Chapter five, the beginnings of a plan
Author's notes
I am so sorry for the long absence and wait for this chapter. So for those that might not remember what was going on at the Inn I will fill you in a little.
Pit, Ike, and Link ran upstairs when they herd Marth scream (because of his nightmare). Pit woke him from his sleep, Marth woke with a start and their heads collided. That's where I am picking up.
--
"Having nightmares now?" Ike said, cocking an eyebrow. Marth shot him a look that caused a smirk to cross Ike's face. Marth was sitting up in bed now; the other three were all there. Pit sat next to the bed, ignoring the red spot on his forehead. Link sat calmly in a chair against the wall. Ike was standing at the end of the bed, clearly amused.
"Tell me, what troubles you?" Pit said, suddenly serious again. Marth turned his attention to the young angel.
"It was just a dream." Marth answered, understanding what he was referring to.
"Dream's reveal more truth than eyes can see and ears can hear" Pit said ignoring the look Ike gave him.
"Do you always speak in riddles?" Marth asked, raising his eyebrows. Ike smirked at that. Pit smiled lightly.
"Don't try to change the subject. Tell me of your dreams and I may be able to make them leave you in peace." Pit persisted. Marth became serious again, obviously wanting a subject change.
"I told you it was just a dream!" Marth said, throwing the blankets off and getting to his feet. Pit sighed; he only wished to help the prince but he would not press him further.
"Very well." He said, also rising to his feet.
"Why don't we all go back downstairs and discuss what we are to do" Pit suggested as he headed out the door, not waiting for a response. The others followed after him in silence, all except Link.
Link lingered behind as he once again heard the familiar laugh.
--
"What now Midna?" Link said before she could speak. Midna materialized from his shadows whence the others had gone out of earshot.
"That snobby Prince is hiding something." Midna said smugly.
"First of all, Marth isn't smug and yes, I can see he's hiding something." Link countered.
"Whatever." Midna might have rolled her eyes, but she was just a shadow for now.
"You should find out what he's hiding, it might be important." she pointed out.
"Look, Midna,I am not going to push him to tell me I hardly know him" Link said as he started for the door.
"Suit yourself, but don't blame me..." Midna left it at that and was gone. Link grumbled something incoherently to himself as he went down stairs to join the others.
--
Link settled in the empty chair waiting for him. The others were discussing the best way to get rid of 'them.' They hardly noticed him join them.
"I think the first thing we need to do is find out how many of them there are." Pit was saying, while Ike seemed to agree.
"It matters not how many there are if we cannot find their weakness" Marth pointed out. Ike shot a glance at Link for the first time.
"They didn't seem to like that howling." Ike reminded Link. Link glanced at the other's confused faces before he spoke.
"The howling reminds them of their master, whom they fear." Link explained
"It fooled them that once, but I do not know if it will work again." Link considered his words before going on.
"They hate light above all," He glanced at Pit, then went on.
"The sunlight burns their scales and greatly weakens them, that is why they come out at night. They can, however, come out in the day; their master creates the clouds to cover the sun. In the process, he also creates that heavy grey dirt that covers everything." Link explained.
"How do you know so much?" Ike asked curiously. Link's expression saddened, but only for a moment.
"It is a long story I would rather leave untold." His tone was solemn now, remembering all to well past events. Ike and the others could see he was not going to say more.
"Well, unless we can find a way to get rid of these blasted unnatural clouds, we are stuck." Ike folded his arms, slumping back in his chair. Before anyone could respond to that, the inn door swung open.
"Hey, Gorleth!" a woman's voice called. All four of them turned to see a young red-head step inside; she hadn't yet noticed them.
"You're early" Gorleth called from the kitchen. He soon re-appeared. The young woman smiled at him then scanned the room, suddenly blushing as she noticed the four looking at her.
"Oh, we have customers today?" was all she could think to say. Gorleth smiled.
"Yes, my dear, we do indeed." He glanced over at the table before walking over to the young woman.
