I was going to hold out a few more days before I published this chapter, but I was bored and you guys have been patient, so here it is.
I received one heck of a grilling from my beta reader (very beneficial grilling), and so I've gone back and changed a few of the old chapter titles into something more interesting. Most of them were only minor. It's also thanks to Scarlet Curls that this chapter is better than how I had it originally written.
More thanks to those of you who followed, favourited and reviewed. Yes, Link beating bokoblins left-right-and-centre with a wooden sword like in the game was odd, so I'm glad that the twist I made was appreciated.
Chapter 4: Out of Your League
The trip back home felt longer than it was thanks to Link's aching body. At least he was saved from walking by riding on Andel's back behind his father. Jaggle had elected that he and Talo would make their way on foot, so as to have more time for a little 'father-and-son chat'. Link felt sorry for the boy. Jaggle's scolding was audible even from a distance. He could only imagine how much worse it was up close.
Even though he was hardly moving, Link winced with every step the old horse took. He felt like one of those goat figurines the children would whack around at parties, only the difference was he wasn't full of treats. Each second seemed to drag on for a minute, and it was a massive relief when the made it across the Farona Bridge.
They found Epona waiting nervously back at Link's house. The mare looked to her master in what he imagined was apology and concern. He didn't blame her for running away. Those bokoblins were frightening, and Link might've done the same if he had been able. He made a gesture to assure the horse that he was alright, and it seemed silly, but she shook her mane in response. Thank Nayru that she was safe.
"We better have Pergie take a look at your wounds," Rusl suggested when they trotted right past the boy's home. He had been quite aware of the shallow grunts and groans that his adoptive son had been making. Link didn't protest. He couldn't work up the energy to.
They found Pergie waiting outside her waterwheel house wearing a mask of worry. When she laid eyes on the two men approaching, she ran forward to ask if her son was alright. Rusl smiled and told her that Talo was unharmed and safely with her husband. The woman sighed in relief and turned her gaze to the youth slouching behind the swordsman. She could tell from his gloomy expression that he was in rough shape.
More pain flared across Link's body as he was helped to the ground. Loathing every step he took, he allowed his father and Pergie to guide him inside. Never had he been so glad when he sat down in an empty chair whilst the woman examined him. Throughout his life, Link had seen Pergie a number of times for a range of ailments including colds, broken bones, and one case of cucco pox. As a result, he felt no shame when he was instructed to remove his shirt. Big, dull purple splotches covered his upper arms and sides. One of his legs was similarly discoloured as well. Link hissed sharply as Pergie prodded each bruise with a finger.
"He's got a good bunch of shiners all over, that much you can see," she told Rusl. "But, fortunately, nothing seems to be broken. These should clear up in about a week or so."
The front door suddenly flew open with a bang and Uli came charging in. Link yelped in pain she immediately yanked him into a crushing embrace. She heard his cry and pulled away to stare at his many bruises. Horror morphed in to hot anger as she spun on the spot towards Rusl.
"What happened?" she demanded. "Colin tells me that Link ran off into the woods, and when I hear he's back, I see him like this? What happened?!"
The men cringed as Rusl steeled himself to bear the news. "There was an incident. It's all taken care of now," he added when his wife's glare intensified. "Link was chasing after Talo when a pack of monsters a-"
"Monsters?!" the mothers exclaimed together. Uli glanced at Link's injuries again and returned her gaze to her husband with renewed fury.
"Link was attacked?! In the forest?!" Panic began to set into the pregnant woman. "That's it! Link is not going anywhere! No going to Hyrule; no Castle Town; no tribute!"
Link's eyes widened in shock. His mouth hung open as Rusl placed his hands on his wife's shoulders. "Dear, you're blowing this completely out of proportion. If you just-"
"Out of proportion!" she screamed. "Link could have been killed today! Do you realise that, or don't you care at all?" The swordsman stared at her as if he'd been slapped. "You told me that there was nothing to worry about, that this little trip of yours was going to be safe. But barely a day later, Link comes home battered worse than a slab of meat! And you're telling me I'm 'blowing this out of proportion'?!
