buThe Song of the Siren's Shell/u/b
By: Sonnet A.K.A. Talonclawfange
( E-mail me at Talonofdayyahoo.com, but not if you're going to give me sick advertisements! I DONT WANT THEM!! I'M ONLY 16! Just feedback, please.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Hyrule, Link, Epona, Zelda, or anything else from Shigeru Miamoto and Nintendo's genius video game: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I wrote this story in dedication to them, since it's from the best video game of all time, created by them. The only things I own are North Hyrule, Kadien, Sea Gruffons, Cyphas and all other things not in the original video game (so don't use em' without asking me and putting that I thought them up). I also wrote this because I like reading, drawing, and, recently, writing fantasy (all talents are given to me by God, so all credit goes to him as well). I think Link is really cool - Good job, Miyamoto!
Note: This story takes place after my other stories, which are: The Problem of the Swamp Fairies, Duels and Dragons, Hunt for the Dragonlord, and The War of the Kings, so you probably want to read them first or you'll be a little confused. By the way, I meant for this to be a shorter fanfiction, but failed miserably, because this story is about 54 pages long. It's somewhere between PG and PG-13, there's no sexual themes or foul language, but there's violence and blood. Enjoy!
buSection 1
An Inaudiable Sound/u/b
"Zzzzzzzzzz......" A quiet snoring sound emitted from a soft lump.
"Yo, time to rise and shine!" Chain poked at the blanket-wrapped bundle on the bed, and it let out a groan. "Hey, c'mon! You agreed to start this earlier schedule of training, so stop sleeping in!" He poked it again, and got no reply but another groan. "Gimme a break..." Chain took a few steps toward the exit of his and Link's bedroom, pretending that Zelda was outside of it. "Well princess, it looks like the great Hero of Time is glued to his bed, so he can't train with us today..." That sentence finally caught Link's attention and he threw off his blanket, jumping out of bed.
"Hold on! It'll only take a minute to put my clothes on." Chain laughed as he watched his brother scramble to pull his tunic over his underclothes as fast as possible. Link grabbed his sword and left with his brother to go have a brief breakfast before training. The two of them then met Impa and Zelda in the courtyard.
"It took you guys long enough." Impa complained, and Chain shot Link an irritated glance.
"Eh, sorry...but I'm used to getting up iwith/i the sun, not before it!" Link said defensively. "But anyways, that's a pretty dumb excuse...I'll get up on time tomorrow, okay?"
"Good idea. It will sharpen your senses if you rise early," Impa pointed out, throwing a punch at Link. He was too sleepy to be alert, so it hit him between the eyes, making both Zelda and Chain giggle a little.
"Ow! Hey, no-one likes cheap shots..." Link, now very ready to train, drew his sword at Impa, who drew her own sword to block it. The two began slashing at each other, while Zelda and Chain watched.
"Hey, weren't we going to have an organized training session today, Impa?" Zelda inquired.
"Yes, but let's have a nice little free-for-all to warm us up," she said, blocking another one of Link's blows. Chain casted a newly learned ice spell at Zelda, who used a quick version of Nayru's Love to block it. After a few minutes of Link attacking Impa, she used a quick ninja-like jump to get behind him and grab his head in one arm. She then dropped her sword, giving him a hard noogie.
"Hey, ow! I've never seen you do this kind of thing before...you're scaring me!" He said jokingly. Zelda started laughing at Link, then chanted and casted a temporary itch spell on Chain and laughed as he rolled around on the ground, scratching himself. Impa saw Zelda sitting there laughing and dropped Link, running over to the princess and tickling her. A high-pitched squeal escaped Zelda's lips as she squirmed to get out of her nanny's grasp. Soon all four of them were on the ground laughing. "Wow, Impa..." Link said, looking over at her. "I've seriously never seen you be playful before, except that one time I thought you were going to drop me from the castle window..." Impa laughed, recalling how scared Link was when she had held him out of a castle window when he was a child. She had done it to show him a good view of Death Mountain, and had had no intention of dropping him.
"Impa's just serious when you're around, Link, because we're usually discussing some threat to Hyrule. Today there's nothing to worry about, so Impa's feeling happy; right, Impa?" Zelda looked over at her caretaker, who was almost like a mother to her.
"Something like that." She replied. "But it's not like I'd act this way around anyone when I'm happy. Only around people who I consider to be my friends." Zelda walked over to her and hugged her.
"Okay, this is getting a little too warm and fuzzy for me!" Chain complained, looking irritably at the girls.
"Yeah, me too." Link agreed, getting to his feet.
"Okay, okay..." Zelda let go of Impa and the two of them and Chain got up as well. Impa then began discussing fighting techniques and teaching the other three, since she was the oldest and most experienced. She then began to spar with each of them individually and watch them spar with each other, making suggestions about how they could fight better. She was in the middle of telling Chain to speak faster when she went silent mid-sentence and stared straight in front of her. Chain and Link stopped sparring for a moment and looked over at her expectantly.
"What's the matter, Impa?" Chain inquired. Slowly Impa's right rand raised up to her head, and she placed it over her right ear. "Impa...?" Now all three of the younger warriors had their eyes fixed on her.
"I can...hear something..." Impa muttered, staring into the space in front of her. "I feel strange." Her hand dropped to her side, and her eyes focused on Chain. "Sorry about that, Chain. You must chant your verbal spells faster, or they'll be interrupted by your opponent."
"What did you hear?" Link asked the Sheikah woman.
"Nothing. Get back to your training, you need to learn better defense against magic." She said, and Link and Chain resumed fighting while Zelda went over the words to her verbal spells in her mind. All went well for a couple dozen minutes, and the sun began to rise; lighting up the bright green grass in the courtyard and turning the sky a pretty shade of pinkish-orange. All of the sudden Impa got a weird look on her face and turned towards Zelda. "It's in my head...Zelda, why aren't you training?!" She demanded.
"What? Hey, no need to yell! I'm reviewing the words of my verbal spells, just like you told me to." The princess said. Impa took a step towards her.
"If you don't start training right now I won't train you anymore!" The Sheikah yelled.
"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Zelda asked distressedly, wondering what she had done to make her caretaker so mad.
"Train, you twit!" Impa yelled. Chain and Link stopped training again to look at Impa.
"Hey, what's wrong with you, Impa? Zelda didn't do anything to you!" Link said, also perplexed at Impa's sudden temper.
"Stay out of this, you cretin!" Impa jumped at Link, throwing a knife at him.
"Whoa, cool it!" Link said, jumping out of the way. "Explain why you're so mad!" Impa jumped again, this time landing on Link. She pinned him and drew a dagger. "You've got to be joking!" Link said, struggling to get up. Chain ran up behind Impa and grabbed her from behind, pulling her off his brother. She elbowed him hard in the stomach, then grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder onto Link. Zelda gasped and was about to cast a spell on her nanny when she head the yelling of a familiar voice. The weird look on Impa's face disappeared, replaced by an exhausted one. She sat down in the grass as Cosha, yelling quite loud, ran up to the four warriors.
Three weeks ago, when the griffons had come back with Link as he returned from Dracoulis and Catalin, Cosha had been appointed the griffon keeper and had acted less insane and more normal with each passing day, but now he was yelling as loud as he could.
"The griffons have gone mad! They tried to kill me, help, princess Zelda!" As Cosha stopped running to catch his breath, Zelda noticed he had a large slash on his arm.
"Oh, my...what's going on here?" Zelda was now getting a bit scared of all the strange things happening. Link and Chain had gotten up, both watching Impa cautiously.
"Zelda, he wants you to cast a calming spell on them; right, Cosha?" Link asked him, worried that the griffons could get free and attack other people.
"Yes! Before they break out of their enclosure and go on a killing spree!" Cosha yelled urgently.
"This is getting stranger by the second...Naltha and Kars are both very mature and reasonable griffons...why would they go wild all of the sudden?" Zelda followed Cosha to the griffon aviary and Link and Chain stayed with Impa. Impa tiredly looked up at them from the ground.
"What just happened? I feel like I turned into a monster or blacked out..." she said quietly.
"Seemed more like a temper tantrum to me!" Chain shouted.
"Quiet, Chain." Link told him, "I really don't think Impa would do that in her right mind...I would think she was going crazy except the fact that the griffons went crazy at the same time. This sounds kind of suspicious to me." Link said. "Maybe we should call off training with Impa today, she looks like she could use some more sleep."
As the Royal Guard and Hyrule Army soldiers entered the gradually brightening courtyard to start their day of training, Impa, Link, and Chain left. After Impa had reluctantly been examined by a physician and went to sleep, Link and his brother met Zelda and Cosha by the horse stables.
"Why are you guys over here?" Chain asked Zelda, "I thought the griffons were going crazy, not the horses."
"Well, it looks like the horses started getting nervous and spooked about the same time the griffons went wild. I calmed the griffons and the stable master bust into the aviary, asking me to calm the horses, too. What do you think is going on?" She looked at Link for a reply; while Chain tried to calm down Cosha, who still had a freaked-out look on his face.
