Before you go on to reading this chapter, I just want to say that if there's ANY criticism or corrections I need to make/look over, please let me know!
That's it! Please enjoy this chapter of Hyrule's Light :)
Link, this isn't a good idea. We should stay on the road." Zelda stated, worriedly looking down at the map on the Sheikah Slate.
Link glanced over his shoulder while leading Caviar into a shallow swamp. "This way's faster." He argued. "That bird guy at that other stable told us it was. He specifically said, 'If you make a sharp turn into the Lanayru Wetlands and cut through them, you'll reach Inogo Bridge by nightfall.'" Link recited in a poor impersonation.
"You do realize that this 'bird guy' had a name?" Zelda asked. When Link didn't say anything, she flatly reminded him. "His name was Kass, Link." She then sighed pleasantly. "And what a charming voice he had. He played the accordion beautifully."
Link nodded in agreement. "He told a strange story though."
"What? About the 10,000 year old legend?" Zelda laughed. "After what we've been through with hallucinating memories, fighting off pig monsters and hearing a bird sing while playing an accordion, it didn't sound too weird to me."
Link shrugged in response as he led Caviar onto a hastily made bridge over the shallow water. They winded between small shallow islands and across more bridges, until a strange rumbling sound made Caviar whinny nervously. He hesitated to continue, but Link urged him onto a larger island. As they continued across the island, the rumbling grew louder until Link recognized it as snoring. And if anything was snoring loud enough to make it sound like an earthquake, then it couldn't be good.
"What's making that noise?" Zelda whispered.
Link placed a hand on the hilt of his sword, ready for anything. "Probably the reason why we should've stayed on the road." Link whispered back.
Zelda gulped and held onto Link tighter as they neared whatever was snoring as loud as thunder.
When they passed through a thin line of trees, the massive… thing before them was enough to make them both gasp and stare. Lying on the ground in a relaxed way, was a giant monster the size of the houses in Hateno Village. It had grotesquely scarred blue skin with a fat stomach that it would occasionally scratch with its large unproportionate three fingered hands. It's legs were short and stout, much like a bokoblins, with three toes and disgustingly large toenails that looked like armor. The only things covering it's hideous body was a thin grime covered loin cloth, a shredded vest that barely looked like any piece of clothing, a gold band around it's arm, a necklace with dangling weapons, and a wooden piece of armor around one of it's legs. It's ears were floppy and larger than it's head, and when Link looked closer he realized that the thing only had one eye that was the size of his entire body if he curled into a ball. To finish the nasty creature off, it had a snout that looked like a boulder had smashed into it, and two small tusks that still looked formidable.
Scattered around the monster, sticking out of the dirt like saplings, were arrows. Most of them were broken or damaged, but most of them seemed fresh. A broken bow lay off to one side of the monster's lanky arms. Link didn't want to know what happened to the person who had used that bow.
Link stared at the monster, scanning over it's scarred and disgusting body before taking a closer look at the gleaming weapons around its neck. There was a golden bow and sword along with a gray metal shield. As quietly as possible, Link slowly got off of Caviar, drawing his sword while wincing at the scraping sound it made. Zelda instantly grabbed his shoulder, turning him around with surprising force.
"What are you doing?" She hissed.
Link shrugged her hand off. "I'm just going to nab those weapons around its neck." He whispered.
Zelda looked over at the monster, and Link instantly began to make his way to the huge mangled beast. In truth, getting those weapons wasn't the only reason why Link was creeping towards the sleeping monster. I just need to get close enough before-
SNAP!
Link froze, looking down with dread at the snapped twig underneath his foot. Of all the dumb mistakes to make! He thought to himself, just as the monster snorted and moved. It's large eye opened, making a disgusting slick sound as it did. It's eye was bright yellow with a blue iris and a black pupil like a snakes. It shifted around before it narrowed in on Link. The monster snorted and rumbled, bringing itself to its feet with surprising agility. It opened its mouth, a purple tongue flopping out over its chin. Its hands raised as if it were about to reach down and grab Link, and all was still for just a moment.
The moment didn't last long. The monster gave a gurgle-like roar, bringing it's hand down on Link. Link gasped and sprinted out of the way just as the hand crashed down onto the ground with a deafening slap. As the monster sluggishly raised it's hand back up and shook it in pain, Link turned and dashed underneath, almost passing out from the horrible stench that hit him like a wave. With a grunt, he swung his sword at the monster's leg, making a large gash in the dark gritty flesh. The monster cried out in pain, stomping around in confusion. Link scrambled around the large feet of the monster, almost getting crushed multiple times.
Getting out from under the monster, Link spun around to find that the monster was staring down at Link with a new hunger in its eye. It roared again and brought both hands down onto the ground, jostling Link as the ground shook from its strength. It continued to slap the ground with its tongue lashing around in the air, before straightening up and lumbering towards Link.
Link bent his knees, ready to dash under the monster and again slash at its unprotected leg, but something caught his eye. In the grass behind where the monster had delivered his short tantrum, was the golden bow from the monster's necklace.
