The next day, also the day that I was to depart for Hyrule, I was at Ordon Ranch, sitting on the grass as I waited for Fado to be done preparing the stables in the barn.
"Hey!"
I looked up to see Fado come running toward me from the barn. I stood up and waited for him to reach me.
"So, almost time for you to get goin', huh, Link? So how's about we finish up early today, bud?"
I nodded and went over to the horseshoe grass I was standing next to, plucking a blade and whistling Epona's Song through it.
Epona whinnied from behind me and I turned around to see her coming running. When she reached me, I mounted the saddle, ready to go.
"OK, let's get started!" Said Fado.
It didn't take long to herd the goats into the barn, and soon the last one was in. I rode over back to Fado as he was finished putting up the fences.
"Hoo, boy, but y'all can herd! That was faster than usual! Well, that about wraps 'er up for today, so how's about y'all head on over to the mayor's place?"
I nodded and then nudged Epona into a gallop, hoping over the fence and the gate, going back into Ordon Village toward the mayor's house.
Ilia was out front, and noticed us coming. She smiled and came over to walk with us. Mayor Bo came out from the house, noticing us also. He was a large, portly fellow, his body was huge muscle. For some reason, he had short horns sticking out near his nose.
"Oh, done herdin' for the day, Link? Well, nice work." He said.
I stopped Epona and dismounted, going over to the Mayor. He brought his arm around me and went on while Ilia tended to Epona.
"The royal gift Rusl told you about is ready, so you should get ready for your trip to Hyrule Castle. Now, the royal family requested this gift specifically, so it's real special. It'd be...bad...if the representative of Ordon were to be late for such an occasion, you get me, lad?"
I heard Ilia speaking to Epona behind us. "The path before you is a long one, my sweet horse...but please bear Link safely along it. Wait... What's this?"
Her question caught my attention and we turned around. She was kneeling by Epona's left foreleg. Then she turned to me.
"What happened? She's injured, isn't she?" Ilia wanted to know in an accusing tone.
Ashamed, I couldn't reply as I looked away. Ilia came over and glared.
"Link! How could you! You were pushing Epona too hard again! I bet you hurt her leg jumping the fences, didn't you!"
As I recoiled in terror, Mayor Bo tried to reason with her.
"Now, now, Ilia. There's no need to get so hot with him..."
"FATHER!" She screamed, turning to face him. "How can you be so easy on him? You're the MAYOR! You should start acting like one!"
Mayor Bo hung his head, unable to respond to that. I hung my head also, squeezing my eyes shut.
"You poor thing..." Ilia murmured to Epona.
I cracked one eye open, glancing at Bo as he did the same.
"It'll be all right, Epona. I'll take you to the forest spring right now. Once we soothe you in the spirit's spring, you'll feel better in no time!" Ilia said as she slowly led Epona away, going to Ordon Spring.
Mayor Bo and I stared after her in shock. Bo was thinking the same I was when he tried to call after her.
"W-wait! Ilia!!! Why, without Epona... The gift won't get delivered in time! Oh, this won't do..."
I realized that he was right, I couldn't just sit here and take this. I needed Epona in order to get to Hyrule on time. In all honesty, I did want her to feel better and be in top shape, not to mention I felt guilty for pushing her too hard when I didn't realize it. But I had to do this, I couldn't let Rusl, Bo, or Princess Zelda down like this.
So I hurried out of the village to get to the spring. When I reached my house, Colin was there waiting for me, while Beth was next to my house, and Talo and Malo were blocking the way to the spring.
Colin saw me and gasped. "......Link, are you going to see Ilia? Maybe it's just me...but those guys don't normally let people through." He gestured to where Malo and Talo were, then turned back to me. "Um, Link, you think... You think we could go see Ilia together?"
I smiled at him and nodded yes. He came with me as I approached Talo and Malo where they were standing.
Talo grinned when I came up to him. "Hey, we've been waiting for you, y'know, Link. Yesterday was soooo much fun! Yeah, chasing that monkey was great! I was just telling Malo here about how we wanted to show it to him, but we let it go instead!"
"Oh, YOU didn't get caught, Talo?" Malo muttered.
"Oh! Colin!" Talo then noticed Colin for the first time. "Way to spoil everything by telling your dad. Nice job."
"Yeah, thanks a lot!" Malo agreed. "We got scolded by our dad something awful. I thought it was never gonna end..."
Talo scoffed. "I bet you're trying to go see Ilia, aren't you? Well, there's no way I'm gonna let you pass!" Then he turned to me. "Oh, hey, neat! Link! Lemme borrow that wooden sword! If I'd had that wooden sword yesterday, I could've handled it all alone, definitely! C'mon! Let me borrow that wooden sword right now!"
