Hello readers! Here's part VI of Desert Thief; I hope you enjoy the read!

-The Legend of Zelda-

-The Desert Thief-

-Chapter 21-

Time was always an enemy for Link.

When he was a farmer back in Ordon, there wasn't enough time to divvy up between his crops and the village's goats. When Link was dragged into his journey to save Hyrule, he was in a race against time to ensure Zant wouldn't succeed in covering all of Hyrule and the world in a dark cloud of Twilight.

Link and time were not on good terms, so why would that change now?

Link had left Epona in Wolfgar and traveled to the Sisters of the South by foot. Naila must not have been concerned about being trailed, for the tracks of her large group littered the trail and the ground around it. They were still relatively fresh, and Link was certain that they were still somewhere up in the mountains; however, he was also sure that something else was up in the cursed peaks. The hero had felt it the moment he began up the lonely trail. A presence, something that chilled him to his core, descended upon Link.

He had to wonder if this feeling was being caused by whatever was guarding the deity that rested in the sister. It only made sense, and -assuming he was correct- the hero could only hope he didn't run into whatever the source of the feeling was. His hope, however, would not be fulfilled. An eerie, otherworldly moan filled the air. Looking around, the hero saw nothing but snow and rock; it was as barren as the Gerudo wastelands, just much colder.

Raising his hand to the hilt of the sword that rested on his back, the master swordsman slowly unsheathed his weapon and brought it in front of him in a defensive position. It was probably a wasted effort if the stories about the mountains held any semblance of truth, and that Link was sure they did. Without warning, a thick fog descended upon the path, covering everything and limiting Link's visibility to an arm's reach.

This was not good.

A new coldness covered the area; it was no longer a distant feeling like it'd been previously. Whatever was the feeling's source, Link was in its presence. A shiver ran down hero's spine as he kept glancing back and forth, looking for anything that could possibly pose a threat. Upon looking quickly to his left, the hero caught sight of something that made even him freeze in terror, if only for a moment.

A wraith floated off the ground, as black as night with blood red eyes. What looked to be a spinal column hung from the bottom of the wraith's abdomen like a tail, and in its left hand was a sword that was equally as black as its body.

Ducking quickly, Link swung his sword and made contact with the creature. Crying out in pain, the wraith retreated back into the fog. The fog itself, however, did not lift. Whatever that thing was, it was still out there. Link had to move, before it returned.

Following the tracks of Naila's men, Link ran as fast as his feet would carry him in the direction of the bandit's men. Occasionally, the hero would hear a moan or shriek, but the spirit never showed itself. Perhaps it was observing him, or perhaps there was another reason it hadn't reappeared? Whatever the reason was, Link was grateful it remained in the thick of the fog instead of engaged in combat with himself.

After several minutes of running, the fog began to lift. What Link saw astounded him. Pillars of rock rose from the ground in front of him. Ornate statues of birds and lions and wolves were carved into the walls - no, into the side of the mountain-. A bright, supernatural light was being emitted from an orb-like structure centered between all of the pillars. This had to be the temple where the deity rested.

And as sure as the sun sets in the west, Link had found Naila's men.

Hundreds of bandits and raiders crowded the open temple. Many seemed to be resting while others appeared to be talking amongst themselves. Dozens of crates littered the area, no doubt where they kept much of their supplies. Naila's operation truly was akin to that of a military.

Vari floated free from a small pocket inside of Link's tunic and looked around. "I see we've found Naila..." the fairy whispered. "Do you see her anywhere?"

Link squinted his eyes as he looked between all of the men in front of him. There wasn't a trace of the woman. While searching for the leader of the group, Link spotted a large opening in the side of the mountain. It seemed to be a passageway that led deep into the rock. It struck him that if Naila was here searching for the deity, she would most likely be searching within the temple.

Realizing he still hadn't answered his companion, Link shook his head at her question while watching a few guards pass close by.

"Me either... ah, quiet!" Vari quietly exclaimed as the guards who had passed close by turned around and stood still. Link prayed to the goddesses that the two hadn't seen him. Agonizing seconds passed before the raiders started talking between themselves.

