HA! Here I am again… and I won't respond to any reviews, because, I GOT NONE! And that's just because I updated to fast! , Yup! Hope that you enjoy this chapter!
Dang it… that's such a cheesy title!
Talim: It's cute!
Link: Um… yeah… what she said… o.O
-- Mfm…
Link: CrypticElf owns nothing of SCII but the script if hers so if you try to take it she can and WILL sue you!
Chapter Seven: Protect"Man, it's COLD." Link complained as he rubbed his arms with his hands. Talim was also rubbing her arms with her hands, shivering, looking at the landscape of the forest that they were in.
"The cold came so fast!" Talim exclaimed as she looked at the last dying rays of the sun that had disappeared behind the horizon, letting the moon have her turn for looking over the Earth and our two heroes. "It never got this cold in the village!"
"It did where I came from…." Link sighed as he sniffled lowly. "We would get snow whenever it got cold."
"Snow?" Talim asked, stopping in her tracks to look at Link, her shoulders hunched in. "What's that?"
"What's snow?" Link exclaimed as he stopped as well, obviously and completely amazed and flabbergasted. "Snow! You know, little white fluffy cold things that come down from the sky?"
"No." Talim shook her head as she rubbed her dry, petite nose. "The only thing that I've ever seen fall from the sky is rain."
"So you've never seen snow before…" Link murmured as he licked his lips. "I can't believe that…"
"Is it really so bad not to have seen snow?"
"It's just… odd is all." Link answered as he started again with Talim following him. "Where are we headed to next?"
"Benetnash." Talim replied as she wondered what in the world snow was. "I asked the Wind before we left that inn."
"I wonder how that Maxi guy handled us leaving him!" Link laughed as he looked behind them, although he knew that he wouldn't see Maxi chasing franticly after them. "He probably went crazy!"
Talim laughed along with him, covering her mouth and briefly closing her eyes.
"Camp?" Talim asked Link, he immediately nodded.
"Thought you'd never ask!" Link agreed with a smile. "Let's look for a nice place to camp."
Talim nodded, closing her eyes for just a second before opening them again and then heading off to the left of the small dirt road. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at a small clearing, obviously made by previous travelers and had been used even after that. Talim took off her pack, signaling to Link that this would be where they'd camp. "I'll go look for some wood." Link told Talim.
"Okay. Be back soon!" Talim smiled as Link took off his pack, leaving Talim to take out his blanket and set up most of camp. (Not that there really was much a camp to make.)
Link walked away from their new camp, searching for wood, he would occasionally find a nicely sized piece of wood and pick it up. Every once in a while he would stop and make sure that it wasn't too dark to where he wouldn't be able to find his way through the woods, although he didn't worry that much because he was already used to walking through forest during the dead of night without tripping on a single root.
He stayed out for five more minutes until he felt that he had enough wood to make a fire, turning back, he walked back to camp where Talim had already cleared the small little fire pit that had made.
"Back so soon!" Talim smiled as she pulled out Link's blanket and laid it on the floor.
"Yup." Link answered as he placed the wood in the small fire pit, making sure that there wasn't too much wood to where a nearby might catch on fire. Once he was finished, he took two of the stick that he had collected and started rubbing them together as hard and as fast as could. Then, Talim walked over, pulled out some flint, knocked them together and let spark fly on the wood and after only a few seconds the wood was on fire. "I could have done that." Link cried to Talim when she walked away without saying anything
"I know you could have." Talim chuckled as she playfully stuck out her tongue at him.
"Hey!" Link narrowed his eyes as Talim laughed at him, Link shook his head and then opened his eyes back up and crawled over to his blanket that was just a few feet away.
"You looked like a cat just now," Talim chuckled as she made her hand look like a paw and made a playful swipe towards Link. "Meow."
"Ha, ha." Link replied with a smile. "What's your favorite animal Talim?"
"Hmm… that's tough…" Talim sighed as looked up at the branches above them. "I love birds, horses, fish, wolves, foxes, bats… I don't know, too many to choose from!"
