Chapter 8
Link climbed out of the empty tent, dressed and ready for the new day, to find Oto cooking something over the fire and Mido dropping a pile of wood next to Oto. Laying where Link had left him was the unknown man, color coming back into his face.
"Morning Link," Oto said, keeping an eye on the omelet he was making.
"How did you bring eggs?" Link asked, putting on his green cap.
"I know how to pack," Oto shrugged. "I wish I had packed some sausages or bacon, it might wake our guest."
"Let him sleep, who knows when he last had clean air to breath," Link said, looking down at the man still lying on his back.
"I wanna know how he made it that far like he did," Mido said, sitting down by the fire to wait for the food to be ready.
"I don't know, when I found him all he had with him was a sword and some sort of long knife," Link realized, looking at the two weapons sitting next to the man's armor.
"He might've lost his distance weapon," Oto offered. He scooped out the omelet he just finished onto a plate and cut the giant disk of egg into four pieces. He pulled a little pot out of the fire with his gloved hand and drizzled the sauce on each piece of omelet. He rolled each piece up before smiling at his work. "There we go, breakfast is ready."
"Finally, I'm starving," Mido said, quickly taking a role of omelet.
The three ate their breakfast in silence and were soon starting to pack their things up.
"What are we gonna do about him?" Mido asked as he helped Oto put away the cooking ware he had brought.
Link glanced at the man as he had started taking the tent down and shrugged, "I guess if he still hasn't woken up when we're heading out we'll put him in the wagon."
"Hope he doesn't think we're kidnapping him," Oto offered.
"I don't," the man said before letting out a cough. All three turned to see him struggling to sit up as a coughing fit took him over.
Link quickly turned around and helped the man into a sitting position, gaining the man to give him a smile as he knelt down to look the man in the eye.
"Thanks, those poisonous yuled sure did a number on me," the man said only to freeze as he took in Link's features.
Link eyed the man back before saying, "What?"
"Sorry, it's just… the stories are true. There really are elf people," the man said.
"What's an elf?" Mido asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he took it more as an insult.
The man turned to look up at Mido and held up his head hands as he said," I mean no offence. Elves are magical beings with long ears, like you three have."
"So where you're from, people have small ears?" Oto asked. He dropped down to his knees to talk with the strange man as he handed him the forth piece of omelet.
"Yeah." The man took a bite of his breakfast before looking down at himself. "Uhm, this is an awkward question but what happened to my clothes?"
"We had to burn them," Link admitted. The man gave him a panicked looked as Link quickly added. "The poison had absorbed into your surcoat. Your armor and weapons are over there by the wagon."
The man's face dropped. "I guess it was for the best…" He looked up at the three and gave a smile. "Thank you. My name is Façade, seventh prince of Arcadia."
"Arcadia!" Oto smiled. "Wasn't that here?"
"Yeah, we moved north of here to avoid the poisonous yuled, about a day's journey by horse." The man looked around at their camp as he finished the small breakfast and said, "Speaking of, you wouldn't've seen my horse would you?"
"You were on your own when I found you. Your horse might've run off in a panic with all this poison," Link admitted. He took in a breath as he realized he'd forgotten his manners. "Oh, sorry. I'm Link and this is Oto of Hyrule and Mido of the Sheikah Tribe."
"Hate to say it, but we need to get back to work," Mido said, keeping his face stern.
"Are you good to stand?" Oto asked.
Façade gripped his hands in fists a moment, looking down at them before nodding his head. "I believe so."
Link and Oto got up to their feet and the two helped the man back to his feet, only letting go once Façade had his balance. Oto and Mido went back to putting their wares back in the wagon as Link went back to work at putting up the tent.
"If you don't mind me asking, what are three boys of your age doing all the way out here?" Façade asked, making his way to his belongings by the wagon.
"We actually need a metal that's only known to be in the mines east of the old city," Oto offered. "It's called Genimian."
"Oh, the old Jinkin's mine," Façade realized.
"What?" Link asked, rolling up the tent.
"The Jinkin family ran the distribution of Genimian back when my people lived here," Façade explained. "There's a popular story everyone grows up hearing that the Jinkin family blocked the entrance and still lives in the mine."
"I hope they're friendly if they still live there," Oto offered.
"They'd be dead unless they made some way of getting clean air," Mido rolled, placing the bag of food in the wagon.
