Chapter 21: Link's Story on Dellmeadow! The Hylian Knight's Tomb!

Link wandered down a dusty alley filled with merchants and peddlers. As he walked he could overhear their sales pitches, tempting him to buy their merchandise. "Buy my well rounded pork! 6 rupees!"

"By a scented candle! Only 3 rupees for 2!"

"You a traveler looking to carry your treasure? By my extra-large pack! Only 15 rupees!"

"Look at this well-crafted toy sword! Perfect for the young adventurer! 30 rupees!" Link fell to the temptation of the man's well rounded pork. He took out his large sack of money, and took out a blue and a green rupee. He was handed a small bucket of pork, and as soon as he got it he gobbled down on it.

"THIS IS SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOD!" Link shouted. The peddler he bought it from smiled widely and thanked him. Link, being stupid with his money, tipped the peddler a red rupee (worth 20 rupees) and then went on his way.

Link devoured the entire bucket within ten minutes, and then threw it away. He wandered upon a peddler selling cups of some drink that he had formed last night. "Only 7 rupees!" The man announced happily. Link fell into this temptation and bought a drink. It was red and wasn't actually a liquid, but rather a must type thing. Link slurped it down happily.

"It tastes like strawberries! And it's so cold and refreshing for such a hot day. What do you call it?" Link asked.

"Well, I call it a smoothie. It contains about three cups of ice, strawberries, peaches, some milk and about a third a cup of sugar." The man replied. "And then you use a machine I made called a blender." The man took out a small contraption, and demonstrated to Link what it does. "If you crank the handle right here, the knives inside move and grind up the ice, sugar, milk, strawberries and peaches into the delicious drink that you have right here."

"THAT IS SO COOL!" Link shouted giddily.

"I can sell you the machine, if you want. I have some spares in the back." The man replied.

"Well, I should ask Medli first. I will return later, though. I definitely want this!" And with that Link left the man and was determined to return. "The whole crew would love this. Actually, does Makar even eat anything?" Link stopped and began to think about this. "Crap, I should have been paying attention on the ship the past few days. He did explain this to us…but I was sleeping…" Link decided to shrug it off and continued on.

Finally, he reached the end of the alley and it led into a small block of about eight buildings. All were abandoned and shabby, only one story high and breaking down from years of being unattended. However, in one yard there was on old man attending to some flowers outside. Just like the other houses, his was disgusting and unattended to. But his lawn was clean and green, and his flowers were blooming.

Link walked up to the lawn, and stood in front of the man. Link's shadow stretched over the lawn and entered the man's eyesight. He looked up with excitement but slightly with fear. "He-hello?"

"Hi!" Link replied. He looked around, and then asked, "are you the only one here?" The man nodded his head and continued to tend to his plants. "Why? It seems like everyone left a long time ago."

"I'm the graveyard keeper, I'm stuck here to protect it." The old man replied as he slowly rose up, only to be as tall as Link. "My name's Joon, but everyone calls me Old Man Joon. I guess you can too if you want."

"Well old man, what's the point? It's just a bunch of dead people. They aren't going anywhere, right?" Link chuckled, trying to make a joke.

"Nah, every now and then we got a runaway I gotta deal with." Joon grunted as he turned toward his house. Link's face slightly dropped, and he was about to ask what he meant when he was interrupted. "Come on in." Link walked into the house with Joon into a large room. In fact, it was the only room. The room contained a bed, a couple of couches, a kitchen and a table between the couches. The back of the room had a door, leading out into the graveyard.

"So, you protect the graveyard?" Link asked. "By the way, what did you mean by a ru-"

"Yep, I run the graveyard and schedule plots of land for the deceased. It's a pretty unpleasant job but someone's gotta do it." Joon said as he walked over to a couch and laid out over it. "I also gotta keep rascals out of the area. Someone a few years ago made some stupid myth about one of the tombs in there."

"Oh, let me guess, a ghost story?" Link asked as he sat down on a couch across from the old man.

"Nope. Some fools made up some joke saying that they snuck into this ancient Hylian Knight's tomb on top of the hill inside the cemetery. They said that some secret treasure is hidden inside the tomb, but before they could get it the spirit of the knight woke up and entered into a full body of armor. The spirit then attacked them and drove them out of the tomb, nearly killing them." Joon adjusted himself to where he was laying directly on his back. "So many little kids, younger than you, try to sneak into the graveyard and break into the knight's tomb."

"Are the rumors true?" Link asked, his eyes wide with curiosity.

"Not sure. I'm too old to move the stone door that blocks the way." Joon replied. "I just make sure no one else can. There is always the possibility it is there." Joon stared into the ceiling. "I know I just met you. This may be strange…but can you do me a favor?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"You look strong. Go out into the cemetery, make sure no one is watching, and go into the knight's tomb." Joon said, his face written with confliction. "I know it's dangerous or stupid or superstitious but I need to put the rumors to rest."

"Oh, yeah. Sure. I got nothing else to do!" Link said merrily as he stood up and stretched.

"Oh, thank you so much young one." Joon raised his hands up and pointed to a lantern sitting on a counter in the kitchen. "Take that with you. It'll be dark in the tomb." Link walked over and picked up the lantern, checked the fuel, and then hung it on his belt on his side.

"Which tomb is it?"

"If you go out, it should look mainly flat. The tomb is on a small hill, separate of the other graves. Just pull the door toward you, and the door should open if you pull hard enough." Joon said. "I'm gonna take a nap, but feel free to wake me up when you are done." Link nodded and walked out of the back door, leading to the graveyard. He wandered around aimlessly for about five minutes before finally finding the small hill with the tomb sitting on it.

Link stood in the graveyard, in front of the large building that Old Man Joon had mentioned, which held a single sign, reading, "Unknown Hylian Knight's Tomb. DO NOT ENTER." Link grabbed the handle on the door and began to pull. After a few minutes struggling to pull the door, it finally budged and slowly moved open. A cold and decaying smell arose from inside the tomb, and Link stood at the entrance.

"That treasure is going to be mine, no matter what silly myths they have about this place." Link said cockily. He withdrew his sword and shield and ran into the dark tomb. "If nothing's there, nothing is there. If there is a treasure, no 'spirit' is going to stop me." Link had completely ignored Joon's theory of nothing being there and it being a hoax, and he was hell-bent on gaining the treasure down there.

Medli…

Medli awoke on the deck of the new ship, and suddenly realized something. "Oh crap, I forgot cheese and spices didn't I? I should probably get some barrels of water too. Thank God I didn't forget that." She then grabbed her bag of money, and wandered down the path once more to get some more food. "We could have been out on the sea and died because of my foolishness!" Medli said to herself as she began to enter the town's market.

"Oh yeah! I need to find Navi and the others. Navi should be at a map shop, and Makar is probably looking at potions or something... now where the heck could Link have run off to?"