The image of Link urging Epona onward flickered and wavered in midair, like some kind of near-transparent projection. Whenever the Hero's mouth moved, no sound could be heard, but obviously he hadn't become mute just by his behavior. He didn't act surprised or frightened, and carried on about his business obliviously as Epona soundlessly snorted and stamped her feet to ward off the chill. The focus on the boy and his mount shifted to look at the bat that sat nearby, balancing upright rather than hanging downward on the tree branch. This sudden change in image was clear enough to show that this was no normal projection. It was a direct transmission from the very eyes of the blue-eyed bat that had been so diligent in following Link. All the other bats carefully kept close to it in efforts to avoid having attention drawn to the magicked creature, but Link had already noticed.
It was pointless.
The image suddenly flickered into oblivion to reveal smooth, black granite walls and swirling pillars of deep maroon and black rock. The rich white-flecked gray tiling reflected the dark ceiling and soon the image of a man was made apparent. A large man that was quite a familiar figure by this point.
Ganondorf stood a short distance away from where the image of Link had once been, the magic used to project such a thing still shimmering in the air. The Gerudo king smirked to himself as he contemplated his findings all alone in the immense throne room. Link was trying to travel to Hyrule, it seemed, and it was easy enough to assume that his reasons for doing so were to discuss the dilemma at hand with the pesky princess. If he had wanted to speed up the process of his plans up, he would have allowed Link to do this without bothering him. But Ganondorf wasn't such a kind man, and it had become quite entertaining to him to harass the blonde prodigy. In fact, he viewed this as a fun little game by this point.
The stunt with inhabiting the body of the Stalfos to bother Link had kept him amused for only so long, but now he truly wanted to see that brat writhing.
Sharp teeth bared in a devious snarl of a grin, his gloved hands clenched as the sound of leather rubbing against leather echoed around the room. Silence met the movement as Ganondorf let loose a low chuckle, his eyes bright with excitement.
What a fun little game he was playing.
"Let us see how you fare against my little tricks, O great Hero," he murmured to himself with a mischievous gleam entering his eyes. He turned on his heel, looking as if he were walking back to his throne, though with each step his form was slowly eaten away by shadows until he vanished completely. Link had better prepare himself.
~x~
It had taken another half-day, but Link soon arrived in the prosperous town of Lune. Lune was a place of trade, just like the port town he had been previously left at by Arnold. But it was much bigger, though not quite large enough to be considered as immense as a city. As he slid off of the back of Epona, it was easy to see that one could get lost in the crowd. The market place was bustling with early morning activity, and from what he heard, it got worse towards noon. Gossip flew up in bits and pieces as house wives gathered about to chatter during their errands, the husbands out tending the farms or taking care of other business.
Unable to resist eavesdropping as he led Epona on, Link paused when hearing one particularly juicy snippet.
"Did you hear about the great Ganondorf rising again?" one lady whispered to another, only to receive a disbelieving look. "I haven't heard about that fellow in ages, surely he is dead by this point," she scoffed, though she frowned as the first speaker rapidly shook her head. "No, no he is still alive! From what I heard, he is planning to go to that one city, Amber… Amber…" She seemed to forget for a moment and her companion patiently waited until it came back. "Ah, yes! Amber Gates!"
Her friend looked even more dubious, if not with a touch of surprise this time around.
"Amber Gates? That city is one of the largest in the country, why in the world would he bother with it?" The woman shrugged. "It is just something I heard. Maybe he has some errands there; I also heard that he travels from town to town to manipulate good folk into seeing his ways. But, that's just what I got from the grape vine."
The conversation drifted to something much more trivial, something about how to remove stains from cloth, but Link's mind was already racing. Amber Gates? Another place he hadn't heard of, though he felt a touch of panic. What if Ganondorf was going there to burn the city to the ground? With that violent nature of his, he surely was planning to tear that place down. Though his objective had been previously to go straight to Hyrule, Link couldn't bear the thought of so many dying. He could prevent this. Or, he could at least get Ganondorf to leave the city alone.
Epona snorted and gave a shrill whinny of irritation when her master began to space out, causing Link to come back to reality. Shaking his head free of his contemplative thoughts, he glanced over at the agitated mare. He gave her a serious look, but when she returned it, he couldn't resist a smile. Rubbing a gauntlet-clad hand over her muzzle, Link's eye brows furrowed with thought.
"Come on girl, we need to get some directions to this Amber City place."
Epona didn't seem to realize what he was saying, but appreciated the fact that they were moving away from the noisy crowds. She didn't like loud places; they made her skittish and afraid. Like when that bothersome Stalfos had taken off in pursuit of them, but then again, it had been quite silent. But that silence had definitely spooked her badly.
Leading the horse off in the direction of the closest inn, the pair of gossiping women paused in their conversation to peer over at him. Just for a split second, identical smiles of dark intent crossed their faces before fading, the two resuming their conversation as if nothing had ever happened.
