Chapter 12

Three Trials

"Begin."

Link rushed forward, jumping into the air and lashing out with his foot. He barely made the stout Goron budge.

The Goron laughed, and swatted Link backwards, where he slammed into the rock wall. He stumbled back up, dazed and winded, but still ready.

"How can we beat this thing?" he called out to Kenshin desperately.

Kenshin sized up the Goron for a moment, before sprinting forwards. He punched the Goron in the stomach at half speed, carefully watching it. The Goron laughed and swatted, but already Kenshin was behind him, punching half speed in several areas on the rock hard skin.

The Goron spun around, flailing his arms, but Kenshin continued to punch, carefully monitoring to how he reacted after each hit, always staying just out of the Goron's reach. Eventually, apparently satisfied by what he had seen, he did a quick backflip out of the Goron's reach and joined Link by the wall.

"The Goron seems to have sustained an injury at some point on his right knee, that he has," Kenshin whispered very quietly, "We will take turns, striking the knee as many times as possible. Stay out of his reach. I have a plan."

Link nodded, and dashed forward. As the Goron reeled back to punch him, the boy ducked and slid, kicking viciously at his knee. There was no visible effect, and he had to roll quickly to the side to avoid being crushed. He regained his footing, and dashed away, right as Kenshin was rushing back into the fight. He landed several hard blows on his knee, and then backed off.

The Goron laughed, "You two are the opposite of power!"

Link ran over to Kenshin, "I thought you said you had a plan!"

"Just keep it up!"

So for the next several minutes, they took turns running up to the Goron, striking his knee, and then backing off. Always just out of his reach; just a little bit faster than the rock. He seemed to not be wearing at all, but Kenshin looked satisfied with how things were going, and encouraged Link to keep up the onslaught. The Goron seemed confused, but continued to swat at them like annoying flies.

Link ducked under a fist, and kicked and punched at the knee. Before he could back off, the Goron kicked him backwards, sending him once more into the rock wall. Link groaned in pain, having a hard time getting back on his feet.

"You've done enough," Kenshin said to Link. He stared the Goron down, the plan finally coming to fruition. He smiled slightly as he crouched into position. He held his hands where his sword should be, and he calmed his breathing as he lowered his head and closed his eyes. The rock creature laughed and Kenshin opened his eyes and was gone.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Ryu Kan Sen"

The lumbering creature wasn't sure what had happened. He was still standing, but where was the samurai? The beast did not move at first, surely the small samurai had missed? He was nowhere to be seen, but there was the other one. The rock creature went to step toward Link, and suddenly the Goron was on the ground.

Kenshin didn't have to watch. He knew what was happening. He knew the knee was gone even without the use of the sword. He felt the shift of the rock under his attack. He heard the crumbling as lumbering beast tried to move. The trimmers told him his opponent was on the ground. He finally stood from where he had landed and turned.

The Goron was clutching the upper part of his leg, staring down where his knee, calf, and foot used to be. Kenshin's blow had completely destroyed the knee, and as a result, the Goron had lost the rest of his leg.

In a pained voice, the Goron spoke, "You... you have won. You have displayed power. You may proceed."

Another large stone door across from the entrance swung open, revealing a long hallway. After gathering their swords, Kenshin and Link headed down into it, guided by the torches mounted on the wall.

"Well, that was impressive. How did you know his knee was the weak part?" Link asked.

"I could tell by the way he reacted to my punches, and how he shifted around to face me. He gave it away," Kenshin said softly. "But this one is sorry, you got hit and that was not part of the plan. He should have been finished off earlier. This one let it go on too long, and you paid the price"

"Don't mention it," Link said with a wave of his hand, "I'm just glad that monster got what was coming to him."

Kenshin nodded. He still felt guilty, but knew that more danger awaited them. He would be ready for what was ahead.

They stopped at a large wooden door that was at least tall as two of them, and read the engraved word above it, which was also written in the ancient Hylian text.

Wisdom

"Wisdom," Link said, "so I can imagine this would challenge our minds in some fashion?"

"Perhaps," Kenshin said, equally curious and a bit unsure. Physical fights he could handle with no problem, hopefully he wouldn't have to solve a riddle in a language he couldn't read, "Let's find out, shall we?"

Together they lifted the large door and made their way inside. The door closed behind them as they entered. Blue flames burned in torches along the walls, barely doing anything for the lighting in the massive chamber.

