Chapter 17: The Most Frightening Place in Hyrule     Chapter 19: The Land of Sand

Chapter 18: Held by Bandits

    He was standing on the centre of a giant drum. Two huge, corpse-like hands were drumming around the edge, and in the shadows… yes, he could see it… a diseased, flower-like head with a single red eye. It reminded him of the giant spider under the Deku Tree. It vanished.
    “Navi! Show me where it is!” He could hardly keep his feet with all the bouncing. He was launched into the air every fourth beat, and landed uncertainly each time. With the Lens of Truth, he could see the creature. Link grabbed his bow, slipped, hopped up again, shot, and landed unsteadily. The head was too heavily armoured, so he shot a hand, and it began shaking like it had been burned. The other whizzed at him, intent on doing him bodily harm, so quick as thought, he shot it, too. Both hands clenched, the eye in the body opened, and rushed him. He shot that, and it collapsed, very like the spider.
    Putting away his bow and drawing his sword, he charged, stabbing as fast as he could. The cuts brought it out of its stupor and it reared up and away from him, closing the eye again.
    Although the drumming threw him off violently, he managed to do the same thing several more times, before his magic power was drained from using the Lens.
    He was still hitting it when he realized he had struck its death blow. It shook violently, and then dissolved into a black, gooey puddle that evaporated.
    Waiting while the blood stopped rushing in his ears, he walked slowly towards the warp that appeared.

    Impa rose out of the purple podium in the Temple of Light. “Well done, boy.”
    “Where were you?” Navi asked.
    Impa frowned at her and did not answer the question.
    “I am the last of the Sheikah… for years we have been sworn to protect the King of Hyrule, and his family. I remember you when I had to take Princess Zelda away, and we saw you, and your friend Rana, looking so alone and forlorn. I helped her protect the Ocarina of Time…” Impa ceased her reminiscences and looked directly at Link.
    “Soon, you will meet Princess Zelda, and she will explain everything you do not already know. For now, take the Medallion of Shadow. Please protect the Princess in my place!”
    “Wait!” Link cried, reaching up to take the Medallion, and reaching his left hand out towards the muscular bodyguard woman. “Where is she?”
    The Sheikah raised a hand in farewell as the warp crystal formed around the Hylian.

    “Drat,” said Link, appearing in the graveyard. “I need answers. Where’s Sheik?”
    No one answered him.
    “Drat,” he said again. “I was hoping he’d drop in out of nowhere and respond. Where’s the last dungeon?”
    “The desert, I think.”
    “Right.” He walked through the town and caught some sleep in a corner. When he woke, it was still very dark. He rose, called Epona, and rode across Hyrule Field as the sun dawned.

    Epona galloped faster and faster, charging down the narrow canyon on the eastern edge of Hyrule. Link gave her her head and let her choose her own path, straight towards a broken bridge over the deep, deep canyon through which the Zora River flowed down to Lake Hylia. Link leaned forward, trusting her.
    With a soaring leap, she jumped the gap and trotted to a halt. Link dismounted and patted her trembling flank. Letting her jog around in a circle, he walked over to the one man standing there. It was the old carpenter from Kakariko he had met once, a little whiter, and little balder, but the same who had built an archery range in the centre of town. A small tent was erected beside him.
    “Hey! Hey, ki- er, young man!” The carpenter bellowed in a voice used to projecting above the roar of construction work, but echoed like a bass drum in the empty canyon.
    “Yes?”
    “Are you going to the Gerudo’s fort?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, er, you see… my workers all ran away. They said that being carpenters wasn’t any fun, and ran off to become thieves. Would you, er…”
    “Go and round ‘em up?” Link asked, smiling.
    “Yeah, something like that.”
    “That’s all right with me. Can you tell me anything about the Gerudo? I haven’t been in this part of the world before…”
    “The Gerudo are an all-female robber band. Did you know that?” Link nodded. “That’s about all I know.”
    “All right, then.” Link shrugged and set off down the canyon.
    Around two more corners, he was slammed painfully against the rocks of the canyon by three woman with spears, scimitars, and long red hair. They were dressed in desert-like clothing.
    “Come with us, boy. You’re trespassing. Don’t argue and don’t struggle, and we won’t have to kill you.”
    Link complied silently, trudging after the Gerudo.
    No one said anything until they took him up a tower and kicked him through a trapdoor. “Hey!” Link yelled, startled.
    “Idiot boy! We don’t want men around here, you got that? We’ll decide what to do with you later, so just relax! You can’t get out of there!”
    The door closed. Link sighed and looked around. The cell was bare. There was one window with… it looked like a wooden shutter…
    Link sent Navi to see where the guards were. Then he fired his hookshot. It caught in the shutter and let him down on the windowsill. He looked around, but no one seemed to notice him. He jumped down to a courtyard and ducked inside a door. He crouched behind a box and snuck past several guardwomen, and went out another door. His heart was pounding. This was a deadly kind of hide-and-seek.
    He found a wide room with two barred cells covering one side. One was empty. From the other came a loud whisper.
    “Hey! Young man! Over here!”
    Link trotted over to the fat carpenter in the cage. “Who are you?”
    “I’m Ichiro the carpenter. Have you come to save me? I wanted to join the Gerudos, but they locked me up instead. It’s no fun! I want to go home!”
    “Okay, I’ll let you out.”
    “You need a key.”
    “Ye-“
    Navi gave a stifled shriek. Link whirled and ducked the pair of scimitars heading for his head. The Gerudo woman was breathing heavily after her surprise attack, but otherwise made no noise. He parried, and blocked, and ducked, a rather fierce grin curling one corner of his mouth.
    Suddenly he lunged, tore both scimitars from her hands with the Master Sword, and knocked her down with the Hylian Shield. She glared, panting.
    “Do you have a key to that lock?” he asked, also breathing a bit harder than he would have wished.
    She flung it in his face, but Navi caught it, leaving Link free to wrestle with the Gerudo. Somehow, the fairy opened the door, Ichiro lumbered out, and Link shoved the guard into the cell.
    “I’m sorry,” Link told her, “but I’m on a mission and I can’t have you tripping me up.”
    “Sir? Sir? What do I do now?”
    “I suggest you run as fast as you can back to the bridge. I don’t think you should hang around here,” Link said to the carpenter. “If you get caught again, I’ll see what I can do, but please don’t.”
    “Right! Fabulous fighting!” The carpenter took off at a faster speed than Link would have thought possible.
    “You… you…” the Gerudo growled.
    “I’m sorry!” Link said sincerely. “I’m serious.”
    “I know that! However, you’re messing up my mission!”
    The Hylian cocked his head to one side. “What’s that?”
    “I’m going to prove myself to Nabooru, and I can’t do that if I fail to guard this idiot! I’m garbage now, you… you… pig! Who are you, anyway!?”
    “I’m the Hero of Time,” Link said quietly, smiled at her, and left.

