Chapter Three: Faron
Link looked around, expecting one of the large black creatures to run up to him, but there was nothing. He turned to face the path, waiting for something to run up. Then he heard a faint noise from the air above the spring. It was like a dull, metallic roar.
He looked up to see a swirling aperture appearing in the blue sky above the waters of the spring. It was a brilliant purple, almost pink in color, and jagged geometric lines of black ran through it. Looking into it he couldn't see where it went, but that it was indeed some kind of tunnel going up into the sky to...somewhere. Where did it go?
Then something black fell from it, and he could see that it wasn't a place heading to somewhere: it was from someplace else coming to here. The Shadow Beast fell only about twenty feet, meaning that the portal wasn't as high up in the sky as he originally estimated. It splashed into the water of the spring and then stood up, shaking droplets from itself. The black creature turned its head to fix the stare of its stone mask on him. Then it lowered itself on all fours and charged at him.
Link was unsure how he was supposed to fight this thing. The last time he encountered one, it had wrapped its hand around his neck in a grip so strong he could barely breathe. That one had caught him by surprise, to his credit. He had attempted to fight the Bulbins with his fists, but he didn't have those right now. All he had were the weapons a wolf had at its disposal: fangs and agility. Was that how he was supposed to defend himself?
He dodged out of the way, able to move faster than the loping Shadow Beast. Dodging was well and good, but he probably didn't want to simply defend himself. He needed to kill this thing. It wasn't too far away from Ordon, and it would hurt the people there if it caught them. Then something that Zelda said came into his mind: they turn those they touch into creatures of darkness just like them.
He couldn't let it leave the spring, knowing that. He began to pace, growling as he moved back and forth, letting the hunting instinct of a wolf flow through his body. The creature lurched forward, making a grab at him, but he dodged to the side and then lunged at its neck. His teeth sunk into the leathery skin and he could taste blood in his mouth. It made the human part of him want to gag, but the wolf part bit down hard on the neck and throat of the creature.
The Shadow Beast stood up, clawing at the wolf clinging to its neck. It threw its body back and forth trying to dislodge him, but he held on tight, feeling the blood from some important vein start to gush on his muzzle. It grabbed at him in desperation, painfully holding handfuls of his fur and skin in its long fingers. Link planted his front paws on the chest of the beast and twisted his head, pulling back. Skin and flesh came free in his mouth, and he pushed off the monster to land on his feet nearby. The creature clawed at its ruined throat, unable to stop the blood pouring from the wound, and then collapsed into the waters of the spring.
Link's human mind fully took over, and he gagged and spit out the chunk of black and red flesh. It was blood and flesh just like anything else alive, but worse: this thing could have been a human once. He retched, revolted and upset by the metallic taste of blood out of his mouth. Then it started to disappear, and he could see small black squares rising up from his face. He looked over at the Shadow Beast and it was dissolving into the same black squares, its corpse and the blood it had left behind returning to wherever it had came from. Then it was gone entirely, with no traces of its blood anywhere. The taste of blood was gone from his mouth.
It was over. He had killed it in less than a minute with his strong wolf jaws. Perhaps that was why he became a wolf: so he could still fight. If he was special somehow like Zelda said, it made sense.
The lights on the spirit's spring had dimmed while he fought, but now they grew bright again. There was a rippling effect on the top pool again, but this time it was more violent, as if the water below was starting to bubble up. The brilliant glow in the pool increased and then a sphere of light rose up out of it to hover above the waters of the spring. The sphere grew in size, and streaks of light shot out of it to form into the shape of a four-legged animal. The golden creature opened its mouth and let out a ghostly sound, and finished forming itself. It held the glowing orb between its long curved horns that met together above its head, in a form that Link was quite familiar with: an Ordonian goat, the animal that the region was known for. Or perhaps the spirit itself was the patron animal, and the goats had been created in its likeness.
Shining and luminescent, the spirit looked down at him. "I am Ordona. That creature you just defeated had come to steal my light and my power. This is the fate that befell my brethren. I am the last of the four Light Spirits charged by the gods to protect this land known as Hyrule. I am the only one remaining in my normal form, the last bastion of sacred light against the encroaching Twilight.
"Blue-eyed beast, it is no coincidence that you are here in this place, at this very moment." Its mouth did not move as it spoke, and its golden stare did not blink. "Although you have not discovered your true power, you are still important in your current form. Usually those who are transformed by the Twilight are cursed to become helpless spirits, trapped in a half-life that cannot escape its dark magic. You were transformed into something else, protected by your own power, even though you never realized it."
He looked down at his left paw, remembering the golden triangles on his hand that had driven away the Shadow Beast. It wasn't the beast that had turned him into a wolf, but his own power. He had began to transform into one of the shadowy creatures, but the golden light in his hand had changed him into a form that was agile and strong. The spirit spoke again, and he looked back up at it.
"Blue-eyed beast, this stolen light must be returned. The Twilight must not be allowed to cover all of the land. Life will cease to be as we know it, and this place created by the goddesses will be nothing more than a land of spirits." Ordona turned its horned head to look to the right. "North of here is another spring belonging to the spirit called Faron. If you are able to return that stolen light somehow then Faron may return, and the Twilight in this region will be dispelled." The goat spirit fixed its golden gaze on him again. "If that happens, we two spirits may combine our powers of light with your own innate power, and return you to your human form."
Link felt his heart jump, and a hope filled him. He could be human again. All he had to do was help Faron, and remove the Twilight somehow. This wasn't what he was supposed to be helping Midna do, was it? Wasn't she supposed to be doing something involving shadow magic and some kind of relic that Zelda mentioned?
"I am strong, and will hold back the Twilight from this place." Ordona said. "Now go, and help free this world." It glowed brilliantly then, blazing like a sun atop the spring, and Link shut his eyes against the glare. When he opened them, the spirit was gone.
Zelda had wanted him to help Midna fight the Twilight with her own shadow magic. Perhaps it was far better to use the light magic of these Light Spirits, since their type of magic was the opposite of the shadow of the Twilight. He turned his head to try to find Midna in the shade of the trees, and he saw her with her face raised, one red eye looking up at the portal above. She raised her hands and formed another snarling ball of black and orange energy in her hands, and threw it at the portal. Link looked up, and it changed from purple to the same color of aqua that glowed on Midna's body while she was in the Twilight.
"May as well claim the spoils, right?" she said. "They were kind enough to make a portal here. Don't worry about it right now, we need to get to Faron. As much as I enjoy the Twilight, you have an opportunity to return to your normal form here." She shrugged. "Besides, this Twilight isn't my doing. I'm fighting against it, remember? Let's see if we can take care of you again." Midna giggled. "It doesn't feel right, helping you twice while you haven't helped me at all. I suppose that means you owe me two now, right?"
Link sighed. "Ress." he said, agreeing. He wasn't going to ignore his half of the bargain.
