Setting up the Stage, Part II

Link crouched down behind an old, damp cargo box as an armor piercing crossbow bolt pierced its surface. He had to admit, he was impressed with Kent's spies. Not long after he had killed the pirate leader many of his underlings had begun hunting him down. The snipers that were positioned on the rooftops kept him trapped in the alleyways and they made it difficult to defeat the melee fighters. A single one of those armor piercing bolts could tear through his chain mail as if it were made of paper. Still, at least they were keeping this fight deep in the city alleyways; there was a far lower chance of a civilian getting caught in the middle of it.

Link heard the familiar sound of a blade being unsheathed behind him. While staying in a crouched position to avoid the snipers, Link turned around and thrust his sword at his attacker. The powerful sword pierced through the pirate's right hand and shattered his elbow. Not even allowing the pirate a chance to scream in agony, Link sliced the blade out of the man's arm and into his throat in one fluid motion.

The sound of a crossbow bolt whistling passed his ear caused Link to crouch even lower behind the cargo crate. "C'mon, boy! Be a man and raise your head high! It'll give me a good shot!" The high pitched laughter caused by the pirate's squeaky voice only made Link even more irritated.

"Ha ha," Link muttered sarcastically. Noticing an iron dagger in the dead pirate's splintered hand, he quickly made a plan for dealing with that aggravating sniper. "Crossbows take a while to reload. I'll need to take advantage of that." Using his foot, Link slid the dagger over to his position and laid it on his lap. Then, once again having to use his feet, grabbed the dead pirate by the head and pulled him into reaching distance. "Let's hope this works."

Link grabbed the corpse by the shoulders and slowly pushed up the side of the crate. Blood splattered against Link's right cheek as the bolt pierced the corpse's head. Wasting no time, Link stood with the dagger in hand, and threw it at the surprised sniper. The knife struck him in the shoulder, causing him to drop the crossbow and stumble off of the rooftop. Link flinched as the man landed face first on the dust covered ground, a loud and sickening crack signifying that his neck was broken.

Link sighed with relief as he was finally allowed a short break. More than likely another pirate would find him in a few minutes.

"I knew I'd find you if I followed the trail of bodies."

Acting on instinct, Link grabbed his sword and swung it towards the direction the voice had come from. When Link saw the green orb of light he quickly flicked his wrist back and avoided slicing the little fairy in half.

Schala let out a high-pitched cry, and flew behind a near-by bucket in fear.

Link lowered his sword. "Schala? Is that you?" Schala slowly flew out from her hiding place, still shocked by her near-death experience. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I'm a little jumpy at the moment, what with all these pirates trying to kill me."

"Yeah, I can see that," Schala replied nervously while glancing at the dead pirate with the splintered arm.

"Schala, what are you dong here? Is Zelious here with you?"

"No. Actually, he ordered me to find you while he went out of town on a...business trip."

"Why did he order you to come find me?" Link demanded. Link remembered what Meliadoul had said about Zelious. Zelious ordering Schala to seek out Link only caused his growing suspicion to rise.

Schala only sighed in annoyance. "Just take Zelious's note and find out for yourself." Link just stared at the rolled up parchment being held by Schala. He smirked at the difficulty she was having holding it. "Well, hurry up! Stop grinning at me like a juvenile, and take the note! It's heavy!"

Just out of spite, Link quickly snatched the parchment from Schala, the quick movement causing her to have difficulty staying in the air. Link unrolled the parchment, and began reading the message Zelious had written him:

Link, how are you? I hope my fairy friend finds you in good health. I have to leave town on an important business trip to the capital - appraising artifacts for rich nobles and the like - so I won't be around to offer you help. I remember how you spoke of having to travel to Mt. Evray. As a bit of advice, I suggest you travel across Lake Leviathan to reach to the southern lands where the mountain is located. It's a longer route, but I fear taking the shorter route would prove dangerous for that area currently has more skirmishes between the Princes than any other. I have instructed Schala to help guide you to the capital, where I hope to see you once again. From there, the way to Mt. Evray is pretty straightforward.

- Zelious

Link rolled the parchment back up, and placed it in one of his belt bags. What Zelious had written made sense; the last thing Link wanted was to get involved in the kingdom's political problems. "Well," Link thought, "looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of sailing."

-----------------------------

Author Note: Soooooo sorry it took me so long to update. Anyways, I've finally gotten all of my problems dealt with, so updates will hopefully come out more often. Please review.