The next morning, I woke up and groggily tried to prepare for the journey ahead of us. After Ganondorf burned Castletown to ash and took up residence in the newly gutted castle, the nearest occupied village was over two days ride away. Luck was on our side though, because I was able to snag a couple rabbits only a few hours in, so we stopped for an early lunch.

When we finished, instead of taking off immediately, Landon and I spared. The clash of our blades didn't even last a whole minute before he was on the ground, disarmed, with my sword at his throat.

"That was amazing!" Trenton said gleefully. "I've never seen the skill you have with a blade before. I don't know if there's a man alive who could beat you."

I couldn't help the pride that swelled in my chest at his praise, but an unfamiliar voice shook me from my thoughts. "Would you like to bet on that fact?"

All three of our heads snapped around to see a strangely dressed man step from behind a tree. He wore thin armor that was a mix of blue and black. Over his shoulders hung tightly fitting white material that went down slightly past his hips. It was marked with a strange red symbol that looked familiar but that I couldn't place at the moment. Similar material was wrapped from wrist to elbow on both arms, from his neck to below his nose, and around the top of his head. This meant only his scarlet eyes, slight nose, and few strands of blonde hair that escaped from the head covering could be seen.

I gripped my sword more tightly as I looked him up and down. A lone man who was this far from town and dressed like that could only mean trouble. My companions, who had their own weapons ready, seemed to have the same idea. "It would be wise of you to leave right now, bandit," Trenton called. "We don't want trouble, but you will be the sorry one if you don't go."

"Wrong on all counts," the stranger replied. "I am not a bandit, I am not here to make trouble, and I could not care less about you two. I'm here because of Link."

My eyes widened with shock. How did he know my name? "What do you want from me, stranger? And how do you know me?"

His eyes locked on mine with an intensity that made me want to look away, but I refused to give him the satisfaction. "You have made quite a name for yourself with your ability to kill monsters. I want to see how exaggerated those tales are for myself. I'm here to challenge you to a fight."

The twins started laughing at the exact same moment in that eerie way of theirs. "A small man like you has no chance against Link," Landon said.

"Yeah, that fight would be over before it had even begun. It would be a slaughtering. He has no reason to fight you," Trenton chipped in.

What little I could see of his face remained as stone. "I have coin were you to win." Landon and Trenton became very excited, but I was unimpressed. Seeing this, he added, "as well as an ocarina."

I nodded my head in sudden acceptance. The twins were confused, as they should be. They didn't know that a dear friend had given me hers as a parting gift years ago. Besides the sentimental value, I found it relaxing to play. Unfortunately, it had been destroyed awhile back in circumstances beyond my control. While I had looked, I still had not found a replacement.

"And if you won?" I asked, determined to know more before I agreed.

"Does it really matter when you're so confident in your ability?"

I thought for a second. "Yes. When your opponent's motives are unclear or suspect, it's important to know the risk you're undertaking."

I thought I saw something flash through his eyes, but a moment later, it was gone. "Ah, so you do have something in that head. If I were to win, you would accompany me on a mission. You would receive compensation, so it's really a no lose situation for you."

I looked over at my companions and saw them nodding eagerly, but I still wasn't sure. "So this is just a one-on-one sword fight that ends when the loser submits?" I asked warily.

"Well, no, that wouldn't be a fair fight." Ha, I knew there must be some kind of catch. "All you need to do to win is touch me with your sword once. I wouldn't be victorious until your sword hit the ground in exhaustion or forfeit. Do you agree to these terms?"

"I don't like sneakiness of-" I started before his words sunk in. "Wait, are you trying to tell me that you think you are so superior in skill that I couldn't even touch you?" I wasn't sure whether to laugh at the ridiculousness of the idea or yell at him in defense of my wounded pride. "I don't know who you told you about my feats, but I haven't lost a duel since I was just a boy. Whatever trick attack you have planned to make me drop my blade has very little chance of success. You may want to rethink your terms."

His eyebrows slanted down slyly. "Oh, I forgot to mention-I will only raise my blade defensively. I will not try to disarm you to win. And it's not that I think I am that skilled; I just think you're not nearly as good as the hype would suggest," he taunted arrogantly. "Now I will only ask once more: "Will you fight me?"

Anger coursed throughout my whole body. How dare this cocky son-of-a-moblin disrespect me like that? Any caution I felt earlier was thrown to the wind. There was no way I would let him get away with that. "You're on. But when you lose, remember that it was you who set the terms."

We walked over to the flattest piece of land we could find. Landon and Trenton were behind me, already reveling in my future victory. "This guy is unbelievable. Link might beat him faster than he beat me earlier."

"Yeah, thank the goddesses for overconfident fools who are willing to part with their money."

I couldn't help but smile at their confidence in my ability. They really weren't too bad to have around. I turned back to my opponent. It wouldn't be smart to act as if I had already won before the match had started even if there was little doubt in my mind of the final outcome.

