CHAPTER 16: THE FIFTH ORDONIAN
(unrevised)
_After Link had returned to Gor Coron, he spent an hour receiving their
thanks and requests to tell of his journey within their mines. Though he
was battered and fatigued, Link recounted the events, leaving out only
certain details … such as what had happened to their sacred treasure. In
Link’s silence at the question of whether it had been left intact, the
Gorons read his expression falsely, believing that his reluctance to
reply was due to his shame in its destruction. Link let them believe so,
for it was in their best interests that they not know he was collecting
the ancient treasures....
By the time that Link was able to politely pry himself from the Gorons’ presence, he was ready to collapse, but he refused to allow his exhaustion best in. He thought it would insult the Goron tribe.
As Gor Coron and several others dived into the mines to retrieve Darbus, Link stepped outside.
Evening had dawned, spectral colors skipping through the skies above. Link sat on the ledge, collecting his strength to descend the mountain. Why can’t they escort me back down? he chuckled to himself. With a wearied suspiration, he looked across the rocky range. He had not appreciated the beauty of the mountains until now … when all was settled, calm. The threat was over and it was then that Link saw the reflection of sky beating peacefully against every peak and mountainside.
But there is but one last Fused Shadow to be found, he reminded himself.
It was time to move on.
Link hummed as he gathered himself up. He took one last look at the mountains below. So many provinces that I have never ventured to, he mused. I have saved this mountain country from darkness, and I cannot even spare time to explore its great wonder. I suppose it’ll be like this everywhere I go.
He spun on his heel to leave. “But I’ll come back to see a sunset like this again … when it’s all over....”
===============
Night reigned when Link had finally escaped the mountains to enter Kakariko Village once again. His limbs were shaking with pain, and his shoulder injury had worsened. The sight of the familiar village brought a smile to his face.
Luda ran down from the porch of the nearest house to welcome him back, however, frowned once she saw his battered face and singed clothing. “Come, my father wished to see you the moment you returned.”
She led him to the two-story home and quickly ushered him inside. Link made an effort not to wince when she accidentally and unknowingly rubbed up against his sore hip when entering the house. “Father!” she called up the stairs as she and Link ascended them.
Renado peeked out of the room that Link had left Colin and met them at the stairs. If the shaman was alarmed at Link’s bloodied and burned appearance, he did well to mask his concern. “Link, Colin woke a few hours ago and wanted to speak to you. He said it was important.”
“Thank you,” said Link, and he brushed past, and without catching himself, he brought a hand up to his chest in an attempt to lessen the beating pain that thumped against his ribs. Renado and Luda watched as he disappeared into the room, concerned.
As soon as Link entered the room, Colin—who had been lying down in bed—hurled the covers from his body and ran to Link. Disregarding his own discomfort, Link knelt down to catch the boy when his weak legs forfeited their support. “Are you all right?” asked Link.
Colin looked up at him, and thought the bruises of his capture still spotted his face, he was more pained at seeing Link’s battered appearance than his own discolorations. “What happened to you?”
But Link smiled, even as a trail of blood slipped out the corner of his mouth and drizzled down his chin—the aftermath of one of Darbus’s rather brutal hits. “Don’t you worry about me.” Link helped Colin to his feet and they seated themselves beside one another on the edge of the bed. “Now—”
“It’s about Ilia,” burst Colin.
Link’s head snapped to the side, looking directly at the boy. “What about Ilia? Do you know where she was taken?” His heart roared.
“Those monsters left me with the other kids,” started Colin, “but Ilia … all I know is that they headed north.”
Link looked from Colin to his scratched fingers, their flesh burnt slightly from the task of reshaping his boots.
“Whenever I thought I couldn’t go on,” Link heard the boy saying, “I would think of you and Ilia and hold on.” Colin took a breath. “Do you remember what I told you back in Ordon, Link?”
Link grinned. “That when you grow up, you’re going to be just like me.” Yet his smirk faded. But look at me; I don’t want you to be like this. I don’t want to see you hurt.
“So, you don’t have to worry about me anymore, Link. I’m fine now.” Link returned his gaze to Rusl’s son and to his surprise saw a reflection of himself. Colin’s blue eyes seemed as fierce and as strong, and his golden locks framed his face in lines of bravery. The innocent boy within Colin had disappeared.
Link assured himself that Colin indeed was safe without his protection, and his trust in Colin’s abilities and unwillingness to lie defeated gave to Link the kind of strength that he himself needed, for though Link’s body sat in a deep and painful exhaustion, seeing Colin’s hopeful twin oceans enabled him to pick himself up. As Link brought himself to stand, he kept the smarting ache in his hip at bay. He refused to stagger before the son of the blacksmith.
“When next I return to Kakariko,” said Link, his eyes burning with the abated distress in his heart, “it will be with Ilia.”
Colin stared up at him, sad yet hopeful.
Link, however, could not bear another mention of Ilia. The pain he would feel if he could not find her … if he would end up shattering his promise....
He left the room without another word or glance toward Colin, the boy who had always been like a little brother to him. Link heard Colin squeeze himself back under his covers to sleep through the night, and when Link knew that he was alone, he leaned against the wall at the top of the stairs and winced, holding back a bellow of torment. His shoulder pulsed madly, his hip raged frantically, and his chest heaved painfully. His face, burnt by the lava’s heat as if it had been the sun itself and scratched along the chin, cheeks, and temples, seemed to scream its own callous song, humming inside his nerves like the constant vibrations of the cranes inside the mines.
Renado then appeared at the top of the stair case and looked apprehensively toward the drooped frame of Link. The young warrior immediately tried to right himself. “I did not think it wise for you enter the mountain pass those days ago,” began Renado, “but I misjudged you then.” The shaman fell into a reverie, and a smile caught his lips. “In Hyrule, countless tales are told of the ancient hero … and your deeds bring them all to mind. But even heroes need help sometimes … and rest.”