"Let me introduce you to the men planning to save our home."
Alara glanced side long at him as he lead her towards the table.
"Pit, Link, Ike, and Marth, this is Alara" Gorleth introduced them all. Alara gave an awkward curtsy.
"Pleased to meet you all" she said with a smile. Her cheeks flushed pink for another moment as she met Marth's gaze.
"You're planning to save us?" She asked, suddenly hopeful.
"Yes, that's the idea anyway." Marth spoke up first.
"Oh, can I help?" Alara asked eagerly.
"I think it would be too dangerous for you." Link said, shaking his head slightly. Alara's shoulders slumped, but only for a moment.
"Link's right, it would be too dangerous. But you can help us plan our attack if you wish." Marth added, again meeting her eyes. Alara blushed again but perked up immediately.
"Let me get you some drinks and we can get started." she said and hurried off to the kitchen. Gorleth took her absence to his advantage.
"Be careful with her, she will try to weasel her way into this somehow." Gorleth warned.
"Why would she?" Ike asked bluntly. Gorleth's gaze shifted to him.
"Her entire family was killed by 'them.' She will do anything to avenge her family. The only reason she hasn't already is because I convinced her that four warriors would come." Gorleth explained. He would have said more but Alara returned with four mugs of what appeared to be hot chocolate or coffee, but the smell was all wrong for either. Steam swirled up from each mug, casting a sweet smell that fogged out the muggy atmosphere.
"Here we are: house special." she said, setting a mug in front of each of them. She then went to go pull up a chair for herself, but immediately all four of them stood up and spoke all at once, most something along the lines of "Take mine" or "Allow me" but with all of them speaking at once it was hard to tell. Alara got the idea and turned red; she wasn't used to such chivalrous acts. Ike and Pit chuckled a little at this but seated themselves as Marth pulled up another chair and made room. Link smiled a little but said nothing as he sat down again.
"First, we need to compile everything we know about these things." Alara said, weaving her fingers together on the tabletop. For a moment they stared at her.
"Alright then. We know two things for sure: they can't stand the light, and they don't like Link's howling" Ike broke the silence first.
"And we know the master is creating the clouds and dirt." Link added as, Ike nodded.
"We already discussed this." Marth pointed out.
"And it's not getting us anywhere." he continued. As he spoke the room began to darken as if an extra dark cloud was passing, at the same moment the temperature dropped a few degrees.
"They are getting ready to come out again." Link said glancing at the window.
"We need to find their lair. Let's split up into pairs. If we are lucky, we will find where they are coming from." Link said, already on his feet. Before anyone could object, he spoke again.
"Marth, you're with me. Pit, go with Ike. If anything happens, I will howl, Pit, use your light arrows" Link instructed. All of them seemed to agree with the plan.
"What about me?" Alara asked, jumping to her feet with the others.
"You are staying here." Link said flatly
"We can't risk losing you." Marth added, giving her a meaningful look that made her blush.
With that, the four split up in opposite directions. Link glanced back as Ike and Pit ran down the streets heading the other way.
--
"We need to get to the outskirts of town. How fast can you run?" Link asked abruptly
"Faster than you" Marth replied confidently.
"We will see." Link started running down the street, Marth catching up to him quickly
"Midna, change me." Link said under his breath. Midna saw the need and Link changed into a wolf. He bolted faster than Marth down the street. Marth kept up for a time, but still recovering, he began to slow. Link quickly realized he was leaving him in the dust. He stopped and barked once, moving his head back slightly. Marth understood and without hesitation, got onto Links back and leaned forward, hanging on tightly.
Link hardly seemed to notice the extra burden; he ran just as swiftly street after street kicking grey dirt into the air as he ran. Marth's cape whipped around behind them, stirring the upturned dirt even more.
Link abruptly stopped, nearly tossing Marth right off of him. They had reached the end of town. It led into a vast forested area, though the trees were grey and dead like everything else.
