A brisk morning breeze was enjoyed by all as they followed along behind their canine leader. Link took little time to enjoy his surrounding though, completely bent on following the aura as if his life depended on it. Having let his wolf instincts take control the hero found his mood altering with it. Instead of feeling calm, his entire body tensed and shifted as if an attack was always imminent. He also found that he was feeling intensely impatient about the whole thing.
Everything was taking far too long for his liking and the noises behind him were beginning to wear on his nerves. Normally Link would have been able to reason logically on such matters but at this time he just found his nerves becoming more and more frayed until a low growl began to escape his lips. Link then realized he needed to take control of his instincts once again. After slowing to a walk and sensing that the others had slowed also Link stopped and sat on his hunches with great finality. He closed his eyes and began to calm his emotions, an exercise he had learned as he was growing up. Not particularly caring what the others thought of the sudden stop, the wolf focused on evening out his breathing and nerves. After allowing himself time to let his human thoughts trump his wolfish ones once again Link opened his eyes and regarded the land around him with mild curiosity, as if he was seeing it for the first time.
"Did we stop for a reason?" Sheik asked softly as he suddenly appeared at his side.
Link glanced at his companion and gave a low growl.
Sheik nodded. "I understand take all the time you need." Then stood up and walked back to the others.
"Link's just taking a break." He informed them
"How can you understand what he's saying?" Hugh asked curiously
"Any idea how far we've come?" Sheik answered carefully dodging the question
"Oh I don't know I would judge something like 7 or 8 miles." He estimated
"How far do you think we need to go?" Ashei wondered aloud
"I'm pretty sure Link is the only one who knows that." Auru said bringing their attention back to the wolf
Link was still only half listening to the conversation. He was more focused on orienting himself and deciding how much farther they could go without becoming to worn out. Link rolled his eyes at himself when he remembered his advantage. Getting to his feet he wandered lazily over to where the group had left the horses.
"Hello Link, nice day for a run isn't it." Epona greeted him as came up next to her.
"Yes, quite nice, how are each of you fairing?" Link responded in the manner of wolves
"We are faring fine; the need for rest is still a ways off, though I cannot speak for the ones who sit on our backs." She informed him thoughtfully
Link nodded his head.
"How is it that the one who was once human is now one of the wolves?" Ashei chestnut mare asked as it looked at Link cautiously
"Ones form may change, but Link will always be Link." Epona explained
The chestnut mare seemed satisfied with this answer and calmed.
"I fear the journey will still be long, how long will you be able to bear it?" Link asked them
"We will follow until the sun disappears." Auru's horse answered
"Thank you for your care of your riders, they appreciate your kindness." Link said before he turned to leave.
With a swift bark he informed the group that he was preparing to leave. Taking his place at the front Link once again honed his senses and began to follow the dragon's aura.
Just as evening was beginning to fall the scenery around them started to change. Instead of the hard-packed earth that stretched on for leagues at a time, it had turned into uneven rocky soil that began to build up and create walls and crevasses that hid away the last remaining light. As they had promised, the horses kept up with Link's pace throughout the day only started to slow as the light was dipping below the horizon. Link turned to address them.
"Nightfall is approaching, please remain here while I search for a place of sleep for the ones who sit on your back." He told them
They agreed to without a word and Link set off in a different direction from the aura. Within a few minutes he came across a suitable cave for the group to spend the night. After returning to where he had left his companions Link guided them to the cave. Everyone seemed grateful that Link had decided to stop for the night.
"So any ideas how far we still have to go before we reach the dragon?" Hugh asked Link as he unloaded some wood from Epona's saddle.
Link almost reluctantly removed the stone around his neck so as to properly answer the mayor. He shuddered slightly as the transformation took place.
"I'll never get used to that." Hugh said half to himself.
"Don't worry, it's weird for me too and I'm the one who changes." Link replied with some difficulty. His mouth always felt weird whenever he tried to talk for the first time after changing back.
"How does it feel to be human again?" Ashei called to him as she set up the bedding that they had brought along.
"Fine I guess, I'm so used to both that I feel relatively normal in whatever form I happen to be in." Link answered nonchalantly. "Anyway back to your original question, we won't have far to go tomorrow. The aura is getting stronger and that usually happens when it's near the thing it's emanating from." He explained.
"Ok I'll pretend that made sense." Hugh said as he shifted his weight to a more comfortable position. "So basically what your saying is we should be ready to fight that thing tomorrow, right?"
"Yes."
"Alright then, thanks for the heads up." Hugh said jovially before going over to help Auru start the fire.