Link smiled, his mouth cracking through the blood dripping down his chin. Renado looked toward the door of Colin’s room. “You have so many demands upon you now, Link, and I think it is your destiny to help this land. Do not let the fates of the children trouble you. I will watch over them. I swear it.
“For now, however,” the shaman said, turning back to Link, “you must cleanse your wounds and take a day of rest.” Renado’s lips broadened. “Come, I’ll take you to the hot springs above the village.”
Link had no strength left to thank the shaman, showing his gratefulness by accepting his help out of the house and up a rocky path of the mountain village. And when they reached the hot spring, Luda sat waiting, bandages, towels, and mashed herbs at her feet. The young girl helped Link in removing his weapons and belts as her father began sorting through the bowls of medicine.
Once Link had stripped down to his white leggings, he blissfully sank into the deep waters of the spring. Steam rushed over him as he submerged himself to the neck, sitting on a rocky ledge in the water. He wiped away the blood clinging to his mouth and chin and leaned his head back onto the edge above the water.
Renado dabbed two fingers into a medicine bowl and leaned over Link. He chuckled softly when he realized that Link had fallen asleep.
However, it was no light matter. The shaman’s grin disappeared. Link, a hero of the time, had tired by the end of one day within the mines of the Goron tribe, and he had sustained such brutal injuries. Surely there were far worse situations into which the young warrior would be cast, and he feared that Link’s path would lead him into a corner, that the youth who had saved Kakariko Village and purged the rage of the Gorons would one day enter a fight that he would not be able to win. The thought sent shivers down the shaman’s spine.
Would Link, the heroic youth from Ordon, suffer at the hands of the gods? Suffer the very fate from which he tried to save so many?
A half hour later, they moved Link and his weapons to Renado’s room. And as Luda took the soldier’s garments and set to work mending them, the shaman visited the sanctuary … where he prayed to the gods.
===============
Link woke to Malo and Colin sitting at his bedside. The former was holding Link’s bow and ogling over its intricate carvings. The latter ran out of the room yelling something that resembled “He’s awake!” Groaning, Link tried to pull himself up and lean on the wall that the bed was propped against. His body bare save for the blankets that covered his lower half, he looked over himself. A bandage still concealed the wound to his shoulder, but other than that, all the pain his injuries had caused him had seemed to vanish.
He looked up at Renado when the shaman entered the room, Colin standing at his side. “How long have I—?”
“Nearly two days. But it was rest well needed,” Renado added at Link’s expression.
“I need to be going. Where are my clothes?”
“Here,” the shaman said, pointing to a chair that had all his articles draped over its back, his gauntlets, belts, and hat relaxing in the seat, and his boots bowing against a leg. “My daughter tried to mend your clothes as best she could.” Renado looked to the boys then, “Come along, Colin, Malo.”
But as Malo set Link’s bow onto the bed, he whispered, “Where did you get this? Can you really shoot it? How far off can you hit a target? Can you show Talo and me?” Link was glad to see this side of Malo again, for the last time he had seen the boy was when he had given Link the Hylian shield—and within Malo’s mart, he could hardly pass as a boy with the way he conducted himself.
Yet before Link could answer, Renado hushed him and prodded him out. Link gave the boys a wink as they turned from the room. He then climbed out of the bed and examined his clothes. His white and green clothes still bore their black marks, but they had been stitched so that the holes were no more. His hat still bore its scorch mark. Link shrugged and began dressing.
===============
Kakariko village was a much different place as Link surveyed it, stepping out of the shadow of Renado’s doorstep. Some of the mountain tribe had come down from their lands and were clogging the thoroughfare of the town. Link noticed Gor Liggs himself sitting comfortably and meditating on the Malo Mart porch. Another Goron had its arms around quite a large crate, entering Barnes’s house and shop. Curious, Link followed.
Inside Barnes’s house the Goron clambered up the winding stairs to the right on Barnes’s order. Barnes, standing on the opposite side of a counter, loaded tiny round balls from a pail and into a shelf. Obviously, the paranoid man felt eyes staring at his back, and he turned around to face Link.
“Oh!” Barnes was immediately flustered. The bumbling man apparently knew what the young hero thought of him—the village idiot. But Link simply thought of him as nothing else than a coward, an often times amusing one at that. “Renado told me how you persuaded the Gorons, and well—ahem—I suppose I should thank you,” he said, trying to act professional in his haste to get rid of Link so that he did not feel so embarrassed. “When the Gorons wouldn’t have anything to do with us, I had nothing left. My business is run out of the ore they bring down, you see.” A glimmer of childish enthusiasm flickered in his eyes. “Would you” —he held up one of the orbs— “care for a demonstration?”
Link, unsure what the sphere was even supposed to be used for, had no say in the matter, Barnes leading him up the staircase and out an elevated back door before Link could respond—or even consider the question.
Barnes placed the tiny ball next to a boulder, lit a frail cord on fire, and ran back inside the house. Link, squinting at the device and dwindling string, did not know what the function of this object could be, and its inaction befuddled him. Only when Barnes yanked him back, swearing under his breath, did he realize that it was supposed to be dangerous. Link could not see how it could possibly be--
Debris was hurled at the door and as a booming rattle filled his ears so loudly that he clamped his hands over them. Directly where the sphere had been situated, a cloud of dust rose into the air and expanded outward with the moving breeze. After the brown haze cleared, Link observed that the boulder had disappeared and a mild crater had indented the ground where the ball had been. He turned to Barnes, who only giggled wildly.
“What—?” Link started.
“A bomb!” answered the lanky man. “And I have plenty more.”
Barnes led him back down to the lower level, smiling insanely to himself. He loaded three of the bombs into a small sack and handed it to Link. “A gift,” said Barnes irritably. “But if you ever want more, they won’t be free of charge!”
