Hi again, Birdie! Yeah, I really didn't like how, after the whole speech we got about how important and close to people Loftwings are, Zelda's just... vanished and was never mentioned again. Even just "oh no, we haven't found her Loftwing, we're scared the bird is dead" would have been better! So there she is, more or less in one piece. And, for that matter, here is Zelda! I'm glad you think she's reacting realistically; trying to get that right from my nice safe warm house is always something that I can never be quite certain will work.

And hello Mimi! I hope you continue to enjoy; I update once a week on Sundays and will keep doing so until the focus switches to one of the other entries in this series (at which point that story will update once a week instead for a while).

Chapter 15: Lost

Stupid.

Zelda ran a hand fiercely over her eyes, looking around her. There were no landmarks, no islands to line up in their correct configuration, no sun to gauge north from, just trees, endless huge trees, no two quite the same and yet none of them really distinguishable.

She warned you you'd get lost!

She hadn't gone far. At least, she didn't think she had. At first she'd just paced on the mossy stone outside the temple doors, welcoming the faint breeze, listening to the strange sounds, watching the implausibly tiny birds that stayed just out of her reach. Then she'd decided to make her way around the outside of the walls, staying away from the end where the evil that Mahra Impa had told her about was bound. She'd gazed up into the trees, looking for Link in the canopy, desperate to find him, desperate not to find him. How had she survived the fall? How could he have been lucky enough to do the same? And all the time a sense of urgency, of something she had to do or somewhere she had to be, drove her on.

So she'd ventured slightly further from the branch-cloaked walls, finding ancient flagstones in places amongst the dead leaves and undergrowth beneath her feet, glancing back to check she could still see the temple. She'd found a small hill that turned out to be tumbled stone beneath moss and soil, and glanced back again – she could still see the temple – before following it along. Had there been more buildings here, once, beside the temple? What had happened to them?

She'd followed the building along, and realised the slight hollow she was following was a winding road. Stone blocks and fragments of carving revealed themselves beneath her questing hand, a village? A town? Even a city, long lost and forgotten beneath the trees that she looked up into over and over, searching for any sign of a fallen figure trapped amongst their branches or fallen through to land at their feet?

Until she'd looked back to check she could still see the temple, and she couldn't. She didn't even know which way it was. She'd turned at one of the crumbled mounds, but she couldn't remember which one, and they all looked strange and unfamiliar in the rich green shadow of the trees.

Zelda forced herself to take a slow, deep breath. There were two things she could do: stay still and wait, or keep moving, looking for the temple. She didn't think she could stand to stay still, alone in this unfamiliar place, without her Loftwing, while her best friend could be dead or dying; she had to do something!

Slowly, she turned on the spot, looking up for what little she could see through the canopy. The clouds above were solid, not a single break to give her sight of sun or islands, but in the distance, a huge green hill was just about visible through the leafy branches. Zelda made up her mind on the spot: if she could reach the top of the hill, even if it was covered in trees it would still have to give her a vantage point from which she should be able to see the temple, and maybe any other landmarks as well.

Focusing on her determination and not on thinking about where she was or why she was lost, Zelda set out towards the hill. It felt a lot better to be moving in the right direction…

. . .

She had walked for what felt like hours, and the only things keeping her spirits up were the fact that the hill grew slowly larger and larger against the cloudy sky, and that it felt a lot better to be doing something, heading in a specific direction, than nothing. A strange flower she'd investigated had actually attacked her, snapping as though its half-open bud were a mouth, serrated edges uncomfortably like teeth, and only the reflexes born of her Academy training had seen her dodge and strike back, severing the plant from its stem. She'd heard strange calls, and circled cautiously around them, not knowing what they were or if they were dangerous. But, for the moment, all seemed quiet. Even the little birds had fallen silent.

Pushing her way through a bush and wishing fruitlessly once again that she'd thought to change earlier, Zelda stopped dead. Ahead of her, a group of grotesquely humanoid creatures were gathered around a bloody carcass, tearing ragged strips of meat from it with crude, chipped blades, vaguely porcine heads looking oversized on their squat, lumpen bodies. Before she could so much as step back, one of them looked up. Its tiny eyes met hers, and she felt a sudden, overwhelming wave of revulsion: not just the scene of butchery but everything about the creatures themselves was somehow horribly, utterly wrong.

