Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragile Web ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Okay, this starts a day or two after the prologue.

The Fragile Web

Chapter 02

Link and Sheik reached the village of Nanai just before sundown.

"This is great!" Link enthused. "It feels like it's been a year since the last time I slept in an actual bed!" Link stopped, blinking, as something occurred to him. "Actually...I think it has been a year. Let's find an inn!"

As Link ran off in pursuit of a bed, Sheik's attention was taken by an instrument shop.

"Huh? Sheik?" Link came back when he realized his friend wasn't following him.

"You go ahead and find the inn; I'll catch up in a minute." Sheik said.

"Okay." Link started to go, but Sheik's voice stopped him.

"Link?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know if...I kind of remember...playing a harp..."

"Oh...yeah, I probably should have mentioned it," Link said. "You did, but you lost your harp with your other stuff when you fell in the river." In truth, Link had not been sure if Sheik had already learned to play the harp or not.

Link thought for a minute, then took out his wallet, took enough Rupies to cover a room at the inn, and handed the wallet to Sheik. "There should be more than enough to cover getting another harp," Link said; Sheik looked hesitant. "It might help you get your memories back! Go ahead!" He pushed the wallet into Sheik's hands and took off to find the inn.

~*~

When Sheik came into their room at the inn with his new harp, he found Link sitting on one of the beds looking very close to tears.

"You heard?" Sheik asked.

Link nodded slowly. "Hyrule Castle has fallen to Gannondorf. Even though I knew this would happen, it still came as a shock."

"Link, what's going on?" Sheik asked.

"I told you, it's complicated," Link said, drawing his legs up and resting his forehead on his knees.

"I have time to listen." Sheik said, sitting down on the other bed.

"I don't want to talk about it; please respect that."

"Very well." Sheik took out his harp and began playing a melody.

"I haven't heard that one before."

"I think I made it up," Sheik said. "Of course, I could be wrong."

"It's nice." Link said. There was a knock at the door. "That'll be dinner. Could you..?" Sheik put down the harp and went to get the door.

~*~

They left early the next morning. Link wasn't comfortable hearing everyone talking about the Fall of Hyrule, his guilt multiplied every time he heard it mentioned.

Sheik followed along silently, watching his morose companion with concern. There were so many questions he wanted to ask; even if he didn't respect Link's wish to not get into the subject, he wouldn't know where to start.

Navi had vanished a few minutes in, muttering about bad company and talking to rocks, though Sheik was sure he had seen her flying overhead amidst the trees. He was proven right when Navi suddenly dropped down.

"Something's coming!"

"What is it?" Link asked. But Navi didn't get a chance to answer before a person crashed through the bushes and fell at Link's feet, gasping for breath.

The man was well built and had dark skin and hair. His clothes were ragged and bloodstained and he clutched a short sword in one hand.

"Are you alright?" Sheik asked, kneeling beside the man to check his condition; it wasn't good. The man's eyes fixed on Link, who was standing directly behind Sheik, and he stretched out the sword to him.

"Protect the sword!" The man cried, in a choked voice. "Take it to Alua! Don't let her have it!!" Then the man lurched to his feet and stumbled back into the undergrowth.

"Wait!" Sheik called after him. Sheik looked up at Link, helplessly. "He'll die!"

"You saw his injuries," Link said. "We couldn't have saved him anyway."

"We could have tried!"

"It was more important to him to pass the sword to someone else," Link replied. "I'm guessing that he was being chased. He's counting on `her' following him, and giving us time to get to Alua…whatever that is."

"We should get out of here," Navi said.

~*~

Alua, as they discovered at the next village two days later, was a temple. The villagers all said that there wasn't much known about it, except that those who guarded it were fierce warriors and outsiders weren't welcome.

"I doubt that will be a problem." Sheik said. "That man was probably delivering them the sword; we'll just give it to them and go on our way."

"Yeah, right." Link snorted. "Things are never that simple, I promise you."

Alua was located a week's journey north of the village; it was nestled in the base of a mountain.

The temple was in sight when they found out who "she" was.

~*~

"Would you please calm down!" Sheik said, in exasperation. "What? Do you think the rocks are going to jump out and attack you?"

"It's been known to happen," Link muttered, darkly. "Sorry, I guess I'm getting paranoid in my old age."

"Apparently," Sheik said. "But we're almost there. Come o--" Sheik was cut off as Link pulled him to the side; out of the way of a scythe.

