Chapter 14: The Desperate Battle Chapter 16: The Magic Eye
Chapter 15: The Deathful Water and Avoiding Marriage
The first thing he noticed when he woke up was that his back hurt. He had been sleeping on his scabbard.
The second thing he noticed was that all his cuts and other injuries were very painful.
The third thing he noticed was that he felt adequately rested to continue adventuring for some time now, even energetically. He was about to get up and find his scattered gear when he noticed a fourth thing: Navi was asleep on his chest.
She looked sweet, as he peered down at her; a little ball of light with folded butterfly wings. Gently he stirred, and she woke and flew up.
“Good morning,” he said to her.
“Hello!” she chirped back. “Is it time to go?”
“Yes. I feel much better.”
He sheathed his sword and slung his shield on his back and turned to the door closest to him. It was the wrong one, but he soon corrected that, and discovered a little room with only a treasure chest and a trap door. In the chest was a familiar looking weapon – another Hookshot.
“It’s different,” Navi said immediately.
“It is?”
“This one’s longer. Look at the chain!”
“Oh.”
He kept the other one with him anyway, perhaps to give to Ruto. He opened the trap door and saw darkness below, and heard and smelt loudly rushing water.
Carefully, he let himself down over the edge, but his feet touched nothing. There was nothing in the room that he could attach the hookshot to, so trusting in his ears, he let himself go.
His boots smacked hard into rock and he fell on his face, scraping his cheek. “Ow!”
“Sorry,” Navi said, trying to light up the tunnel. Water rushed past him and away down natural winding tubes.
“It’s not your fault.”
He was on a ledge beside the wide river, plunging from a height in an impressive waterfall. The air was freezing. He saw whirlpools in rapids a little further down, and made a note to avoid those. There was no way off the ledge; no where to go except downstream. He jumped in the water.
It was pretty cold, but not much colder than the air above, so he swam casually along for a bit, drifting rapidly with the flow.
“Help!” He heard Ruto’s scream. She was caught in a whirlpool, struggling not to get dragged underwater and dashed against the rocks. Link started, and he swam diagonally for her.
He grabbed her hand. His own body was being dragged downstream, he was swimming downstream, and she was caught in the powerful eddy.
Ruto was wrenched from the whirlpool, and they drifted downstream together.
“Oh, thank you!” she yelled above the water noise.
“No problem,” Link answered. Ruto frowned prettily.
“That’s not what you’re supposed to say,” she told him.
“What am I supposed to say?”
“And where did you find the Longshot? Oh, and I fell down the bottomless waterfall and ended up here.”
“The Longshot? I had to fight a shadow of myself to get it. Do you want it back?”
“Oh, no. You can keep it, at least for now. If you’re the hero, then you’ll need it later, after this temple. And… maybe we should just call it the hookshot. That’s what you like to say, isn’t it?”
“It is!” said Navi with a long-suffering sigh.
Link chuckled as he climbed out of the water and gave Ruto a hand.
“Would you like the ‘little’ hookshot, then?” he suggested.
“Sure, if it’s fine with you.”
“It is. It’s not like Navi will be using it or anything,” and Link grinned as Navi yelled indignantly at him. He handed the little hookshot to Ruto, who had to carry it in her hand.
They found themselves back in the entrance hall, third level, with the entrance on their right. To their left was a ledge they had never been able to climb up to, but now… The Hylian jumped to the shelf of the central pillar. The Zora followed.
Link hookshotted across, then tossed the tool back to Ruto. She dove into the now-raised water to catch it, and then came to join him.
He opened the door at the back and drew his sword.
The next room had no monsters; only a steep slope with spikes passing back and forth on it.
“This is going to be tricky,” Link announced, and took a running dash up the slope. He avoided the spikes, but slid down when he got about halfway up. Ruto tried next, and made it to the top, weaving among the spikes.
“How’d you do that?” asked Navi.
Ruto grinned. “Sticky feet. Well, not exactly. I guess I just have more traction than those boots do.”
Link sat down and took off his boots. Then he took off his socks. They were white with green toes.
“Shall I take them?” asked Navi.
“That’s okay.” He ran up the slope as fast as he could; a spike grazed his calf but he made it to the top in one piece.
He sat down again and put his socks and boots back on. The others waited patiently until the green-and-blue-clad hero opened the final door.
The door slammed shut behind him before Ruto could come through.
The boss chamber looked like a swimming pool. A pretty swimming pool, but there were large spikes sticking out from the walls all the way around the room, excepting the door by which he had come in. The pool had four platforms in it.
Link waited, sword and shield up, but nothing happened. He slowly relaxed. He hopped onto one of the platforms, and his foot slipped into the water.
Nothing happened again. Link turned, to go back to the ledge around the rim and start looking around the walls for a switch or something, and yelled. A giant watery blue tentacle was swaying behind him. He dove for the ‘shore’ and made it just in time; he heard a wet smack as the tentacle slapped the place he had been standing.
“Link!” shouted Navi. “There’s a thing down there…”
Link grabbed his hookshot. “It’s as good a thing as any to attack. Can you help me?” he shouted back, dodging more tentacles.
Navi obligingly flew close to the nucleus, and Link’s finger pressed the hookshot switch. The point lodged in the orangish-pink thing, dragging it out of the water and close to Link, who stabbed it with his sword. He only hit it twice before it wiggled back into the water and began chasing him around the outside of the room with blue tentacles.
