"Link! Slow down! Where are we going?" panted Navi, navigating the mosh pit of villagers. As a man carrying a plank over his shoulder turned around, she had to quickly fly down to avoid getting swatted.
Link showed no signs of stopping, except to read an arrowed sign pointing out the graveyard. "We're going off to the graveyard to find that shield! What would happen if I were to go up there with this one? It would get baked up like a cake, that's what!"
"At least slow down a bit! You're REALLY fast!"
Link slowed down… by a very small margin. He continued running through the village, past the well, past a rather flustered woman with a pen of chickens and through a little arch in a stone wall. According to a sign next to it, this was the graveyard.
Still frantically flapping to keep up, Navi stopped to read a message on the wooden bulletin board that was erected by the entrance.
CAUTION!
Ghost sightings in the graveyard!
"Oh, no, what has he done? HEY, LINK! STOP! THERE ARE GHOSTS IN THERE!" Turning yellow with fear, Navi almost warped back in time from her speed as she desperately flew to the graveyard after Link.
"My soldiers." an astoundingly deep voice shook a hidden room deep within Hyrule Castle. Princess Zelda and Impa were unaware of it, as were the guards and soldiers of the castle. It was completely black and concealed behind a loose brick that would open the hideout when pulled. It was built with black bricks and had a golden throne with red pads for sitting on. The owner of the deep voice was sitting on said throne. Above him was a sculpture of a dragon filled with lava.
At this man's order, some rather foreign looking women marched in through spiked doors, each of them carrying a sharp naginata with them. They wore silky, purple clothes and pointed, yellow shoes. Their hair was fiery red. Their skin was a tanned brown colour. All of them marched towards their leader and kneeled to him.
"Do you remember our ceremony at the main part of the castle? When I turned to leave, I saw Princess Zelda watching us through the window. Do you know what that means?"
One of the women raised her head. "Does it mean that you're scopophobic?"
"No! YOU IDIOT! She had someone with her! A little boy in green! The same one I have been dreaming about!" roared the leader. All of the women flinched in shock.
"That boy is always in every one of my dreams! I am always so close to getting to the Triforce and every time, he comes around WITH A GIANT SWORD FIVE TIMES BIGGER THAN HIM!"
The same woman from last time cleared her throat. "Maybe it's just a coincidence. After all, we have recurring dreams."
"ABOUT A BOY I'VE NEVER EVEN MET? No, it's a prophecy. I know it! That kid is going to be the one boy who stops me! Whether it be skill or just luck, he is conspiring against me and will beat me if we don't do something!"
"You've never met him? Then… what could he be planning?"
"There is one flaw in my plans. If they were to get to the Triforce before us, our whole plan will go down the drain! I've already cast a curse on that sack of whale blubber at Zora's Fountain and blocked the entrance to the Goron's rock cavern until they agree to hand over their stone, but if that kid lifts the curse and gets rid of the boulder, the Gorons and the Zora might give him the Spiritual Stones and then all he'll have to do is tell Zelda so she can use the Ocarina of Time to open the gate of time to get to the Triforce!"
"Wait, you've just given me an idea, great leader!" said one of the women at the very back of the room, standing and raising her weapon into the air. "Why do any work when he is supposedly doing it all for us?"
The malevolent man glared at the soldier with his yellow eyes, but then this emotion died down and was replaced with interest. "What do you mean? Do tell, for I am interested."
The one woman stood up and walked down the red carpet towards the man's throne, twirling her naginata in her hand. "Well, this kid's plan is supposedly to collect the three Spiritual Stones so he can enter the chamber further beyond. If he succeeds… the item he finds in there will put him into a catatonic catnap for years so that it's sheer power doesn't kill him on the spot! In that time, you have more than enough chances to sneak into the Sacred Realm and find the Triforce."
In deep thought, the boss placed his hand against his red beard. "That's not a bad idea, actually."
"So, leader? Should we put it into action?"
"Fine. But send a disguised ambush to Death Mountain. We can't have him going too far!" the armoured man stood up, his armour clanking like the earth's plates, before thrusting his fist into the air.
"Yes, master." responded all the woman as they laid their weapons down and all bowed their heads simultaneously.
Pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter…
Not long after Link entered the graveyard, it had started raining. It was very jarring, as it was a beautiful, blue day just moments ago. Link was silent as he crossed the stile between two parts of an uneven brick wall. The Great Deku Tree had always told him to respect the dead by being quiet around a graveyard. He was not going to go charging in screaming "WHICH ONE OF YOU HAS THE HYLIAN SHIELD?"