~x~
The inn owner had been kind enough to write down some instructions on how to get to Amber Gates after Link gave him a befuddled look when the owner had tried to explain where to go. He even pitied the blonde so much that he gave him a slight discount on the room he planned to rent, and let Epona stay in the stables for free. Well, the latter might have been because he just liked the pretty mare, but Link would let that slide.
Currently having the paper clasped firmly in his hand, the Hero sat on the edge of the soft bed within the room he had rented as he read over the instructions for the hundredth time. Head north until the tall, thin trees turned thick and gnarled with age. Then, head west and stop at a brook. From there, if he were to head south nonstop, he would reach the city. After the owner had finished writing this, he explained that Amber Gates wouldn't be hard to be missed. Its namesake, being the beautifully wrought iron gates at the front, made it quite noticeable. Alongside its monstrous walls that protected its people and the general sound of people going about their day, it would be difficult not to see it in the middle of the wilderness.
The guards were sure to wave him on in, the owner also had added. They had tourists frequently of all types, though then the fellow had murmured that it was a disadvantage to them too. They weren't as on guard, with as many visitors as they got. Amber Gates never assumed that they would be under attack any time soon and thus allowed in even the most suspicious of characters. That had made Link's stomach completely drop.
Ganondorf would be able to make his way in without even the use of his magic, and the people would just welcome him with open arms. That was a bit sickening, as he thought about it. It was like hugging your own demise with acceptance.
Even as he sat on the bed the young man shuddered with horror at the thought. He would leave immediately in the morning, no doubt at all.
He couldn't take a breather just because he was tired or didn't feel like it, not when lives were at stake.
Glancing out the window to see the sky already pitch-black with night, the Hero gave a sigh. Sleep was a requirement though, because otherwise he'd be dozing in the saddle. Folding up the paper carefully, he set it on the nightstand, where he knew he wouldn't forget it. Removing his boots and striping himself of his tunic, Link ran a hand through his hair as he shook his head, thinking over how much he had on his plate right now. Quite a lot, if he dared say so himself.
Deciding to abandon his worries in turn for sleep, he snuggled deep into the warm blankets of the bed, drifting off within a matter of seconds just from weariness.
~x~
As he had promised himself the previous night, Link awoke at the crack of dawn and dressed himself to go. Leaving some extra rupees on the counter to repay the owner for his generosity, he shivered a little at the early morning chill. Dew still clung to the grass as his boots collected the wetness, quickly trotting off to the stables. Epona didn't seem as appreciative as the day before when she was roused from her sleep with soft, gentle words and a caressing hand on her neck.
Link felt a little bad for making her wake up so early when she had been worked so hard the past few days, but he couldn't wait any longer.
Leading her out of the stables after saddling her, the young man placed one boot in a stir-up and hoisted himself onto Epona's back. Clucking his tongue, the mare snorted and shook her head, forelock splaying itself out into her eyes, before immediately going into a canter towards the forested area beyond Lune.
~x~
It had taken many hours and quite a bit of navigating, but Link finally found his way to Amber Gates. Just as the owner said, it wasn't hard to miss.
The city was massive, so large he almost thought it dwarfed Hyrule's capital. He could only gawk at how large it was, having never visited such a place before. Several guard towers resided on the large, continuous wall that encircled the city, interrupted only by twin, monstrous gates of iron the color of gleaming amber and embedded with various jewels. A pair of guards stood out front and were allowing in newcomers with friendly smiles, Link urging Epona onward. He was so caught up in the sight of the city that he just barely registered a large man cloaked mostly in black carry on through, one of the guards addressing him with warmth, as he had done with the other newcomers.
But he seemed to have asked for the man to lower the hood that hid his head and face, for soon enough the fellow's identity was revealed. Link paled at the sight of Ganondorf, grinning back at the guard.
He braced himself for the guard to recognize the Gerudo and all Hell to break loose, but instead, the guard laughed a little at a joke Ganondorf had made and waved him on through.
Link's stomach dropped instantly like a stone, feeling horror twist its thorns around his heart as people carried on in. They were so unknowing, so unknowing of the very terror they had let into their city.
Finally recovering from his shock, Link firmly grasped the reins and shaking them hard.
"Giddy-up!"
Epona responded loyally as she leapt forward without any consideration of her own weariness, rocketing off for the steady group that trickled into Amber Gates, Link's thoughts swathed with saving the city from Ganondorf without possibly thinking about what other plans Ganondorf might have.
Author's Note:
Yay for chapter five! xD; Finally I have managed to get around to this bad boy. Life has been so busy it is amazing that I even managed to get back to it at all. But yes, here I am and it turns out that no, I did not permanently vanish. I am going to try and see this fanfic through if it is the last thing I do! While I was off being busy and such, I was thinking about the pairing for this. I think I might end up favoring the Ganondorf/Link idea considering that yes, there isn't much of it out there. Plus, with the ways things are going, other characters are most likely not going to be incorporated as much as these two x) What do you guys think? Anyways, I need to stop blabbing my head off. Let us hope I can write the next chapter faster!
~Zombie