Another chapter for you guys! Gonna make a start on the next one.
Chapter 3: Martyr Complex
Chapter 4: Faith
Link scrambled to his feet, shaking his head to clear it. His sword was already in his hand, although he didn’t remember drawing it.
Before him stood a mighty Stalfos, with eyes glowing blue, and ancient, weathered armour hanging off its bones. The plates of the armour were covered in intricate designs, including the Triforce. Link guessed this must have been a great Knight of Hyrule. It was too bad it was dead and evil, now.
Navi, Rana, and Naeri were nowhere in sight. In fact, the two of them stood in a vast foggy plain, with rocky scrub beneath their feet.
“Link,” said a voice, and the jaws of the Stalfos moved. The voice was hardly deeper than his own, not what he expected from the tall warrior spirit that stood before him.
“Huh?” Link said stupidly.
“You are late,” the Stalfos said. “And your swordwork is shoddy.”
“Well…”
“Don’t interrupt me! When I was your age, the kingdom was in danger, but at least I didn’t leave it until the last possible second to begin saving it…” The skeleton trailed off, and shook its head ponderously. “Oh my gosh, I’ve turned into my uncle.” The voice was momentarily young, a boy’s treble, and Link blinked at the strange change.
Link tilted his head to the side. “Who are you?” Perhaps it wasn’t evil after all.
“That is not important. I am here to test you, to train you. You will need all the help you can get on this journey.”
“How come you didn’t show up the last time Ganondorf was taking everything over?”
“I was not yet… aware of the danger. I have been waiting for you to return.”
“So… it’s connected to the Goddesses’ appearance?”
The Stalfos ignored that and drew a bright slim sword, looking far too delicate next to the calibre of his pauldrons. He was also left-handed. “Fight me, Link. Prove that you are a Hero.”
Link dropped into a fighting crouch, moving around to the left. The Stalfos stood quietly a moment while Link closed with him, jabbing at the skeleton’s arm, trying to get around his guard.
The sword came up, effortlessly knocking his blow away. The skeleton brought up a shield with his right arm and bulled Link backwards, almost knocking him over.
Link blocked attacks as swift and fierce as anything he had ever encountered, and barely managed to get a few attacks in back, all blocked by the phenomenal warrior he was facing.
Sooner than he would have liked, he was flung on his back. The next thing he saw was the skeleton hurtling at him through the air; Link brought up his shield but the sword thudded into the misty white ground next to his ear.
“You are not a true hero yet. You are indeed strong and pure of heart, though you are troubled still, but you are not yet fit to bear the Triforce upon your hand.”
Link looked down, stung, and saw the golden triangle on his left hand.
“Perhaps I am not being entirely fair. You are self-taught, and what skills you possess have kept you alive so far, while I was trained by Knights to hold a sword since I could walk. But what does fairness matter when Hyrule is at stake?”
“Yes… I understand. Please teach me.”
“Then follow my lead…”
Link couldn’t measure the time he spent in that dream world with the Hero from the past. He was started on the basics, which would have been embarrassing except that he had never experienced them like this.
“I will teach you all I can of swordwork,” the ghost informed him when they were winding down. “You must look to your living friends to solve the problems in your spirit.”
“My spirit? What’s wrong with it?”
“Do not ask me. Practice your swordwork daily. Focus on your footwork. Your strength is good. Your agility and speed is good. But it does not fully make up for not being correctly grounded and balanced. Work on these things, and you should find yourself gaining an advantage in your battles. When you have mastered these things, I shall teach you more, tricks and moves that will surprise all but the canniest of enemies.”
“Thanks.” Link bent over, panting, and when he looked up again, he was in the forest again, with Rana looking into his eyes with concern.
“Link? What happened? What’s wrong?”
“Huh?” Link said again. “Where did… where did he go?”
“The golden wolf? I have no idea. It just disappeared, and you went into this sort of trance,” Navi said. “We were really worried. You came out of it just a second ago. What happened?”
“I just had a major workout with an amazing swordsman, a Hero from the past. He told me my swordwork isn’t good enough to be a true Hero yet.”
“Aww,” Rana said, but Link stopped her with a hand.
