Chapter 11

By the fire's dim light, Link studied the Book of Mudora. Legends long forgotten, as well as prophecies for the future were contained in the text, and he read intently. His eyes were strained because of the inadequate light, and he moved closer to the fire's light. Anna and Istas watched him with curious eyes from their places across the fire from him. They were not far from the place where the next piece was to be found, the desert. However, in spite of the summer heat, the desert was almost unbearably cold at night, and so the wisest thing was to rest in the area that connected the swamp and desert regions.

Link skimmed the writing with quick eyes. Impatiently, he moved past the old language translations and old stories to the section containing the legends of the Triforce. There were many things, and he saw the names of his ancestor and Zelda's mentioned numerous times, as well as the Seven Sages. It told of Ganondorf, the greedy Gerudo, who was transformed into Ganon, and how he was banished to the Sacred Realm. He had vowed to destroy the decendants of the origional Link and Zelda.....Link read on, having already known that.

He read on to another legend, and gasped. He had never heard of this before! He concentrated on every word now, running his finger along the faded words.... An old legend of the Shiekah people tells of what became of the Triforce when Ganondorf laid his hands upon it...It was told that the Triforce of Power was the only piece left to him. He then went to seek those that held the Essence of the other two Triforce pieces, Link and the Princess of Destiny. If his plan had become a reality, Hyrule would probably no longer exist. It has been said that if all who are destined to hold the Triforce pieces came together, the Triforce would appear to them, and would be used by whoever laid their hands on it first. But, there is a fourth one said be had. Although this piece was never held by anyone in ancient times, this is because it was in pieces and scattered across the land. However, no one attempted to recover it in ancient times...

Link glanced up from the Book of Mudora. "Did you find anything out?" Anna asked. Link nodded, and she moved closer to him, removing the book from his hands. "Read this," he said to her, pointing out the passage. She skimmed it, then turned to him. "Guess we'd better hurry and find out who this fourth person is," she commented.

Shortly thereafter, Anna and Istas slept. However, Link lay awake, thinking about what the Book of Mudora had said. He had a feeling that Ganon's plan had something to do with the Triforce. But what did it have to do with Zelda? And why did Ganon plan to capture him next? These questions tortured his mind until, at last, he too succumbed to sleep.

The dazzling light of morning reached Hyrule some hours later, sending a wake up call to the three of them. Although all of them were reluctant to rise, they also knew there was a piece to be found that day. Time was of the essence now, and there wasn't a moment to waste.

They headed out into the desert, which was already blistering hot in spite of the fact that the sun was hardly up.

"I hope we find that piece soon, I hate this heat," Anna said as they walked through the thick, yellowish sand. However, it wasn't going to be easy finding this piece. More than likely, it was somewhere under the sand beneath their feet. That meant they'd probably have to dig for it, and she wasn't in the mood for digging, especially in this heat.

For a time, they searched in every likely place the piece would be. Sweat ran down their foreheads, and the sun tanned their skin. However, they wouldn't give up so easily. Vultures, perched upon prickly cacti, eyed them with hungry, beady eyes. The sun seemed to grow increasingly hotter by the moment. Where is that stupid piece? Anna thought, flustered. She didn't know why they even bothered looking for it. Whoever holds the Tetraforce should be looking for it themselves, not have us do it for them, Anna thought miserably.

Finally, after a few hours of digging, Anna gave up. "This is hopeless! I don't care about the stupid Tetraforce!" she screamed. Link and Istas looked up in surprise.

" Anna, if Ganon gets this thing before we do, Hyrule is doomed. Nobody will be able to stop him. You don't want that, do you?" Link asked her.

"No, but...I just wish this whole adventure was over," Anna said crossly.

"Keep digging, then," Link replied, and Anna, sighing, began once again to dig in the deep sand. It was loose sand, sliding down into the hole she was trying to excavate.

Istas wiped some sweat off of his forehead, leaving some grains of sand behind. He began to dig faster, hoping they could find the piece soon so that they could leave. Pushing sweat laden bangs out of his eyes, he managed to make the hole he was digging a bit deeper. Suddenly, something pure gold glinted at him like a star. Reaching down, he held up a piece of the Tetraforce. Removing his bag from his back, he put the piece inside with the rest of the Tetraforce. "I found it," he told Link and Anna.

"All right, then. We're heading to the Lost Woods next, then up to Death Mountain," said Link as they began to leave the desert.

"We'll have to be careful up on Death Mountain. The people from my village will be on the hunt for me," Istas advised. Link nodded in reply.

It wasn't long before they reached the Lost Woods. "I wonder where the piece will be this time," Link mused aloud as they made their way through the green, shady forest. As they continued to walk, Anna said, "Why didn't we just get the piece when we were here before?" No one said anything to that, and they continued to walk.

The Dark Faerie army into a few seperate groups, trying to devise a way to carry out Ganon's plans. They would ahve to make their attack a clever one if they had any hope of capturing Link, Anna, and the boy that was with them. Ganon suspected that one of the two younger ones was the holder of the Tetraforce. The Dark Faerie had to laugh at this. Neither of them could possibly take on such a responsibility! Even so, she knew better than to mention this to Ganon. Even if neither of them held the Tetaforce, it would be good to simply get their revenge by torturing them. A small, wicked smile formed on her lips as she thought about the torture they would endure at her hands...