Link sat down on a little wooden bench that was just behind a cliff face, which had part of the rock wall missing above him. He needed some time to think, and he found that if he were to sit down and think, the answer would present itself.
"Link! Link! There are ghosts in here! The bulletin-" squealed Navi as she came zipping into the graveyard and towards Link's bench. Link pressed his index finger to his lips.
"Ssssshh. You're not meant to make a racket at a graveyard. People are trying to sleep around here." replied Link, keeping his voice low. He put his head back down to think.
"But, Link, there are ghosts in here! Who knows what could be lurking about in this graveyard?"
"I don't know." replied Link, "but we need a better shield, and the man in the pub said that I could find one over here. Now, if only I knew where to look..."
Accepting Link's decision, Navi roosted under Link's hat. The last thing she wanted was a hungry raven thinking that she was a juicy bug.
"I wouldn't sit there if I were you."
A rough and gravelly voice caused Link to look up.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" screamed the boy.
The most petrifying face he had ever seen was peering down at him and that's really saying something, considering what was in the Great Deku Tree. It was the face of a man, but completely and utterly lopsided. One half was bigger than it should have been, while the other was smaller. The face SMILED at him to try and calm him down, but that just revealed a set of crooked and rotten teeth, making the boy scream even harder.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" joined Navi, turning a solid yellow colour inside Link's hat. "I told you!"
"You really don't have to worry, I'm not a ghost." slurred the man. His speech was about as distorted as his face. "Quite the opposite. I'm the undertaker of this garden."
"Oh." Link took some deep breaths, trying to calm down. He felt terrible for screaming at the sight of this man.
He had probably just disturbed all the graves!
"Seriously, I wouldn't sit there. I think you should move." warned the man.
"Sorry, sir, but why? Is it dangerous?" asked Navi, turning a serious shade of grey and emerging from cover. The man wasn't at all surprised to see a fairy outside of the forest and he spoke to her like he spoke to a person.
"Read that inscription on the gold plate. It's on the backrest."
Link turned around and scooched over. Sure enough, there was a small, golden plate on the horizontal bar of the backrest.
In loving memory of Asher Todd
Age 0-43
Taken from us by a rockslide in this very spot.
"A rockslide?" muttered Link in wonder. A falling stone from the cliff above made the rupee drop. Yelping, Link leaped off of the bench and backed against a fence behind the man. "Who on earth would put a bench in a place prone to rockslides?"
"I tried to tell her to put it a bit forward, but his wife was adamant about putting it in his very favourite spot of this graveyard. That area has lots of rockslides." garbled the gravekeeper.
"She's going to get someone killed with that! You need to be firm. Tell her that you CANNOT put that seat there, and move it. Just a bit forward. Maybe so it faces opposite his favourite spot so people can see it rather than sit at it."
The undertaker laughed, but his deformed face caused him to spit strings of saliva, so he covered his mouth with his hairy hand. "I say, you seem to know more than me about this kind of thing. My name is Dampé. What did you come here for? Do you need a burial service?"
This would have come off as a threat to Link, but the man's tone of voice was benevolent. So much so, that Link felt a little bad telling him about his real intentions. "Actually, I'm… looking for the Hylian Shield. I'm trying to get up Death Mountain, but… if I do, this shield might burn up. It holds very precious value to me, so I was looking for a metal one."
"The Hylian Shield? Did you try The World's End back in the village? I've heard that a lot of people know about it there."
"Well, I asked, but I was in such a rush that I ran out the second I heard that it was here." Link hung his head in shame of his impatience.
"That means that is my turn to fill you in. Do you see the bigger grave over there? The very end of the graveyard?"
Dampé pointed over to a large monument between two other gravestones. It had the mark of the Triforce on it, which was painted golden. Link nodded in response to Dampé's question.
"That is where the last generation of the Royal Family were buried. They left a powerful shield behind, deep within their tomb. If one knew the identification song of the Royal Family, the dead would let them in to try and reclaim their shield."
"The identification song?" thought Link.
"Zelda's Lullaby?" thought Navi, turning green in thought.
BOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOoooooMMMMM!
A clap of thunder shook the graveyard. Link slammed his hands over his ears at the sound, but Dampé looked like he was pretty much used to it.
