Re: (Fan/Act/Rom) The Legend of Zelda: Empire of Darkness [T]
Author's Note: Finally, sorry it takes so long to get some action packed battles in my story. Perhaps I focus too much on character development? Anyway, here comes the battle at Lon Lon Ranch. It might be my favorite battle, I'm not sure because I haven't written any of the other battles yet.
Chapter Eleven:
The Wrath of Khaz
Link walked into his room after he had just about enough of the party. Link began to stripped off his blue tunic and the white shirt under it. He threw them into the pile of other tunics on his floor. He stopped for a moment when the mirror on his wall caught his attention. Link stared at his muscular body and then realized he was still wearing his silver gauntlets. He sat down on his bed as he stared at the Triforce on the back of them. Why did it react when Khaz and Rontu were fighting? What were those powers he was feeling and why could only Zelda, Ren, and he feel it? Were those huge energies really Khaz’s and Rontu’s? How was that possible? Link had never seen them give off that kind of power before.
Link’s head swam with a thousand thoughts and soon his head began to hurt. Other thoughts began to fill his head. Tarrowco …Link could still see his face as if it had been yesterday, smiling arrogantly at him. He could still hear his screams echoing in his ears as if he was right there next to him. Link gripped his head to make them stop. He looked again at his gauntlets … courage. What was courage? The ability to stand up to anything, even your greatest fear. He remembered what the Deku Tree told him. Link, I’m sure thy courage will aid thee again has it always has. Let it guide thee to the right choices …. Aid him? His courage? Since when had it helped him make the right choices? It only aided him when he fought off his enemies, it never helped him make the right choices.
‘Maybe that’s why things are the way they are now,’ suggested the voice. ‘Because of your wrong choices.’
It was right, Link should have never pulled the Master Sword out of the Pedestal of Time when Ganon was just right behind him, and he should have never left Hyrule … even if it was to search for Navi.
‘This all happened because of you….’
Link stared over at his reflection and began to loath everything about him. His sapphire eyes, his blonde hair, and his stupid judgment. Link clenched his fists as anger for himself began to smother his thoughts. Before Link could stop himself he punched his reflection, making the mirror shatter. He stumbled back over onto his bed. Why did I do that? wondered Link as he stared at the pieces of glass on the floor.
‘Because you hate him,’ answered the voice.
Who? Link asked himself.
‘Him,’ it replied.
Link wondered what in Hyrule that meant as he flopped down onto his back. Soon, he began to fall into an uneasy sleep.
Link woke up the next morning feeling as if he hadn’t slept at all. He pulled on his red tunic and traded his silver gauntlets for his golden ones. He strapped his Big Goron’s Sword to his back along with the Mirror Shield. He strapped all of his weapons he owned to his belt and beneath his Mirror Shield. He avoided the broken glass on the floor as he stepped out into the lounge room, feeling tried and a lot heavier than before. It appeared Link was the first up this morning because no one else was in the room. Or at least he thought so. Link heard a noise coming from the balcony. Assuming it was Rontu, Link walked to the balcony doorway but stopped when he realized it was not Rontu, but Zelda.
She was still in her dark blue night gown and robes. Her robes were hanging off her shoulders and down onto her forearms. They swirled and twisted in the desert wind as she leaned on the balcony railing. It was then Link realized what the noise he had heard was. It was Zelda sobbing as silently as she could. The weather outside seemed to match that princess’s mood. Gray clouds filled that desert sky, rumbling and rolling; threatening to let down tears of its own. Link could smell the moister in the air and it was mixed with the smell of wet sand.
Even when crying the princess looked as beautiful as ever. The scene tugged at Link’s heart strings as he continued to stare at the forlorn woman before him. Zelda seemed to realize the presence behind her, because she quickly wiped away her tears and turned around.
“Link!” she gasped. Link stepped out onto the balcony, no longer needing to hide.
“W-what are you doing out so early?” questioned Zelda.
Link shuffled his feet and stayed silent. Zelda wasn’t surprised; Link had always been a silent person. They stood there for a few minutes, not really knowing what to say to each other.
“Zelda … why were you crying?” Link asked, finally breaking the silence between them. Like Link had earlier, Zelda stayed silent and stared at her bare feet that were beginning to get cold.
“What was that voice in your head?” she countered.
He understood, she was as willing to tell him why she was crying as willing as he was to tell her about the voice that speaks to him. Again they became silent, staring at their feet.
