Chapter 10: A Terrible Loss
"You might want to hold on to each other pretty tight," Fyer warned as he shut the enormous door to the Human-Cannonball ride. The room instantly went dark, and the two squeezed each other around the waist waiting to be cast into the air. They could hear the music rising from outside, and a sudden jolt started the ride. They could feel the room moving around, spinning and spinning. The music began to speed faster and faster, and the room was moving quicker and quicker, and before they knew it they were thrown high into the blue sky.
Ilia uncontrollably giggled as she looked down at the view below them. Everyone looked like little bugs. The reflection of the sky looked phenomenal from where they were; the water was so clear that she could see the two of them huddled together in the reflection. Time felt as if it had stopped, but it definitely hadn't. In the next instant, Link had flipped them over and they landed gracefully on their feet on Fyer and Falbi's porch. The two shortly and sweetly smiled at each other amongst their laughing, then opened the door and walked inside.
They were on the second floor, which was connected to the first floor by a colorful ladder. The two made their way down the steps. Chickens crowed and clucked as they scampered out of the humans' way. Link helped Ilia down while she climbed down the final steps, and all of a sudden they were greeted by an overwhelming strange clown.
"My, that was some fight you had down there, hero!" Falbi cheered, clapping his hands together. He was the co-owner of he and Fyer's company, and he too was a friend of Link's. "I have to ask you, is my pal Fyer alright? I would just be devastated if anything happened to him!" The clown groaned with a dramatic hand thrown into the air. Link chuckled and nodded, and Falbi took a hold of Link's hands. "I have something to give to you! Wait right here!" The zealous clown hopped onto the ladder and began digging away in some sort of treasure chest. "You wait right there, hero! I'll be down in a minute!"
Link stared up at the clown. His eyes slowly drifted away and brought his gaze to Ilia. She was standing at the edge of the board staring right at Lake Hylia. Link joined his friend, standing next to her, and gazed out at the vast lake as well. Ilia let out a sigh. "This is a beautiful place, Link. Thank you for taking me," she said, her view locked on the water. Link nodded in agreement and patted her back. If she was astonished by this, she would be breathless after seeing the rest of Hyrule.
"Heeere it is!" Falbi called from the second floor. He slid down the ladder and dashed through the chickens to make his way to Link. A jar was immediately shoved into the hero's chest. "I know it isn't much. It's all I could think to give after all that you've done for us, not to mention that it's free!"
Link smiled in content at his friend. He looked down at the jar to notice a fairy flying about inside. That would greatly help him on his journey if he were to ever be severely injured. Link thanked him, called back on Ilia who skipped away from the ledge, and made his way for the exiting door. He needed to be on his journey again as quick as possible, no matter how much his desires were to lay around.
Link eagerly threw the door open, avid to see Hyrule's green grass fields again. He looked at the familiar grounds from the left to the right, taking in all of its glory. He wasn't exactly observing green grass, considering there were only rocks and dry dirt in this area, but at least it was solid ground. The hero strode forward onto the pebbles and began to make his way to the bridge. He wasn't even sure if Epona was still there after all that had happened; the shadow bulblin could have taken her long ago. It had been an entire day, after all. Link soon found himself rushing to the bridge, and to his surprise Epona was still there. He squinted at the sight. Sure enough, there was another dead shadow bulblin lying on the floor, making a total of five dead bulblins in all. Good job, Epona.
Ilia darted around the corner past Link and raced for the gallant horse. "Epona! I'm so sorry we left you!" She cried, moving her arms and legs as fast as she could. Epona neighed and kicked her front feet. She then started off into a strong gallop towards the human girl. However, she didn't stop once she reached Ilia; she passed her by and made straight for Link. Ilia slowed to a stop and watched Epona halt in front of the hero, who smiled and tenderly rubbed the horse's face. Ilia pouted.
The girl returned to the close companions and watched them bond with each other. Ilia grew in jealousy, but let out a chuckle realizing she'd never have such a close relationship with the horse like that. "I bet she's starving," Ilia commented. "I'm sure I have something in my pouch for her." Ilia turned and started to dig in her bag, but soon realized she didn't have any sort of fruit or vegetable for the animal. "Oh, I forgot that I ran out of food. All I have left is that tektite thing that Emmaus gave us," she sighed. "Sorry Epona."
The horse neighed in response. Link mounted Epona and then helped lift Ilia onto the stallion behind him. It was about time that he made way to Hyrule Castle after all of the events that caused him to fall behind. The hero kicked Epona's sides and the horse immediately dashed for the trail that followed up to Hyrule castle.
"Hey! Stop!" A distant voice cried behind them.