"The weather's… getting pretty bonkers right about now. I shall be going back to my hut until my next job arises. I'll see you soon."
Once again, being a gravekeeper, that last sentence sounded like a threat, but Link knew he was still a bit paranoid.
"The Royal Families Identification Song." repeated Link. "Is that..."
"It's the song Impa taught you back in the castle!" deduced Navi, turning an enthusiastic shade of orange, "Impa said that only members of the royal family are usually allowed to learn that song, so it's kind of… identification, if that makes sense. Try playing it near the grave!"
Link grimaced at the thought of what would happen. Would a giant ghost come rising out to battle? Would an undead hand reach out and drag him inside the grave? "Well… it's worth a shot."
As the rain continued, Link advanced on the royal gravestone that lay at the end of the site, wandering past several gravestones along the way.
Ulric Brickenden
Maker of bricks
Age: 0-79
Didn't use enough plaster on his last wall
Helewys Brooker
Dweller by the brook.
Age: 0-43
"Whoever nudged me, I couldn't swim."
Tybalt Browne
Chef
Age: 0-28
"I told you those kippers were off!"
THE ROYAL FAMILY'S TOMB.
No other inscription on that, just the name. This was definitely the place.
Sucking in lungfuls of air, Navi floated to a gathering of dust on the lower portion of the gravestone. Upon releasing it, debris shot off the surface and flew everywhere, just like what had happened to Link's birthday cake. Link and Navi both coughed and choked in the storm, but the rain quickly dampened it down.
The Royal Guards looking for the Hylian Shield, play proof that you are one with the Royal Family.
"Link, you know what to do." said Navi. This wasn't a question, it was a statement.
"Right."
Link took his wooden Ocarina out, which immediately started browning under the rain, inserted the mouthpiece and began to play Zelda's Lullaby. The rain dripped into the note holes, causing the Ocarina's notes to gurgle once more, but the song was still very coherent.
Pitter patter pitter patter pitterpatterpitterpatterpitterpatterpitterpatterPITTERPATTERPITTERPATTERPITTERPATTER…
As soon as Link finished playing, the rain got harder and harder. Lightning pounded the ground with what sounded like a blast from a musket. One particularly dark cloud began brewing over the large tombstone.
"Is this supposed to happen?" asked Navi, knowing that no one would know the answer. To her, these thick raindrops were like a shower of medicine balls. Unable to take it any more, she sought shelter under Link's hat again. "Link, we'd better hide underneath a tree or something."
"Where am I meant to go? No trees around here."
"Maybe you could-"
Link stopped listening when a strange ringing noise entered his ears. The Sierpinski triangle on the front of the gravestone had started glowing a bright, victorious yellow. As the black cloud over the tomb began to flash with lightning, the triangle reacted more and more.
"Navi, I think my song worked." said Link. Navi lifted Link's hat up so she could see, turning a morbidly curious shade of black. Before she could utter a word, a massive bolt of lightning was thrown from the sky, striking the gravestone dead on. The impact threw Link into shock and onto the floor as shards of rock flew everywhere, one of them gliding all the way across the graveyard and knocking on Dampé's hut like a salesman trying to sell shoe umbrellas. Surprisingly, there was no response.
"Link? Link! Answer me! Are you all right?"
Link's vision enhanced to the sight of no rain, no clouds and Navi, who had turned pink.
What's that supposed to mean?
Anyway, Link had been lying on the floor in shock for about half a minute with his eyes staring open and his chest inflating and deflating like a foot pump. He hadn't even blinked during that time, though his vision looked like he was underwater until it returned to normal.
"Navi? What does that colour mean?" burbled Link as he groggily sat up, looking at his companion. Navi tilted to one side, confused.
"What?" she said, puzzled. It was not until she looked in a puddle that had formed in the rain had she noticed her colour change. "Oh, sorry! Never mind that! That's what happens when I get… concerned! You worried me!"
"Well, what just happened? The gravestone exploded and-"
Link stood up, steadied himself and noticed that beneath the gravestone was a hole that had a ladder, leading deep down into complete and utter darkness.
"Navi, are your colours determined by your mood?" asked Link to his fairy.
"Yes, why?"
"What colour makes you go white, if any? That's a pretty bright colour."
Navi was a bit surprised by this question, but she began to think. What she thought of made her turn white.
"Well, there's cleanliness, purity, newness, peace, innocence, things like that."