“Well, I should go get dressed,” said Zelda, and she walked past Link and stepped into the lounge room when Link has a sudden urge to tell her. Tell her everything. About the voice in his head, about how all bad that has happened to Hyrule were all because of his bad judgment, about how he could still remember Tarrowco’s screams every time he looked at his silver gauntlets, and even about how he felt last night when they were dancing.
“Wait!” said Link as he whipped around to call to her, Zelda turned around.
“Yes?”
‘Are you sure you want to tell her all of this? She may only agree that you are, in fact, crazy.’
“… Nevermind,” he replied, and again turned his gaze back to his boots. He heard Zelda’s feet walk across the floor and her bedroom door shut.
In only an hour or so, the lounge room was filled with warriors preparing for battle. All except for Khaz were in the room when his door opened and a very attractive woman walked out. Khaz was standing in the doorway as the woman walked to the lounge room door and went out. All eyes were on Khaz, who was smiling dreamily. Malon looked the most disturbed by this sudden event. Her blue eyes were staring at Khaz for an explanation. He didn’t appear to notice.
“Who was that?” asked Blaze.
Khaz smirked but then actually thought about the question.
“You know … I can’t remember her name,” he answered. Tila and Kira rolled their eyes, Leita sighed for this didn’t appear to surprise her calm face, and Malon was flaming with anger. Her fists were trembling and her eyes narrowed at Khaz. However, Khaz did notice this and said,
“Jeez, what’s the matter with you?”
“Can I talk to you for a moment?” she snarled as she went up and pushed him into his room so they could talk privately.
“Okay, what is this about?” demanded Khaz, who didn’t like being pushed around.
“You jerk!” she yelled, fists clutched in her fiery. Khaz jumped at the volume of her voice.
“What?” exclaimed Khaz.
“Ah! You slept with her didn’t you?” questioned Malon.
“Who?”
“That woman!”
“What? Oh yeah!” said Khaz, finally realizing what she meant. “Well … yeah I did, so what?”
Malon’s eyes began to fill with tears of frustration. Khaz gulped, he didn’t know what he said to make her so mad but he was sure this wasn’t going to be pretty.
“So what?” she shouted. “So what? Khaz! Do you remember anything about last night?”
“Um … well, uh … yeah,” he replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously but finally understanding what she was so angry about.
“Um … well, after you pushed me off the couch I went down stairs to the party and met up with that girl,” explained Khaz. She waited, for what Khaz wasn’t sure.
“Malon … why did you shove me off anyway?” said Khaz, putting his hands on his hips as he looked at her in curiosity.
“Think about it Khaz, I didn’t want to have sex with a drunk!” she snarled, folding her arms across her chest.
“So I’m just a drunk, am I?” snorted Khaz, he was starting to get a little mad himself.
“No, that’s not what I meant!” she retorted.
Meanwhile, outside in the lounge room they were shouting so loudly that they could hear very thing about their conversation.
“Then what do you mean?” he pouted.
“Well … uh …” her heart began to pound. Khaz waited. “Well, I didn’t want my first time to … to,” stuttered Malon as her face became as red as a sun burn.
It hit Khaz like a frying pan on his head.
“O-oh!” he gasped, also turning red.
“Jeez, Malon, I’m so sorry,” apologized Khaz, he was truly sorry about his actions that night before. This still didn’t appear to please her. Malon snorted at his apology and turned to walk out the door, red hair whipping around with her. Khaz’s mouth hung open in outrage, he said sorry, didn’t he?
“Oh, come on!” he snarled at her as she opened the door. She glared at him in reply and stomped out into the lounge room. Khaz run out into the lounge room after her.
“I said I was sorry! What more do you want?” he shouted at her from across the room. She stopped at her door and turned around to glare even more angrily at him as if he would dare even ask her.
“Sometimes, sorry, doesn’t make things better!” she yelled in return. “When you didn’t get any action from me you had to go and get from someone else, didn’t you? If you wanted to be with me so badly you should have just said something!”
“I think kissing you was being pretty straight forward!” he retorted.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted, to lose my virginity to some drunk!” snarled Malon.
Khaz opened his mouth, but then closed it when he found he couldn’t say anything to justify his actions. Malon scowled, she expected just as much. She slammed her door as Khaz roared,
“GODDAMN IT!”
