The Lost Link

Within a split second, it had vanished into the thick mass of trees, towards-, as Link knew-, the Kokiri forest, where all of his friends waited, unsuspecting, for his return- He who had decided to leave them after a petty argument.

Whoever this man was, he wanted a private meeting with the Deku Tree…

The thought of losing his friends was unbearable.
"Who… who are you?" Link stuttered, cold beads of sweat trickling down his face.

The silhouetted man turned, and within a split second, the shadows no longer covered his face.

The first thing that Link noticed was his eyes- dark, malevolent, evil eyes. They portrayed it all; this man was no kind man, he was evil, pure evil.

He had a hooked nose, and his face was twisted horribly into an evil smirk. His cheeks were hollowed, and had it not been for the insanity etched into his features, he would have been considered handsome.
"Who am I?" He said, in his horrible, cold, deep voice. "I… am Ganondorf Dragmire. I am the King of the Gerudo."
"What do you want with the Great Deku Tree?" Link asked, feeling a renewed courage, from where, he did not know.
"Tut, tut. We are getting nosey now, aren’t we?"
Ganondorf smirk grew even wider.
"I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough anyway. That is… if you can find your way out of these woods alive." He laughed.
"I will make it out of here!" Snapped Link.
"Come on, what do you think you are, some kind of hero? Your just a pathetic kid."
"If I was a pathetic kid, I would’ve been dead as soon as that wolfos decided that I was its dinner!"
"Ha." Ganondorf mocked. "If I recall correctly, if I hadn’t called that wolfos to me, it would have ripped the very flesh off your face…"

Link had no answer to this. He looked around, thinking wildly of another thing to distract Ganondorf for a bit longer.
"Don’t think I don’t realise that your trying to buy your friends some time- diversionary tactics won't work on me, kid."
"I think I’ll be off now then. I’ve got to have a conversation with a certain, talking tree." He smirked, and turned away from Link. "Just think yourself lucky that I haven’t killed you- don’t let it inflate your ego, you’re just a waste of my time."

Link had no chance to answer- Ganondorf was gone with the whish of a cape.
"My friends are going to die if I don’t do something…"
*


How long he had been in the woods, he did not know.

For all he knew, his friends may have already had their throats ripped out… He could not bear to think of such a thing happening to Saria.

He had left the clearing, and was back in the dense, dark canopy of 40-foot trees. He did not know exactly where he had fallen from, but took roughly the same path, in the wild hope that it was the right way. The darkness no longer scared him; he had strange desperate courage coursing through his veins, which seemed to spread the impulse that he could no longer get hurt, no matter where he was.

The tree branches grabbed him, snatched at him, yet he still carried on, weaving between the dense seas of tree trunks and razor sharp branches.

He must have been travelling for at least half an hour, when he saw a faint light flickering, barely visible through the thick knots of the tree trunks. It appeared to be moving… slowly, up and down.

Link breathed deeply, and hastened his pace, even though his leg was still hurting immensely.

As he got closer to the source of the light, he realised what it must be; it was a fairy.

He slid between two huge trees, and noticed that it was emitting a faint, green glow. Its tiny, silken wings fluttered effortlessly, holding a tiny body in the air. It was immensely beautiful, even for a fairy… But Link noticed it…that was not just any fairy… it was Saria’s.
"Where… where’s Saria?" Link asked it.
She burst into uncontrollable sobs. The sound stirred molten horror in Link’s heart. Why would she be crying, unless something had happened to Saria?
"Sh- she… she came into the- into the woods to escape… she was blee- bleeding ba-badly." Stuttered the tiny fairy amidst vigorous sobs.
"WHAT!" Snapped Link, causing her to jump, and to break down into a complete sobbing wreck. "You’re her guardian! How the hell did you get separated from her?"
Link waited for an answer, but all he got was even heavier sobbing.
"For crying out loud! What good are you doing crying, while she’s alone in here, injured?"

