Chapter 5: Rana Helps With the Old Forest Temple Chapter 7: Charging Rescue
Chapter 6: Colin!
He woke up on his back in a white and misty world; the dream world he had experienced at times when communicating with Zelda as a child.
A glowing golden wolf with scarlet eyes sat, watching him impassively. As he clambered to his feet, it raised its nose and howled mournfully. A bright flash of light later, a thickly armoured Stalfos stood in front of him.
This Stalfos had brilliant blue eyes.
“Greetings, Hero of Time, Link III!” said the Stalfos. Its voice was a distant echo of a light tenor, completely out of keeping with the chunky image before him. “I would test you to see if you are a true hero.”
“All right,” said Link, unsheathing his sword and twirling it in readiness. “I’m ready.”
It unsheathed a startlingly bright sword, almost too slim to look proportional with the heavy, oxidized armour, and charged him with surprising speed.
Link blocked attacks as swift and fierce as anything he had ever encountered, and barely managed to get a few attacks in back, all blocked by the phenomenal warrior he was facing.
Sooner than he would have liked, he was flung on his back. The enemy leaped and performed a sword-plant; Link brought up his shield but the sword thudded into the misty white ground next to his ear.
“You are not a true hero yet. You are indeed strong and pure of heart, but you are hardly fit to bear the Triforce upon your hand.”
Link looked down, stung, and saw the golden triangle on his left hand.
The warrior extended its gloved hand to him and helped him up. “I will train you in the techniques of a true knight, and we shall spar regularly until you are up to my standards. First, the Finishing Blow.” It showed him again the sword-plant move.
The two of them worked on perfecting that move until Link was sore and exhausted. Finally, the skeleton lowered his sword.
“Practice your swordsmanship regularly. A true hero is not determined solely by the strength of his heart, and a true swordsman is not measured by the strength of his arm.”
“I understand.”
“Until we meet again!” Link was blinded with a flash of light.
When he woke, blinking, he was in his own bed. Rana was sitting cross-legged near him, humming Saria’s Song as she twisted a piece of string into knots.
“Oh! Hey, are you all right? The golden wolf-thing vanished as soon as it hit you, but you passed out and I carried you home.”
“I’m all right. I’m pretty tired. I just had a intense work-out in a dream world with a mystical skeleton warrior. He doesn’t think much of my technique.”
“Aw, that’s mean! You’re great!”
“Not compared to him,” Link laughed. “He’s incredible. I wonder what he is. I really am exhausted. Is there any food?”
“Sure!” Rana laughed and scampered down the ladder while Link flopped back, reaching for his fairy.
Rana left after their shared supper again, and Link raised himself in bed enough to see her skipping back to the forest.
Navi hadn’t finished whispering to him yet. “And, Link?”
“Yes?”
“I hope that we can go all over Hyrule and see for ourselves what Rana told us about. I hope that we really settle here and… and…”
“I love Hyrule,” Link said in the silence.
“Yeah. And when we’ve lived in it for a few years, we’ll love it even more! I can’t wait for that to happen! We’ve really experienced so little of this wonderful land. Oh, good night!” She flopped down on Link’s chest and fell sound asleep. Link smiled.
“We’ll go see if Malon’s seen Epona!” Rana said, skipping ahead. “She’s just on the edge of the forest.”
“All right,” Link replied, jogging solidly along behind her.
Lon Lon Ranch was still reached from a ramp leading off the main road, just like the old Lon Lon Ranch, but this time it was the main road out of the forest. Rana tripped up the ramp merrily and knocked on the front door of the little house on the right.
Malon answered the door, smiling as she saw who it was – and then she saw Link. “You! You’re back!”
Link smiled warmly. “Yes, I’m finally back and I’m going to stop Zant quickly.”
“Sorry?” Malon asked quizzically.
“You’ll have to forgive him,” Rana said, shooting Link an exasperated look. “He forgot you don’t know yet, or else he’s being mysterious again. Come in, Link! Come and meet Allan!”
Allan was a tall, youthful man with brown hair and brown eyes. His handshake was firm, and his voice was a baritone.
“I’m so happy to finally meet you. I mean, I’ve admired you as the Hero for a long time, but hearing so much about you as a person from Malon… well, I’m very pleased to meet you!”
“And I’m pleased to meet you,” Link answered.
“We haven’t heard so much about you from Rana, but that’s just from lack of time,” Navi put in.
“Isn’t he sweet?” Malon said, hugging Allan’s arm. Allan blushed. “Anyway, would you people like something to eat?”
“We’re a little in a hurry-“ Navi began.
“It won’t hurt!” Rana said. “Have you forgotten Malon’s cooking? It smells like scones, too! Everyone, let’s sit down and we’ll explain about this Zant guy and then we need to go find a little boy named Colin.”
The explanation took the same time to tell as the scones took to eat, and as Rana said, the scones were amazingly tasty.
“So, now we’re looking for horses to help us search for Colin faster,” Rana ended the tale. “Epona disappeared at the same time as the other people, so we’re wondering if she’s here.”
“Falone’s here, but I haven’t seen Epona for a long time. I’m glad she’s been safe; I’ve been worried stiff!” Malon said.
“You didn’t send her to us?” Navi asked. “We just found her in the middle of nowhere south of Hyrule. We wondered.”
“She just ran off one day. There weren’t any monsters or anything strange, either,” Allan answered.
“Well, now I have to worry again,” said Malon, giggling. “Five second break’s over!”
“At least she’s in Hyrule,” Link said. “Or nearby. Although, I’ve tried calling her, but she must be too far away to hear.”
“Well, try Kakariko,” Allan said. “Epona knows Kakariko well. Malon took her there many times before Ingo took over.”
