The Serpent's Egg

By Nicolle

Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda is the property of Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo.

Chapter Three

"Let me get this straight. You want me to sleep on the ground."

Link busied himself with the camp fire while Zelda cast protection spells around the perimeter. "We can't have someone recognize you and alert Ganon. Stopping at an inn is just asking for trouble."

She huffed and sat down on a log. "Well, at least I'm among royalty."

Zelda chuckled.

"What?"

Link hung a pot from a spit over the fire. "I'm not royalty. I'm a farm boy. Dairy farmer specifically. I grew up milking cows. Even married to Zelda, I would never ascend the throne."

"But, you're the Hero of Time! How can you be anything other than royalty?"

"Farore chose a farm boy to be her champion and whatever her reasons for that choice, I have spent every lifetime in service of the gift I did nothing to deserve." Link looked up at the cloudless sky. "I can't remember a lifetime where I wasn't any more than a child of the land."

"Once you came from the sky." Zelda sat down next to Link.

He let out a breath. "So I did!" He clapped his hands together with a smile. "Who's making dinner?"

"What will you make if you cook?"

"Vegetable stew."

"Ooh. You get dinner, I'll get breakfast."

"You both cook?"

They both stared at her for a moment before Link looked back at Zelda. "I just keep telling myself that when this is over, I get my birthday present early."

Zelda rolled her eyes.

Elana woke with a start in the darkness. She sat up, looking for Link and Zelda in the darkness. All she saw was one sleeping blanket obviously shared by two.

"So Zelda and Link are lovers!" she whispered excitedly. Crawling closer she saw Zelda's head peeking out of the blanket, but instead of Link, a large wolf lay next to her. It's ears perked up and the wolf eyed her for a moment before going back to sleep. Zelda's hand slipped through the fur as she rolled closer to the wolf.

Elana whipped around at a twig snap. A pair of glowing red eyes watched her from the darkness. Breathing shallow, she stepped back and only managed a pathetic squeak when a hand dropped on her shoulder. She stood there, eyes squeezed shut and trembling.

"Go back to sleep, Elana," Link whispered.

Elana opened her eyes. The red in the trees had disappeared and when she turned around, Link wasn't standing there. She dropped to her blanket, wrapped herself up tightly, and pulled the blanket over her head. She woke up to the smell of meat over the fire. Zelda was cutting a choice piece from the spit.

"Ooh, I want that one!"

Zelda shook her head and stood, taking the plate to the nearest tree. Leaning against it was a man wearing a black version of Link's clothing. Zelda offered him the plate. He turned to her to take it, revealing a familiar face and eyes like rubies.

Elana gasped.

Link sat down in front of the fire and cut a piece of meat from the spit. "If your mouth stays open like that, you'll have no problem catching breakfast."

"Who- who is that? He looks like you!"

Link sat down with his plate. "Him?" He looked up and both Links locked gazes for a moment before both returned to breakfast. "He's me."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. He is me. I am him."

"So he's your twin brother?"

The red eyes of the other slid toward them. "I am the physical manifestation of his anger, fear, hate, cruelty, malevolence, and bloodlust. I was drawn from his very soul by Nayru."

"He is the perfect test of Farore's faith in me." They locked eyes again. "And I always win."

Elana looked back and forth between the two. She pointed to the other. "So what happens if you win?"

Red eyes settled on her. "My Queen will come to rule and the Triforce of Power will leave Ganon to rest with her."

Elana shook from the strange elation in the other's voice. "And then what happens?"

"True darkness falls." Link put down his plate and stood. "We need to get moving."

Link and Zelda held back watching Elana's horse mosey ahead of them.

"Is it just me, or is it weird that she hasn't mentioned her parents? We saved her from the palace, but King Holcombe and Queen Lavinia were not in the throne room when the first explosion happened."

Zelda mused over it for a moment. "She's a selfish little brat, but that's too big to be uncaring about. She's blocking it."

"I really hope you're right."

"Am I ever wrong?"

