Chapter 16
Saria, the Water Town of Monsters
I tried to show none of my emotions in front of the prince, but they still screamed in my head. Where were Ganon's spies? The man that still lingered around the sign like it was a protective barrier said that "eyes of Ganon" are everywhere. Are they here now? I wanted to shake him by the collar and demand he tell me more, but we needed to reach the bridge.
We turned back to the uncomfortable road, and now not only were the people still gazing at us, they were slowly approaching as well. "There's so many of them!" The prince exclaimed. "What do you think they're doing?"
"I don't know." I somehow kept my voice steady. "But something tells me it isn't good." I unsheathed my sword and shield and we sped up our pace.
But they were not staying behind. The citizens were coming closer and closer until we were easily surrounded. "I don't like this." His Highness whispered. "If only we could go unnoticed."
They more they came, the more nervous I found myself becoming. We had passed house after house, and every single one of them were locked tight. But, fortunately, when we needed it the most, there was a door that was wide open! "In here!" I shouted and grabbed my companion's arm. We quickly ran for the open frame, and luckily, none of the people were able to close in fast enough to stop us. I allowed Zelda's brother to go in first, and as soon as I was in, I spun, shut the door, and locked it.
"That was a close one!" The prince sighed. "But how can we reach the river now?"
"Shhh!" I hushed him, for just the second before he spoke, I thought I heard something in the room. "Listen."
He did so, and the gentle snore took over again. I turned around to inspect the room. It was a small house that had a simple rug, a few chairs and a table near the other end of the room near a window. A few closed doors showed there were other rooms. But at first, I unregarded the purple gelatin that sat as a formed lump on the center of the wooden table. As I watched it however, it rose up and down calmly, and then I realized that it was a bot that was snoring.
And something else caught my attention, a tiny, hand mirror was lying on the floor next to the table. "The window." I whispered, thinking if we sneaked out of it, we could probably better avoid the shady people in the street. "Careful to not step on the mirror."
He nodded and we, as quietly as we could, walked near the table and to the window. But just a few steps away from our goal and the floor creaked. I froze, kicking myself for that mistake, but as silence filled the room again, I noticed that the snoring stopped. "Master? …Is that you?" I heard a groggy voice ask. I looked back at the bot. Its eyes were now visible and was staring at the both of us.
"Don't do anything you might regret!" The prince threatened, bringing his rapier up and towards the bot. At first, the gel creature was silent and just continued to glance between us, but then, it began to juggle and a soft, funny sound arose. It was laughing.
"That's the best you could do?" It asked when it settled down. "You must try harder with your threats if people just find your attempt hilarious."
"What's funny about it?" His Majesty countered. "I will hurt you."
The bot merely sighed and looked over at me. "So you're Link, aren't you? You're causing a lot of trouble around town. I can tell, without even leaving the house."
"You know who I am and you don't want to attack me?" I asked, generally shocked.
"Honestly," It answered. "I could care less if Ganon is revived or not. It doesn't concern me. I'll leave the madman hunt to his spies and my kin."
The prince seemed convinced that the monster wasn't planning to hurt us, because he slid his sword back in its sheath. But he still proceeded with a question. "If you could care less, then why did you ask for 'Master' when we came in?"
"Ganon's not my master!" It yelled, sounding offended. "I serve Bagu, we have a long history. He lives in a cabin north of the river in the woods, and I'm not the only one who works for him; the guard by the town bridge does too."
"Bagu?" I asked, looking over at my companion and wondering if the name sounded familiar to him. "I've never heard of him." The prince shook his head like he didn't know of a "Bagu" either.
"I figured with you traveling the map so often, you would have met him by now." The bot responded, "Well, I guess I can wish you two good luck, if you need it." Its eyes darted to the floor, where the mirror rested. "Ah," It exclaimed. "It seems that wizard left his magic mirror here! Do me a favor and return it, won't you?"
I didn't answer, but stooped to pick the mirror up and moved again to the window. "We should go."