I never liked disappointing the children, but I definitely didn't appreciate how mean they were to Colin. But then I figured that if I loaned him the wooden sword, he'd be distracted and playing with it, allowing Colin and me to pass so I could get to the spring.
So, I took the sword and handed it to Talo with a nod.
"Whoa. YESSS!" Talo cheered happily. "With this thing... I'll show 'em!"
He ran off to go practice with the sword near the scarecrow with Malo following after him.
"Link." Colin said, snapping me out of my thoughts as I turned to look at him. "Thanks...Those guys are always teasing me... What's so fun about swinging something like that around, anyway? I hate it...It's scary... But when I grow up, I'm gonna be just like you, Link! I don't want to learn about swords or anything, but could you teach me to ride a horse sometime? Can you?! You have to promise!"
He turned and headed off down the path to the spring. I glanced at Talo as he practiced with the sword, and then went after Colin.
I had a feeling Colin was already at the spring by the time I'd catch up with him. And then I remembered how angry Ilia was, and figured she would have probably closed and locked the gate leading to the spring.
There was a small little tunnel crawlspace that led to the spring, so I figured to take that little route in order to get there.
I entered the tunnel and crawled through, turning a small corner and then coming out on the other side. I dusted off my clothes as I stood, and came to see Colin and Ilia talking.
"I had no idea...I hadn't heard the details of Talo's capture..." Ilia was saying. Colin was probably telling her about how I'd gone after Talo and brought him back home. "But, Colin..."
Ilia turned to see me, and then went toward Epona, who snorted and shook her head as if to tell her no. This made Ilia gasp, and she realized what Epona was trying to tell her.
"So you still prefer your master over me, huh, Epona?" Ilia said softly, then looked at me. "Don't worry about your horse, Link. Fortunately, it looks like the injury isn't too serious. You two can go on together. But, Link... Can you at least promise me this? No matter what happens on your journey, don't try to do anything...out of your league. Please. Just come home safely." She turned to me and smiled sweetly.
I was pretty surprised at this, but I nodded and smiled back. Of course I would make sure to do what I was supposed to, and not go to any extreme. Everything would be just fine.
Suddenly, I heard the pounding of hooves coming toward here. I gasped and turned to the gate, wondering what was going on. Epona whinnied in surprise, having apparently heard it too.
A strange cry filled the air and a large, over-sized boar with strange green monsters riding it came crashing through the gate. Ilia and Colin gasped and tried to make a run for it. One of the green monsters shot an arrow at Ilia, hitting her in the back and causing her to fall into the water, unconscious.
I cried out and tried to rush to her aid, but I didn't see one of the monsters bring their club down on my head and making me fall to the ground, also blacking out from unconsciousness. I then lay there in the water, dazed and unaware of what was going on.
--
After a couple of minutes, I finally came to, opening my eyes. I sat up, rubbing my head. It hurt after the blow, but where was...
I gasped when I realized that Colin, Ilia and Epona weren't there. I hurriedly stood and looked around, they were nowhere in sight.
That meant that those green monsters had kidnapped them!
Angered and worried, I ran out from the gate and across the bridge to Faron Woods. It was obvious they had gone there, no way they would've gone back to the village.
As I got across the bridge, there was something wrong. The lighting was weird, and I had a bad feeling about this.
I then came to a stop at what I saw, letting out a cry.
There was a large black wall blocking my path. It rose up high, finishing with a golden colour. On the wall were strange, foreign markings I'd never seen before. What was this!? It wasn't here before! What was going on?!
Before I had time to do anything, a large black hand shot out from the wall and grabbed me, pulling me inside. I screamed as this happened, feeling myself be dragged beyond the strange wall.
I then caught sight of my captor, it was a strange, skinny black monster with a weird mask-like face and red markings along its body. It held me in a strong hold as I struggled to escape. It was futile, the monster was too strong.
Suddenly, the mark on the back of my hand started to pulsate, glowing brightly. It became brighter and the monster shielded its eyes, tossing me aside.
I fell hard on the ground, and tried to pull myself up. On my knees, I suddenly felt immense pain coursing through me. I moaned in pain, trying to fight it off and stand, but no avail. The mark on my hand continued glowing, and then the weird lighting itself was pulsing too as I exhaled.
Then I screamed loudly, my body began to change shape and I could almost see it t too. Fur replaced my skin, I sprouted a tail, and my face lengthened. I was a wolf. I then fell to the ground, unconscious.
In my unconscious state, I was dragged away by that strange monster that grabbed me earlier.
And there was something nearby, watching all this...
