Chapter 19: The Land of Sand     Chapter 21: To Find Tranquillity

Chapter 20: The Broken Laugh

“Nabooru?!?” Link cried in shock and disbelief. She didn’t seem to be hurt, although he had struck the hulking Ironknuckle in the torso more than once; perhaps the massive padding under the armour had protected her.
She raised herself to her knees. “Who… who are you…”
He knelt beside her, trying to help her stand. “My name’s Link. I met you seven years ago. Do you remember?”
Two swirls appeared in the corner of the room, condensing into witches; one with red and black robes, the other with blue and black.
“Oh, look, Koume, she’s woken up again.”
“Oh dear, Kotake, you’re right. What should we do with her?”
Nabooru sprang to her feet, keeping a wary eye on both of them, growling like a wolf.
“Let’s lock her up again,” said Koume. Both witches now held glowing balls of light in their colours.
“Run, Nabooru!” Link shouted, jumping in front of her. The Gerudo woman didn’t need telling twice. She was out the door before the old crones could fire their spells.
Instead, they fired them at Link, who blocked them both with the Mirror shield.
“We’ll wait for them in the big room, right, Kotake?” cackled Koume.
“We will, Koume,” screeched Kotake. With a swirl, they both disappeared. Continue reading →

Chapter 18: Held by Bandits     Chapter 20: The Broken Laugh

Chapter 19: The Land of Sand

There was a huge stone in the distance, much closer now. Link staggered towards it.
“Want some more water?” Navi asked.
“I’ll hang on for a bit, thanks.”
As they got closer, Link could see the stone more clearly. There was an ancient, broken statue of a woman sitting crosslegged with her hands palm upwards that was carved directly into the face of the rock. In front of her was a rough stone arch, rising out of the desert.
There also was a Triforce pad.
Link walked past the pad and over to the entrance under the statue’s feet. He stood looking around a bit.
“Isn’t Sheik supposed to meet me here?” he asked Navi. He turned around to scan the desert.
Sheik was there, smirking. At least, Link thought it was a smirk. He couldn’t tell. The other youth’s collar was too high for him to see.
Link clutched his chest, pretending to have a heart attack. “Goodness, Sheik, where did you come from?” Continue reading →

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. Continue reading →