The Legend of Zelda

- The Heroine -

Chapter 2

Flicker of Hope

The Creel Village was a small and poor village, just in the outskirts of Hyrule. It did not care much for the business of the kingdom and the villagers were quite happy by being ignored by the rulers of Hyrule in return.

In fact, it all seemed so distant that most villagers believed the news of Ganondorf to be nothing more than a rumor. The only contact the village had with the outside was by their merchants.

But there were some who knew more of Hyrule than others. Many of the elders in the village often recited an old legend they had been told when they were children. Of course, very few listened to them, mostly young children, with their parents smiling behind them and letting the old men tell them the tale, knowing full well that they would forget it soon enough.

The old legend was said to be about a brave Hero, wielding the power of courage and a blade with the ability to banish evil, which he used to defeat the Evil King that terrorized the kingdom. Of course, this legend was so old than not many took it seriously, save for the elders of the village.

But as more news of the Evil King reached the small town the elders started talking about the old legend again, and more started to believe them. And then one day…

Like it often did in late spring in the Creel Village, it rained. Despite the foul weather the villagers went on with their business, like any other day.

But then there was a cry, turning everyone's attention to the village gates. A man stumbled through them – a man they recognized as a local merchant – panting heavily and sweating.

"The… the Evil King!" he breathed, clutching his chest as he tried to stop blood from oozing from a large wound. But then his eyes rolled back in his head and he sagged to the ground, dead.

The inhabitants of the Creel Village were shocked but there was no time to do anything as a dark cloud suddenly appeared by the village gates. There was the sound of galloping hooves and suddenly he was there – the man the villagers had only thought was a rumor – sitting on his black stallion, glaring at the villagers with his red eyes.

Ganondorf.

The silence was so compact you could prick a hole in it with a needle. A beat passed, where no one moved or said anything. Finally Ganondorf drew a breath.

"It has come to my understanding that there is a boy here… by the name Link," the Evil King then said with a slow voice, putting emphasis on the name Link as if he found it disgusting.

No one moved.

"Where," he demanded in a powerful voice, "is he?"

A young man, dressed in green and wielding a sword and shield suddenly distinguished himself from the villagers. He was wearing a grim expression, but said nothing.

Ganondorf's eyes alit with a vile sparkle. "So it is you?"

"What do you want?" the boy asked in a surprisingly strong voice, despite the evil man he was opposing.

Ganondorf cracked a grin.

"To kill you," he leered.

And without further ado, he promptly dismounted his horse, at the same time unsheathing a gigantic sword. He attacked the boy who managed to block the blow by raising his shield. A battle ensued, but one thing was clear: the boy in green stood no chance against the powerful King.

Ganondorf pushed aside the boy's sword hand and now defenseless he didn't have a chance to block the Gerudo man's attack. He sucked in a lungful of air as the Evil King thrust his gigantic sword right through his stomach. There seemed to be one collective gasp from the on-looking villagers as the boy then gurgled – blood oozing out from his mouth – and then his legs gave with as he crumbled to the ground.

Ganondorf watched him for almost a minute. Then he raised his dark eyes to the villagers, his eyes more wicked than anything they had ever seen. And with that, the King mounted his horse again and left.

The villagers grieved for the bravest boy in their town was now dead. The boy known under the name Link.

Sheik bowed his head in silence for a long moment. Link's sister had just finished telling him of her brother's death. He could tell she was a strong soul since she had not shed one tear when she had begun telling the tale, though the tone of her voice made Sheik feel like his heart was about to break.

He watched the girl's expression and he saw that she was using all her efforts not to show her grief. Strength.

Another streak Sheik saw in her personality, to not cry when her own brother had been murdered in cold blood-

A sudden realization washed over him like a cold shower and fear gripped his heart. He had failed. It was lost.

Link, the Hero, was… dead.

Sheik wrenched his gaze away from the girl and fastened it at the fog, staring out into space. Hyrule was doomed.