Link looked up at the monster and yelped as a tree was flying right at him. Link jumped out of the way and charged at the monster, faintly hearing Zelda shouting at him as he again slashed at the leg, producing a deeper gash then from before. He tried to cut at the monster again, but as his sword burrowed into the tough flesh, he was abruptly stopped as his sword got stuck into the monster's leg. Link tried to tug it out, but it wouldn't even budge.
Panic gripped Link as the monster raised it's leg in agony, his sword sticking out like the many arrows that dotted the ground. It slammed its foot into the ground, almost making Link lose his footing as he dashed out from danger. The monster was enraged now. And without a sword in his hand, Link felt like a mouse. A dead mouse.
He looked over at Zelda, who was sitting on Caviar with a white face. She was yelling something, but Link couldn't hear over the monster's roars. It turned its large disgusting eye on Link, swinging its arms down. Link hastily dodged out of the way, watching in fear as the monster uprooted another tree and began wielding it like a weapon. It swung the massive tree at Link, who jumped out of the way just in time. But as the monster swung again, a branch from the tree scraped his left forearm, cutting through the fabric of the tunic and digging into his skin. Quickly glancing down at the open wound, he could already see fresh red blood streaming down his arm.
His head snapped towards Zelda again in desperation, and this time he finally heard what she was saying. "The bow!" She shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. Link's heart shot up in hope. The bow! Of course! He instantly sprinted towards the golden weapon, scooping it up even though his arm stung in blinding pain.
Ducking underneath the tree as the monster swung it again, Link snatched an arrow from the ground, running behind the monster. The monster stumbled around, trying to keep Link in his sight. He swung the tree around blindly, smashing it into other live trees and almost hitting Caviar and Zelda. As the monster once again spotted its prey, Link hurriedly strung the arrow, ignoring the searing pain in his arm and relying on his instincts entirely, took aim… and fired.
The arrow soared straight over the monster's head. Link's stomach felt like it was filled with lead. The monster snorted, unamused, and swung the tree down onto Link. Rolling out of the way and dashing towards another arrow, Link once again strung it. The monster gave up with the tree and threw it at Link, who again dodged it, and slammed its hands down onto the ground in frustration. As its body was bent down, Link aimed the arrow and took a breath, releasing the projectile with a grunt.
The arrow whistled through the air before piercing straight into the monsters eye. The monster's cry of agony was the loudest thing Link had ever heard. He covered his ears as the monster sat onto the ground, thrashing around wildly and wailing horribly as it scratched at its eye.
Taking advantage of the monsters pain, Link sprinted like a mad man at the monster's leg, tugged his sword out of the leg, cranked his arm back, and launched the sword at the monster's head. It almost hit the arrow, sticking straight through the creature's skull.
It took a moment, but with one last gurgling roar, the monster fell over onto its back, resuming it's sleep. Only this time, it wouldn't be waking up anymore.
Gasping for breath, Link looked down at the open wound on his arm, wincing as it burned feverishly.
"Link!" Zelda shouted, running towards him, her face as pale as the moon. "I swear on the Goddess Hylia! You're going to get yourself killed!" She took a long breath, the color slowly returning to her face. "What were you thinking?" She asked in a much more controlled tone.
Link couldn't help but smile at Zelda's reaction. But, seeing how distraught she was, he forced the smile back. "Sorry." He said breathily, grimacing as his arm sent another shock of pain through him.
Zelda looked down at the wound and winced at the sight of it. It was at least half of a foot long. It was just wider then the width of Link's thumb, and by the looks of it, only half of that deep. "We should clean that." She stated simply, grabbing Link's right wrist and dragging him to the islands edge.
On their way, they passed Caviar, in which Zelda instantly snatched something out of their saddle bag. It was the old dress from the Shrine of Resurrection. Apparently, even after getting new clothes, Zelda had still kept her old rags. And by the looks of it, she was going to use the fabric as a bandage.
The shallow water before them looked clean enough, and with a guarded expression, Zelda forced Link's arm down towards the water. She began to splash water onto the wound, cleaning away the splattered blood, scrubbing from where it had dried. Link tried not to cry out in pain, but whenever a drop of water touched the open wound, it sent a stab of pain up his arm.
When Zelda finished cleaning, she hurriedly took the old dress, ripped some of the fabric off so that it looked like a normal rag, and carefully bandaged the wound. Link watched the water with blank interest, grunting and giving Zelda a look when she tightened the bandage. Zelda ignored the glare and continued working, muttering under her breath.
"You're one lucky moron." She said, finishing up her work and leaning back to examine the results.
"And how's that?" Link asked, moving his arm just a tad experimentally.
"If that tree had scratched your right arm, you wouldn't be swinging a sword anytime soon." She glared at Link before softening her eyes a bit. "Still, you should take it easy for a while."
Link nodded in agreement. "Thanks." He said, nodding his head at the bandage.