The red-skinned creature squealed and pointed at her, and the others looked up almost as one, snorting and shrieking, aggressive and… Zelda could only think hungry. She turned and fled back through the bush, panicking in the moment as the feeling that they would devour her like the animal they had caught gripped her mind. The creatures ran after her, screeching their hatred, hacking at the plants in their way that she had ducked under or leapt over or gone around, and all she could think was of their relentless evil tearing her apart, consuming her.

She didn't know how long she ran, faster than she ever had before. The monstrous creatures were slower, but they had endurance, and were far more familiar with the forest, gaining on her every time she was forced to double back, or nearly ran into a carnivorous plant, or disturbed a flock of small birds that tried to dive-bomb her. She couldn't run forever.

A squeaky voice suddenly called from somewhere above her, among the branches of the huge trees. "Kwee! Left! Up the stream!" It didn't sound like the warped, squealing sounds from behind her; she felt no sense of repulsive evil, and in a split second she obeyed, darting up the narrow streambed she'd intended to jump over, splashing through the shallow water in a gap between thick bushes only just narrow enough to admit her.

"Go up the slope to your right, kweek!"

Whatever was shouting was following her somehow from above, and Zelda obeyed again, clawing her way up the steep bank along a narrow animal track, twigs catching in her dress. The squeals from behind her sounded slightly more distant, dismayed as well as angry, accompanied by the sounds of the monstrosities hacking at the undergrowth.

"Good, kwee-kee, keep running! There's a slope behind the big vine-covered tree, kweek, slide down there!"

An ache in her side threatened to become a stitch, and her legs were tired; Zelda forced herself to breathe deeply and keep running. The helpful voice had broken through her panic, given her a moment for her mind to clear. She rounded the tree; saw the slope – part of a hillside where some soil seemed to have recently slipped away – and dashed down it full-tilt, miraculously avoiding tripping and falling over with only her own speed keeping her from slipping in the damp soil. Gasping, she stopped briefly for the first time and turned around, listening.

"Don't stop, kwee, they're still coming!"

"Are they – in single file?" Zelda panted, addressing the strange voice for the first time.

"Yes, but – oh no, they're here!"

Zelda drew her borrowed sword, heavy and familiar in her hand, as the first of her attackers rounded the tree, saw her, and shrieked its fury. Brandishing its sword, it leapt onto the slope, slipped, fell, and tumbled unceremoniously the rest of the way – Zelda jumped aside as it rolled almost to her feet –

"Run, kweek, it'll eat you, kweeeeee!" the voice from above wailed, as Zelda gripped her sword in both hands and drove it down with all her strength into the squirming body. The creature screeched in pain, vicious sharp teeth bared in inhuman agony, a foul stench worse than rotting meat rolling over her. It spasmed, clutching weakly at her sword as she yanked it free, but another one was already sliding down the slope behind it and Zelda turned and ran, strange discoloured blood dripping from her blade.

"Narrow paths – please – show me narrow paths!" she gasped, fleeing through a relatively open space between thick old trunks.

"You killed one, koo-weep!" The voice sounded surprised, and, she thought, pleased. "Okay! Go, go left a little bit, there's a thicket!"

Zelda obeyed, veering left and seeing what it had been referring to even as she did: a thick tangle of undergrowth and smaller trees where one of the forest giants had come down and taken at least one of its neighbours with it in some bygone time. Behind her, the screams of her pursuers sounded even more enraged – and dangerously close. She didn't dare look back.

"There's a deer track, kweep, just a little further left!"

She changed course, running alongside the edge of the thicket for a few paces before sighting the narrow path, barely enough to do more than put one foot in front of the other, and dashed into it heedless of the twigs slapping her, tugging at her hair and dress. A fallen tree loomed ahead of her; she threw herself beneath it, scrambling up again on the other side – and, again, stopped and waited, panting, sword held poised in her hands. Her attackers would have to scramble under or climb over, or cut their way around – she'd have the advantage.

She always had been better at defence, anyway.