And yet… his gaze filtered over to the girl again, whose eyes were staring at the forest floor. And yet he felt sadder for the girl in front of him. She had lost her brother and she was only…only…

"…How old are you?"

She replied without as much as glancing up.

"Fifteen."

She's only fifteen, and – Wait. Fifteen?

"How old was your brother?"

At his urgent tone the girl slowly raised her gaze again. He saw suspicion glinting in her intense blue eyes.

"…seventeen. Why?"

Several emotions washed over Sheik, first confusion and hope. Seventeen is too old. Maybe he wasn't Link? But then why was that his name…?

Then he felt guilt grip him as he watched the girl again. Her brother was dead, and Sheik was filled with hope? He instantly felt disgusted with himself.

"I am sorry for your loss."

A compact silence followed, but not an uncomfortable one.

"Thank you," she finally whispered. She looked away from Sheik as a forest fairy settled on her shoulder. The tiny fairy seemed to sense the woman's sadness and shed a few silent tears. The sun had changed and twilight's mysterious glow illuminated the forest. Once again Sheik found himself overwhelmed by the girl's beauty.

"May I ask your name?"

His question instantly caused her to resurface from her grief, if but to renew her mistrust of him.

"You may," she scoffed, "but I would hardly give it to a stranger."

Sheik dared a tiny smile. "But I am no stranger. I have given you my name, now I see it is only fair you give me yours."

He held her gaze and saw the doubt in her blue eyes. Sheik was intrigued by the woman. He seldom encountered people who were this distrustful of him. Afraid that he might lose her if he broke their gaze he locked his eyes to her, but suddenly found that he couldn't look away even if he wanted to. He was entranced.

After a moment of silence, her lips finally curved into the tiniest of smiles. A beautiful smile.

"You can call me… Lin."

Sheik gave a tiny bow with his head. "A pleasure to meet you, Lin."

But his good manners only served to wipe the smile away from Lin's lips as she was reminded of that he was a stranger.

"Why have you come to look for my brother…Sheik?" she asked, her suspicion no less and only adding his name as an afterthought.

Sheik met her searching gaze and debated with himself for a moment where silence ruled between them. Should he tell her? There was something – or some things – she was hiding. But then, why should he keep it a secret?

"Because… I am someone who – like many others – believe that your brother-" Sheik studied her intensively for her reaction to words he was about to speak – "was someone who could have saved us all from a darkness. I believe he was a…the Hero."

But instead of looking shocked or confused, Lin smiled sadly.

"It's strange," she said with a sad smile, "… my grandfather has told me the legend of the Hero so many times that I was eventually sick of hearing it." Sheik smiled mentally. Apparently they shared some things in common. "But I never… never, expected it to be true. And the thought that it was my brother... The elders kept telling us he was the Hero…but…"

"…you didn't believe them," Sheik finished softly.

Her voice was hollow when she replied. "…No."

They fell into silence for a while, Lin plummeting into sadness again and Sheik eyeing her silently. But then his eyes slowly drifted upwards and settled upon Amon, Lin's falcon. Sheik instantly frowned. Something was wrong. The bird was sitting completely still, his head turned to look into the fog, listening intently. He could see and hear something Sheik could not. Something in the falcon's behavior told Sheik something was here, a dark presence and something urged him to…

"What is it?" Lin had noticed his watchful expression.

Then with surprising speed the falcon shrieked and took flight into the air.

"Get down!"

Sheik launched himself forward, grabbing Lin around the waist and pushing her off the fallen tree, and not a second too late as an arrow suddenly pierced the very spot were Lin had been sitting. The two tumbled down a sharp drop into a pile of leaves, where they came to a stop. Lin's fall was softened as she landed on top of Sheik, but as she realized this she immediately got to her feet. But Sheik got up surprisingly fast and grabbed her wrist, pushing her up the wall and out of sight from the hill where they had been sitting only seconds before.