Link began to unpack his bedding, then looked back at Hugh.
"Hugh." He called to get the man's attention. "Here you can use this tonight. I'll be sleeping in my wolf form so I won't need it." He said as he tossed the bedding to Hugh.
Hugh caught it easily and thanked him.
The fire was now roaring and the cave began to warm. Link stretched contentedly against one of the cave walls as he seated himself on the floor. Auru and Hugh followed his example and sat also. Sheik then returned from outside with the bundles of food. He handed it out equally to each of them. He then came and sat next to Link. Link ate his food with little indication that he has any idea what he was eating. The weariness was beginning to claim him and he found himself more than once nodding off.
"You should sleep, you've worked hard today." Sheik told him.
Link smiled and responded. "Thanks but running as a wolf takes almost no energy, I think it's the last few nights that are starting to catch up with me."
Sheik's eyes narrowed, in suspicion or worry Link couldn't tell.
"The nightmare again?" He asked.
"Yeah, everything is still really unclear but I think the fact that's I've had the same nightmare twice now isn't a coincidence." He said while looking thoughtfully into the fire.
Sheik didn't answer but keep staring at Link.
"Well I guess there's nothing to do but wait and see what happens." He said finally before getting up to move closer to the fire.
Link sighed to himself and absentmindedly removed the clear casing on his stone. After changing forms, he began to turn in a circle a few times before lying down. Even Link wasn't sure why he did this, it just seemed appropriate somehow. Link looked at the rest of his companions. Ashei was talking to Shad about something near the back of the cave. Hugh and Auru were laying out their bedding and Sheik had yet to return. Link stared into the fire some more and thought about all the things that had been going on in his life in the past few days. Under the command of the hypnotic fire he felt his eyes slowly beginning to shut when a sudden banging sound rang through the cave. All of them jumped to their feet and turned toward the source of the noise. Link could barely believe his eyes.
"HellooOOoo! So sorry about being late everyone! I must have slept in!" Arnold said loudly as he dragged his signature unruly bags into the cave.
Everyone was struck speechless but Arnold didn't seem to notice he simply went about setting up his bags against one side of the cave and rolling out his bedding.
"My, my, you guys traveled far today didn't you?" Arnold said bringing his attention back to the shocked group. "Oh! And who is this? Did you find someone new to accompany you? He looks very capable, a good fit for your group." He said nodding approvingly at Hugh.
"Who's this?" Hugh asked as the first one to find his voice.
"Why that my dear boy is just what I asked about you! Very rude you know, you must introduce yourself first." Arnold said with a reproving glance.
"You should follow your own advice..." Hugh muttered under his breath. "My name is Hugh." He told him
"Hugh, a proper name, it suits you. And I..." Arnold said placing a hand on his chest and bowing slightly. "Am Marvin Arnold Fabian Fergus the third, although I prefer to go by Arnold."
"Now why are you all standing around there with your mouth hanging open? It's very unseemly." He said to the rest while frowning.
"How in the name of Hyrule did you get here?" Ashei burst out, finally finding her voice.
Arnold looked surprised at her. "Magic of course." He responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Ah master Shad!" he called to him getting distracted once again. "Find out any more interesting thing along your journey? He asked as he walked over and began to look over Shad's shoulder at his notebook.
Shad stuttered something to the effect of no. But Arnold would have none of that. "Come, come my boy show me what you've got there."
"It's nothing really." Shad insisted while trying to back ways from the arcanist.
Arnold sighed melodramatically. "Fine it you're going to be that way about it." He then turned and ended up staring right at Link. Link winced internally as he worried that the man would end up slightly hysterical. But Arnold just seemed to be frozen in place. He continued staring at Link in his wolf form for a while longer then calmly turned to the others and said.
"Where is master Link? You haven't misplaced him I trust?" He said as if the encounter never even happened.
"Umm… nope haven't misplaced him." Auru said carefully after recovering.
"Oh? So where is he?" Arnold said in the same completely relaxed manner.
Auru pointed towards Link. Arnold turned to follow his direction. He stared at the wolf for few seconds then looked back at Auru.
"This is master Link?" He asked also pointing at the wolf.
Auru nodded yes.
"Oh well that would explain a few things." Arnold replied happily. "Master Link so good to see you again old boy!" He said enthusiastically as he bent down next to him. "However did you get yourself in this predicament?"
Ashei leaned over to Hugh and whispered.
"This clinches it, he's completely crazy." She said shaking her head slightly.