"Well...it seems like something caused the horses, the griffons, and Impa to all act strange at the same time. It must have been something very irritating to make Impa lose her temper like that. But what would have an effect on those three that wouldn't effect anyone else?" Link's gaze fell to the ground, and he stared at it thoughtfuly..
"No idea..." Zelda said, also thinking hard. Meanwhile, Cosha had finally settled down.
"So Cosha, what exactly happened to the griffons?" Chain asked him.
"Hm," Cosha brushed a few strands of short, very dark brown hair out of his face. "At first they were playing with each other and acting normal, then they stopped and both stood still for a moment, as if they heard something. They kept playing for a while longer, then they all of the sudden got real fierce! They started really trying to hurt each other and when I tried to break it up they attacked me! Sorry about yelling so loudly, but it's pretty scary to be in a room with two fierce griffons, both larger than horses."
"It's okay," Zelda said, picking up on their conversation. "and your explanation helped a lot. You say they acted as if they heard something? Hey Link, didn't Impa also say she heard something?"
"Yeah, she did! That must be it - they all heard a really high-frequency noise that usually only animals can hear, but Impa heard it too because Sheikah senses are sharper than Hylians'."
"What put out that kind of noise, and so sharp that it would temporarily cause them to lose control of themselves?" Cosha pondered.
"That's something I truly don't know." Zelda said sadly. "But something I really wish I knew is if whatever put out the noise did it intentionally or accidentally."
"I see where you're going...this could be another enemy to Hyrule. Man, what did we ever do to anyone else?" Chain asked.
"I don't know, but Hyrule always seems to have an enemy, doesn't it?" Link said quietly.
"Men, always jumping to conclusions." Zelda said, looking at them. "Did it occur to you two that whatever made the sound didn't know it would cause anyone harm? I don't have any idea what made the sound, so we can't just assume it's an enemy. Anyways, I think we should wait a while and see if happens again. If it does, maybe I can use a special spell while it's happening to find out what direction it's coming from."
"That sounds like a good plan. Hey Zelda, want to train with me and Chain since Impa can't train us today?"
"Yes, let's go." Zelda left with Chain and Link, and Cosha went back to the aviary. The day went normally from that point on, as if the strange occurence that morning had never taken place. The griffons were calm, Impa got up after sleeping a bit, and Link, Zelda, and Chain had fun training with each other. At one point Raykel came over to them and showed them a way to focus all their strength in a powerful sword strike which was faster than a jump slash. He then left to train his own soldiers, and Impa met up with them, declaring that she felt more than healthy enough to train them. When it was almost noon and time to stop training, the four of them had lunch.
"Hey Link, I think that while your brother goes and trains his horse after lunch, maybe you and I can go ride the griffons." Zelda suggested.
"Uh...maybe...I don't know..." Link said, not particularly liking the idea of flying when he didn't have to.
"Come on...what's wrong, scared of heights?" She asked teasingly, not knowing that he really was.
"Maybe..." He said, barely speaking above a whisper.
"What? You are? Are you kidding?" Zelda stared at Link, who avoided looking into her eyes.
"I'm not scared of heights, I just don't like them!" He protested. Zelda burst out laughing.
"Link's scared of heights...it's too much!" She giggled.
"Hey, it's not that funny..." Link said glancing at Impa and Chain who had been looking at him. They both looked away, eating their food.
"Sorry, Link. I didn't mean to laugh at you, but I really think that riding the griffons often might help you like heights more. It could be very good for you."
"Okay, you win. The griffons need more exercise anyway." Link muttered. But inside he really didn't want to fly. iHow do I always let her talk me into things like this?/i
"Oh, you guys want to ride the griffons? Okay, it'll be good because this way we can see if they need saddles or not. They insist that they don't, but you never know. I'll bring them out." He walked towards the aviary, which was a structure that was half made of stone walls, and half bars. It had a door that the griffons could open themselves and come out any time, but it had been locked that morning when they got fierce. Cosha called their names and the griffons came out.
Naltha was a female and had reddish feathers with black stripes, and her cat half had white fur. Kars had white feathers with grey stripes and his cat half was black. They were both about the same size, which was a little bigger than a horse, and both had greenish-yellow eyes. Zelda turned into Sheik so her dress wouldn't get in the way, and jumped onto Naltha's back.
"Feeling better, Naltha?" She asked her mount.
"Oh yes, I've been feeling just fine, and so has Kars. We don't know what came over us this morning! How are you?" While Sheik had a spirited convesation with Naltha, Link managed to pull himslf up onto Kars's back.
"Do you fly smoothly, Kars?" Link asked him.
"I do by myself, but I've never had a passenger before. This should be very interesting!" The griffon answered, smiling broadly.
"Oh, great..." Link made sure he had a good grip on the griffon.
"Well, are you guys ready to go up?" Naltha asked.
"Of course!" Sheik said happily.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Link said, less than happily. The two griffons took flight, ascending slowly at first and then catching the wind with their feathery bird wings. Link and Zelda soon discovered that the griffons flew very smoothly and had no need for saddles. They flew for a long time, despite Link's desire to land after five minutes, and soon Link found himself looking around rather than clinging to Kars's back. "Maybe this isn't so bad, once you get used to it," He said to Sheik, whose griffon was flying right next to his. After a few hours the griffons got tired, and they finally landed. Soon after it was dinner time, and Link and Chain joined the Royal Family and their bodyguards at the table. Daphnes Hyrule listened to Link and Zelda's explanation of what caused the animals and Impa to act strange, and he said that he agreed with them.
"My only question is, if the noise does sound again and you do find out where it's coming from by means of Zelda's spell, what are you going to do about it?" The King asked his daughter. Her and Link had discussed this while riding the griffons.
"We'll go in the direction my enchantment points." Zelda said simply, "We'll find out what is causing the noise and try to stop it peacefully."
"We? Who said you were going anywhere?" The King asked. "You are the princess and you should stay at your castle. Besides, the trip may be dangerous. You should just let Link go."
"But Link always gets all the fun! I want to go with him this time, father. We can't pinpoint the source of the sound if I don't tag along and maintain my spell." Zelda explained. The King sighed.
"Link, I don't doubt your ability to protect the princess, but I want Impa and another member of the Royal Guard to go if Zelda goes."
"I'll go!" Chain volunteered.
"An experienced member of the Royal Guard." The King corrected himself.
"Drat." Chain said.
"I'm sure Sohran wouldn't mind coming," Link said. "He's always saying that he wishes he could do something more interesting than train all day, so I bet he'd love to come; that is, if all this noise buisiness is as serious as we think it is."
"Yes, we'll just have to wait and see if it happens again." Zelda said, and that was the end of the conversation. After dinner Link went to Hyrule Field and rode Epona a bit, since she had gotten jealous of Kars. Link then retired to his room and found Chain already asleep. Link decided to go straight to sleep as well, so he would be able to get up in the morning without being tired. He got into his bed and fell asleep quickly, thinking about the strange sound.
buSection 2
Back to the Swamp/u/b
This morning, Link poked Chain to get him up.
"Come on...time to 'rise and shine!' Just like you told me." Link said, poking him again.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting up...iwithout/i groaning and being lazy like you were yesterday." Chain got up and as soon as the two of them were ready, they ate breakfast and met Zelda and Impa in the field, just like yesterday.
"This time, guys; if I start to act strange again I want you to pin me and not let me up until I'm normal, okay? I don't even remember what I did yesterday. Like I said, it's similar to blacking out so I'll have no idea what I'm doing." Impa said, looking seriously at Link and Chain.
"No problemo, Impa." Chain said, and then the training began. The first thing they did was have Zelda practice her verbal spells (like the itch one) and her nonverbal ones (like Nayru's Love and Din's Fire) while the other three dodged. Chain was hit a few times, but was in the process of learning a shield spell and said he wouldn't be hit next time. After that exercise it was time for Chain to do the casting and Zelda dodged with Impa and Link. All was going fine and at sunrise the Royal Guard and Hyrule Army joined the warriors in the field of the courtyard.
Suddenly Link heard a very disturbing high-pitched sound. It hurt his ears a little, so he put his hands over them.
"Zelda, Impa, Chain! You guys better watch out, because I can hear a weird high-pitched noise! This isn't good..." The three of them stopped training, all of their eyes on Link. iWhatever this is, I have to resist it! I can't let it do to me what it did to Impa./i The sound stopped, and Link lowered his hands. "Well, that's weird. I can't hear it anymore."
"The same thing happened to me, Link. I heard it briefly and then it stopped. Later I heard it again, and it sounded like it was right in my head. It was too much...I guess we'll just have to keep an eye on you." Impa said. "But we don't know when or if it will effect you, so until then let's just train normally."
"Okay." Link agreed, hoping he wouldn't go mad in the middle of a fight with Zelda. To everyone's surprise, they trained until lunchtime and still nothing had happened to Link. Afterwards Chain went to train his horse again (it was a dark brown female, named Rilla), and Link didn't know what Zelda and Impa were going to do, because he was leaving. He had promised the Kokiri that he would visit them that day, so he went to the forest. When he got there, he was greeted by Saria.