"Mhm." Zelda stood, helping Link up before they both went to Caviar. "Let's hope this shortcut doesn't have anymore giant tree-wielding monsters." She murmured, stopping Link before he could climb into the saddle. "Hold up. You are not riding in front with that arm of yours." She said firmly.
Agitated, Link lifted his wounded arm to Zelda's eye level. "It's not like it's broken or anything." He argued, wincing and quickly lowering his arm.
Zelda snorted. "Broken or not, you are sitting behind me."
Link sighed, knowing that Zelda would not back down. He watched with distaste as Zelda climbed on. He got on behind her, not excited to ride with golden hair whipping him in the face.
He paused before he swung his leg over the saddle. "Wait." He said, turning and jogging to where the golden bow lay in the grass. He scanned the ground for any arrows and collected them, ending up with a decent handful. He went back over to where Zelda waited on their horse. Tucking the arrows into their saddle bag, he slung the bow onto his back.
"What about your sword?" Zelda pointed towards the dead body of the giant, where the sword from Dorian still stuck out of the thing's eye.
Link almost dry heaved at the thought of pulling his sword out of the giant bloody eyeball. However, the gleaming golden sword and silver shield caught his eye. They still hung around the monster's neck on the roughly made necklace. Instantly, Link jogged over to the dead giant, trying not to jostle his arm.
Once at the carcass, he turned his head, taking a deep breath and holding it as he began the climb. In death the monster smelled ten times worse then before. He scrambled up the fat side of the giant, trying not to gag as his feet sank into the thing's flesh. As fast as possible, Link grabbed the sword and shield, turning and hastily jumping off of the monster. He let out his breath, sucking in fresh air. He vowed to never get near a dead giant like that ever again.
Zelda peered down at the sword and shield as Link shower her his prizes. The sword looked similar to the bow, with gold patterns streaking across the blade. The shield was simple, yet sturdy. It was gray and made of steel, with a red insignia in the middle. The insignia was the same triforce-bird symbol from the paraglider that King Rhoam had given to Zelda. Only now did Link recognize it as the crest for the Royal Family of Hyrule.
"Nice find." Zelda commented as Link slid the golden sword into the leather strap on his hip and the shield onto his back.
"It'll be nice to have a bow and shield now." Link replied, climbing onto Caviar behind Zelda.
She nodded in return. "Definitely."
"Especially if there's more monsters here in our way." Link added.
Zelda looked uncomfortable. "Well let's hope there's not." She stated simply.
Despite their best wishes, there were more monsters in their way. In fact, there was a whole fortress of them.
Well… kind of. When they came out of the series of mini shallow islands, they came to an elaborate maze of bridges over a wide river. The entire thing was made of wood and bones, with lizard looking monsters scurrying around with hunched backs.
Zelda looked over at Link with an annoyed expression. "Just a simple shortcut." She said mockingly.
"I didn't expect this many monsters. If you really want to complain go find Kass." He said.
"We should turn around."
"But we've already come so far. It would take forever to turn back and go around."
"Fine." Zelda huffed. She snapped the reins and Caviar started forward. The clacking of Caviar's hooves on the first wooden bridge alerted the lizard monster closest to them, which snapped it's tongue at them like how a frog would snatch a fly out of the sky.
It started to scurry towards them, wielding a mean looking forked boomerang. But before the monster could get close to them, Link took out his new bow, grabbed and arrow, and shot the lizard in the head. The monster was dead in a second, toppling over into the river.
"Nice shot!" Zelda exclaimed, steering Caviar to follow the sharp bend of the bridge. Link nodded and kept his bow at the ready, glancing down at the fabric around his arm. His heart sank a little when he saw that blood had already begun to seep through the makeshift bandage.
They met many more monsters along the wooden bridges, which Link shot down with the bow. The only time when things almost got out of hand was when Caviar reared in panic when one of the lizard monsters got too close. In which case Link simply decapitated the monster with his new sword.
They were out of the frenzy in no time. Link's arm was screaming in pain, and he tried not to show it. It helped that Zelda was in front of him. That way she couldn't see his grimaces whenever he moved his arm.
Patting Caviar comfortably on the side of his neck, Zelda turned to look back at Link, who tilted his arm so that she wouldn't see the blood that had continued to seep through the fabric. "That wasn't so bad." She said happily, laughing a little. Link laughed with her as she turned back around and guided Caviar back onto the road.
Trotting around a bend, they came upon a short bridge over the river that flowed towards them. On either side of the bridge were two small watchtowers. The structures were all made of the same blue material that gleamed in the low afternoon sun.
As they came closer to the bridge, in which Zelda confirmed to be Inogo Bridge with the Sheikah Slate, a steady rainfall started, instantly soaking both of the travelers, much to their annoyance. Zelda stopped Caviar when a sudden hearty young voice called to them from above.
"Say, hey there! You two!"
MWAHAHAHAH! CLIFF HANGER! Well, not really since you guys already know what happens next since you've... played the game... anyhoo, it's still a cliff hanger, so HAH!