Link looked at the arcanist completely confused. His reaction was not at all what he had been expecting; rather it was the complete opposite. Unsure what else to do, other that let himself be pestered with questions he couldn't answer for the rest of the evening, Link reluctantly pulled the stone off and gave way to the transformation once again. He shook himself a bit to get feeling back throughout his body once again the looked down at Arnold. The arcanist was staring intently at the stone that was now lying on the ground. He began to reach out his hand to pick it up.
"Don't touch that." Link told him sharply. "Unless, of course, you want to turn into a ghost."
Arnold quickly pulled his hand back and looked up at him meekly.
"Yes of course, shouldn't touch it." He said very seriously nodding his head in agreement.
Link knelt down and clasped the case back on the stone and slipped it into his pocket.
"Wait, that's what happens if one of us touches that thing?" Ashei asked in alarm.
"Yeah, but I knew you guys would be careful with it so I wasn't worried." Link answered calmly.
"What an interesting stone! Is it magic?" Arnold asked with a wide grin
Link sighed. "More or less," he admitted resignedly. "But no, you can't examine it and no I'm not going to tell you where I got it. I'm much too tired for all that right now."
Arnold frowned a little and his lower lip stuck out in something of a childish pout but he didn't argue.
"Whatever the case I think it's time that we all got some rest. Tomorrow we're going to need our energy." Auru said with stern practicality.
No one protested and within minutes each of them were in their respective beds and well on their way to sleep.
Link's head jolted up in an unpleasant awakening, his head still spinning from the latest nightmare. He looked around to see if he had woken anyone else but everyone seemed to still be peacefully slumbering. Laying his head back on the ground, the hero allowed sleep to claim his once again. But unbeknownst to him there were two others who were witness to his disturbing nightly visions.
Getting ready the next morning was... interesting to say the least. Between Arnold and Shad arguing and Hugh finding out the hard way what happens when you try to wake up Ashei, Link found it very difficult to keep his concentration steady. Sheik and Auru seemed to be having the same dilemma and had disappeared early on, leaving Link in charge of the morning chaos. After detaching Arnold from Shad and taking away Ashei's daggers thing began to calm slightly. Link had hoped that he would have time to prepare himself mentally for the impending battle but he realized he would have to settle for preparing on the way.
"Are you guys almost ready to go?" He asked trying to keep his frustration out of his voice.
"Yeah we should be ready to go in the next few minutes." Hugh answered as he finished tying up the bedding he had used the night before.
"Alright I'll be outside if you need me" Link said then walked out of the cave, glad to be free of the cramped space.
As he exited the cave he was greeted by Auru.
"Hey, glad to see you're still alive after all that." Auru joked.
"No kidding, I had no idea getting up in the morning could be so complicated for some people." Link answered wryly
"You and me both." Auru chuckled slightly. "So how are you doing?" He asked more seriously.
Link paused before responding. "Alright I guess, I'm more nervous than I thought I would be, but that just may be because I'm out of practice." He said with a small lopsided smile.
"That may be true... But it may also be because you have more than just yourself to worry about." Auru said thoughtfully.
"Maybe..." Link murmured. "Oh hey, do you know where Sheik went?" Link asked suddenly
"Yeah I think he went over there behind those rocks, said something about getting a letter." Auru shrugged but pointed in the direction that Sheik had left.
"Thanks." Link said before walking in the direction Auru and indicated.
He found Sheik sitting against the rock face reading a piece of paper that Link could only assume was the letter Auru had told him about.
"Hey." Link said trying to get his friend's attention.
If Link had startled Sheik in any way he did an amazing job of hiding it. Instead the Sheikah simply glanced up at Link and said.
"I see Ashei hasn't torn you to shreds yet."
"Yeah I got off pretty easy today; Hugh took most of the heat this morning." Link said smiling at the thought of Hugh's terrified face when Ashei had woke up.
Sheik seemed to smile but didn't say anything in response.
"So what have you been doing this morning?" Link asked as he sat against the rock face opposite to Sheik.
"The postman came, gave me a letter from the princess." Sheik said lifting the letter slightly to show Link, but not enough for Link to be able to read any of it. Sheik frowned slightly. "I still can't figure out how that postman can find us even when we're all the way out here."
Link laughed. "You got me there, he always shows up in the weirdest places. I mean I even found him at the end of the Cave of Ordeals."
"The Cave of Ordeals?" Sheik asked curiously.