"Link is not going anywhere," she stated venomously. "He is going to stay here in the village where he's safe. And that's final!"
"No!" The couple turned in surprise. Link looked up at them with a firm stare.
"I promised Dad I would go, so I'm going." He did not allow himself to get this worked up about visiting Hyrule just to be yanked out of it now. For his mother's sake, he then spoke in a gentler tone. "Mom, I'm alright, really. It's just a couple of bruises."
"When Jaggle and I found him, Link was fighting off four bokoblins at once, and doing a remarkable job of it," Rusl added before his wife could respond. "He was protecting Talo. Because of Link, the boy wasn't hurt. You should be proud of him."
Uli blinked in surprise and turned to look at Pergie, who had been completely ignored since she arrived. She then felt terrible for fretting over her own son without showing any consideration for the wellbeing of her friend's. The other woman didn't appear angry, but her arms were crossed firmly across her body. Uli met her husband's gaze again, this time with a look of hopelessness.
"But what if it happens again? What if there are more of those things out there?"
Link's brain froze when the horrifying idea registered. He hadn't considered that there might be more bokoblins lurking about. 'Why the hell did she have to go and say that for?' All of a sudden he was less keen to go back out into the woods. But he just said he was still going to go to Castle Town...
Now his conscience was wrestling with his sense of self-preservation. Why did his parents have to teach him to keep his promises all the time? Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant.
"I'll be with him the entire way," Rusl assured her. "And I'll make sure that he has something better to protect himself with than a stick of wood. I'm sure the mayor has an old weapon he can lend. As I recall, he used to be quite the adventurer back in the day." He cupped his love on the cheek and stroked his thumb. "I'll keep him safe, I promise."
Reluctantly, Uli nodded. Rusl wrapped his arms around her as she buried her head into the crook of his neck. Link's attention was wrenched away from the scene as Pergie started slathering a thick ointment onto his body.
"This will help those bruises heal," she explained. "Don't put your shirt back on until it dries, and don't have a bath for at least an hour, otherwise it'll just wash off." The salve stank something awful, but Link nodded his head all the same. At least it wasn't something he had to drink. Din's fire, he hated taking medicine.
"Hey Link, ye holdin' up okay?"
Link groaned low before he replied to his boss. He told Fado that he was fine, but underneath the cheerful facade he was barely keeping it together. His aching muscles and the memory of the monster attack kept him from sleeping last night. When he did manage to nod off, he was visited by another nightmare.
It had been similar to the last one; the giant glaring down before killing him with a single blow. This time, though, it had ended differently. When the sword came down, Link found himself surrounded by complete darkness. His eyes became fixed to a single, yellow one with an iris the colour of blood. A toothy grin appeared under the orb as a hand emerged from the black. Before Link could reach out and take it, it was morning.
"Hey!" Link blinked as he returned to reality. Fado stood beside him and watched him with concern. "Y'know, ye didn't have to come over today. Ye look like ye had a rough night."
The young rancher fought the urge to rub his tired eyes. "I don't mind, Fado. I didn't have much to do this morning, anyway." Link welcomed any activity that would help keep his mind off the strange dreams he had been having.
The big farmer wasn't convinced, less so when the lad opened his mouth wide to yawn. "Link, go home and catch a few winks. I can take it from here."
As much as he loved that idea, Link had to shake his head. "No, it doesn't matter. We're leaving for Castle Town soon."
After leaving Pergie's house the previous evening, his father had told him that he had finished the royal gift. He said that they would depart in the late morning, provided that the youth was feeling up to the journey. Link beared a false smile and agreed despite the throbbing of his body. The last thing he wanted to do was disappoint his father.
"Alright, if ye say so," Fado replied. He stared up towards the rising sun. "Y'all better get over to the mayor's, then if yer in a hurry."
"Good idea. See you, Fado."
"Same here. Good luck with the princess."
Link turned Epona away and steered her to the gate. Past there, the gradual slope fed back into the village right past the mayor's house. Standing on the porch outside, two figures engaged in deep conversation before being aware of the horseman's arrival. Rusl was the first to hear the hoof beats as he stopped in mid-speech turn his head to their source.
