Today’s notes:
– this chapter took forever to write, not entirely sure why. (Partly why is because I was looking at Zelda pictures on DA again. For every picture I’ve already seen, there’s five more waiting to be found. XP ) It’s a bit quieter than some of the others, but it still has its badass moments. I like Link’s confidence. He’s acting more like a hero and less like a hen.
– the part with the bacon was written fairly early this morning, when I could smell one of my neighbours cooking bacon. It made me hungry. DX
– the hide-and-seek probably wasn’t necessary.
– this is an odd chapter and it didn’t really go the way I thought it would. Some plot holes. I may need to go over this part of the story with a sledgehammer or steamroller or two, just to smooth things out so they WORK. I’m not happy with this chapter at all, and I’m hoping the next one will be better. I hope it’s not because I’ve been surfing DA looking at pictures (and accidentally catching wind of other people’s headcanons and OCs and things. (Hey, aren’t you glad that one of the things I didn’t put in was Dark Link sexually harassing Link? Yeeeaaah.)). But in any case… I may rewrite this chapter again from scratch this evening. Or tomorrow. Sometime when I haven’t been driving myself crazy.
– FRANZ WHY YOUR CHARACTER NO DEVELOP come on, lad. Rewrite, perhaps. Or next chapter at the very least.
– I don’t remember why the next chapter is called what it is. Hoping I remember before I have to go and write it.
EDIT: I AM REWRITING THIS WHEN I GET BACK FROM WORK
EDIT2: I may have written in some new plot holes, but I feel like the chapter is much more interesting now, even if it’s even slower than before. Also Franz actually says things now. He reminds me of Gyoriing. And I managed to salvage most of the words I already wrote! Yay! Okay, so now tomorrow I can keep on with the story.
Chapter 11: Evil’s Bane in Hand
A day and a half had passed since Zant had cursed Link and Midna. The little group was struggling through the Lost Woods, striking out in the direction Saria had told them to go; a direction with no paths.
Link and Midna were okay, since he was compact and built for woodland travel. But Franz and Epona were having difficulty. Either the undergrowth was too thick, or fallen logs and streams blocked their path. Still, they kept gamely on.
Midna looked back at the tall mare shouldering her way through more bushes. Flies buzzed around her, and she flicked her tail to get rid of them.
“How much longer do you think this goes on?” Midna whispered to Link. “Our companions are beginning to look tired.”
Link had heard Epona grumbling under her breath for several hours now, and couldn’t answer Midna anyway. Instead, he turned to look back at Epona. “Holding up all right back there?” He wouldn’t have guessed that his patient horse would talk the way she did, and wondered if she ever threw invectives at him that he couldn’t understand as a human. Though from the way she seemed to adore him, probably not often.
“This guy doesn’t weigh all that much,” she answered. “But the branches constantly hitting me in the face are really annoying! He’s doing his best to guide me but I don’t really like this part of the forest, you know?”
“That’s fair,” he answered, picking his way carefully along a rocky outcropping in the forest floor. “I hope it’s not much farther.”
“Me too. I really don’t want to throw a shoe in here.”
Franz had been quiet most of the day. Link guessed he was feeling out of place, being the only human currently in the group. He looked around in wonder at the massive trees around them, even though they had been passing trees of that size since they started out.
“My guards and I, we came through this forest from the south-west,” he said at one point. “We got lost for days.”
“You were lucky to get out at all,” Navi said. “Isn’t there a road you could follow, from Hyrule to… other countries?”
“Yes, but something must have happened to it in the last couple months, or perhaps the messengers know the forest better than we did…”
Finally, Link caught sight of something. “Epona, look, there’s a stone arch. We must be getting close.”
“Oh, good.” She broke into a trot and caught up to him. “Hey, Master, are you going to ride me back?”
He glanced up at her. “I don’t think either of us will ride you. It’s more fair that way. Or maybe I’ll let him keep riding you. I think I’m probably stronger than he is.”
“Well, if you say so. The only downside is that you won’t be able to understand me, Master.”
“I’ll try to listen more carefully to you from now on, even as a human,” he promised.
They passed under the arch and found themselves in a courtyard. He heard a mischievous giggle and looked around to see who was making that sound. He caught sight of something moving behind a pillar and slunk over to see who it belonged to.
“Heheheh!” A Skull Kid popped out in his face, and he jumped back with a bark, teeth bared. “What a funny group you are!”
“Who the heck are you?” Midna snapped.
“I’m a Skull Kid! I wanna play. Play with me!”