"Yeah, it was this place I found in the desert, it's the home of the great fairy and just involved fighting a ton of monsters. Long story short, I was pretty beat up by the end of it but then I get to the end and there's the postman completely untouched just sitting there." Link said, letting his voice portray the disbelief he had felt.
"Yikes, I don't think he's completely normal." Sheik said giving a small laugh.
"Are any of us?" Link said rolling his eyes.
"Good point." Sheik said looking to the side.
"The princess say anything of interest?" Link asked indicating towards the letter.
Sheik looked down at the paper.
"Not particularly..." He said with a shrug. "It's mostly talking about what's been happening at the castle."
"Sounds boring." Link said putting his arms behind his head so he could lean back more comfortably. "I'm amazed that Zelda can- oh sorry, the princess can put up with all that. I would be falling asleep every few minutes."
"I'm sure the princess would mind if you simply called her Zelda." Sheik put in. "But yes, I'm sure it does get boring at times."
"Hmmm," Link murmured in agreement. "Anyway, we'd better get going. Don't want to keep our dragon friend waiting." He said with a wink as he got up and began to walk back to the cave entrance. Finding most of the group already saddling up Link began to pull out his wolf stone.
"I'll scout ahead before I lead you guys where to go ok?" Link said to Auru.
"That shouldn't be a problem." Auru said before mounting his horse.
"Are you going to make our horses act all weird again?" Hugh called to him wearily
"Act weird?" Link repeated, confused
"Yeah how they just would suddenly stop walking or randomly change direction without us telling them." Hugh said frowning.
"Oh that," Link said smiling. "I just had a chat with them, so they know when to follow me and when to stop. Sorry if that confused you." He said slightly mischievously.
"It's fine but just warn me next time." He answered.
"I'll try to remember." Link teased
Within a few minutes they had finally managed to get Arnold on his horse and were ready to be on their way." Link transformed and began to lead the way, the battle quickly approaching.
Following the aura seemed to be easier the second day. And within a couple of hours Link asked the horses to stop while he went and scouted ahead. The area around him was still very rocky and reminded him strongly of death mountain. Turning at corner he came face to face with a giant cave opening. It was at least 15 feet in height and easily that big across. Link glanced inside from his spot on the left side of the entrance. The aura clearly entered here, and given the smells that we're emanating from the cave, Link surmised they had finally caught up with their dragon foe. Feeling his adrenaline pumping through his veins Link quickly loped back to the group. Transforming back to human Link told them his findings.
"So we only need to turn a few corners and we're there." He said somewhat breathlessly.
"Alright, everyone dismount and leave your horses here, we'll travel the rest of the way on foot." Auru said taking control.
Everyone complied and began to remove various weapons and devices from the saddle bags. All except Shad of course, they had decided the night before that he would stay to watch over their belongings. Link dug through his pockets checking over his supplies. He was a bit low on arrows but he was sure that Ashei had extras that he could use. Deciding to leave two of his fairies behind, he brought his potions instead. Looking around everyone else seemed to be ready.
"Alright let's go." Link said
They each nodded tensely and began to follow as he led them towards the cave. The cave was pitch black so Link was forced to light his lantern to give them some light. Notching an arrow he slowly began to walk into the cave staying tight to the wall. He noticed Ashei had followed his example and Sheik had readied himself with small needle-like knives. The stench was overpowering and Link found himself stifling a gag. As they made their way deeper into the cave they came across many carcasses, clearly indicating what the source of the smell was. After what seemed like an eternity something glinted off his light. Stopping Link bent down to inspect it and after lifting it he realized it to be a shield, but he didn't recognize the crest. Hugh's face twisted to one of a mix of rage and great sadness when Link showed it to them.
"That was my sister's." He said through clenched teeth.
Link nodded sadly and handed it to him. Wordless Hugh strapped it to his back then indicated for Link to continue on. Link however stayed frozen in place, his head swivelling around. He brought his bow and arrow closer to his face, pulling the draw string tighter. The rest mimicked his movements and crouched into their individual battle stances. They began to hear the scrapping of scales against the stone through the silence. Then suddenly the dragon's eyes opened a few feet in front of them glinting dangerously off Link's lantern, giving them an eerily golden shine. They dragon roared mightily and began to shoot long streaks of fire around the cave. The rocks themselves began to catch on fire in some places, lighting the cave brightly even after the dragon concluded its bellowing. Turning its attention back to the group the dragon snaked its head closer. The size of the thing was incredible, with a single eye being equal in size to Link. As it towered over them Link began to search for its weak spot. When the dragon had been closer Link had noticed that the eyes had clear protective armour covering them, one like he had never seen before. Growling in frustration of not finding one Link turned to the others.