"Well, it's about time you pay us a visit, Link! I haven't seen you since the warrior contest!" She complained, hugging him.
"Sorry about that...I guess I've become so involved in my training that I don't spend as much time with my friends as I should. Say, are the Know-It-All Brothers around?" Link asked.
"Of course they are. Where else would they be but here, silly?" Saria began walking toward Mido's house and Link followed her. "Right now their lecturing Mido because he planted flowers too close to the Deku Tree iagain./i He just doesn't get the concept that if they're too close, the Deku Tree will shade them and they wont get enough sunlight to grow. This is like the sixth time he's done it!" The two of them entered the tree stump house and the Know-It-All Brothers stopped talking to say 'hi' to them.
"Sorry if we're interrupting-" Link began, but a brother cut him off.
"No need to worry. You see we are done talking to Mido now and can talk to anyone who wants to talk. Of course if you had come in a few minutes ago we would still be lecturing, and-"
"Okay, we get it." Saria said quickly. A brother could really yap on if you got him started. "I think Link wants to talk to you guys." The brothers turned their attention to Link, while Mido simply sat, glaring at him.
"Do you guys know what kind of an object can make a very high-frequency sound that only animals and humans with very good hearing can hear? Now this isn't just a small noise, it's a noise intense enough to make them temporarily lose their minds."
"You know Link, that's a very interesting question because yesterday morning some of the tame wolfoses around the forest burst into the Kokiri Village, acting very violent, like they'd lost their minds." Saria said.
"Yes, and as we told you yesterday, Saria, it was caused by a noise like the one Link is describing," a brother said. "This kind of noise can be made by some animals, but not intense enough to make things go crazy, so it had to be something else. It must be a device for making sound like a powerful metal fork or an enchanted horn of some sort. By the way, us Kokiri heard a weird noise this morning, so if it was made by the same thing as yesterday, there must be a way to magically change the frequency so that only certain types of creatures or only creatures with a certain level of hearing can pick it up. Whatever's making the noise must be a very strange object, and we must-"
"Thank you for your information." Link said, wondering if a brother could recite an entire essay in thirty seconds. "I also heard the noise this morning so maybe it has something to do with they way Kokiris hear."
"But you aren't a Kokiri!" Mido pointed out.
"Yeah, but I grew up with the same lifestyle in the Lost Woods and care the Deku Tree gave all of us, so I must hear like a Kokiri. Or something..." Link got a confused look on his face. "Ahem, well I didn't come here just to chat about weird noises! How are you all doing? And Mido...why are you looking at me like that? Are you still mad that I didn't tell you I was Link the first time I saw you?" He asked, looking at the little Kokiri.
"As a matter of fact I am! It was totally rude! I think you should have told us all who you are. After all, most Kokiris are your fiends! What were you worried about?" Mido asked suspiciously.
"Nothing, really. It was just so strange to see you all my height one day and then come back twice as tall. It may have been seven years for you guys, but it was like a day to me. It was really freaky and I thought it might scare you too, so I just didn't say anything." Link explained.
"We were really worried about you, Link." Saria said. "Yep, even Mido over there was sad to see you go. He acted like he was happy at first, but then it started showing..."
"Oh, be quiet. I knew he was coming back the whole time! I just didn't recognize him when he did, that's all!"
"Heh heh, it's good to be back for a little while," Link said. Mido and Saria's fairies began flying around Link's head. "But I sure do miss Navi! It really stinks that no one knows where she went or what she's doing. I hope she's safe..." Link went silent, having nothing more to say at the moment. A bit later he helped the Kokiri fix a wall that had been damaged by the wolfoses. He then cut all the grass in Mido's yard and called Epona and the Kokiris took turns riding her with Link. He spent quite a long time there and only left when it started getting dark.
He rode home on Epona (who was not even close to tired) and saw Zelda standing outside the castle as he approached it. He waved to her, smiling.
"Hey, princess! I have an idea of what might have made the sound this morning and yesterday!" As Epona got closer, Link once again heard the notorious noise he was talking about. Only this time, it was so loud it made his head feel like it was going to explode. "Aahhh...what the?!" Link didn't pay attention to what he was doing, and fell off Epona, landing on his knees and holding his head. "I can't stand it!" Link looked over at Zelda, who was rapidly chanting a strange enchantment. The noise in his head got louder, and Link vaguely remembered wondering if he was going mad before his world went black.
For a while he felt like he was floating, but then he got an urge to fight he had never experienced before, and tried to resist it even though it didn't seem like there was anyone to fight in his weird, black dream. For a moment all was silent as the sound stopped, then Link woke up.
With a small shock he found that he was laying flat on the ground with a peculiar pain on the back of his head, staring up at Zelda. It was like waking up from sleep, but Link didn't recall opening his eyes or even closing them in the first place.
"Link, are you okay? I hope I didn't hurt you!" Zelda said, a worried look on her face.
"Hurt me? What do you mean by that?" Link sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "And why does my head hurt?"
"Because of me. Don't you remember? Just a few seconds ago, you drew your sword and started slashing at me! I kicked you in the head pretty hard." Zelda said, "It was the noise, wasn't it?"
"Yes, and I don't remember attacking you at all. This is crazy! Whatever is causing this...we've got to stop it before it makes a noise that all Hylians can hear!" Link declared.
"Well, here's a piece of good news. I casted the enchantment and it's pointing in the direction the sound came from. It's pointing northwest, towards Ganon's Swamp."
"Then I guess that's where we're going tomorrow. But Zelda, that swamp is really dangerous." Link said.
"You're not suggesting that I should stay behind, are you?" Zelda gave him an angry look.
"Actually, I think you should definately come so we can find where the noise is caming from, but if a lot of people go into the swamp there's more chance we'll sink in the muck. I have a better idea - we should fly over the swamp on the griffons and when we find the spot the sound is coming from, we'll go down to it. That way, we'll be spending as little time in the swamp as possible." Link said.
"Sounds good, I just have to get father to agree on it. That should be about as easy as getting a pig to fly," She said with a tone of irritation. "When will you men ever understand that I can protect myself?"
"We don't think you're weak or anything, take my word for it. It's just that...you're the future of this kingdom, and you get kidnapped too often!" Link said.
"I do not! I could have broken out of the Dragonlord's lair...I just wanted to see if you would save me!" Zelda exclaimed.
"Yeah, isure/i you could have..." Link said sarcastically.
"Hmpf! You just wait until I get iyou/i out of trouble, then you'll know how I feel!"
"Princess Zelda." A guard walked out onto the field."The King has asked me to remind you that-"
"Yes, I know! It's time for dinner. Will father ever stop treating me like a baby? Let's go, Link." Zelda offered him a hand but couldn't really pull him up and almost fell over. Link got up by himself, smirking at her.
"Maybe you should do more push-ups." He suggested playfully.
"You just shut up. Push-ups aren't becoming for a lady!" Link put a hand over his mouth in an effort to stifle his laughter.
"Then turn into Sheik and do some..."
"Be quiet!" Zelda ordered, shoving Link.
"Heh heh. Sure, but I guess you won't hear what I heard from the Know-It-All Brothers today..." Link trailed off.
"Fine. It's better if you tell father and me at the same time at the dinner table anyway." Zelda said, and the guard followed her and Link in, closing the drawbridge after them.
"Absolutely not."
"But father, I must-"
"No."
"We can't take more soldiers because-"
"No!"
"Link can't find the sound without-"
"No, and no again, Zelda! I can't let my only daughter, the very ifuture/i of Hyrule, fly over the most dangerous part of Hyrule, not knowing where she's going or how long it will take to get there! You could fall off your griffon and plummet to your death. You might not find the sound for weeks and run out of food. You may run into more monsters than you can handle and be torn to pieces! You may inot/i fly over the swamp with only two griffons, Link, and a week's supply of food - I forbid it!"
"Father, I must! I don't mean to be disrespectful, but there may not be citizens in Hyrule for me to rule later if we don't do something. This sound doesn't just make people angry, it drives them completely insane! You know that Link would never try to hurt me in a million years, right? Well when he heard that sound, he was swinging at me so hard he could have killed me if I let my guard down and he didn't have a light-magic-filled sword. Seriously, if another sound is made that all Hylians can hear, the population of Hyrule could kill itself!" Zelda paused for breath, realizing that in her urgency she had spoken very fast. "If I don't go with Link, we can't find the source of the sound, and it will go unstopped. However much time it will take us to find the sound is increased every moment we sit here discussing it. We must leave immediately!"
"I am sorry, Zelda, but you won't be leaving at all. It is simply too risky. Some guards are scared to go into Ganon's Swamp," The King said, a little ashamed that his guards weren't braver, "And Link was almost killed the last time he went, so that tells you how dangerous it is. Maybe this sound isn't as bad as you think it is. I can just tell all the Hylians to stay in their houses in separate rooms so they don't destroy each other. Perhaps the last sound Link and the Kokiri heard was the last sound of that sort that will ever be made. Even if it isn't, the sound can't be that bad because the Kokiri sent us word that none of them were harmed."