He could see her white-fanged grin stand out from her shadow face. "If we're in agreement, let's go."
Link ran down the path, expecting Midna to ride on his back as she did before, but he felt nothing. He looked around and saw the mass of orbs shooting alongside him in short bursts, occasionally forming into the shadowy creature. She was going to travel that way, apparently. That was fine, he didn't like being used as a horse anyway. He stopped watching what she was doing and turned right onto the road, retracing his steps from what was likely a day before.
At least it was early morning, and he wouldn't encounter Rusl on patrol. The man would probably think he was an animal and try to scare him off. Did he wonder where Link was? He had been missing a whole day, and people were likely worried. Not only about him, but about Colin and Ilia as well. Did the others ever find the children? As he crossed the bridge over the Floria River, he wondered how many people were captured by the Bulbins.
The run went far faster in wolf form, his four legs so much swifter than his two human ones. It didn't take him long to reach the wall of Twilight, in the exact same place that he remembered it. He stood in front of it, looking at its gently rippling amber surface. Faron the spirit was in that Twilight somewhere, in need of help. May as well proceed.
Link started to run forward, and rebounded off the wall of Twilight as if he had bounced off a wall of jelly. He shook his head and stared, pushing a paw against it. It was unyielding. He had entered it before, that's why he was a wolf right now. What was different?
A little giggle came from his right. He looked over to see Midna's shadowy form. "You can't enter the Twilight yourself. You're a being of the light, you can't just waltz in, even if you were touched by the Twilight's magic earlier." She put her hands behind her large head, raising her one eye to look at the shady canopy of the forest innocently. "You need a being of the Twilight to bring you there. Hmm, gee. Who could do that, I wonder?"
Midna's dark silhouette moved backwards into the Twilight and passed through the barrier easily, and she laughed softly after she moved through it. As she passed through, the shadowy form faded and she became more solid, her body back to being gray and black. She was supposed to bring him through, but he was on this side of it. How-
He should have known better than to wonder how. The large orange hand on the end of her hair shot through the Twilight and closed around him and then yanked him through. He gasped in surprise, not expecting her to do it that way. It wasn't too different from how the Shadow Beast had drawn him in yesterday.
Not too different, and yet it was. Her grip was gentle, and she set him down carefully, just as she had done on the roof earlier. "You worry too much. I wouldn't hurt you. A promise is a promise, and I have no desire to disobey Zelda." That was completely contrary to what she had said before. She moved and sat back down on his back, much to his distaste. He grumbled, and she leaned forward to grab one of his ears and pull it back. "Now, listen…" she said, her voice rather loud in his wolf ear. "I'm going to help you do this thing, but right after that we need to go do something for me. Now is not the time to talk about what it is. I'll tell you when it's more appropriate." She let go of his ear, and resisted the urge to grumble again. "It's best to focus on finding the Light Spirit, and its spring."
He already knew where that was. Link would travel farther north into Faron sometimes, sometimes to do a wider patrol with Rusl, sometimes to visit the merchant's cabin. It was some distance by horse, and he had no idea how fast he ran as a wolf. Time to find out. He took off running, the imp on his back making a startled sound and clinging on.
As it turned out, he could run even faster than he could as a human, back before he entered the Twilight. The wolf's body was efficient, and he moved in great bounds without too much effort. He very well could be running as fast as Epona. The miles passed him by as he ran through the cool air of the Twilight, his toenails digging into the packed dirt of the road with every stride.
It wasn't long before he made his way to the spring, which was inside a grotto alongside the road. He had sometimes brought Epona here to rest and drink. The only reason he had any clue that it was a spirit's spring was because he remembered the rounded rocks sticking up along the rim of the top pool, each rock etched with swirling lines. Normally sunlight would be shining through a hole in the cave ceiling, but the Twilight sapped all natural light and replaced it with its sickly amber glow.
There was a high-pitched whine as he approached, almost like a voice in pain but not quite. The spirit was suffering, but he had no way of telling Midna that. Then again she might have understood anyway. As obnoxious as she was, she seemed to be intelligent. He stepped forward to stand on the rocks surrounding the lower pool of the spring, and then suddenly a wavering wall of darkness formed around the spring, closing him in. He looked around, alarmed.
"Not this again." muttered Midna. Not what again? Had this happened to her before? He heard the same dull roar as before and looked up to see another bright purple portal forming above the hole in the cave ceiling. Not one but three Shadow Beasts tumbled out of the portal to splash down into the spring. One wasn't too hard, so maybe three wouldn't be too bad. Although he was in an enclosed space, trapped within this cave with them.
One of the beasts lunged and made a grab not for him, but Midna on his back. He went to dodge back, but her orange hair shot out and slapped the monster's hand away with quite a bit of force. It staggered, but another ran at her with its hand outstretched. The other one likely hadn't seen her since she wasn't in the Twilight, but here she couldn't hide in shadows. Here the Shadow Beasts could see her clearly, and just like Zelda said, they were after her.
Midna zipped to the side, forming into shadowy spheres for a split second as she did so. She reached out with her hair and wrapped it around the leg of the second beast that made a grab for her. Then of all things, she picked it up. It made no sense. She was a tiny creature and floating in the air, but somehow that strange magic hair of hers gave her the strength to lift one of these big black brutes. She then swung it like a weapon and smacked it into the Shadow Beast she had staggered, it having started to move towards her again.
Link went for the third one, using the same tactic he did before. He baited the monster into a lunge, jumped to the side, and then went for the throat. The taste of blood was just as unpleasant and upsetting as the last time, and he decided to make quick work of this Shadow Beast. He leveraged himself against its chest and ripped out its throat, spitting out blood and gore before turning to see how Midna was faring.
She had knocked the first one onto its back by beating it with the second one. The Shadow Beast that was ensnared in her hair clutched at the ground and tried to grab at anything within reach, but that didn't seem to help it much. He decided to take advantage of the one laying on its back and ran, launching himself with a flying leap onto its chest. He didn't hesitate and used his jaws to rip out the throat of this one just like the last one in a spray of blood. Link gagged; it was still awful to do.
As the monster was dissolving into squares, he jumped down and turned to look at Midna. She released her hold on the leg of the Shadow Beast, and it took a swing at her as soon as it stood up. Moving just like he had, she dodged to the side and then reached out with the large orange hand to grip at the beast's head and mask. The hand twisted and there was a loud crack, and once she withdrew her hair he could see that the head had been turned around on the neck almost a full one hundred eighty degrees. It dropped, and began to disappear.
The barrier surrounding them vanished, and then Midna looked up at the portal. She hurled another ball of dark energy at it, turning it aqua just like she had for the one in Ordon. The whine from the spirit lowered in pitch, and then faded. A voice faintly spoke, weak and strained. The Light Spirit did not appear, and the runes on the rocks did not light up. "These woods have changed into a land of Twilight." it said. "The living creatures of the woods have now become helpless spirits. I beg you, blue-eyed beast...save them." It paused, as if struggling to speak. "The Shadow Beasts have stolen my light, and sealed it into vermin. They are evil insects, scattered across these woods. They cannot be far, however."