    Link wandered, very softly, until he found a carpenter named Jiro. His guard was a little less certain than the first one. She kept away, darting in sometimes to execute whirling, heavy attacks. Link eventually waited until she was against the wall on the other side of the room, whipped out his bow, and sent an arrow into the wall on either side of her head. She dropped her swords, trembling.
    He got the key, sent Jiro on his way, and then locked up the girl with a few words explaining who he was and what he was doing. “I’m Link, the Hero of Time, and right now I’m getting these carpenters out of here. I’m also going to the Desert Temple. Don’t look so scared, okay?”
    The girl curled up dejectedly in a corner.
    “I’m sorry,” Navi said. “We have to do this. It’s… for the good of the world.”
    “If you like,” Link said impulsively, “we can explain it all to this Nabooru person when we get back.”
    At last the girl looked up. “Fine. Go.”

    Sabooro was the third carpenter, and just as slothful and fearful as the other two. He told Link that the carpenters’ names were Ichiro, Jiro, himself, and Shiro.
    “Only one more, then!” Navi said happily.
    Link grinned back at her. The game of hide-and-seek-with-angry-redheads-trying-to-get-him was actually becoming rather fun, though much more scary than usual.

    Shiro was hard to find. Link wandered all over the complex twice until he found a door he hadn’t been in yet. On the way, he saw how the buildings were all square, built of mudbrick, sheltered above by a huge overhanging cliff. A small natural wall separated the courtyard from the vast desert, and was pierced with one gate of heavy logs.
    At last, Link found the last carpenter. After defeating the guard, and pushing her firmly into the cell, he heard a light cough behind him.
    He spun, his shield up. The Gerudo stared at him pleasantly, making no move to go for her swords, and Link slowly relaxed.
    “You’re quite an impressive young man. We all used to think that all men, besides the great Ganondorf, were useless, but now we think differently. As soon as we found those wimps were escaping, we conferred at once, and we think it best that you join our group, Hero of Time.”
    “Um…” Link gaped blankly. “What does that mean exactly?”
    “It means that we will not stop your progress on your… mission. If you want to go to the Desert Temple, we will open the gate for you.” She leaned forward and winked. “Plus, if you want to settle down here, we’d welcome you warmly! You’d make the greatest thief ever! Infiltrating a thieves’ hideout… your entrance could use work, but your exit was spectacular. Oh, and can you let Anada out now?”
    Link let the girl rush from the cell and away down the corridor. “Well.”

    Journeying across the desert was difficult and time consuming. The Gerudos lent him many waterbottles and a sort of sunscreen – they were all well tanned, but still used lots to keep from burning horrendously. Link accepted these gratefully.
    The first obstacle between him and the Desert Temple was a river of sinking sand. Only the Hover Boots saved him, letting him wade back to the surface after he sank to his waist. The second obstacle was the vast uniformity of desert in general; there was too much sand in the air to see the monolith that he was aiming for. He had seen it from the Gerudo’s gate.
    A friendly spirit showed him the safe path. Navi showed him; she had the Lens of Truth.
    Suddenly they burst into the sunlight again, out of the storm.