"I can't believe we trekked up that accursed path; I felt the spirits who haunt this mountain... They're angry at us. I don't think they'll let us leave," the first raider, a stocky man with a scruffy brown beard voiced his worries. The second, an averagely built, blonde haired man scoffed at the idea.

"You let the ghost stories of your grandmother still occupy your mind? I didn't realize you were still so innocent!" the blonde joked. It wasn't out of malice or mockery, but seemed to be more of a friendly jest. Link couldn't help but shudder a bit at the memory of the wraith he'd seen just moments before; the first raider was right. The spirits were angry.

"Hey, when Naila gets what she wants we leave these forsaken mountains and take a long well deserved break, yeah? The boss has been working us like dogs lately, it has to stop sometime." The stocky man chuckled a bit at his friend's comment and relaxed a bit.

"I suppose you're right. I'll try not to worry so much." A laugh was shared between the two before the blonde spoke again.

"Come, let's grab some drinks while we wait for the boss to finish her business!" Link couldn't have been happier at the proposal. The man with the brown beard nodded his head and began walking away from Link's hiding position towards a group of other men. This was Link's chance to sneak by them all.

It was times like now Link had wished for the ability to blend into the shadows like Midna could. There were several times when such a power would have saved the man much trouble and grief. The hero often wondered what it was like to be a shadow. When he had asked Midna one time towards the end of their journey, Midna had simply replieds, "Why? Do you wish to join me?"It was, of course, a joke, but at that time, any bit of humor was welcomed. Their situation was dire, and the gravity of how dangerous Ganondorf actually was had set in.

But that was in the past; Link had to focus on the now.

Moving like liquid between the dark corners of the pillars and the statues, Link slowly but surely advanced towards the dark tunnel that burrowed into the mountainside. The bandits who covered the grounds remained oblivious to their intruder as the hero slinked into the passage and sprinted into the darkness.

Inside of the temple, Link couldn't help but be nervous. His mind kept drifting back to what he'd seen earlier. Perhaps it was just a sentry, a watchman protecting its master. But if that was so, then Link didn't even want to think what could be inside of the dungeon actually guarding its master.

Minutes passed as the hero continued onwards. Several of Naila's men were present inside the temple. He had dealt with them, quietly, before continuing his advancement. These ruins were like nothing he'd ever seen before, and Link had seen his fair share of ruins in his short life. Not dwelling on such thoughts, the hero continued onward. Time passed and Link was beginning to wonder if he was lost when the man entered a large, domed, room. It was then the hero froze. He was perched high up on a ledge, looking down on the well lit room.

Naila stood in front of a large, stone door. The woman's hands were on her hips and her eyes were but narrow slits. She seemed frustrated as she studied the door. Around her was a company of about fifty men. Unlike the undisciplined bandits outside, these all seemed to be professional, even soldierly. If the hero had to guess, these were the woman's top bandits.

"Why will it not open? What seals it shut?" the woman shouted as she began to pace around the room. Link looked up and looked at the door more closely. What he saw made his eyes widen slightly. The crest of the Royal Family of Hyrule was engraved on the door. The Triforce was painted gold and the bird beneath it red. Time had aged the paint, as it had faded quite a bit.

"Naila, no matter how hard we push, pull, or slide, the door will not budge. It's possible that the mechanism that opens it has been damaged over the centuries." Link recognized the man who spoke; he was the same one who had beheaded the drunken raider when Link had infiltrated their camp after the raid on Belfair.

"That's not it; it's something else. Keep looking, we're missing something," the woman ordered. Without saying another word, all of the men once again began to search the room for a possible mechanism to open the door. Link leaned forward a bit to get a better view of the scene when a gut retching crack echoed in the air.

Before the hero could react, the ledge that he'd perched himself upon broke away from the wall, causing the swordsman to fall a relatively high distance before crashing into the ground. The last thing Link saw was the gray stone of the floor before blacking out.