Insects? Great. Link did not care for bugs. He didn't like anything with too many legs. "Since you are a being of light with great power, you should be able to see these insects if you concentrate, as well as the spirits. If you destroy enough of these insects, I will be able to regain my form and banish the Twilight. Any remaining insects will immediately die, and I will re-absorb my light."
There was a faint sound, almost like a groan of pain, and Faron continued weakly. "The insects can likely be found where there is more life. Listen carefully to the woods and use your power to see spirits. Concentrate and you will find them…" The Light Spirit's voice faded, and very faintly the whine began again.
"Bugs, huh? Interesting choice. I guess they had to seal the little pieces of light into something." Midna sat down lightly on Link's back. "Come on, wolfie." She giggled. "I know that's not your name, but I have no idea what it is. Unless you're able to say it with your doggy mouth?"
He looked over his shoulder at her and lay his ears flat in annoyance. There was no way he could pronounce "Link" right now. "That complex of a name, huh? What, are you named 'Alphonso' or something?"
Link shook his head. "Noo." Then he started out at a light run, a canter he supposed if he was going to equate it to a horse's gait. He heard her laugh on his back, but she had no more commentary on his name. Alphonso indeed.
There were shadowy plants growing along the one side of the road, and they waved their thorned vines at him as he approached. Two of them lifted the buds at the base of the plant and raised them on the end of thin vines. The buds opened to reveal sharp teeth. He decided he would leave these plants alone, and moved to the far side of the road as he passed. There was no point in fighting things if he didn't need to.
"Good thinking, Wolfie." Midna said. He'd settle for Wolfie for now. It was better than Alphonso. "Let's not bother with anything that we can avoid."
Listen carefully, the spirit had said. Running around looking for things wasn't going to find these insects. He stopped suddenly, tilting his ears this way and that as he tried to hear anything unusual. What would it sound like, anyway?
"What's the matter?" Midna asked, but he cut her short.
"Shh!" he said, at least able to make that sound. There was something, ever so faint. It sounded like the Light Spirit's cry, but it wasn't coming from the direction of the spring. He started moving towards it, and as he moved the sound grew louder. There was a clearing ahead and next to the side of the road was a patch of wildflowers, growing in what normally would be the sun. Something moved through those flowers, something throwing off crackling white energy. He thought he could almost see the outline of a creature. Focus your power. Focus…
He could see it then, a squirrel-sized insect that looked like a cross between a roach and a tick. It was black, but it glowed with an inner light. The disgusting thing had large mandibles, so maybe it really was an overgrown tick. Link didn't want to use his mouth on this thing, so he tried a different tactic. He ran up to it and hopped up to land on it with his front paws, like a hunting fox. It crushed easily beneath his weight, but the sensation of it crushing beneath his bare paws was absolutely revolting.
"Eaugh." he said, lolling his tongue out of his mouth in disgust. He didn't have much of a vocabulary, but when it came to making sounds he did just fine. The light from the insect rose up out of it, a glowing mote of golden-white energy, and it zipped back south towards where Faron's spring was. One. How many of these were there? Faron hadn't said.
Finding the others wasn't too difficult, now that he knew what to listen for. In fact by focusing his power, he found he could hear things easier. He also could see the animals of the woods: herds of deer, foraging squirrels, singing birds, even a sleepy owl roosting in a tree. The animals didn't look quite normal, in fact they looked to glow with that same faint blue-green light as the spirit flames had in Hyrule Castle. They acted as if they couldn't see him, just like the human spirits in the castle had behaved. Perhaps those trapped as spirits could only see other spirits.
He found another insect by the herd of deer, moving around the legs of the animals, and they scattered in fright when it started to do so. They could at least see the large bugs even if they couldn't see him. He repeated the process as he did before and hopped on it to squish it flat. Another mote of light shot back to Faron.
There were three more he found on his way to a particular destination he had in mind. He killed them as he went and Midna was blissfully silent. There wasn't much commentary to be made right now, or maybe she was lost in thought. She hadn't even commented on him opening his mouth to make a very human sound of disgust.
Soon he was standing outside of where he had planned on going: Coro's cabin. Coro was the chatty merchant that ran the supply depot that served as a link between Central Hyrule and Ordon. He also had a habit of feeding the local wildlife, so they tended to cluster around his home looking for handouts. Since the insects were drawn to life, there would likely be one here, or more.
His wolfish ears heard a startled cry from in the house, and he perked them up to tilt them forward.
"What is it, Wolfie? Did Timmy fall down the well?" All right, that one was funny. He chuckled and she started to laugh at him. "You're laughing? Well that's a new one: a giggly wolf."
It was the first time he had laughed in a while, and Link was normally somebody who joked and laughed often. It felt good, even if it was for an overused and stupid joke. No stupider than his usual jokes, anyway. He walked up to the cabin, which was made of a hodgepodge of wood boards and sheet metal, and stopped at the metal door. Link looked over his shoulder at Midna expectantly.
"Ah, the duties of the only one with thumbs." she said, opening the rusted door with her hair. She's not using her hands, so why say that? Maybe she was trying to get him to laugh again. There was another strangled cry from inside, and Link pushed his way through the open door to go in.
Coro was standing on the counter of his shop, brandishing a broom like a weapon. The small man looked ethereal, glowing a faint blue-green color, but Link could clearly see his look of terror. "Get! Get!" the little man said, swinging his broom at something that was moving around between the stacks of merchandise.
It was an insect, but this one was far larger. The others were the size of squirrels, but this one was the size of a dog, nearly Link's size. It was also slowly advancing, moving its mandibles. If these things were like giant ticks, it might be after blood. It looked like it wanted to take a bite out of poor Coro. The man thumped the bug with the broom and it skittered back briefly, only to start moving at him again. The insect completely ignored Link and Midna.
He wouldn't be able to squish this one with his feet, much to his chagrin. That left only one other alternative, and the idea of it made him sick to his stomach. "Yuck." said Midna, echoing his thoughts. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, preparing himself for the horrible thing he needed to do. Then he rushed at the insect, sinking his teeth into its the tapered end of its fat abdomen. Some kind of liquid seeped from the wound and into his mouth.