Chapter 17: The Most Frightening Place in Hyrule     Chapter 19: The Land of Sand

Chapter 16: The Magic Eye     Chapter 18: Held by Bandits

Chapter 17: The Most Frightening Place in Hyrule

    Inside, his senses were assailed by a cold wind, distant howls, moans, and cackles, dim but steady lighting, and a horrible smell. The floor was smooth and even, but stopped after the first bend. Beyond was a terrible chasm. Navi flew forward, and pointed out a place where the hookshot might catch to reach the tunnel beyond.
    “Might is a pretty awful word in this spot,” Link said to himself, but fired. It carried him safely across the pit, and he pulled himself out with great relief. Then he scolded himself.
    “Only around the first bend and you’re uneasy. Snap out of it. Get yourself together. You need to save Hyrule. Saria and Zelda and Sheik are relying on you. And Ruto and Darunia and Malon and Talon. And perhaps Rana…” But there words failed him, because the idea he could not finish was the thought that Rana might be imprisoned here in this dreadful place.
    In the chamber ahead, a tall statue of an eagle, surrounded by a dozen skulls on poles, sat accusingly. Another chasm separated the eagle from the door further on, shaped like a snake head with open mouth.
    “Find the skull of truth, and those with sacred feet may pass,” Navi said.
    “The what?”
    “That’s what they said,” Navi insisted. Link shivered and gave his fairy the Lens of Truth. Then he looked at the statue. It seemed important. One majestic wing was outstretched, and the brooding beak pointed in the same direction. Link pushed it gently, and it gave a little.
    “There’s a false wall here,” said Navi. “And this skull is the only real one.”
    “The Lens is a far better way of determining that than touching it, isn’t it,” commented Link, revolving the statue to face the skull Navi pointed out. As the two objects moved into conjunction, the door in the snake’s mouth opened invitingly.
    “You can’t jump that gap,” Navi said hastily, speeding in front of Link’s face to forestall any foolhardy attempts.
    “I know I can’t. I just want a look.” The look was unpromising. After one disappointed glance, he turned back to go through the false wall.
    As he ventured further into the elaborate catacombs, his blood chilled. Tales of blood and death decorated the walls, and every so often a skull or a torch in a niche provided horror or light. The terrifying aspect was the fact that the stories were all tales of the ancient Royal Family of Hyrule, going back thousands of years. Chances were that the undertakers, mourners, and all the paraphernalia of a state burial braved their way down at the interment, and then hastened back to the sunlight, fearful of the tortured minds that might still inhibit the tunnels.
    And now he was venturing into them, voluntarily, alone.
    “Hey!” cried Navi suddenly. “Look here!”
    The walls seemed less ancient than the previous tunnels, and the words were sharper. Link looked closely at them, and then blinked.
    He had seen his own name.
    Link III read on carefully, learning that this was not the first time a Ganondorf had worried Hyrule. Link I had fought one, called Ganon, in the shape of a giant boar, and rescued a Princess Zelda, going on to waken her from an enchanted sleep and to marry her. Skipping 500 years, Link II had fought one all through Hyrule and into the Dark World, rescuing the lands of Holodrum and Labrynna from darkness, and defeating a wind wizard called Vaati. Link wasn’t sure of the last; the writing was worn enough to miss a word or two. Link II had also married a Princess Zelda. That, too, was several centuries ago.
The text ended in one more panel, so Link went back and read it again.
    Navi screeched. “Behind you!” Link whirled and hacked at the two Stalfos sneaking up on him. One’s shield was completely sliced in half.
    After dealing with the skeletons and rereading the script, Link pressed on deeper into the labyrinth.
    At the end of the mazes, he found a room with a dirt floor and six long undead-white arms sticking straight up. Their nails were red.
    Link cautiously advanced towards one and slashed at it with his sword. Blindingly fast, it whipped towards him and fumbled around the sword, ignoring the gashes appearing in its tattered skin, groping towards his throat.
    Dozens of arms erupted out of the ground and held him so he couldn’t move a muscle. The Master Sword hung frozen in his motionless hand. A blobby, oozy zombie body squelched out of the ground in a shower of mud and began to wobble towards him. Navi immediately targeted the thing, trying to bonk it in the head with her glowing wings, trying to distract it. It waddled on, almost wading in the ground, with mindless blankness. It came closer and closer… it was right in front of him…
    The ghastly head, which had been up in the air on a skinny neck, lowered to his level. It stank horribly, with the skin sagging off mushed bone-pulp, and dagger-sized yellow teeth bared. A growl tore itself from Link’s throat as he fought his stomach down. Two more hands, these weak and flimsy, laid themselves on him, and the dreadful teeth were getting awfully close to his neck. The tips of the teeth touched his skin… tore his white shirt…
    And Link ripped himself from the constricting hands, stumbling over backwards onto his back and doing a roll into a crouch, the Master Sword shining very brightly in that room where the only light came from Link’s helpful little fairy.
    The ghoul took one hit, two, three, and went down.
    A chest appeared, a big one, and Link opened it. Inside were what looked like large golden sandals with wings on the back.
    “Hover boots!” sang Navi. “That’s what it means by ‘sacred feet’. You put these on top of your normal boots. Let’s see… you can hover, but they’re very slippery.”
    “Right.”
    “And you beat that thing so well! I thought you were… well, it was frightening. And it almost got you.”
    “Yes? Well, I got him. Let’s go!”
    He returned to the room with the snake head door and floated across the gap. There was a long, steep passage leading down. Link opened the door at the bottom and sighed. The dark passage in navy blue stone was headed… down.
    “I’m cold as it is, and they want to go down?” he complained.
    “That’s normal,” Navi told him, fluttering down to his hand and smiling into his face. “It’s supposed to be hidden, and twistly, so evil can’t get at the Sage so easily.”
    “Yes, but then, evil things just grow. Like mould on old wet bread.” Navi giggled.
    Link took two quick steps forward, and then stopped as scritching came to his ears. He looked up instinctively, and whipped out his sword as a Skulltula dropped towards him.
    After slaying the giant spider, he was starting to feel pretty good about this passage. He wondered why. Normally he would have found it harder than that. Then he took a look at what lay ahead beyond that.
    He had stepped into a vast cavern, dyed in a faded green light. A narrow walkway, topped with large bloodstained guillotines, led to the other side. Various chains hung from the vague ceiling, and there were many distant lumps and glitters too far to make out.
    Link watched the nearest blade and somersaulted below it at an appropriate time. Adrenaline, already pulsing through him, intensified as he raced to duck under another one. He accidentally hopped off a ledge in the walkway, but landed safely on another one. Then he had to run before getting chopped in half by another axe.
    At the end, he found a Stalfos on a ledge and leaped towards it, making it fall backwards into the abyss.
    Crossing an invisible bridge in thin air, he came to a very small door, hidden away. The great long chamber behind it had a small dock and a large ship. It had a head like a jackal and paddlewheels on each side. Two golden bells hung from the prow. Hopping to the centre of the deck, he found a Triforce inlaid in the wood. He took out the Ocarina of Time, smiling fondly, and played Zelda’s Lullaby.
    He almost choked in the middle of the song. Zelda and Rana… both missing… An anxious tear ran down his cheek as he finished the song.
    The bells rang and the ship began to sway rather violently as it began its journey through a dark tunnel on the ghostly river.
    A Stalfos skeleton dropped down onto the deck. Link killed it, dancing around its defences. Another one met the same fate, and then Link had time to look around and sightsee. There was little variation in the smooth walls of the tunnel.
    And then, the tunnel broadened out, and a strip of land appeared beside the ship, but the tunnel ended in a smooth grey wall ahead. Link’s eyebrows twitched as the ship struck the wall at the end of the tunnel and began to break apart.
    “They didn’t plan this thing very well!” he yelled, jumping off startled. The ship sank like a rock.
    “Well, we can’t get back now,” Navi sighed, staring into the black depths.
    There was a dark hole in the wall on the other side of another chasm, flanked by two huge eagle statues. Unable to get there, he stared around until he saw another door that he could go through. Though the room inside was full of Redead and Floormasters, it was also guarding a lovely chest of gold and lapus lazuli. Inside was a golden key with a ruby.
    “Well, here we go!” Link sang as he walked out, battered, but whole. “We have one more Temple to finish past this one, and then we can defeat Ganondorf!”
    “You’re a bit happy,” Navi said.
    “I just found help in seeing how far we’ve come. I just wish Rana were with me…”
    Abruptly Navi began to sob. “Do you think… sniff… that she’s dead?”
    Link stopped and gathered his fairy into his hands, stroking her ethereal head with a finger. He had to guess because she was invisible, except for the fairy light that surrounded her and her wings. “I wonder, too, Navi.”
    “I hope that she isn’t, but no one’s seen her for two years. I don’t know what to think. I can only hope with all my heart that she’s alive somewhere,” Link said sombrely. “I must have faith in her.”
    Suddenly Navi flew up and hugged his face, making him start. “I love you, Link. You’re the best partner anyone could have in the world.”