Link sighed heavily; sadly these were the people he was going to have to work with. It was time for Link to take action. He marched over to Malon’s door and knocked. Everyone was staring at him like he was about to go to his death, but Link ignored them.
“What?” growled her voice from behind the door.
“Malon, would you please step out here for a moment?” replied Link.
“No!”
“Malon, that was not an option,” said Link, everyone admired his bravery but were thinking of taking cover for Malon’s wrath was like a tornado. To everyone’s surprise she opened her door, but so violently that it almost came off its hinges.
“What do you want?” demanded Malon.
“Listen, I know you are mad at Khaz, but I need both of your cooperation to pull this off. So, would you both just put a side your anger and work together today?”
Malon for the first time this morning calmed down. She knew Link was right, she was going to have to work with Khaz today whether she wanted to or not. Malon walked over to Khaz’s side of the room and offered her hand. Khaz looked at it and then shook it. They all let out a sigh of relief, but at that moment Rontu came through the lounge door. Kira glared at him, she didn’t look as if she had forgiven him for going back on his promise. Khaz didn’t seem to have forgiven him for almost killing him either for he gave him a scowl even more deadly than Kira’s.
“What?” growled Rontu. He didn’t appear to be in the best of moods.
“Jeez, Rontu, have you been out all night?” asked Blaze. Rontu only snarled in reply just as Tila walked out of her room. Blaze immediately decided to tie his boots at this moment. Kai noticed Blaze was staring at his boots even though they don’t have any shoe laces. Blaze realized Kai was looking at him and avoided his black eyes. He had feeling Kai knew more than he spoke, but there was no way he could know that Blaze had made a fool of himself last night. He was so stupid to tell her when she was already taken. He was such a fool for thinking that telling her would have changed anything. He had been only half right, it did change things. It made him uncomfortable every time Tila would enter the same room. For once Blaze was glad they weren’t in the same group.
Rontu was quick to escape Kira’s nagging and Khaz’s glare by walking out onto the balcony. Leita watched him walk away and remembered his words the night before. “Stay away from me … I can only end up hurting you …” She couldn’t stay away, not when everything in her body told her to get closer. No, his golden eyes were filled with something she couldn’t ignore. She knew they were saying the opposite of his words, but what could she do when he was refusing her? Wait, she would wait for him. Leita’s thoughts were interrupted when the lounge room door was again opened and this time it was Nabooru carrying what looked like a bunch of dirty robes.
“Is everyone ready?” said Nabooru.
A Dark Elf leaned lazily against the huge walls of the ranch they had made a fortress. He stared out into the fields of this land he knew nothing of, except that it was full of worthless elves. The day was a rainy one and had dampened his cloak as he stared up at the cloudy sky. He had been with the Empire for as long as he could remember. For Dark Elves were born and raised for this kind of work. His father had been a solider and his father before him had been. It was not, however, as boring as it sounded. There came a great feeling of power when they would raid the cities of many worlds, and there was one thing that Dark Elves craved the most; power. Not only did this elf get to kill and destroy worlds, but he also got to see something besides the desert sands of the waste land he grew up in. The Dark Elves would no longer be shoved into the lowest corner of existence. They would rise up and be the most dominate race of all the worlds. Everyone would cower in the shadow of their great empire.
He was soon slapped back to reality when he saw a wagon pulling up toward their fortress. In the driver’s seat was a Dark Elf cloaked in black, his white hair was long and tied back into a ponytail, and his golden eyes reminded him of a hawk. In the back of the wagon, there were a complete number of eleven Hylians dressed in gray baggy rags. The man yawned as the boring work he did began to make him drowsy. Wishing he had been picked to be the guard in Kakariko, at least he would have more fun there, he and the other guard with him stepped a side to let the wagon full of slaves pass into the ranch. The Dark Elf tried to look faces of the Hylians but they were hidden beneath the shadow of their rags. There was something a little unsettling about those shadowy faces….
The driver navigated his way through the small settlement of Dark Elves and pulled up to the first out of three slave stations. It was an old and almost haunted looking building. It was amazing how many Hylians they would shove into one small building that was big enough to be a large bedroom. The driver got out and opened the cage door to let four Hylians covered in large gray rags stumble out. As the last and tallest Hylian stepped out the driver stuck his foot out and tripped the poor Hylian. The Dark Elf guards waiting for the new set of Hylians, s******ed as the Hylian gasped and fell to the ground. When the driver pulled the Hylian roughly to his feet, the Hylian spoke to him in a low voice so only the driver could hear him.