“We don’t really have time,” Navi said placatingly. She knew Skull Kids. “We have to get to the Temple right away. This is Link. Do you remember Link? He’s been cursed to be a wolf.”
“Nope! Don’t know anyone named Link! But you’ll play with me anyway. You can’t be in that much of a hurry.”
“Listen, you little…” Midna began.
“Don’t make him angry,” Navi said hastily. “Skull Kids are actually very powerful.”
Midna tossed her head. “More powerful than me?”
The Skull Kid giggled. “Wanna find out, pretty lady?”
Franz moved Epona forward a pace or two. “Perhaps it would be easiest just to satisfy him quickly and move on?”
“Yeah!” The Skull Kid bobbled its head. “We’re gonna play hide and seek. If you win, I’ll let you keep going. If I win… you have to keep playing with me!” He opened his glowing eyes very wide. “Forever!” Vines curled around the exits to the courtyard, trapping them at least for the time being. But Link knew that the Skull Kid could influence the forest so they would never leave, if they lost.
Link snorted. Between his nose, Navi’s flight, Epona’s weight, Midna’s magic, and Franz’s sword, this would be a piece of cake.
“You have to find me and my three friends,” the Skull Kid giggled. “And you have to find us in ten minutes. Now, count to a hundred!”
Midna and Navi looked at each other and sighed. “I’ll count,” Navi said disgustedly.
“Hide your eyes!” said the Skull Kid. “No cheating!”
Link kept his eyes open, and it didn’t make much difference – the Skull Kids were gone in the twinkling of an eye.
“Ninety-seven… ninety-eight… ninety-nine…” Navi droned.
“A hundred!” Midna snapped impatiently. “Where are you little twerps at?” She floated off Link’s back, into the trees. “Come on, Navi, let’s check up here. The ground pounders can take care of things down there.”
Franz had dismounted Epona and was checking around the base of the trees. A wooden puppet fell down in front of him, and he yelled, jumping backwards and drawing his sword.
Link nosed it. “It’s not one of them. Even in disguise.” He sniffed. He could smell one over near a large rock. He walked all around it, but found nothing. He barked.
Franz came running. “You found one?” Link scratched at the rock and tried to roll it away with his shoulder. Franz stopped him. “Allow me.” He was better formed to roll the rock away, and did so after much effort.
A Skull Kid was curled in a hole under the rock. He made as if to run, but Link pounced on him and pinned him to the ground. “I surrender!”
Link growled and left it to look for more.
Navi yelled. “Found one! Help, Midna!” Link looked up. There were probably more up there.
Franz poked a bush with his sword. “I really don’t know how I’m supposed to help here. Just call me if you find another one, I guess.” Another wooden puppet dropped in front of him, and this time he only started and shoved it impatiently out of the way with his sword.
“One minute,” Link said. “Epona, hold still.”
“Wait, what are you doing?” his horse neighed in alarm, but Link had already used her back as a stepping stone into the trees.
Franz had his back to the puppet, and it was moving stealthily towards him. Epona pawed the ground for a moment, and then charged at it. The prince turned in time to see the warhorse charging at him, and stumbled backwards with a yell. Epona bulled the puppet into him, and it changed into a Skull Kid with a pop. Franz grabbed it and held on. “Got you!”
Midna came floating to the ground with a Skull Kid tangled in her hair. “One more. How much longer do we have, Navi?”
“Two minutes,” Navi said. “Link? Where did you go?”
He couldn’t bark. He was following a scent trail stealthily through the middle canopy, balancing on branches. A few seconds later, he heard a giggle and saw a moving shadow, and knew that the Skull Kid knew he was there. He abandoned all pretence at stealth and jumped forward, leaping from tree to tree. He was getting higher, and prayed to Din that he didn’t fall. It was a long way to the ground.
Navi and Midna had heard it, and they too were on the trail.
It was right in front of him, swinging away, taunting him with its superiority in the trees. The monkeys who lived in Faron Woods would have been helpful about now, he thought, as he lunged for it time and again and missed.
It pulled a silly face, openly taunting him. But it paused for a moment too long, and he pounced on it, sending them both crashing to the forest far below.
He landed on it, knocking the wind out of both of them. It had cushioned his fall, and Skull Kids were too durable to be killed by a fall from a tree.
He growled in its face.
“Okay! Okay! You win. Don’t eat me, that wasn’t part of the deal!”
Link pulled back and let it up. As if he wanted to eat a Skull Kid.
The vines pulled back from the exits to the courtyard, and their way ahead was clear.