“It’s true. You should have seen him. He’s the best swordsman I’ve ever met. It seems the Goddesses specifically called him from… from being dead, just to train me. I’ll show you what I learned… tomorrow.” Link hung his head. “I am so tired right now I could fall asleep on my feet right here. And probably get jumped by a bunch of Keese or something.”
“Yeah. Come on.” Rana reached for his arm. “I’ll get you to a bed.”
He woke up screaming again. Rana was dead, killed by an arrow, by fire, by Ganon’s strength.
Feet slapped on the floor, and someone tackled him. He gasped and flung her off, before realizing it was Rana. She cried out as she hit the floor. The fairies bobbed anxiously overhead.
Link sat pressed against the wall, breathing heavily. “Sorry! Sorry! I-”
She got up, slowly, and sat beside him, wrapping her arms around him. “It’s all right. You were having a nightmare?”
He passed a hand over his face, smearing the sweat from it. “Yeah. You were dead.” He drew a long, shuddering breath, and put his arms around her.
“I’m here. He can’t take me away again.”
“I’d like to see him try that again.” His arms tightened around her. “If he comes back, I’ll…”
“It’s all right. Relax. It’s not even dawn yet. You need to sleep more.”
“No, not with these nightmares.”
“I’m here. You won’t have any more. I think.”
Saria’s distinctive hair appeared in the door, her fairy lighting up her face. “Are you okay? I felt something was… wrong.”
“Nightmares,” Navi said. “He’s had them for several years, but he hasn’t screamed from them in a while. I thought they were going away, or at least diminishing in intensity.”
“It’s been a long day,” Saria said. “And from what you told me, he was up all night last night, too. Link, you need more sleep.”
He sagged, and muttered. “I’m almost afraid to sleep now. I thought they would go away since I knew you were back.”
“I don’t think a mental problem like that is just going to disappear.” Rana squeezed him. “I would know. Although I had a different mental problem. Not that I’m an expert on psychology.”
“Come on,” Saria said. “I’ll get you some tea, and then you can sleep in.”
“Can’t,” Link muttered, but he was losing the battle. Saria left for a few minutes, and returned with a steaming mug of tea. Link freed one hand and sipped it, and she smiled and left again.
“Girls, I can’t sleep in tomorrow. I’ll try and sleep again, but I need to practice with my sword and then we need to go… well, to the next place that’s still covered in Twilight, I guess.”
“I’ll wake you up at a good time,” Navi promised. “Rana, do you think it would be a good idea to stay with Link?”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Rana said. “You’ve really had nightmares every night for the last three years? How are you still alive?”
“Yes, I… well, last time I slept, I didn’t, but that could be because I was knocked out by the shadow creatures that pulled me into the Twilight.”
“Right. Well,” Rana pulled him down and snuggled into him. “You should try and sleep. Just hold on to me.”
He finished the tea without spilling it and put the empty mug on the windowsill next to him. Wrapping his free arm back around Rana, he tucked her head under his chin. “Good night, butterfly.”
All came to pass as Navi said. She woke them up, though Rana stretched and yawned and complained that it was too early, and tried to hold him down. Link pulled free of her, pulled his chainmail and tunic and belts and boots on, and ran out the door, evading her ineffectual grabs at him, laughing and pulling on his gauntlets.
When she finally came out, with her own gauntlets and belt and vaguely Roman-style sandals, he was already shuffling around, looking at his feet, trying to remember exactly what the Hero had showed him. He greeted her cheerfully and demonstrated what he had learned.
She looked at his animated face, and laughed. “You really like swords.”
“I really like the chance that I’m getting to learn how to be an expert at the one thing I’m really good at.”
“Fair enough. What was that last bit again?”
Saria fed them again, and sent them off, saying “If you see any of the other Sages, especially old Darunia, tell them I said hi!”
Link waved and walked into the forest.
Rana trotted beside him, swinging off trees and humming. “We should go visit Malon! Maybe she’s seen Epona. And even if not, you can still meet Alan! He’s really nice. And Talon and Ingo are actually getting along pretty well, would you believe it?”
“Huh,” Link answered. “Not really. But you’re right.”
“Also she makes mean scones, and we should get there by lunchtime.”
Navi laughed. “Well that sounds like reason enough to visit. Link sometimes forgets to eat when he’s on a quest.”
“I do not…”
“Yes, you do!”