“Rontu, I swear when this is over I’m gonna kick your ass.”
“Just play along, Blaze,” the driver sneered and shoved the “Hylian’” toward the slave station. The guards shoved the four Hylians into the building and went inside themselves. The driver then got back into the wagon and went to the nearest slave station and when there dropped off only three Hylians. At the third slave station he left again three Hylians, and even though there was only one more left in the wagon he left the ranch. When they were a safe distance from the small fortress the driver jumped down from the wagon and opened the cage in the back to let the last Hylian out. The Hylian said nothing, but held up slender hands that looked as if they belonged to a woman. The Hylian held her hands up to the Dark Elf’s face and soon his face began to change. It grew a scar across his left eye and made his other eye a deep gray. His white hair he took out its tie to let fall to his shoulders. He no longer could be recognized as the elf that had drove into the ranch earlier. The Hylian stepped back into the wagon and the driver again jumped back into the wagon and rode toward the ranch.
Blaze was still grumbling about Rontu tripping him, what would they have done is his hood fell off and they saw he was a Gerudo? The Dark Elf guards sat down in chairs and stared with completely bored expressions on their black faces. Blaze took the time he had to take in his surroundings. It was an extremely small room to be holding a large amount of people, there were about twenty other slaves in the room, and there was a strong stench in the room that was made up of body odor and whatever the Hylian may have collected on their un-bathed bodies. Nabooru stepped close to whisper to him,
“Now remember, we only have an hour until Kira and Kai lead the armies in.”
“I know, you told us a thousand times,” Blaze whispered in an annoyed tone.
“I’m just making sure so that you don’t kill the guards before Rontu gets here,” she replied in a bossy voice. Blaze knew perfectly well that he wasn’t supposed to kill them until Rontu and Leita returned. If he did another Dark Elf could come in at any moment to see the bodies. He saved his breath on this comment however and before he knew it there were four knocks on the station door, which was Rontu’s sign. Ren threw off his rags and smacked two guards at once with his spiked ball. One was hit in the chest and flung into a wall, and then in the same swing took out the other in the same move. The Hylians stared at them in alarm but thank the goddesses none of them screamed. They seemed to realize them killing their guards meant they were there to help them.
“Hey!” exclaimed Blaze as he pulled down his hood to reveal his red hair and tan skin. “You didn’t leave any for me!”
“Well, I’m just so much faster,” s******ed Ren as Rontu walked through the door, but didn’t look anything at all like Rontu. He had a scar across his left eye and his long hair wasn’t in a ponytail. Nabooru and Trisa began to usher the Hylians out the door and into the wagon.
“Rontu!” snarled Blaze, pointing an accusing finger at him. “You ass! You tripped me!”
“Silence,” replied Rontu, but a smirk spread on his face. “The Dark Elves might hear you.”
Blaze scowled at his friend and showed him a certain finger that silently insulted Rontu. He only sneered and walked outside to the wagon. Blaze pulled his hood over his head as Ren pulled his robes back on.
It was a good thing the cage in the back was large, it fitted all twenty Hylians and the group included comfortably. Rontu drove off for the exit of the ranch and they were again back out of the fortress. When they had come to a point where there stood several Hylians by two other wagons. That appeared to be the leader of the group was the man Blaze recognized to be the one who had pointed a spear in his face in Kokiri forest. He had long almost white-blonde hair and stern, green eyes. Rontu stopped the wagon and let Blaze, Ren, Nabooru, and Trisa out of the wagon.
He then handed the wagon over to another Hylian who drove off in the direction of Gerudo’s Fortress. Blaze and the others wanted to wait for Zelda and the rest before going back to the fortress. However, Rontu and Leita had to go back to the ranch to get the other slaves. Leita lifted her hands to Rontu’s face and again changed it. He now looked extremely old and had a beard. Blaze, Ren, and Trisa snorted loudly making Rontu glare at them, but only increased their laughter because his face was even more unusual looking when he scowled. Grumbling, Rontu got into one of the two other wagons with Leita in the back. Blaze stared at them as they drove off for the ranch.
Blaze looked over at the Hylian standing next to him. It was the blonde haired man and Blaze curiously asked,
“Hey, what’s your name?”