Link sighed and turned to Midna.
“Yeah, I agree,” she said. “That was a stupid waste of time.”
“They’re actually not that bad,” Navi said. “We kind of like playing with them. Just… not right now, when we’re in such a hurry!”
“I don’t like them at all,” Epona said to Link. “I know that other one was possessed by an evil spirit, but I really don’t like bottomless pits!”
“At least you ended up with Romani and Cremia,” Link reminded her. “I think you’re a bit big to play with them now, anyway.”
He led them into the next courtyard – it seemed to be part of an ancient complex – and started.
There stood the Temple of Time, all right. But it looked just as ancient as the forest around them, as if it had always been there.
“Whoa,” Navi said. “Wait. What happened?”
That was just what he was thinking. The Temple stood roofless, its windows bare of glass, moss and vines embracing its stones. He could barely make out the Triforce over the front door, which was of stone as it had always been, but now it was crumbling.
“Do you think we’ll be able to get in?” Franz asked doubtfully. “That doesn’t look like it’s going open.”
Well, all they could do was try. And if the door was blocked, they could probably find another opening that he could get through.
He went up to the door and studied it for a moment, then pushed it experimentally with a paw.
The Triforce on the back of his paw glowed, and the door glowed, and it began to move. Midna shielded her eyes as it slowly ground open.
When the light died, Link moved forward slowly. The inside was just as worn and old as the exterior. The flagstones were chipped and moss-covered, no longer polished. There was no carpet runner on the floor, of course. There was the altar where he had placed the three Spiritual Stones, crumbling at the edges. He looked up and saw clouds and sky instead of vaulted ceiling.
“Wow,” Navi said again. “I’m sure the Goddesses had their reasons, but this is kind of… sad.”
“What do you mean?” Franz asked.
“We were here when this place was in the middle of Hyrule Castle Town,” she explained. “It looked… well, not new, but it wasn’t falling apart.”
It was sad, Link thought. Melancholy was perhaps a better word.
And then the sunlight slanted down through the empty windows onto a patch of moss where two brightly coloured birds were playing. Perhaps not that sad, after all.
Confidently, he trotted past the altar and into the back room. The Door of Time was wide open, and he took that as a good sign. Franz and Epona followed more slowly.
There was the Master Sword. It was unchanged since last he had seen it, since he had returned it to its place ten years before and left once again as a child. Its purple hilt and blue-silver blade glittered in the dappled light filtering through the trees around the Temple.
As he approached it, it began to glow, and then it shot out an explosion of energy. Midna was knocked from his back with a cry, and a howling wind from the sword blasted him. Leaves whipped past him. Franz covered his face from the wind, peering beneath his arm.
Link hung on in spite of the wind that threatened to knock him from his feet. He pressed a few steps closer, and then let out a defiant roar as he felt the power from the Master Sword tearing the evil magic from his body.
He found himself on his hands and knees, and stood slowly as the wind began to die around him. He was back in his green Kokiri tunic, although last he had checked he had been wearing the Zora tunic. Well, he wasn’t going to complain – the Kokiri tunic was better for the forest anyway.
He reached out slowly with his left hand and wrapped it around the hilt of the Master Sword. It was warm, as if he had only just let go of it a moment ago.
With a smooth motion, he drew the sword from its plinth and held it over his head. It flashed in the sun, and there came an answering pulse from the Triforce on his hand. Its weight fit comfortably into his hand as if it were made for him.
He smiled up at its beauty. Now evil would have to run and hide from him.
“Wow,” Navi breathed from behind him. Slowly, she fluttered up to his shoulder. “You… you’re back.”
He turned and looked at his companions. Franz still had his arm half-shielding his face, as if he wasn’t sure it was safe to move yet. Epona tossed her head with excitement. Midna was tossing a small jagged black stone in the air and catching it again, staring thoughtfully at him.
“Yeah,” he said to Navi, meeting her gaze. “I am.” He bent and found the Master Sword’s scabbard among the debris at the foot of the Pedestal of Time, and strapped it to his back where his own sword normally rested. He sheathed the Master Sword with a click. “It feels good.”
Midna came up to him with one arched eyebrow. “I managed to catch that evil magic as it shed off you. Here it is. Don’t touch it! I think it will turn you back into a wolf.” She grinned wickedly. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“We should keep it, so he can turn into a wolf whenever he likes?” Navi asked.
“Yes!” Midna exclaimed, and shivered in glee. “We’ll turn Zant’s own magic against him. It’s delicious!”