Link tried to find a way of having his partner stay in that colour. "Well, think of… a clean room, crystal clear water, a shiny, new shield, peaceful meadows, maybe a bit of playing around with other fairies. That should do the trick!"
Navi did as she was advised. Her white glow began to intensify as she hummed in thought.
"Perfect!" exclaimed Link, scaring Navi and temporarily causing her to turn yellow before she quickly switched back. "Now, in we go! That shield is as good as ours!"
With that, Link climbed down the rickety ladder into the darkness.
Finally, Link felt his boots against the cold, hard ground. Opening his eyes, Link found that the area was well lit, due to several torches lighting up the catacombs, as if people were expected to be down here. The floor was tiled nicely, but the walls were left in their natural state of curved, jagged rock. The tomb was dank and cold, to the point where Link could see his breath. Immediately, he began to shake and quake. A knee-high tunic with short sleeves was not appropriate for sub-zero temperatures. Navi herself was glowing white like a snowflake from the cold. Of course, this was not needed any more, since there were two torches off down the path providing light.
And heat.
"Navi, let's get over there NOW. The torches are probably nice and warm!" suggested Link. Before Navi had responded, Link had started to trot off down the small incline towards the first room. As he stepped towards the lights…
CRUNCH!
Something broke underfoot. Hopping back in surprise, Link inspected the sole of his boot to clean the gunk off from the bug he had supposedly squashed.
He wished it was just a bug.
Instead, his boot was peppered with white, sharpened pieces of…
bone.
"Oh."
Looking ahead, Link saw the broken skull of a human that he had stepped on.
"Oh."
Looking around, Link could see various other bones that were strewn around the room. It looked like a Halloween party had gone Pete Tong.
"Oh. Oh. Oh, no!"
"Link, let's forget about this and just move on!" said Navi. That was pretty much an order. Not about to pass that up, Link quickened his pace as he went to the torches.
"Shwee!"
A chilling squeak. I didn't know that was possible, but a chilling squeak caused Link to hit the brakes and stop moving entirely like a chapparal bird.
"Shwee!"
"Shwee!"
"Shwee!"
"Shwee!"
Behind him, several orange pairs of eyes opened. This time, it wasn't a Deku Scrub ready to knock an attacking Skulltula off of him.
With several noises of flapping wings, Link felt wind tickling his back with fickle fingers. Slowly turning around…
caused Navi to turn yellow.
Little, black gliders, glowing eyes of ember, flew at him with a wide wingspan. Navi tried to lock onto one of them, but there were too many. A single snap of jaws scared her back behind Link.
"Link, it's a swarm of Keese!" informed the fairy, her encyclopedic mind racing through her knowledge of monsters. "Keep your eye on them and try to take out several at once! Watch out for their sharp teeth!"
Link tried to focus on the entire swarm as if they were one big monster but without Navi he just couldn't focus. "Navi, please! Try and fly over there! I need your help!" pleaded the boy. Reluctantly, the fairy refused.
"Sorry, Link, but Keese prey on fairies! I can't get close! Just… try your best! Swing blindly!"
With a little sigh of regret, Link took the Kokiri Sword in both hands, reeled back and began to attack in a frenzy of random, directional slashes. There were pained squeals as Keese shot back through the air and disintegrated against the wall in blue flames. As much as it surprised Link, Navi's tactic of hyper offence was working wonders!
"Navi, this lot is driving me batty!" called Link at Navi, who had tried to take shelter in a fallen ribcage. "How much more is there? I can't keep this up forever!"
"Let's see..." hummed Navi, turning light green with seriousness. She spoke as if she was answering a Maths exam question. "There are only two dozen left."
"TWENTY FOUR?"
With a furious spin, Link took out about 16 of the Keese at once. The screaming monsters all flew back, disappearing in a lovely light show. Navi turned light blue, impressed, as her companion flawlessly destroyed seven more of the Keese before sheathing his sword and shield.
"Navi, everything's all right. You can come out now. Let's continue."
Wait, only seven?
Let's see… Twenty four minus sixteen equals eight, then minus seven and you get…
one.
Navi turned pink again, floating out from the bars of the ribcage to rejoin her friend. "Nicely done, Link! Good show!"
"Thank you! Now, the Hylian Shield can't be far from here. Let's continue onwards." replied the boy, drawing his sword and shield just in case before he stood near the torch. He let the warm air enter his body and warm him up, like the water from a whirlpool bath. He relaxed himself, felt his nerves washing away before…
one stray Keese shot out from behind a pelvis bone, having hidden from Link's rampage earlier.