“Tanis,” he replied coldly as if Blaze wasn’t even worth his time. Blaze raised an eyebrow at his rudeness, but there was something else about this Hylian he didn’t like. There was a selfish aura that seemed to surround the man. Blaze shook of the creepy feeling he got from him off and turned his attention back to the ranch as the sky rumbled with thunder, hoping everything was going well for the others.
Sheik crept up behind the Dark Elf as Tila and Impa silently cut the throat of the other guards. He gasped when Sheik pulled back his head, exposing his neck and slid his blade across it. The Dark Elf could make no noise and slumped silently to the floor. The slaves gave them startled looks but Sheik held a finger to his lips telling them to be quiet. Tila couldn’t help but s****** at Rontu, who was standing in the doorway waiting for them to finish. His grumpy face was laughable when he had a beard.
Link, Khaz, and Malon were shoved into the slave station by the three guards behind them. Khaz almost tripped on his rags but Link caught his arm before he could lose balance and fall. Link looked up after Khaz was standing firmly on both feet to find their station appeared to be where the children were kept. Link frowned, that would make it a lot harder to kill the guards without the children crying and alarming other Dark Elves outside the building. Unlike the other stations this one has many chairs for the fifteen or so kids in the room.
“Why did they drop them off at this station?” asked one of the guards, who had short hair and blue eyes.
“Maybe they were full at the other stations,” suggested the younger looking Dark Elf, who had dark brown eyes and slightly longer hair.
“Will you two stop jabbering,” snarled the oldest looking elf, who had the longest hair that reached the small of his back and cruel, green eyes. The two scowled at him, but remained silent. Link and Khaz were sitting down on the empty chairs in the room when the green-eyed Dark Elf spotted Malon’s red hair peeking out her hood. Becoming curious of this red-haired Hylian he grabbed her wrist and pulled off her hood to reveal her beautiful blood-red hair and blue eyes.
Malon stared courageously up at the Dark Elf, who smirked down at the pretty Hylian. Khaz bit his lip, he didn’t like the way he was looking at her. Link noticed Khaz’s uneasiness and gave him a warning look that told him to stay seated. They couldn’t kill the guards yet, besides, Link was sure the Dark Elf wouldn’t do anything to Malon with all these children in the same room.
This didn’t seem to enter the Dark Elf's mind, as he stared at Malon with hungry eyes. Without saying a word to her the Dark Elf began to pull her over to the corner of the room. A deep growl rumbled in Khaz’s throat, which Link thought was odd but quickly forgot because the situation and suddenly become grim.
Malon gasped as she struggled to free herself from the Dark Elf’s grip on her wrist. The two other guards saw this happening but only rolled their eyes as if it was normal for their leader to be bothering Hylian woman. The Dark Elf slammed her up against the wall making Malon give out a shriek and struggle harder against his body that pinned her there.
“Shhh,” he said, trying to make her stop squirming. “Come on sweetie, you’ll like it.”
Link felt as if his stomach dropped right out of his body. He wouldn’t … would he? Link cast a fearful look at the children in the room. Most were staring timidly at their feet and others looked tearfully at the Dark Elf pressing Malon up against the wall. There was no doubt in their eyes that they have seen this happen before. One child with short, dirty brown hair and green eyes looked at Link, his face almost screamed for him to make it stop. Khaz was losing his temper and fast. With each whimper Malon let out he began to lose control over his body.
“Link!” he protested.
“Khaz, we can’t or—”
“Are you just going to sit here and watch?” he said almost too loudly, for one of the guards looked over at him when he spoke. Link knew he couldn’t let Malon be raped before his eyes and so they had no choice but to attack.
“Okay, but here’s what we’re—Khaz, no!” he cried as Khaz stood up from his seat and threw off his robes. His midnight-blue eyes were fierce and cold; blazing with anger. He charged the Dark Elf holding Malon against the wall.
He did this in only a matter of seconds. He grabbed the Dark Elf’s shoulder pulling him back and stabbed him in the small of his back with one of his katanas and it wasn’t long for him to insert the other. Khaz forced the katanas so hard into the man’s body that the blades went through his body and poked out his stomach; spraying Malon with his dark red blood.
