Watching Link and Saria entering the room she was in, the figure flickered out of sight. Reappearing above the pyramid, her orb twisted into an hourglass. Tipping it upside-down, she smiled wickedly to herself; they'd have a hard time passing this next challenge.
Walking through the entrance to the next room, they glanced around to find only a small square area with piles of sand in each corner. Dark golden bricks made up the walls and floor, the ceiling was filled in with jagged rocks and more sand. A wave of heat suddenly overcame them as they stepped in.
"It's so hot in here." Saria wiped her forehead, she wanted to pass out.
"Must be because we're in an active…pyramid." Link pointed out, the heat was a bit much for him too.
Saving their breath, they listened to the sounds of the room. Saria shuddered when she heard the loud slithering again beneath the floor. The difference this time was that it sounded like there were two of whatever they were down there.
"Do you hear that slithering sound?" She whispered to Link who nodded. Before they could panic over that, another sound entered the room; a rushed hissing noise.
Looking above them, Link gasped. What he saw was a long crack in the ceiling, a stream of yellow sand was very quickly pouring in through the gap. Motioning for Saria to run for the door, they got a shock when the only exit of the room disappeared to be replaced by more bricks.
"Argh damn it!" Link yelled, running at the spot where the door used to be, he banged his fists rapidly on it. Looking behind, the sand had already covered the whole of the floor and would probably carry on going up until it crushed them into the ceiling.
"Can people survive under sand?" Saria meekly asked, she had already guessed the answer but still needed to ask. "Maybe we won't even find out if this heat suffocates us first."
Ignoring the temperature, Link dug through his inventory. "Don't worry, neither will happen." He wasn't going to die here, not now that he finally had Saria, he'd gotten through worse than this in the past, there had to be something that could get them out.
Half an hour later the room was just over half full. Link had tried every weapon he could think of apart from the bow but that would be no use anyway. Bombs hadn't worked, bombchus were the same, boomerang did nothing and neither did the hookshot.
Saria had managed to try her staff but the magic couldn't break the rocks, Link wasn't ready to give up yet though. Searching deeper through his items, he came across the three transformation masks. These were the only masks he'd cared to bring along with him since the rest were too dangerous or not very helpful. Pulling them out, he studied each.
Zora would never withstand this heat, Deku was too weak…..but Goron? They could survive immense heat and had incredible strength, strength enough to break through rocks with ease!
"Hold on just a little longer Saria, I'll get us out of here." Link assured her, all he had to do was wait for the sand to rise high enough for him to reach the rocks.
Fifty minutes rolled slowly by. They had somehow been able to stay conscious in the heat by concentrating on colder places in their minds while Nori had used a cooling spell on himself that only fairies could cast on themselves to live in certain conditions.
Clutching the Goron Mask in his hand, Link placed it over his face. A flash of light engulfed the boy as he transformed into the mighty rock dweller. Saria couldn't help smile when she saw the result, Link's Goron form did look funny with the hat on.
Sending his fists into the rocks, Link began punching the way to freedom. The insane heat wasn't bothering him anymore in his new form which helped greatly with the punching. Smashing vigorously at the rocks he finally created a larger gap, a few more punches caused the bright daylight to creep in through the hole.
Checking that the gap was big enough, Link tore off the mask putting it away. Clambering up through the hole, he reached down to pull Saria out with him. A loud smash sounded behind them just as the gap filled with sand then stopped completely. A shattered hourglass lay ruined on what appeared to be the roof of the pyramid. Nori was surprised at how much space was up there, usually pyramids didn't have flat summits but this one was square.
"I should've known you'd sssurvive my pyramid." A voice hissed out of nowhere. The figure flashed into view for them to finally see who had been trying to end their lives. She was a tall slender woman, long black robes surrounded her thin body. Thick long black hair ran loosely down her back and around her tanned lean face. Night-black eyes glared out over them menacingly as her whole being hovered above the ground.
"Who are you?" Link growled, the first thing he noticed about her was that she seemed to be some kind of ghost, this fact put him on edge right away.
"Lady Eskena, Mistress of the Sands. I heard you sent my dear brother Carculous back to the underworld, he was a weakling compared to me!"