"Split up." He commanded. "Find its weak point."
They each began to comply, running off in different directions. The dragon watched all this with seeming boredom. Its eyes half lidded, it glanced at each of them in turn, but made no effort to attack. Link frowned at the strange behavior and started to move closer to try and determine why the dragon was acting this way. As he got closer the dragon turned to look at him. Eyeing him curiously just as Link returned the look with one of his own. Once he got within a few feet of the monster, it decided that he had come far enough and shot a small blast of fire towards him. Link back flipped out of the way with ease and fired a bomb arrow into its mouth. The dragon closed its mouth just as a muffled explosion could be heard; even so the dragon didn't so much as blink. Link put away his bow and arrows. 'Well that clearly didn't work.' He thought to himself as he brought out his ball and chain. 'On to the next experiment.' The dragon snorted quietly and began to settle itself on the ground, looking at Link with the same bored expression. As Link began to swing the ball and chain over his head he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Glancing over he saw the it was Arnold. He was skipping, yes skipping, over to the dragon. He then put a hand against the dragon's scales before any of them could stop him.
"Hello sweetheart!" He said happily, as he stroked the dragon affectionately.
The dragon growled and moved its head closer to the arcanist.
"Yes, I agree it was quite rude of them to wake you like that." Arnold said in response to what the dragon had 'said?'
Arnold looked over reprovingly at Link. "You never said that you were going to kill my dragon." He said with a frown. "Don't you think that's a little presumptuous? Not to mention mean." Arnold pouted while still stroking the side of the dragon.
"... Your... Dragon?" Link replied very slowly.
"Yes, my dragon. You have no right, and I should say no reason to hurt it. It's mine so leave it alone." Arnold said quite snappishly
"Arnold what are you talking about!?" Link asked in complete disbelief.
Arnold looked at out of the corner of his eye condescendingly, but didn't respond for a while.
"You said that you were going to kill a dragon, one, I might add, that was dangerous and must be stopped, but you weren't supposed to kill this one! Go find another one."
"Arnold, this dragon has attacked villages! It's killed people! It killed Hugh's sister! You really think I'm going to just let that go?!" Link yelled in frustration.
"Yes you will. You will have to." Arnold said coldly.
"Or what?!" Link snapped
Arnold began to laugh. "Ah, the hero of Hyrule." He said mockingly. "You think that you're so strong, but you don't stand a chance against me." He said emphasizing 'chance'.
Link put away his ball and chain and calmly unsheathed his sword.
"I will not let this creature harm any more innocent people." He said boldly.
Arnold began to laugh heartily at this.
"My dear boy. There is no need for that. It not like I want to hurt people. I just don't let anything stand in my way, and those 'innocent' people were definitely in the way." he said very clearly annoyed by the thought.
"You can't do this." Link said firmly
"Master Link..." Arnold said reprovingly. "This is not a situation of can or can't; it is simply if I will or it I won't, and I have already decided that I will." He finished, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
Link glared back at him. Arnold looked at him, and then his eyes softened.
"There is no need for us to fight. I am more than willing for you to go. You can go back to your life and no harm will come to you or any of the others. As I said before my goal is not to hurt people." He said kindly, as if speaking to a small child.
"Then what is your goal?" Link asked carefully
"My, my how many times must I say it? Magic of course!" He said throwing his arms out in the air flamboyantly. "I want magic!"
"You already have magic." Link pointed out.
"I want more! You can never have enough magic. There is always more to learn, more to collect!" Arnold said excitedly.
"And that's why you want the relics." Link filled in.
"Well obviously." He replied with a shrug
"Then what? What will you do after that?" Link frowned deeply, trying to keep his rage under control.
"Well I suppose I could go to the mushroom kingdom... There are a few types of magic that I still need to learn from there." Arnold said thoughtfully as he tapped his cheek while looking at the ceiling. "I mean Bowser does owe me a favour so I could always use his help. Or I could visit Tellius, I would love to get my hands on one of those swords, Marth wasn't overly accommodating last time but that's not that important. Oh! But I do want to come back to speak to your dear princess eventually. I hate putting things off for too long." He dawdled, and then sighed melodramatically. "I just have so many choices."
"And how many more people will get hurt because of this?" Link asked rhetorically. "A hundred? A thousand? You really think that you can get away with that?"
"Uh, I have a dragon." He said waving his hands towards it. "It not like people can stop me."
"I will."