Understanding the abrupt dismissal, Link took his leave of the bomb maker’s shop, only halfway regretting he had entered in the first place. The new weapons might serve him well on his journey. He tucked the sack into the pouch on the back of his belt. Looking up, he saw Renado and the children exiting the sanctuary and house. Link reached them before they reached the thick of the crowded street.
“May the graces of the great goddesses who shaped Hyrule bear you on your way,” said Renado as he bowed. Oddly, the shaman seemed wiser than before he had been when Link had fallen asleep two days ago. Link wondered why the man’s eyes sparkled with a keener understanding, but shoved it off when he looked to the faces of the children.
A wordless farewell lodged itself between them, and only Talo broke the silence with a whisper. “So … can you really shoot that bow? How about that pole on top the lookout tower?”
Beth elbowed him and he fell silent, yet hopeful. She looked up at Link with large, admiring eyes.
Link passed on his thanks to Renado and Luda and a short goodbye to the children. He hated goodbyes and hoped that he would never have to suffer through one more terrible than his abrupt and violent farewell to Ilia.
He whistled for Epona with her favorite six notes and leapt into the saddle from behind when she galloped past without skidding to a stop. Link did not turn in his seat to wave but removed his bow from its case and shot an arrow for the pole atop the tower. It struck its target at its very tip and wobbled at the sudden stop.
Link smiled when he heard the jubilant screams of Malo and Talo behind him.
===============
Link and Epona traveled through the familiar territory of the field north of the village quickly, Link tossing his gaze about the surroundings often, watching for any sign of an ambush.
Epona broke through the shattered pile of burnt wood and galloped at her mightiest speed. It seemed she, too, wished to find Ilia. Yet as they crossed the middle of the bridge, Link felt a strange bump at his back. He brought Epona to a halt and lifted a hand to his backside. The pouch had become lighter, and he fearfully turned about, spotting one of the small bombs rolling and bouncing backward across the bridge. It struck the stone upside-down and its fuse began dwindling, ignited by the hit.
Eyes wide, Link froze, panicked.
“What are you doing?” shouted Midna. “MOVE!”
Just as the bomb exploded, Link slapped his horse’s reins and outraced the detonation which now crumbled the bridge. When Link passed the archway that signified the end of the bridge, he halted Epona and turned her about partway. The entire elevated path no longer existed, the bomb having caused instability in the whole. The bridge was now bits of stone and powder that descended into the abyss below.
He looked away, wincing, to see the blackened face of Midna. Her arms were crossed. “You are honestly the clumsiest hero I have ever met.”
Shoving off her remark, Link continued on his path. He would concern himself on how to return to Kakariko once had found Ilia.
Link passed through the grey-stoned surroundings quickly, searching for signs of the twilight barrier that surely existed on the border of the Lanayru province, and after crossing a short wooden bridge and dispatching the bulblin guard that brandished its weapon, Link spotted the orange-tinted blackness that rose up from the ground, encasing the land beyond in a dark terror.
He dismounted Epona and told her to find a way back to Kakariko. He then approached the wall of dark flames.
“Ah, finally here,” breathed Midna at Link’s side, her one red eye staring into the tumultuous haze. “Only one Fused Shadow left. So, this is … the last of the twilight you’ll see, I guess….” A slight quiet came over her words, a soft farewell to the unnatural darkness preparing itself within her. Yet, all of a sudden, the Midna that Link knew resurfaced, the bold and selfish side. “Whether or not you accomplish your final task and survive is up to you.”
Link could barely see her arms fold when she turned to him. “So, shall we enter the twilight?”
Hesitation did not exist anymore. Link nodded, and braced his body for the coming mutilation.
===============
The crunching torture of the transformation never dwindled in power, yet the act in itself Link had come to no longer fear. If it had not been the wish of the gods for him to mutate into the beastly creature, he would have been like all else in the foreboding darkness, a wandering, lost spirit to forever drift through life in the fear of unknowing. His back buckled and broke and reformed in a more prominent arch and he felt the teeth within his mouth stretch. All his garments and accessories became extensions of his body, and a furry coat of grey, black, and silvery white grew at an accelerated rate from these additions as well as from his now quite tanned flesh.
Standing upon his four legs, it took him less time to recuperate from the trauma than the two previous metamorphoses. Midna had watched his changing body, and Link, this time, caught a trace of emotion in her eye when he looked to her. The instant she knew he was watching her she clouded her feelings and narrowed her eye in her usual half-snarl. To dismiss the subject further she hopped onto his backside, prodding him along.
Link followed her unvoiced instruction and tried to ignore the sparkle that he had seen within Midna. She had seemed almost … human. Sympathetic. Sad. And Link sensed something else. She had looked at him so sorrowfully, so guiltily, as if … she were responsible somehow. Midna was now bothered by how he had to suffer; he could nearly be certain of it. But even if he asked her she would never resign to her hidden truths.
However, her bond with the twilight was strong for some reason, and perhaps it was this struggle that pained her when she had looked at him. Whether she valued Link more than the unnatural darkness of which she had been so fond even before they had met. Which attachment was stronger within her?
Link had a sinking feeling that one day, either soon or quite distant, that Midna would have to choose one or the other…. And when that day came … where would her loyalty lie?
“What a shame that this is the last of the twilight. I had become so fond of seeing it covering this world....” Midna murmured. Perhaps it was her own cruel version of hope that she added, “Or is it really the last time we’ll see it?” It seemed she forced herself to laugh, for it did not sound as unforgiving as most of her chuckles.
Yes, the twilight held a special place within Midna. Why, Link could not even begin to guess.
But he set all his thoughts aside when he tripped over a rock in the road. On his animal instinct, he barked at it after righting himself, yet there was something peculiar about this rock. It was not ordinary for stones to be shaped that way. Closer inspection revealed a tiny leather pouch, one that smelled of fresh hay and the wildflowers outside Ilia’s window.