It was far worse than the blood somehow. Blood in one's mouth is fairly disgusting, but at the same time he was familiar with the taste even before he started fighting the Shadow Beasts. This however was the worst thing he had ever tasted in his life. It was gooey, bitter, and smelled acrid. The thick shell of the bug's abdomen crunched in his teeth, and it was even more unpleasant than chewing eggshells, the sound going through his teeth and head. He almost vomited from both the taste and from the idea that there was a giant bug's rear end in his mouth. He whined a wolf's whine, but bit down regardless, spraying ichor and goo in a disgusting spurt from around his mouth. That was too much for him; he had to let go, hanging his tongue out in disgust and tossing his head back and forth. The bug tried to round on him with its pincers, but then it had a delayed reaction to its injury. The hole in its rear caused it to run around in a panic, leaking black blood. Link did not chase it, too busy wallowing in his own disgust from biting the vile thing.
He started dry heaving, pawing at his face and trying to get the fluid out of his mouth. "If you puke, I'm out of here." he heard Midna say, but he ignored her. The mortally wounded insect stumbled around, skittering into stacks of supplies and knocking them over. Link panted with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and watched it run in a blind panic. Its movements started to slow and it ran into the wall, falling over to curl up on its side. The horrible spindly legs twitched a few times, and then it was still. Dark fluid pooled beneath it from its ruined abdomen.
Then multiple orbs of light flew up out of the corpse of the horrible insect, causing the previously-glowing black body to grow dim. They zipped through the wall and towards the spirit's spring some distance to the southwest. Midna watched them go. "That was a big one. Do you think we need to find more?"
He didn't know, and didn't care at the moment. Link was still struggling with the revolting taste in his mouth. He really wished he could dunk his entire head in some water.
"What happened?" Coro said, lowering his broom a bit. "Is it dead?"
That was the last thing Link heard as suddenly everything lit up with a bright, searing light. He heard Midna made a small sound of discomfort, and then found himself standing back at the spring, in the warmth of the sun shining down through the opening above. The Twilight was gone. A large glowing orb of gold was rising out of the water, and the lights from elsewhere in the woods started returning, flying in to merge with the orb and make it grow in size. Then the light bled out from the orb and formed a long body and tail, and a pair of hands that grasped at the sphere between two hands. A long-tailed lemur curled around the orb of light, and turned its head to look at him with its large round eyes. Much like Ordonia, it did not have pupils. The golden light it shed cast dancing patterns on the walls of the grotto, reflected by the pool beneath its spring.
"I am Faron." the Light Spirit said. "One of the four spirits that protects this land of Hyrule. Now that you have restored me, I may once again protect the great forest and all that lay within it. You were transformed into a blue-eyed beast instead of a creature of shadow, and that was a sign: there was a hidden power within you.
"Look at yourself, now. Your power has awoken." the spirit said.
Link looked down at himself, but he did not see the gray front paws of his wolf form. He saw his chest, legs and feet; he was human again. He could feel a warmth on his hand, and he held it in front of him to look at the three golden triangles glowing softly through the leather of his fingerless gloves. He did not wear gloves. In fact he didn't wear the green tunic that he saw on his body, or the knee-high leather boots he had seen on his feet. His clothing was different, for some reason.
He patted at his chest, feeling the weight of chain mail beneath his tunic, and saw he had a padded linen shirt beneath it. What did his father used to call those...a gambeson? He continued to look himself over, quite pleased that he had his human body back. He was also relieved that the taste of the bug was completely gone from his mouth. When he was transformed back, it somehow got rid of that. He couldn't complain.
"Those clothes are the same as the clothes gifted to the ancient hero chosen by the gods." Well that would explain the armor and leather vambrace on his left wrist. He had a blue cloth bracer beneath it, and a matching one on his right wrist. "That hero was named Link." Faron continued. "Once again, the hero is named Link. You have been chosen by the gods."
Link stopped examining his clothing and dumbly stared at Faron for a moment. Him? He was chosen by the gods? The gods that did nothing to help him or his family? The gods that ignored the plight of those who were harmed by the whims of a mad king? How dare they! To have the audacity to claim that he was somehow special, somehow their chosen one. They sat back and did nothing, just as they had done two hundred years ago when the Demon King had invaded, and then expected somebody else to clean up their mess. He felt anger welling up in him, at the gods, at the royal family, at this Light Spirit that told him he was something he shouldn't be. There were so many things he should say in response.
"What?" was what he wound up saying.
"You have been chosen." Faron said, in kind and gentle tones. It had sensed his anger, or perhaps seen it on his face. "You are the next Hero of Hyrule."
Link shook his head. When he did so, it felt as if there was a snug hat on his head. Another piece of clothing given to him by the gods. "No, that can't be right. There has to be some kind of mistake." Yet it made sense. He had those glowing triangles on his hand, and was protected by them in the Twilight. He had to deny it though, refuse it. Could he refuse?
"There is no mistake, young Link." said patient Faron.
"The gods can't ask anything of me. I can't be the Hero of Hyrule, not after I had to run and hide in Ordon. It's preposterous!" He had to deny it, he had to. To do otherwise would accept it.
"I understand your denial. The world has not been fair to you. The previous hero also lost much to violence and strife, yet he was able to surpass that and protect Hyrule from the Demon King. You should not doubt yourself." The Light Spirit's gaze was steady, unrelenting. So were its words.
"How do you know so much about me?" Link asked, feeling at the hat on his head. It seemed to be long and trailed down his back. Weird.
"What the gods know, I know." said the spirit.
"If you know everything, then what about Colin and Ilia? What about-"
"I know you are concerned for your friends, but as the hero your own desires are currently secondary." Faron said, cutting him off. "You will likely find them in due time, but the issue of the Twilight is far more pressing." Link glared at the large glowing animal, frustrated. It didn't matter what he said, he was being lead by the nose and forced into this whole thing. He couldn't hope to find Ilia and Colin right now, not when he was being carefully herded along by the gods.
"There is a dark power hidden in these woods." The Light Spirit said. "Its dark magic is forbidden, and because of that it was sealed away in what was once a temple ages ago. There are ruins nearby that surround the remains of an ancient, large tree. Hidden within that tree is the relic, and even though it was meant to remain hidden, there is no choice but to let the being of Twilight that accompanies you use it. There is currently no other way to fight the King of Shadows, and his dark magic must be fought with stronger dark magic."
The great glowing lemur turned its head to look at the entrance of the grotto, past Link. "I cannot see you, Twilight being, but I know you are nearby, hiding from my light. I implore you to use your power to help both your world, and the world of light." Link turned around to look, but Midna wasn't there. Then again there weren't many shadows for her to hang around in inside the cave. It was brilliantly lit by Faron's radiance.
"Link, the temple lies past the old worn stone road that begins north of this place." Link turned around to look at the Light Spirit again. "This road heads west. It will split at a fork, and you must take the north path. To continue west is to become lost in the ancient magic of these woods, so beware. Go prepare yourself for danger, as this will not be an easy task."
The Light Spirit then vanished in a brilliant golden flash, its fragments of light dispersing. The grotto grew dark, or seemed to after Faron had lit it so brightly with its body. Yet the carved lines on the smooth stones surrounding the Spirit's Spring still glowed with a faint white light, an indication that the Light Spirit was still at the spring.