Link turned his head to look back at the caller. Before he could even make out who it was, Ilia already fell into a panic. "Papa?!" She shouted. The large man was on Rusl's horse and was racing right for them. Link turned Epona around and ran her right onto the bridge again, meeting half-way with Mayor Bo. Ilia hid herself behind Link, barely peeking her eye to look at the mayor. "What are you doing here?" She meekly whispered, her arm reaching up and clawing at the back of Link's clothes.
He looked highly displeased with both the hero and his daughter. His eyebrows creased into a deep anger. "I told you not to go, and what do you do? You leave!" He raged, gritting his teeth.
Link looked back at Ilia in surprise. Had he known that the mayor wouldn't have allowed her to run off with him, he would have left Ilia at the village. But Ilia said nothing of it when they left. What was going on through her head that would cause her to think like that? Now she was far beyond trouble, and Link was slightly apart of the problem.
Ilia looked down at the concrete, absolutely refusing to look up at the man. She opened her mouth to speak, but wasn't sure how to answer him. She knew she had down him wrong but didn't want to admit it. "I'm sorry, Papa. I wanted to help Link the best I could…"
"Ilia," Mayor Bo scoffed, "this is the exact sort of rambunctious behavior that caused your mother to die! Do you know how hard I tried to protect her? Do you even know how hard I am trying to protect you?! I'll be utterly lost if you get hurt or die! You're my little girl!"
"I'm not a little girl anymore!" Ilia argued, now raising her voice. "I'm the same age as Link, the hero who saved all of Hyrule! If he can take care of himself, then I can too! I can't help that you couldn't protect Mama and I can't help that you can't protect me all of the time, but that's not going to stop me from going off and doing these things. I know I can do it. I already did! Link and I slayed a bunch of monsters together. It's not like I'm useless! I'm strong. I can help him with anything he needs."
"Link can do everything on his own," Mayor Bo bickered as if Link wasn't there. "He's special and can do these special things all by himself. You, on the other hand, are only human. If Link wasn't around to help you, you'd most likely be dead by now. You're only just a girl; you need strong men to take care of you like Link and your dear Papa. By going out with Link, you're putting yourself in far more danger. Please, come back with me where it's saf-"
"And what if something happens to Link? Who's going to be there for him?" Ilia started to tense up. She clenched her fists as if that would calm her down, but it only seemed to make her that much more rallied up. "Link doesn't have anyone. If I go back with you, I'll have the entire village. Link could get hurt and then there wouldn't be anyone to take care of him."
Mayor Bo's eyes narrowed. His grip became tighter on the reins of the horse. "It must be so terrible to have a father who cares about you, who wants to protect you ... I'm an old man, Ilia. I only have so much time left. Wouldn't it be wise to come back with me? While we still have time? Link doesn't have a loving family like you do, and I feel like you should take that to your advantage. I know what it feels like; my parents have long since died of old age and I was devastated at first. The only thing that kept me going was my wife and my child, and now all that's left is my child." The mayor suddenly took a deep breath, "my only child…" He turned the horse around and started to walk down the bridge.
Ilia slid her arms around Link's waist and tightly squeezed him, unsure and uncaring of what the mayor had meant by that. "Let's get going, Link," she pouted. Link whipped the reins and began to follow Bo. "Hey, where are you going? We're supposed to go towards the monsters!" She shouted in a loud whisper.
Link didn't answer her. What Ilia was doing was wrong; a daughter and father should have a strong healthy relationship, but she was only hurting him. Link was grateful that Ilia wanted to help out on his quest, but like Mayor Bo said; he could do everything on his own. Ilia needed to stay home with her father. She was lucky to still have one and needed to respect him. One day he was going to die, and she would greatly regret not spending this precious time with her father.
"Hey!" Link called out to Bo as he quickly raced Epona to his side. The mayor looked up at Link with confused and distraught eyes, but lightened up by Link's contagious smile. Ilia had her face turned away from the two. She wasn't too happy with either of them.
The horses strolled into Kakariko village. The children greeted them with laughter and questions pertaining to Link and Ilia's absence, wondering where the two went off to. Link gladly answered them, but Ilia only remained in her childish silence. She was no longer clinging to Link, but sitting up straight and crossing her arms, not wanting to touch the hero. The one thing she didn't want to do was come back to the village; she wanted to go out and adventure but Link wouldn't let her, and she knew why. Link and Bo talked about parenting and bonding the entire trip back. He wanted her to talk to her papa, but she wasn't going to.