"There he is," the second man stated brightly, "the man of the hour."
If Fado was the tallest person in Ordon, Mayor Bo was the largest. The mayor was a giant of a man, with a round belly bulging under his shirt. Around Bo's neck was a carving attached to a leather strip, marking him as the village leader. The short, greying whiskers of his moustache were the only hair to be seen on his egg-shaped head. The mayor slapped Link solidly on the back after the youth dismounted to meet them, causing him to wince from his injuries.
"So you looking forward to seeing the castle, Link?" he asked with a wide grin.
Link barely contained the yawn cramping his jawbones. "Yes... very, sir." The mayor laughed at the tired response.
"So excited I bet you couldn't sleep a wink last night."
Rusl watched Link carefully. His grim features were a stark comparison to the other man's joviality. The old swordsman didn't utter a single word, yet Link understood the concerned message in his gaze. He gestured that he was fine. The youth then noticed a sheathed sword in his father's hand.
"Is that it?" Link asked in wonder.
Rusl nodded and held the tribute up. "Finest piece I've ever made. I doubt it would compare to the arms of the royal family, but it would make a fine sword for a captain."
Although Link didn't have much love for weapons, he couldn't deny the craftsmanship as Rusl drew the broadsword. The steel blade was sharp and polished to a flawless sheen. Its double edges ran parallel from the hilt until they tapered into a deadly point towards the end. The cross-guard was inlaid with goat horn, designed to give it greater resistance. Leather straps wound around the handle of the sword; thicker in the middle to provide better grip. In a word, it was beautiful.
It was to be expected, of course. Before he became a soldier, Rusl had been a blacksmith's apprentice in Castle Town under his father. Although apart from that, Link didn't know very much about the man's life – nor about his mother's, for that matter – prior to moving to Ordon.
"WOAH!" a shout from the hill came. "Watch out! Goat loose!"
Link spun around in time to see a young buck charging right towards him. Instinct driving his body, he dived out of the way as the goat stormed right past. The animal was headed for the other side of the village when Link rolled into a sitting position. "Not even one minute," he muttered to himself.
Bo and Rusl stared at the fleeing goat as well. The former shook his head with a frustrated sigh. "That Fado... I'm going to have to dock his wages for this."
Link cast his gaze down. "Sorry, mayor..." he said dejectedly.
The mayor waved a meaty palm at him. "Don't worry about it. Nothing you could have done about it." Though it had been intended to be reassuring, the flat reply only made Link feel worse. He should have at least tried to catch the animal.
"Would you like me to go track it down, Bo?" Rusl offered. The large man shook his head again.
"No, no. You've got a more important job to do. I'll send Jaggle out later. In the meantime, I'd better lend Fado a hand with that broken gate. Last thing we need is to lose any more of our livestock before winter comes."
The mayor's door opened as Ilia poked her head outside. "Is everything okay? I thought I heard shouting."
"It's nothing, love," Bo told his daughter. "Just Fado messing up again, that's all."
Ilia nodded then noticed Link lying in the dirt. She stepped out onto the landing and stared at him with a crooked smile. "Strange place to be sitting down, don't you think?" Returning the smirk, Link picked himself up and dusted off his pants. "So you're heading off now?" she asked him.
There was a touch of sadness in her voice, and Link felt it. "Yeah... I guess this means we won't be seeing each other for a while."
"Just a little while. You'll be back soon, I know it," she said, the corners of her mouth lifting up a half-inch. She turned to Epona and stroked her flank. "You'll look after him, won't you, girl?" The horse nuzzled her in response, earning a giggle from the lass.
Bo walked up to Link and pulled him in close so only he could hear. "I've spoken to Rusl about this, but I need you to be careful out there. Those monsters could be a real problem if there are more of them. I haven't told the rest of the village, though. Best not to worry them until we know the details ourselves."
Link wasn't in much of a position to debate the mayor's judgment, so he merely nodded.