Two came at him from opposite directions. Link braced his legs, preparing to jump into the air or duck. He jumped, but one caught him anyway and twirled around his middle, hoisting him high into the air. Unnerved and disoriented, he clutched at it, but his hands sank into it, since it was only water. It shook him violently, making his head toss back and forth until he thought his neck would snap, and then hurled him into the wall. He slid down to meet needle-sharp spikes that tore his tunic. He hauled himself up with a groan, supporting himself on the wall with gauntleted hands.
Spinning around, back on the attack, he hit it where it hovered in the water with the hookshot, and slashed it with all his considerable strength. It quivered like jelly, bouncing desperately away from him. It was life and death for both of them, Link knew, which was a feeling new to him; he hadn’t felt it even when fighting Shadow Link or Queen Gohma.
When the tentacles came again, he was better prepared, and did a handspring away over one. It didn’t catch him. He managed to catch and hit the nucleus again.
Then, he tripped and fell in the water. It was like it was alive, trying to force its way down his throat; the Zora tunic helped, but he was still suffocating in cold wetness. When it released him slightly, he clawed his way to the edge and clambered out with almost hysterical energy. Again, he targeted the nucleus and slashed it with his sword. It bounced away, tiredly, and he hit it again and again.
It fell into the water, which swirled into one large enormous tentacle that reached to the ceiling. Link watching it rise up, bracing himself for a dodge, readying his hookshot, but then…
The tentacle didn’t fall, didn’t get any shorter, but the water level in the pool began to go down. Like it was being sucked up by a cloth, it shrank until the bottom of the pool was dry, and the tentacle still hung in midair, the nucleus at the centre of it. Even that, now resembling a giant amoeba, began to shrink until the water was all gone. Then, with a pop, the nucleus burst.
Link relaxed and let his shoulders slump in exhaustion. A portal appeared in the centre of the dry reservoir. He let himself down and walked into it, swaying slightly with weariness. He welcomed the weightless feeling the warp crystal gave him.
Appearing in the Temple of Light, he straightened himself and waited, facing the podium of water. Ruto rose out of it.
She sighed and swooned, clasping her hands together. “Oh, Link… You’re so handsome.” Link shrugged noncommittally. “So is Sheik… can you thank him for me? It’s my duty as princess, after all, since he helped my people.” She sighed some more. “Unfortunately anyway, as Sage of Water, I have to stay here now at least until Ganondorf is dead, so I can only give you my everlasting love…”
Navi gulped quietly.
“Oh, yes, and the Medallion of Water.” Ruto raised her arms and the Medallion tumbled down into Link’s hands.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Now, love, would you kiss me?” Ruto asked sweetly, leaning forward across the gap between platforms.
“Uh…” Link stalled, and the warp crystal formed around him and took him to the Lake Hylia warp pad.
Sheik was there, sitting on a rock, playing his harp gently as he watched the eastern sky turn pink, waiting for the sun to rise. The lake was full, rippling gently at the edge of the grass of the island.
“Hey,” Link said wearily. He flung himself down beside the Sheikah.
“You look awful, Hero,” said the other cheerfully. “How’s Ruto?”
“Just as romantic as ever. She says thank you for helping the Zoras.”
“Mm. I see. If you see her before I do, tell her she’s welcome.”
“Sure. I hope I don’t, though.” Link leaned back and stretched. “I don’t know that I want to get involved with her.”
“Yeah, I understand. Anyway, you should go to… your home, or whatever, and get some sleep.” Sheik stood up, mock-saluted and winked. Then there was a brilliant flash of light and Link blinked. Sheik was gone. Link jumped up and looked in all directions, but saw no one.
A lithe shape dove into the water behind him with a quiet splash. Link whirled, but saw nothing. He smiled.
He warped to the Lost Woods, ran through them to his home, and fell into bed. He was asleep before he even had time to twitch.
On the morning of the next day, he finally woke up again. After stretching extensively and doing a little exercise, he left the forest, called Epona, and rode to Kakariko, still in the very early morning long before the sun was up.
As Epona trotted up the ramp, his eyes narrowed. The air was hazy, and there was red flickering light ahead.
“Fire?” Navi said from her seat on his shoulder. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” Link answered, quickening Epona’s pace.
They rounded the path corner and entered the gate. All the buildings were on fire, all consuming in a blazing inferno that burst into the still-starry sky. Link dismounted and ran forward, intending to find someone and rescue them.
Then he saw the slender, blue-clad figure standing next to the old well.
“Sheik!” Link shouted. “What’s going on? Where’s everybody? Who-“
The Sheikah cut him off with a curt gesture. “Stay back!!”
Link skidded to a halt, startled by the force of the command. Sheik seemed to be concentrating on a spell of some sort; wind, both natural and colour-tinged, swirled around him.
There was an explosion in the well, and the wooden structure for the windlass and gears on top of the well blew off into the sky. Sheik jumped back, settling into a crouch. Something invisible picked him up and flung him around like a doll, finally throwing him past Link down the stairs. Sheik gave an involuntary wail. He skidded to a stop on the bare ground, grunting painfully, and lay unmoving.
“Sheik!” Link shouted, running to him, kneeling on the ground. He bent his head to listen to the man’s breathing, and heard it gentle, but steady.
He looked up and drew his sword and shield. A blurry purpleness was racing around the cliffs, leaving dust in its wake. It charged him. He pulled his sword back, ready for a powered up swing.
It struck his shield. Everything went black, but he could feel it wrapped around him, shaking him through the air and crushing him. Then it flung him, but he didn’t feel himself hit the ground…