-The Legend of Zelda-

-The Desert Thief-

-Chapter 22-

Rest.

Link. Needed. Rest.

The young man had been pushing his body to the limits, and now he had to pay the price. It was only a day ago that the hero had rescued Yeta the yeti of Snowpeak from the shard of the Mirror of Twilight, and Link was certain of but one thing.

He'd never want to get into another fight with the yeti.

The entire situation brought a small frown to Link's lips. The girl had been so innocent; the entire time Link was in the Snowpeak mansion she had only tried to help the hero recover the mirror shard from her and Yeto's room. However, when the girl was exposed to the twisted, dark power of the mirror, Yeta was turned into something completely different. She was a monster, and every slice Link took with the Master Sword made him cringe in remorse.

Luckily, he had managed to recover the mirror without taking Yeta's life. While he knew he could have continued on with his journey, the guilt of killing Yeto's wife would have haunted Link until his death. Words could not express how overjoyed he was that the two yetis could now live in peace away from the accursed mirror shard.

"Hey, Link." Midna made her presence known as she jumped out of his shadow and materialized next to him. The diminutive imp had grown on him so much since their first meeting. In fact, Link could say that she was probably one of his best -if not the best- friend he had, despite the circumstances of their relationship.

Link turned his head to the side, meeting the crimson eyes of the Twili. He sat atop Epona and kept the horse slowly trotting forward. They were approaching Faron, the location where the next mirror shard supposedly was. Link certainly hoped it was there; "One is in an ancient grove..." is what the sage of the Forest and sage of the Spirit had said. In Link's mind, the sacred grove could be the only place they were speaking of. If it was somewhere else, he and Midna would be searching for a long time trying to figure out where.

Seeing she now had his attention, the imp continued speaking. "You look... terrible. Link, why don't you rest for a bit?"

The suggestion made Link widen his eyes a bit in surprise. Had Midna truly suggested they rest? Up until now, she had only been pushing him to his limits - antagonizing him when he was exhausted -; this was a new behavior for his companion. Then again, why did he seem so surprised? Their relationship had long since evolved from a mutually beneficial partnership to that of a true friendship. The imp was just showing some friendly concern.

Knowing the clock was always ticking, Link only mustered a slight shaking of his head before returning his gaze to the road ahead. This did not bide well for Midna; an annoyed scowl crept upon her face as the hero continued riding forward.

"Link! What good will you be if you're dead? You've done nothing but endure battle and the elements for the past several days; a few moments of rest will not harm you." Midna floated in front of Link and stared directly into his glassed over eyes. He truly was exhausted. Seeing no response, Midna brought her arm-like hair in front of her, causing Epona to stop. The horse was an intelligent creature; she knew what condition Link was in, and was all too happy to stop in front of the imp's 'hand'.

"Listen hero, we'll rest for fifteen minutes, then you can continue on at your suicidal pace, okay?" Though she voiced it as a suggestion, both knew full well that in Midna's mind it was already a decided. Knowing he wouldn't be able to dissuade her, Link finally nodded his head in agreement and nudged Epona with his boot to move off towards the side of the road.

Dismounting, Link carefully planted his feet on the ground and let his legs bear the burden of his weight; he hadn't realized how tired he really was. Having Epona to help him get to his destinations was a favorable alternative to walking. Of course, ever since he and Midna had acquired the dark stone that Zant had cursed the hero with, warping also proved to be a great way to get around. The only problem with said mode of transportation was that there had to be a portal to warp to; the sacred grove didn't have one.

Turning, the young man noticed Midna staring at him as he straightened out his tunic. Her eyes seemed inquisitive, almost like she wanted to say something. Realizing what she was doing, the imp quickly reverted to her normal mannerism and began to speak.

"I hear water coming from the woods. How about we fill up some of your empty bottles?" It was a good idea. Throughout his journey, Link drank a lot of water. However, sometimes - like in the Arbiter's Ground - water was as scarce as life itself. Having a bottle or two of the life-sustaining substance had saved Link several times.