Ilia!
The pouch belonged to Ilia.
… Link, can you promise me this? …don’t try to do anything out of your league.... Just come home safely...
He could hear her words so clearly, see her so perfectly. That warm smile.... Her gentle, caring embrace....
“You smell that girl, don’t you?” said Midna knowingly. “But remember, this scent could be quite old.”
Link shook free of his memories, ignoring all chances that he would be led to a dead end, and set down on his path, registering her scent within his nostrils and following the trail that would lead him to Ilia, the fifth and last Ordonian who had been taken.
===============
Even though they were merely spirits of glowing green who were unable to be heard unless Link strained his ears, Link awed at the sight of all the inhabitants in what Midna had called Hyrule Castle Town. That, however, Link could have deduced on his own, for the castle in which he had met Zelda loomed behind the city.
Sight-seeing, though, was not why Link had entered the town. Ilia’s scent led him down many a tight roads, and he ignored the bobbing green lights as they traveled about their day, obviously unaware of the gravity of their circumstance.
Finally, after stepping out of a Hylian guard’s way, Link came to a house built into the same wall as the houses beside it, just as most of the houses in Castle Town had been constructed. Link read the sign beside the partly open door which proclaimed the premises as Telma’s Bar.
Link entered, his skin crawling with a nervous tickle.
Off to the right, a bar stretched the length of the wall; and to his left slept an oddly proportioned, blue-skinned boy whose breath came in rasps as he lay upon a makeshift bed made of boxes. At his side was who Link guessed was the barkeep and—did his eyes deceive him? After all these days....
Ilia sat right in front of him.
Link stepped up to her, and barked … but Ilia could not hear him; she continued to stare at the boy. “This boy,” said Ilia, and her soft voice resounded in his ears. He wanted to store the hum of her voice within him forever. “Can you save him?”
Link had not truly understood the seriousness of her query until the barkeep answered, and he was pulled violently from his yearnings. “All right, little lady, try to settle down,” the plump woman was saying. “I’ve sent for the doctor. But this is strange.” Her brow furrowed. “A child of the Zoras.... I wonder if this is all related to the incident the soldiers were talking about in the back.”
A Zora child? Incident? Perhaps all this had been the work of the last Fused Shadow. Link half wished he could stay with Ilia; his other half willed him to do something about their situation. Ilia could neither hear nor see him, and yet he supposed it was better that way for now. He did not wish to frighten her in his current state of appearance. Besides, she seemed well enough. This Zora child did not. His judgment forced him into action, and he sprang from them and bounded into the midst of the soldiers Telma had mentioned.
“We’ve had many complaints from the citizens who cannot send prayers to the spirit spring of Lake Hylia,” the commanding officer was saying to his second-in-command. “And we have received orders to investigate why the spring is inaccessible. Understood?”
“Yessir!” shouted the second-in-command and the four others lined with him.
Link did not linger to overhear anything more. He glanced at the map pressed out on the nearest table and located the lake, memorizing the location and how to get there. He then turned tail and headed for the door, sending one last look toward the downcast Ilia.
===============
As per his memory’s orders, Link left Castle Town through its west exit and followed the westward path of the field toward Lake Hylia. They met no resistance along the way, and Link thought it odd, seeing as though the soldiers had said that no one could reach the spirit spring that was supposedly located on the lake. If dark creatures were not the problem, then…?
Link approached the famed Great Bridge of Hylia that had withstood generations of erosion. Midna leapt off his back and walked along it. Link watched her for a moment. He could not remember ever seeing her use her feet; she had always hovered above him or simply stood. It found it strangely entertaining the way the movement made her head and helm wobble.
She looked over the edge of the tall sides of the bridge. “Hmm, long way down.” She raised a dark brow, “Is this what passes for a lake here?”
But Link caught wind of an acrid smell and looked to the floor of the bridge. What looked like blackish liquid was spread all over the stones from one end of the path to the other. Link barked, but Midna only frowned at him. Growling, he ran for her. But he was only halfway toward her when an archer on the other side shot a flaming shaft at them. Midna ducked and it fell to the blackness. It was then that she realized their situation.
A flare leapt up from the drop point and identical fires spread out from it, beginning to engulf the entire bridge in flame, yet though the bridge itself was made of stone and would not be destroyed, Link and Midna were soon cornered, more fiery arrows sailing to the ground. “Oh no! We’re trapped!” she gasped.
When at last Link finally reached Midna, he thrust his snout between her legs and pushed up on her buttocks, bumping her up into the air. He nudged forward slightly, and when Midna came crashing back down she landed roughly on his back. Without retort, she grabbed onto his fur and watched the fires close in on them.
Link did not fancy the thought of burning alive and, in Midna’s panic, did not rely on her to find a solution.
There was only one chance they had at survival, and he did not hesitate; he prayed.
He felt Midna hug him round the neck and heard her prolonged scream of “Are you insane?” as Link leapt from the edge of the Great Bridge of Hylia.
By the time that Link was able to politely pry himself from the Gorons’ presence, he was ready to collapse, but he refused to allow his exhaustion best in. He thought it would insult the Goron tribe.
As Gor Coron and several others dived into the mines to retrieve Darbus, Link stepped outside.
Evening had dawned, spectral colors skipping through the skies above. Link sat on the ledge, collecting his strength to descend the mountain. Why can’t they escort me back down? he chuckled to himself. With a wearied suspiration, he looked across the rocky range. He had not appreciated the beauty of the mountains until now … when all was settled, calm. The threat was over and it was then that Link saw the reflection of sky beating peacefully against every peak and mountainside.
But there is but one last Fused Shadow to be found, he reminded himself.
It was time to move on.