    Navi finally let go of Link’s nose.
    “I love you, too, Navi. We’ll keep looking for Rana. She’ll probably find us first, mind you.”
    “Yes! She will. Let’s go.”
    Link walked back to the strip of land where the ship had sank and looked at the statues on the other side.
    The head of one had fallen off and was on his side of the chasm. Link looked at the other one, suddenly inspired.
    “Navi, could you fly a bomb over there?”
    “No, they’re too big and heavy.”
    “Okay. What if you used the… teleporter thingy?”
    “I could do that…”
    “Take the whole bag and dump it in front of the statue… I think it’ll break and make a bridge… On second thought, just use a couple. We don’t want to destroy the statue, just destabilize it.”
    “Listen to the pyrotechnician,” Navi giggled, doing as he asked.
    Three bombs went off, and the statue wavered. Breaking off at the base with a crack, it plunged towards Link, who rolled out of the way.
    The curving back of the eagle statue made a perfect bridge for Link, who trotted across hurriedly, in case it broke apart and collapsed into the chasm.
    Down a short dark hallway, a door with an ornate lock on the handle just begged to be unlocked with the golden key. Then there was a round room with blue, pitted stone in the walls, and a deep well in the floor. Looking around, finding nothing to latch on to, he let himself down. It was a very long drop.
    He bounced a metre in the air when he landed. The floor was springy. Tan coloured, and smoothly rough and worn…
    Something else hit the ground, making him bounce again. He felt three other taps through his soles as well, and then another heavy thud. It was very rhythmic. Almost as if…