Nodding his head in agreement, Link began to walk towards the sound of the water. What surprised him, however, was that instead of melting back into his shadows like she normally did, Midna instead remained materialized next to him floating at eye level. While it wasn't the first time she had done such a thing, it was still a rarity to see her out of the darkness.

After a minute of walking, Link found the source of the water. A small creek ran through the forest within shallow ravine, the water within as clear as crystal. Smooth rocks covered the riverbed, and a large tree had fallen across ravine, acting like a bridge for the small creatures of the forest such as squirrels and chipmunks.

"This is a nice area," Midna spoke as she looked around. Floating down towards the creek, the imp dipped her hand into the water and felt its coolness wash over her. "It's not often we get to enjoy our surroundings, is it?"

Link shook his head. Midna was correct; over the past several weeks, the hero had traveled to the ends of Hyrule and witnessed the majesty of the goddess' creation. However, during the near entirety of those weeks, he'd been fighting against the monstrosities of Zant's twisted army of Twili, Bulbins, and other dangerous monsters. He hadn't the time to enjoy any of the views or scenery.

"It truly is a shame. There are some sights in your world that are genuinely beautiful," pausing for several moments, Midna finished her sentence, saying, "but those are exceedingly rare. I still much prefer the golden light of the Twilight Realm."

Link smiled a bit at her statement. Midna was such a complex person in Link's eyes. All of the hurtful, mean things she said were but a charade. Link had seen the true Midna the night she nearly died in Zelda's arms. She was kind, caring, and selfless. However, to be seen as such would denote being weak, or so Link assumed that's what Midna thought. Regardless of how she acted, Link was happy to have her as company during the hardships he was enduring as the goddess's chosen hero.

Seeing a small patch of grass at the base of the ravine, Link decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to sit down for a few moments and enjoy the bit of rest he was allowing himself. Walking over to the patch, Link sat down and leaned back against the grassy hill behind him. Closing his eyes, the hero could faintly hear Midna begin to speak again, but her voice quickly faded as he unknowingly fell into the world of dreams.

Minutes, then hours passed before Link finally reopened his eyes. To his surprise, however, the warm rays of sun that bathed the area in light were no more. In their place was a nearly black sky covered in stars and a full moon. The celestial body sat low in the sky; Link's view of it was nearly unobstructed as it covered the land in its cool white light.

To his side, Epona stood sleeping. Realizing he had slept much longer than he had intended, the hero shot to his feet and looked around in slight confusion. Where had Midna gone? Why had she not woke him up? Looking down at his dim shadow, Link shouted the imp's name but was surprised when she didn't spring forth. Arching an eyebrow, Link once again said her name in a slightly softer tone. Once again, the imp didn't move from his shadow.

It slowly dawned on Link that perhaps she wasn't in his shadow. But if she was not there, then where? Looking around, the hero began to slowly pace around the area looking for his companion. Not knowing what lurked in the woods at night, Link was quiet as he searched; as much fun as fighting the nocturnal beasts of Hyrule was, the young man would prefer to avoid any confrontation if at all possible.

After a bit of walking, Link found a large clearing where the creek emptied into a medium sized lake. It was a sight to behold; the moon, like a giant spotlight in the sky, shone down upon the still water and was reflected with great intensity upwards back towards the heavens. Crickets and frogs sang and croaked as they scurried amongst the grass and water hiding from predators and hunting for prey. However, what truly caught Link's attention was the small form of Midna floating at eyelevel near the grassy shore of the lake, looking out at the moon.

Her fiery orange hair glowed ever so slightly in the darkness of the night, and was emphasized by the whiteness of the moon that silhouetted her petite form. The teal markings that covered her arms and legs also seemed to glow dimly, but they were less noticeable compared to her hair. Link stared at her for several moments before slowly approaching the imp from behind.

Hearing his approach, Midna turned to face the hero and forced a smirk on her face. "Ah, the great hero finally awakens. I can't believe someone who sleeps as long as you was chosen to be the hero of Hyrule." Link arched an eyebrow at the statement but made no comment as he found his place next to Midna. A few seconds passed in silence until Midna began to speak.

