Chapter 7
Starting Out

Link greeted her coolly with a simple 'good morning.' The sun would not officially rise for another half hour, but already the day was lightening as they prepared for their departure.

Brayden had yet to show, but Epona stood ready with Link's weapons and meagerly small clothing bag strapped to her side where he had silently hung Zelda's as well.

Impa stood nearby with a watchful eye holding the reins of a snow white horse. She halted a passing guard and sent him to find 'Master' Brayden and request his immediate presence at the stables.

Zelda eyed Link carefully. Instead of his normally cheerful green, he wore a black tunic that really seemed quite becoming of him. What scared her, though, were the dark circles it accentuated under his eyes. She had not slept much either, but she feared it had been more than a restless night that had caused the rings' creation.

Wearing a fitted blue shirt and black traveling pants beneath a loose-fitting skirt, she was ready for the day, but of the two horses she wondered whose horse she would ride on. Turning the spirit loose with a horse of its own would not be wise, but no one had told her she would ride with Link on Epona either. Surely Brayden would not be capable should a problem arise, but…would Link want to ride with her after last night? It did not seem likely…

It took another ten minutes of waiting in awkward silence before Brayden finally arrived carrying an even bigger bag than Zelda's. She was relieved, however, when she saw Link roll his eyes at this as he helped secure it to the white horse; it was a welcome sign of a drop in his stoic guard.

Brayden appeared miserable to be up and about so early in the morning, but managed a smile in her direction. She returned the smile, happy to be ready for the journey.

Zelda felt obligated to give Impa a parting hug and did so, though she responded stiffly to it. "Be safe," her caretaker said to her and that was that.

Brayden offered her a ride once he was mounted and when Link did not protest to this, Zelda graciously accepted and he helped her onto the saddle in front of him. Link easily boarded his own horse as well, and before she knew it, they were galloping down the path, through the castle's main gates and the quiet town, and out to Hyrule Field.

The ride to Kakariko Village was a fast one, and Link had them stay on their horse as he entered a house and came out with a thick bag, strapping it to Epona.

As soon as he was mounted again, they continued on wordlessly to Death Mountain and Brayden followed Link's movements as he urged his horse into a swift trot that would carry them smoothly on the uphill route.

The journey remained uneventful and she would not have been surprised if Link found it boring, but she was enjoying herself immensely to be on a horse and having the warm wind blow on her. Eventually the sun reached the midday mark and even when Brayden's stomach growled horrendously loud behind her, they did not stop.

Up steep, winding slopes and across gaps their horses had to jump before Link finally halted them a good distance from a sheer cliff wall that loomed up in the distance.

"We're not going to have to climb that, are we?" Brayden groaned at the thought once he had stiffly rendered himself free from the saddle.

Link nodded, "Well, we certainly can't walk through it."

"And we were only able to keep the horses for such a short time…"Brayden muttered.

"Better some than none," Zelda stated optimistically when Link tossed her an apple.

She bit into it eagerly, but when Brayden received one as well he complained once more, "Is this it? An apple? Surely there are much better foods in that sack?"

"There is, but the fruit will go bad sooner, so better to eat it now while it's fresh," Link immediately put an end to his whining and took out his own lunch item. "And I don't think you want much on your stomach. I'd prefer not to see it again should you be afraid of heights."

Zelda glared at him when he took only two bites and tossed it aside. He shrugged and started removing the bags as they finished their lunch portions. Once Link had finished with both horses, he sent them off on a trot together back the way they had come.

Brayden gazed somberly after them and eventually shouldered his own clothing bag. "Might as well get it over with…" he sighed.

Link had already strapped on his weapons of a sword, a shield that seemed bigger than normal to her eyes, and a bow and arrow set, along with who knew what else, and proceeded to pick up Zelda's bag before tossing her his own, much smaller one.

She watched him strap on the food pack as an extra burden. "Why don't you carry the food?" she asked Brayden sweetly. "I think Link here already has enough stuff as it is."

Brayden was flustered by this and stared dumbly at her. "I-I guess I could…" he finally stammered.

Zelda did not miss the smile Link tried to hide at this antic of hers as he said, "No, that's ok. I've got it. I think he'll have hard enough of a time as it is."

Brayden glowered at him for this comment and marched promptly forward muttering, "Oh, we'll see about that…"

Link set off steadily after him with Zelda at this side. "Let's hope that when the rock fall starts he'll get out of the way."