"Dad, the sound makes people crazy with anger, not dumb. If people are in separate rooms they'll simply come out of them to kill each other!" Zelda said, beginning to get mad because of her father's stubborness.
"The reason the Kokiri weren't harmed is because the Deku Tree can control them at any time. They were probably going to hurt each other and the Tree stopped them." Link said, looking over at the thoughtful King. "Did the Kokiri tell you why they weren't hurt?"
"No, they didn't include any details." The King sighed. "I guess I'll consider your suggestion, Zelda, but I think we should wait awhile. These matters need careful thought."
"But father-"
"No buts! I'll tell you if I've come to a conclusion tomorrow night." The King said with an air of sterness and authority that discouraged further discussion. Link and Zelda glanced at each other nervously. Not only had they angered the King, but now there was no way he was going to give them permission to leave immediately, if at all.
After dinner and later that night, Link was walking by himself down the hall the led to his room, intending to retire, when he heard quickly approaching footsteps behind him.
"Wait, Link!" Link heard Zelda's voice and turned to see her jogging up to him. "Man, it took forever to get rid of Impa! Link, no matter what Dad says, we have to leave real soon, even if it means sneaking out."
"What? Disobey the King? We could be tried for treason." Zelda put a hand on Link's arm, staring at him pleadingly. He looked away from her down the hall, thinking for a moment. "Yeah, you're right. We have to go, and the King isn't about to let us, is he?"
"Nope. I love him, but he's as stubborn as a mule! He's making a bad decision, trust me. He hasn't heard the sound or seen anyone effected by it, so he doesn't know how bad it is, and blast it, he treats me like a kid and won't let us go because he's scared I'll get hurt!"
"Okay. We'll sneak out in the hours just before morning, when everyone's asleep. Sneaking out and maybe getting in trouble is much better than letting this crazy sound continue." Link said, returning his gaze to Zelda's face.
"Great! I'll meet you at the kitchen an hour and a half before sunrise so we can get provisions, and don't forget to bring your bedroll. After that we can get the griffons and I'll renew my enchantment-" Zelda went silent abruptly as the two friends heard approaching footsteps. "Bye, Link!" Zelda said, and began to casually stroll towards her room.
"There. Do you think that will do the job, Remorie?" A woman held aloft a beutiful shell for her young pet water-type dragon to inspect. The dragon looked it over doubtfully.
"Perhaps it will, Lady; perhaps not. It will definately be different than last time, but I don't know if it will do what you want it to." The dragon was a light bluish-grey, and had dark green and teal wavy-looking fins down her back and a large, flat tail for easy swimming. The creature had bright orange eyes and sharp claws covered in a stinging fluid similar to a jellyfish's stinging tentacles.
"Well, we can only find out by guess and check, I suppose. I'll try it tomorrow, if it'll even work. Remorie, why don't you put the snakes back into their pool?" The woman said, "I'm going to sleep. Enchanting snakes and shells over and over again can get annoying, especially since the second two tries had little effect and the first had none at all! Oh well...see you in the morning, Remorie."
"Good night, Lady." The serpent-like dragon replied.
Zelda and Link stood in the shadows outside the kitchen building, silently listening to the cook's and kitchen helpers' snores through the wall they were standing next to.
"So now what?" Link asked. "Will the cook give us food when he knows the King doesn't want us to leave?"
"That's just the thing - he doesn't know. The King doesn't spread around news quickly unless it's urgent, so the cook probably has no idea whatsoever of what's going on. We'll just tell him we're leaving with the King's permission."
"We'll tell them a white lie?" Link asked, looking at Zelda dissaprovingly.
"Would you prefer us breaking into the kitchen and whisking away the food, like common thieves?" She asked.
"You have a point, I guess. But won't they get in trouble for helping us out?" he inquired.
"No, King Daphnes is stubborn and follows the old rules strictly, but he'll understand that it's our fault and not the cooks', so he won't punish them." Zelda walked up to the door of the kitchen workers' dwelling, knocking on it. In the day it would have seemed a quiet knock, but the knock shattered the relative silence, making it seem very loud. The sleepy-eyed cook opened the door, and was imediately alert when he saw the princess.
"Princess Zelda, what a pleasant surprise! How may I serve My Lady?" The cook asked, bowing with a graceful sweep of his arm. Zelda told the cook that they needed a week's supply of food because they were going on a special mission for the King. If the cook was suspicious he didn't show it as he began packing travel food into two bags. As soon as it was done, the cook went back to sleep and Link and Zelda went to the aviary. Cosha wasn't there, but they didn't need him since they were already friends with the griffons. Zelda woke up Naltha and the female griffon woke up her reluctant partner. Zelda explained the kind of trip they would be going on, while the griffons listened. She told them that she didn't know how long they would have to fly, and asked how long they could fly without resting.
"Pretty long," Kars replied, "yesterday we stopped early because we were getting just a little tired, but we could have flown much longer if we wanted to. We can fly for about four hours without rest, but if we do have about twenty minutes of rest, we can fly for four or five hours more. At least iI/i can, I don't know about you, Naltha..." The griffon said, grinning playfully.
"Tch! I can fly longer than you anytime, anywhere!" Naltha said, smiling and pushing him a bit with her feline leg. "Well, you two seem to be in a hurry, so let's go!" Zelda turned into Sheik and leaped onto Naltha's back, and Link quickly got onto Kars's. After securing their supplies to the griffons' backs, Link and Zelda were ready to go. With a swoosh of wind from their wings that kicked up dust beneath the creatures, they took to the air. After a few minutes of hard flapping to gain altitude, the griffons flattened out their wings and glided in the general direction of Ganon's Swamp. Sheik began renewing her spell, and soon the air in front of her hands started glowing. A bright, white ball of light appreared, with a thin needle of light protruding from it. This needle pointed towards the swamp, and Zelda directed Naltha so that her path of flight was pointing in the exact same direction of the needle.
The griffons reached the swamp quickly, and the odors of decaying trees and brush somehow reached the griffon riders far above it. iI never thought I'd come back to the swamp for such a strange reason,/i Link thought, iI just hope this will be quick, because this swamp stinks!/i Despite the faint stench, Link and Zelda were enjoying their flight (as long as Link didn't look down, he was fine). They were soon relaxing in the cool breeze and moonlight, and seeing no danger ahead, began to snooze a bit. They were unaware of the hazardous weather they were approaching. A while later, Link awoke for no apparent reason.
"How long have we been flying?" Link asked, yawning. "For two hours or so." Kars replied. "Oh." Link said, staring sleepily at Naltha. Then he realized it was rather hard to see her. At the same time, he noticed it was dark when the sun should have risen already. Fully awake, he looked around and dicovered they were flying in a thick, grey, swirling cloud of fog. For the first time he noticed the moisture clinging to his skin, which was not uncomfortable but strange because he hadn't noticed it at first. He couldn't see his friend on the back of her griffon.
"Zelda?" Link called out, somewhat uneasy at the fact that he could only see Naltha's backside through the mist. Naltha slowed up a bit and Zelda came into view. To Link's horror, Zelda's skin was black and she seemed to be covered in a thick, green slime. Her hair was thin and stringy and her eyes glowed like a demon's.
"Aaaahhhhhh!" Link felt weak as he screamed at the logic-defying body of his friend.
"What is iwrong/i with you, Link? Do you see something on me?" Mistifyingly, Zelda (Sheik) looked normal again. Her skin was the normal color and she was perfectly clean, looking like there was nothing wrong with her at all. Link was a little more than disturbed at what he had just seen, and stuttered as he tried to quickly come up with an excuse for his scream.
"I-ah....thought I saw something...in the mist, but it must have been a bird or something. Sorry about that." Link felt bad about not being completely honest with her, but doubted she would belive him if he told her what he had really seen. "Are we still over the swamp?"
"Yes, I used a sight spell to check a few minutes ago. We're right on course with my enchantment, too," Sheik said, giving Link a suspicious look but not saying anything.
"Good." Link said, going silent. Was he insane? That had definately been a hallucination, but why was he seeing things, and such horrible things? It creeped him out that he had no explanation. The four kept flying at a steady pace, and made good time for the next two hours. Almost the whole time Link was thinking about the freakish illusion. He thought once or twice about telling Sheik, but each time determined that she would think he was mad and it was better not to scare her. But then again, it might be good to warn her in case anything dangerous came of it. Link threw that thought aside, thinking that it wasn't dangerous to see things that instantly vanish. During the flight there was little conversation, each member of the group too alert and uneasy in the mist to talk. Link felt a familiar foreboding from being in Ganon's Swamp again and reminded himself that the feeling of anticipation and anxiousness was the very reason Ganon's Swamp had its name; and even though the feeling was common, it should not be dismissed or ignored.