"You know, you're world really isn't that bad. I could see how you'd miss the entire 'day and night' thing." Midna spoke nonchalantly, as if it'd been her observation all along. "Zant and his master, Ganondorf, threaten all of this, and for what? Power? What's the point of having power if it destroys everything that's good in the process?"

Link had no answer, for there was none. Ganondorf seemed to be a person of absolute evil. For him, all that mattered was power. He didn't seem to care how he obtained it or what had to be sacrificed in order for it to be obtained. If obtaining supreme power meant killing every man, woman, and child in Hyrule, Link had no doubt that the man would do it without a thought of hesitation.

"I suppose the sages were right calling him the 'King of Evil'." Never turning her stare from the moon in front of her, Midna sighed and narrowed her eyes. "They will pay... for everything they've done."

Link couldn't agree more. They would pay, and he would be the one to make them answer for all of the lives lost during the crisis. While Link was not one for vengeance, he felt it his duty -his responsibility as the hero of the goddess'- to ensure that Ganondorf ceased to draw breath from the air in their kingdom or any other.

Finally turning her gaze from the bright white moon in front of her, Midna stared directly into Link's eyes and said, "I guess we have delayed long enough. Come on now, let's get back to Epona and make for the Sacred Grove. We can't stand by idly as Zant and his master continue to plot against your world."

Smiling softly, Link nodded his head and turned to face the direction he came from. His step seemed lighter than before, the hero noticed, as he made his way back to where his horse and equipment was. The hero wondered why for a few moments before pushing the thought to the back of his head as he mentally prepared himself for what lay ahead.

He and Midna would defeat whatever tried to impeded their progress they would not allow Zant and Ganondorf to succeed. Of that he was certain.

-The Legend of Zelda-

-The Desert Thief-

-Chapter 23-

Link slowly began to gain consciousness as the world around him began to sharpen. He tried to remember what had happened or where he was. It slowly was coming back, albeit only small fragments. He was in a temple within the Reslo mountains chasing down a deity... but then, what happened next?

"I see you're awake."

That voice! Naila! It all flooded back into Link's head. Reaching for his sword, the hero stopped as he noticed four burly men hold their swords above him, waiting for their boss to give the order to kill him if he made a wrong move. Seeing he currently was not in a position to attack them, he slowly raised his hands as a show peace, if that was possible.

"Ah, not as stupid as I thought you were. I will admit, you are persistent though," Naila laughed mockingly as she took several steps towards him. "How bizarre you happen to be within a strange temple deep inside a cursed mountain, the same one I chose to visit. I have to wonder, are you looking for something here?"

Naila knew -she had to have known- what Link was here for. Her voice gave it all away, but it wasn't like she was trying to hide anything. She was arrogant and currently had a definite upper hand against Link. All he could do was bite his tongue and try to figure out a way to get out of the dire situation.

"Well, I have a proposal," the woman began. Her amber eyes looked him over like a predator eyeing its injured prey. "You see, my men and I have reached an impasse of sorts with that door over there. We need to get on the other side, but it refuses to move. Would you happen to have any idea why?" Link looked over at the door Naila and her men were standing in front of and once again saw Hyrule's Royal Family seal painted upon the door.

Link had seen that symbol countless times before, and in a place such as the ruins he was in, it surely meant something. However, he wouldn't show his cards just yet. He would bluff and try to somehow get the upper hand. Even if that was not possible, anything that could buy the hero time was more than welcomed as far as he was concerned.

Shaking his head, Naila scoffed lightly as her eyes narrowed. "If you've no idea why that door refuses to move, then you're nothing but an annoyance. Why should I allow you to live? All you've done since I've spared you the first time was continue to cause trouble for me like a persistent plague." Links eyes become but slits as he tried to think of something -anything- to say that could help him, but nothing came.