The Dark Elf screamed with agony as Khaz lifted him up off the ground by his katanas. His screams reached a louder volume as Khaz pulled his katanas apart when still inside the elf’s body. Blood splattered all as the two blades shot out of the Dark Elf’s sides, cutting him in half. Khaz turned on the other two guards as the Dark Elf’s body hit the floor with a loud thud.
The second oldest Dark Elf charged Khaz, but to only regret it dearly five seconds later. Khaz striked the guard in the shoulder pinning him to a wall and with his other sword sliding down the elf’s stomach, cutting it open like a fish to let his pink and bloody insides fall onto the floor. Khaz pulled his katana out of his shoulder letting the Dark Elf fall to his knees writhing and sobbing as he cried out in pain for he was still alive. Khaz gazed down at the elf with empty eyes, no mercy could be found there. Instead of putting the Dark Elf out of his misery he preferred to leave him there, screaming, as he advanced on the last one.
The young Dark Elf backed into a corner, looking at Khaz in pure terror. Khaz smirked at the pathetic guard; he quickly stuck his katanas in the wall, and then punched in the guard in the gut making him fall over. The Dark Elf was lying on the floor as Khaz placed his boot on his head. The elf was sobbing out of fear of his fate. This only appeared to feed a hunger in Khaz’s cruel eyes, a need to hear him scream. He slowly increased the pressure on the Dark Elf’s head and as he did this the elf whimpered and cried with pain, struggling to free himself from Khaz’s boot. Khaz stopped and decided he should be quick about it. He lifted his foot up for only a moment and then smashed it down on the elf’s head.
Khaz rubbed the blood and bits of skull off his boot on the Dark Elf’s lifeless body. He didn’t appear to notice Link gawking at him with a stunned and horrified face until he pulled his katanas out of the wall and turned around. Malon had slid down the wall just staring into nothing, covered in, the recently deceased, Dark Elf’s blood.
The children were too terrified to cry or even move. The browned haired child Link had seen before was looking at Khaz fearfully as a tear slid silently down his cheek. Khaz blinked and his midnight-blue eyes were suddenly filled with the warmth Link knew. He stared around at them all, looking as if he was at a loss for words. The only noise in the room was the Dark Elf that was still alive with his insides on the floor’s moaning.
“****,” said Khaz and crouched down on his feet and stared between his legs at the blood covered floor. Soon the Dark Elf’s cries died down and all was silent. They heard two loud bangs on the door that were definitely not Rontu’s code knocks.
“What in the Dark Realm is going on in there?” yelled a voice. The blood soaked Khaz and Link gasped and seemed to come to their senses.
“Come on, we have to get them out of here!” said Link hurriedly, trying to forget what just happened and stand up from his chair, pulling off his rags.
“Yeah, but that’s the only exit!” said Khaz, pointing at the door the shouts were coming from.
“I guess were going to have to make a run for it,” replied Link, even though he knew that the idea was crazy, but they didn’t have anytime to decide what to do. More Dark Elves would be bursting through the door at any second.
“Link, do you have any idea how completely insane that is!” exclaimed Khaz. Malon was still in a deep shock and was sitting blankly on the floor.
“I don’t know, Khaz! I don’t know what else to do and we don’t have time to come up with another plan!” snapped Link and started to walk to the door.
“Wait!” cried Khaz. “Look, there’s a window in the back!”
Link turned around to examine the window behind him. It looked onto the back of another building, obviously leading to a back alley. Link had no other choice; they would have to go through the window before the Dark Elves came through. Khaz ran over to the door grabbing a chair and placing it under the door knob so that it would give them more time. Link hastily tried to pull Malon up off of the floor.
“Come on, Malon!” cried the exasperated Hylian, but to no affect, she was still in a state of shock. The way things were going seemed to be getting worse by the minute. They were going to have to herd the children out and pull the useless Malon with them.
“Khaz, open the window and start helping the kids out,” ordered Link. Khaz did was Link said and opened the window. Both of them helped the children out into the alley. More loud bangs came from the door.
“That’s it! We’re coming in!” snarled a voice behind the door. Link gulped, he wished more than ever that Leita would have been in their group so that could put a charm on the door. However, with Leita not present Link was going to have improvise. He ran over to the door and held it shut, Link was obvious stronger than whatever number of men outside the door so it didn’t budge. It was only a matter of time until they would chop the door down. Khaz loaded the children out into the alley and when all of them were out he ran over to Malon, picked her up and ran over to the window.