Ilia slid off of the back of Epona with Link following after. Mayor Bo had trouble getting off of his horse but managed to successfully do so. "Rusl has been doing a lot better since you left, but he's far from being able to stand," Bo informed. He sort of chuckled and turned to walk to the nursing house. "He's been asking all about you, Link. Wondering where you've been and whatnot."
Link's eyes lit up with glee. He trotted to Mayor Bo's side and joined him on their return to visit the old man.
Ilia's eyes narrowed as she watched them. She wasn't about to be left alone with all of the kids throwing questions at her, so she raced by the men's side and followed closely behind.
They arrived in the bedroom and gathered around Uli, Rusl and their baby. They looked like a wonderful little family, smiling and laughing and getting along. Rusl grinned at the hero once he stepped foot into the room. "Hey, my boy! I was wondering where you went," Rusl welcomed as he watched Link take seat next to him. "How're you? Let me see that leg wound of yours." Link did so, and Rusl nodded in approval. "Looks like you're getting better. Well, so am I," Rusl snickered with a wink.
Uli warmly smiled at them. Her eyes moved from her husband to Link. "Where did you go for so long, Link?" She asked from pure curiosity, her voice soft and comforting.
Link told them about how they got stuck in Lake Hylia and battled it out at this wondrous festival. He was careful to leave out the information about his "parents" and Midna, however. He didn't want them getting confused over small details. The crowd didn't look at all surprised by Link's accomplishments; they knew he could easily tackle great things. What they were astonished about was the fact that Ilia had been around for such a terrible event and that she had actually helped; their eyes lightened up when hearing that she successfully used a bow and arrow.
Rusl looked up at Ilia, who was sitting proudly in her seat next to Link's. "Good job, Ilia!" Rusl cheered, patting on his own lap. "I didn't know you were such the archer. Maybe when I get better, we can go hunting with Colin, yeah? And your papa can come along, too."
Mayor Bo stood in utter silence. He was astounded by Ilia's great work that she was able to defend herself from such vicious creatures. It was completely unexpected. His once innocent daughter was fighting and shooting monsters beyond his protection, and there wasn't even a scratch on her. "Ilia," Mayor Bo suddenly spoke. The two looked at each other in the eyes. He placed a heavy hand on her shoulder and gently shook her. "I'm proud of you. I think you're responsible to defend for yourself … If you two can take care of each other, then you can freely go off with Link."
Ilia's eyes lit up with joy as a smile creased across her lips. She stood and hugged Mayor Bo and laughed into his chest. "Thank you so much, Papa! I promise I'll be careful! I promise!"
"Looks like you'll get to keep your assistant after all," Rusl commented, playfully smacking Link on the knee.
Ilia suddenly let go of her father and turned to look at Link and Rusl again. "Hey, Link! Show Rusl that picture that you found of your mom!"
Link blinked. He hadn't exactly planned on showing or telling anyone about that, but he supposed there was no harm done in doing so. Maybe he'd actually get an answer out from Rusl now. Link dug his hand into his shirt pocket and slipped out the picture of his mother. He looked at it for a moment, taking in all of its glory, and then handed it to the eager Rusl.
The old man studied it for a long while, creasing his eyebrows into concentration. He didn't look at all joyous like Link expected, but instead he looked very grim. "Where did… you get this?" Rusl asked, turning his concerned eyes to look at Link.
Link began to feel a little worried wondering what could possibly startle the old man. Was there something wrong with the photograph? With his mother? Rusl's expression was making him uneasy. Link's heart started to beat at a faster pace. Obviously, something was terribly wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to ask what. He was too frightened to hear of the result.
"Link…" His voice was far too sweet and far too comforting, which struck fear into the hero. "I have something to tell you that I should have told you a long time ago…" Rusl spoke, now sitting up with difficulty.
All of a sudden, there was a loud crash from outside and Renado immediately came into the room. "Monsters are everywhere! They have broken the gate and they are storming in! We have to get everyone out of here!"
The group immediately sprung to their feet. Mayor Bo lifted Rusl's arm over his shoulders. "Come on, Rusl. Get to your feet," Bo encouraged. Rusl grimaced as he stood, his wound pulsing with pain.
"Let's go see what's going on!" Ilia shouted, grabbing Link's arm and pulling him out of the room. Link instantly passed her up and dashed out of the nursing house. As soon as he stepped outside, he could see all sorts of enemies swarming around the town. Thankfully, they were mainly minor, and gorons were already rolling through the town crushing them all. The problem was that they were igniting everything on fire. As far down as they could see, every building was slowly being engulfed in flames. It wasn't going to be easy putting those out.