“And then I took her there after the Goddesses reshaped Hyrule, so she even knows the new village,” Malon added.
“Well, we’ll do that!” Rana cried, jumping up. “Thanks so much for the scones and the advice, Malon, Allan! I won’t take Falone yet. We’ll come back after we save everyone, but we’ve got ground to cover!”
“Be careful, you two! Good luck!”
“Thanks!” Link called back.
They ran out onto Hyrule Field, where Link slowed down as he tried to take it all in.
Hyrule Castle lay directly ahead, behind a black and gold curtain of Twilight. Small hills obscured the base of the castle, and the land behind the castle was vague and hard to see in the half-opaque veil.
The land surrounding him, though, was lovely. Hyrule Field was green and lush, with trees dotted here and there as in the past, and the sound of running water came to his ears. The snorts of small monsters were audible as well, but Link didn’t care. He had forgotten how beautiful Hyrule was.
“It’s pretty, huh?” Rana said. “I mean, it was pretty growing up, and it was pretty after the Goddesses changed it, but seeing the Twilight there makes this part… more appreciable.”
“Really?”
“You wait until we drive all the darkness away. Then the whole place will be bright and sunny and green, just like when we were kids. And it will be all the harder to see that beauty. Really.
“I don’t think so,” Link answered, smiling with delight. “I forgot how much I love this country. Let’s go find Colin and Ilia and Epona, and Malo, Talo, and Beth, and then I can enjoy it properly!”
“Not to mention getting those Fused Shadows so we can defeat Zant!” Midna broke in suddenly, startling all of them.
“What are Fused Shadows, and why do we need them to defeat Zant?” Navi demanded.
“Are they like that black thing that you got in the Old Forest Temple?” Naeri asked.
“That’s exactly what they are. They’ll help ME defeat Zant. You can do whatever you want. I can tell you right now they won’t help you at all.”
The road to Kakariko led directly into the Twilight; Kakariko itself was hidden by the black wall that rose before them. In the shadow of the wall, Link’s shadow quivered, and Midna sprang out of it, hovering before them. “Here we are!”
“So, Rana, you wait until the Twilight is gone, and then we’ll go search for the children together. I’ll come back here.”
Rana hugged him, and started to speak, but -
“Well? Do you want in?” Midna asked, sighing impatiently. “Seriously, you Hylians are so slow!”
“He’s coming, Midna. ‘Seriously’, we need to sort out exactly what we’re doing otherwise bad things might happen later,” Rana told her. “You go do that, and I’ll stay right around here. Be careful! I’ll be just fine here!”
Link found himself once again in the body of a wolf, in a canyon leading up into the mountains. He trotted along the path, coming into a wide flowered field, over a bridge across a deep gorge, and then back into a canyon.
There was a tall gate, but it was hanging loose. The sign above it said “Welcome to Kakariko”. Link stopped and stared at it for a while. It looked different from the one he remembered as a child.
Galloping up the canyon, he stopped suddenly to see a Spirit Spring to his right. A golden glow hovered in it, calling out to him…
“Who are you?” he answered, trotting up to the edge of the spring.
“I… am Eldin…” answered the Spirit. “You have helped Ordona and Faron… Please… help me, Hero!”
“I will!” he answered, and the glow turned into a golden grapevine as before.
He turned to the first house in the street, a smooth, new-looking adobe building, and saw a half-open window. A metallic face was peering out of it. Link took his chance and bounded through, nicking only the window ledge in his leap.
“Well, I don’t see any sign of those black beasts,” the man at the window said nervously. He was wearing a welding mask. “Course, they could be just hiding to lure us out there. Did you see what happened to the old lady from the general store? And then those five folks from the hotel went to save her and there were THREE of them waiting!”
Link froze in surprise and stared at the ghostly figures in front of him. There, on a low bench, sat a man with long thick dark hair – and around him were Beth, Malo, Talo, and Colin. Link smiled in relief. Four of six were safe. There was also a girl with short dark hair nearby, about Beth’s age, and looking similar to the man; she might be his daughter.
Beth’s face was very pale, and as the man at the window rambled on about monsters and how dead the six of them would be if they got in, she burst into tears. Colin put an arm around her, and the dark haired man snapped at the man by the window. “Barnes! Stop frightening the children. We are safe in here.”
Barnes gibbered for a minute. “Yes, but, Renado, we have nowhere to go! We can’t stay here forever, and, you know…”
“Well, there’s the cellar,” the dark haired girl spoke up. Barnes perked up and made a crawling dash right through Link for a trap door in the floor. “But when I went down there last, I saw some weird dark insects. I think they might be evil.” Her voice was very calm and collected. Barnes skittered back away from the trap door and his mask fell down over his face.
“Don’t cry, Beth,” Colin was saying. “I’m sure Green will come for us. He tried to defend us, but they took him by surprise. This time, he’ll take them by surprise!”
“How can you be sure?” Talo asked with nervous scorn.
Colin looked steadily at him for a minute, and then looked away. “I know what he would do. He will come for us. I know it.”
“What if he’s-“ Talo looked at Beth and trailed off.
“I believe in him,” Colin repeated.
Link’s heart went out to his faithful little friend.
Barnes crept over to the trap door. “Are you sure there were bugs down there? Maybe I will just have a look.”
Link whirled and trotted up to the trap door. If there were bugs, he had to get them.
“Maybe I will let you have a look,” Barnes whimpered to the dark haired girl. She smiled coolly and lifted the door, and Link dove in. He hoped he would be able to get out again.
Chapter 5: Rana Helps With the Old Forest Temple Chapter 7: Charging Rescue