“Thanks, Midna,” Link said. “I’d rather not use it if I can help it, but you’re right. It will be helpful.”
Epona trotted up behind Midna and wickered. “Hello, girl,” Link said to her, and hugged her nose. “I know I’ve worried you over the last few years. It won’t happen any more. Thanks for being the best horse in Hyrule.” She snorted in his ear and nuzzled his cheek, and he laughed.
Franz had straightened, all uncertainty gone from his own face, and as Link turned to him, he bowed. “Welcome back to your true form, Sir Link. It sincerely is an honour to accompany you.”
Link laughed self-consciously. “Thanks.” He held out his hand and Franz shook it. “I’m glad you’re with us, too.”
“Ha,” Navi said. “Wait until we get to the fun parts!” She flew in circles around Link’s head. “Oooh, this is so exciting! You look so much better than you’ve been looking, for… years! You look like you could fight three Ganondorfs at once!”
He snorted. “Maybe. But let’s hope that scenario doesn’t arise.” He glanced down at the Triforce on his left hand, and resolved to listen to it more often. What was past, was past. Now it was time to secure the future. The Triforce and the Master Sword had given him a fresh start. He wouldn’t waste it.
He looked around at them, and took a deep breath. He couldn’t help the broad smile on his face. “Let’s go set things right in Hyrule!”
He fell in with Franz on the way back, leading Epona by the bridle. “So, we’ve been introduced, but I still know very little about you.”
“I have the advantage, then, because I have learned a great deal about you,” the prince answered. “But I can tell you anything you wish to know.”
“Well… I’m not even sure where to start. Tell me about your training?”
“My… you mean my martial arts training?” Link nodded, and Franz looked off into the distance. “Well, as a youngest son, I have very little in the way of courtly responsibilities besides entertaining visiting dignitaries and looking pretty at functions. This gives me plenty of time to practice my fighting. I began at a young age, though it did not become a passion until my teens. The captain of the guard himself taught me to hold a sword, and to ride a horse. One of my bodyguard – now passed on, rest his soul – taught me to shoot a bow. I’m perhaps not the best soldier, but I can hold my own against any knight in fair fight.” His brow furrowed. “I understand that we might not be facing a fair fight. But I will do my best by my teachers, and I hope to show you that I am not a pushover just because I’m a prince.”
“I would never suspect that of anyone just because they’re royalty,” Link said. “Of course, the only other royalty I know is Zelda, and she’s… active, let’s say. I gather it’s not normal for the royalty to be quite so active.”
“I heard a rumour she disguised herself as a man for seven years,” Franz said. “Is there truth to that?”
Link grinned. “Very much so. She took the name Sheik, because her bodyguard Impa is the last of the Sheikah, and protected what she could of the kingdom in her ninja disguise. I certainly never guessed Sheik was Zelda until she revealed herself at the very end.”
“But she’s so gracious,” Franz said. “And beautiful. Her letters really don’t do her justice.” Link glanced at him through the corner of his eyes, and saw Franz was blushing gently. He smiled at that.
“No, she is a wonderful princess, from the little that I know of her,” Link said. “I kind of prefer running into Sheik at random times and places around Hyrule. He… we still call him he… seems very… laid-back. Like a Zora, although without the slang. And he can fight.”
“Interesting,” Midna said. “I would never have guessed it of her. So why didn’t she do that this time? Slip into her alter-ego, and escape from Zant?”
Link shrugged. “I imagine he was holding Hyrule hostage for her. If she ran away, he would do terrible things to… Hyrule…”
Navi had put the dots together at the same time as he did. “We can’t dawdle even now that we have the Master Sword.”
“Midna, how far is our next destination?”
She looked down at him from Epona’s head, and her mouth turned down. “The Arbiter’s Grounds. I don’t have enough power to move all the way there, not anymore. I barely managed to teleport all of us – except the horse – out of Hyrule Castle. But once we get there, I can help more.”
“Where’s that?” Link asked.
Midna shrugged. “In the far west reaches of your land, in a big deserty place.”
“The Gerudo Desert?” Link guessed, and looked at Navi.
“That’s… going to be… maybe two days journey,” Navi said. “We’ll make it back to Kokiri Village by nightfall, and then it’s another day’s journey to Hyrule Castle, unless you want to take a shortcut across the south Field, in which case it would probably be a day and a half. And even then, you have to get across the desert. This will take a while.”
Midna calculated. “It might be faster for us if we leave Franz behind – sorry, kid – and have you ride across the south of Hyrule Field, Link.”
“I can go get my horse,” Franz said. “I’ll catch up to you.”
