Link raced through the woods, the pounding of his feet and the panting of his breath in perfect rhythm. Something akin to panic was creeping into his heart, he realized for the first time how scared he was that Midna would disappear again. So he ran faster, and the fear was pushed to the edge of his mind as he concentrated on dodging the trunks of the trees and leaping over roots and stones. And then there were no more trees.

Midna caught sight of Link from the corner of her eye and her eyes grew wide behind the mask. She kept her face turned to the gossip stone, hoping that it would get to the information she needed before Link came near her. While she had no facts on the matter, she had a strong suspicion that if someone else came near her the stone would stop talking. While that would be a relief to her ears, she needed the information. Link was coming closer and closer, Midna heard the ninth explosion. And then, miraculously, the stone decided to comply.

"You know that Muerte I mentioned? Well I hear there's only one way to beat it! The object is really quite special, its hidden in the temple under the mountains. All you need to get there is go-"

Suddenly the gossip stone shut up, apparently Link had come to close. Link barreled into Midna and they both went flying. They skidded to a stop almost a yard away from the gossip stone, a trench of dirt left behind them. Link was as happy as could be, but Midna was seeing red.

"You ruined it Link!"

Link's eyes grew wide as Midna pushed him away as hard as she could.

"You were suppose to stay with Ganondorf and Zelda!"

Suddenly the tenth explosion sounded, both of them turned their heads at the same time as Cover came tearing from the city.

"RUN!"

Leaving their argument for another hour, Link and Midna dashed towards the forest, Cover only inches behind them.

The villagers followed, a flood of hatred gushing into the field behind them. They were all armed, either it was with pitchforks and torches, or kitchen knives and axes, both could be fatal.

A pitchfork shot past Cover's face, javelin-like, and landed in the ground in front of his feet, vibrating with the force of the impact. Any lesser being would have slammed directly into it, but Cover spun to the side, looking ridiculously like a ballerina, and grabbed it as he ran on. Midna dissolved into a shadow as she ran, trying to make herself less of a target. Link didn't need any evasion tactics, for a wolf was much faster than humans and he was already far out of throwing range.

And then they were in the forest. Midna was hidden entirely in the shadows of the trees. Cover leapt to the branches, and might as well have been a shadow. As for Link, well the forest is the domain of even the lowliest of wolves, not the humans, and Link was no lowly wolf. The villagers searched in vain for hours, but they returned empty handed.

Ganondorf's eyes shot open at a sound in the forest. He stood up and glanced around, unsheathing his dagger as he did. He didn't need to strain his ears; whatever was making the sound was quite loud. Neither forest animals nor his allies were this clumsy, it had to be a villager.

Ganondorf didn't even consider waiting for it to pass, he was sick of waiting. He shot through the trees and snatched up his prey before it could even scream, pressing the blade of his dagger to its throat. Only then did he examine what he had caught.

It was a child, a little boy about ten years old. Most people would have been shocked that they were threatening the life of a child, and immediately back off. The fact that it was a boy of ten only made Ganondorf consider slitting his throat without question; after all it had been a ten year old boy who defeated his three best monsters.

Perhaps Ganondorf would have killed the child, but at that moment Zelda came behind Ganondorf.

"Let him go Ganondorf."

Ganondorf gritted his teeth but obligingly let the boy go and sheathed his dagger. The boy immediately tried to dash for it and Ganondorf took this as permission to snatch him up again, though he refrained from drawing his dagger again.

The boy let out a yelp, and seeing that Ganondorf no longer held the dagger, began to scream as loud as he could.

Ganondorf snarled and his hand moved to the dagger again. Zelda snatched his wrist and glared at him. Ganondorf glared back, but finally he moved his hand away from the dagger and settled for using his hand to cover the boy's mouth.

Zelda nodded "Thank you. Would you mind bringing him into the camp? I'll see if I can find a spell to erase his memory.

Ganondorf's eyes bulged "Erase his- You mean we're just going to let him go?! By Din, at the very least we could question him!"

"I doubt he would betray his family Ganondorf."

"I wasn't implying we would just ask nicely. There are other ways of getting information."

Zelda spun around and slapped Ganondorf across the face, leaving a long red mark.

"Don't you ever suggest such a thing again Ganondorf! I care how you're use to doing things, I will never permit torture on a child."

Ganondorf's face turned expressionless, and his eyes glanced toward the cheek that she had slapped him on, though the mark was far out of his sight. Zelda waited for a moment to see if he would respond and then turned back to the camp. Though she didn't let it show, she was shaking with fear inside. It echoed in her mind all too clearly who she had just slapped The Great King of Evil, The Dark Lord: Ganondorf. And Zelda realized that when Ganondorf no longer needed them, she was probably going to die.