Tales of Link I: The Beginning

Road to Deijil

I grip my sword tighter in my grasp and wipe the sweat from my brow. Sara banishes her switchblade with ease and points the light blade at me.
“Once more!”
I take a deep breath and raise the sword to hip level. With a burst of speed, I charge at Sara, raising the sword for an attack. She parries with ease and knocks my sword from my hands. I roll underneath her swing and pick up my sword. She slashes in my direction and I lift the sword to parry. Her force is harder than I expect and the sword slips from my grasp again.
I laugh nervously. “I guess I have no head for swordsmanship.”
Sara twirls her sword. “That's not true. You've obviously been trained, it's just not something you've focused on.”
“The person I trained with  told me I need to learn how to swing the thing in case I need to be front line support. Lippy, write that down!”
My sudden bouts of remembering snippets of my past have become common, and we’ve decided to have Lippy record everything that comes back to me. They go as soon as they come and they are always so vague. We’ve established that I studied the Seeds of Ruin with an uncommon amount of knowledge, I trained somewhere far away, I learned Stonecanting at a young age, I am an accomplished healer, and that I had someone who trained me. Most likely a melee and ranged fighter from the sound of it. Up to date, I have remembered twenty-four little snippets of my past.
Lippy sets down his Smartphon. “That’s enough training today, you two. How about some relaxing tea?”
Sara happily accepts. “We have a mountain range to cross. We should gather our energy.”  
We have been climbing the Harnica mountain pass and are starting the strenuous part of our climb. We’d been resting and training more than ever to prepare for the journey, and this would be our last time to gather our strength.
As if the gods want to rain on our parade, a blur of light brown and a flash of a sword dashes through our little campsite, trips over the firepit, and crashes face first into Lippy’s stash of tea leaves.
“Dear me!” Lippy cries, picking up the tea leaves one by one.
Sara and I rush to help the young boy had nosedived in our campsite. A sword is strapped to his back and he is breathing hard like he’s been running. He leaps to his feet and looks around frantically.
“Are you okay?” Sara asks. “You were running so fast.”
The boy either doesn’t hear or ignores her, and starts running again. I catch up to the boy and yank him back by his shirt collar.
“What are you doing?” The boy cries as he flails his arms around. “I’m in a hurry! Let go of me!”
“Calm down.” I say. “I want to make sure you aren’t injured from your fall.”
“I’m fine!” The boy cries. “Please let me go! If I don’t do anything, Deijil is gonna be attacked!”
  Sara and I look at each other.
“What do you mean Deijil is going to be attacked?” Sara asks.
“I mean that Dejil is gonna fall to a large monster attack!” The boy says, speaking as fast as he can. “I’ve heard their walls are holding, but I didn’t know how long that would last, so I started heading over there as soon as I could!”
“Tackling this mountain pass without any gear is very bold and risky.” I say, examining the boy over for any wounds.
“I don’t care!” The boy argues. “I was born and raised in Deijil and I’m going to save it!”
I sigh and glance over at Sara. She shoots me a worried look. Lippy gives me a slight nod. All three of us are thinking the same thing. This boy is in no shape to be blazing any mountain trails alone. In addition, it looks like his arms aren’t used to holding a sword and his scrawny body wouldn’t last a second against any bandits or monsters. In addition, we only have a couple more days until fall ends and the supposed vampire Saleh disappears from Deijil. Sara has been on pins and needles trying to find us a safe and fast way to the town.
“If you let us pack up our camp, we will join you.” I say.
The boy’s eyes light up. “Really?”
I nod. “I’m Kaze. That’s Sara and Lippy.”
“Ryuka.” The boy says.
He jumps up and down in place before turning on his heel and speedwalks up the trail.
“Goodness, he has a lot of energy.” Lippy says.
I nod in agreement, and for some reason, I have this sinking feeling that watching his boy won’t be easy.
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“Looks like Sir Ryuka has run ahead of us again.” Lippy reports.
“Are you sure we can’t tie him to a rock?” Sara asks, looking at me. “It might slow him down.”
I shake my head and call out to the jittery boy. “Ryuka, I know you want to get to Deijil as soon as possible, but if you act reckless, you might hurt yourself.”
The boy nods in understanding and stops. Ryuka paces back and forth, waiting for us to catch up before bolting off again.
“My offer still stands.” Sara says.
“I think he will understand.” I smile.
Ryuka’s battle cry echoes from around the path.
“I take back my remark.” I sigh.
Sara, Lippy and I rush down the path to where we heard Ryuka yelling. His shaking hands hold his sword pointed at a man dressed nicely in a suit and tie. He casually had his own weapon pointed at the boy. Sara and I draw our own weapons. The man holds his arms up in surrender.
“Whoa there. I don't want to hurt anyone.”
“Then would you so kindly explain why your weapon was pointed at our friend?” Lippy asks.
The man twirls his pistol and slips it back into his belt. “Your friend thought I was a bandit and attacked. It was all in self defense.”
Ryuka sheepishly sheaths his sword and scuffles his feet. That's what he gets for running off ahead of us. But I'm glad he's unharmed nonetheless.
“Why do you three seem like you're in a hurry, hmm?” The man asks, slicking back his blonde hair.
“We want to get to Deijil.” Ryuka answers, bouncing on his toes.
The man nods slowly. “Well, if it's Deijil you want to get to, I happen to know a shortcut.”
Sara and I exchange glances.
“If you do, that would be wonderful.” Sara says.
The man flips his hair and smiles a charming smile at the adventurer. “Folgana is the name, dear flower. And the shortcut is a passage in the mountain. Just around the path and to your right.”
Ryuka grabs my arms. “No time to waste! Thanks Mister!”
“Wait! Sir Ryuka!” Lippy cries. “I need to analyze the path for your safety!”
“Don't pull on Kaze!” Sara adds.
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Folgana smiles as he watches the flamboyant party chase each other into the supposed shortcut. He sighs a dramatic sigh and plays with his hair. “Well, now. I wonder how my little Sir Knight will like my gift.”

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Author's Note/Rant:

Apparently Japan gets a second arc to the story that won't be released globally..... The amount of jealously I have toward Japan is astronomical. They get everything! Mark my words, I shall find that second arc even if it kills me! Ahem. End rant. For those of you who actually read my AN's, good for you! Slap yourself on the back! Have a gold statue erected in your honour for reading Nayami's half-assed, boring, rant- er- after notes. Once again, thank you for reading the recent chapter. Hopefully things will ramp up for our heroes!
-Nayami