“Alone?” Link said. “I trust in your competence, but you’re not going without any help whatsoever.”
“Well, if it comes to that, Navi could go with him… well, actually, come to think of it, she could come with you,” Midna mused, as if talking to herself.
Link frowned at her. “Midna, were are we going?”
She glanced at him and then away. “I… It’s a bit of a story. Can it wait? It’s very personal and I’m not sure how you’ll take it.”
“We’re all friends here,” Navi told her, “and have you known Link to get mad at anything?”
Midna chuckled. “Oh, he was mad when we first met. Heeheehee. But getting turned into a wolf when you’re not expecting it will do that to you. And then getting imprisoned.”
“Now that sounds like a story that you can tell,” Franz said. “How did you all meet?”
Link, Navi, and Midna looked at each other, and then Navi and Midna started talking at once.
Midna soon let Navi go first, as she was keen to start the story from the day that she had come to twelve-year-old Link and begun guiding him on his way to stop Ganondorf. She was a bit hazier about the adventures in the ten years since that she hadn’t been on, and spoke delicately about his nightmares and other assorted problems that appeared before he returned to Hyrule. Then Midna picked up the tale and explained how she had met Link in the dungeons of Hyrule Castle, and what Link had done so far.
Link was surprised. He hadn’t thought she was paying such attention when he was in the Light parts of Hyrule. He kept quiet, as his two friends were good story-tellers and anything he said would probably just ruin it.
“That sounds fascinating,” Franz said when they were all done. “You have certainly had an exciting life. And you’re all very unique individuals.”
Navi flopped on Link’s head and shrugged. “Destiny is weird like that sometimes.”
“Sometimes I could stand to be a little less destined,” Link grumbled, and his fairy giggled.
Franz was thinking. “You said you had ancestors named Link?”
“I don’t know much about my ancestors, or even if the previous Links are related to me. I don’t even know who my parents were. I’d be curious, of course, even though the Great Deku Tree was my adopted father. But I’ll probably never find out.”
“What about that weird ghost you met on Koholint?” Navi said. “You said you felt like he might be part of your past that you just can’t remember because you were too young to.”
“Well a ghost within a dream, even an enchanted life-like dream, is not much to go on, is it?” Link said. “And I don’t even remember its name, or if it was male or female.”
Navi shrugged again. “All right. Were you going to say something about Link’s ancestors, Franz?”
“Yes. You see, I was thinking this morning… You remember when I said there was some Hyrulean blood in the Labrynnan line?”
“Yes…? You think it’s related to the last Link?”
“Definitely. You see, one of the sons of Lord Raven of Hyrule married the daughter of Queen Anbi, or maybe Ambi, the scholars can’t agree on that. In any case, is it not fact that Lord Raven was the ancestor of the last famous Hero? The one who defeated Agahnim, Onox, and Veran?”
“I don’t know any of those names,” Link confessed. “I know so little about my own country, about my own legends… I’ve picked up a bit, but I still don’t know nearly enough.”
Franz nodded understandingly. “You really ought to learn. We Labrynnans have to learn about Link the Indomitable Youth, because we have a statue to him right outside the castle in the city square. But I suppose, growing up in the forest, you never had to go to school.”
“No, I didn’t. I’m probably very stupid in a lot of ways,” Link joked.
“Well, then I have some stories for you.”
They returned to Kokiri Village a few hours later, and Saria was thrilled to see him in his own form again, and hugged him like she wasn’t going to let go. But at last she did, still bouncing with delight, while the Kokiri fed them supper and put them up for the night for the second night in a row. He was happy to be able to do his sword exercises before bed again.
His sleep was dreamless and untroubled, and he woke to the sound of birdsong and sunlight just beginning to creep through the window. He looked up at his bed and saw a mess of red hair at one end. He had insisted Franz take the bed.
Their talk the day before had been fascinating, although Navi had teased them for being history geeks. Franz, in his recounting, had explained how the royal family of Labrynna had abdicated for several centuries before becoming re-established only two centuries ago, all without breaking the bloodline that had come down from long before Queen Anbi. Or Ambi. And Link had learned a lot about what previous Heroes of Hyrule had done, things he had only learned by happenstance – such as reading faded carvings in the Shadow Temple, although he barely recalled what he had read there anymore. It had been ten years. As soon as the kingdom was restored, he was definitely going to ask Zelda to fill him in on the details. Or maybe Shad would be the one to ask. He didn’t know if he wanted to read. Rana had said reading was a chore, and he didn’t think dissimilarly.
