Disclaimer: Only the events in the story are mine. Not to mention the new characters I've thrown in. No suing please.
I'M TIRED OF WAITING!!! All you have to do is review ONCE after reading a chapter. It can be as small as a four letter word alone, and I won't care, as long as I get some bloody feedback! Yeesh, my patience is burned up…… soooooooo……..BLARG!
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Chapter 3
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"Ughh. If I'm going to eat that, at least tell me what it IS!"
The girl had revealed herself to the name of Zimera. A charming name in Link's opinion. She had demanded that he take her to Zelda immediately after he had told her he could. But rather than give in to her insistent rants and complaints, he had proceeded outside, down the ladder, and straight on through the village to the Ranch without so much as a backward glance when she screamed at him to come back.
After he had dealt with the work of the day, he informed Fado that he was going to be making a trip to the castle, and offered to pick up any supplies he needed. Afterwards he offered the same thing to Rusl and the Mayor. Upon returning to the clearing around his home, he found that the girl had by some stroke of bad luck ran into her first monkey. Needless to say she was thrilled.
Apparently, the little devil had snuck up on her while she was fuming at the top of the ladder, and snatched one of her sandal-like shoes. He found her on the ground staring daggers at the impish primate, whom had taken to taunting her by waving the shoe around. When she caught sight of him, she huffed up and crossed her arms, staring off into the woods. Link gave a secretively mischievous smile.
Crouching down and removing his boots, he started to tip-toe over to the tree the monkey had perched at. Being a silent as possible, he began climbing the tree, around the back where the fuzzy, miniature monster couldn't see him. Once he reached a level space with the monkey, he popped around the side, letting out a loud, rasping, roar-like sound. The monkey froze in fright, and fainted, slipping off the tree into the bushes below.
Checking his laughter, he dropped down and snatched up the shoe before the monkey woke up. He tossed it at the guest of honor, who gave a Hmph! and placed it back on her foot. He stood next to her and held out a hand to help her up. Although retaining her look of irritation, she took it.
"I'll take you to Castle Hyrule, but it'll be slow going without my horse. She doesn't like strangers much. Especially not temperamental ones." He chuckled, and she glared darkly at him.
"The sooner we're out of this forest, the better. I hate trees." Link frowned and shrugged, "Well, get used to them. They're everywhere here."
He beckoned up towards his house, "Come on, I'll pack some food for you. I'm afraid all I've got is my own tunics for traveling, so you'll either be getting really cold or just using one of mine." He climbed swiftly up the stairs, girl at his heels.
"Nothing for it I guess. Where's the tunic?" He pointed up the stairs, "I had folded some and set them on top of the chest up there. Take your pick."
A few minutes later, two packs were set, and the sound of the girl coming back down was heard. She had decided to use a gray one that he had never really come around to using. He still preferred the green ones he had in a separate chest.
Despite their size difference, the tunic seemed to fit snugly enough. Then he remembered that the tunic had been given him a while back, before Midna or Ganon. Regardless, she looked impatient.
"Can we leave?"
He shrugged, "I guess." He went over to a corner, where a large chest was sitting. He tugged on the latch, and the chest came easily open. He smiled fleetingly at the collection of weapons and instruments. He reached in and removed the Ordonian sword and shield, as well as his bow. He crossed back to the girl, holding out the bow.
"Any good with this?" she nodded her head, staring intently at the weapon. He let her take it, and went to a small rack that held a plethora of carefully laid out bowstrings. He picked out a new one, and handed it to her, "go ahead and string it. We could run into anything on our way out of the forest.
She did so, and they picked up their packs and slung them over their shoulders. Link had to strap the sword and sheath to his waist, so it wouldn't be scraped against the pack. He left the shield on his back. It was easily replaceable, unlike the metal one he had upstairs.
He was just about to leave, when her voice sounded out, "I'm Zimera."
Turning to her in surprise, he answered, "Nice to meet you." She scratched her head, "I figured it wouldn't do to travel with someone without knowing each other's names."
He poked a thumb to his chest, "I'm Link."
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Link was holding a recently captured, though badly burnt lizard out on a stick to her, "It's tasty, that's what it is."
She scrunched her nose, "I'll pass." She dug into her pack to bring out a piece of bread.
They had made it out of the forest without incident, and were camped out on the Hyrule Plains. The sounds of the night-time animals were everywhere. Link shrugged and leaned back on his pack, taking a bite. As he chewed he looked up at the crescent moon.
"About two days and we'll reach the castle."
Zimera nodded silently. She hadn't talked much at all so far, except to ask to rest. But out here she was especially reserved. She would shift suddenly to stare out into the dark every now and then. Link hardly reacted to this, because he didn't hear or see anything to be concerned with. But she continued to do so for long enough that he finally had to say something.
"You know, nothing's out there. You can relax." She drew her arms around her.
"I don't like open spaces, especially not in the dark, when I can't see anything coming."
Link smiled empathetically, "You must have spent a lot of time in cities. I like the outdoors. Inside it's hard to maneuver, and--" He stopped short, and his head jerked up alertly.
She tensed, "What's wrong?"
His sapphire eyes narrowed, making his face much less friendly, "I don't……" His head tilted, and he was standing, sword and shield raised, "Kargorocs!"
Her expression was of confusion, "What?"
A sudden, guttural shriek sounded above them, met with several others. A dark, winged shape arced down into the light of the fire, passing feet away from Link before losing its left wing in a scream of pain. Zimera stared at the winged beast as it thrashed around. It resembled a lizard, somewhat. Her thoughts were interrupted as Link crossed the camp and shoved her shoulder with his shield, "Get the bow!"
Breaking out of her observant state of mind, she had hardly enough time to bring the bow up with an arrow before she realized she had unstrung it for the night. Growling in frustration, a shadow passing into the corner of her eye caused to her bring the bow around like a club. The hardened wood smashed into the nose of the offending kargoroc, leaving it stunned and twitching in the dirt.
Zimera dropped down and swiped the bowstring up from on top of her pack and attempted to restring it, while Link, returned to his position across the camp, had cut down two more of the dragon-like fiends. He heard a small shout of triumph as Zimera managed to get the bow ready. Then, a shriek, rather low to the ground, but approaching quickly caught his attention. He spun around to meet the beast, but his swing stopped when an arrow whistled past and buried itself in the throat of the kargoroc.
As it hit the ground and skidded past him before dragging to a stop, he looked to Zimera and grinned, "Nice shot."
Above them, the remaining lizards called to each other and winged off into the night, allowing the peaceful sounds of wildlife return.
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Couldn't just let 'em walk around. No fun at all. Lemme know what you think.
Peace, 'till next chapter.