So that was it. He was a hero now. Link's ears felt sore, and he touched at one of his earlobes. There was a hoop earring there, and when he reached up to his other ear he found another one just like it. Earrings. The gods had pierced his ears. He sighed at the ridiculousness of it all, and turned to walk out of the spring.
As soon as he was in the cool shade of the trees, Midna appeared in front of him, a shadowy wraith hovering in the air. "You're a hero? Interesting." She giggled and moved closer to his face, taking in his features with her red and yellow gaze. "Now that I see you up close, I can see you're a looker. Quite easy on the eyes, if I do say so myself." She laughed when he scowled at her. "Your voice is rather nice too. So much better than those growls and grumbles, wouldn't you say?"
Link suddenly found himself angry at her. He had to be angry at something, and he certainly was not going to be angry at himself. "You can shut the hell up." he said, aggressively pointing a finger in her face. "I'm tired of your stupid opinions and commentary."
She carefully pushed his hand aside while wearing a mild expression, her hands feeling rather solid despite being nothing but shadow. "Now now, is that how a hero is supposed to behave?" She smiled at him, a smaller one that was not quite a grin. It had a lot less sharp fang to it, and did not have any traces of mockery. "I'm surprised that the gods chose you, but it makes sense after you think about it. After all, you were transformed into a strong beast instead of a shadow creature."
He pushed her aside and strode back to the road with a stalking, angry gait that swung his arms as he moved, and then turned south towards Ordon. It was still stupid. The whole thing was stupid! He heard her behind him, following. "Hey! Where are you headed? The directions that the spirit gave you was to go north."
"I don't know how people live in your Twilight world, but in this world they need to eat." he said, attempting to keep the anger out of his voice. He was failing. "I haven't eaten in over a day. I also need a weapon and some supplies. Faron said that where we're going will be dangerous." Not that what they had been doing wasn't dangerous, but he no longer had the appropriate teeth to rip out throats anymore.
"Oh, good idea. We'll be doing some traveling, and I can't have you dying on the way." She was still following him, probably floating along with that smug grin on her face. He almost turned on her to shout at her, but managed to control his temper to a degree. The anger still simmered in him, threatening to boil over and make him react with fury. It wasn't too different from a few years ago, and how his anger had always been ready to break loose in response to every little thing.
"I'm so glad I can talk again so I can tell you to shut up when you annoy me, which is an awful lot." He touched at his ear again. Really, earrings? "I don't understand how or why this whole 'hero' thing came about, but I'm only helping you because you helped me. That's all." He glared ahead as he strode along the road at a quick pace, blue eyes angry beneath his scowling eyebrows. "I don't care that Zelda wants us to be nice and 'work together'." He said the last two words in a mocking, singsong voice. "I don't care about Zelda's self-imposed problem. I'm only dealing with this Twilight bullshit because it will make my home safe again."
He heard an indignant little gasp behind him. "You-" she began, now growing angry too. "Is this the best the light world can find for hero? Some selfish jerk that only cares about himself?"
"I don't want to be a hero!" He stopped walking and suddenly turned on her, and saw that she hovered in front of him with an infuriated look on her shadowy face. Link thrust his face in hers, and she floated back a little, likely a bit intimidated by his behavior. "This world has done nothing but shit on me. It's so utterly ridiculous that the gods want me to save it, after everything! Now my best friend and my little brother have been taken away, others I know are missing, my home has been attacked, and I lost my father's horse." He took a furious step forward, and she recoiled a bit at his fury. "That horse was the only thing I had left from my family. Now I have nothing! I am not feeling very heroic right now!" He whirled and started striding south again, clenching his hands into fists.
"You're so selfish!" she shrieked, her voice increasing in pitch and volume. It also started to move farther away; he was leaving her behind. "You're not the only one who suffers, jackass! At least you were able to turn back into your human form, while I'm stuck as this horrible little creature!" That made him slow his pace. It hadn't occurred to him that something may have happened to Midna to change her into that little black and gray imp. He had assumed that she was always that way, some kind of magical creature from a different land. "At least you still have a home! I can't return to mine!" Her voice grew closer as she floated back behind him, catching up to his slower pace. "I'm busy trying to fix things in my own life, and I need you of all people in order to get the dark relics. I liked you better as a wolf. At least you listened to me then!"
Link stopped walking again to respond, his anger beginning to rise once more. "Who's being selfish now, huh?" He gave a short sigh and put his hands on his hips, looking at the ground. This was not the conversation that they should be having. They were supposed to be working together, not fighting. Up until this point they had managed to cooperate well enough. He managed to move past his anger and think about how he had behaved. He wasn't exactly at his best right now, and he took a deep breath to soothe himself. "I'm sorry." he said, his voice calmer. "I've been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours, and now I'm so hungry it's making me cranky. Everything is bit overwhelming right now, all right? It's been hard for me to think past myself because of that, but that's no excuse." He shook his head. "No, we both have lost things important to us. Regardless of what's happened, we still need to focus on the entire picture. That's the only way we'll set our own personal issues right."
He started walking again, this time without swinging his arms angrily. She followed in silence. At least he assumed that she followed, he didn't check behind him as he walked. The two of them didn't say anything to one another for a while, and that was fine by Link. The less that they said, the fewer chances of arguments. If they didn't say another thing until he got back home, then good. Arguing with her was fruitless and a waste of time. He half expected her to start up again, to speak in a sarcastic tone and start with her comments or accusations, but there was nothing coming from the little imp. The silence was a bit awkward, but he didn't break it.
It wasn't long before he happened across something laying in the dirt road of the Faron woods. He stopped to stare at it for a moment, recognizing what it was, and then bent over to pick it up. It was the slingshot that Talo had used to shoot rocks at his house yesterday morning, abandoned by the boy for some reason. No, not abandoned; he probably had dropped it when the Bulbins came and carried him off. He felt a lump form in his throat. This was his fault. He should have taken this slingshot away from Talo when he had the chance, and maybe then he wouldn't have run into the woods with the other children. Or perhaps he should have gone with Bo and Jaggle to find the children instead of stopping to get Epona. It wouldn't have mattered though, would it? The Bulbins would have come and taken them all way no matter what. He felt guilty, but knew that he wasn't responsible for whatever happened to Talo that lead him to drop the slingshot, no more than he was responsible for Ilia being taken away.
"What is that?" Midna asked, moving to gently bob in the air at his side so she could look at the object in his hand. It was the first time either one of them had spoke in a while.
"A toy. One of the children from my village had it before the Bulbins came." He didn't need to go into detail beyond that. "Yet another thing I need to take care of eventually, but one thing at a time." He slipped the slingshot into his belt and continued walking. Midna followed again, but at a distance.