"Link! Watch out! Run for it!" shouted Navi as she turned yellow once again. Link's reactions had considerably slowed because he had just started to relax. The Keese swooped through the air, straight through the torch, igniting itself in the process.
"Link, when a Keese goes through a torch, it turns into a Fire Keese! It's faster like this, so be careful!" warned Navi. True to her word, the Fire Keese began zipping unpredictably around the room like a laser in a room made entirely of mirrors. Link tried to keep his eye on it, but his eyes kept focusing on other things in the room. Rock formations, pieces of bone, anything but the enemy. In a second, it had zoomed behind Link and landed on his shoulder like a parrot, digging in its glowing claws and burning his skin with its fiery barrier. Immediately, Link could feel the pain.
"OW!" screamed the boy, doing everything he could to shake the beastie off of him. Try as he might, the monster would not move.
"Get off of him!" ordered Navi, even though there was no way it would comply. She turned red as blood in anger as she bashed the Keese from all sides. No use. The batty mammal opened its mouth, bared its red hot fangs and sunk them into Link's shoulder like an apple. The boy cried out once again, immediately seizing the enemy, almost crushing it with his bare hand and lobbing it across the room and into the wall, where it met the same fate as all the others.
"Link, are you all right?" gasped Navi in between puffs of breath as Link rolled up his sleeve to check the site of injection. The two cringed at the sight. Ow. An oval-shaped burn mark graffitied his shoulder, with two little holes dripping with blood from where the Keese bit him. It looked disgustingly like a pig's snout.
"Ow." moaned Link with a huff. "Navi, did you see any first aid in my bag?"
Thinking desperately, Navi scanned her memory of travelling in Link's pouch. She remembered sitting next to grilled Octorok and salad, but not any bandage or plasters. Feeling reassuring, she turned brown.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine, if you want to turn around at any point to get first aid in the village, just tell me, OK?" she said gently, gently applying pressure to the bite.
"Yes, Navi. Thank you, Navi."
"Dynaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrghhhhhh…"
"Dheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'nnnnnnnnnnn…"
"Pyttttthhhhhhhh..."
No, reader, you haven't accidentally switched the language to Cornish, this is what Link and Navi started to hear as they got deeper and deeper into the catacombs. The walls were now glowing a radioactive green, as was the floor.
"Navi, do you hear all that moaning and groaning in the distance?" asked Link quietly, in case the source was lurking around the corner. Navi seemed confused until it sounded again.
"Noooooowyyyyythhhhh..."
Navi turned yellow again. This time, a more solid shade of yellow than she had ever displayed. This noise made her feel physically sick. She felt like she was going to throw up out of sheer dread and terror for a few horrible moments. "Oh… NO. Link, be as careful as you can!" ordered the fairy.
"Why?"
"Those are Redeads! They are the zombies of people who died with no soul! They are REALLY dangerous!"
All the colour drained from Link's face at the speed of a finger click. He had been told stories about Redeads. They always TERRIFIED him.
No, the Great Deku Tree did not teach him about them. He was not a terrible parent. Let's just say, Saria found out who did it and gave him a smack, as she has done several times in this story. Redeads didn't just attack victims, they BROKE them. In fact, I can't write down what they would do or the computer might burst into flames!
And now he had to walk through a whole corridor full of them! Well, I'd better get a bucket of water ready, then.
This room was long and wide. Little pools of acid were scattered strategically around the room to prevent shortcuts. Even if he couldn't completely see them, the boy could tell where they were from the steam rising into the air.
All over the path he had to take, hunched over and unresponsive, were…
Redeads.
Just as the double crosser from the forest had taken pleasure in telling him, they were highly emaciated, undead humanoids. They wore wooden masks on their faces that had three holes in them. Two for the eyes and one for the mouth, creating a black, blank stare due to the creatures lacking pupils. Their skin was so thin that their ribs were clearly defined. You could play them like a xylophone if they wouldn't… do their thing.
Their skin was so thin, you could see their veins and arteries.
Their skin was so thin, you could almost see completely see through them.
"Navi, what do I do here? What is their weakness?" shivered Link, scared out of his mind. It was scary enough hearing about them, but actually having to sneak through an ENTIRE ROOM of them…
"Well..." paused Navi before she turned the colour of a lit bulb with inspiration. "I know! They're blind, so they can't see you. They CAN hear you though, so you'll need to sneak around them."