He still didn’t know what he felt for her, if he felt anything anymore. It was strange, after ten years of longing for her, if only to see her alive again. Well, she was alive, and now she hated him. Probably. He had treated her badly, even if he was confused. But what else would he have said?
Franz had talked to her, it was clear, but was hesitant to tell him anything that they talked about, though he insisted she didn’t hate him. But if she was talking to Franz, that was good. If Naeri and Franz were there for her, she would be all right. Maybe she would even come to understand.
He would have to talk to her sometime and apologize, if nothing else. If she would even let him. More likely she would refuse to accept his apology and apologize to him instead. That was how it had gone when they were kids, at least.
Link rolled over, found an acorn wedged into the floorboards of his treehouse, and chucked it at Franz. “Time to get up,” he called.
Franz rolled over with a surprisingly quick motion and glared at Link. “How dare you throw things at me.”
“I’m the Hero,” Link said lazily. “If I feel like throwing something at someone, it’s probably a good idea.”
Franz snorted, but couldn’t keep a grin from creeping over his face. And then he yawned cavernously and stretched. “I suppose it is only fair, since I took your bed. But I am so tired, still…”
Link stood and offered him a hand. “You’ll get used to it. I know you were obsessed with martial arts, but I bet you haven’t been on the road, fighting for your life, for this long before.”
“I’ve never fought for my life before,” Franz said. “I’m glad my training has allowed me to keep it.” He took Link’s hand, stood, and stretched again. “Ow.”
“Let’s get breakfast and then decide where to go from here,” Link said. “Maybe today Midna will fill us in on her secret plan.”
Navi was already bothering Midna. “So, what did you mean when you first said I should go with Franz, but then you said I might be able to come after all?”
Midna pushed fried potatoes into the side of her mouth and glared at Navi. “Isn’t it obvious? Also, I’m eating.”
“Hello,” Link said mildly as he and Franz joined the others on the grass below his house. “Is this about our destination?”
Midna looked at him and stopped stalling with a sigh. “Well, you see, there’s Twilight where we’re going. But now you have the Master Sword, which will protect you against it, at least. Not that Twilight is evil! But the sword still sheds enough Light that you’ll stay human. And I think, since Navi is bound to you, she’ll be all right, too.”
“But not Franz or Epona.”
“Well, we couldn’t get a horse up there anyway.”
“Up where?”
“Into the Arbiter’s Grounds.”
“Midna, could you start from the beginning?”
She rolled her eyes. “Men, always wanting the whole picture and nothing but the whole picture. All right. This is Hyrule, the Light World. There is another world, a Twilight world.”
“That’s where you come from?” Franz asked.
“I would think it obvious,” Midna snipped. “Anyway, the only connection between them is in the Arbiter’s Grounds. Which is in the desert. I can lead you there. But I don’t think you’ll be able to come, princey boy.”
“I still want to,” he said. “I can help. And I can guard the connection while you are inside.”
“Without backup?” Link asked.
“Link,” said Franz very seriously. “I don’t think you understand what it means for me to follow you, to help you. You might find that strange, that a prince should wish to follow, but I am so excited by this destiny that precedes and follows you that I want to assist you in any way that I can. If you demand that I go back to Hyrule Castle and help the Resistance instead of helping you directly, I will, but I would really rather not.”
His pale blue eyes looked earnestly into Link’s dark blue ones, and the Hero sighed. “I guess you can come. But maybe Navi should stay with you.”
“Why me?” Navi demanded. “Actually, I know. But I want to follow you, too.”
“Groupies,” Midna said.
“You’re one of us,” Navi told her.
“No, I’m the brains, Link’s the brawn, and the rest of you are…”
“Decoys,” Franz suggested, smiling.
“All right,” Link said. “So, we’re heading northwest to the Arbiter’s Grounds, whatever those are, and first we’ll stop at Hyrule Castle Town so Franz can get his horse. Once we get there, Midna and I go into the Twilight to stop Zant, and the rest of you guard the… I’m guessing it will be a portal of some kind. Makes sense?”
There was a chorus of agreement, and then everyone turned their attention to breakfast.
Two days later, half-way to the lake, Link saw the golden wolf following them at a distance. “Hang on,” he called to the others. “Let’s take a break here. I have to meet with my trainer.”
“Your… oh,” Navi said, having seen the wolf. “Yes, let’s. You go on.”
He jogged away from the others, who were setting up under one of the lone trees that dotted Hyrule Field, and waved to the wolf.
He blinked, and was standing in the spirit world. “Hello, Hero.”