By: Sonnet A.K.A. Talonclawfange
( E-mail me at Talonofdayyahoo.com, but not if you're going to give me sick advertisements! I DONT WANT THEM!! I'M ONLY 16! Just feedback, please.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Hyrule, Link, Epona, Zelda, or anything else from Shigeru Miamoto and Nintendo's genius video game: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I wrote this story in dedication to them, since it's from the best video game of all time, created by them. The only things I own are North Hyrule, Kadien, Sea Gruffons, Cyphas and all other things not in the original video game (so don't use em' without asking me and putting that I thought them up). I also wrote this because I like reading, drawing, and, recently, writing fantasy (all talents are given to me by God, so all credit goes to him as well). I think Link is really cool - Good job, Miyamoto!
Note: This story takes place after my other stories, which are: The Problem of the Swamp Fairies, Duels and Dragons, Hunt for the Dragonlord, and The War of the Kings, so you probably want to read them first or you'll be a little confused. By the way, I meant for this to be a shorter fanfiction, but failed miserably, because this story is about 54 pages long. It's somewhere between PG and PG-13, there's no sexual themes or foul language, but there's violence and blood. Enjoy!
buSection 1
An Inaudiable Sound/u/b
"Zzzzzzzzzz......" A quiet snoring sound emitted from a soft lump.
"Yo, time to rise and shine!" Chain poked at the blanket-wrapped bundle on the bed, and it let out a groan. "Hey, c'mon! You agreed to start this earlier schedule of training, so stop sleeping in!" He poked it again, and got no reply but another groan. "Gimme a break..." Chain took a few steps toward the exit of his and Link's bedroom, pretending that Zelda was outside of it. "Well princess, it looks like the great Hero of Time is glued to his bed, so he can't train with us today..." That sentence finally caught Link's attention and he threw off his blanket, jumping out of bed.
"Hold on! It'll only take a minute to put my clothes on." Chain laughed as he watched his brother scramble to pull his tunic over his underclothes as fast as possible. Link grabbed his sword and left with his brother to go have a brief breakfast before training. The two of them then met Impa and Zelda in the courtyard.
"It took you guys long enough." Impa complained, and Chain shot Link an irritated glance.
"Eh, sorry...but I'm used to getting up iwith/i the sun, not before it!" Link said defensively. "But anyways, that's a pretty dumb excuse...I'll get up on time tomorrow, okay?"
"Good idea. It will sharpen your senses if you rise early," Impa pointed out, throwing a punch at Link. He was too sleepy to be alert, so it hit him between the eyes, making both Zelda and Chain giggle a little.
"Ow! Hey, no-one likes cheap shots..." Link, now very ready to train, drew his sword at Impa, who drew her own sword to block it. The two began slashing at each other, while Zelda and Chain watched.
"Hey, weren't we going to have an organized training session today, Impa?" Zelda inquired.
"Yes, but let's have a nice little free-for-all to warm us up," she said, blocking another one of Link's blows. Chain casted a newly learned ice spell at Zelda, who used a quick version of Nayru's Love to block it. After a few minutes of Link attacking Impa, she used a quick ninja-like jump to get behind him and grab his head in one arm. She then dropped her sword, giving him a hard noogie.
"Hey, ow! I've never seen you do this kind of thing before...you're scaring me!" He said jokingly. Zelda started laughing at Link, then chanted and casted a temporary itch spell on Chain and laughed as he rolled around on the ground, scratching himself. Impa saw Zelda sitting there laughing and dropped Link, running over to the princess and tickling her. A high-pitched squeal escaped Zelda's lips as she squirmed to get out of her nanny's grasp. Soon all four of them were on the ground laughing. "Wow, Impa..." Link said, looking over at her. "I've seriously never seen you be playful before, except that one time I thought you were going to drop me from the castle window..." Impa laughed, recalling how scared Link was when she had held him out of a castle window when he was a child. She had done it to show him a good view of Death Mountain, and had had no intention of dropping him.
"Impa's just serious when you're around, Link, because we're usually discussing some threat to Hyrule. Today there's nothing to worry about, so Impa's feeling happy; right, Impa?" Zelda looked over at her caretaker, who was almost like a mother to her.
"Something like that." She replied. "But it's not like I'd act this way around anyone when I'm happy. Only around people who I consider to be my friends." Zelda walked over to her and hugged her.
"Okay, this is getting a little too warm and fuzzy for me!" Chain complained, looking irritably at the girls.
"Yeah, me too." Link agreed, getting to his feet.
"Okay, okay..." Zelda let go of Impa and the two of them and Chain got up as well. Impa then began discussing fighting techniques and teaching the other three, since she was the oldest and most experienced. She then began to spar with each of them individually and watch them spar with each other, making suggestions about how they could fight better. She was in the middle of telling Chain to speak faster when she went silent mid-sentence and stared straight in front of her. Chain and Link stopped sparring for a moment and looked over at her expectantly.
"What's the matter, Impa?" Chain inquired. Slowly Impa's right rand raised up to her head, and she placed it over her right ear. "Impa...?" Now all three of the younger warriors had their eyes fixed on her.
"I can...hear something..." Impa muttered, staring into the space in front of her. "I feel strange." Her hand dropped to her side, and her eyes focused on Chain. "Sorry about that, Chain. You must chant your verbal spells faster, or they'll be interrupted by your opponent."
"What did you hear?" Link asked the Sheikah woman.
"Nothing. Get back to your training, you need to learn better defense against magic." She said, and Link and Chain resumed fighting while Zelda went over the words to her verbal spells in her mind. All went well for a couple dozen minutes, and the sun began to rise; lighting up the bright green grass in the courtyard and turning the sky a pretty shade of pinkish-orange. All of the sudden Impa got a weird look on her face and turned towards Zelda. "It's in my head...Zelda, why aren't you training?!" She demanded.
"What? Hey, no need to yell! I'm reviewing the words of my verbal spells, just like you told me to." The princess said. Impa took a step towards her.
"If you don't start training right now I won't train you anymore!" The Sheikah yelled.
"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Zelda asked distressedly, wondering what she had done to make her caretaker so mad.
"Train, you twit!" Impa yelled. Chain and Link stopped training again to look at Impa.
"Hey, what's wrong with you, Impa? Zelda didn't do anything to you!" Link said, also perplexed at Impa's sudden temper.
"Stay out of this, you cretin!" Impa jumped at Link, throwing a knife at him.
"Whoa, cool it!" Link said, jumping out of the way. "Explain why you're so mad!" Impa jumped again, this time landing on Link. She pinned him and drew a dagger. "You've got to be joking!" Link said, struggling to get up. Chain ran up behind Impa and grabbed her from behind, pulling her off his brother. She elbowed him hard in the stomach, then grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder onto Link. Zelda gasped and was about to cast a spell on her nanny when she head the yelling of a familiar voice. The weird look on Impa's face disappeared, replaced by an exhausted one. She sat down in the grass as Cosha, yelling quite loud, ran up to the four warriors.
Three weeks ago, when the griffons had come back with Link as he returned from Dracoulis and Catalin, Cosha had been appointed the griffon keeper and had acted less insane and more normal with each passing day, but now he was yelling as loud as he could.
"The griffons have gone mad! They tried to kill me, help, princess Zelda!" As Cosha stopped running to catch his breath, Zelda noticed he had a large slash on his arm.
"Oh, my...what's going on here?" Zelda was now getting a bit scared of all the strange things happening. Link and Chain had gotten up, both watching Impa cautiously.
"Zelda, he wants you to cast a calming spell on them; right, Cosha?" Link asked him, worried that the griffons could get free and attack other people.
"Yes! Before they break out of their enclosure and go on a killing spree!" Cosha yelled urgently.
"This is getting stranger by the second...Naltha and Kars are both very mature and reasonable griffons...why would they go wild all of the sudden?" Zelda followed Cosha to the griffon aviary and Link and Chain stayed with Impa. Impa tiredly looked up at them from the ground.
"What just happened? I feel like I turned into a monster or blacked out..." she said quietly.
"Seemed more like a temper tantrum to me!" Chain shouted.
"Quiet, Chain." Link told him, "I really don't think Impa would do that in her right mind...I would think she was going crazy except the fact that the griffons went crazy at the same time. This sounds kind of suspicious to me." Link said. "Maybe we should call off training with Impa today, she looks like she could use some more sleep."
As the Royal Guard and Hyrule Army soldiers entered the gradually brightening courtyard to start their day of training, Impa, Link, and Chain left. After Impa had reluctantly been examined by a physician and went to sleep, Link and his brother met Zelda and Cosha by the horse stables.
"Why are you guys over here?" Chain asked Zelda, "I thought the griffons were going crazy, not the horses."
"Well, it looks like the horses started getting nervous and spooked about the same time the griffons went wild. I calmed the griffons and the stable master bust into the aviary, asking me to calm the horses, too. What do you think is going on?" She looked at Link for a reply; while Chain tried to calm down Cosha, who still had a freaked-out look on his face.