"Watch yourselves while you're in the woods. That gift is vital for our relationship with the royal family. If something were to go amiss, it would be... bad... if you know what I mean." Again, Link nodded. He swallowed at the prospect of possibly meeting up with one of those beasts again.
"What's this?" Both Link and Bo spun around as Ilia inspected the mare's side. "Epona's hurt!"
She turned and marched up to the ranch hand wearing a fierce, accusing glare. "You were pushing her too hard jumping fences again, weren't you? How can you be so heartless, Link?"
Link balked under her harsh tone. Bo stepped in and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Ilia, let's not get overheated about this. I'm sure there's a-"
"Father!" she shouted, batting him away. "How can you defend him like this? You're the mayor! You should act like one!"
Bo stood there stunned by the outburst. Before he could form a response, Ilia took the horse's reins and led her away. "Come on, Epona. Let's get you to the spirit spring. You'll feel better there."
The mayor shared a brief glance with Link. Both men widened their eyes. "Wait, Ilia!" The girl failed to heed her father and continued on, shrinking with distance. "Din's fire, that child is stubborn. Exactly like her mother..."
Link watched in horror as Epona disappeared into the trees. Without his horse, how was he going to get to Castle Town? He might have been able to ride double with his father, but Andel wasn't the youngest steed in the world. Sure, the horse could manage the short distance between Faron Woods and Ordon, but there was no way he could carry two grown men all the way to the capital. It was not a pleasant feeling to have your hopes dashed by the very person who helped raise them. Link started running. He needed to get Epona back.
He had to stop when the path past his house was blocked off by the children. Talo stood in front of Colin wearing an angry look while Malo and Beth stood to the side. "What the heck is your problem, Colin?" Talo growled. Colin took a nervous step back with his hands locked together behind his back.
"What's going on?" Link interjected. All three of the lads turned to him.
"Colin went and tattled on me yesterday," Talo explained hotly. "Because of him, I'm grounded for an entire month! I lost my allowance, too!"
"Our dad gave him the worst scolding ever," Malo added. "I thought it was never going to end."
"But I... I only..." Colin tried to say, his own lack of confidence tripping him up.
"You're such a snitch!" Talo sneered. "We break the smallest rule once and you run off to rat us out to everyone!"
"Leave him alone!" Beth stepped in. Even Colin was as stunned as everyone else to see her defending him. "You could've been eaten by those monsters! That's why our parents warn us not to leave the village! And Colin only told his dad because Link told him to!"
The brunette stared at Link in shock. "What? Why?"
"Talo, what you did was stupid and dangerous," Link answered firmly. "Anything could have happened to you, and you're lucky that you didn't get hurt."
"But you were beating those things, no problem!" Talo protested. "You didn't have to tell anybody!"
"Are you serious?!" The children jumped at the sudden anger in Link's voice. Ashamed by the reaction, he took a second to calm himself. It was very unlike him to lose his temper, especially at the young ones. "Talo, I don't know what you thought you saw yesterday, but I was barely keeping those monsters off us. If Colin hadn't told our parents what was happening, the two of us could've been killed!"
Talo's face began to pale. Link pressed further. "And if I hadn't known where you went, those bokoblins could have done anything to you. Don't you realise that?"
When the boy hung his head, wounded, Link relented. "Look, just promise me that you'll be more careful from now on. Don't make any more rash decisions. And you should apologise to Colin, because what he did saved our lives."
Link still had to talk to Ilia, so he left the children to talk it over and continued down the path. He had gone ten paces when a hand snatched at his wrist. He glanced down and saw his little brother.
"Link..." he said quietly, "thanks for sticking up for me. Talo's always picking on me." The elder lad gave a warm smile.
"It's okay, Colin. Don't listen to what he says. You did the right thing."
The child lowered his gaze, unconvinced by the praise. "He calls me a coward, and he's right. I get scared all the time and run home." Saddened, Link put a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Dad said something to me last night. He said that I should try to be strong like you..." Link blinked. Had their father really said that about him? "But I don't want to use a sword or anything. That kind of stuff looks scary."