So Rana brought them to Lon Lon Ranch, which was decidedly not where Link remembered it, but right on the edge of the forest, facing outwards. Before he went through the gates, he turned and looked across Hyrule Field. There was the castle in the distance, and there was Death Mountain on the horizon, both beneath the blackness of Twilight. The expanse of grass, trees, hills, streams, it was all so beautiful, especially the part just in front of him, with the sun shining so brightly on it, lighting up all the colours, green, yellow, silver. It gleamed like jewels against the backdrop of Twilight, which rose like a violet-black wall into the sky. He felt his heart tighten. He was never leaving this land again. The Hero was right. He wasn’t ready to be a true Hero. He barely knew this land that he loved.
“Link?” Navi called.
He turned, jerked a thumb back at the view. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It is,” she said, in a voice that told him she knew exactly what he meant. “But Malon’s already getting the scones out.”
He laughed and followed her.
He had barely walked through the door when Malon threw herself at him. “Link! It really is you!”
“Hi, Malon.”
“And this is my handsome brave husband, Alan, late of Kakariko.”
“Pleased to meet you, sir!” Alan said, offering his hand for a handshake. Link took it. His grasp was firm, and his eyes were shining like stars at getting to meet The Hero of Time.
“Pleased to meet you as well. I’ve heard good things of you.”
“I’m going to go get Daddy and Ingo. I’ll be right back.”
“You haven’t seen Epona recently, have you?” Link asked.
Malon frowned, troubled. “No, not since you left Hyrule. I thought you took her with her, but Rana said you’d gone back in time. So I wasn’t sure where she went.”
“She did come to find me once I was in this time again, but she disappeared three days ago along with some friends of mine, mostly children. I thought she might have come here. I wouldn’t think that Moblins would be able to hold her.”
“That’s true. I don’t know.” She glanced over at Rana. “Falone’s still here, if you’d like to take her.”
“Probably not now,” Rana said. “But that’s good to know.” She glanced at Link. “Unless you have a particularly pressing need for horse-speed, and a wish to ditch me…”
Malon laughed. “I’d lend you another horse, Rana, you know that. Now, sit tight. Daddy will want to say hi.”
Alan was shy at first, but Rana’s breeziness helped put him at ease, and Link’s new-fired interest in martial arts gave them something to talk about. Talon was just as round as ever, and smelled even more like chickens. Ingo seemed to have mellowed considerably. It was obvious that Malon kept them all firmly in line, and they liked that.
But Link was withdrawn. He hadn’t found any of the missing people yet, and three days was a long time for any of them to be on their own. Unless they had already been rescued, hope for them was dwindling.
Rana noticed before the others did, and began wrapping up the visit. “Well, we still have a kingdom to save, so we’d better get going. Perhaps we can get to the castle or Kakariko before dark, depending on where we go.”
“And these scones really are amazing,” Link said, dragging himself back into the present. “Rana mentioned them as we were coming, but I had no idea.”
Malon grinned. “Take some with you! I can bake more. Go on!”
Rana giggled. “Thanks!”
As they set out, they first set off in the direction of the castle. But before they had travelled an hour, they saw that the road was blocked by boulders.
Link grimaced, but Rana shrugged and pointed towards Kakariko.
“But the Princess,” Link said. “If we could free her before Zant makes his next move…”
“We can free Kakariko and move on north from there. There’s a way around this set of highlands. Stop fussing.”
“We don’t have time…”
“You don’t know that.”
In the end Rana won out, and they marched for Kakariko. When they drew close to the wall, Midna popped out from under him. “Hello, again!”
“Do you follow me directly, or are you just around conveniently when you want to be?” Link asked.
Midna examined her tiny fingers. “I choose not to answer that question. Would you like to go in? This sun is scalding.”
“I think she’s living in your shadow,” Navi said. “That’s where she’s come from both times, anyway.”
Midna glared at the fairy. “Well, who asked you?”
“I’d like to go into the Twilight,” Link said. “I guess the others can’t come with me?”
“Not unless they also turn into wolves or something.”
“I’m given to understand that that is my Triforce speaking, so I don’t think so.” He turned to Rana. “Sorry. You came all this way, and now you can’t come with me.”
“Yeah, Ordona said we’d turn into ghosts, didn’t she? I’ll, uh, check the area for Moblins. Does that sound good?”