"Fine," Arnold said simply. "Have it your way." He then turned to address the dragon. "My dear please take care of these pests, but try not to kill them." He glanced at Link disparagingly. "I'm feeling generous today." Then with a flick of his wrist he disappeared.
At that moment the dragon instantly flared to life, the earlier indifference all but forgotten. It snapped at where Link had been seconds earlier. After back flipping out of the way Link grabbed his hookshot and let the chain fly. The head embedded itself into the rough area of the ceiling and with a tug Link was lifted off the ground to the air above the dragon. A quick glance around informed him the locations of the rest of the group. Sheik was on the left flank of the dragon slicing at the legs with his knives while dodging the dragon's wings that were slashing around trying to shake off its attackers. Ashei was near the tail shooting arrows at its skin; hissing in frustration as they bounced harmlessly off. Auru was just a few feet away from Ashei readying his bazooka. Landing with a thump Link ran toward Sheik in an attempt to aid the warrior. Jumping up on the creature's leg he began to climb, ducking as the dragon's head swung around to try and hit him. Eventually he managed to climb to its wings and began to slice at them with as much strength as he could. Sheik joined him moments later and began to throw daggers into various parts of the wing. The dragon roared in anger and began to bat them away. Jumping to the ground to avoid being hit, Link and Sheik began to run to the other side of the dragon to see if they would have better success on that side. The dragon raised its front paw and slashed down at them with lightning speed. Link barely managed to get his shield out in time to stop the claws from slicing through the both of them. A quick nod from Sheik was the only gratitude that they had time for before they were off running again. The dragon hissed flames at them as they attempted to dive out of the way. Link got out his boomerang spun it around himself to douse the flames; luckily he had only caught fire in a few places and hadn't burned much farther than his clothes. Sheik on the other hand was not as fortunate, his left side had been scorched leaving nasty burns. Link hurried over but Sheik roughly turned him away and got to his feet. The sound of the dragon's roar alerted them that it was about to breath fire again. Link impulsively threw the boomerang at the dragon's head in the hopes that it would stop it from attempting to roast them again. It worked for a split second before the dragon angrily resumed its fiery rampage. Muffled explosions echoing across the cave alerted them that Auru and Ashei had begun to use the bazooka. The dragon screeched, in pain or anger Link couldn't tell, then spun around and crashed its head into the two. They both flew across the room and landed unconscious.
Link growled in rage. "Go take care of them!" He yelled at Sheik. "I'll distract the dragon!"
Sheik noodled tensely and ran toward the fallen members of their team.
Link shouted at the dragon to get its attention. As the dragon turned its head Link set fuse to three of his bombs and threw them at the things head. As they got close he shot three arrows, exploding the bombs prematurely. As the dragon tried to reorient itself after not actually being hit by the bombs, Link threw his boomerang to stun it further. Then in one fluid movement he attached his iron boots while throwing his ball and chain. Using a different tactic, he threw the ball in such a way that it would wrap around the leg of the dragon. Before the dragon could figure out what he was doing he pulled as hard as he could, taking advantage of the fact that the dragon was already unstable. The creature roared in utmost rage as it fell to the ground but it wasn't going down without a fight. It whipped is tail around last second and slashed it solidly across Link's chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending his shield crashing into the wall at the other end of the cave. Link weakly began to climb to his feet when the dragon got back up and hit him with its front paw, sending him back to being sprawled on the ground. Link looked up at the dragon as it lifted is paws once again to hit him in what Link was sure would be the final blow. His mind screamed at him to get up but his body shook with pain. He could feel that two of his ribs were broken and most likely another three that were cracked alongside an untold number of bruises and cuts. Link felt his eyes closing as the sharp claws came hurling towards him. With a blur Sheik appeared in front of him with his arms crossed across his chest in a defensive position. Link's eyes widened in terror as he tried to yell to Sheik to move but the claws crashed into the Sheikah throwing him back against the wall before crumpling to the ground. Time seemed to slow as Link struggled to pick himself up to go aid his friend. The dragon slammed its claws around Link, missing him by centimetres. He looked into the gleaming eyes of the dragon. It stared at him with almost devilish delight as it slowly began to scrap its claws across his chest quickly drawing blood. Link fought to swallow a scream, tears streaming down his face. The dragon's claws suddenly stopped moving, and then drifted off his chest, trailing a streak of blood after them. Link could feel himself slipping into blissful darkness, but still managed to hear Arnold's voice echoing through his head.
"Not yet, my dear, not yet."
Without another moment the darkness overtook him.