rj703, you were totally right about the anime con, it was a blast! Now my friend and I want to get costumes ourselves for the next one, lol! Oh, and thanks for reviewing :-)
Chapter XX
In which the library is found...
"I'm telling you, I'm fine now!"
"And I'm telling you, you can't travel yet! You need to rest your hand!"
"I don't walk on my hands, Tak!"
Hana and Tak stood there, glaring at each other while the others worked around them, digging through the sand and trying to find a solid enough area for a fire to cook their breakfast with. The sand storm from earlier had passed, leaving behind a perfectly clear sky with which the sun was currently taking advantage of. Even though it was still fairly early, the sun already seemed to be much larger than usual, and it wasn't wasting any time on battering them with heat, either.
"Here we go!" Grog said cheerfully, trying to break the two out of their argument as he lit a fire. "Now we can cook!"
Hana sighed and sat down next to him. "You could probably just leave the food out; in this heat it'll be cooked faster than using a fire."
Hot Rodder laughed between gulps of his morning pile of rocks. "That's probably true, goro!"
Less than an hour later found them traversing across the desert once again. Hana had won the argument and was leading the way, deeper into the wastelands. They walked for hours with the sun roasting over head.
"It's too hot!" Fado screamed out, plopping down in the sand and refusing to budge.
"Let's take a break," Hana said, out of breath and feeling dizzy from the heat herself.
"It's this armor," Fado complained, trying to pull it away from her. She gave a surprised squeak as her fingers brushed over the metal. "That's hot, too! We're going to be cooked in our own clothes!" The others wondered if that was possible as the Kokiri suddenly began to laugh out loud about the thought.
"Maybe we should carry it separately," Grog suggested.
Hot Rodder was the only one able to grip their armor long enough to pull it off of them. Soon they were in just their tunics and loose trousers, all blue except for Fado, who had insisted on keeping her green clothes despite the Zoras insistence that blue was better.
"That does feel better," Tak said with relief, stuffing his armor into his pack.
"Hey, check that out." Hana pointed towards a red cloth that was wavering in the horizon, barely visible.
Tak shaded his eyes with a hand to see better. "What is that? Some sort of landmark?"
"No idea, but it's something to head towards. Let's get going, we should be able to make it there before dark."
Even though another sand storm rushed past them, they still made good progress and reached the strange cloth well before the sun began to set.
"It's a flag!" Hot Rodder observed, testing the pole that the cloth was tied to. "And there's another over there!"
Hana looked where he was pointing and spotted the second flag. "A trail?"
"Let's find out!" Tak replied excitedly, already moving towards the next flag.
Several more flags popped into view as they walked along, and as hope of finding the library rose in them their pace increased. Soon they reached the end of the trail, and a short, tower-like structure rose to greet them.
They stopped and stared at it disappointedly.
"That's sort of small for a library that's supposed to have the knowledge of sages in it," Tak said dejectedly.
"Maybe the sages aren't very knowledgable?" Fado suggested.
"Come on, at least it's a place to spend the night," Hana said. "It looks like it's cool in there, anyway."
With the promise of a cooler environment, Fado ran ahead and was soon entering the building way ahead of the others.
"Check it out, Hana," Tak said, stopping as they got closer. "Looks like there's an entrance there, and a walkway that leads up to the top of it."
"Let's check out the top then; Grog, Rod, go see what you can find inside. We'll join you in a bit."
"Right," Grog said as Hot Rodder just nodded.
It didn't take the two long to reach the top of the structure; the only thing they found there was a plaque that was of absolutely no use to them at all.
"The eye of truth? What does that even mean?" Hana asked with a glare directed towards the plaque.
"I don't know, but it also mentions a ghost, and an inviting one at that!"
"Tak, now is not the time for your obsessions," Hana replied distractedly as she ran a hand over the plaque, looking for something that may have been hidden somewhere.
"Maybe it's a riddle. But what does 'eye of truth' stand for?"
Hana kicked the plaque lightly, hoping to hear the sound of a secret compartment opening. "It says that that'll take you to some temple. We don't need that anyway."
"Hana!" Grog's voice drifted up to them. "You gotta see this!"
"That sounds more promising!" Hana commented as they quickly raced down towards the structure's entrance. They had to climb a long ladder down, but they were soon standing inside the cool air of an underground room.
"Check it out, goro." Hot Rodder, Grog, and Fado were all standing around one of the side walls, staring at something that Hana and Tak couldn't see. Shoving their way between the others, they found what had attracted the others so much. A few stones had fallen lose, and on the other side of the wall, from what they could see, appeared to be another room.