"Hey!" Lin barked, "What the hell are you-"

But Sheik pressed his hand over her mouth, motioning for her to be silent. She shouted muffled against his palm for another moment, until she fell silent. She heard it too. Footsteps.

On the ledge above them two Stalfos warriors came shuffling out of the trees. One of them carried a bow and the other a blunt –but no less deadly – sword. Sheik and Link stood completely still, not daring to breathe, as the Stalfos warriors looked around. One of them made his way over to the fallen tree, examining the arrow in suspicion. Then muttering a few interpretable words to each other they disappeared into the mist again.

A beat passed where the pair dared to exhale again and Sheik removed his palm from Lin's mouth. Her blue eyes were widened in alarm and wordlessly asked him exactly what he was thinking: What was happening?

He didn't reply at once, instead he started climbing up the ledge, stopping only to peek his head over the edge to make sure it was safe and then climbed all the way up.

He instantly turned and offered his hand to help the girl up but she ignored it and climbed up, her eyes set on the fog where the Stalfos had disappeared.

"What was that?" she asked, looking genuinely confused.

"That," Sheik replied, kneeling by the fallen tree and examining the arrow, "was Ganondorf's helpers." He wrapped his fingers around it and pulled it out, looking at it with a perplexed expression on his handsome face.

Ganondorf knows Link is dead. He finished the job himself. Then why did he send two Stalfos to the same place again? And what about Link's age? There's something that's not right…

"They were after me, weren't they?" Lin's voice broke through his deep speculations.

Sheik, brow furrowing in confusion, turned to look at her. She was standing by a tree, her pale golden hair fluttering slightly in the gentle wind, sadness radiating from her.

"…because I am sister to the great Hero." Sadness turned into bitterness.

Sheik's eyes widened as he took in her words. Could Ganondorf really be that cruel?

Her voice was almost shaking as she continued. "He wants to wipe out his entire family."

"…to make sure the bloodline is severed," Sheik continued in a hollow voice. Suddenly the full meaning of the Hero's death hit Sheik.

He let his head fall and his blond hair fell over his forehead. The feeling of despair he had felt before suddenly washed over him again. Now that the Hero was dead, who was there to stop Ganondorf? He could kill whoever he wanted…

And Lin was next on his list.

But as the Sheikah looked up again, about to suggest that they left, his eyes widened in surprise. The glade was empty. Lin was gone.

Alarmed, Sheik got to his feet again. He understood Lin's feelings, but this was not the time to seek solitude. His heart sped up as he knew she was probably in great danger. The vision of her innocent blue eyes flashed before his mind and something inside him jolted. He had to find her. Only where had she gone?

He looked around, scanning the ground for any sign of her footsteps. Nothing. But as he turned he suddenly found himself staring into the icy eyes of the falcon. He was still here, sitting on a branch, though his mistress had fled. Sheik paused, frowning, blood eyes narrowing. Once again the falcon's behavior struck him as extremely odd.

Then the animal jerked his head to Sheik's right, staring into the darkening mist, seeing something the Sheikah did not. Then he flapped his wings once and took flight in the same direction.

Sheik, knowing by now the falcon was someone to trust, took off after him, hoping the animal would lead him to Lin. It was suddenly extremely important that she did not come to harm.

It seemed like hours later when Lin finally came to a stop. She had been running for dear life and now her powers had finally drained. Panting, she rested her hands on her knees, letting the cool evening air caress her skin. She didn't know when she had stopped crying, but her cheeks seemed to have dried in the wind. It was all too much to take in. Why had the Goddesses chosen her family to torment?

However, something made her came to her senses. The wind around her was not the same compact air of the forest and the light was not shunned out by thick tree crowns.

She had been running aimlessly, so… where was she?

Straightening up to her full height, she took in the sight before her, an almost breathtaking view. She was standing on a hilltop and in front of her was a majestic field, stretching out as far as her eyes could see. It was a lush country, like nothing she had ever seen before. She was a forest child after all and had never been outside the Creel Village.