Link hummed as he gathered himself up. He took one last look at the mountains below. So many provinces that I have never ventured to, he mused. I have saved this mountain country from darkness, and I cannot even spare time to explore its great wonder. I suppose it’ll be like this everywhere I go.
He spun on his heel to leave. “But I’ll come back to see a sunset like this again … when it’s all over....”
===============
Night reigned when Link had finally escaped the mountains to enter Kakariko Village once again. His limbs were shaking with pain, and his shoulder injury had worsened. The sight of the familiar village brought a smile to his face.
Luda ran down from the porch of the nearest house to welcome him back, however, frowned once she saw his battered face and singed clothing. “Come, my father wished to see you the moment you returned.”
She led him to the two-story home and quickly ushered him inside. Link made an effort not to wince when she accidentally and unknowingly rubbed up against his sore hip when entering the house. “Father!” she called up the stairs as she and Link ascended them.
Renado peeked out of the room that Link had left Colin and met them at the stairs. If the shaman was alarmed at Link’s bloodied and burned appearance, he did well to mask his concern. “Link, Colin woke a few hours ago and wanted to speak to you. He said it was important.”
“Thank you,” said Link, and he brushed past, and without catching himself, he brought a hand up to his chest in an attempt to lessen the beating pain that thumped against his ribs. Renado and Luda watched as he disappeared into the room, concerned.
As soon as Link entered the room, Colin—who had been lying down in bed—hurled the covers from his body and ran to Link. Disregarding his own discomfort, Link knelt down to catch the boy when his weak legs forfeited their support. “Are you all right?” asked Link.
Colin looked up at him, and thought the bruises of his capture still spotted his face, he was more pained at seeing Link’s battered appearance than his own discolorations. “What happened to you?”
But Link smiled, even as a trail of blood slipped out the corner of his mouth and drizzled down his chin—the aftermath of one of Darbus’s rather brutal hits. “Don’t you worry about me.” Link helped Colin to his feet and they seated themselves beside one another on the edge of the bed. “Now—”
“It’s about Ilia,” burst Colin.
Link’s head snapped to the side, looking directly at the boy. “What about Ilia? Do you know where she was taken?” His heart roared.
“Those monsters left me with the other kids,” started Colin, “but Ilia … all I know is that they headed north.”
Link looked from Colin to his scratched fingers, their flesh burnt slightly from the task of reshaping his boots.
“Whenever I thought I couldn’t go on,” Link heard the boy saying, “I would think of you and Ilia and hold on.” Colin took a breath. “Do you remember what I told you back in Ordon, Link?”
Link grinned. “That when you grow up, you’re going to be just like me.” Yet his smirk faded. But look at me; I don’t want you to be like this. I don’t want to see you hurt.
“So, you don’t have to worry about me anymore, Link. I’m fine now.” Link returned his gaze to Rusl’s son and to his surprise saw a reflection of himself. Colin’s blue eyes seemed as fierce and as strong, and his golden locks framed his face in lines of bravery. The innocent boy within Colin had disappeared.
Link assured himself that Colin indeed was safe without his protection, and his trust in Colin’s abilities and unwillingness to lie defeated gave to Link the kind of strength that he himself needed, for though Link’s body sat in a deep and painful exhaustion, seeing Colin’s hopeful twin oceans enabled him to pick himself up. As Link brought himself to stand, he kept the smarting ache in his hip at bay. He refused to stagger before the son of the blacksmith.
“When next I return to Kakariko,” said Link, his eyes burning with the abated distress in his heart, “it will be with Ilia.”
Colin stared up at him, sad yet hopeful.
Link, however, could not bear another mention of Ilia. The pain he would feel if he could not find her … if he would end up shattering his promise....
He left the room without another word or glance toward Colin, the boy who had always been like a little brother to him. Link heard Colin squeeze himself back under his covers to sleep through the night, and when Link knew that he was alone, he leaned against the wall at the top of the stairs and winced, holding back a bellow of torment. His shoulder pulsed madly, his hip raged frantically, and his chest heaved painfully. His face, burnt by the lava’s heat as if it had been the sun itself and scratched along the chin, cheeks, and temples, seemed to scream its own callous song, humming inside his nerves like the constant vibrations of the cranes inside the mines.
Renado then appeared at the top of the stair case and looked apprehensively toward the drooped frame of Link. The young warrior immediately tried to right himself. “I did not think it wise for you enter the mountain pass those days ago,” began Renado, “but I misjudged you then.” The shaman fell into a reverie, and a smile caught his lips. “In Hyrule, countless tales are told of the ancient hero … and your deeds bring them all to mind. But even heroes need help sometimes … and rest.”
Link smiled, his mouth cracking through the blood dripping down his chin. Renado looked toward the door of Colin’s room. “You have so many demands upon you now, Link, and I think it is your destiny to help this land. Do not let the fates of the children trouble you. I will watch over them. I swear it.
“For now, however,” the shaman said, turning back to Link, “you must cleanse your wounds and take a day of rest.” Renado’s lips broadened. “Come, I’ll take you to the hot springs above the village.”
Link had no strength left to thank the shaman, showing his gratefulness by accepting his help out of the house and up a rocky path of the mountain village. And when they reached the hot spring, Luda sat waiting, bandages, towels, and mashed herbs at her feet. The young girl helped Link in removing his weapons and belts as her father began sorting through the bowls of medicine.
Once Link had stripped down to his white leggings, he blissfully sank into the deep waters of the spring. Steam rushed over him as he submerged himself to the neck, sitting on a rocky ledge in the water. He wiped away the blood clinging to his mouth and chin and leaned his head back onto the edge above the water.
Renado dabbed two fingers into a medicine bowl and leaned over Link. He chuckled softly when he realized that Link had fallen asleep.