“Link, hurry!” he called, Link let the door fly open ran and jumped out the window after Khaz.
They heard the angry and appalled cries of the Dark Elves when they entered the room, but didn’t look behind themselves to see if they were chasing them. The children bewildered and scared ran with their elders. After five minutes of running the children began to lag behind, and Link could no longer hear the pursuit of guards. He decided it was time to stop and rest, and also figure out what to do next. Khaz leaned Malon up against the wall of a building and began to shake her in attempted to awaken her from her shock.
“Malon! Snap out of it!” cried Khaz, and after a few minutes she blinked and then shook her head. Rain started to soak their clothes and chill their bones as Malon blinked again to come to her senses.
“Wha-what’s going on?” said the dazed Malon.
“So nice of you to join us in reality!” snapped Khaz, Malon appeared to just notice Khaz was right there in front of her gripping her shoulders. She shrieked and shoved him away from her. A wave of sickness washed over Malon and she bent over vomiting onto the ground.
“What in the Dark Realm is wrong with you?” yelled Khaz, stumbling but finding his balance again.
“You’re asking me that? What about you? Why d-did you k-kill them like that?” quivered Malon as she wiped her mouth. Khaz stared at her, and then turned his head to the ground of the dark alley way. Link frowned, he was wondering exactly that but they didn’t have anytime to ask questions.
“W-what? Did you want me to let him do that to you?” said Khaz, his head still bowed. Malon bit her lip and shuffled her feet.
“All right, we don’t have time to discuss this, we have figure out what to do next,” Link reminded them.
“Well, I guess we just have to find our way out of here,” suggested Khaz, bringing his head up to look at Link.
“Yes, but they will be looking for us and it will be a lot harder to get out of here with fifteen kids on our hands,” Link pointed out the children sitting on the floor staring up at their leaders. All of them were a safe distance from the blood-soaked Khaz and they all looked as if they were afraid he would attack again if they stepped closer.
“We’re going to have to try because we only had an hour until Kira and Kai bring in the armies,” Malon added. Link cursed, he forgot about that part.
“Well, we better get going,” said Link, and Malon began to help the children to their feet as they went down the rain soaked alley way to find their way out. Link hoped that they would be able to leave without anymore trouble. He also remembered Rontu would have come and found out what happened. He would, of course, go back and tell the others. Maybe they would come back and find them. Link held on to this small but strong hope that they would get out of this alive.
He and Khaz began to take random turns in the back alley ways that hopefully would lead them out of the ranch. Link couldn’t remember being so stressed since his battle with Majora. Nor could he believe their luck that they would mess up on something so simple.
Rontu pulled up to the last slave station to see it was crawling with Dark Elves. A bunch of guards were standing around outside and inside the building, obviously investigating the situation of the three dead guards inside the station.
“****,” cursed Rontu, and looked behind him at Leita who peered up at him; giving him a horrified look. They both knew the worst had happened.
Blaze stood up from the ground he had been sitting on while waiting for the last group to return when he spotted Rontu, but his wagon was empty except for Leita in the back. The look on Rontu’s face told Blaze something had happened to Link’s group. The others stared confused at the empty wagon. Nabooru, Impa, and Sheik exchanged stressed glances as Rontu pulled up.
“What happened,” demanded Blaze as Rontu jumped out of the wagon and let Leita out of the back.
“Well, when I got to the last station it looked as if they had killed the guards before I could get there,” said Rontu as Leita returned his face to normal.
“What? But they weren’t—” began Trisa, but Rontu cut her off.
“Of course they weren’t supposed to,” snapped Rontu. “Something must have happened that made them have to kill the guards.”
“But by the looks of it they escaped and are still in the ranch,” reported Rontu.
“Well, what are we going to do about it?” asked Tila.
“I say we go back in and look for them,” said Sheik. “They have slaves with them which will make it more difficult to get out so, they’re going to need our help.”
“But Kira and Kai are going to be attacking the ranch in five minutes!” gasped Nabooru.
“The more the reason to go in and find them!” said Blaze. “When they attack the ranch it will be dangerous to both the Hylians and Link, Khaz, and Malon.”
“Let’s make this a quick agreement,” snarled Rontu. “All in favor of going back into the ranch raise your hand.”
They all raised their hands.
“Good, now will you all step into the wagon and we’ll get those idiots out of there,” said Rontu, walking over to the wagon.