"Well some versions go that their ghosts haunt the mine and surrounding area," Façade offered, picking up his boots to put back on. "Depends on who tells it."
"So what are you doing out here, being a prince and all?" Link asked, tying up the rolled up tent before standing up with it in his arms.
"Seventh prince, which is pretty much a pointless title," Façade offered, buckling his boot. "I figured I'd see if there was a way to get rid of all these poisonous yuleds but my plan failed." He looked around them and even noticed a bit of blue sky through the purple haze. "Though you three seemed to be doing well."
"We've been killing them like normal Deku Babas," Link offered, placing the tent in the wagon. "Mido, help me strap on the horses."
"Deku Babas?"
"The non-poisonous version of these things," Oto offered, putting his now clean pans back in the wagon. He looked at the man and said, "We call their race dekus, after the Deku Tribe."
"How many tribes do you have?" Façade asked, surprised.
"Well there's the Kingdom of Hyrule, the Zoras, the Gorons, the Gerudo, Dekus, Wind Tribe, and the Sheikah," Link offered, testing Epona's straps.
"Don't forget the new river Zoras," Mido added, turning to Façade. "Those guys don't care who you are."
"What about you, any surrounding kingdoms?" Oto asked, getting up onto the bench of the wagon as Mido took the seat next to him.
Link motioned for Façade to follow him into the back of the wagon as Façade said," Yeah, there's the Hamptons, Botons, the Swins, and some little group of nomads that go through all the kingdoms."
"Well once we save Zelda we need to come up here and get a thing going between our kingdoms," Link offered with a smile.
"Zelda?" Façade asked.
The three filled him in on what had happened as they followed the map to find the old mine, killing Deku Dokus on the way.
"Actually I think I saw those witches right as I was leaving Arcadia," Façade admitted after they finished telling their tale. "You said one had blue hair and the other had red?"
Link nodded his head as he knocked another arrow and they stopped for Mido to pick up the used one.
"They have big noses and dark skin?"
"Yeah, that's them," Oto said, his voice surprised.
"What were they doing past Death Mountain?" Mido asked, getting back in the wagon with the arrow in hand.
"They were asking for directions to Saint Helan's Caverns," Façade said.
"Did they have a blond haired girl our age with them?" Link asked, holding out hope.
"No, the two were on foot, which is why I remember them."
Link shot a Deku Doku, taking in the information.
"Why were they looking for a cavern?" Mido asked as he shot another Deku Doku in front of them.
"Well Saint Helan's Cavern's named after the dead saint for a reason," Façade explained. "According to legend she raised a man back from the dead. She was buried down there and people created a shrine for her."
"Crud," Link mumbled, releasing an arrow before reaching for more to be next to him.
"That doesn't sound good," Oto admitted.
"Why?"
"The witches are planning to bring back to life a demon king," Link said.
"Oh," Façade's face fell, understanding.
A strange silence came over the four as they worked their way to the remains of the old mine. They found the mine in the side of a cliff face boarded up by planks and rocks. The four went to work at taking down the planks and made short work of making a way into the old mine.
"Whoh, it's a bit dusty," Mido said, pushing the last of the boulders out of their way only for a dust cloud to appear and get him coughing.
"We better watch out, who knows what made this their home," Link said, finding a stick to make into a torch.
In no time they found the strange reflecting metal still sitting in an old mining cart, the whole mine showing signs of quick abandonment.
"Well this was easier than I expected," Oto admitted, looking into the cart with the help of Link's torch as the three looked in as well.
"I hope this is enough," Mido said, eyeing the cart.
"She's making a shield, not a whole suit of armor," Link retorted with a laugh. "Let's get this all loaded up in the wagon and then you two can get it back to Syrup."
"Wait, what about you?" Mido asked, shocked into looking at his friend.
"He's gotta get back to Arcadia somehow," Link said, throwing his thumb at Façade. "And I wanna see what the witches were doing in that cavern and what they might've already done with Zelda."
Mido opened his mouth to make a retort, only to close it without making a sound.
"Your grandfather's going to kill us," Oto said, rubbing the back of his neck. He dropped his arm before adding, "But I'm sure he'll understand."
"Just make sure Syrup gets this shield made," Link said, putting his torch in a crack on the wall so he could have his hands free.
