Ch.6
Keep Your Wits About You
Malon paused to think; she could take on the King, and attempt to kill him then, or go along with his little charade and meet with Zelda. The King took a few strides toward her, when she decided on the latter. "As you wish, my dearest King." and gave the man a crooked smile "I guess I am growing tired of tearing down your resources" she then sheathed her swords and grabbed her bag "I'll go with you as long as I get to ride Epona." His highness took a moment, then whistled and Malons lost friend came galloping forward as the King set the ground rules. "You will stay ahead of me at all times, or else you might not make it back to the castle." Link sneered again as Malon met him with another empty smile "I do not suppose that you could travel in front of me? I would hate to be stabbed in the back again." The King chuckled and shrugged off the comment as he called himself another horse. As the convoy made their way back to the castle, Malon had caught Link staring at her, she quickly turned away, but thinking "He might still be in there, hopefully Midna is right on this."
It took seven days to even approach the castle, the king had his group stop every so often to search for me, but they always found nothing but dissappointment. As they approached the castle, Malon saw Moblins lining the walls in the distance. She paused, though, once she passed her old ranch, when suddenly she saw a child fleeing from the back of the ranch and making a b-line to her. The explanation came when some homicidal rogue came barreling from the entrance. The child flew behind Epona, as his assailant started to reach Malon "Get back here and face your fate boy..." but the man stopped once he saw Epona and her rider between him and his target "Get out-of-the-way, Lady, that child needs to come with me..." Malon turned around to see if she could spot the Kings caravan, but apparently, he had taken the scenic route, and was nowhere to be found; so she hopped off her horse to meet the man and tried an earnest smile"Hello, sir, I don't suppose you could let whatever the childs infraction slide, just this once?" The man had made a fatal error in his reply and started to laugh "Hehe, yeah, and I don't suppose you can take that pretty mouth of yours an..." but before he finished his sentence, she sheathed her weapons, as the mans head rolled to her feet, then calmly looked to the child and smiled "Well, now that this mess has cleared up, what's your name child?" the child shuttered as Ninja woman approached him"It's...It's Naota..." still smiling she lightly grabbed the child and sat him on the horse "It is Nice to meet you, my name is Malon, but for what reason was that man chasing you?" he looked to his dangling feet and started to murmur "I was scared and...and I just wanted to find somewhere safe...and...and...I thought I lost him but he found me..but.."she looked over the boys face and noticed the familiar features "Ah...Well, relax child, you are safe now, but where are your parents? This is no place for a child." Naota's eyes started to water"daddy and mommy? They are...are...um...we were on this trail to drop off one of my aunt Cremia's cows to my other aunt. Mom told me we had to leave Clocktown for a while, and that we had to hurry, but dad took his time fixing things around the hotel."Malon put two and two together to confirm her suspicion and continued to smile attentively towards her nephew "That is all good, child, but what of your parents? What happened to the carriage?" her smile softened the boys shyness even more, as he took a breath and continued "We had passed the River and soon we got to my aunts, well, her dads ranch. We made it through the gate but as we traveled through, near to the house, it looked like no one was there. Mom was worried, but dad calmed her down and parked the carriage in the horse pen..We started to walking to the house, when these ugly things came from the door kicking out people who were tied together. There was that soldier with them but once he saw us, he told those things to attack. Dad lead us back to the pen, but it somehow locked, so he saw this old building in the back of the ranch and rushed us towards it." Naota then started to cry "We pushed the crates that were inside, against the door, but...but they quickly started to break through the door. As dad tried to hold the crates, mom pushed me through a hole in the wall, and I noticed another one so I crawled through that one too...once I got outside I saw it getting a little dark, so I started running around the ranch when I saw the castle and..."
Malon patted his back, but noticed the King in the distance, and swiftly made a plan "I am sorry to cut you off, but I am sure your parents are ok, but if you please, could you lay down so I can put my cloak over you?" he nodded as Malon camouflaged his body, then whispered in his ear "It is your lucky day, Naota, you get to meet the Queen." The child shreiked with joy, but she calmed him as Link approached "Beautiful as ever, is it not?I'm sure you are ecstatic to see the changes I have made to the town." Malon grunted and followed behind the Tyrant as the drawbridge was lowered. They made their way through and as she looked around the once pristene hold, she then found filth and scum lining the streets. Most of the shops were boarded up, but you couldn't tell the difference between the opened and closed ones anyway, for the town was a pigsty. The villains of the city paid no attention to her, but tipped their hats and roared for their king. Malons disgust subsided when she looked for the temple to find an empty lot, and determination filled her body. They reached the castle and Malon spotted some servants heading to the stables. She galloped ahead and parked her steed in the back as she hopped down then helped Naota down and tied the cloak around him as the King entered. He approached Epona but the horse started grunting an stomping as he got closer to Malon"So the horse is still quite fond of you, big surprise. You stable boy..." Malon nudged her nephew and Naota slowly replied"Y...Y...Yes, My King?" The King crudely smiled, "You will follow our guest and suit any needs she requires, but for now, the both of you follow me." Malon gave Naota a reassuring smile, as they started to walk to the cursed castle.