But right before I reached the way out, back to the town, the bot spoke again and stole my attention. "Happy hunting." It said with a sinister snicker before letting himself doze off again. I didn't turn back, I pushed the window frame open, hoisted myself up, and crawled out.
After sneaking through the alleyways, there were less people to avoid even on the streets on this side of town right now. I had thought that they stayed behind by the house still, just wanting us to come out. We remained as quiet as we could, and stayed behind buildings when we could. When there was an opening, or if we had no choice but to cross the street, I would check to see if it was clear before continuing. We were nearing the bridge by now, but our luck wasn't going as smoothly as I had hoped.
I was in the lead right now, and I hugged the wall of a house and looked around the corner, but nothing was there, so I beckoned the prince to keep close, and then quickly ran to the next shelter. Once more, I was looking over the next corner when I heard the prince's voice. "Back!" He exclaimed. We were discovered! I looked back and saw he was threatening a woman who looked like a normal, day-to-day citizen. The prince held his sword tight in his hands. "What do you want with us? Why is the town like this?"
She didn't answer with words, and she hardly moved. But as we stared at her dead in the face, I was confused on why she didn't yell or anything to alert the others. But then something strange happened. The tan of her skin turned a dark gray, her form was distorting into something unfamiliar, and she was shrinking from her size. Her eyes changed color, and wings tore her clothing. When the transformation was complete, there was no trace of how she used to be. She was now the complete form of an ache. She screeched and beat her wings to keep her in the air. And then, still too quick for anyone to react, she lunged at the prince.
My instincts dropped me low and, before I knew it, I was holding my weapons. When I was able to even recount what happened, I have seen that the prince had successfully moved to the side and allowed her to sail straight past, although he had not struck her. Once she was away from us, I quickly pointed my sword, and shot beams at her. Then, too easily, her wings flitted and she fell to the ground.
But as I turned back to look at the streets, I realized that her screech attracted the others!
"Link," The prince whimpered. "We need to run."
All at once, faces began to change into their true identities. Aches, stalfos, girobokku, and dairas stood in their places. They were all heading for our weak stance in the alleyway. "No," I answered without thinking much of our options.
"What do you mean 'no'!?" His Majesty asked. "Hiding will do us no good now! Maybe we can loss them if we make for the mountain!"
I stared at the approaching force. Thinking of them following wizzrobes' orders made me feel sick, but I haven't been scared of monsters for years, not ever since I was forced through those fears many years ago when I went on a journey to save a particular princess. I wasn't going to let Ganon make me fear his minions again.
No, if we ran, we will only drag the fight to the bridge. Anything's possible, the knight may not even be there, but monsters could have taken his place as well.
It was stand up and fight, or run and become surrounded later. I am a hero, I don't run. "We have to fight this time." That was the only explaination I gave.
"No, there's too many already!" He yelled back. "Swallow your pride, and let's get moving!"
I couldn't believe he wanted to argue about this again. "I can't do this with you now." I shot back, and it was true, because by now, the monsters were coming close. It was now or never. I thought I heard the prince scoff in disbelief behind me when I dash around the corner and into the street.
I was prepared. As soon as I could see my targets, I started aiming for the aches first. By the short time the other creatures closed in on me, there were only a few aches left. I have to admit, I was half surprised when my companion joined my side, sword in hand. "You don't have to join me, you know." I spoke. "You could have left to the bridge."
"You know I can't do that! You could get yourself hurt, or worse." He shook his head. "My sister would kill me if I let anything happen to you."
I couldn't hide the smile from showing, and casted "shield" to better defend myself from the horde.
The dairas were anxious to get in the fight. They stood like humans and wore light armor, but had hide, tails, and faces of crocodiles. The axes they wielded looked really heavy, but they didn't seem to struggle with it. Among those enemies, were girobokku. These were tough, floating eyes and had thick red skin around them that could not be pierced. However, what they had in great protection, they lacked in speed, and quickly, they were left behind when the other monsters started their charge.