"So you can say a sentence without stretching your S sounds." Link smirked, although her appearance did still worry him slightly. "How come you aren't a walking corpse like your brother?"
"I prefer to take the spirit approach." Eskena replied, "I only ussse the S sounds to make my precious feel more at home. Speaking of him, I think it's about time you met." Clapping her hands, she waited patiently as the slithering noise became closer and closer until a very large brown snake slithered over the side of the pyramid.
Rising up behind its mistress, the animal was at least twelve feet tall, opening its gigantic mouth, it hissed excitedly showing deadly fangs.
"And now you must meet the new addition to our little family." Holding her hands in the air, she called forth another beast.
A second similar looking snake appeared at the opposite side of the pyramid, however, there was something different about this one, a pleading expression was written on its scaly face.
"Average sized snakes are a fairy's nightmare, but these things are terrifying!" Nori screamed diving into Saria's pocket.
"Kill them!" Eskena commanded. On her word, the snake behind her dove directly at the pair, shoving Saria out of the way, Link span around just in time to see the snake burrowing into the pyramid. Feeling the vibration of the animal moving underground, Link ran to the centre of the square and began jumping up and down. Sensing the boy above it, the snake dove out of the ground sending him flying. Twisting around in the air, Link was able to slide down the snake's back dragging both newly formed swords along with him. The snake screeched in pain as it felt the sharp blades digging into its scaly body.
"Link are you crazy?" Saria shouted from below. Turning, she noticed the other snake still waiting behind her. She knew she should have been afraid but for some reason she felt perfectly comfortable.
"The stone." It whispered, "destroy the stone!"
"What are you doing!" Eskena shrieked at the stationary snake, "attack her!" Rising her arms once again, Eskena tried to control the disobedient snake but it was no good; the animal fought against her powers.
Looking back at the first snake, Saria winced as Link jumped over its tail end. His blades were soaked in blood from the previous attack, more red liquid oozed out of the snake's back from where he had cut it. Scanning it for any unusual things, Saria saw what the other snake had talked of; a glistening red stone was tied around its neck.
"The stone! We have to break it!" She yelled to Link who was too busy blocking a giant fang with the swords as it tried to tear him in two.
Taking matters into her own hands, Saria grabbed her staff. Aiming for the stone, she shot a blast but missed, the snake was just too fast for her. Sending another and another, she carried on missing.
"Ugh, I need to slow it down. I wonder…." The Sage thought to herself for a moment.
"What do you wonder?" Nori popped his head out, usually when Saria wondered anything she was about to do something drastic.
"I remember a spell I read in the temple, an ancient forest chant, if I can do it, we may have a chance."
"Well, you know being a Sage you don't need to chant, just go over the words in your mind." Nori hoped she knew what she was doing.
Closing her eyes Saria held the staff out in front of herself. Spinning around very slowly, she began.
Forest spirits hear my command.
Link back-flipped out of the way as the beast dove for him once more.
Lend me your powers from within the land.
Being flipped into the air by another dive, Link skidded down the snake's back getting his tunic covered in its blood.
Swirling winds and dancing leaves.
Falling to the floor, Link rolled out of the way of the animal's tail as it tried to flick him off the pyramid. Taking out a bomb, he waited for the snake to dive mouth wide open at him. Tossing the bomb into its mouth, he grinned when the explosion sent blood gushing from its mouth.
Aid me now in what I wish to achieve.
Dodging the beast's ongoing attacks, Link looked over at Saria who was now glowing a luminous green.
"Waltz of Nature's Serenity!" The girl shouted. A harsh wind began to blow around her as an emerald cyclone sprung from the ground totally surrounding the Forest Sage. Hundreds of tiny leaves danced within the swirling wind, spinning faster and faster Saria waved her hands towards the snake. Reacting to the instructions, the cyclone swirled its way over to the snake, lifting the animal from the roof, it twirled it insanely for what must have seemed like forever to the snake.
When she was satisfied, Saria lowered the staff telling the cyclone to stop. Obeying, the cyclone span back over to her where it gradually slowed down and eventually vanished.