Link suddenly looked puzzled. "Do you hear that?" He pulled his horse to a stop. "Elana! Stop!" He dismounted and looked as if his suspicions were confirmed. "The ground is frozen."

"It's summer."

"Exactly." He climbed the nearest tree, head popping from the top branches. "A little further down the way, the leaves are changing. The closer it gets to the city, the more lifeless it looks." He climbed down. "Something's really wrong."

Elana pulled her horse over, looking worried. "Is it something Ganon did?"

"No. I get the feeling that this was an unintended consequence of something else."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Link huffed. "I've been fighting the same foe for hundreds of years, Zelda. I know how old Pig Face works. Whatever this is, it's not what he was going for."

"I can find out for certain."

Link ignored the other as he mounted. "You do that."

"I would greatly appreciate it," Zelda said.

The other smiled and it was suddenly as if he was never sitting in the tree, a shadow from another branch making what appeared to be his form. The cry of a child got their attention and Link rode ahead. He stopped next to a house off the side of the road. The child's cries came from inside.

He pushed open the door and stepped back covering his mouth. Cursing under his breath, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and covered his nose before stepping inside. A young woman lay several days dead on the floor. A man no older than Link sat in a chair ignoring the child begging for food at his feet. Link examined the woman. There were several bite marks and slashes on her. She'd run from whatever was attacking her but died of her injuries on the floor.

The man acknowledged Link when he picked up the little girl. "Thank the Goddesses! I thought no one would ever come for the brat."

"Your wife is dead."

"And? She's the one who gave birth to the brat, she can feed it."

Link grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up. "Why didn't you help her? She wouldn't be dead if you'd cared for her wounds."

"The sooner I was rid of her, the sooner I got my life back."

Link dropped him and walked out with the child screaming on his shoulder. "Zelda! I need a piece of leaf bread."

Zelda dismounted and rummaged through her saddle bag. "What's going on in there?"

"You don't want to know." He pulled a cup from his bag and poured some water in it. "The child will have to come with us." He took the leaf bread and put it in the cup, shaking it a bit to dissolve it faster. He carefully held the cup so the girl didn't drink too much too fast.

Elana covered her nose. "What's that smell?"

"That would be the dead body." Link sighed. "Something attacked this child's mother. We'll need to be on the lookout for it."

The girl finished the cup and sat there looking tired and miserable.

"What's your name?"

"Annie." She sniffed. "Are you going to take me to the goblin's lair?"

"No."

She rubbed her eyes with her fists and laid her head down on his shoulder. "Will mommy ever wake up?"

Link patted her on the head. "Not here."

The girl slept in a sling tied to Link's back as they headed through trees in gold and red to trees that were simply black and dead. Outside the city, they waited for the other Link.

"You picked up a stray."

Zelda dismounted. "What did you find out?"

"Apparently, Elana is important after all." He grew serious at Zelda's frown. "The royal line of Zoebha was started by Eriendal Zoebha hundreds of years ago when he staked himself to the ground and literally became one with it. Each descendant of Eriendal is blood tied to the land. So long as a descendant is on the throne, the land thrives."

Elana's shoulders sagged.

"When no one sits on the throne, you get this." The other gestured to the trees around him. "And here's an interesting tidbit for you: the attitude of the person who's supposed to be on that throne dictates the ways of the people."

Link and Zelda both looked at Elana. She wasn't there.

"The tracks are heading that way. I'll follow her," Link said.

Zelda turned back to the other. "How do we stop this?"

"Find the Egg of Lanayru. With it Elana will be able to heal the land once she attains the throne." He leaned against the nearest tree. "And I was right about Ganon. This," he gestured to the trees, "severely hampers his plans."

Zelda frowned again and looked around. "He's not back yet."

"Probably because he wandered into a trap."

Zelda jumped onto her mount's saddle. The other grabbed the reins. "Instead of following them, go to Lanayru Province and find the Egg. I'll be fine."

Zelda watched the trees for a moment before wheeling the horse around dashing off to the Lanayru's Shrine. And when she got there, Sheik's feet hit the temple floor.