Link drew his sword and shield, and Sheik his dagger, as they turned to face their opponent.

She was about four or five years older than they were, with near-white skin, long ink black hair pulled into a top ponytail, and silver eyes. She wore a loose black bodysuit with a white belt and silver ankle boots, and had black markings around her eyes, neck, and wrists; the only color on her was her lips, which were painted the color of fresh blood. She carried a thin-bladed scythe as her main weapon, but also had a wicked-looking dagger at her hip.

"Give me the Kagitou," she said, in a pain-weary voice. "And I'll let you live."

"Why do you want it?" Sheik asked.

"None of your business!" She shouted. "Give it to me, now!"

"No," Link said. "In my experience, people who make demands like that rarely have benevolent reasons."

She laughed.

"Oh, you're right about that, little boy," she said. "My reasons are completely selfish! Now give me the Kagitou, or I'll kill you."

"You can try," Link replied.

"Confidant little brat, aren't you?" She said, smirking.

"I have every right to be," Link retorted. "Compared to some of my past enemies, you barely rank."

Sheik was taken aback by Link's posturing; surely he couldn't be serious? The girl's aura exuded madness, but also a great deal of skill with her weapon, as well as a fair touch of magic. Sheik wasn't given enough time to analyze where he was getting these impressions of the girl from, because at that moment, she charged.

"We'll just have to see about that!" She exclaimed, swinging at Link with her scythe.

It was fortunate that Link jumped to the side even though there was a great deal of distance between the blade and his body, because a blur of dark wind shot from the scythe, and, missing Link, shattered the stone of the mountain face. The girl then delivered several swift slashes that were intercepted by Link's shield, keeping Link off balance enough that he hardly noticed when she switched to holding the scythe with only one hand, but Sheik did.

As the girl's hand closed on the handle of her dagger, Sheik quickly pulled a wooden dart from his belt and threw it. The dart imbedded easily in the flesh of her hand, and she screamed. Having lost her advantage, she backed quickly away from Link, glaring balefully at Sheik.

Before the girl could regroup, a hail of arrows peppered the ground between she and Link. She cursed under her breath, jumped up to a low cliff, and fled.

Link and Sheik turned to find a group of bowmen riding towards them on the backs of creatures they had never seen before. Neither Link nor Sheik put away their weapons as the riders approached them and stopped their beasts.

They were riding creatures that vaguely resembled great cats, but their faces were more elongated and, with the exception of manes, their bodies were covered in scales. It took Sheik a moment to realize what these creatures were.

"These are Rock Drakes, aren't they?" Sheik blurted out. "They're not easily domesticated if I remember correctly." The lead bowman; or bow-woman, rather, looked vaguely impressed.

"You know your lore well," she said approvingly. "Especially for a foreigner. Yes, they are indeed Rock Drakes.

"I am Dikaya, Captain of the Guard for Alua Temple," she continued. "State your business."

"A man," Link said, reaching into his pack, and pulling out the Kagitou. "Asked us to deliver this to you."

"The Kagitou!" One of the men exclaimed.

"Shit!" another cursed. "Was that..?"

"It could only have been," Dikaya replied, eyes narrowing. She turned to the two boys, fixing them with sharp yellow eyes. "What are your names?"

"I'm Link," Link said. "And my companion is Sheik."

"Very well," Dikaya said. "Link, Sheik, come with us, the Elder will want to speak with you."

A/N: Ah, yes…my Anime background begins to show through. ^_^ Two words, terms, or names (I won't tell you which they are) in this chapter are Japanese, or at least Japanese inspired (I'm not sure if they're correct Japanese, but they make sense to my admittedly limited knowledge of the Japanese language.).

I am now going to initiate a contest; please do read the rules:

1: For participating at _all_ I will always notify you of TFW updates. (unless you ask me not to; though why you would ask me not to is beyond me...)

2: If you can point out which words are Japanese, in the next chapter published I'll say that you recognized them.

3: If you attempt to translate the words, I'll put you on a mailing list to send you any artwork I do for TFW (don't worry, I'm a decent artist) and I _will_ do some; I already have a picture of a Rock Drake...somewhere...

4: If you can give the _correct_ translation of the words I'll draw you a picture of your choice (1 picture per word translated).

Rules:

This contest does _not_ terminate.

You can participate as many times as you want, but you can only try to translate each word once, and you can only guess which words are Japanese once per chapter.

E-mail all guesses to BloodRaevynn@hotmail.com ; under no circumstances should you put them in your review.