"I'm not going to lie, Colin," the older lad said, "but I feel that way a lot of the time, too. I was terrified when those monsters showed up. More than I want to admit. But I had to protect Talo. Because if I hadn't, he would have been seriously hurt."
Colin chewed on that for a moment. "I still don't want to do any of that fighting stuff. But Link...?" He looked up to his brother. "When I grow up, I want to be just like you. I'd like to learn how to ride a horse sometime."
Link smiled. It warmed his heart to hear his little brother looked up to him that way. "When I get back, I'll teach you. How's that sound?" Colin's face immediately brightened. Grinning, Link ruffled his hair and walked off with a goodbye. Hopefully the time he had spent with the kids had given Ilia a chance to cool off.
That was an incorrect assumption, to say the least.
"What do you want?" Ilia barked through the locked gates. "If you came here for Epona then you can forget it! Why don't you think about what you've done and come back when you've changed your attitude?
Epona stood behind the girl in the shallow water, looking towards her master calmly. With a heavy heart, Link placed his hands onto the struts of the doors and stuck his head through an opening. "Come on, Ilia, please. I need Epona right now."
The girl was far from impressed. "You should have thought about that before you went and hurt your horse," she huffed. The harsh edge in her tone struck him like a bokoblin's club.
"Ilia, I'm sorry Epona was injured," he said. His voice rang with regret. "But you have to understand it wasn't my fault. One of the creatures that attacked us yesterday hit her and-"
"Wait, what?!" she exclaimed, anger temporarily forgotten. For the next few minutes, Link told her in-depth what transpired the previous day. Her shock transformed to horror as he relived his ordeal.
"Oh, Nayru..." Ilia gasped. "I'm sorry, Link! I never knew about what happened! Are you alright?"
"Nothing to worry about too much," he replied, relieved that she believed him. He lifted his shirt to show her the biggest and ugliest of his marks on his right side. Once she recovered from the gruesome sight, Ilia unlocked the gate and allowed the lad to enter. Epona immediately walked up to nuzzle him.
"Her injury doesn't look too serious," Ilia answered his silent question. "But still, be careful with her. And Link..."
She paused as he turned to her. "Can you promise me one thing? Promise me that you'll come back safely, okay? Please don't try to do anything... out of your league."
"Out of my league?" Link chuckled. "What are you expecting me to do while I'm gone?"
Despite her concern, Ilia chuckled as well. "I don't know. After this thing with the boko... whatever they were... I guess I'm just worried, that's all. Link, I care about you, and I want you to come home safe. Because... Link, I... I l-"
Whatever else she was about to say was interrupted as Epona reared on her hind legs and began screaming. The pair of teens turned to her in alarm. Link then noticed that something was not right with the forest. It was far too quiet. Something was wrong.
Then suddenly a rumbling could be heard and the bridge gate shattered with a resounding crack. In the middle of the road came a massive boar far larger than what was natural. Saddled on its hairy back was a giant covered with sickly green skin. Dull steel plating protected its grotesquely fat body, matching the similar armour that adorned its mount. Jutting out from its hooded head was the largest set of horns Link had ever seen. The creature's squashed face leered at them with a cruel grin as it steered its boar towards the humans.
Fear clutched Link's heart as he stared into pair of merciless yellow eyes, paralysing his body and banishing any rational thought. The giant snickered as it pulled out a monstrous, two-handed battleaxe and clubbed the lad with the flat of the blade. Pain overwhelmed Link's senses as his feet left the ground and his back met it a second later. His head throbbed horribly as he sat up. He opened his eyes to see Ilia running to the far end of the spring in a desperate attempt to escape. A smaller creature riding another boar appeared and shot the girl with an arrow. The projectile plunged into Ilia's back and she fell forward with a scream.
"ILIA!" Link shrieked, heart stopping. He scrambled to his feet and ran towards her, quickly realising that there was nothing he could do. Another monster approached from behind and struck Link on the head with a heavy club. Stars obscured Link's vision as darkness consumed him. He didn't even feel the water as he collapsed into the spring.