Chapter 16: The Magic Eye     Chapter 18: Held by Bandits

Chapter 15: The Deathful Water and Avoiding Marriage     Chapter 17: The Most Frightening Place in Hyrule

Chapter 16: The Magic Eye

    A few minutes later, he heard two anxious voices calling him – the light voice of his fairy, and an alto voice… was it a girl? Maybe Malon?
    “Link, will you wake up already!” Navi yelled in his ear. Someone gently shook him.
    Link groaned and tried to sit up, shaking his dizzy head. “You know, Navi, I appreciate the shaking more than the yelling.”
    Navi half-smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. I was worried.”
    “Okay, that’s okay then. Sheik?”
    “Yes, it’s me. Did you forget what happened?”
    “No, I didn’t forget… it’s just for a minute your voice made me think of Malon. Nothing against you or her… just my messed up head.” He rubbed it. “Ow. So, what was that thing? Why aren’t any of the buildings on fire? Where did the shadow go? Can I fight it?”
    Sheik stared stupefied at the Hylian as Navi burst into laughter. “You’re not supposed to know about that!” he exclaimed indignantly.
    “About what? My memory didn’t blank out, and you asked if I forgot what happened. Answer my questions, will you?”
    Sheik patted his shoulder comfortingly, face serious. “That thing is an ancient shadow that Ganondorf has been trying to free for some time now. This morning, obviously, he succeeded. The burning buildings are all an illusion caused by the shadow; it’s haunting the town now. It’s gone to the Shadow Temple. Will you fight that one next?”
    “Yes. I don’t want Kakariko bothered more than necessary by Ganondorf.”
    “Well, that shadow… you can’t really use physical weapons against it, obviously. Also, you’ll need another tool to fight it properly. It was sealed in the well, but the well is dry because someone played the Song of Storms about the time you first disappeared… Do you know it?” Link shook his head. “Well, I’ll teach it to you. The thing should still be in the well if you go there in the past. I’ll see what I can do to get you there, seeing as you are the Hero of Time and all that.”
    “Wait, wait.” Link held up his hands and shook his head confusedly. “If the tool is at the bottom of the well, why can’t I reach it in this time? If the shadow’s back there, then how can I go in then? And what is it anyway?”
    “It’s complicated, as is usual with time travel. The monster is free now, so it’s free in all times… if that makes any sense. I think… yes, it broke free of its last sealing place about five years ago, but the last of the Sheikahs managed to seal in the well where it fled then. I don’t know what the device is, but it isn’t here now because… well, because you have it. Except you don’t yet.”
    “Okay.” Link thought for a long time. “I understand now. The last of the Sheikahs would be… you and Impa?”
    “Yes… Impa is missing, however…”
    “Ouch, things sound worse all the time. Let’s go.”
    Sheik nodded and stood up. After he gave Link the Song of Storms, he played the Song of Time, gesturing for Link to do the same. Blue warp whirl surrounded the Hylian.
    He reappeared in the tree near the entrance of Kakariko, in the body of a small boy, Navi beside him. The sleepy little village was just waking up. Link hopped out of the tree before anyone saw him.
    Trotting over to the windmill, he froze as he saw Rana curled up on the hill behind the windmill under a warm blanket.
    “Hey, it’s Rana!” cried Navi in delight. “Link, Link, should we –“ Link grabbed her and hushed her urgently.
    “We don’t know when we are. I think it will be better to let her be.” Link thought. “Let’s hide inside the windmill.” He crept in the door and hid in a corner.
    After a few minutes, the organ grinder slouched in, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and hooked up the windmill’s gears. He went to his seat and took his accordion, doodling away with notes and chords.
    Then Rana came in. Link took his Ocarina and played the Song of Storms softly.
    Rana’s ears perked up, and she traded a few words with the organ grinder. She reached down the front of her tunic and pulled out the Fairy Ocarina, hanging around her neck by a string. She tried out the song, practicing over and over until she had all the notes.
    Then Link let loose.
    The sky grew black over the windmill, lightening flashed, and thunder cracked overhead. Rana ducked instinctively, covering her head, and Link winced apologetically. Rain poured down like a giant bucket had overturned, and wind howled. The windmill began to spin faster and faster, and Rana, standing on the grindstone, was flung off. Link flinched again, appalled at the strength of the forces stored up in six playings of the song.
    Gradually the storm quieted and died.
    “What was that?” Rana wondered in an awed voice.
    “That must have been triggered by the song. I suggest you don’t play it anymore,” said the organ grinder.
    “I won’t. That was freaky. That must be… uh… it should be called the Song of Storms.” She skipped out, and gave a yell. “The well is empty!”
    The organ grinder cursed. “What? That blasted storm! It’s not your fault, lass, but… Grr! That’s going to make changes. We’d better go and tell everyone what happened.”
    “Right!”
    Link watched them out of the door, and waited for five minutes. “Navi,” he whispered at the end of that time, “go and see if anyone’s coming. I need to get down the well before Rana goes in or anything.”
    “No one’s there!”