Still staring into the darkness, I heard Mido yell behind me "Lets go, we don't have all day!" I sighed and proceeded through this "mouth". It took a second, but once my eyes adjusted, I started to see the lay out of the place. There was a giant webbed hole in the middle and to the left of me, I saw a ladder leading up to the start of a ramp that lead to another ramp that looked like it led to the ceiling. As I scanned for a third path, I saw a small figure; it looked like one of the kids, and he they were climbing the ladder. I yelled out a hello, but they just kept moving. I took a deep breath and followed them up the ladder. This kid was fast because once I got to the top, he was already making his way up the ramp. I looked to the path between the ramp to find two gaps. I jumped the first one easy but over shot it and almost ended up falling down the second. I fixed myself, jumped again and made my way to the ramp. I noticed the kid had raced up this obstacle fast and felt a little disappointed in myself, but i noticed he stopped when he got to the top to look at the wall. Once I got to his stopping point, I found and heard why; I found a skull with legs climbing on the vines attached to the wall. I took out my wrist rocket and shot it down to find the skull was actually some form of spider. To be on the safe side, I waited a moment, if I heard another one, but I heard nothing, so I started to shakily climb my way up. I reached the pinnacle to find the child running around the spire towards a door to the left. Staying close, I followed him through only to be locked inside with a giant flower.
The whole room was empty, aside from this botany beauty, and the two doors. Getting nervous, I turned around to shake the newly appeared bars, but I heard rustling behind me and quickly turned around to find the flower pop up and shoot a giant nut at me. It connected, knocking me off my feet, as I tried to recover, it shot another one my way. I rolled to the side and got to my feet, to try to charge at it. Un-sheathing my sword and shield; I attempted to slash at the flower, but this plant was made of sturdier stuff then expected, for the sword simply bounced off it. I sheathed the sword, but kept the shield at the ready, as I started to search the room for a lever or something to open one of the doors, but there was nothing. I looked back to the flower, in time to discover it was a bigger version of the creature who gave me the ocarina, and that it shot another round towards me. Reacting quickly, I put my shield up, and to my surprise, the nut ricocheted off, into the wall. Now with a plan, I waited to hear it rustle around, and as it popped up to shoot, I aligned myself in line with this flower fiend. The nut flew straight into the shield and repelled directly back towards it, to allow me to return the favor.
Just to make it clear, I was still nervous about harming anything. The Goblins and plant creatures were different, more because of their menacing look, but this thing; I just...I just felt bad about the next part. As the nut hit the creature, it started to hop and skip around in pain. I knew what I had to do, even though I hesitated at first, and with a deep sigh, I ran up to this being and quickly cut it down. It let out this sad whimper, as it spun around and died, but almost instantly, the doors opened. Before I moved on, I stood there for a couple of minutes, looking at this thing, before it dissolved into the ground...I killed it and knew that I better get use to the feeling or I might as well have stopped then and there. I solemnly moved to the next room to find my shadow friend, stepping on this switch and somehow swimming in air to an invisible platform and jumping his way to the other side, to a door on the other side of the room. I tried stepping on the same switch, but it wouldn't budge. I looked to a ramp leading down to the base of the room, and saw another switch in the corner. I made my way down, and got halfway across, when two man-eaters, sprouted from the ground behind me. I unsheathed my weapons and turned around to find two plants charging at me and as one of them lunged at me, I jumped back, then split his head in two. I started to circle the next one , and as it snapped at me, I jumped to the left and cut through his neck.