However, it was no light matter. The shaman’s grin disappeared. Link, a hero of the time, had tired by the end of one day within the mines of the Goron tribe, and he had sustained such brutal injuries. Surely there were far worse situations into which the young warrior would be cast, and he feared that Link’s path would lead him into a corner, that the youth who had saved Kakariko Village and purged the rage of the Gorons would one day enter a fight that he would not be able to win. The thought sent shivers down the shaman’s spine.
Would Link, the heroic youth from Ordon, suffer at the hands of the gods? Suffer the very fate from which he tried to save so many?
A half hour later, they moved Link and his weapons to Renado’s room. And as Luda took the soldier’s garments and set to work mending them, the shaman visited the sanctuary … where he prayed to the gods.
===============
Link woke to Malo and Colin sitting at his bedside. The former was holding Link’s bow and ogling over its intricate carvings. The latter ran out of the room yelling something that resembled “He’s awake!” Groaning, Link tried to pull himself up and lean on the wall that the bed was propped against. His body bare save for the blankets that covered his lower half, he looked over himself. A bandage still concealed the wound to his shoulder, but other than that, all the pain his injuries had caused him had seemed to vanish.
He looked up at Renado when the shaman entered the room, Colin standing at his side. “How long have I—?”
“Nearly two days. But it was rest well needed,” Renado added at Link’s expression.
“I need to be going. Where are my clothes?”
“Here,” the shaman said, pointing to a chair that had all his articles draped over its back, his gauntlets, belts, and hat relaxing in the seat, and his boots bowing against a leg. “My daughter tried to mend your clothes as best she could.” Renado looked to the boys then, “Come along, Colin, Malo.”
But as Malo set Link’s bow onto the bed, he whispered, “Where did you get this? Can you really shoot it? How far off can you hit a target? Can you show Talo and me?” Link was glad to see this side of Malo again, for the last time he had seen the boy was when he had given Link the Hylian shield—and within Malo’s mart, he could hardly pass as a boy with the way he conducted himself.
Yet before Link could answer, Renado hushed him and prodded him out. Link gave the boys a wink as they turned from the room. He then climbed out of the bed and examined his clothes. His white and green clothes still bore their black marks, but they had been stitched so that the holes were no more. His hat still bore its scorch mark. Link shrugged and began dressing.
===============
Kakariko village was a much different place as Link surveyed it, stepping out of the shadow of Renado’s doorstep. Some of the mountain tribe had come down from their lands and were clogging the thoroughfare of the town. Link noticed Gor Liggs himself sitting comfortably and meditating on the Malo Mart porch. Another Goron had its arms around quite a large crate, entering Barnes’s house and shop. Curious, Link followed.
Inside Barnes’s house the Goron clambered up the winding stairs to the right on Barnes’s order. Barnes, standing on the opposite side of a counter, loaded tiny round balls from a pail and into a shelf. Obviously, the paranoid man felt eyes staring at his back, and he turned around to face Link.
“Oh!” Barnes was immediately flustered. The bumbling man apparently knew what the young hero thought of him—the village idiot. But Link simply thought of him as nothing else than a coward, an often times amusing one at that. “Renado told me how you persuaded the Gorons, and well—ahem—I suppose I should thank you,” he said, trying to act professional in his haste to get rid of Link so that he did not feel so embarrassed. “When the Gorons wouldn’t have anything to do with us, I had nothing left. My business is run out of the ore they bring down, you see.” A glimmer of childish enthusiasm flickered in his eyes. “Would you” —he held up one of the orbs— “care for a demonstration?”
Link, unsure what the sphere was even supposed to be used for, had no say in the matter, Barnes leading him up the staircase and out an elevated back door before Link could respond—or even consider the question.
Barnes placed the tiny ball next to a boulder, lit a frail cord on fire, and ran back inside the house. Link, squinting at the device and dwindling string, did not know what the function of this object could be, and its inaction befuddled him. Only when Barnes yanked him back, swearing under his breath, did he realize that it was supposed to be dangerous. Link could not see how it could possibly be--
Debris was hurled at the door and as a booming rattle filled his ears so loudly that he clamped his hands over them. Directly where the sphere had been situated, a cloud of dust rose into the air and expanded outward with the moving breeze. After the brown haze cleared, Link observed that the boulder had disappeared and a mild crater had indented the ground where the ball had been. He turned to Barnes, who only giggled wildly.
“What—?” Link started.
“A bomb!” answered the lanky man. “And I have plenty more.”
Barnes led him back down to the lower level, smiling insanely to himself. He loaded three of the bombs into a small sack and handed it to Link. “A gift,” said Barnes irritably. “But if you ever want more, they won’t be free of charge!”
Understanding the abrupt dismissal, Link took his leave of the bomb maker’s shop, only halfway regretting he had entered in the first place. The new weapons might serve him well on his journey. He tucked the sack into the pouch on the back of his belt. Looking up, he saw Renado and the children exiting the sanctuary and house. Link reached them before they reached the thick of the crowded street.
“May the graces of the great goddesses who shaped Hyrule bear you on your way,” said Renado as he bowed. Oddly, the shaman seemed wiser than before he had been when Link had fallen asleep two days ago. Link wondered why the man’s eyes sparkled with a keener understanding, but shoved it off when he looked to the faces of the children.
A wordless farewell lodged itself between them, and only Talo broke the silence with a whisper. “So … can you really shoot that bow? How about that pole on top the lookout tower?”
Beth elbowed him and he fell silent, yet hopeful. She looked up at Link with large, admiring eyes.
Link passed on his thanks to Renado and Luda and a short goodbye to the children. He hated goodbyes and hoped that he would never have to suffer through one more terrible than his abrupt and violent farewell to Ilia.
He whistled for Epona with her favorite six notes and leapt into the saddle from behind when she galloped past without skidding to a stop. Link did not turn in his seat to wave but removed his bow from its case and shot an arrow for the pole atop the tower. It struck its target at its very tip and wobbled at the sudden stop.