The dizzy snake collapsed with a thud. Grasping the staff, Saria shot a blast at the stone, it hit dead on but didn't break.
"It must need something sharp to crack it, Link use your bow!"
Ignoring the bow advice, Link took out his boomerang which was useless.
"It has to be an arrow! Please Link, before it recovers!" She knew he could hear her, he was just being stubborn. Running over, Saria searched through his pockets against his will. Pulling out the bow, she went to aim. "I'm not used to this so excuse me if I injure myself."
"I'll do it." Link snatched the bow from her, "stand back." Shakily aiming the bow, he swallowed a few times. Images of him shooting Saria squeezed their way into his head, shaking them out, he shot at the stone.
Landing right in the centre of the stone, a loud crack echoed followed by the stone literally exploding. Both snakes began to flash a blinding white.
"Nooo!" Eskena cried, her ghostly image started to fade away until there was nothing.
The snake nearest to them morphed back into the normal snake it had used to be, slithering through the pool of blood, it dug its way deep into the pyramid.
"That was great, I'm so proud of you." Saria smiled moving closer to Link. "I would give you a hug but um…yeah." She stared at his tunic and hands which were stained with blood.
"I guess I could use a wash." Link returned the smile.
Unlike the first snake, the second one didn't transform back into a snake, instead it turned into a teenaged girl. Running a hand through her curled orange hair, she stumbled over to the ones who had saved her.
"Thank you for taking my advice." She bowed to Saria.
"So it was your voice I heard." Saria glanced at the girl's odd choice of clothing. A cream nightdress covered with a purple dressing gown and matching slippers.
"My father has been acting so weird lately so I decided to find some answers. My search lead me here where that evil woman captured me to use in her plans."
"You left the castle in your night clothes?" Link raised an eyebrow.
"The only time I could leave was at night, not having time to change I just left as I was in a hurry." Finding the strings on her gown she quickly tied them up. "My name is Celest by the way, Princess of Meldora."
As they introduced themselves, the pyramid began to rumble. The large structure started to sink down into the sand until it was as if the thing had never been there. The only thing remaining was a shining pendant laying on the desert floor.
Picking the trinket up, Saria smiled to herself, at least they had something to show for this little outing.
"You have to come back to the castle with us." Link told Celest who shook her head.
"I'm not going back until I get answers!" She stomped her foot the way only a princess knew how.
"If you go back, we'll help you find them." Link sighed with relief when he saw her expression soften. "How do you mean he's been acting different anyway?"
"My father never used to be so bitter towards Hyrule, now he's made all these Solar Knights and barriers trying to keep Hyruleans out. Ever since that vile man from your desert appeared and that Coral woman things haven't been going so good."
Link pondered carefully over the princess's words. The vile man was obviously Ganondorf, he scattered the pendants and keys throughout the kingdom to make life harder for Hyrule. So far the pendants had led them to this princess, would they eventually lead them to more answers? Also, the part Coral played in all this was still a mystery, who was the real person running Meldora?
Turning towards the canyon, the trio made their way over to it. Arriving at the cliff edge, Link gasped, two stone staircases had formed either side of the cliffs.
"There're your steps on walls." Saria grinned at Link who smacked himself in the face.
"Where did they come from?" He knew for sure that they weren't there earlier.
"Usually, when someone places a magical artefact into that pedestal, the steps appear. Eskena used her powers to transfer the pedestal's energy into her pyramid, so when someone used a magical item, the pyramid appeared instead of the steps. Now that the pyramid is gone, the steps have returned." Taking a breath, Celest narrowed her eyes at the mess on Link's hands and tunic. "You should wash your hands in the river."
Leading them down the stone steps, she folded her arms impatiently as Link knelt down. Dipping his hands in the ice cold water, he attempted to scrub them clean along with the gauntlets.
Looking to his right, Link noticed how the water was rushing in through a tunnel going through the wall.
"Where does this river go?" He asked glancing the other way.
"Goes all the way round to the city." Celest explained, "I hope you plan on changing when you get to wherever it is you're going because being quite honest, you look a ghastly sight." She wrinkled her nose up disapprovingly at Link's bloody tunic.