“Yes. Thanks, Rana.” He put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “Be safe. I’ll be thinking of you.”
“See you later!” he could sense some kind of disappointment from her, but he guessed it was from not being able to come with him.
He turned towards the wall as Midna floated through it. A moment later, her orange hand burst through it and snatched him through it.
He fell to all fours on the other side, coughing from the force of his landing, and hissed in pain as he transformed into a wolf. Midna landed on his back, and he barked in surprise.
“All right, keep it down! I haven’t been here yet, so I don’t know what kind of monsters are waiting for us. Anyway, it’s so nice to be back here under these skies… I really don’t know why your kind like the searing light so much.”
Link sighed. He wasn’t that much of a talker, but not being able to communicate verbally at all was somewhat annoying.
He took off running quietly into the darkness.
There were monsters manning a small blockade on the road between him and Kakariko. Their appearance suggested that they had once been Bokoblins, but now they had become Twilight monsters. His teeth and claws tore them apart mercilessly. He did get hit by an arrow in the tail, and thanked the Triforce that he was not a true Wolfos, or that would have been far more debilitating than it was. Midna helped him pull the arrow out, and then he licked it until it stopped bleeding so much.
Kakariko stood just ahead, though the sign at the gate was looking more weather-beaten than ever. In fact, the whole town was looking a bit unkempt, and the vegetation was a lot drier than he remembered it. Was the town experiencing a drought, or had the Goddesses moved the place higher up the mountain?
Midna was mostly silent, only offering up the occasional direction when she saw a drop of Light, or yawning in impatience when she thought he was sitting around too much looking at the scenery.
He caught sight of a slightly opened window on the mayor’s house, and a strange masked face peering out of it. Without thinking twice, he bounded forward and leaped through the window, pushing it further open, and clearing the man squatting inside.
The man squawked and grabbed for the window. “Dang wind… going to give us all away!”
Link halted, mouth hanging open, for there were the four children, all huddled around a big man and a young girl, both with dark hair.
Talo shivered. “Did those creatures go away?”
The man closed the window carefully, scowling. The strange mask, Link saw, was only a welding mask. “Couldn’t see any for sure, but you know what that means! They’re just hiding, waiting for their chance. If we take one step out that door, we’re done for.”
Beth sniffled, and a large round tear rolled down her face. Colin patted her on the shoulder, and the large man put a comforting arm around her. “Don’t worry. Green will come and save us, you’ll see.”
“You keep saying that, boy, but he hasn’t come yet!” the frightened man said. “And you remember what happened to that woman from the general store? What’s her name… Lauri?” Link froze. “A whole gang from town went to save her, and by the time they got there, there were three of those things! No one came back alive!” Link lowered his head. Were all of his friends from Kakariko dead? He had failed them.
Beth began to wail, and the dark-haired man turned on the frightened man. “Barnes!” he growled, and both Barnes and Link jumped. Barnes took in the damage his words had done, and looked away, harrumphing.
No one said anything for a long time. Midna rubbed between Link’s shoulderblades. “Aww, what a touching reunion. They don’t even know you’re here! How awful it must feel for you.” Her voice was not sympathetic at all and on the verge of mocking. “Not even to be recognized by the ones you trusted most…” Suddenly her voice broke, and she stopped talking.
Talo stirred. “Mr. Renado, are you sure there isn’t anywhere else to hide? Eventually they’ll start checking the houses, won’t they?”
“There is a basement,” the big man, Renado, said. Barnes perked up.
“But I can’t recommend going down there,” the girl beside him continued. “When I went to see if we could go down there, I saw some nasty little bugs. They looked pretty dangerous.”
Talo sagged. “Oh, okay. That’s all right, then.”
“I just wish those black things would go away,” Malo muttered.
“I know Green’s coming to save us,” Colin said again. By now Link was pacing around him, tail wagging, trying to tell him that he was there.
“Colin,” Link called, and it came out as an unhappy puppy whine.
Colin’s ears twitched. “I’m even getting the feeling that he’s not far away. Just have faith in him. Come on, guys.”
Link’s tail wagged. He’d save them all. He couldn’t save Lauri, or the windmill man, or the carpenters, if they even still lived in Kakariko, but he could save the children, and this Renado man, and his daughter, and Barnes. He dove into the basement to look for the spooky insects.