Link smiled when he heard the jubilant screams of Malo and Talo behind him.
===============
Link and Epona traveled through the familiar territory of the field north of the village quickly, Link tossing his gaze about the surroundings often, watching for any sign of an ambush.
Epona broke through the shattered pile of burnt wood and galloped at her mightiest speed. It seemed she, too, wished to find Ilia. Yet as they crossed the middle of the bridge, Link felt a strange bump at his back. He brought Epona to a halt and lifted a hand to his backside. The pouch had become lighter, and he fearfully turned about, spotting one of the small bombs rolling and bouncing backward across the bridge. It struck the stone upside-down and its fuse began dwindling, ignited by the hit.
Eyes wide, Link froze, panicked.
“What are you doing?” shouted Midna. “MOVE!”
Just as the bomb exploded, Link slapped his horse’s reins and outraced the detonation which now crumbled the bridge. When Link passed the archway that signified the end of the bridge, he halted Epona and turned her about partway. The entire elevated path no longer existed, the bomb having caused instability in the whole. The bridge was now bits of stone and powder that descended into the abyss below.
He looked away, wincing, to see the blackened face of Midna. Her arms were crossed. “You are honestly the clumsiest hero I have ever met.”
Shoving off her remark, Link continued on his path. He would concern himself on how to return to Kakariko once had found Ilia.
Link passed through the grey-stoned surroundings quickly, searching for signs of the twilight barrier that surely existed on the border of the Lanayru province, and after crossing a short wooden bridge and dispatching the bulblin guard that brandished its weapon, Link spotted the orange-tinted blackness that rose up from the ground, encasing the land beyond in a dark terror.
He dismounted Epona and told her to find a way back to Kakariko. He then approached the wall of dark flames.
“Ah, finally here,” breathed Midna at Link’s side, her one red eye staring into the tumultuous haze. “Only one Fused Shadow left. So, this is … the last of the twilight you’ll see, I guess….” A slight quiet came over her words, a soft farewell to the unnatural darkness preparing itself within her. Yet, all of a sudden, the Midna that Link knew resurfaced, the bold and selfish side. “Whether or not you accomplish your final task and survive is up to you.”
Link could barely see her arms fold when she turned to him. “So, shall we enter the twilight?”
Hesitation did not exist anymore. Link nodded, and braced his body for the coming mutilation.
===============
The crunching torture of the transformation never dwindled in power, yet the act in itself Link had come to no longer fear. If it had not been the wish of the gods for him to mutate into the beastly creature, he would have been like all else in the foreboding darkness, a wandering, lost spirit to forever drift through life in the fear of unknowing. His back buckled and broke and reformed in a more prominent arch and he felt the teeth within his mouth stretch. All his garments and accessories became extensions of his body, and a furry coat of grey, black, and silvery white grew at an accelerated rate from these additions as well as from his now quite tanned flesh.
Standing upon his four legs, it took him less time to recuperate from the trauma than the two previous metamorphoses. Midna had watched his changing body, and Link, this time, caught a trace of emotion in her eye when he looked to her. The instant she knew he was watching her she clouded her feelings and narrowed her eye in her usual half-snarl. To dismiss the subject further she hopped onto his backside, prodding him along.
Link followed her unvoiced instruction and tried to ignore the sparkle that he had seen within Midna. She had seemed almost … human. Sympathetic. Sad. And Link sensed something else. She had looked at him so sorrowfully, so guiltily, as if … she were responsible somehow. Midna was now bothered by how he had to suffer; he could nearly be certain of it. But even if he asked her she would never resign to her hidden truths.
However, her bond with the twilight was strong for some reason, and perhaps it was this struggle that pained her when she had looked at him. Whether she valued Link more than the unnatural darkness of which she had been so fond even before they had met. Which attachment was stronger within her?
Link had a sinking feeling that one day, either soon or quite distant, that Midna would have to choose one or the other…. And when that day came … where would her loyalty lie?
“What a shame that this is the last of the twilight. I had become so fond of seeing it covering this world....” Midna murmured. Perhaps it was her own cruel version of hope that she added, “Or is it really the last time we’ll see it?” It seemed she forced herself to laugh, for it did not sound as unforgiving as most of her chuckles.
Yes, the twilight held a special place within Midna. Why, Link could not even begin to guess.
But he set all his thoughts aside when he tripped over a rock in the road. On his animal instinct, he barked at it after righting himself, yet there was something peculiar about this rock. It was not ordinary for stones to be shaped that way. Closer inspection revealed a tiny leather pouch, one that smelled of fresh hay and the wildflowers outside Ilia’s window.
Ilia!
The pouch belonged to Ilia.
… Link, can you promise me this? …don’t try to do anything out of your league.... Just come home safely...
He could hear her words so clearly, see her so perfectly. That warm smile.... Her gentle, caring embrace....
“You smell that girl, don’t you?” said Midna knowingly. “But remember, this scent could be quite old.”
Link shook free of his memories, ignoring all chances that he would be led to a dead end, and set down on his path, registering her scent within his nostrils and following the trail that would lead him to Ilia, the fifth and last Ordonian who had been taken.
===============
Even though they were merely spirits of glowing green who were unable to be heard unless Link strained his ears, Link awed at the sight of all the inhabitants in what Midna had called Hyrule Castle Town. That, however, Link could have deduced on his own, for the castle in which he had met Zelda loomed behind the city.
Sight-seeing, though, was not why Link had entered the town. Ilia’s scent led him down many a tight roads, and he ignored the bobbing green lights as they traveled about their day, obviously unaware of the gravity of their circumstance.
Finally, after stepping out of a Hylian guard’s way, Link came to a house built into the same wall as the houses beside it, just as most of the houses in Castle Town had been constructed. Link read the sign beside the partly open door which proclaimed the premises as Telma’s Bar.
Link entered, his skin crawling with a nervous tickle.