As their eyes adjusted to the very dim light of the room a large figure forcefully drew their attention. Link grimaced, but Kenshin only looked at what appeared to be an owl that was larger than both of them, sitting on a blackened branch that jutted from the stone floor. The bird had amazingly large eyebrows and was bobbing on the branch, back and forth. Its beak seemed to be made of bone, the feathers were thin and were wet with a dark liquid, perhaps with blood. It was hard to see anything clearly in this shadow filled room. The eyes of the creature were red as the eyes of the guardian of power.

Before either could speak, the owl let out a huge hoot and cocked its head to the side, still bobbing. Its beak clacked menacingly as it chanted:

"If to pass it seems you must first, answer me
these questions three.
Your road is long and just beginning,
though halfway there if answers ringing
True in ears as sharp as mine, for you to give
If more years you wish to live.
Stuck here if silent you remain,
The middle becomes the end
Of your path towards what you seek.
Another seeks at the same time,
So answer the questions after the rhyme,
Tell me traveler, Wanderer, Understand you not?
Soon you'll remember what you never forgot!

Link was trying to puzzle out exactly what the thing had asked in that weird rhyme with a strange beat as Kenshin, a bit swirly eyed let out a confused, "Oro?"

The owl hooted loudly, "I see you do not understand my words, so I shall say them once more for you. Listen."

Kenshin tried to butt in, "Oh, no thank you, I was just a bit taken-"

But before he could continue his sentence, the owl cut him off with another loud hoot, and began the chant again, this time adding another verse about idiocy and deafness.

When he finished Link burst out with, "We understand! We understand! What are your questions for us?"

The owl gave another loud hoot and flapped its wings as it stood on the branch, it seemed pleased as it tilted its head the other direction, then leaned toward them. Kenshin and Link both grimaced as it began another bit of bad poetry, then finally got to the question, which both almost missed as their eyes started to glaze over.

"The postman runs from deserts to forest far,
And the Goron burns the wood to char,
And the Zora swims in rivers deep,
So where, my friends, does the monster sleep?"

"Which monster?" Kenshin asked automatically.

"You do not understand my question? Allow me to repeat myself," the owl said helpfully.

"No!" Link cried desperately.

And the owl once more prefaced his riddle with another long verse. His rhymes seemed to be getting more involved. It was enjoying this. Finally, it got to the question again:

"The postman runs from deserts to forest far,
And the Goron burns the wood to char,
And the Zora swims in rivers deep,
So where, my friends, does the monster sleep?"

Link took off his green pointed hat and threw it down in frustration, afraid to say anything else lest the owl take it upon itself to repeat the question, or worse, rephrase it.

Kenshin just looked at Link and raised his eyebrow. He had no clue where any monsters slept.

"Let's see," Link began, pacing back and forth, "monsters... they could sleep anywhere, couldn't they? But, maybe it's not in any of the previously mentioned places! Yeah, so it doesn't sleep in a desert, forest, mountain, or river. So where would it sleep?"

"If they sleep at all... Plains? Lakes? Mountain? Underground?"

"Close you have been to call!" The owl hooted merrily, "But correctly said or not at all!"

Link grumbled a bit and rolled his eyes. "So... we'll say underground."

"Close you have been to call! But correctly said or not at all!"

Kenshin looked incredulously at the owl. "What does that mean?"

The owl turned to him with his creepy red eyes. ""You do not understand my question? Allow me to repeat myself, Close you have been to call! But correctly said or not at all!"

"Uh..." Link started, having an idea, "Monsters can be found, To make their home underground..."

"Correct!"

And Link and Kenshin both sighed as the owl started on a new riddle. He hooted on in rhyme about the first step being taken and something about heroes, and once again they almost missed the actual riddle which snuck up in the owl's hard to understand verse. Finally they picked out:

"As the water falls,
So does the spider crawl,
When the clock hits nine,
Who is still up?"

Two hours later, Kenshin was wondering if they could just kill the miserable thing and be done with it, his earlier musings on whether monsters counted against his oath against killing completely forgotten in the face of a sentient creature as annoying as this. But what if the door never opened and then they were stuck here? 'Well, then at least the stupid thing would be dead.' Kenshin thought through gritted teeth as Link began arguing with it about semantics.

The owl just sat there mocking them in rhyme. They had already answered three stupid riddles, but then there were rules according to the owl and things had to be done correctly. They had been arguing with it since they answered the riddles.

Link threw up his hands and stomped off. He had to look anywhere except that bird or he was going to kill it. Or perhaps shoot it with his slingshot. Perhaps that would stun it so it would stop talking.

It was then that Link noticed it.