"Link managed to find this temple by reading a single passage in an ancient book. Surely if you gave him what he needed, he would be able to open the door." Vari chose the tense moment to make herself known, flying up from one of Link's pockets. Naila looked up, slightly amused and slightly confused at the sight in front of her.

"A fairy? Is she your companion?" Naila laughed. "You certainly have strange taste in company, that's for sure." Taking several steps forward, the woman was face to 'face' with Vari, her expression unreadable. "Assuming your fairy friend isn't lying to save your life, what would you need in order to open that door? I have some of the best tools, some of them quite... explosive."

Link saw his chance to turn the tables slightly and looked around for a moment. The men around him had many pieces of equipment strapped to them, however, a few had some of Link's equipment as well. If he could get his clawshots -even one-, then he'd be able to be a real annoyance to Naila. Pointing towards the bandit who had the tools, Link opened his mouth and said, "I need my clawshots."

Naila followed the hero's finger and saw it was pointing at one of her top lieutenants. He had been given one of the first chances to go over the loot they recovered from Belfair. He had found himself attracted to the golden claws and quickly claimed them as his own. While the raider wouldn't be happy about losing his treasure, Naila didn't care as long as the unmoving door was opened.

"Aldu, give the kid his gear." The man seemed to shift slightly, almost in hesitation, as he reached down and grabbed the claws from his belt. Seeing this, Naila smirked, "Don't worry, you'll get em' back."

No he wouldn't; at least as far and Link was concerned.

Walking over to the man, Link quickly snatched his equipment and slipped his hands into the gauntlets. A feeling of nostalgia overcame him as he felt the metal brush over his fingertips. However, the hero was quickly pulled back into reality when he realized that now since he had his gear, the man didn't know what to do next.

"You make one wrong move, and I'll make sure you'll remain in these ruins for the rest of your life... however short that may be." The threat, while simple and straightforward, was spoken with absolution by Naila. Link knew he still had to play by her rules, but was looking for anything that could help him. "Get to work."

Seeing several of the bandits usher him towards the door, Link felt a weight form in his gut as the sinking realization that he didn't know how to open the door set in. When he first saw it, he knew the crest of the royal family and the Triforce was significant; whenever he'd encounter them in the past in such a setting, they usually were of key importance. However, he didn't know if they actually held any clues into the mechanism for opening the door; it was just a hunch.

Approaching the door, Link reached out his left hand and felt it grow warm upon touching the stone; it was a strange sensation and one that he'd only felt several times before. Looking at the back side of his hand, the hero realized that through the thick leather of his gauntlets, the golden form of the Triforce of Courage shone through like a holy light. It was doing something because he was close to the door.

Before Link realized what was happening, a loud thump, like the sound of a boulder hitting the ground, filled the air followed shortly by a grinding noise. Looking up, Link saw the triforce painted on the door begin to glow as brightly as his left hand. The power of the goddess' must have been reacting with the seal on the door. It wasn't the first time such a thing had happened in his quests, but Link had never been quite as happy to have the key to one of the impassable doors.

"What did you do...!" Turning, Link found Naila staring at him with wide eyes. It was the first time the hero had ever seen the usually calm and arrogant woman flabbergasted. Smirking a bit, Link seemed to take pleasure at the woman's question; of course, he wouldn't give an answer. The fact that he possessed something as powerful as a piece of the Triforce was not something he'd want somebody like Naila to know. The mere thought of her possessing a piece made Link shudder.

"Boss, look!"

Everybody's gazes turned towards the now open passageway. Through it, a brightly lit, mammoth sized room awaited. Enormous pillars of stone rose from the ground, disappearing into the darkness above. The light that filled the area came from large, glowing white rocks that covered the walls and pillars. Vibrant red and gold streaks covered the floor like a path that ran straight down the middle of the room.

"Well, by the goddesses..." Naila trailed off. Quickly regaining her normal composure, the woman looked at Link and narrowed her eyes. "I don't know what you did, but you've proven your usefulness for now. You lead forward, we'll be close behind. Don't do anything stupid."