Zelda gasped at this, "What? You're letting him walk right into something like that?"

"Sure, why not. A good bonk on the head oughtta teach him a good lesson or two."

"Link, that's terrible!" she snapped.

"Relax, I wouldn't let any harm come to him. He'll be perfectly fine."

"G-guys!" Brayden shouted when the ground started shaking.

Link hurried to undo his shield and ducked under it as an overhang, pulling Zelda tightly to his side in the process. He jerked Brayden backwards to join them under the limited space, and then the rocks began to fall. At first they were not so big and Zelda relaxed, but when huge chunks began falling around them and some even nailed the shield's top, she became anxious. The only thing between them and those rocks was Link's arm holding the shield up. She wanted to believe that Link was strong enough, but until the end of this she was not going to relax.

"Brayden, can you start taking small steps forward?" Link asked him. His voice held no sign of a strain in it.

"Are you kidding me? I'm perfectly fine right here, thank you," Brayden said, stubbornly staying where he was.

"I'll follow directly in your footsteps; the shield will stay in place over your head," Link agitatedly told him.

Brayden did not budge.

"Move of your own free will, or I will push you," Link threatened.

Brayden gulped and initiated a few baby steps.

"Let's go, Brayden," Link snapped and prodded his back in encouragement to move along.

Brayden did not think Link was above pushing him into the rocks and took the prodding as a warning and hastened forward. Link kept close behind him, which meant Zelda too. When they eventually reached a point just in front of the wall where the rocks stopped their advance, Link was able to take his shield down and return it to its spot on his back.

Staring up at the sheer straightness of wall, Zelda asked, "You sure we'll make it up ok?"

"It's very doable," Link assured her. "Just keep to the handholds and you'll make it. I'll start us off in case there's anything hiding in the crevices, and then I'll need you two to follow me closely, understood?"

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed the nearest place he could grip and pulled himself up. Zelda hesitantly stepped up to start her climb side by side with Brayden.

xxxxx

Abel Marion was a haggard old man. He had a slight hunch that forced his use of a cane and was on the verge of his late seventies. A mixture of grey and white hair splayed about unevenly in clumps across his balding head and in his messy abode, shelves of books of all sorts of manners on the occult filled every space.

He had a bad temperament, so when the knock came at the door for the third time that day, he could only assume it was the village kids bothering him again with their silly dares. When he opened the door about to yell into the nothing that he thought would be there, he fainted at the sight of a gruesome creature filling the small doorframe.

xxxxx

Link noted the good progress Brayden and Zelda were making, certainly much better than he had originally thought they would move along at, but several times he had to stop and wait for them to catch up. He was not comfortable letting too much space lie between them. So far the trip had gone exceedingly well, no monsters or anything for some strange reason, and he had a deep foreboding that this time of peace would not last.

His point was proven when about three-quarters of the way up. Brayden's hand missed where he was reaching for and the rest of him shifted too much in surprise, causing him to lose his balance. Link smoothly skidded down the wall to their level and snatched one of Brayden's flailing arms almost a second too late.

Brayden weighed a good deal more than Link, so that put a lot of hardship on him as he fought the forces of gravity. He gritted his teeth because of the strain, but he could feel his own grip slipping from the wall and Brayden's arm. The wall did not offer him much more than a precarious balance, and one or the both of them was about to fall every bit of what they had already climbed up.

Link could feel the muscles in his arm stretching well past their limit. "Swing back to the wall, you idiot!" he finally found his voice through the adrenaline rush and said.

Brayden hurried to obey, but as he tried to do so, Zelda slipped as well and Link nearly dropped him to save her, in the process toppling backwards himself while unable to hold on with either hand.

Through the impossibility of it all, he somehow managed to tilt himself forward again and shift his body weight against the wall. Thankfully he realized that if he had been standing on one of the smaller ledges that dotted the wall, this never would have worked, but the one he stood on extended only the length of his foot.

Several feet away a big ledge jutted from the wall and when Zelda started to swing much to his bewilderment, he thought quickly and used her momentum to throw her up there, though almost losing his balance again. She beamed malevolently at him from where she now sat and he knew a change had come over her.

Brayden was struck dumb by terror and was not a very vocal 'damsel in distress' by any means, but he was very useless when it came to helping Link save him. With the load of the food pack, Zelda's bag, and his own weapons, Link had no idea how he was able to bear Brayden's weight, with one arm no less, but the thought of dropping him was out of the question. Having such an idea only made him more determined now that the evil had found a place to cross his mind. Brayden could be annoying, but it would not be right for Link to let him go like that.