"You're a big animal lover." Link observed. "I like horses, because of my horse Epona."
"What did she look like?" Talim asked curiously.
"She had red fur all of her body, her mane was black with white tips, she had pretty amber eyes… her tail was just like her main, and her hooves were of course black but right above them was white."
"She sounds…. Like a beautiful animal."
"She is." Link agreed with a sigh as Talim tossed Link some bread and cheese. "Yay… more stale bread and weird tasting cheese!"
"Link!" Talim giggled after she swallowed a bite of bread.
"What?" Link asked innocently as he began eating his 'weird tasting' cheese.
Next morning, they collected their things and started off again, hoping that their extra early start would get them out of the forest.
"This seems… like a never ending forest…" Link complained to himself, but loud enough to where Talim could hear.
"Enjoy it." Talim warned as she skipped over the roots and then suddenly did a cartwheel.
"Well… you seem… happy…." Link stared at her as she finished her cartwheel.
"I just think that you should never be down when you don't need to be." Talim did another cartwheel, and Link wondered how she wasn't screwing up with all of the roots and branches that could make her easily mess-up. "Sure, maybe this forest never seems to end, but it isn't something to get depressed over."
"Yeah… I guess…" Link shook his head. "Man… I'm surprised at myself, I used to live in a forest and here I am complaining about being in one! Link, what is wrong with you?"
"It isn't that." Talim answered for him. "It's because you want to hurry and complete your mission for Soul Edge."
"Hmm… you know what… you're right…" Link murmured as he thought about it. "Now I really wish that I had Epona… darn it…"
"It's okay Link!" Talim cooed. "Just enjoy yourself."
Link looked up at Talim grinning, cheerful face and large, puppy like innocent honey eyes. How could he not feel cheerful looking at a face like that?
"Come on!" Talim suddenly jumped on top of Link's back, nearly making him fall over but surprisingly he didn't.
"Gah!" Link stumbled forward and almost ate the dirt but luckily enough for him he recovered his balance.
"Okay! Let's get going!" Talim cheered as she punched the air.
"Talim, why are you on my back?" Link asked, he was almost angry but at the same time he was laughing at what she had done.
"Because my legs hurt." Talim answered, although Link could tell by her cheerful tone that she was lying.
"Right…" Link started walking, and to his surprise she wasn't heavy at all, but of course, if she got on his back, he had to get her off. Walking, the suddenly came out to a large lake, Link stopped right in front of it and grinned. "Want to get wet?"
Link ran into the water splashing and once he was deep enough in the water he dived in all the way, ridding himself of the person who had been traveling on his back. Coming back up, he saw Talim; with her only her eyes and the top of her head no it in the water.
"You look like a water monster." Link told her as she stared at him, then, she started swimming backwards into deeper water and then went under the water and then disappeared into the mist of the deep water.
Link waited for her to come up, but when she didn't come up for about fifty seconds, he started to worry.
"Talim?" Link asked as he started wading into deeper water, he kept on going to where he was no longer touching the bottom of the lake's floor and was swimming over dark misty water; he looked around the lake's surface when a hand suddenly grabbed his ankle and pulled him down underneath the water.
When Link got back up, he could see Talim staring at him again, just as she had been before.
"You did that!" Link swarm towards her a little. Talim smiled and then suddenly splashed Link, getting water in his eyes, taking the moment she started swimming away towards the shore. Link rubbed the water out of his eyes and then started swimming after her. She was on the shore, watching him with a smile, and once he was in little over knee deep water she waved her hand towards him and a suddenly blast of air knocked Link over, also carrying him a few feet back.
"That's the second time that you've done that on this trip!" Link exclaimed as he spit out water from his mouth after he got out of the water.
"I couldn't help myself." Talim teased playfully.
"I'm going to get you for this!" Link warned as he shook his fists. (Just imagine a little chibi Link doing that.)
"I'll be waiting then." Talim answer as she started walking away.