The clouds did their best to shun out the sun's light and the wind was harsh but still, the land before her had to be one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. A lively river was streaming towards the west, where she thought herself spot a vast ocean. Trying to fit the whole view into her vision she turned her gaze again to see a desert to the southwest, the forest where she came from to the south and to the north… her eyes stopped their wandering and fixed on the north where she spotted a city, and above it a huge castle.

Wait…is this…?

It was then she realized where she was. Hyrule Field, at the very centre of the kingdom. To the north was the castle, where the ruler of the land lived, Princess Zelda. For a moment she forgot the seriousness of her situation, but merely took in the incredible feeling she was having. Never had she been here, but somehow she felt like she belonged here. Had fate guided her steps here?

A shriek caught her attention and she turned her eyes to the sky, spotting Amon the falcon. He floated down and settled on her shoulder. His arrival seemed to spark Lin with her previous despair. Ganondorf was after her. Lin heaved a sigh, feeling all of a sudden utterly small.

"Why is life so cruel, Amon?"

The animal did not reply to her question, but merely nudged her affectionately with his wing. Lin scoffed. "Yeah, like you would know…"

Then she froze. A sound caught her attention. A snarl, barely audible. Amon took flight, a sign that something was wrong. Swallowing, Lin slowly turned around and locked eyes with a large wolf. But it was not like any wolf she had seen before – friendly ones living in the forest by the Creel Village – but this wolf had dark, almost black fur, and had eyes gleaming in the most unnerving red. This creature was evil.

Her body tensing, she slowly reached for her knives, but the wolf saw her. With a howl he leapt forward, startling Lin but she dodged him by jumping to her left. She crouched down in a defensive stand, holding her knives before her chest, but she couldn't help to tremble slightly as she did. She hadn't faced something evil since…

Again the wolf rushed her, and this time Lin was caught off-guard. His paw pounded hard into her right shoulder and she was sent to the ground in a tumble. Her head made hard impact with the ground and for a moment she saw stars. Swearing in pain Lin lifted her spinning head again just in time to see the wolf leaping at her. She widened her eyes in alarm and rolled out of the way just in time. The wolf missed her by inches but she had enough presence of mind to roll back to it and thrust her knife in its side.

With a triumphant "Ha!" she jumped to her feet again but was too quick to realize her mistakes. First, jumping to her feet sent such a wave of pain through her shoulder that a scream wrenched it's way from her lips and second, after howling in pain the wolf snapped his head to her and looked so furious that the scream in Lin's throat dried up instantly. She swallowed, her previous triumphant grin washing away so quickly that one might think the wind stole it.

With her shoulder throbbing in pain Lin decided to opt for the old run away-technique. With one of her knives still stuck in the wolf she spun around, holding the remaining on tightly in her right palm, about to break into a dash.

However, the wolf saw her move miles away and quickly overtook her, moving in to block her path. Lin scowled, her fear suddenly washed away. "Fine then," she growled between clenched teeth. "Give it your best shot."

And with that she crouched down, holding her knife in front of her as only defense as the wolf prepared, crouching down. Then he thrust the entire weight of his body at her…

Sheik emerged from the trees, his muscular chest rising and falling rapidly, but he barely registered that he was out of breath; he was scanning Hyrule Field for any sign of Lin. He, unlike Lin, had originated from Hyrule so the view was not as distracting to him, thus his mind was spinning with one question: The falcon had led him here, so now what?

A tear of sweat slowly trickled its way down his forehead as he paused; his body was tense, ready to dash in any direction as he listened and watched intently for any sign... Then he heard it, a scream, sounding much like Lin, and he rushed off so fast that the drop of sweat was whisked away from his skin.

He was up the hill in three steps, his red shirt billowing after his movements, but as he reached the summit he came to a halt, crimson eyes widened in horror.