    Link slipped out of his hiding place and out of the door. Jumping over the railing of the windmill entrance balcony, he climbed quickly down the iron rungs in the well. There was an opening at the muddy bottom of the well, a very dark opening.
    Link stepped in reluctantly. There was a crawl space. Bending down, he crawled through slowly, adrenaline beginning to flow in his veins.
    Navi lit up the small room. There were slimy chains hanging from the vaulted ceiling, and a ladder led downwards into a dark abyss.
    The abyss was about two meters deep, and the chamber was a dead end. With a skeleton in the corner.
    Link shivered. “Well, Navi, there’s not much here.” He searched carefully around the floor and walls for anything that might be a clue, a switch, or even the tool he had come to find. It was drafty and cold.
    There was nothing, but when he got close to the skeleton, Navi jumped. “Link!”
    “What?”
    “I can hear… spirits…” She snuggled up to Link’s neck. “They say not to trust your senses.”
    Link reached out and touched the brow of the skeleton. It felt real, and slimy from sitting in the well water.
    “They’re laughing at you,” Navi said. Link smiled.
    “They must be friendly spirits.”
    “I think they know you’re the Hero of Time. Hey, wait, where’s the Master Sword?”
    Link started and felt for the Kokiri Sword. “I forgot all about it. It’s… Well, I don’t have my hookshot or my bow either, so it must be back in seven years from now. Or whatever.”
    “Right. I don’t have your hammer or boots either.”
    “Anyway.” Link felt the wall. It, too, felt real.
    “The spirits are warning me that there are unfriendly spirits, too, in this… catacomb. Scary.”
    “I’m ready,” said Link, pushing through the wall. It melted under his touch, yet he could still see it. He hastily put his face through so that he could see if anything was waiting for him.
    There wasn’t anything, but he could hear the floating skulls he had encountered in the Forest Temple. “Great. Not these again… Gah!” He jumped as a green-glowing skull bigger than he was tall bobbled past in a corridor filled with ankle-deep water. “Very great.” He sighed, and started off in the direction the skull had come. “Navi, keep an eye out behind me, okay?”
    Turning the corner, he was suprised by the huge skull again, and jumped back with a startled yell, pelting it with Deku Seeds until it shattered. Link relaxed slightly.
    “I’m… rather anxious, Navi. I’m not as strong as I was – am when I’m nineteen, and I don’t have the same weapons. Everything feels different. And the enemies are frightening and a bit intimidating in size, even if they’re in reality weak. I think we should just get this over with as quickly as possible.”
    “No kidding.” Navi curled up on top of his hat.
    There was a door. Link opened it.
    “Redead!” squeaked Navi. “Din’s Fire!” Link cast the spell and backed into a corner, accidentally dislodging a pile of skulls around his feet. The Redead burned, but then the fire died and they advanced on him, moaning and groaning and fixing him with their hollow eyesockets. One shrieked and paralyzed him.
    A fierce light began to burn in Link’s eyes. “You want me?” Struggling against the magic, his left hand went for his sword.
    Two minutes later, the room was full of gooey pieces of Redead and a half-asphyxiated Link. One had gotten its hands around his neck from behind.
    Navi patted his cheek in adoration, and he smiled at her. “Hey, Navi. I’m fine now. I just got over my stage fright.”
    “I’m still creeped out, even if those things can’t hurt me.”
    “It’s still gross fighting dead stuff, but there’s no reason to be afraid just because of that, I realized.”
    “Yes.”
    Link rounded a corner and found himself face to face with a dead end for a bare moment – then he was falling through a hidden trapdoor. The floor had been an illusion.
    He landed in soft dirt, which quickly changed to mud. Link stood up covered in ooze and wiped his hands on his tunic. He looked around and found he was at the end of a corridor. He headed towards a dim light.
    There were lit torches in a room that held two more Redead. Link made a pathetic face and drew his sword.
    It was a long time before he found what he was looking for, but he found something anyway. It was a little purple magnifying glass with three spikes on the top. The Eye of Truth was carved into the handle.
    “Does this look like an important tool to help me defeat the shadow creature?” Link asked.
    “Yup!” Navi chirped. “Especially since it doesn’t magnify anything. Let’s go back! If we can get back to that time.” Link gave the Lens of Truth to his fairy. She agreed to tell him what she could see with it.     When Link got to the entrance, she said that the wall that was an illusion was not there to her. In other words, her vision of the world matched Link’s feel of the world.
    Link began to climb the up to the crawl hole when he heard a gasp. He realized that he saw a light above, too. Rana gave a little squeak and scrambled backwards through the crawl space, probably climbing the ladder in the well as fast as she could. The light disappeared; probably Naeri. Link half-smiled. “Poor butterfly,” he said to himself. “She’s not supposed to have to do this.”
    “She’ll want to, though.”
    “Well, we’ve got the Lens, so we’re done here. She can ransack it from top to bottom.” Link climbed cautiously out of the well and ran to the tree. A blue warp portal glowed in its branches. He grabbed a branch over his head and hauled himself up, warping through time to the future.