Continuing their trek through the forest, Link, Anna, and Istas began to search. "Where in the name of Farore would a piece be this time?" Istas asked. Anna shrugged, then began to search some nearby bushes and shrubs. Link walked even deeper into the forest, hoping to find something there. He knew the piece would be well hidden somewhere. But where?

Anna was pondering over the same question. There were many places in the forest, some above ground and conspicious, others under the ground and not too easy to see. She knew that some of the holes in the ground would lead to the underground lairs of the many theives that inhabited the forest. Yet, as she had already found out from their previous trip to the forest, this didn't hold true for every hole. Maybe one would lead to a hidden place that held a piece. While Istas continued his search above ground, and Link conducted his in the deep woods, she would have to see what lay underground. If she got lucky, she would find it soon.

Seeing a hole not far from where she stood, she began toward it. She stood on the edge, hoping that the hole before her didn't lead to a lair of theives. Tentatively, she allowed herself to fall down into the darkness below. As she fell, she was aware that her pendant started to glimmer with light again. Good, she thought, a piece can't be far away. As she landed, she noticed she was in a large underground tunnel. Her footsteps echoed as she walked carefully along, keeping a wary eye out for thieves. There didn't appear to be any in this particular cave, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

The cave was bigger than she first thought, with many twists and turns in it. There were many paths to choose from, and she feared that if she wasn't cautious, she would be lost in the darkness. Her pendant, glowing around her neck, provided the only light as she continued to walk. The piece has to be around here someplace, she thought as she continued along.

Up ahead, there was a place where the path divided itself into three sections. She stood before them, confused about which way to go. As she started to the left, the pendant's shine grew a little weaker. Obviously, that wasn't the way to go. She averted her course to the right. The pendant's light became even brighter. This was the path to take. She started along the right fork with a purposeful stride. The sooner she found the piece, the sooner she'd be able to leave.

From here, the rocky path sloped downward, making her slow her pace so she wouldn't go sliding the rest of the way down. The walls of the tunnel grew more constricted so that they nearly hugged her sides. Her pendant's light filled the small tunnel, making it easier to see anything that might try and attack from below.

Finally, the tunnel came to an abrupt end, opening out into a large chamber. Keese filled the chamber, and as she entered, they all began to swarm at her at once, creating a black cloud of moving, squeaking creatures with eyes that glowed like live embers. Anna drew her bow and arrow, and began to fire shots into the swarm of keese. This thinned out the numbers that swarmed, and made walking a little easier. She started into the chamber, firing shots every now and then. Where's the piece? she thought. It had to be here somewhere. Her pendant was glowing so brightly now, that it looked like a star on a chain. The keese that flew at her now were blinded by it, and shied away to rest in the dimmer corners of the cave. Others flew past her head, screeching shrilly as they tried to escape the light.

Suddenly, she spotted it; a chest resting in the center of the room. Her search rewarded, Anna walked toward it. The pendant grew dimmer then stopped glowing altogether as she opened the lid of the chest. Inside, the golden shard lay there. With tired hands, she lifted it out of the chest and put it in her pocket. Turning back, she retraced her steps to the hole she had fallen through. Up above, she could hear Link and Istas calling for her. They didn't know that she'd found what they were looking for, and she called up to them, "I'm down here, and I've found the piece!"

Link and Istas peered down at her. A rope was lowered to her by Link, and she began to climb. Istas took her hand an d lifted her out when she reached the top. "Where's the piece?" Istas asked, and she handed it to him. The piece glowed a little as it joined itself to the rest of the Tetraforce. It was pretty much complete now, lacking only the piece Princess Zelda still carried with her, and the piece from the mountain, and the piece from the inside of her pendant.

"All we have to do now is find that last piece up on the mountain," Link said, and they began off again, tired but full of high hopes.

The Dark Faerie continued to go over Ganon's plan with the rest of the army. They would find where the three were, then try to arrange the army in an ambush. It would be a pronged attack, so that even if they dispersed, the army would be able to apprehend them and bring them back to Ganon, as ordered.

Ganon stode up behind the Dark Faerie. "Are you quite done?" he asked her. She turned to face him.

"Oh, yes, Master Ganon, I can assure you that the army is almost ready for the ambush," she said, a bit nervously. His eyes flashed at her.

"They better be ready soon, or it will be your head," he warned.

"Yes, Master Ganon, I'll get them ready as quickly as I can," she replied. After Ganon left, the Dark Faerie breathed in relief. His prescence unnerved her, and she was glad that he was gone.

The army was an unruly, blood thirsty lot, and even getting them to listen to orders was a trial sometimes. However, they wanted to apprehend Link and the others just as much as their leaders did, making them listen intently to the orders the Dark Faerie gave.

"That will be all, you vermin ridden fools," the Dark Faerie dismissed. As the army scattered into the rest of the underworld, the Dark Faerie thought of the day they would attack. She chuckled aloud at the thought of their looks of horror, their screams as the army closed in on them....Victory would soon be the dark side's, as well as complete control over all of Hyrule and the universe....

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