Instead, I started focusing my attention on the man across from me. His body was very toned, but it looked like I would have a definite advantage in strength due to his size. Not only did I have at least three inches on him, but I was much broader around the shoulders and chest. Overall, I probably had twenty or thirty pounds on the guy, and none of that was from fat. His advantage would be speed, but unless his plan was to run away from me the whole match, he would only be able to block my powerful strokes for so long.

He unsheathed his blade, which only served to confirm my suspicions about how the match would go. It was smaller and thinner than my own, built for speed, not to endure the assault I was planning to attack him with. Warning bells started to go off in my head because I couldn't understand why he would set terms that so obviously put him at a disadvantage.

"Before we begin, can I ask your name, stranger?"

He just stared at me for a few seconds, as if he was debating with himself whether or not he should tell me. "You may call me Sheik," he finally said.

The name was unfamiliar to me, but I heard a gasp come from behind. I shot the twins a questioning look, and Trenton spoke up. "I've heard a few stories-from about fourth party sources, mind you-about a fierce warrior who goes by Sheik. I can't say how much is true, but you should be careful," he said with a worried look in his eye.

I took his words to heart, and instead of charging him as I originally planned, I approached him more cautiously before starting my attack. I flipped my sword around in my hand a few times to make sure I was comfortable with the weight and had a firm grip as I circled him. He just stood there, his face eerily calm, as he followed me with his eyes. I tried sacrificing strength for speed in my first attack to try and catch him off guard, but his own blade easily stopped mine. After a few more similar efforts with similar results, it became clear that I could not beat him with speed. I figured he would be quick, but I had never seen anyone move faster than he did.

It was clear that I needed to change my tactic back to my original plan: I would strike as hard as I could relentlessly until his arms no longer had the strength to block me. I swung my blade at him as hard as I could, and, as I expected, he blocked it easily with his own, but not in a way I had ever seen before. Instead of planting his feet with his sword in front of his body to make the most out of the power he had, he moved his body to the side and took the entire force of the blow with the arm holding his sword. The technique effectively kept his body from being touched, but it seemed like it would make him tire twice as fast.

He continued to block me in the same manner for the next several of my attacks though, and he didn't appear to be weakening. I didn't understand that as I was using big and obvious attacks I normally would have paid big time for were he able to attack me offensively. Still, his sword stopped each of my efforts.

I charged him and thought it worked when he didn't jump out of the way for once, but instead he caught my blade with his own and used my own momentum to send me flying past him. As I was trying to stop and regain my balance, the edge of my sword skimmed across the ground.

"This is your only warning. Should your blade touch the ground again, I will consider it a forfeit," Sheik said, his voice even.

After that, I made sure to be careful to keep my sword in the air. I gave up the wild swinging and tried to use all my skill to sneak it through his defenses. Once I even switched my sword to my right hand to slash across his body. When he reached out to block me, I spun quickly inside and elbowed him in the stomach, eliciting a gasp as the air was knocked out of his lungs. I followed that with another slash as fast as I could, but my sword missed him by a fraction of an inch. He had jumped away just in time.

He narrowed his eyes at me, and I couldn't help but feel a little guilty. We had never specifically outlined rules against that sort of thing, but it was still a cheap move, especially considering how much the terms were in my favor. Had they been the other way around, the match would have been over in minutes.

I kept up a furious assault of attacks after that, but not a single one came close to hitting him. I was breathing heavily at this point, straining a bit to keep my sword off the ground, but he continued to dance away from every advance as if he were made of smoke. He barely looked as if he were breaking a sweat!

Discouraged and exhausted, I summoned all my energy for a two-hand overhand strike. This time Sheik planted his feet and swung his blade hard to meet my own. The combination of the unexpected resistance and the sweat that greased my palms ripped the sword from my grasp, and it clattered to the ground.

I collapsed into a sitting position, not having the energy to stand after my defeat. Silence hung in the air as I waited for Sheik to start gloating. When nothing was said, I looked up to see him on a knee trying to regain his breath, looking almost as worn out as I was.

"You have truly humbled me. Never before have I seen another with your level of skill. You're incredible," I said sincerely.

He gave me a slight nod in acknowledgement of my words, at which point the twins started assaulting him with praise and questions. He stared them down until they stopped in awkward silence. Dang, this guy was intense.

"Does this mean you will follow through on our bet?" he asked.

"Of course. In times like these, all a man has is his word. Although I have to ask, why would you possibly want my help with your mission? My abilities pale in comparison to your own."

"There is something you can do which I cannot." Seeing the inevitable question already forming on my tongue, he stopped me. "Do not ask me what, I was only instructed to give you this task"

"Instructed? Instructed by who?"

My question was met with another of his guarded stares, so I tried a different line of questioning. "What made you so sure that I would fight you? If I had any sense, I never would have agreed to that match."

"I saw little threat in you having sense," he said as the corners of his eyes crinkled a little, leading me to believe he might be smiling under his wrappings. "But as a failsafe, I brought something I knew would peak your interest."

"What?"

After looking at me for a minute, he let out a short whistle. A horse that had previously been hidden from view, trotted over to him. He reached into one of the saddlebags and pulled out a dark blue small, round object. Familiarity swept over me, and when I got a better look, I gasped.

It was an ocarina. Zelda's ocarina.