"Hey! Where are you going? Wait!" Link got up and ran out of the water, splashing himself as Talim ran away. "You aren't going to keep on running for a long time like that are you?"
"Just like last time." Talim answered as she ran away, Link ran after her saying: "Noooo…."
"Should we make camp Link?" Talim asked as she looked at the red rays that were streaming through the leaves and branches. "It'll be dark very soon, maybe ten minutes that sun will be all the way down."
"Yeah, we should…" Link agreed with a nod, Talim walked off to the left, and Link followed her, knowing that she would know where to go as always.
"You want to go collect the wood again? Or should I?" Talim asked when they reached their new campsite.
"I'll go." Link answered, he smiled, left his pack with Talim and then walked off, and making sure to remember where the way to the campsite was.
He had just about collected enough wood when suddenly he heard something snap behind him. No normal person would have been able to hear that root snap, but Link, being an elf, had much more excellent hearing then any human did. He turned around quickly to where he heard the noise, looking in the brush around him, searching for any hostile looking figure, actually, any figure at all. He didn't drop the wood, knowing that he would be able to draw his sword fast enough if he was going to be attacked.
Snap!
Another noise! Farther down to the left! Link walked slowly yet quickly and quietly….
Crack!
Link walked a bit faster, making sure not to step on anything himself.
Snap! Crack! Snap!
Link walked forward, and he saw something move quickly away from him, he kept on going forward, in a quick pace, the something making the same pace. He couldn't tell what it was at all, it looked like a small thing, but there was something about it, something strange and confusing that Link felt about it… it felt like… something….
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The thing suddenly took off running, Link was about to run after it but caught himself just in time. If he chased after it, he would get lost!
'Wait…' Link thought to himself. 'Speaking of lost… where am I?'
Link looked around himself and bit his lip in anger, kicking the dirt. He sighed and looked around, finding that he couldn't find anything that looked familiar he closed his eyes and listened, listening… listening for something… hear Talim move….
"No!"
Link's eyes opened immediately and he dropped the wood that he had been collecting, that had been Talim!
Link ran toward her voice, running, faster and faster, he could feel the icy bitter air stinging his face but he didn't care, Talim was in trouble!
"Get away!" Link ran into their camp, and at first he couldn't see anything, but then he saw Talim in front of him, doing battle with some type of figure… but what was it? It looked like multiple things… floating things… Link snapped out of his little daydream and quickly ran forward, unsheathing his sword and beginning to swing his sword as fast as he could at whatever was attacking Talim.
"Stay away from her!" Link cried as he continued attacking, after a few more hits the thing suddenly flew back and fled through the trees, other pieces floating after it. Link took in deep breaths, making sure that it wasn't planning to come back.
"Link…"
Link turned around and saw Talim looking at him as she held her stomach; smiling, smiling… she was always smiling.
"Talim! Are you hurt?" Link asked as he ran toward her, he could see her shake her head and sigh.
"Not badly." She answered. "Thank you…"
"Where are you hurt Talim?" Link asked her gently, he saw the hand that was covering her stomach. He turned his head down to her stomach and tenderly moved her hand, revealing a deep gash in her flesh. "Talim!"
"I'm okay, really." Talim reassured him in almost a soft whisper, unfortunately, right after she said so she fell on top of Link's chest. He caught her, listening as her elbow blades fell out of her hand and dropped to the floor where a cloud of dust drifted up.
"Talim…" Link whispered as he sat down, holding Talim, he sat down with his legs crossed, placing Talim on his legs, letting her head rest on her shoulder he looked at her stomach and watched as small, thin little streams of blood ran down her skin and began staining her pants. He looked at her face and saw a thin long scratch on her cheek, and when he looked at her arms he also saw long, thin scratches, even on her neck, forehead, legs, and her pants were slightly ripped as well as her top. Link blinked a few times before bringing himself back.