"Thank you for your words of kindness Princess, next time someone needs saving I'll remember to keep myself clean." Link mumbled, a slight hint of sarcasm in his tone.
Marching on ahead, Celest showed them an arched stone bridge where they could safely cross the river. Climbing up the steps, they arrived back where the knights had attacked them; none were there anymore.
Continuing to stomp ahead of them, Celest babbled on about her father, brother and anyone else she cared to mention. Finally making it back to Soli City, both Link and Saria hoped for a moment of silence but alas, they didn't get their wish.
"Ah home again, you know one time I went out shopping with the maids, it was good at first but then..." She talked on and on without even stopping to see if anyone was listening to her.
Walking to the castle, Celest instructed the guards to open the doors for her and the others. Chatting her way into the throne room, she was greeted with a delighted father. Switching his attention to Link and Saria, he cleared his throat.
"My instincts are still telling me to lock you both up, but you did bring me my darling Celest so I will keep my word." Motioning for the guards to take them their belongings, he gave his daughter a hug.
Saria's face lit up when she received her ocarina, Link too was happy to get his broach but the real reward was seeing Saria smiling.
"Now that you've served your purpose get out of my kingdom!" The king ordered them.
"Daddy!" Celest pouted, she hated her father being like this.
"Alright, I grant you access to Meldora but keep out my sight!" With that, he pointed a finger at the door signalling for the pair to leave.
Celest sighed, she wondered if they really would help her find the answers. "Daddy why are you acting like this? And where is Empress Coral?" The girl browsed the room searching for the old woman but couldn't see her.
"Coral? She's being escorted on a tour of the castle." The king yawned loudly. "I'll be taking my nap now, see you this evening Sweetie." Exiting through a side door, he left the princess to her own devices. She contemplated running away again but concluded doing that wouldn't help matters.
"Princess, a rare bird went missing from the castle yesterday, do you know anything about it?" One of the guards nervously asked.
"Birds aren't my main concern right at the moment, so to answer your question, no I have no idea what you mean." Pushing the guard aside, the girl stormed off to her own quarters.
His attempt to save the princess had failed. Taj realised this as he watched her returning home with Link and Saria, however, he knew what he wanted and nothing would get in his way.
Lurking in the shadows, he prepared to carry out an act he'd been taught whilst growing up; thieving. Keeping a close eye on the guards' every movement, he studied their pattern making sure he knew it off by heart. Glancing once more at the paper, he nodded. The paper or better called 'map' actually didn't direct him to the castle, but he'd seen the king wearing a key so something must have been mixed up along the line.
Seizing his chance, the Sheikah made full use of his cat-like reflexes as he sprinted through the shadows. Slipping past the oblivious guards, he easily slid through the main door.
Hurrying into the hall, he needed to think fast, where would the king be and how would he find him? Peeking into the throne room didn't help much, all he saw were guards lazily standing by the walls. Hearing footsteps coming behind him, Taj leapt into a corner.
"His Majesty is always so tired lately, I wonder why he needs to nap in the afternoons." A guard said to a maid who nodded her head in agreement. Strolling into another door, they disappeared none the wiser of the boy's presence.
Guessing the king must be asleep, Taj ran up the main staircase towards what he hoped would be the bedrooms. Ducking into rooms when people entered the passage he was in, he eventually reached the king's floor. Edging his way to the large wooden door, he peered in through the slit.
The room was draped in a light lavender colour, something Taj found very odd. Oh well, he didn't care if the room was decorated with pink and yellow fairies as long as the key was in there.
Gently pushing open the door, the boy tiptoed across the lush carpet. Spying the key placed around the king's neck, he groaned; this would be difficult. Before he could proceed, rushed footsteps clicked their way along the passage outside the room. Diving under the bed, Taj watched as Empress Coral sneakily entered.
Watching the woman's feet shifting along the floor, Taj held his breath. What did she think she was doing sneaking into people's room anyway? That was his job.
Creeping towards the king, Coral quietly sneered to herself. Taking control of this naïve kingdom had been too easy so far, in fact, it was so easy no one had even noticed. Reaching out a bony finger, she placed it on the key, chanting an ancient spell in an unfamiliar language, the key glowed purple before returning to normal.