'That's odd.' It was a door. A door that Link had not noticed in the gloom. It was just there on his left side, behind the shadow of a column. It didn't look locked. He looked at Kenshin, who was staring at the bird moodily as it waxed on and Link managed to catch his eyes. Link subtly motioned towards the door with a turn of his head, and Kenshin's eyes widened. They turned toward the bird, who was silent.

The Owl sensed that they had become aware, and had stopped flitting about. It stood perfectly still on it's perch, staring Link down, eyes narrowed and all trace of humor gone. There was a long, tense moment, and by some unspoken agreement, both Link and Kenshin shot off towards the door, which was actually a bit further away than Link had anticipated.

The owl took off in one last, booming rhyme in a sinister, deep voice. No hint of merriment could be detected now:

"Close you have been to call,
But correctly done,
OR DEATH TO ALL!"

And with that it spread its wings and took off from the perch, seeming to grow in size as it flew towards the running pair who had been his toys for the last few hours, shrieking as only a monster of this terrible land could. With the bird gaining they reached the door, threw it open, and ran through, slamming it shut behind them. They could hear it clawing at the wooden door, still making a shrieking noise that the thick panels couldn't quite keep out.

"That was nothing but a bloody waste of time." Link said, kicking the wall.

"And those rhymes were bad, that they were."

They hurried down the hallway, eager to make up for lost time. The torches on the walls burned in a strange, green flame that was unlike anything Link or Kenshin had ever seen. Vines grew along the walls, and wooden branches still growing leaves and pinecones jutted from the earthen walls.

"This is very strange that plants would grow this deep in a mountain," Kenshin noted.

They stopped at a wooden door that was a little taller than them. It was a regular door, with a doorknob even. Nothing seemed grand or looming about this one. Painted onto a wooden sign beside the door was this word:

Courage

"So, if the first room tested our strength, and the second tested... well, I want to say wisdom, but I just don't know about that. So this one should test our courage," Link said.

Kenshin sighed with relief. This probably meant they would have to fight someone or something, which he would take over a talkative owl any day. Link grabbed the doorknob, and slowly opened the door to reveal what was on the other side.

They found themselves on a large, stone platform which stuck out a few feet away from the door behind them. Below, was a deep, dark chasm, which seemed to stretch on forever. Hundreds of feet away - too far for either to jump to - was another stone platform and door.

Link groaned, "No way. How are we supposed to get over there? I've seen you jump and not even you would have the skill to make that. And who knows how deep that pit is down there."

Link scooted to the edge of the platform, as far as he could go and touched at the air in front of it with the toe of his boot. He nearly lost his balance and Kenshin pulled him back onto solid ground.

"Well, there is no invisible floor."

"Should we wait for something to happen? Does it change with time? Is there a button to push?" But a quick look around assured them there was no button or switch, and no hidden platforms on the sheer wall of the mountain.

Kenshin turned his attention to the mural carved in relief that was on the door that had closed behind them as they entered. It showed people falling to their death, mouths opened in silent screams as one figure jumped the distance from one end of the door to the other. He frowned, trying to analyze what the figure was doing.

Link had sighed and started pacing their small square platform, hearing the crunch of pebbles under his boots as he sighed in frustration. He nearly twisted his ankle on a larger rock and kicked it as far as he could off the platform.

They both heard the clatter, and Kenshin turned and saw the stone bounce in what seemed like mid air. He bent down, scooped up some small pebbles and sand and threw the handful as hard as he could. He frowned as much of the debris landed in mid air, the beginning of a pattern of platforms becoming visible.

Link look thrilled.

"Awesome! Finally, an easy challenge." He grinned as he got more sand and rocks and started throwing it across the chasm to mark out a clearer path. The rurouni didn't quite agree with his sentiment that this would be easy. He had no problems with heights under normal circumstances, but being up in the air with no visible support was enough to make him slightly queasy.

It was a quick challenge though. In a matter of a few minutes they had hopped their way across the sky, following their trail of dirt. Link jumped neatly off the last platform, directly in front of the door in this pile of rocks that might have been another mountain and grinned. Kenshin landed gracefully beside him, though a bit green and just thankful he could see the ground under his feet.

"Well, that's three trials," Link said, staring at the ornate door in front of them.

Kenshin glanced down at his sword, and back to Link, nodding. Steeling themselves, they entered the next room.

A/N: Keep the reviews coming, and thank you for reading!

A/N: I can't believe this! Our story is coming together. Hope no one minded the comedic relief in this chapter. It was so fun coming up with those terrible rhymes! Well, we thought it was hilarious... Sam made me wait to update this... nooo!

Also, who is thrilled about the live action Kenshin movie? I hope it's good!