Whatever it had been, it was clear that it had been able to circle around Talim and start circling around her and cutting her like small razors. Link looked at their packs and saw that Talim had barely set out his blanket when she must have been attacked. Link softly laid Talim on the ground and then walked over and quickly collected their things as fast as he could making sure not to forget Talim's elbow blades, he took the blanket that was out and instead of putting it away he brought it over to Talim, tore off a piece and wiped away the blood as well as could and rinsed it with some water from a canteen, ripped off another piece and then wrapped it around the wound as tightly as he could. He took the rest of the blanket and wrapped Talim in it, he retrieved their packs, put them both on his back and then picked up Talim and held her just as he would have held a small baby.
'I can't take care of a wound this deep….' Link whispered in his head as he started running, hoping to get out of the forest and find someone that could help. 'If only Zelda were here…. At least Talim can last for a while… but how long?'
Link ran quickly and swiftly through the forest, he and Talim had been traveling through this forest for about a day and a half, so they had to be close to the end of it!
Link ran for ten minutes when suddenly he heard a voice…
"Stop right there!"
Link stopped and turned toward the voice, and to his surprise, he saw… Maxi?
"I had a feeling that it was you." Maxi mused with a shake of his head as he walked towards Link. "Why are you carrying her?"
"She's hurt…" Link murmured as he looked down at Talim face and bit his lip.
"What?" Maxi stepped closer and moved the blanket that she wrapped in around a bit and then moved it to where her stomach was shown. "Well… this isn't good. Follow me, there's a town nearby about a thirty walk from here. We run, and it will be ten minutes."
"Thank you." Link nodded as he followed Maxi, both of them running, Link following after Maxi as he wondered how much time Talim had… no. He would not think of that.
"This way…" Maxi would tell Link every once in a while, Link would nod although he knew that Maxi couldn't see him, and after exactly eleven minutes had passed Link stepped out of the forest and saw a small town in a small distance away, only a few lights on. They ran, and once they reached the town Maxi turned to the closest house and banged harshly on the door to where Link almost flinched.
"OPEN UP!" Maxi yelled, a middle aged woman opened the door, clearly annoyed by this sudden interruption.
"We're having dinner mind you!" The woman scolded with a pointing finger.
"Well we have a wounded girl who needs help immediately." Maxi nearly hissed back through his teeth, his patience thinning.
"What? What didn't you say so get her in here, NOW!" The woman yelled as she pulled Maxi in by his vest and looked at Link as Link followed him in. The woman gave Link a strange look and then pointed her finger to a room off a ways to the right. Link ran into that room with Maxi following along with the woman who yelled at someone that Link see:
"Get the doctor now!"
She closed the door and pointed to the only bed in the room and Link turned and placed Talim on the bed. The woman walked over, removed the blanket and removed the blanket that Link had placed there.
"Tch! Tch!" The woman shook her head rapidly. "This is not good, if the doctor doesn't get here soon…."
"I'm here what is it?" A man burst through the door, making Link jump up while he had been watching the woman fuss with Talim. He walked over to Talim, glanced at her stomach and then ordered: "I need boiled water, bandages, cream…."
The man kept on talking, but Link didn't hear a single thing that he said, instead all that he could hear was nothing, just silence as he looked at Talim's face.
"Out!" Link felt someone push him; Link looked and saw the woman shoving him and Maxi out of the room. "Out! Out! Out! No men! Only the doctor and woman are allowed!"
"Ack!" Link fell backwards out of the room, almost landing on a young little girl, maybe nine, which was flying past him with a basket of cream and bandages and a few other things that he couldn't see or recognize. He was pulled back up by Maxi, who took Link out of the hall and to a table that had food on it, and by the looks it appeared that this middle aged woman and her family had been having dinner. Maxi sat down on a chair, Link did the same after standing for a few seconds at the hall where he saw a few children running in out of the room.
"Do you think that she'll be okay?" Link asked Maxi after he had watched the children run back and forth from the room to other places for ten minutes. He turned to Maxi and saw Maxi looking at the children as well.