"Well...it seems like something caused the horses, the griffons, and Impa to all act strange at the same time. It must have been something very irritating to make Impa lose her temper like that. But what would have an effect on those three that wouldn't effect anyone else?" Link's gaze fell to the ground, and he stared at it thoughtfuly..
"No idea..." Zelda said, also thinking hard. Meanwhile, Cosha had finally settled down.
"So Cosha, what exactly happened to the griffons?" Chain asked him.
"Hm," Cosha brushed a few strands of short, very dark brown hair out of his face. "At first they were playing with each other and acting normal, then they stopped and both stood still for a moment, as if they heard something. They kept playing for a while longer, then they all of the sudden got real fierce! They started really trying to hurt each other and when I tried to break it up they attacked me! Sorry about yelling so loudly, but it's pretty scary to be in a room with two fierce griffons, both larger than horses."
"It's okay," Zelda said, picking up on their conversation. "and your explanation helped a lot. You say they acted as if they heard something? Hey Link, didn't Impa also say she heard something?"
"Yeah, she did! That must be it - they all heard a really high-frequency noise that usually only animals can hear, but Impa heard it too because Sheikah senses are sharper than Hylians'."
"What put out that kind of noise, and so sharp that it would temporarily cause them to lose control of themselves?" Cosha pondered.
"That's something I truly don't know." Zelda said sadly. "But something I really wish I knew is if whatever put out the noise did it intentionally or accidentally."
"I see where you're going...this could be another enemy to Hyrule. Man, what did we ever do to anyone else?" Chain asked.
"I don't know, but Hyrule always seems to have an enemy, doesn't it?" Link said quietly.
"Men, always jumping to conclusions." Zelda said, looking at them. "Did it occur to you two that whatever made the sound didn't know it would cause anyone harm? I don't have any idea what made the sound, so we can't just assume it's an enemy. Anyways, I think we should wait a while and see if happens again. If it does, maybe I can use a special spell while it's happening to find out what direction it's coming from."
"That sounds like a good plan. Hey Zelda, want to train with me and Chain since Impa can't train us today?"
"Yes, let's go." Zelda left with Chain and Link, and Cosha went back to the aviary. The day went normally from that point on, as if the strange occurence that morning had never taken place. The griffons were calm, Impa got up after sleeping a bit, and Link, Zelda, and Chain had fun training with each other. At one point Raykel came over to them and showed them a way to focus all their strength in a powerful sword strike which was faster than a jump slash. He then left to train his own soldiers, and Impa met up with them, declaring that she felt more than healthy enough to train them. When it was almost noon and time to stop training, the four of them had lunch.
"Hey Link, I think that while your brother goes and trains his horse after lunch, maybe you and I can go ride the griffons." Zelda suggested.
"Uh...maybe...I don't know..." Link said, not particularly liking the idea of flying when he didn't have to.
"Come on...what's wrong, scared of heights?" She asked teasingly, not knowing that he really was.
"Maybe..." He said, barely speaking above a whisper.
"What? You are? Are you kidding?" Zelda stared at Link, who avoided looking into her eyes.
"I'm not scared of heights, I just don't like them!" He protested. Zelda burst out laughing.
"Link's scared of heights...it's too much!" She giggled.
"Hey, it's not that funny..." Link said glancing at Impa and Chain who had been looking at him. They both looked away, eating their food.
"Sorry, Link. I didn't mean to laugh at you, but I really think that riding the griffons often might help you like heights more. It could be very good for you."
"Okay, you win. The griffons need more exercise anyway." Link muttered. But inside he really didn't want to fly. iHow do I always let her talk me into things like this?/i
"Oh, you guys want to ride the griffons? Okay, it'll be good because this way we can see if they need saddles or not. They insist that they don't, but you never know. I'll bring them out." He walked towards the aviary, which was a structure that was half made of stone walls, and half bars. It had a door that the griffons could open themselves and come out any time, but it had been locked that morning when they got fierce. Cosha called their names and the griffons came out.
Naltha was a female and had reddish feathers with black stripes, and her cat half had white fur. Kars had white feathers with grey stripes and his cat half was black. They were both about the same size, which was a little bigger than a horse, and both had greenish-yellow eyes. Zelda turned into Sheik so her dress wouldn't get in the way, and jumped onto Naltha's back.
"Feeling better, Naltha?" She asked her mount.
"Oh yes, I've been feeling just fine, and so has Kars. We don't know what came over us this morning! How are you?" While Sheik had a spirited convesation with Naltha, Link managed to pull himslf up onto Kars's back.
"Do you fly smoothly, Kars?" Link asked him.
"I do by myself, but I've never had a passenger before. This should be very interesting!" The griffon answered, smiling broadly.
"Oh, great..." Link made sure he had a good grip on the griffon.
"Well, are you guys ready to go up?" Naltha asked.
"Of course!" Sheik said happily.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Link said, less than happily. The two griffons took flight, ascending slowly at first and then catching the wind with their feathery bird wings. Link and Zelda soon discovered that the griffons flew very smoothly and had no need for saddles. They flew for a long time, despite Link's desire to land after five minutes, and soon Link found himself looking around rather than clinging to Kars's back. "Maybe this isn't so bad, once you get used to it," He said to Sheik, whose griffon was flying right next to his. After a few hours the griffons got tired, and they finally landed. Soon after it was dinner time, and Link and Chain joined the Royal Family and their bodyguards at the table. Daphnes Hyrule listened to Link and Zelda's explanation of what caused the animals and Impa to act strange, and he said that he agreed with them.
"My only question is, if the noise does sound again and you do find out where it's coming from by means of Zelda's spell, what are you going to do about it?" The King asked his daughter. Her and Link had discussed this while riding the griffons.
"We'll go in the direction my enchantment points." Zelda said simply, "We'll find out what is causing the noise and try to stop it peacefully."
"We? Who said you were going anywhere?" The King asked. "You are the princess and you should stay at your castle. Besides, the trip may be dangerous. You should just let Link go."
"But Link always gets all the fun! I want to go with him this time, father. We can't pinpoint the source of the sound if I don't tag along and maintain my spell." Zelda explained. The King sighed.
"Link, I don't doubt your ability to protect the princess, but I want Impa and another member of the Royal Guard to go if Zelda goes."
"I'll go!" Chain volunteered.
"An experienced member of the Royal Guard." The King corrected himself.
"Drat." Chain said.
"I'm sure Sohran wouldn't mind coming," Link said. "He's always saying that he wishes he could do something more interesting than train all day, so I bet he'd love to come; that is, if all this noise buisiness is as serious as we think it is."
"Yes, we'll just have to wait and see if it happens again." Zelda said, and that was the end of the conversation. After dinner Link went to Hyrule Field and rode Epona a bit, since she had gotten jealous of Kars. Link then retired to his room and found Chain already asleep. Link decided to go straight to sleep as well, so he would be able to get up in the morning without being tired. He got into his bed and fell asleep quickly, thinking about the strange sound.
buSection 2
Back to the Swamp/u/b
This morning, Link poked Chain to get him up.
"Come on...time to 'rise and shine!' Just like you told me." Link said, poking him again.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting up...iwithout/i groaning and being lazy like you were yesterday." Chain got up and as soon as the two of them were ready, they ate breakfast and met Zelda and Impa in the field, just like yesterday.
"This time, guys; if I start to act strange again I want you to pin me and not let me up until I'm normal, okay? I don't even remember what I did yesterday. Like I said, it's similar to blacking out so I'll have no idea what I'm doing." Impa said, looking seriously at Link and Chain.
"No problemo, Impa." Chain said, and then the training began. The first thing they did was have Zelda practice her verbal spells (like the itch one) and her nonverbal ones (like Nayru's Love and Din's Fire) while the other three dodged. Chain was hit a few times, but was in the process of learning a shield spell and said he wouldn't be hit next time. After that exercise it was time for Chain to do the casting and Zelda dodged with Impa and Link. All was going fine and at sunrise the Royal Guard and Hyrule Army joined the warriors in the field of the courtyard.
Suddenly Link heard a very disturbing high-pitched sound. It hurt his ears a little, so he put his hands over them.
"Zelda, Impa, Chain! You guys better watch out, because I can hear a weird high-pitched noise! This isn't good..." The three of them stopped training, all of their eyes on Link. iWhatever this is, I have to resist it! I can't let it do to me what it did to Impa./i The sound stopped, and Link lowered his hands. "Well, that's weird. I can't hear it anymore."
"The same thing happened to me, Link. I heard it briefly and then it stopped. Later I heard it again, and it sounded like it was right in my head. It was too much...I guess we'll just have to keep an eye on you." Impa said. "But we don't know when or if it will effect you, so until then let's just train normally."
"Okay." Link agreed, hoping he wouldn't go mad in the middle of a fight with Zelda. To everyone's surprise, they trained until lunchtime and still nothing had happened to Link. Afterwards Chain went to train his horse again (it was a dark brown female, named Rilla), and Link didn't know what Zelda and Impa were going to do, because he was leaving. He had promised the Kokiri that he would visit them that day, so he went to the forest. When he got there, he was greeted by Saria.