“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to say to you?” said the Hero from the past. “I see you now wield the Master Sword.”
“Yes,” Link said, and drew it, admiring the way it shone even in the fog of the spirit world. “I… I feel much better about… about a lot of things, now.”
“It shows already,” said the Hero. “You look more like what I expected to see when I first met you. You stand taller, prouder, and your shoulders are looser. May I see it?”
Link handed it over, and was surprised when the Hero’s shape changed from a skeleton to that of an old man, wrinkled and beardless, wearing a tunic in a peculiar style. He held the Master Sword with an air of familiarity, which Link supposed was only natural, considering he was also the Hero.
“Yes,” said the Hero. “Still as beautiful as I remember.”
Link smiled. “Who did you fight with it?”
The Hero’s sharp blue eyes glazed over. “Many, many monsters, during my time to hold it, including Gannon himself. I only wielded it once before I sealed it away again, but during my life it was a turbulent period in Hyrule’s history and it seemed like every few years some new threat would come along.” He tapped the blade. “And to think, it was my first adventure that I held it. I was only ten. It was lighter, then. It is good to see it in action again.”
“It hasn’t faced much action yet this year,” Link said. “A few Bokoblins today that thought we might be prey.”
“Well, then,” said the Hero, and faded back into a skeleton. He drew his sword. “Shall we continue with your training?”
For the first time in a long time, Link was almost happy. Hyrule Castle might be under an evil power, and Zelda might be missing, but he was giving his best against the best swordsman he had ever fought, and not doing too badly.
The Hero thought so, too. “Your skills are finally showing proper discipline, without losing any of the raw ferocity that has made you so effective so far. You now use your body properly, and you probably won’t get any strain injuries later in life.”
“Assuming I survive long enough to have a later life,” Link joked.
The Hero snorted. “That’s what I’m teaching you for, boy, is so you will survive to have a life.”
“And I appreciate it,” Link said. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome,” said the Hero.
And just as he turned away, and the world turned white in front of his eyes, before the real world could filter in, something… happened. He caught a brief glimpse of a small room, dark, wooden, with a bright window framed with white breezy curtains, and heard a voice saying “I love this little house…”
If it was a vision, it was over too quickly, and he found himself back in Hyrule Field, looking towards Faron Woods in the distance.
Navi came over to him. “Hey, Link, we’re gonna cook some bacon for lunch, you want… Is something wrong?”
“No, no…” He wondered where he had heard those words before. Somewhere on his adventures, perhaps. He wondered if it was important, and put it in the back of his mind to remember later, if something connected to it came up.
They reached the lake in the early afternoon, and turned north to find a way through the hills into the desert.
“There should be a bridge across the river somewhere,” Link said. “I hope.”
“You haven’t a clue, do you?” Midna demanded.
“Nope, not really,” Navi said cheerfully.
“I wonder if I could… find a path more easily as a wolf,” Link wondered.
“Only one way to find out!” Midna said, and before Link could even dismount from Epona, she had bonked him in the head with the Wolf Stone.
He yipped, startled, and fell from Epona’s back heavily on the ground. Epona gave Midna a dirty look, which the imp girl probably missed completely.
“I don’t remember this place at all, Master,” Epona said uncertainly. “Otherwise I’d lead you there straight away. I remember the bridge! We made a good jump over it last time.”
“We did, didn’t we?” Link said. “I wonder if it’s still there, or if anyone fixed it…” He put his nose to the ground. How was he going to track desert? Follow the scent of dryness?
“Look!” cried Franz, and pointed ahead. “There’s Sir Auru!”
Link looked to Navi, and she helped him transform back into a human. “Do you think he knows the way in?”
“Only one way to find out,” Navi said.
Auru saw them coming and waited. “Hello, hello! Good to see you looking better, miss,” he said to Midna. “And you, young Link, and Prince Franz.”
“Thanks,” Link said. “Do you know how to get into the desert?”
“I might, yes. I was on my way to the lake to check on the Spirit’s Spring. Shall we trade? News in exchange for guidance?”
“That sounds reasonable,” Link said. “I thought the bridge to the desert was around here somewhere, but it seems that it’s moved in the years I’ve been away.”
Auru chuckled. “Follow me, lad. I’ll get you where you need to go. Now, tell me, how was your investigation to Lake Hylia? I seem to recall that was where you were going, after a… a Shadow thing, wasn’t it?”