"…No…"

His feet seemed to work without him, bringing him up to the large wolf lying over the lifeless limbs of Lin. He was too late…

He fell to his knees beside them, letting his eyes close. He knew he was seconds away from being clawed to death by the large wolf, but so be it. It was lost anyhow; let him meet the same fate as Lin.

"Um, hello?"

His red eyes snapped open, and he registered two things at once: the wolf was still lying down, not breathing, and a small arm was sticking up from its armpit, signaling for help up.

"… a little help here, please?" a muffled voice called.

Breaking into a relieved smile, Sheik sprang into action, using his strength to roll the wolf off a deflated Lin. She was holding one of her knives straight out in front of her and blood was dripping from it, but she was alright, she was…

"You're hurt," Sheik observed, immediately spotting her shoulder. It was not in its right shape.

"Really?" Lin shot back, and it was hard for Sheik to miss the sarcasm. He couldn't help to frown a little; she seemed completely unfazed by the situation as she struggled to get up. He reached out with his hand to help her up but just like before she ignored it, getting to her feet by herself – rather clumsily – and swearing under her breath due to her shoulder.

Sheik raised an eyebrow, invisible to Lin under his fringe. He had barely known this girl for a day, and already she was the most intriguing person he knew. A few hours ago she had been the epitome of grief but just now she had taken on a fierce animal and was acting like it was the most natural thing in the world. Again he felt that there was more to this girl... but he couldn't figure out what. It made him unsure how to act. He had met few women who had this attitude to danger – the women of the Gerudo and the women of his own tribe. But he had never seen a Hylian woman even hold a weapon before. Nonetheless, Lin fascinated him, even if he had no idea how to act. Or, yes he did.

He stepped up to her and grabbed her upper arm. She jerked in surprise and pain. "Ouch! What do you think you're doing?" she barked, and Sheik was instantly reminded of her mistrust to him. Well, he'd cross that bridge later.

"Your shoulder is dislocated. I have to fix it."

Lin shrugged of his arm, backing away, holding up her knife. She knew she shouldn't trust this man. She didn't know much of the Sheikah which made her uncertain how to treat him, and how did she know he was really from the Royal court? He never said anything to confirm her speculations, after all.

"No," she replied stubbornly.

She could see his eyebrows go up under his blond unruly fringe. "No?"

"No," she confirmed huffily, about to cross her arms decisively but refrained as another throb of pain shot through her. Sheik couldn't help to smile at her stubbornness.

"If I don't fix it," he began, taking another step towards her – noting that she narrowed her eyes as he did, but did not back away – "it will damage your shoulder permanently. You won't be able to use it."

Lin's featured plummeted into a scowl. She hadn't thought of that. But that didn't matter. "I don't trust you," she began, eyeing his handsome features suspiciously, "you show only a few days after Ganondorf, having exactly the same errand as he did? And I don't even know where you're from! You never said you were from the Royal Court or who sent you… or why? I mean, why did you need my brother really? Nothing had forced him to be the Hero, he didn't have to do anything because he didn't – Hey, what are you- No, don't – AARRGGHH!"

Lin's ramble came to an abrupt end as Sheik swiftly stepped up to her, grabbed her arm, pressed her shoulder down and yanked it back into place. Lin's scream echoed though the valley, even after she'd stopped screaming.

"You're welcome," Sheik dared to say, but regretted it as her beautiful face flushed in anger. She clenched her fists, narrowing her eyes at him, preparing to say something. However, suddenly her features became calm and her eyes lost their fire as they rolled back into her head. Sheik reacted quickly, catching her unconscious form into his arms. It wasn't until now that he noticed her bleeding temple.

He hoisted her up into his arms and then touched her forehead with his fingers, letting his magic flow through him to see if she was in any danger. Thankfully, she wasn't. But she needed some help. And Sheik knew where to find it.

He raised his blood red gaze to his right, where – on top of a hill, protected by the forest – lay the Lon Lon ranch.

So, hope you like it! Sorry it's been forever since I've updated, but please enjoy! And when you're done, just press that little button below :P