"Well, it's about time you pay us a visit, Link! I haven't seen you since the warrior contest!" She complained, hugging him.
"Sorry about that...I guess I've become so involved in my training that I don't spend as much time with my friends as I should. Say, are the Know-It-All Brothers around?" Link asked.
"Of course they are. Where else would they be but here, silly?" Saria began walking toward Mido's house and Link followed her. "Right now their lecturing Mido because he planted flowers too close to the Deku Tree iagain./i He just doesn't get the concept that if they're too close, the Deku Tree will shade them and they wont get enough sunlight to grow. This is like the sixth time he's done it!" The two of them entered the tree stump house and the Know-It-All Brothers stopped talking to say 'hi' to them.
"Sorry if we're interrupting-" Link began, but a brother cut him off.
"No need to worry. You see we are done talking to Mido now and can talk to anyone who wants to talk. Of course if you had come in a few minutes ago we would still be lecturing, and-"
"Okay, we get it." Saria said quickly. A brother could really yap on if you got him started. "I think Link wants to talk to you guys." The brothers turned their attention to Link, while Mido simply sat, glaring at him.
"Do you guys know what kind of an object can make a very high-frequency sound that only animals and humans with very good hearing can hear? Now this isn't just a small noise, it's a noise intense enough to make them temporarily lose their minds."
"You know Link, that's a very interesting question because yesterday morning some of the tame wolfoses around the forest burst into the Kokiri Village, acting very violent, like they'd lost their minds." Saria said.
"Yes, and as we told you yesterday, Saria, it was caused by a noise like the one Link is describing," a brother said. "This kind of noise can be made by some animals, but not intense enough to make things go crazy, so it had to be something else. It must be a device for making sound like a powerful metal fork or an enchanted horn of some sort. By the way, us Kokiri heard a weird noise this morning, so if it was made by the same thing as yesterday, there must be a way to magically change the frequency so that only certain types of creatures or only creatures with a certain level of hearing can pick it up. Whatever's making the noise must be a very strange object, and we must-"
"Thank you for your information." Link said, wondering if a brother could recite an entire essay in thirty seconds. "I also heard the noise this morning so maybe it has something to do with they way Kokiris hear."
"But you aren't a Kokiri!" Mido pointed out.
"Yeah, but I grew up with the same lifestyle in the Lost Woods and care the Deku Tree gave all of us, so I must hear like a Kokiri. Or something..." Link got a confused look on his face. "Ahem, well I didn't come here just to chat about weird noises! How are you all doing? And Mido...why are you looking at me like that? Are you still mad that I didn't tell you I was Link the first time I saw you?" He asked, looking at the little Kokiri.
"As a matter of fact I am! It was totally rude! I think you should have told us all who you are. After all, most Kokiris are your fiends! What were you worried about?" Mido asked suspiciously.
"Nothing, really. It was just so strange to see you all my height one day and then come back twice as tall. It may have been seven years for you guys, but it was like a day to me. It was really freaky and I thought it might scare you too, so I just didn't say anything." Link explained.
"We were really worried about you, Link." Saria said. "Yep, even Mido over there was sad to see you go. He acted like he was happy at first, but then it started showing..."
"Oh, be quiet. I knew he was coming back the whole time! I just didn't recognize him when he did, that's all!"
"Heh heh, it's good to be back for a little while," Link said. Mido and Saria's fairies began flying around Link's head. "But I sure do miss Navi! It really stinks that no one knows where she went or what she's doing. I hope she's safe..." Link went silent, having nothing more to say at the moment. A bit later he helped the Kokiri fix a wall that had been damaged by the wolfoses. He then cut all the grass in Mido's yard and called Epona and the Kokiris took turns riding her with Link. He spent quite a long time there and only left when it started getting dark.
He rode home on Epona (who was not even close to tired) and saw Zelda standing outside the castle as he approached it. He waved to her, smiling.
"Hey, princess! I have an idea of what might have made the sound this morning and yesterday!" As Epona got closer, Link once again heard the notorious noise he was talking about. Only this time, it was so loud it made his head feel like it was going to explode. "Aahhh...what the?!" Link didn't pay attention to what he was doing, and fell off Epona, landing on his knees and holding his head. "I can't stand it!" Link looked over at Zelda, who was rapidly chanting a strange enchantment. The noise in his head got louder, and Link vaguely remembered wondering if he was going mad before his world went black.
For a while he felt like he was floating, but then he got an urge to fight he had never experienced before, and tried to resist it even though it didn't seem like there was anyone to fight in his weird, black dream. For a moment all was silent as the sound stopped, then Link woke up.
With a small shock he found that he was laying flat on the ground with a peculiar pain on the back of his head, staring up at Zelda. It was like waking up from sleep, but Link didn't recall opening his eyes or even closing them in the first place.
"Link, are you okay? I hope I didn't hurt you!" Zelda said, a worried look on her face.
"Hurt me? What do you mean by that?" Link sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "And why does my head hurt?"
"Because of me. Don't you remember? Just a few seconds ago, you drew your sword and started slashing at me! I kicked you in the head pretty hard." Zelda said, "It was the noise, wasn't it?"
"Yes, and I don't remember attacking you at all. This is crazy! Whatever is causing this...we've got to stop it before it makes a noise that all Hylians can hear!" Link declared.
"Well, here's a piece of good news. I casted the enchantment and it's pointing in the direction the sound came from. It's pointing northwest, towards Ganon's Swamp."
"Then I guess that's where we're going tomorrow. But Zelda, that swamp is really dangerous." Link said.
"You're not suggesting that I should stay behind, are you?" Zelda gave him an angry look.
"Actually, I think you should definately come so we can find where the noise is caming from, but if a lot of people go into the swamp there's more chance we'll sink in the muck. I have a better idea - we should fly over the swamp on the griffons and when we find the spot the sound is coming from, we'll go down to it. That way, we'll be spending as little time in the swamp as possible." Link said.
"Sounds good, I just have to get father to agree on it. That should be about as easy as getting a pig to fly," She said with a tone of irritation. "When will you men ever understand that I can protect myself?"
"We don't think you're weak or anything, take my word for it. It's just that...you're the future of this kingdom, and you get kidnapped too often!" Link said.
"I do not! I could have broken out of the Dragonlord's lair...I just wanted to see if you would save me!" Zelda exclaimed.
"Yeah, isure/i you could have..." Link said sarcastically.
"Hmpf! You just wait until I get iyou/i out of trouble, then you'll know how I feel!"
"Princess Zelda." A guard walked out onto the field."The King has asked me to remind you that-"
"Yes, I know! It's time for dinner. Will father ever stop treating me like a baby? Let's go, Link." Zelda offered him a hand but couldn't really pull him up and almost fell over. Link got up by himself, smirking at her.
"Maybe you should do more push-ups." He suggested playfully.
"You just shut up. Push-ups aren't becoming for a lady!" Link put a hand over his mouth in an effort to stifle his laughter.
"Then turn into Sheik and do some..."
"Be quiet!" Zelda ordered, shoving Link.
"Heh heh. Sure, but I guess you won't hear what I heard from the Know-It-All Brothers today..." Link trailed off.
"Fine. It's better if you tell father and me at the same time at the dinner table anyway." Zelda said, and the guard followed her and Link in, closing the drawbridge after them.
"Absolutely not."
"But father, I must-"
"No."
"We can't take more soldiers because-"
"No!"
"Link can't find the sound without-"
"No, and no again, Zelda! I can't let my only daughter, the very ifuture/i of Hyrule, fly over the most dangerous part of Hyrule, not knowing where she's going or how long it will take to get there! You could fall off your griffon and plummet to your death. You might not find the sound for weeks and run out of food. You may run into more monsters than you can handle and be torn to pieces! You may inot/i fly over the swamp with only two griffons, Link, and a week's supply of food - I forbid it!"
"Father, I must! I don't mean to be disrespectful, but there may not be citizens in Hyrule for me to rule later if we don't do something. This sound doesn't just make people angry, it drives them completely insane! You know that Link would never try to hurt me in a million years, right? Well when he heard that sound, he was swinging at me so hard he could have killed me if I let my guard down and he didn't have a light-magic-filled sword. Seriously, if another sound is made that all Hylians can hear, the population of Hyrule could kill itself!" Zelda paused for breath, realizing that in her urgency she had spoken very fast. "If I don't go with Link, we can't find the source of the sound, and it will go unstopped. However much time it will take us to find the sound is increased every moment we sit here discussing it. We must leave immediately!"
"I am sorry, Zelda, but you won't be leaving at all. It is simply too risky. Some guards are scared to go into Ganon's Swamp," The King said, a little ashamed that his guards weren't braver, "And Link was almost killed the last time he went, so that tells you how dangerous it is. Maybe this sound isn't as bad as you think it is. I can just tell all the Hylians to stay in their houses in separate rooms so they don't destroy each other. Perhaps the last sound Link and the Kokiri heard was the last sound of that sort that will ever be made. Even if it isn't, the sound can't be that bad because the Kokiri sent us word that none of them were harmed."