Link told him the whole story, how he had fought the monster and run into Zant, and finally acquired the Master Sword. He also told him his worry that Zant might harm the people of Hyrule now that Zelda was gone. He told Auru the name of their destination, but not what they were planning to do there. He had a feeling Midna did not want many people to know about it.
Auru listened carefully. “This will be of great interest to the rest of our group. We thought Zant might turn belligerent at any time, and it is good to know that you share our opinion. I was actually going to the Lake to see what changes have happened since your visit. Ashei’s gone a little further north, to investigate Snowpeak. The rest of the group is stocking up on weapons for possible defense against Zant’s forces, although I believe Rusl is intending to join the outpost at Kakariko to be nearer his son.”
“Good to know,” Link said. “I’m not certain how long we’ll be gone, but hopefully we’ll be back soon to aid you.”
Auru stopped. “Well, there’s your bridge. Just cross it and head straight on. The Gerudo Fortress seems to have disappeared entirely, but there are still plenty of landmarks to guide you as long as you’re not heading for the Spirit Temple. Oh, you do have water supplies, right?”
“Yes,” Link said. “We filled up in the Faron Woods yesterday.”
“All right then. Grace of the Goddesses be with you.”
“Thanks, you too,” Link answered. “Hey, look, Epona, the bridge is fixed now. You won’t have to risk your life to get us across anymore.”
She snorted and pranced across, head high, and he got the feeling she had wanted to show off her jumping skills again.
When they had begun to set up camp in the lee of an outcropping of rock, Midna sidled up to Link. “Hey, Link…”
“What is it?”
“Can I talk to you? Away from the others.”
“Sure, one minute.” He motioned to Navi to stay put, and followed Midna around the side of the outcropping.
“Well… you remember what the spirit said about the Fused Shadow?”
“You saw that?”
“Yeah, I did.” Link flushed. “Oh, don’t look like that. I know exactly what you were thinking, and I know exactly how it is. You’re lucky I’m one of the few who can properly used the Fused Shadow without going crazy. But… what do you think happened to those sorcerers who tried to take over Hyrule with it?”
Link tried to remember what Lanayru had said. “They… well, the Fused Shadow was sealed away in various hidden places… I don’t remember. Did she say? Were they killed?”
Midna thought for a moment. “I guess she didn’t. They were not killed. Instead, they were driven across Hyrule. They almost managed to escape… until they were tricked and chased into the Arbiter’s Grounds, which is a great prison.” She got a hold of her emotions with an effort. “I’m sorry. I forget sometimes that I don’t hate you Light worlders for something that happened centuries ago.”
“If it’s any consolation, I’m going to hear you out, no matter what you say, and then I’ll probably apologize profusely, although I had no responsibility for something that happened in the time of my distant ancestors.”
She smiled briefly. “The place they ended up was another world entirely… the antithesis of Hyrule, where the sun shines bright. Over the years, they faded, becoming creatures of shadow, unable to live in the Light, for there was no way back to Hyrule from that world. They flitted in the half-light of dusk that was life’s constant there, living in the shadows of a shadow world.”
She paused, and her face contorted briefly with an old bitterness. “Do you understand what I am now, Link? I’m the descendent of those banished sorcerers!”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She shook her head. “I know. But it isn’t a bad thing anymore, except for the… the shame, and even that we have all but forgotten between each other. It is a peaceful place there, in the Twilight, and the Twili are a peaceful people. At least, until Zant changed everything.” She snarled his name. “He must have gained an evil power from outside our people somehow. In any case, I was sent from there, and could no longer get in without his help. I quickly learned to survive in the Light world. It was not something most of the Twili could do with ease, so I’m lucky, I guess.”
She sighed, floating back and forth in the air in front of him. “I don’t know how he sent me here, or how he came through himself. But… there is a way back, if I know my history correctly. There is a thing called the Mirror of Twilight, a link between this world and that one.”
“You asked Zelda about it.”
“I hoped that she would know, being the Princess, and the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom, and all that. But instead she let me guide you personally, since I have a vague idea where it might be. And what might be on the other side of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we’re going to come out somewhere in the Twilight Realm, which will correspond to here. The Twilight Palace and your Hyrule Castle sit on the same ground in different… dimensions. I think, since the Mirror is in the Arbiter’s Grounds, which are in the Desert, which is in the west, we’ll probably end up in the Haned Woods. From there, I can transport us closer to the Palace.”
“And Franz and Navi will guard the exit, like we planned yesterday. …May I tell them, now?”
“Yeah. I’m going to… go sit over here.”
“Come back when you’re ready.”
Chapter 12: Cuccoos Coming Home to Roost