Marth got off Link in a fluid motion, his hand already on the hilt of his blade. He could sense the presence of evil so near, yet he could not see the source. Link was back to his human form in moments.
"Climb one of those trees. You might be able to see more from there. I'm going to scout this are and see if I can pick up any new scent." Link instructed, not looking at Marth but instead scanning the area; his eyes narrowed. Marth nodded; with ease, he climbed the nearest tree.
Link was back to his wolf form, moving silently through the trees sniffing around, but everything smelled like the same grey dirt that covered everything. Giving up on that idea, he took his human form again, at the same moment Midna laughed again.
"You really are so a stupid human aren't you?" Link ignored the insult as usual.
"What now?" He groaned, kicking a rock.
"Look around you, do you really think the monster's lair will be in a forest?" she asked incredulously. Link didn't speak for a moment, letting his temper simmer down; Midna had a way of getting under his skin sometimes.
"No, but I also don't think it will be in the middle of town either" Link responded calmly
"Um, Link… you ok?" Marth's voice came from behind; Link spun around, Midna was gone already. Marth was looking at Link as though he might be crazy.
"I'm fine, just thinking aloud." Link said, reassuring him. He wasn't about to go around telling people he hardly knew that he had an annoying female shadow that mocked him on a regular basis. Marth shrugged it off, for now.
"I couldn't see anything but the tops of the trees." Marth reported. Link thought for a moment.
"The trees completely surround the village." Marth answered before Link could even ask. The area darkened as they stood deciding what to do now. No doubt the others were faced with the same problem.
--
Pit and Ike reached the opposite border in good time. Pit could run surprisingly fast for his height and had no trouble keeping up with Ike.
"Scout around down here while I get above these trees." Pit said before flying up above the tall grey trees. Pit flew high above the trees trying to see any signs of 'them.' Pit could see the town was surrounded by the now dead, grey forest. Pit then looked up just in time; above them a thick black cloud was covering the grey ones. From it grey dust and dirt fell like a blanket to cover the already grey landscape.
Pit dove back to the ground, landing lightly. He looked left and right for Ike but he was out of sight.
"IKE!" Pit shouted in alarm, he knew why the plants died and it wasn't because of 'them.'
"IKE!" Pit shouted again. Ike abruptly appeared from the trees.
"What's wrong?" he asked, hearing the alarm in Pit's voice.
"We have to get indoors now!" but even as Pit spoke the sound of something falling through leaves and branches caught their attention. Both looked up to see the grey blanket descending upon them. Ike immediately knew the danger, he acted quickly. Grabbing Pit by the arm, he pulled him down with him as he dropped into a crouch, in the same moment he flung his cape over the both of them ducking his head down.
The grey dirt weighed the cape down but they managed to keep it in place long enough for the blanket to pass.
--
"I don't think we are going to find anything here." Link said, sounding somewhat discouraged.
"We aren't giving up so easy, let's split up and meet back here in thirty minutes." Link nodded in agreement. They then ran in separate directions.
--
Link ran headlong through the trees, his quick eyes caught everything around him with little difficulty. In his wolf form he rarely missed anything. The only problem was he wasn't finding what he was looking for. No lairs, no seven-foot monsters, nothing. Nothing but grey, gloomy trees. Link abruptly stopped and looked up, but too late; the thick blanket of grey hit him. Link tried desperately to shake the grey soot-like dirt off of him, but it was acting too quickly. He was already having a hard time breathing and he felt too heavy. Link tried to stay standing, tried to throw the dirt away, but he couldn't. It clung to him like magnet dust to metal. Link's vision began to cloud over, everything soon went black. He could remember no more.
--
Marth ran, but not for long. The wound to his side had already weakened him, he did not wanting to risk opening it again. Pit couldn't completely heal it, but it was beginning to scar over now.
Marth slowed his pace and carefully took in his surroundings, but everything looked the same. Marth glanced up in time to see the blanket of grey, he ducked down, throwing his cloak over himself. He could only hope Link and the others were as lucky.
--
To be continued……