With the pitiful battle already over, the lead monster rode towards the centre of the pool. It took a horn from its belt and held it to its lips. A monotonous note blared out of the opening and shook the leaves in the trees. When the sound finally died, the sky tore open with a black vortex gaping wide above the spring. Red lines ran across the dark shape and spiralled within the tunnel's throat. Its task now accomplished, the creature turned to its minions.
"We are done here," it spoke in a deep, guttural voice. They were not to linger, that had been made clear. "Take what you can and get ready to leave immediately."
A trog, a tad smaller than its leader, rode forward. "What about those two, Orgr?" It indicated towards the unconscious humans. The orgr gave them a shallow glance.
"Take them," it ordered. "The girl will make a nice servant. The boy looks useful for hard labour. Wrap up their wounds so they don't bleed out on the way, and be quick about it."
The orgr's small group hurried to bind the teenagers and throw them onto the pigs like sacks of grain. One took the wooden sword from the boy's back and tossed it into the trees. The leader blew its horn in two short bursts and led the march onward. As they returned to the bridge, they were met by four more boars, each carrying two green creatures with an unmoving child behind them. Kicking its heels into its steed, the orgr charged across the bridge towards the forest.
The air became thick with an ominous tension as the pre-noon sun vanished under a cloak of darkness. Beyond a bend in the ridge, the road became obstructed by a wall of pure black. Sinister orange light highlighted the barrier's perimeter, offering the only illumination in the enclosed space. As they rode closer, the orgr could make out intricate symbols manifesting on the shroud's surface. A hand left the reins and touched a black pendent around its neck. The amulet began to glow with dark energy as it responded to the power of twilight.
The boars raced right into the barrier, passing through it as though it were made of water. Past it, the world was completely unlike the one they had departed. In place of blue skies and green grass, the forest around the creatures was a palette of gold, brown and black. Shadowy particles floated in their air like dandelion seeds in the wind. The green creatures felt a foul sensation as the forces of the dark world began to take effect.
A groblen at the back of the line watched in amazement as the humans' bodies started to fade and glow with an ethereal light. While there was much it did not understand about the phenomenon, the creature did know that it only noticed this change thanks to the pendent it wore. The necklace's enchantment protected it from the influences of this unholy magic, preventing it from being turned into a spirit like their prisoners. The creature almost pitied the humans.
The groblen then screeched in alarm as the oldest male began to thrash about. While it was still unconscious, agonised screams broke through the human's gritted teeth. The creatures stopped as the youth's movements became more erratic. A harsh light began to shine from its left hand and spread across the rest of its body, blinding its captors.
When the light died, the trolls gasped in awe to find that the human was gone and in its place was a wolf. Its thick fur was a dark colour, almost black under the twilight sky, with a silvery underbelly. Unlike spirits laying around it, however, the wolf did not glow. A mark bearing a triple triangle revealed itself on the animal's paw, glowing faintly with residual power. Another pattern marked its forehead; a jagged circle with a dot in the centre. Studying the wolf, the orgr's lips split into a wide grin. This raid had been more rewarding than originally thought.
In the treetops watching the monsters, a lone figure stared at the wolf with similar interest. It, too, smiled in pleasure, exposing a row of pointed fangs. So the legends were true, it thought. As farfetched as it had earlier believed, its plan was coming together exceptionally well. Now all that was left to do was to follow the creatures that continued along the forest path. Patience would be key at this point.
Scarlet Curls and I opened up a really good debate when discussing this last part. We have different opinions on whether or not bulblins, bokoblins and moblins were related. My thoughts were that they are all distant cousins at best, and that bublins were more intelligent than the others. After all, when did a bokoblin talk during TP? (Although there was the Great Moblin in the Oracle games to consider...) SC reckons they are all pretty much the same, like how gerudo are supposedly similar to hylians.
Reviews are encouraged and feel free to add your own opinion to the bulblin debate if you want. Please remember to be respectful even if you don't agree with what someone else says. We're all human, despite our innermost desires to be otherwise, so let's be civil.