Brayden eventually snapped out of his stupor and grabbed hold of the wall, locking his feet firmly in place. Link's arm had numbed from the tension, but when he released Brayden, pain jolted through it.

He breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, "It's about time I could let you go…"

"It's not my fault you almost dropped me," the noble retorted, immediately returning to his normal, snotty self.

Link fumed inwardly at Brayden's lack of acknowledgement for the great lengths he had gone to in order to hold onto him.

"Aww, poor Link. You should kick him off just for his rudeness," Zelda chimed in.

"Hey now, if I go down at this point, you're going with me," Brayden said, preparing to grab Link's leg should it swing his way.

Link rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I wouldn't do that. Now Sheik, climb the wall to the top, if you would."

"Sheik--?" Brayden asked, but the spirit cut him off.

"Hmph, just why should I make this easy for you?" she sneered and sat stubbornly criss-cross with her arms folded tightly. "You'll have to come over here and carry me up yourself."

"All right, then I'll have Brayden here do the honors. When you both fall and break something, or worse, then that body you currently inhabit won't be as useful to you, now will it?" Link snapped in return.

"Oh fine, have it your way then," she said and quickly began her ascent.

Link was amazed at how fast she was now scaling the wall, and it took him a second to realize that he did not want her reaching the top before he did. Up there she would have too much power.

Link could sense Brayden slightly below him waiting for him to start climbing again before he moved so much as an inch, and suddenly the last quarter stretch seemed daunting to his aching arm. He finally decided that since he had fared much worse before, he would deal with the pain. He could not allow Zelda to make it to the top first in her possessed state.

He inhaled deeply and took off after her, pulling himself along hastily as he attempted to catch and beat her. Having to keep in mind his footing slowed him as she seemed to glide easily upwards without a care in the world. The spirit was agile, he would give it that much.

The spirit possessed Zelda proved to be too fast, especially with its head start, and her foot slammed down on his left hand when it found purchase at the top. His body's automatic reaction to the sudden pain was to jerk his hand back despite his loss of safety by the action, but he reached with his other hand and caught himself. To make matters worse, the ledge he found himself on only allowed him to stand tip-toe on it, offering little in the way of balance.

His right arm throbbed as it sustained the weight of his balance until his left one eventually found its way to a handhold again. It had already grown worse from the climb up, so he was pretty miserable.

"Poor thing, how your arm must hurt," she cooed mockingly.

He had to do something unexpected, and incredibly fast, or he would not get past her. Reaching his left hand up to the top again and knowing full well she would stomp on it again, he endured the pain of his right arm and swung his body with great speed over the top and caught her in his tumble to the level ground. He held her arms spread out and wrists pinned to the ground as he laid there in a heap on top of her.

She pouted at her failure to harm him further. "Looks like you pulled through after all."

"What are you trying to do, kill me?" Link growled at her breathlessly. "Why wait so long when I'm sure you've had plenty of opportunity before? At least then I would've been prepared."

She smiled at this, "Of course not. Making you suffer is all I really want, especially after you ruined my plan to drown her and more importantly, to kill the king. You are too adept at self-preservation that killing you wouldn't be any fun."

"Why you--…"

"Yes, yes, I know. I could fill in the blank with any list of bad names to describe how you feel about me. Besides, here you are and here I am and I know just how badly you love the princess, whether you'll admit it to yourself or not.

"Could someone give me a hand here?" Brayden's voice interrupted.

"Not now and not ever," Link spat and stood. Throwing off the food bag onto her as extra leverage, he rushed to pull Brayden up before he could pull another stupid maneuver and slip again in an attempt to get himself over the ledge.

Link jerked him up and threw him to the ground before turning quickly on his heel to catch the spirit flinging Zelda's body into him. He took it solidly and shoved her back down.

"Fine then, be that way," she said before the malevolent spirit winked at him and a new expression of confusion adorned her face.

"Zelda?" he asked.

She stared blankly at him for a second, but panic registered soon after. She eventually said in a small voice, "Yeah, it's me…I'm sorry Link…"

An indignant Brayden had been just about to demand what was going on, but instead stammered out fearfully, "W-what is th-that…thing behind…y-you?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Whatever could it be? ;) lol. I hope that first part of the journey didn't happen too quickly, but they still have a ways to go. Not much else to say on this chapter, but a big thank you to reviewers!

-blondie91