heard a man's voice call at them, "Pss… pss, Skullkid!"

Skullkid and Epona turned around to face the man, with curious, thought confused faces. He had a long black beard and mustache, his eyes looked closed, and he was sneering. His clothes were baggy and with thorns, he seemed elderly.

The skullkid pointed to himself, interrogative signs flying above his head. The man nodded, signaling to the unique pair to creep closer.

They did, albeit cautious.

Then the man then openly smiled.

"Do ya want to know yer future?"

---

.

"One," Navi whispered, she could almost feel how sweat slipped from her front to her chin and finally falling to the floor. The fairies could also sweat, although it was an extremely rare occasion.

"Two…" Tatl continued with the counting, licking her lips with anticipation. A long moment of silence followed next, and then Tael gulped.

"Th-three!" he let out a frightened cry.

"Banzai!" they chorused.

It was a very comical sight. Three fairies lined up –one serious, one with a bit of exhilaration, and the last one petrified to the bone-, yelling the distinctive cry for battle, but without moving an inch.

They were not stupid, and they knew they wouldn't make it out of the hole if they didn't do anything. The three floating bulbs had different reactions. Navi looked sheepishly at the other two, Tatl was feeling ironically angry and frustrated, and Tael was just relieved.

"Okay… your plan?" Tatl asked Navi with a bit of exasperation, veins almost popping out her front.

"Mmm… what about if we use…?" Navi began, looking around for anything of use. "Umm… sticks?" she asked hopefully, but failed miserably.

Tatl just looked at her blankly. Tael blinked several times.

"And how do you expect us to get sticks?" Tatl questioned rising an eyebrow. Navi's stare danced around once more, examining the walls.

"Well… the walls are made out of wood, we could get sticks from them…" she mused.

Tatl glanced around as well. "Maybe… but it would be rather obvious for them," she said pointing to the cats who were patiently waiting on the outside of the hole. "I mean, they'll see what we are planning… and I'm sure they'll tear off our heads before we even have a chance!"

"Keyword here, maybe," the blue fairy replied back. "Perhaps one of us can distract them?"

The stares she received made her understand that it was not a smart idea.

"Umm… excuse me…?" a small voice interrupted the two female fairies, they looked to see Teal raising his arm nervously. "W-why don't we try to use… our lights?"

"What do you mean?" Tatl asked.

"Well…" the purple fairy continued hesitantly, as if he wasn't sure of what he was about to say. "We could our lights to blind them momentarily and use that time to escape."

"Yes! Like a Deku nut!" Navi exclaimed excitedly, Tatl smiled as well. Then Navi flew to the purple fairy, who seemed relieved that it wasn't a bad idea. "Tael! Thanks!" she kissed him on the cheek.

The shocked purplish fairy felt as the heat raised to his head. His sister blushed too, but she just stood there with her mouth hanging open. Navi, not noticing the other two's reaction, went to the nearest wall, with a huge unyielding smile on her face, and pulled free three pieces of chunk.

"This will be our sticks!" she told them, taking the three pieces in her arms, and flying back to the other still-shocked fairies. She handed one to a robotized Tael, and another one to the open-mouthed Tatl.

"Now… are you ready?" she called, snapping both back from their trance. The fairies couldn't make out words, simply lined up with her, eying her occasionally.

"At the count of three!" Navi told them, holding her stick tightly. The two brothers did the same. "One… two… three!"

A huge light, even more stronger than they meant, illuminated the whole place. Some surprised gasps were heard as the three fairies blinded the cats' sensitive eyes. The light was even seen at the place were the Skullkid and Epona sat busily listening to the old weird man's proclaims.

The fairies closed their eyes and half-jumped, half-flied towards the cats. They hit them painfully, and knocked them out cold. The fairies, not noticing this, kept punching and kicking the poor unconscious cats until a pair of hands stopped them.

"You guys… cool up!" a familiar croaky voice ordered. The fairies opened hesitantly their eyes just to see a pair of surprised familiar faces, Skullkid and Epona. "The cats are already beaten up!"

The blue fairy blinked, the yellow fairy put on a quizzical expression, and the purple fairy opened one by one his eyes. They turned around to see the mentioned animals moaning.

"Ahh…" Navi started, she looked at the other ones.

"Oops?"

---

.

The soldiers grunted, not too pleased. Some of them were already in their boxers, other were either crying or throwing curses, but just the lucky ones were still on the table, of course, near to cry.

The source?

Darunia.

Currently he had this big, open-wide smile, one of those irritating smiles that said 'sore-loser-you-can't-win-'cause-I'm-the-best-and-I'm-saying-it-on-your-face'. His eyes were closed, completely satisfied with himself. Some cards were on his hands, and just at his side sat an enormous pile of trinkets and rupees, guess whose they belonged to?

He had been playing for the entire morning. Playing with the soldiers taking a break. He couldn't help it, he was bored and no one was near. He thought at first to go with either the General, or his Sworn Brother, but, remembering the previous night, he thought that they wouldn't want his company for the moment. So, instead, he choose to go with the soldiers, play some poker, and have some fun.

He discovered that the soldiers weren't that smart, he kept on winning easily, and they kept on loosing frequently their belongings. Not that he minded at all, but he felt some pity for them.

Keyword here, some.

Ah, but he sure could imagine when they would arrive home, and their wives there to greet them. He could chuckle, laugh, or something of the like, yet his sensitiveness and respect told him not to do so.

Of course he could always smile.

"Man, how the hell do you do that?" one of the soldiers asked, snapping him out from his thoughts.

"Patience, my friend… everything comes with patience," Darunia responded with a huge grin, placing down his cards.

And curses followed.

---

.

"Where could that Gorth be?" Gale thought, sweat covering his bare, muscular torso. A sword was in his hand, dancing freely through the air, slicing with a swift movement, making soft whistles.

He was training. His armor completely gone, instead he was carrying a pair of simple, baggy, black pants. His leather boots, and his armor's gloves.

The waterfall's cave was big, bigger than what it was at first view. He had his own training room, where different types of weapons stood. It seemed that he was the only one who used it.

"As if I mind," he thought once more, slicing down his sword.

---

To be continued…

---

AN: Hey wassup? Seems that this time got less time, huh? I think the suspending thing did work! Anyways, how was it, good, bad? As always, you know, if there are mistakes please tell me so I can fix them in the future! Also thanks to all those people who had R&R this fic!

Hey, the strange poses used by the Gerudos in first scene are completely real. I practice Karate-do, Shito-Ryu and i used some of the poses i know in there, but just the ones that seemed to fit the swordsmanship matter.

Another thing. Amiga is a spanish term, i assume most of you know what does amigo means? anyway, amiga is just the female counterpart of amigo. So here you have learned something, i hope. (Hehehe, couln't think of anything better)

I would like to appoint however the fact that I changed my stories' summaries. For all those people who don't check the bios, I'll repeat it.

'Cause the other one seemed a little bit too childish, don't you agree? Anyways, yeah… maybe at the end things seemed a little bit rushed, but this MW error was driving me crazy! Some lines disappeared from view, while others repeated themselves! Man, I was about to lose all hope!

That's one of the reasons this took longer than expected, the other was a work I had to do for my school, but at least we are in holydays and I can work in the next chappie! But for now, I hope you enjoyed the "little" chap!

Well, see ya!