Chapter 10

As they traveled across Hyrule, Lance found himself staring at Crystal, the woman he was courting. He was glad that because he was a foreigner to Hyrule that he wasn't being forced to marry anyone against his will.

Crystal remained quit, as usual, lost in the world of her thoughts. Her brown hair sparkled in the sunlight as it bounced and swayed gently, in response to her movement. He loved the fact that Crystal was intelligent, but she was passive, almost elusive when she was socially uncomfortable. She usually only spoke up in public when something important had been overlooked and even then she seemed unsure of herself. Once he got to know her more intimately it was very apparent just how kind and sensitive she really was. Crystal was extremely loyal to those she truly cared about. On top of all this, she was very beautiful. It was a hard to judge her beauty, for perhaps her only rival in Hyrule was the Princess Zelda. Crystal had

always been a mystery to him, it was that mystery that drew him to her and what kept him with her. For every good thing Lance discovered about her, he knew there were another ten waiting to be discovered. She was always in deep and profound thought when she wasn't speaking. Lance always wondered exactly what was on her mind. It was like a cold-handed slap, the day that Zelda told him that Crystal had great magical abilities. Lance had never seen her use magic nor had it even occurred to him to even think about it. Zelda, who had known Crystal since early childhood, told him that it was just something that she choose to keep hidden. Lance just finally settled with the theory that she had chosen to live without magic. Her reasons remained, to Lance, just as mysterious as she was.

"Hey Zelda, just how far is this 'Death' Mountain of yours?" asked Lance disrupting his own thoughts.

"Well, normally it's a little less than a day's walk from the castle to the base, but it really depends on how fast you want to get there. Why do ask?"

"You know Lance," interjected Crystal. "He always has to rush in head-first and find out the details later."

KWA-BAM!

A thunderous explosion tore out from the trees that gently hugged the edge to the path.

"HELP ME!" a frail old voice screamed.

An old woman was being hunted down by a gang of monsters, each twice as big as she was and out numbering her by four to one.

"Duck!" Lance shouted to the woman as he hurtled his spear at a moblin, ripping through the beast's head. Lance withdrew his short sword from his belt. There were two more moblins and a stalfos. Lance ran up, tearing his sword through the chest of an attacking moblin.

"Lance watch out!" screamed Crystal.

Lance turned, too late. The living skeleton warrior was bearing down on him fast. A quick handed boomerang toss severed off its head.

"Thanks Zelda," Lance said as he smashed through the decapitated stalfos' chest with the hilt of his sword.

A blast of magic energy streamed across the path, melting the innards out of a nearby moblin.

"Holy Shit!" Lance looked from the pile of goo and intestines that was once a monster back toward Crystal. She stood with an eerily blank expression, staring only at her victim.

"Watch out!" Zelda screamed as Crystal was grabbed from behind by the last moblin. Lance, enraged, thrust his short sword into its chest and twisted with all his might. The blood squirted out of the beast's chest as it fell over taking Crystal down with it.

"Get off you sleaze!" Lance shouted as her tore the carcass from Crystal.

"Thank you so much," the old woman said suddenly kneeling down, "Oh your Majesty! I didn't recognize you in those plain clothes!"

"Oh no please, don't worry there was no way for you to know." Zelda responded, "There is one thing you can do for me."

"I'll do whatever you ask of me princess!" said the woman.

"Where did you get attacked by those monsters?"

"Kakariko....Kakariko village, the, the Dragon attacked with the monsters..." responded the woman.

"Thank you! Please take my horse back to Hyrule castle, my father will give you protection," Zelda said handing the woman the reins.

"Oh you are most kind!" she responded as she rode off.

They ran in the direction of Kakariko. Lance's legs burned as they pump against the ground. They stopped short of the village. It was charred and ruined, it's black smoke slowly filled the sky. The silhouette of a dragon shrank into the horizon.

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