It took a while, but at long last, she seemed to pull herself together.
"The wolfos attacked us as we were headed back from the picnic. They injured a few of us before we could flee; Saria was one of them."
Link listened intently. Every second that passed seemed to only intensify his desperation.
"The wolfos would have killed her. I had to distract it. I… I followed the trail of b-blood here. She must have been after the Kokiri sword…"
"I need to find her, so I can heal her. She’ll die if we don’t… don’t get t-to her in time…" She began to stutter, but Link knew that he had heard all that he needed.
"Fine." He said. "I’m off to find her."
"WAIT!" She said, her tiny voice cracking slightly. "Let me come with you. I can light up your way… and your leg! It’s injured! There’ll be more of a chance of saving her if you can walk properly…"

Link was taken aback, but knew that this was not an enquiry, but a request. She was coming with him.
"Stand still." She said softly, but quickly.

She glowed bright green, and sparks of light, almost like dust, seemed to fall from her. She circled Link several times; it was a wonderful sensation. All of the muscles in his body seemed to relax, and he could feel his wounds slowly disappearing; the immense pain in his leg lifted suddenly. He felt renewed, and full of energy once again, as though he had just woken up.
"Lets go." He said suddenly.


*


He sprinted through the trees, the luminous fairy lighting up his path. Healed, heartened, and desperate, he passed through the trees as though they were mere cobwebs; he seemed to be travelling a lot faster than he would have ever believed his legs would have carried him.

It seemed barely five minutes before muffled sobbing could be heard in the distance. Link fell silent, stood still… If she was crying, she was alive.
"Link! Hurry Link, we must get to her quickly!" Said the fairy quickly.
"There might not be much more time!"

He slinked through the trees as quickly as a rabbit, and found himself facing a giant treasure chest… and Saria, bleeding, slumped against it, her eyes swimming with tears, and her face as pale as the moon.
"SARIA!" Yelled Link, dashing towards her, and grabbing her wrist to check her pulse, as her neck was bleeding. It was like touching stone.
"Her pulse is slowing down… HURRY, HEAL HER!"

The tiny, green glowing fairy fluttered towards Saria, her high voice distorted with panic.
"Sa- Saria, I’ve been worried sick about you!"
"Link…"Mumbled Saria, looking up at him with startlingly green eyes. "You… you came to find me."
"Saria, save your energy… I can heal you." Squeaked the fairy, beginning to yet again glow brighter and brighter.

Saria said no more, but instead stared deeply, past his curtain of light blonde hair, and into his ocean blue eyes, as her fairy began to fly around her, scattering glittering dust onto her wounded body.

Link could feel her loosening, her pulse picking up, the warmth permeating back through her skin. The blood remained, but all of her wounds had obviously healed.

The moment the fairy stopped circling Saria, it suddenly lurched, and began to fall from the air.
"Kora!" yelled Saria suddenly, clambering past Link, and catching the minute fairy in her hands just before it hit the ground; she was no longer glowing, and seemed to have passed out.
"We need to get back into the village. Only the Deku Tree can heal fairies-..." She trailed off, and tears began to fill her eyes. "I hope he’s alright…"

Link pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Don’t worry. I’ll save everyone…"
"Link, we need the Kokiri sword, it’s in this chest!"

He let go of her, walked over to the large chest, and tried to lift the lid… but it was heavier than he'd expected.
"A- little-bit-of-help-Saria!" He stuttered, as he tried to open it. "No, wait!"

As Saria stalked over to help him, still cradling the fallen Kora in her hands, he felt the lid loosen. With one huge heave, the lid swung open and a faint golden light filled the area.

In the chest, cradled among a blood red sheet, was the Kokiri sword. A red ruby glistened in the centre of its golden hilt, and the long blade flashed a deadly silver.

Link reached into the chest, and felt his fingers slide around the smooth handle of the sword. He lifted it out of the chest- it was surprisingly light.
There was a quiet click from the chest, but neither Saria or Link heard it.
‘Lets go back home.’ Link said, his back still to Saria.

Saria said nothing.

Link turned.
‘You… don’t think that that chest was booby- trapped do you?’ She whispered.

There, right in front of Saria, stood a huge skeletal warrior- a Stalfos.

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