"Anything else I should know?"
"When they hear you, they'll scream. LOUD. This gives them a brief period of sight. They'll use their scream to paralyse you if they hear you and then they'll use their new sight to-"
"I don't want to know the rest, thank you! That's all I need!"
Quiet as a mouse, Link crept out from the entrance of the room, towards the first Redead.
There it sat, hunched over like a gargoyle on the side of a grand cathedral. It couldn't see Link as he sidled across the wall behind it, but it could hear him. It could smell him.
Across the wall, further and further past, still lucky in not awakening the monster.
Not if a loose rock in the top corner of the wall had anything to say about it.
As Link slid across the wall, the stone dislodged, hitting Link right on his burn, still sore.
"OW!" screamed the boy at the very top of his lungs as his bite flared right back up. The colour drained from Navi as she knew exactly what was coming. The Redead in front of the pair, still facing away, twisted its head around to face Link.
As long as its eyes weren't visible, Link was in the clear.
…
…
…
SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK!
The monster's red, glowing eyes brightened at the prospect of fresh meat. Instantly, all the control of Link's body was snatched away from him. All he could do was quiver in absolute horror as the Redead got up, turned around and began slowly ambling towards him, its fangs bared.
"Link, snap out of it! Move! Run for your life!" cried Navi, turning red, pink, orange, yellow, blue, purple, grey, brown, black and white in a fast cycle. All of her emotions were amplified all the way up, but Link couldn't hear her or act. All he heard was a high pitched, smooth ringing noise.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…
Finally, the Redead reached him as Navi turned a depressing black and sobbed in despair as the monster grabbed Link with its sharp claws, turned him around, held him with one arm pinned behind his back and began biting him around his head and neck as if it were a vampire. She was powerless. He was powerless. It was powerful. The spell still hadn't broken, Link's face was still blank, but he could still feel everything.
"It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts."
"Link!" cried Navi, alternating between pink, yellow and red. She was scared, she was angry and she was… whatever pink means.
Finally, the spell broke. Fighting through the piercing pain, Link whipped around and cut through the monster's gummy flesh, all the way through until it emerged out the other side. Standing completely still, the Redead toppled apart, the two halves disintegrating almost immediately.
"Link, run! RUN!" shouted Navi, following Link as he threw away stealth and ran through the room, leaping the puddles of acid and completely circumventing the rest of the Redeads before he disappeared into the final room.
Running across a boardwalk, Link made it to the end. A smoothed out, gold-rimmed treasure chest awaited him. Not even stopping or dropping pace, Link threw it open. Inside…
was a metallic shield. Silver edged, blue on the front and patterned.
Now was no time for admiration, though. Without any other thoughts, Link pulled the tightening plastic on the bungee of his bottomless bag to open it as wide as it would go and stuffed the shield inside. Immediately, it lost its shape and weight as Link tightened the bag back up again.
"Link, run back! We need to get you to a doctor and fast! You need medical attention!" shouted Navi desperately. The Redead had broken Link. He wasn't even able to form words. They just came out all slurred like the gravekeeper.
"I… Let… Go… Village!"
Before he could turn and leave, he heard those noises.
The noises he would have given anything not to hear.
"Shwee! Shwee! Shwee!"
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh... Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh..."
"No… No… Nooooooo!" cried Navi for Link as a fire glimmered through the dark doorway ahead, as did a rotten leg, then a rotten arm, then a wooden mask. As for Link, he stood firm, his sword and shield at the ready…
his clothes, hair and brain all messed up.
Pheeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
Inside his little hut, Dampé took his kettle off the gas fire that he had constructed himself. Humming a little tune to himself, he poured the contents into a chipped mug that he had just run under water.
"It's been ten minutes since that rock hit my door!" grumbled the jumbled man. "I hope everything's OK out there. The weather has been real unpredictable. One moment, it's raining, the next it's raining harder, the next it's all nice and sunny and now it's back to buckets!"
Getting off his dusty bed, Dampé opened up his door to check on the weather.
"Oh, deary me!" he huffed in exclamation.
Not at the unchanged rain and thunder…
but at the person who dragged themselves out of a hole in the ground, covered in wounds with an unconscious fairy in his cupped hands, before passing out himself.
Quote of the day:
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'"