"I don't know really." Maxi answered with a sigh as he turned his critical eye toward Link. "What happened to her?"
"We set camp…" Link answered; remember the events that had happened in small, slow scenes. "I went to get fire wood, I was walking… heard a noise and followed it. I regret doing that now… then the noise that I heard ran off, I heard Talim yell, so I ran to help her and she was fighting something…"
"What was it?"
"I couldn't tell…" Link sighed as he closed his eyes and lowered his head. "It looked like pieces of something… I just couldn't tell."
"It's called Charade." Maxi replied, Link opened his eyes and looked up at Maxi, although he didn't keep his head too high. "At least that's what the people here call it."
"Charade?" Link asked as he blinked and then looked at the hall where a girl and someone, apparently her brother, were carrying over a boiling pot of water by the steam.
"Charade. It is believed to once be a man who was murdered a few months ago." Maxi looked at Link, and when Link saw him doing this out the corner of his eye he turned his head and faced Maxi, and the two of them looked each other strain in the eyes. "He wasn't a very rich man, but one day it was said that he met a merchant who was carrying a few pieces of something… which was, I believe, Soul Edge. He used the last of his money to buy every piece that the merchant, and although he kept it secret somehow it became known in this village that he had something valuable.
"So, one day, and gang of thieves that must have been staying in the inn pretending to be normal people went over to his home, murdered him, and then threw his body in a river nearby. The man had been able to hang onto a piece of Soul Edge, and I'm guessing that it went inside of his body, and while the man was in the river, the piece turned the man into something else, and, became Charade."
"But why did he attack Talim?" Link whispered. "I don't understand…"
"He attacked me too." Maxi admitted with a sigh. "I barely got away, it has a single eye that it controls it's body with, and it's body looks like pieces of dirt or mud dried, but when it circled around me those piece were sharp! I had been able to run away, and a few hours later that's when I met you running with Talim."
"But why did it attack you and her?" Link shook his head and gritted his teeth.
"Probably because we have piece of Soul Edge with us." Maxi scratched his head. "That's my guess. Sense the man was turned into Charade by Soul Edge it must feel like it must be reunited with the other pieces. So it attacked me to get the pieces of Soul Edge that I have, but he never got them. How many pieces do you have?"
"Just… two… Talim had one and I had one when we met, and then the two pieces fused together, Talim found another piece but we didn't see if they would fuse, we didn't try and we didn't even think about it." Link replied glumly. "Mefshrik osh!" Link cursed in Hylian so that way none of the children would hear him curse, and also simply because it made Link feel better to speak his original language. He clenched his fists looked down at his lap. "If I hadn't left… then Talim wouldn't be hurt…"
"It would have come anyway." Maxi answered. "It probably attacked Talim because she's the weakest out of you two."
"We're equal!" Link cried as he nearly glared at Maxi, although he did manage a mean look. "I'm not better then Talim, she's not better then me, we're equal!"
"Even so," Maxi replied. "No matter what you think, people are going to think that Talim is the weaker one. If you have something that you want, their going to try and get her when she's away from you. No matter what you do, they're going to try and attack her first to get her out of the way. You have to understand that."
Link looked at Maxi for a while, and then put his head in his hands.
"I know that it seems like it isn't fair," Maxi continued. "It isn't. I know that even I judged her before I saw her skills… but Link, what I'm trying to tell you, is to make sure that she's always safe."
"Safe?" Link asked through his hands.
"Safe. I know that she can probably do things by herself, but you must take care of her. She will lose a battle someday, and when that time comes, she will need you. Guard her. Take care of her. Don't restrain her life though, just make sure, that she won't get hurt."
Link paused for a moment, letting the silence between the two of them linger.
"Protect Talim." He murmured. He looked up at Maxi, who was looking right back at him. "I will. I will always protect her when she needs me. I won't let something like this happen again."
That's it people! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!
People: (glare)
o.O;;; Oh… for that Talim thing… yeah… well… (Runs off)
So Until Next Time,
CrypticElf…