A few tortuously long seconds dragged by, the squeals accompanied again by the sounds of breaking branches and little angry grunts that almost sounded like cursing, before the first of the foul creatures came crawling through, horribly fast, trying to hit her ankles with a slash of its crude blade as it did – she jumped over it; brought her sword down hard on the back of the thing's neck, cutting deep. It collapsed instantly, a second, even worse smell accompanying its death, and Zelda nearly retched.

The body jerked a moment later, and she leapt back in shock as it disappeared back beneath the tree trunk, flopping grotesquely. Of course – the one on the other side must have pulled it back to get it out of the way. Even as she thought that, she heard another scrabbling noise, the next one ducking below the tree trunk while she was still out of position, catching her first strike on its chipped blade but her second slashing across its face – it screeched in unmistakeable pain – and then her third taking it in the side. It collapsed, one last dying squeal trailing off wetly and hideously, and the sounds from behind the trunk suggested the last two were trying to cut their way around through the undergrowth. Zelda turned, turned again: the sounds were coming from both directions. She wanted to move away from the bodies, didn't dare leave the shelter of the natural barrier.

Abruptly, at a sudden shrill squeal, the creatures came diving through the widened gap – one on either side of her! Zelda leapt over the body in front of her and towards the one she was facing, stabbing down and, warned by desperate instinct, all but vaulting over her sword and the jerking corpse in almost the same motion as the last one swung its crude weapon: if she hadn't moved it would have struck her in the back! She snatched her sword back, backing off, the tangled vegetation shoulder-high behind her, hampering her movements, and the last of her attackers advanced, stepping on the still-warm body of its companion heedlessly, malice and hatred glinting in its squinting eyes. It swung at her with surprising force, jolting up her arm as she blocked, and a second time – and Zelda took the opening it gave her as it drew its blade back for another furious strike, and stabbed fast and accurate at where she guessed – if it were human – its heart should be.

It gurgled and fell, dead weight slipping from the end of her blade and pulling her arm down with it, and there was silence.

Zelda edged around the monstrous corpses, trying not to look too closely, breathe too deeply, the adrenaline beginning to fade as, slowly, the understanding that she had killed the last of them settled in. Her legs felt weak and shaky, and her sword was filthy with blood and nameless gore. She couldn't stay where she was, but wasn't sure which way to go. She couldn't face crawling back under the log, past the bodies that lay there, and she turned to follow the deer track deeper into the thicket.

There was something standing there, pudgy and waist-height, and she gasped, bringing her sword up in reflexive defence.

"You killed them all, kwee!" The strangely-accented little voice was familiar, the same as the one that had been guiding her from the trees above. Sighing in inexpressible relief, Zelda lowered her sword again.

"You're very brave!"

Zelda managed a weak, shaky smile. "Th-thank you. You're the one who… helped me, aren't you?" The little creature, a strange, brown-furred animal with a cream belly and almost human-like forepaws, nodded. "What were – what were those things? Why… did they chase me?"

"Bokoblins, kwee. They're nasty. They want to eat everybody, kwee-koo." It looked at her with its head tilted to one side. "Are you supposed to be shaking like that?"

"N-no." She shuddered, and tried to draw herself up a little straighter. "My name's Zelda. I'm… I'm not from this forest, and I'm lost. I was trying to get to a vantage point, but, they- they chased me, and now…" She glanced up through the tangled branches toward the sky, hoping vainly for some landmark. The hill, she realised to her surprise, was now looming over her – but also, and worse, the sky was darkening, tinged with red in a few places but mostly simply an ever darker grey. "I don't… I don't know where I am." And it's getting dark, and… "Do you know a-anywhere safe I could go?"

The little creature considered for a moment. "It's almost night, kwee… I know! I'll take you to the elder! He's good at finding hiding places for everything; he can hide you and then you can find out where you are again in the morning."

Zelda smiled, another wave of relief flooding through her. "Thank you… thank you so much."

Patch Notes
- Knight Academy student's training visible.
- Impressions from past existence weaved into present day while Zelda still unaware.

Poor Zelda. It's tough enough being lost down here alone without having weird subconscious drives pushing you places and being attacked by hideous evil monsters. But she's a tough one, too, and she's holding it together.

Glad to see people are still enjoying - thanks as always for the reviews and faves! They really are massively appreciated.