Link took out the gale boomerang from his bag and slung it at one of the burning buildings, only managing to take away a few of the flames. He continued to do this, but it felt like a waste of time. Only a few of the flames went out and would quickly return again after trying to put out a different part. Link dashed into the interior of the building and started to use the boomerang inside instead. This plan seemed to be working much better than his other one; the flames quickly disappeared. He then went back outside again to use it on the roof, but as soon as he did so the building collapsed. Link stared at it with wide eyes. Had he been in there a second longer he would have been sure to die.
A torch slug suddenly began to crawl onto his foot, burning up his leg. The hero panicked and kicked it off, then smashed it with his boot. His eyes darted from the enemy and looked all around at the numerous amounts of monsters tearing up the town. Had it not been for the gorons, this place would have been flooded with enemies.
Gor Coron, one of the goron elders, approached Link from behind and gently patted the hero's shoulder. "It is such a shame that this place of refuge had to be attacked. I quite enjoyed it here," he hummed. He suddenly looked up at Link with melancholy eyes, yet a sanguine smile. "We can always rebuild. Just try to get everyone safe, okay? Unfortunately, we can't bring them into the mountains now that they're infested. I don't know where to take my people, nor this village."
Link stared at him in confusion, wondering why the elder would possibly start a conversation at a time like this.
"I've already lost two gorons," he started again with a heavy sigh. "We're not going to be able to save everyone, so we'll have to hurry and think quickly to save who we have left."
"Are you two going to keep talking or are you going to defend the humans?!" A sudden voice called.
Gor Coron's eyes suddenly trailed away from Link and looked out at one of the gorons. "Ahhh, look! There goes Darbus," he admired as the goron smashed a dynalfos across the chest. Gor Coron suddenly chuckled. "Alright, stay on your toes. I'm going to aid in getting rid of these monsters." Before another word could be said, he rolled into a ball right next to Darbus and started crushing and smashing the enemies.
Link didn't stand around to watch his friend go away; he raced for the safe house to check and see if anyone was there. Ilia just emerged from the building as Link came by. Her facial expression was masked beyond grieved. "Beth and Hanch and Sera and their cat got stuck inside and we're trying to get them out right now!"
"Where's Talo?!" Pergie asked as she rapidly arrived to the scene, clinging Malo in her arms and Jaggle catching up behind. "I can't find him anywhere!"
Mayor Bo and Uli just managed to bring out Rusl and their child. Uli's head jerked around every which way, looking for someone as well. "Colin?" She panicked, "I haven't seen him! Someone please find him!"
"Fado's missing too!" Jaggle shouted.
Link began to feel nervous as he looked behind him at the burning town. There was so much to do. He had to hurry and find everyone. Ilia and Renado were still getting one of the families out. Some of the villagers were missing. He wasn't sure if everyone would be saved. The town was quickly incinerating, and he knew that if Zant was the cause of this then there would be no survivors. Link handed off his boomerang to Ilia so she could keep the flames from nearing the family inside. He then turned and dashed back to the town in search of the missing villagers.
Link sped into every burning home and checked them thoroughly. He had to find his absent friends no matter what happened. He cupped his hands over his mouth and called their names, but there was no reply. When the house was discovered empty, he'd race back outside into the next house, repeating the process. Unfortunately, he just could not seem to find them anywhere. It seemed as if he checked every place, but where could they have gone off to? His eyes watched the gorons pound down on the threatening monsters. Could they have gotten eaten? Or taken?
There was a sudden scream far off from the watch tower. Of course! He hadn't checked there, yet. It must have been Talo, who always watched over the town from that point. Link's legs jolted for the pathway to the tower, passing up every monster that went to hit at the hero. Normally, his first priority would be to rid the village of any threats, but right now his friends were in danger and had to be saved. He arrived at the bottom of the tower in a matter of minutes, and screams could still be heard from inside. He darted inside and was struck with misery after noticing a body on the floor. Its body was burning, but the figure remained unmoved. Whoever it was, they were already long since dead. Link crouched down to look at the face. It was Fado.
Link took a deep, sickened breath. He felt as if he was about to throw up. That was one of his childhood friends lying face down on the floor slowly falling to ashes. He, the hero who saved all of Hyrule, couldn't even manage to save that one person. So what kind of hero was he? Link bit his lip as he gazed woefully at his demised friend. Fado would be missed.
An interrupting scream erupted from the second floor, far more frenetic than before. Link didn't have time to mourn over his friend's death; he flew up the ladder to find Talo stuck under a giant board from the ceiling. Colin was doing his best to move it aside but was ultimately failing due to his lack of strength. "Link!" Talo coughed. "I'm on fire! I can feel it!"