Link walked for nearly four hours, the trip taking far longer as a human versus the swift wolf form. He could have run to make it shorter, but he no longer had the smooth movement and stamina of a wolf. There was also no reason for him to run in these clothes in summertime; South Faron and Ordon were subtropical, and quite hot and humid this time of year. He was already sweating a bit in his new godly-given clothes, and running would make it worse. Eventually he reached the plank and rope bridge spanning over the Floria River and started out over it. He was almost halfway across when he heard Midna call out from the shade of the trees, back from where he had come from.
"Wait." He stopped to turn and look at her, the little smudge of shadow hiding in the dappled shade of the trees of Faron. It was hard for him to read her expression at this distance, but her tone sounded a bit awkward, as if she was admitting something she didn't want to. "I can't go into the sunlight. It's painful."
He had suspected that light hurt her from her behavior once they had left the Twilight. She had always stuck to the shadows, and her form was nothing more than a dark shadow. Something about her changed when she was in the light world. "Then how did you cross the bridge earlier?"
"I had managed to keep up with you, so I hid in your shadow. I...kind of wasn't paying attention just now and you got too far ahead of me." She looked away from him. Was she a little embarrassed?
He walked back across the plank bridge until he was back on the north side of it, and moved towards the woods until part of his shadow met with the shade of the trees. "Then you can ride in my shadow again. Is it large enough? I imagine a wolf casts a better shadow."
"It's fine. I don't need a lot to hide in." She seemed to dissolve, her shadowy form merging with the one he cast on the ground. His shadow currently wasn't very large, as it was late morning by now and the sun was nearly high overhead. "I'm good. You can go now." Her voice seemed to come from below him, from the ground. He saw no sign of her outline, or her red eye. She was nothing but pure shadow now. How did she speak like that? He didn't quite understand her magic.
It didn't take too much longer for him to finally reach Ordon, for which he was thankful. He was starting to feel a little weak in the legs and light-headed from the long walk while operating on no food for a whole day. In fact the only time he had drank anything was when he stuck his face in that bucket in Hyrule Castle, so he probably needed some water too. "Is this your town?" the little Twilight creature asked from within his shadows as he started up the hill to where he lived.
"Yeah." He still didn't feel like talking. Link didn't want to admit it to the creature riding in his shadow that he was starting to feel tired. The past two hours of him being human was not indicative of how strong his body normally was.
"It's kind of small." She wasn't wrong, but it felt like she was being overly critical. He wasn't going to let himself get into another fight with her again, though. He probably was taking it a bit too personally due to how his body felt right now.
"Don't you have farming communities where you live in the Twilight?" he asked her. She didn't answer, so he didn't ask anything else.
Nobody was outside his house waiting for him, and he didn't stop to look to see if he could spot anyone out in the fields. Link climbed up the ladder to his home and then opened the door. After he stepped inside Midna appeared, floating beside him. She looked shadowy again, but far less so than she had when she was still outside. Maybe it was easier on her to form her body since it was darker in his house than the shaded road of Faron.
He crossed the large round room and went to the cabinet and narrow table that served as his pantry, already mentally going through everything he had to eat in his home. "Are you hungry? I don't have a lot, but I probably have something we can both eat." She still wasn't talking to him. Link turned to look at her but she didn't seem angry, or awkward for that matter. As a matter of fact it didn't seem like she was feeling much of anything, and was looking around his house from where she hovered in the middle of the room like she hadn't ever seen anything like it. "What, don't your people eat?"
Midna didn't reply at first, her one red eye darting around the room, taking everything in. "I used to eat, but now I can't anymore. I can't sleep either. Not after I was sealed in this form." She seemed a little sad. Sad? Did this little imp have other emotions other than gleeful mockery and anger?
Link felt a pang of pity for the little creature. "Would you like to sit down somewhere while I eat and get my things ready?" She didn't answer and moved up in the air to look up at the loft, where his bed was. He decided to not press her about her transformation. It probably was a sore subject for her. He certainly wasn't happy when he became a wolf, although since he had drank some water he probably would have been able to eat if he needed to. No food, no sleep...it sounded horrible. Perhaps Midna was like him, somebody who had some magical ability that protected her from a dark power by changing her into a different form. What turned her into what she is, though? It couldn't be the Twilight, she had said she was from the Twilight. He doubted she would answer if he asked; she obviously hated her current form and would be uncomfortable talking about it with him. They really didn't know each other well yet.
He looked in the open cabinet, his hands on the knobs as he considered the few items found there, and decided that cooking would take too long. It should be a quick meal, and then he should prepare to get that relic Faron mentioned. Another meal of bread and fruit it is. He thought of what Ilia had said, of the offer to bring him meals so he could eat better. Link felt a small twinge of pain in his heart when he thought of her. No, he couldn't think about that right now. He had something else to do, and he wasn't going to get sidetracked despite his feelings.
Link settled for the latter end of a loaf of bread that was slightly stale, a bit of soft goat cheese, and two peaches. He was ravenously hungry and the food only filled him up so much, but it was all he could manage at the moment. Normally he would have had cool tea that he had chilled in his cellar, but he had no time to make anything like that, so he settled on drinking water.
Midna moved around his home as he ate, looking at the furniture and other odds and ends that lined the walls of his rounded single-room house. She stopped to look at the pictographs he had taken of places and his few friends, and then put a small hand on the pictograph machine. "I have a similar device…" she said with a small smile. It wasn't a grin or a mocking smile, but a normal one. A very human smile on a strange inhuman face. She slid her fingers across the machine and then looked at the other object that was on the small table there. Midna picked up the framed pictograph of Link and Ilia together, an image from about a year and a half ago and looked at it. He was shorter than he currently was in that picture, having grown about two inches since the pictograph was taken. She then looked up at him, and carefully set it back down without saying anything.
The little imp moved on until she got to his bookshelf, and tilted her head to the side to read the titles on the spines. "I'm surprised you know how to read." Why was that surprising? Was it because he lived in a farming village? She probably wasn't intentionally being rude, but Midna had something of an attitude about things. It was almost like she was a bit stuck-up. "I'm even more surprised to see some books on science and magic here." She ran her small finger along the top of the books, and then pulled one out to hold it in her hands and look at the front cover.
"I learned to read when I was five. While I never had magic myself, it's always interested me." At least, he hadn't had any magic until now. He didn't understand his strange power enough yet to actively use it, so it probably didn't count. "I'm interested in natural sciences too. The world is a big place, and I always thought that when I was older, I could experience it myself and see some of the things I've read about." Link gave a humorless chuckle. "It seems that's become reality sooner than I thought."
She opened the book in her inky little hands and started reading it, and didn't respond to what he had told her about himself. Well, that was fine. She could sit there and read for now, if she didn't really care about his interests.