"Dad, the sound makes people crazy with anger, not dumb. If people are in separate rooms they'll simply come out of them to kill each other!" Zelda said, beginning to get mad because of her father's stubborness.
"The reason the Kokiri weren't harmed is because the Deku Tree can control them at any time. They were probably going to hurt each other and the Tree stopped them." Link said, looking over at the thoughtful King. "Did the Kokiri tell you why they weren't hurt?"
"No, they didn't include any details." The King sighed. "I guess I'll consider your suggestion, Zelda, but I think we should wait awhile. These matters need careful thought."
"But father-"
"No buts! I'll tell you if I've come to a conclusion tomorrow night." The King said with an air of sterness and authority that discouraged further discussion. Link and Zelda glanced at each other nervously. Not only had they angered the King, but now there was no way he was going to give them permission to leave immediately, if at all.
After dinner and later that night, Link was walking by himself down the hall the led to his room, intending to retire, when he heard quickly approaching footsteps behind him.
"Wait, Link!" Link heard Zelda's voice and turned to see her jogging up to him. "Man, it took forever to get rid of Impa! Link, no matter what Dad says, we have to leave real soon, even if it means sneaking out."
"What? Disobey the King? We could be tried for treason." Zelda put a hand on Link's arm, staring at him pleadingly. He looked away from her down the hall, thinking for a moment. "Yeah, you're right. We have to go, and the King isn't about to let us, is he?"
"Nope. I love him, but he's as stubborn as a mule! He's making a bad decision, trust me. He hasn't heard the sound or seen anyone effected by it, so he doesn't know how bad it is, and blast it, he treats me like a kid and won't let us go because he's scared I'll get hurt!"
"Okay. We'll sneak out in the hours just before morning, when everyone's asleep. Sneaking out and maybe getting in trouble is much better than letting this crazy sound continue." Link said, returning his gaze to Zelda's face.
"Great! I'll meet you at the kitchen an hour and a half before sunrise so we can get provisions, and don't forget to bring your bedroll. After that we can get the griffons and I'll renew my enchantment-" Zelda went silent abruptly as the two friends heard approaching footsteps. "Bye, Link!" Zelda said, and began to casually stroll towards her room.
"There. Do you think that will do the job, Remorie?" A woman held aloft a beutiful shell for her young pet water-type dragon to inspect. The dragon looked it over doubtfully.
"Perhaps it will, Lady; perhaps not. It will definately be different than last time, but I don't know if it will do what you want it to." The dragon was a light bluish-grey, and had dark green and teal wavy-looking fins down her back and a large, flat tail for easy swimming. The creature had bright orange eyes and sharp claws covered in a stinging fluid similar to a jellyfish's stinging tentacles.
"Well, we can only find out by guess and check, I suppose. I'll try it tomorrow, if it'll even work. Remorie, why don't you put the snakes back into their pool?" The woman said, "I'm going to sleep. Enchanting snakes and shells over and over again can get annoying, especially since the second two tries had little effect and the first had none at all! Oh well...see you in the morning, Remorie."
"Good night, Lady." The serpent-like dragon replied.
Zelda and Link stood in the shadows outside the kitchen building, silently listening to the cook's and kitchen helpers' snores through the wall they were standing next to.
"So now what?" Link asked. "Will the cook give us food when he knows the King doesn't want us to leave?"
"That's just the thing - he doesn't know. The King doesn't spread around news quickly unless it's urgent, so the cook probably has no idea whatsoever of what's going on. We'll just tell him we're leaving with the King's permission."
"We'll tell them a white lie?" Link asked, looking at Zelda dissaprovingly.
"Would you prefer us breaking into the kitchen and whisking away the food, like common thieves?" She asked.
"You have a point, I guess. But won't they get in trouble for helping us out?" he inquired.
"No, King Daphnes is stubborn and follows the old rules strictly, but he'll understand that it's our fault and not the cooks', so he won't punish them." Zelda walked up to the door of the kitchen workers' dwelling, knocking on it. In the day it would have seemed a quiet knock, but the knock shattered the relative silence, making it seem very loud. The sleepy-eyed cook opened the door, and was imediately alert when he saw the princess.
"Princess Zelda, what a pleasant surprise! How may I serve My Lady?" The cook asked, bowing with a graceful sweep of his arm. Zelda told the cook that they needed a week's supply of food because they were going on a special mission for the King. If the cook was suspicious he didn't show it as he began packing travel food into two bags. As soon as it was done, the cook went back to sleep and Link and Zelda went to the aviary. Cosha wasn't there, but they didn't need him since they were already friends with the griffons. Zelda woke up Naltha and the female griffon woke up her reluctant partner. Zelda explained the kind of trip they would be going on, while the griffons listened. She told them that she didn't know how long they would have to fly, and asked how long they could fly without resting.
"Pretty long," Kars replied, "yesterday we stopped early because we were getting just a little tired, but we could have flown much longer if we wanted to. We can fly for about four hours without rest, but if we do have about twenty minutes of rest, we can fly for four or five hours more. At least iI/i can, I don't know about you, Naltha..." The griffon said, grinning playfully.
"Tch! I can fly longer than you anytime, anywhere!" Naltha said, smiling and pushing him a bit with her feline leg. "Well, you two seem to be in a hurry, so let's go!" Zelda turned into Sheik and leaped onto Naltha's back, and Link quickly got onto Kars's. After securing their supplies to the griffons' backs, Link and Zelda were ready to go. With a swoosh of wind from their wings that kicked up dust beneath the creatures, they took to the air. After a few minutes of hard flapping to gain altitude, the griffons flattened out their wings and glided in the general direction of Ganon's Swamp. Sheik began renewing her spell, and soon the air in front of her hands started glowing. A bright, white ball of light appreared, with a thin needle of light protruding from it. This needle pointed towards the swamp, and Zelda directed Naltha so that her path of flight was pointing in the exact same direction of the needle.
The griffons reached the swamp quickly, and the odors of decaying trees and brush somehow reached the griffon riders far above it. iI never thought I'd come back to the swamp for such a strange reason,/i Link thought, iI just hope this will be quick, because this swamp stinks!/i Despite the faint stench, Link and Zelda were enjoying their flight (as long as Link didn't look down, he was fine). They were soon relaxing in the cool breeze and moonlight, and seeing no danger ahead, began to snooze a bit. They were unaware of the hazardous weather they were approaching. A while later, Link awoke for no apparent reason.
"How long have we been flying?" Link asked, yawning. "For two hours or so." Kars replied. "Oh." Link said, staring sleepily at Naltha. Then he realized it was rather hard to see her. At the same time, he noticed it was dark when the sun should have risen already. Fully awake, he looked around and dicovered they were flying in a thick, grey, swirling cloud of fog. For the first time he noticed the moisture clinging to his skin, which was not uncomfortable but strange because he hadn't noticed it at first. He couldn't see his friend on the back of her griffon.
"Zelda?" Link called out, somewhat uneasy at the fact that he could only see Naltha's backside through the mist. Naltha slowed up a bit and Zelda came into view. To Link's horror, Zelda's skin was black and she seemed to be covered in a thick, green slime. Her hair was thin and stringy and her eyes glowed like a demon's.
"Aaaahhhhhh!" Link felt weak as he screamed at the logic-defying body of his friend.
"What is iwrong/i with you, Link? Do you see something on me?" Mistifyingly, Zelda (Sheik) looked normal again. Her skin was the normal color and she was perfectly clean, looking like there was nothing wrong with her at all. Link was a little more than disturbed at what he had just seen, and stuttered as he tried to quickly come up with an excuse for his scream.
"I-ah....thought I saw something...in the mist, but it must have been a bird or something. Sorry about that." Link felt bad about not being completely honest with her, but doubted she would belive him if he told her what he had really seen. "Are we still over the swamp?"
"Yes, I used a sight spell to check a few minutes ago. We're right on course with my enchantment, too," Sheik said, giving Link a suspicious look but not saying anything.
"Good." Link said, going silent. Was he insane? That had definately been a hallucination, but why was he seeing things, and such horrible things? It creeped him out that he had no explanation. The four kept flying at a steady pace, and made good time for the next two hours. Almost the whole time Link was thinking about the freakish illusion. He thought once or twice about telling Sheik, but each time determined that she would think he was mad and it was better not to scare her. But then again, it might be good to warn her in case anything dangerous came of it. Link threw that thought aside, thinking that it wasn't dangerous to see things that instantly vanish. During the flight there was little conversation, each member of the group too alert and uneasy in the mist to talk. Link felt a familiar foreboding from being in Ganon's Swamp again and reminded himself that the feeling of anticipation and anxiousness was the very reason Ganon's Swamp had its name; and even though the feeling was common, it should not be dismissed or ignored.