    Sheik met him, pacing back and forth anxiously. The sun was up, and villagers were going about their business, with curious looks at the young Sheikah’s strange behaviour. When Link appeared, he stopped.
    “You look a mess.”
    “That’s what you get for jumping in a ‘dry’ well,” Link laughed at him. “I have the Lens. What now?”
    “Now I teach you the Requiem of Shadow.”
    “Sounds scary.”
    “Yes, a bit.” The song wasn’t the most comforting melody either.
    “Well, maybe you should rest before you set out again…”
    “Good idea. I need lunch, I’m starved. Join me?”
    “Nah, that’s okay. I need to go. See you!” With a flash, Sheik disappeared.

    After he had finished eating, Link rinsed his hands and face and played the Shadow song. Purple light took him to a ledge with a warp pad – on which he found himself – a tomb-like entrance in the side of a cliff, and a fenced-off drop to Kakariko Graveyard.
    “I should have guessed,” he mumbled as he walked down the Temple entrance.
    Link stared at the room hewed into the cliff face. It was filled with torches; he didn’t bother counting them. He looked around, and his gaze fell upon a little dais in the centre. He grinned to himself, centred himself on the dais, and cast Din’s Fire.
    With a whoosh, every torch in the room lit at once and the crypt door opened.
    For all his courage, Link was a little apprehensive as he entered.

Chapter 15: The Deathful Water and Avoiding Marriage     Chapter 17: The Most Frightening Place in Hyrule

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…

Chapter 14: The Desperate Battle     Chapter 16: The Magic Eye

Chapter 13: The Realm of Silence     Chapter 15: The Deathful Water and Avoiding Marriage

Chapter 14: The Desperate Battle

    The interior of the Water Temple was rich and gorgeous. Carved intricately from blue marble and inlaid with bronze and gold, the walls reflected the water’s reflection of torchlight. A massive pillar took up a great deal of the space of the main chamber, which was almost completely filled with water; yet the room had the impression of vast space, though the top of the hill was only a few meters above their heads.
    Link stared around in wonder, a smile passing over his face. Navi flew forward into the open space and turned back.
    “It’s very pretty. Rana would love it. Ruto, too…”
    “I think so,” Link answered, and dove in headfirst. Swimming down to the bottom of the chamber, where he immediately planned to start, was out of the question, so with a bubbly sigh he asked Navi for his heavy boots.
    As he sank, he caught glimpses of corridors and walkways, submerged but probably very convenient for a Zora. Down on the bottom, he clunked around slowly, seeing the many doors and yet more corridors branching off from the main room.
    He picked the closest entrance, but the door was locked. So was the next one, and Link stopped to rest his legs for a few moments before going to the next one.
    That hallway was not blocked by anything at first, but eventually he came to an empty room behind a door at the end of it. He was going to turn around when Navi tapped his ear.
    “Look up!” she chirped. Link did so, and saw he could still keep going. It must have been obvious for a Zora, but a Zora he was not, though he was still going to do his best.
    As he pulled himself out of a well-like vertical passage, he heard a squeal and his eyes widened. He straightened up just in time for a tall, slim, lovely Princess Ruto to fling herself bodily into him and knock them both back into the water.
    “Link!” she screamed happily, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You came back! And you have very good timing, too, although you’re a terrible fiancé to just disappear like that and leave me waiting for seven years. Why, I’m seventeen and we haven’t even been on one date! It’s just awful! And Zora’s Domain is frozen, so there’s nowhere with enough water to have a decent date anyway, and Daddy’s stuck, so he can’t approve.”
    Link’s eyes were round with astonishment, making him look extremely young and foolish, but he was able to climb out of the water again.
    When he was standing again, Ruto managed to back him against the wall with her arms around him.
    “And let’s see, so now you are here, so you can help me free the Temple from the clutches of those awful monsters that took it over, and then do whatever it is that heroes to do free the land from evil like Ganondorf, and then we can get married!”
    “Wait, Ruto. Slow down! You… t-think I’m e-engaged to you?” he stammered out.
    “Well, duh! I gave you the Zora’s Sapphire.”
    “But… I didn’t understand then… I… Princess, I would help you even if you hadn’t given it to me. I needed it in order to unseal the Master Sword, so I could defeat Ganondorf. I honestly didn’t know I was going to disappear for seven years.”
    “So… now that you know, can we get on with our current quest, darling?” She whipped away from him and swirled gracefully over to an intricate carving on the wall. “I know that to get where we need to go next, I need to change the water level, and that this carving is the lock and that the Princess of Hyrule’s Melody is the key, but I can’t make it work. What do you think?”
    “Maybe it needs the Ocarina of Time,” Navi suggested. Ruto pouted.
    “Well, we don’t have that.”
    “Actually, we do. Let me try,” Link said, pulling it out and stepping close to the panel.
    After he finished the last note, there was a swish, and the water behind him drained away. To where, he had no idea, though he was curious. His mind was more occupied with getting Ruto’s perceptions straight without mentally damaging either of them more than necessary…
    “That was neat! Let’s go!” Navi sang, zooming ahead. “Wait. Where are we going?”
    “How do we get down?” Ruto asked. “We can light the magic torches out in the main hall now, but if we break our necks getting down, it won’t be worth it. I’d use the Longshot, but a strange black shadowy creature just snatched it out of my hand when I wasn’t looking. Then it darted off where I couldn’t follow. And anyway I wouldn’t be able to use it here. How do we get down again?”
    Link looked around for somewhere to dangle his hookshot from, just in case, but he couldn’t find anything close to the hole. “Just follow me,” he said at last, and jumped.
    He landed safely, and turned to catch Ruto. Somehow, she landed in a heap in his arms, in the general position he thought might be safest. Apparently she thought so too, and more, because she tittered and kissed his cheek.
    His face immediately flamed red.
    He put the Zora princess down and started walking back out to the main chamber, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. She followed him, babbling the same way she used to. He missed Rana more than ever.
    Travelling around the dungeon, though Ruto had unlocked a great deal of the locked doors, he still found some places she had not, and discovered at least one whole room she hadn’t even known existed.     The Zora, on the other hand, actually impressed him with her elbow-fin boomerangs, though when he asked her how she could detach fins, she winked and smiled at him secretively.
    When they reached a new passage that branched in two paths, Link went left, and persuaded Ruto to go right.
    After dodging many traps, climbing up waterfalls, and finding out simply how to move forward, he opened a door and found himself outside.
    “What?” Navi said. Behind them, the door locked, trapping them out of the Temple. Ahead there was a short wall of sandstone with another door, also locked. The space between the two doors was covered in silvery water, mirroring the silver-grey clouded sky. Halfway between the two doors there was a small, dead tree on a sandy island. A few bits of old pillars stuck out of the water, and the wind made ripples around them.
    Link walked forward carefully, relaxing a bit as he found the water was only ankle deep all the way through. The shallow lake seemed to stretch for eternity on all sides, and he wondered where in Hyrule he was, and how he was going to get back.
    Something stirred in his wake as he made his way over to the other door.
    Link sighed as he tested the barred door. No, he was stuck, all right. He turned around to go elsewhere… and forgot where he had been intending to go.
    A black-clad figure with crimson eyes waited for him under the tree. He stared silently at Link.
    Link walked closer, cautiously, drawing his sword.
    The figure drew its obsidian blade in return.
    Darkness seemed to radiate from the black Hylian like heat off a fire; Link attacked first, with a strong downward stroke. Two shouts rang out as the other parried perfectly, and sparks flew.

