Chapter Five
Crest of Courage


(Play Saria’s song if you have it on your computer)

A flash of light warned Link seconds before a Stalchild’s hand came down, exactly were he had been before. Link spun, cutting the Stalchild’s head off, but still the Stalchild came on, and another swipe of a sword singed the air as magic whipped around the blade. A single blow shattered the Stalchild’s ribs, causing it to split in two. The young, skeletal monster fell to the ground, and vanished as mysterious blue flames ran up its bones.
Suddenly, the sun rose over the horizon. Almost simultaneously, a Cucco crowed to signal that dawn had come, and the Stalchild that had been sneaking up on the boy vanished, digging into the ground until it was out of sight.
The boy named Link sighed with relief. He sheathed his sword and his watchful eyes scanned the field around him, looking for other monsters that might threaten Hyrule Castle. When he saw no monsters, he relaxed, letting go of the blade’s handle which had kept a hand on, just in case.
The sword itself was a marvel. A fine, gold dust was embedded into the hilt, dotting around a single, small, red ruby. It was a leaf blade, its edge razor sharp.
From a distance, the sword was a gold colour, up close, it was gold, but had green as well.
The boy himself was no different. His skin was tanned from staying in the sun of the desert for days on end, his clothes a deep, shade of green that reminded you of deep forests. His hair, a gold-blond had a hat perched on it, the hat the same colour as his clothes. His eyes were blue, the blue of a deep lake. His boots had seen long use, almost too small for him, in their prime they had been a chestnut brown.
His clothes, a tunic that cut off just above the knee and his hat, the hat had seen long use too, but the tunic wasn’t as old.

Suddenly, the boy took off, moving at speeds faster than the average teenager. His goal was a small ranch, surrounded by tall, log walls. A solitary tree stood, almost looking like it guarded the entrance to the ranch.
A lone neighing noise drifted towards Link’s ears, pointed like all the other Hylians in Hyrule.
Inside the formidable walls of the ranch, it was noisier. Horses whickered and snorted, scratching at the ground with their front hooves, and then taking off like there was a demon on their tails. You could practically feel their energy vibrating the air as they passed. All the horses did this, but one. A middle sized horse, not long out of foalhood. She was a chestnut brown, but had a long, white stripe down her head and white socks.

As soon as she saw Link, she left the side of a young woman with long, red hair that fell to her waist. A beautiful song had filled the air, giving the ranch a calming aura, but once it stopped, almost everything on the ranch stopped as well.

“Link, I’m starting to think that Epona likes you more than me now.” The young girl said, feigning insult. “Anyone would think you’re stealing her from me. I’ll have you know, she costs 2500 rupees!”

Rupees were the currency of Hyrule. Since Hyrule was a rich land, having more emeralds, sapphires, topazes, rubies and diamonds than the people knew what to do with. Eventually, the crystals became the country’s currency. But the stones each had their own monetary value. Emeralds’, being by far the most common rock in Hyrule, was worth the least. Sapphires were the next common, followed by rubies, and then diamonds, and finally topazes. A single topaz was worth two hundred emeralds!

“Don’t worry, I’ve got enough.” Link replied, his voice a light baritone. “I mean, whoever heard of the Hero of Time being poor?”

“Hero of Time? If I were you, I’d working on being a farmer so you can be doing some thing useful, like pulling up weeds. Then you’d be the Hero of Thyme!”
The girl said, her voice had a vein of humor in it.

“Ha-ha, very funny Malon.” Link said dully. “I wonder if Zelda knows that the greatest jester in the land is right in front of her castle? Anyway, I want to know. Can I take Epona for a ride? She’s been restless lately and I feel like a ride.”

“Sure.” Malon said, flicking her hair from her eyes. “Just make sure she doesn’t get hurt. Otherwise I’ll hunt you down.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Link muttered, and pulled out an ocarina. The instrument was a wood-wind, it was egg shaped, except for a long, hollow spout sticking out from the side. And no egg had eight holes in the side.
A pure note erupted from the ocarina, showing that Link was adept at playing it.
A second note issued from the instrument, grabbing the attention of the chestnut mare that had run off after sniffing Link, looking for treats in his pockets.
At the third note, she came running and pulled up in front of Link, showering him in dust and pebbles.

Link hoisted himself on and gave Malon a playful salute. “See ya later ma’am!”
With that, he kicked off, heading towards one of the ranch’s walls. Just before Epona would have hit it, she jumped, over the wall and out of sight.


{Every chapter will be randomly chosen. It can be about anyone I want, I could have two chapters in a row about the same person!}

Far beyond the hazy borders of my heart,
I can see a place,
That’s something like this.
Every now and then I don’t know what to do,
But still I know that I,
Can never go back.

And the things I’ve seen,
In those hazy dreams,
Can’t compare to what I’m seeing now,
Everything’s so different,
That it brings me to my knees!

And though, I know,
The world of Real Emotion has surrounded me,
I won’t give into it.
Now, I know,
That forward is the only way my heart can go
I hear your voice calling out to me:
“You’ll never be alone!”