Off to the right, a bar stretched the length of the wall; and to his left slept an oddly proportioned, blue-skinned boy whose breath came in rasps as he lay upon a makeshift bed made of boxes. At his side was who Link guessed was the barkeep and—did his eyes deceive him? After all these days....
Ilia sat right in front of him.
Link stepped up to her, and barked … but Ilia could not hear him; she continued to stare at the boy. “This boy,” said Ilia, and her soft voice resounded in his ears. He wanted to store the hum of her voice within him forever. “Can you save him?”
Link had not truly understood the seriousness of her query until the barkeep answered, and he was pulled violently from his yearnings. “All right, little lady, try to settle down,” the plump woman was saying. “I’ve sent for the doctor. But this is strange.” Her brow furrowed. “A child of the Zoras.... I wonder if this is all related to the incident the soldiers were talking about in the back.”
A Zora child? Incident? Perhaps all this had been the work of the last Fused Shadow. Link half wished he could stay with Ilia; his other half willed him to do something about their situation. Ilia could neither hear nor see him, and yet he supposed it was better that way for now. He did not wish to frighten her in his current state of appearance. Besides, she seemed well enough. This Zora child did not. His judgment forced him into action, and he sprang from them and bounded into the midst of the soldiers Telma had mentioned.
“We’ve had many complaints from the citizens who cannot send prayers to the spirit spring of Lake Hylia,” the commanding officer was saying to his second-in-command. “And we have received orders to investigate why the spring is inaccessible. Understood?”
“Yessir!” shouted the second-in-command and the four others lined with him.
Link did not linger to overhear anything more. He glanced at the map pressed out on the nearest table and located the lake, memorizing the location and how to get there. He then turned tail and headed for the door, sending one last look toward the downcast Ilia.
===============
As per his memory’s orders, Link left Castle Town through its west exit and followed the westward path of the field toward Lake Hylia. They met no resistance along the way, and Link thought it odd, seeing as though the soldiers had said that no one could reach the spirit spring that was supposedly located on the lake. If dark creatures were not the problem, then…?
Link approached the famed Great Bridge of Hylia that had withstood generations of erosion. Midna leapt off his back and walked along it. Link watched her for a moment. He could not remember ever seeing her use her feet; she had always hovered above him or simply stood. It found it strangely entertaining the way the movement made her head and helm wobble.
She looked over the edge of the tall sides of the bridge. “Hmm, long way down.” She raised a dark brow, “Is this what passes for a lake here?”
But Link caught wind of an acrid smell and looked to the floor of the bridge. What looked like blackish liquid was spread all over the stones from one end of the path to the other. Link barked, but Midna only frowned at him. Growling, he ran for her. But he was only halfway toward her when an archer on the other side shot a flaming shaft at them. Midna ducked and it fell to the blackness. It was then that she realized their situation.
A flare leapt up from the drop point and identical fires spread out from it, beginning to engulf the entire bridge in flame, yet though the bridge itself was made of stone and would not be destroyed, Link and Midna were soon cornered, more fiery arrows sailing to the ground. “Oh no! We’re trapped!” she gasped.
When at last Link finally reached Midna, he thrust his snout between her legs and pushed up on her buttocks, bumping her up into the air. He nudged forward slightly, and when Midna came crashing back down she landed roughly on his back. Without retort, she grabbed onto his fur and watched the fires close in on them.
Link did not fancy the thought of burning alive and, in Midna’s panic, did not rely on her to find a solution.
There was only one chance they had at survival, and he did not hesitate; he prayed.
He felt Midna hug him round the neck and heard her prolonged scream of “Are you insane?” as Link leapt from the edge of the Great Bridge of Hylia.
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REVIEWS FOR THIS CHAPTER:
~Blueninja57 Aug 22, 2007 Another amazing chapter, I liked how you expanded on the relationships Link had with everyone in this chapter, as well as the good use of foreshadowing. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
~Zenu Aug 23, 2007 Whooooooooot I LOVE Twilight Princess, and the stuff you added as well as the detail, MAKES IT ALL THE BETTER!
~ZeldaFanatic92 Sep 14, 2007 Nice foreshadowing, it really reminds me of the end (I've beaten the GC version). I also like the relationships with the other characters. Keep it up!!! If this [ever] gets published I'm going straight to the book store and buying that book!!!
!JaidenUchiha Oct 10, 2007 This is amazing. I love it, and I can imagine everything with perfect clarity. It's better than playing the game, its LIVING IT.
~UchihaLynn Jan 2, 2009 I was going to try to do this, (turning the game into a novel thingy) but I like your version much better. It's wonderful!
~Xcoinic Mar 15, 2011 You're doing great! I like the novelization, brings new light into things. And.. You're doing great on how Link... likes Ilia. That hurt my pride to type, because I sincerely loathe Ilia with a passion. Though, you do great in describing Link's... attraction to her.
~Zenu Aug 23, 2007 Whooooooooot I LOVE Twilight Princess, and the stuff you added as well as the detail, MAKES IT ALL THE BETTER!
~ZeldaFanatic92 Sep 14, 2007 Nice foreshadowing, it really reminds me of the end (I've beaten the GC version). I also like the relationships with the other characters. Keep it up!!! If this [ever] gets published I'm going straight to the book store and buying that book!!!
!JaidenUchiha Oct 10, 2007 This is amazing. I love it, and I can imagine everything with perfect clarity. It's better than playing the game, its LIVING IT.
~UchihaLynn Jan 2, 2009 I was going to try to do this, (turning the game into a novel thingy) but I like your version much better. It's wonderful!
~Xcoinic Mar 15, 2011 You're doing great! I like the novelization, brings new light into things. And.. You're doing great on how Link... likes Ilia. That hurt my pride to type, because I sincerely loathe Ilia with a passion. Though, you do great in describing Link's... attraction to her.