"Bash it open!" Tak said excitedly towards Hot Rodder. The Goron began to lift his fists when Hana quickly stopped him.
"We don't know how old this building is, if you start making bigger holes in it the whole thing might collapse! We need someone small enough to just squeeze in there."
Slowly, they all turned to look to Fado, who was peering through the hole with a bored expression on her face.
"What? Me? Oh fine, but if die in there it's all your fault!"
"You'll be fine, this place has been abandoned for a while now from the looks of it," Hana said encouragingly.
"Fine," Fado grumbled. She easily climbed through the hole and disappeared into the dark room.
"Everything ok?" Grog called out.
"It's dark in here!" Fado complained. "But yeah, there's no bad guys in here. Lots of piles of old furniture and stuff. I think this used to be an old Gerudo outpost, and they just stashed all their stuff in here for some reason."
They could hear the girl rummaging around through the hole.
"Hey, goro," Hot Rodder began, amusement suddenly sparkling in his eyes as he looked at Grog. "A few years ago you probably could've fit in there, too. You were so skinny!"
"Shut up, man!" Grog attempted to give the Goron a shove but ended up slipping on the stones and falling onto his back. "Ow..."
Hana hid her smile; it was probably true though. Over the years he'd been with them, he had filled out and now had a much healthier appearance.
"Ahha!" Fado's voice had everyone scurrying closer to the hole. "I've found something! It's some sort of gem thing! And here's something else! Too dark to see, but it's sort of squishy, and tall, and smells funny, and..."
A loud scream penetrated the air, and the others instantly recognized that noise.
"Redead!" Tak shouted at the same time that Hana hollered for Fado to get out of there.
There was a lot of clanging and sounds of the aforementioned piles of furniture collapsing. Then Fado came scrambling through the hole, the shriveled hand of the redead following her and grasping blindly for the Kokiri.
Tak quickly pulled out his sword and swung it down upon the hand. "Let's get this sealed, quick!"
Hot Rodder and Grog quickly filled the hole with the loose bricks and held them in place while Hana and Tak mixed up a cement like mixture with some of Fado's ingredients. They had no idea what the girl did to them that caused them to become healing poultices and the other things that she used to patch up any injuries the group had, as all they had managed to make with the stuff was the cement whenever they tried to recreate her potions.
The group worked together fluidly, and soon the redead was trapped behind the wall once again.
"That was close," Tak commented.
"Hey, Fado, you ok?" Grog asked, turning to look towards the girl.
Fado ignored them, instead looking at the gem she had discovered. It was a golden color, and it sparkled brilliantly even in the dim lighting offered underground.
"What is that?" Hana asked, kneeling next to Fado to get a closer look.
Fado shrugged and then threw it into the wall.
Everyone else shouted her name in surprise, but the gem had already shattered against the hard stone.
"Why'd you do that for?" Hot Rodder asked.
"I felt like it!" Fado said happily.
"But what if it was important?" Tak shouted in frustration. "What is wrong with you?"
"Leave her alone," Grog shouted back. "We don't know it was important!"
"Yeah, and now we never will!"
"Wait, listen," Hana said quickly, raising a hand to silence everyone. "Does anyone else hear that?"
"What?" Tak snapped.
"Shut up," Hana replied, straining her long ears.
"I think I hear something!" Fado said, jumping up from her sitting position. "A bird! But not like the forest birds. Something else."
Suddenly a strong gust of wind blasted through the hole above them; it filled the room and knocked everyone down, even Hot Rodder. Snapping back to their feet, they saw the figure of a gigantic owl standing before them. It tilted its head at them curiously, as if expecting one of them to say something.
"Hana," Tak hissed in her ear. "What do we do with this thing?" His hand strayed towards his sword, but Hana grabbed his wrist and stopped him.
"Who are you?" Hana asked.
"You're talking to a bird," Tak reminded her quietly, but fell silent when Hana shot him a look that just screamed 'obviously.'
The bird clacked his beak together a few times. "Me?" it asked, startling everyone. "Who are you? You're the ones who called me!"
Ahha! I put a secret room in that little tower thingy that Link has to go to during his trek in the desert. How fun is that? I very nearly made the guy who flies around on his magic carpet thing a part of the plot here, but then while I was writing it I realized I was starting to stray into my old parody-ing ways, and so I decided to change it to this. Hopefully it worked out! Thanks for reading, and if you have any complaints about anything now's the time to voice them! We've only got about ten chapters left!