Link couldn't see where he was talking about. He didn't have the gale boomerang to aid him, anyway. Link dug his hands under the board and tried his best to lift it up with Colin's help. As the board began to rise, other boards behind him fell on Talo's backside, causing him to shriek in pain. Link stepped over the large board and started throwing all of the planks off of his friend. Smoke was now able to free itself and lifted out of the gap in the ceiling. Colin rapidly opened the door so that they could have more air. The hero was now able to slide Talo out from underneath the board and throw him over his shoulder. He had become unconscious, and the burn on his leg was as clear as day, but at least he was safe.
Link and Colin dashed outside through the open door. Smoke was pouring out of the exit, so it had to be shut so they could see and breathe. How were they to get down from where they were? They couldn't go back; the fire was climbing up from the inside and would be impossible to get through. Colin clung onto Link to grab his attention. "Where's a chicken? We can fly down like that!" He suggested, but none of those creatures were in sight.
All that he could think to use was the spinner, and maybe they could scale down the mountain that way. Link tentatively took out the spinner, putting all of his trust into it. If this plan didn't work, they'd plummet to their deaths. With an unconfident throw, he tossed the spinner over the ledge, took a strong hold on Colin and jumped over the fence onto the spinner. At first, the machine violently wobbled and was extremely difficult to balance on, but the hero managed to naturally control the beast once moving to smoother ground. The wind whipped their hair and clothes all around as they sped down the side of the wall. They were going much faster than Link was hoping for. The trio was quickly approaching the floor. Link leaned back trying to slow it down, but as he attempted to do so the spinner bounced off of an unsmooth piece in the wall, sending them all flying forward into the air.
Everyone screamed as they plummeted down and down. Link spun around and tightly caressed the children in his arms so that way they'd land on him once the trio hit the ground. However, rather than smashing on the ground, they slammed right through the ceiling of one of the houses, breaking boards and planks every which way, yet it made their fall a little bit less harsh than smacking hard dirt. The fire was just as hot in there as it was in the tower. Link slowly sat up and coughed, then strenuously rose to his feet. His head was spinning and his back was aching due to the pain of the crash, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Colin moved his way forward and opened the door for the hero and they all immediately exited the crumbling building.
Pergie and Jaggle and a goron were the first to arrive at the scene, the mother carrying the squirming Malo protectively in their arms. "Please, tell me he's okay!" Pergie cried with a quivering voice. Link anxiously handed off the injured boy to their father and they examined their child, lightly sobbing over his burns. "Thank the gods this is the worst that happened. Thank you, Link! Thank you for saving him!"
"We have to hurry and get out of here," the goron said, taking the feeble child in his sturdy arms. "I was informed of more monsters swarming from the volcano. The carriage is waiting for all of you." He turned and began to speed towards the carriage with Pergie and Jaggle and Malo following closely behind.
Link nodded. He and Colin were now making their way back to the safe house to see if everyone was alright over there. But when they returned, everyone was drastically crying. The building had been engulfed in flames. Link assumed that the family inside had been scorched to a crisp; there was no maybe, for it was most certainly so. Beth and Hanch and Sera and their cat were just as dead as Fado.
Ilia turned around, constant tears streaming down her face. "I tried, Link! I did! I just couldn't save them!" She wailed, throwing herself into Link's chest. He tautly threw his arms around her back and squeezed her. He could feel her shaking tremendously, and he was trembling as well.
"We cannot stick around any longer," Renado called, helping Luda into the carriage. "Those monsters will be sure to come and get us if we stay. Let us move! We are going to Castle town to Telma's bar."
The remainder of the villagers climbed into the carriage, Colin instantly clinging to his mother. They were all careful not to crowd around the wounded so that they could have their space as needed. Many of the gorons rolled their way out of the village, not being able to defend the mountain like they always had. In a matter of minutes, the once safe village would be infested with monsters and they would be forced to flee, unknowing of where to head next. All that the gorons could do was walk with the Ordonians to safety.
Mayor Bo mounted Rusl's horse and trotted to the front of the carriage so that he could defend it from the front. Link remained in the back with Epona. As the carriage began to move, Link looked back at the scorching village. Unfortunately, the hero wasn't able to save everyone like he had always been able to. Several of his very close friends had died that day, and he would never be able to talk with them or laugh with them or see them ever again. Link removed his hat to pay his respects for the deceased, staring wistfully at the fire spreading across the sky. He then moved Epona to follow the carriage. Maybe if he was lucky, the rest of his friends would at least survive.
At least Link is finally going to make his way to Castle Town, right? Or maybe there will be another delay ... ? Whooo knows? Thank you all for keeping up with the story so far. I really appreciate it!