Link scowled slightly at the order, but slowly began to walk into the chamber through the passageway. Something about the situation seemed to be off kilter to the hero. He'd seen his fair share of traps and sealed chambers, and he was making correlations between his past experiences and his current situation. Whenever a chamber was sealed or shut off from the rest of the world, it usually was to keep somebody out...

Cu-lunk!

Or something in.

"What was that?" one of the bandits cried out as the loud noise echoed in the chambers. Turning around, Link saw that the door they came through had slammed shut the moment the final raider had stepped through. Something definitely was off.

"The door has shut!" another man shouted. "Naila, something is not right! This place... there's a presence here!"

"Quiet Aldu!" Turning to meet Link's gaze, Naila cast an accusatory look his way. "What have you done now, kid? I told you not to try anything!" As she finished her sentence, a long and low growl reverberated through the still air. Everybody began to cast looks between one another, searching for the origin of the noise; the brigh glowing stones began to dim, darkening the room and casting it into near darkness. The men began to whisper, causing their leader to hiss, "Quiet! Light your torches!" Without a moment of hesitation, several of the bandits pulled out torches and lit them, covering the group in the orange light of their fire.

Everybody stood in absolute silence with their weapons drawn; the only noise that could be heard was the shallow, nervous breathing of several raiders and the crackling fire of the torches. Glances were thrown around and hands were still as Naila, her men, and Link tried to figure out what was stalking them.

"Wha- help!"

Link found the source of the voice to his right. One of Naila's bandits was being held in the air by a seemingly invisible force. He was screaming in fear and slashing his sword wildly in a vain attempt to hit whatever held him. "What is this? Where are you...!"

To everybody's shock and horror, a figure began to form out of the shadows in a similar fashion to how Midna used to form. It was large, easily eight or nine men tall and had bright white eyes. Teeth as long as Link's sword protruded from the creatures mouth, giving it a terrifyingly monstrous look. As the creatures right hand materialized, Link saw it was wrapped firmly around the bandit who, until a moment ago, seemed to be levitating.

Looking down at its hand, the creature narrowed its eyes at the sight of the bandit. Exhaling loudly, it squeezed its hands hard as the man let out an ear-splitting scream of agony. The snapping of bones could be heard as whatever the creature crushed the man with its bare hand. Everybody watched in horror as it dumped the disfigured body onto the ground and faded back into the shadows. A low growl was heard; it was moving around them in a circle, like a shark swimming around a school of fish.

"Kid!" Turning his attention towards Naila, Link no longer saw any resentment or hostility in the woman's eye. "I don't know what in the goddess's name that thing is, but we don't stand a chance as is. We need a plan!"

As she finished her sentence, another one of her men was lifted into the air and thrown across the room into one of the enormous pillars at mind numbing speeds. One could hear his screams fade as all life left his body.

"And we need a plan now!"

A/N:

Whew! Another chapter done. Sorry for taking so long to get this chapter out! I've been fairly good about cliffhangers so far, but felt like this would be a good place to insert one.

The reason why I left this chapter off here is I aim to get a 5.5-6K chapter out every seven to ten days. The way I see it, I was due for an update so I finished up the chapter and put some final touches on it. Would you prefer if I posted longer (around 10k words to 12k words) chapters but waited longer between updates? Or would you all prefer these shorter 5k, 6k, and 7k chapters that I'm currently doing and having me update almost bi-weekly? Leave a review or PM me to let me know!

I also would like to use this space to tell you why I was a bit late in posting. Recently, I've been doing a lot of work on the fan game rendition of Desert Thief. It is a bit different in terms of story, but the overall plot is the same. I have all of Belfair modeled and the surrounding environments as well. I've recently started the long and tedious task of creating texture sets to use and that has been consuming a lot of my time. I've been busy tearing apart the game files of Twilight Princess to see how Nintendo assembled the game and stuff like that. As a game design student, I find it as interesting and fun (if not more fun) as reading fics!

Well, I'm just ranting now. Thanks for reading, and if you feel inclined please leave a review as well!