After he was done eating he went back to the pantry to select a few items to pack as food for his trip. He wished that he had Epona, since Ilia mentioned that she had packed food in the horse's saddlebags. Nothing he could do about that now, and best not to think about it. He selected some harder goat cheese and the flatbread that Ilia had brought him the other night, and got the rest of the peaches and grapes that were sitting in a wooden bowl. No point in leaving the fruit here to spoil. He'd have to eat the peaches first before they got squishy, though. It wasn't a lot of food, but there were plenty of towns in Central Hyrule that he could stop at to buy more, provided he had the rupees. He kept his money in the cellar in a small metal box, and decided to go get that next.
He crossed the room to where he had placed a small lantern near the bookshelf, and looked over at what Midna was reading. It was a book about animals, mostly the native wildlife of North Faron and Central Hyrule. That's not what he pictured her reading, but then again he hadn't pictured her reading at all until she picked up one of his books. He grabbed the lantern and saw that it was out of oil, and sighed. He had forgotten about that. He was going to place the lantern back down, but then he decided to put it on his belt, unhooking his belt so he could slide it on. It wasn't useful at the moment, but if he was going through Faron, he might be able to stop at Coro's to buy some oil. Provided he could find his rupees in the dark cellar without a light, anyway.
He climbed down into the cellar and tried to navigate with both memory and the faint light from above. There was an old mirror not far from the ladder that some previous owner had left in the home, and he glanced at himself. His reflection was dim, but he could see the green outfit, the hat, the earrings, his own tired eyes. It didn't look like him. Then again he didn't feel like himself right now.
He was able to get to his rupees from the box and only managed to bump into a few things in the process, although there was no way to count them out down here. He thought he had around one hundred, if his memory served. He took his brown wool cloak out from a nearby chest, remembering that he had stowed it there, and climbed back up the ladder. Once he was in the light, he counted out the small glass coins: one hundred and twenty-five. It wasn't much, but then again he didn't get paid in money for his work all that often. Hopefully it would be enough. He put the money into one of his belt pouches, and moved around to gather the rest of the things he had thought of. From around his home he found flint and tinder, a waterskin, a wooden comb, and a very sharp dagger with a leather sheath. He filled and hung the waterskin from his shoulder and managed to put everything into the hard leather pouches that were around his belt. At least the gods gave him carrying space.
The sword and shield were exactly where he had left them, wrapped in their protective cloth. Link picked up the sword and carefully unwrapped it, and looked thoughtfully at the shining steel hilt sticking up from its leather sheath. Rusl wouldn't mind, not considering the circumstances. He needed a weapon, and this was the only one he had. He buckled on the baldric, shifting his shoulders a bit to settle it into place across his back. It was sized to his body and not Rusl's, which meant that the man had planned on Link taking it all along. Then he unwrapped the shield and hung it from a hook that was on the baldric for that very reason. Wasn't this shield supposed to be a display piece? Rusl had thought of everything.
Unfortunately he ran into a problem when he tried to put the cloak on: he couldn't put it over his sword and shield. Trying to strap the baldric on over the cloak wasn't a solution either. He spread the cloak out on the floor and looked down at it thoughtfully. Midna hovered nearby curiously while still holding the book in her small hands, but didn't say anything. After having an idea, he went over to the sideboard and pulled open a drawer to retrieve the small box that contained a few sewing odds and ends. He sat down cross-legged on the floor and carefully used the shears to rip the middle seam that went up the center of the back of the cloak, up until just a few inches below the cowl.
"Ah, I see what you're up to." Midna said. Again, no mockery. It was as if her attitude had deflated after the two of them argued.
Link threaded a needle with the dark gray thread from the sewing box. He didn't exactly have many colors of thread, but he didn't really care if the thread matched the dun-colored cloak. "I'm going to need to wear a cloak, especially if it rains. I can't have my sword tucked away if there's potential fighting, though." He started reinforcing the seam with stitches just above the slit wool so it wouldn't unravel.
"I guess you're brighter than you look." the little imp said, watching him work. "I would have pegged you as all muscle and no brains, before seeing what your home looked like."
He wasn't sure if that was bait for an argument or not, so he didn't respond to it and instead knotted the end of his stitches. He then snipped off the extra thread, put the shears and the needle back into the sewing kit, and stood up with the cloak in hand. This time it went on much easier, once he figured out how to settle the slit around the baldric. "There. Now I can use this sword and shield that I was supposed to hand over to the royal family." He pinned his cloak in place. "At least I don't have to give them to that idiot king anymore."
"Why do you hate the royal family so much?" Midna asked. "You growled at Zelda, and now you called the king an idiot. Is this some political thing in the light world, or is it personal?"
"I have my reasons, and no, I won't share them." There was no reason to explain anything to her. Link certainly hadn't explained it to anyone else. After he returned the sewing box to its home in the drawer, he decided that he was as prepared as he could be, so he waved Midna over to the door as he walked to it. "You're welcome to borrow my books later, but for now we have to go. Get back into my shadow."
"Finally." She returned the book to its spot on the shelf and then disappeared beneath him again. Link stepped outside into the hot Ordon sun, squinting a bit after being in the darker house. The cloak wasn't ideal for Ordon in the summertime and would be a bit hot, but he had planned to travel farther north. He was after "relics", plural. Not just one. He likely would be traveling all over Hyrule, at least from what Midna had told him. "Do you want to say goodbye to anyone while you're here?" she asked from beneath his feet.
Link hesitated. He didn't really want to face the people of Ordon. There would be many questions, and he wouldn't have any good answers for them. Still, he had to let them know that he was all right, and that he saw what had happened. "Yeah. I need to see if they were attacked in town." Then there was that: he needed to know how the people in the village itself fared after the Bulbins came.
The town looked deserted as he walked through it. There were no people working in the fields, no goats being herded in the distance, nobody tending to their homes or yards. He passed an overturned cart, its load of thin yellow squash spilled onto the grass and road. A feeling of dread started to grow in Link's gut as he moved through the empty village. He turned left on off the main road to go to Rusl's house, and went inside, not knowing what he would find. It was dark, and the hearth was cold. There was no sign of either Rusl or Uli, and their house was as tidy as usual so there was no way of telling what they had been doing when they left. His dread grew into a gnawing worry, and he stepped back outside, his eyes scanning the houses and fields for any movement, but he saw none. He walked to the next house over, down a ways and closer to the center of town. Inside of the house were no people, no lights, nothing but a cold half-eaten meal for two set down on the table. Flies buzzed around the room, drawn to the food through the open windows. Was everyone taken?
He rushed back out of the house and ran into the center of town where most of the buildings were. The doors were all shut, but there was no signs of movements seen through the windows. "Hello?" he called out. He raised his voice so people could hear him from throughout the village, if there was anyone to hear him. "Is anyone here?! If you're all right, please come out!"
Link paced back and forth along the central road in Ordon village, looking and listening for anything. He then heard a door open and turned towards the sound. Bo was coming partway out of his house, looking around carefully as he poked his head outside. Link ran over to him, and when he got close he could see that the older man had a large purple bruise along the left side of his face. The man stopped looking around and his eyes moved to meet Link's.