Satisfied with her work, she turned to leave when she noticed a slip of blue under the bed. Kneeling down, she harshly pulled out a shocked Taj by the collar. Without another word, the two vanished in a flash of violet; where they were going, only Coral knew.
Waking from his unpleasant nap, the king sprung out of bed. Tossing his bed sheets on the floor, he ran out of his room screaming orders to any guard he passed. Slamming his way into the throne room, he demanded the attention of his advisors.
"I want Hyrule blown off the face of this world! Round up the Solar Knights, tonight we go to war!"
"W-war? Are you sure about that Majesty?" One of his advisors asked anxiously, he knew that if they went to war with Hyrule they had a good chance of being defeated. The magic of that kingdom was so powerful.
"Just do it!" The king grabbed the man roughly by the shirt ready to throw him into a wall. "Kill all Hylians and torture the other races!" Shoving through a group of worried people, the king went to search for his children.
Slipping into a fresh tunic, Link stretched his arms lazily. They hadn't done much since they returned to the inn apart from eat and wonder where the old man had disappeared to. The owner had simply said he'd checked out early that morning then insisted since they were his favourite customers he didn't mind losing him.
Saria stood admiring the evening view of the city. Looking down the street, she read all the different building names in turn. Most didn't interest her, but there was one that caught her eye. Aged statues and paintings stood in the window along with a couple of very strange objects. The sign above the door read 'Meldora Museum'.
"What's a museum?" She asked Nori.
"A place where you can go to see items and the such from the past." He continued to fill her in on what to expect in a museum, the more she heard, the more she wanted to get a closer look.
"Come on, I want to do some sightseeing." She grabbed a startled Link by the arm dragging him out the door.
Running down the street, they stopped outside the building.
"Why did you want to come here?" Link rubbed his eyes, tiredness slowly overtaking his body.
"I figured we could learn something about the kingdom we're exploring." She said pulling the door open. Paying at the desk, they began to wander around, a few people shot them funny looks but neither took any notice.
Leaning over a glass cabinet, Saria stared at the mysterious items within.
"I wonder what it is." The glass fogged up as she breathed too close to it.
"It's a wooden spoon." Link sighed, "and that, is a wooden block." He crossed his arms. "It's probably from some old tree they tore down to make this crazy city."
Moving along the displays, they came across some ebelon rocks. Saria knelt down to get a better look. White, green, blue, yellow, red, there were a variety of sparkling colours.
"The Ebelon continent doesn't look very welcoming." She commented looking at a picture of the area the rocks had been dug up in. It was an icy mountainside covered in lifeless snow.
"We have to thank it for my blades though." Link reminded her.
Finishing with the cabinets, Saria pulled Link over to some articles scattered on the walls. Running a finger along the writing, she gasped when she saw a picture of Carculous outside a rather fancy castle.
"I wish I could read this writing." Saria frowned, she hated not being able to learn things. "By the looks of it, Carculous lived in some sort of castle centuries ago. Do you think it was the old Meldora castle?" Following the articles along, she got another shock when she was greeted with a picture of Eskena outside the same castle.
"If that is the old castle, I wonder if the current royal family's ancestors took it from them. It would explain why they welcomed Ganondorf with open arms and offered to hide the pendants." Link summarised, although he wasn't sure if he was right or not. Either way, it didn't matter now since both were gone.
"That's a good theory." Nori complimented Link on his guess work. Fluttering onto Saria's head, he yawned. "Can we get out of here now?"
"You Hyruleans better watch yourselves." A group of Meldorans stood sniggering behind them.
"Why's that?" Link snarled, these people were already annoying him.
"The king has just announced war on Hyrule, he's lining up the troops as we speak. In a few days, your kingdom will be in ruins."
"That can't be true…." Saria paled as they left the building, "If this is happening we have to go back."
Link thought over the situation. "No, let's carry on. I have a hunch that whatever started this war is somewhere in Meldora." Looking at the map, he examined the next location. "Besides, Zelda will hold them off for now, she'll have to."