I looked for anymore piranha herbs and noticed some ammo for my slingshot, as well as these different walnut shells with light shooting out of its crevice. I picked up the shells to examine them when Mido's flash bang came to mind. I started packing away the ammo and flash shells, while walking to the switch in the corner, but once I approached it, a giant skull spider shot down from the ceiling, spun around, and to knocked me on my back; all in one fluent motion. I noticed I wasn't feeling too hot, but sat up, and watched the somewhat blurred skull, do a one hundred-eighty spin, every few moments. Breathing heavy, I slowly stood up, using my sword as a cane of sorts, and noticed a flash shell, still in my left hand. I waited for the spider to show me its back, and threw the shell to the ground in front of it, and once the flash subsided; I saw the figure looked almost frozen in time. Not taking any chances, I made a hard slice to its back and watched as it thumped to the ground in a burst of flames. Once the theatrics subsided, I noticed another weird item. I moved over to spiders remains and picked up, what looked to be, a heart-shaped candy. Looking it over, I flicked it into the air and watched as it floated back down to my hand. Feeling adventurous and hungry, I took a deep breath and popped it in the old trap like a skittles. To my surprise and enjoyment, it tasted like a cherry, but oddly enough, I stopped my heavy breathing and started to feel better; crazy world.
I moved to the switch , but once I stepped on it, I started to hear ticking. I ran against the clock back to the first switch and reached it in time. the area started to fill with water, and the platforms surfaced as well. I jumped into the water and it felt like this liquid was burning my skin, so the platforms started to make sense. I quickly swam my way to the first platform and launched on the top. I stood up and balanced myself, and jumped my way to the door at the edge of the room. Once inside, I heard the familiar bars locking me inside this dark and musty area. I started to walk into the room and noticed a different, more marsh like terrain; I noticed mostly because my boots felt like they were sinking in the mud around me. Once again I looked back to the door, then to my wrist as it started to glow, then flicker. This peculiar instance, caught my attention until I heard something slam to the ground behind me. All of the sudden, torches around the room started to light up, and as I followed them my eyes fell to this tribal man holding a spear. He had a mask on, and was riding a giant, colorful, bullfrog. He started yelling these nonsensical words, when his frog spewed out of his mouth this poison at me, but luckily missed. I watched it fizzle away, trying to think of a plan of attack.
I tried to circle slowly, but without speed, my feet always started to sink. I noticed as they were hopping around, the man didn't have too sure of a grip on his steed, and seem to wobble a bit, as the frog jumped. I decided on the slingshot and quickly took it out; I needed to separate them. With weapon in hand, I started to run around him and try to get a shot off. The man anticipated the attack and had the frog cut me off, and as I tried to jump back, the frog shot his tongue at me and met its mark on my chest. The frog was drawing back his tongue, while the man took aim with his spear, which put me in a panic, until an almost forgotten training day of Malons came to mind. She was wailing on me with the staff and each hit was getting me more and more frustrated; so much so, that my swings were getting reckless. She finally got tired of my attitude and swiped my feet out from under me and started dictating "How has your anger and hostility benefited you so far? You are getting more angry and fierce but as sloppy and frivolous. Keep that up, and your enemy will merely need to taunt you to throw your guard down. Keep your wits about you and calm your nerves, or the battle will not be the only thing you will lose..." I tried to stand but she took out my legs yet again. I was getting mad until I stopped to see her legs wide open. I grabbed the staff, and stepped to my knee, but when she went for the sweep, I deflected it and threw her off her balance enough to return the favor and smiled triumphantly at my grounded mentor, as I replied "Kind of like that?" I gave her my hand and but when she took it, she pulled me to the ground, giving me a decent dose of dirt and smiled back as she replied back"Exactly, but you need to hold back on your gloating, child, it is not very hero like." I gave a sarcastic laugh once I cleaned out my mouth and looked to see her chuckle for a second or two, then continued training.
I came back to reality and dropped the slingshot, and quickly took out my sword. The man was pulling back his arm, when I sliced the frogs tongue which turned the amphibian into a bucking bronco. This launched the man halfway across, which put him in a daze, although he some how landed on his feet. I sheathed the sword and picked up the slingshot and took aim and shot him between the eyes to knock down, then started to run at him. I packed away the wrist rocket, then took out my sword and just as he was about to come to, I jumped and stabbed the sword into his heart. I withdrew my blade, then looked for the frog to retaliate, strangely, when I turned around, I found it melting away. I sheathed my sword, and while scanning the room for the body of the man, the only thing I could find, was the mask of one of those flower creatures. I picked it up and stored it it my satchel, when I looked to find a light spiraling in the center of the room, revealing a chest. I ran to it, and once I opened it, I found a key with a red gem as the handle. I packed the key away as well, and looked to the door to find the dark child making his way back, and followed suit.