"Link, you're safe…" Bo said, his body relaxing in relief. "I thought you were taken."
"Bo, what happened? Did the riders come into town? What happened to your face?" It was a lot of questions at once, but he was starting to feel sick with worry.
The mayor reached out and grabbed his arm, tugging at him. "In a moment. Come inside, in case they come back." He furtively looked around and pulled Link inside.
It was dark inside the mayor's large house, as it was in all the other buildings, but this building was far hotter than the others. The glass windows were open slightly, but the roll blinds over them were lowered to prevent anyone or anything outside from seeing in. Link could see why: there were a little over twenty people sitting or standing around in the main room, and then about that many in the large back room beyond. Link heard his name spoken a few times as the Ordonians muttered to one another when he entered. None of them looked injured, but they all looked frightened or tense. Bo shut the door and came to stand behind him. There wasn't much room to go much father into the house than near the front door, due to the amount of people. The murmuring stopped as Bo turned to Link to speak. Everyone wanted to listen.
The older man looked Link up and down. "I've got my own questions, looking at you...but I'll answer yours first. The riders came, a group of Bulbins." Bo knew what they were? Interesting. "A few of them attacked me and Jaggle while we were in the woods looking for the children. They knocked me over and that's how I got this…" he pointed to the ugly bruise on his face. "...but while I was knocked down, they picked up Jaggle and took him away. There was no way for me to catch them on those boars, so I ran back to town. As I did, I started to see more of them riding back the way they came, carrying people." His shoulders slumped. "There wasn't anything I could do."
"I know, it's all right." Link said, trying to comfort the man. What happened wasn't Bo's fault. "The same thing happened with me. How many people do you think were taken?"
"It's hard to be sure, since we're scattered and I can't do a head count. While I was trying to make my way back, Rusl had started to send people to the shelters." He pointed to what would be the direction of the ranch. "There are two, built by the previous mayor of this village when they had a problem with Hinoxes. There's a cellar beneath the barn that holds about a hundred people. Then there's a cave a bit off the road in the south woods that holds nearly that many people. If they're filled to capacity, that means that at least fifty people were taken away."
Fifty people, taken by the Bulbins. Or perhaps more. It could have been far worse, if Rusl hadn't acted.
"Link, what about you? Why are you dressed that way? What happened to my Ilia? Have you seen her?" Now it was Bo's turn to assault him with questions. "Fado found her shoes at the spring."
"I was at the spring with Ilia and Colin when the riders came, and the two of them were carried off." Link told him. The older man put a hand to his chest, breathing heavily. He was trying to control his emotions in front of the people of Ordon. Link put a hand on his shoulder kindly. "I know." he said quietly. "I tried to fight the Bulbins, but they hit me pretty hard on the head and left me for dead. I blacked out for a while, but I don't know how long."
He looked down at the green outfit. How could he explain it without sounding crazy? "After I woke up I tried to figure out where they went and started looking around through Faron. Somebody gave me these clothes and armor, after I told them I tried to fight the Bulbins off. Then I came back here to get the sword and shield Rusl made, since I knew I'd need them." There. It was only partly a lie. He didn't like lying, but there was no reasonable way to explain that the gods decided he was going to save Hyrule.
"You know how to use a sword, so it was smart for you to return to get one. Rusl will be pleased to learn that." Bo seemed to have regained his composure.
"Where is Rusl? Is he at one of the shelters?"
Bo shook his head. "No. He was injured fighting off the Bulbins. He's up in the loft, in Ilia's bed."
Link turned and looked at the stairs going up along the wall, to the screened-off area of the loft that was Ilia's space. He climbed the wooden stairs that ran along the rounded wall of the home, and peeked around a screen once he reached the top. While it was hotter higher up in the house, the window up here was open all the way, letting in a breeze. Rusl lay on the bed wearing only his leggings, with a blood-stained linen bandage wrapped around his chest and shoulder. His face was damp with sweat, although it could have either been from the sweltering heat or from the pain. Uli sat nearby, next to the bed on the stool from Ilia's dressing table. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise when she saw him come around the privacy screen. "Link!" she exclaimed softly.
Rusl lifted his head to look at him, but didn't say anything. Link crossed what was considered Ilia's "room" to go to Uli, who awkwardly rose to her feet due to her large belly. There were tears standing in the woman's eyes. He went to her and she opened her arms to him, and he encased her in a hug. Uli sniffled a bit near his ear, her voice tearful. "I was so worried. Both of my boys were gone."
"It's okay, I'm fine. They took Colin, though." There was no gentle way to say it. He felt her put her face down on his shoulder and she shook, and he gently patted her on the back. Seeing Uli cry always made him uncomfortable, although it previously was due to him being a child and her being an adult. Now it was because she was almost like his mother, and he cared for her.
"I could hear a little of what you said. When I heard your voice, I was relieved." Rusl said, lowering his head back on the pillow and turning it to look at him. "I'm sorry about Ilia." Here his son was missing, yet Rusl was still concerned for Link's feelings. The man cared for him so much, despite them not being related by blood. He felt his throat tighten a little as he thought about his adoptive family. "Can you repeat what you said down there?" Rusl asked.
Link let Uli go, who sat back down on the stool to dab at her eyes with a small handkerchief. He turned to Rusl. "They rode into the spring while I was there with Ilia, Colin and Epona. Epona ran off, and they took Ilia and Colin. I tried to fight them, but they cracked me over the head with one of those clubs." His head didn't hurt anymore, strangely enough. Did transforming into a wolf and back fix it? "They left me there to die, but I was only knocked out. After I woke up I started to look for them, and ran into somebody who gave me clothes better suited for travel, and some armor. I came back to get the sword and shield you made. I know they're for the king, but I think I need them a lot more than he does."
"I agree." Rusl said. He put a hand on the bandage wrapped around his ribs. "I killed eight of them, but eventually there were ones with swords. At least by then most of the people had made their way to the shelters and were safe." He took in Link's look of concern and gave him a little smile. "Don't worry about me, it's not deep. I should be up and about before too long." Link knew that wasn't true. The man wouldn't be laying in bed if the wound wasn't too bad. Rusl's smile faded. "You're going to go try to get everyone back, aren't you?"
"I have to. I'm the only one here who can do it. Even if I wasn't, I'd still try." It was true. Even if both his legs were broken, he would still try to find a way to get back Ilia and Colin.
Rusl gave a laugh, and then winced in pain, closing his eyes for a moment until the it passed. Then he opened them again, taking in the green outfit and cloak. "It looks like you're packed and ready to go. That sword isn't a display piece, Link. It's sharp and well-balanced, and about the right length for somebody your height. I know you'll find it useful." He reached out to grip at Link's arm. "Please, bring them back safely. Use that sword I made and bring home our people."