    Half an hour later, Link was approaching exhaustion. He had tried every technique he knew, every weapon he had, and every time, Shadow Link batted the attack away as casually as a leaf. Both were soaked. Link was bleeding in countless places, and the Master Sword sagged in his weary hand.
    Shadow Link circled him as swiftly as when they had begun, a slight mocking smile on his face. Navi was too tired to follow and fell to the water; Link swung his shield around just in time to block the blow and counterattacked pathetically.
    He was as shocked as his enemy when he felt his blade connect and slice. Shadow Link cried out in a deep voice and collapsed into nothing.
    “Was that it?” cried Navi in a relieved voice, fluttering up to Link’s shoulder. He pulled himself to his feet with more energy and looked around. The doors had not unlocked…
    A sudden whoosh behind him was not much of a warning, but Link took it and rolled forward, just in time. Shadow Link’s sword thudded with a chunk into the sand behind him.
    “Navi,” Link panted, “don’t help me target him. It’s as if he can read my mind through you.”
    “All right. Will you be all right?”
    Link nodded hopefully and went back to work.
    Shadow Link was not smiling anymore, and when Link cut him again, his deep scream held more anger than pain. The hero, from experience, spun around and found his adversary right where he expected him to be. He was even prepared for the flurry of blows that angry Shadow Link rained down on him, and jumped backwards so his shield wouldn’t get beaten out of his hand.
    Once again, he caught Shadow Link with the Master Sword, and the shadow vanished. This time he did not reappear right away.
    “Where is he?” panted Link.
    A maddened yell behind him, again, told him. Link whirled and was knocked off his feet by the dark man, hurling himself at the Hylian bodily. They fell to the sand. Both swords were accidentally flung away. Shadow Link hit Link over the head with his black shield and groped for his sword.
    “Link!” screamed Navi, and her voice brought his consciousness back to the surface. Shadow Link was kneeling on his chest, his sword poised to strike. Wide blue eyes stared into furious ruby ones.
    Then Link let loose Din’s Fire with his last strength.
    Shadow Link was blasted away, wailed, crumpled, and was gone.
    Link tried to get up and failed. His attention was distracted by the open space around him; it was open no longer. It was a wide chamber of blue marble, much the same as the rest of the Temple. There was no tree in the centre, and both doors were now unlocked.
    “I’m too tired, Navi,” Link whispered. “I need to rest.”
    “You can sleep,” Navi whispered back. “We’re safe now. I’ll keep watch.”
    “No, you sleep too. It must be late at nigh…” Link trailed off in the middle of a sentence and Navi saw that he was asleep. She smiled. He was still handsome, soaking wet, his blonde hair in his eyes, his mouth hanging open, sprawled on his back where he had fallen.
    She settled herself comfortably on his chest near his heart and fell asleep with the comforting rhythmic thud in her little fairy ears.

Chapter 13: The Realm of Silence     Chapter 15: The Deathful Water and Avoiding Marriage