I didn't intercept, or meet the charge, instead I ducked under a daira's swinging axe, and stabbed while low at another daira. I stood up and kicked at the attacker and slashed at a nearby stalfos. I did hardly any damage to it though, and the skeleton ran in front of the staggering daira to better attack me. I pulled a quick feint by the legs, and when the stalfos move to block it, I took the head off with my blade.
The horde swarmed around us like a small army. Countless of creatures came in front of the others to fight more effectively. More of the stalfos came to replace the one I just killed. The dairas on either side of me moved to strike me at once, and I ducked low to the ground once more to avoid it. The axes sank into the scales of another one and took them out of the fight. As I stood up again, I was met with an ache, and before I could react, it slammed into me with all its might.
Now was my turn to stagger back. I fell over a stalfos who was standing behind me, and I fought to not hit the ground. The stalfos did, however, fall, and even shattered almost like glass upon the stone paved roads. The pieces of bone slid and scattered the enemy forces like water around it.
The scattered enemies tried not to hesitate too long and stepped over the broken stalfos pieces. But they hesitated long enough for me to take advantage. I used my shield to push some back, and my sword wisped across the unprepared opponents. Some backed off even further away with terrible wounds, and others responded by quickly blocking with their own weapons.
The crowd was beginning to thin somewhat. I turned my head, hoping to catch a glimpse of the prince, but a small group have pushed him back where I could only see the top of his curly brown head. I knew he was holding out though, the monsters that were turned towards him were struggling.
But I didn't have a lot of time to watch. I had enough fights here on my own, and the girobokku finally decided to show themselves on the battlefield. They couldn't be pushed back as easily, and were invulnerable with the lid of the single eye closed or lowered. They knew of their tough skin, so they used that to their advantage whenever they could. The dark clouds that have covered the town finally let the first few drops of rain descent onto the field of battle.
But I couldn't worry about that now. I knew there was a girobokku floating right behind me, but I resumed fighting with the stalfos in front. I waited for the perfect moment and stepped under the girobokku. The stalfos's lance struck the curious eye monster harmlessly, and I took the skeleton out of the battle. I then stabbed my blade right through it the unprotected part of the eye.
I turned around and brought my shield in front of both the stalfos and daira. The daira struck first, but I was already protected. After the attack past, I struck back, but that was also blocked. I shoved my shield into the stalfos and struck the legs. The skeleton fell to the ground, but I failed to pay attention to the daira in that short time. I felt a nick on my arm from the axe, but luckily, the shield spell only let me receive a smaller cut, a partial size of the weapon used.
Another daira came to where the stalfos was standing just a second ago, and I knew there were two stalfos and a third daira coming up from behind me. I held my sword pointed to the side and waited for the enemies to attack… When they lifted their weapons, I released my spin-attack! My sword swung quickly in a full circle around and damaged the monsters in its way. Some dropped down and others merely staggered.
I brought my sword swinging down vertically on the still recovering daira, but my blade met with the long handle of the axe. The opponent regained his footage, and pushed against the sword. I kicked at his legs, and he buckled down again, and I finished him while I could. A few girobokku found their way to me and I had to struggle past their invincibility. "Link!" I heard my companion cry suddenly. "Help!" But I hesitated, and when I turned to where he was, the only thing I saw was a shield in my face.
My vision flashed in blurs, and the hit left me quite dizzy. At first, the whole of my face was completely numb, but then the pain slowly seeped in. I wanted to help my companion, but I couldn't recover fast enough. I knew whatever it was that hit me was going to take this time to strike with his weapon this time, but the only thing I could do was to hold my own shield close and move away from the attacker. I tried not to tumble or fall backwards when there was a strong smack of metal against shield. Somehow, I successfully defended myself. Now was my chance. I stood up straight and blinked the dizziness away, but I then realized how close the stalfos was to me. There was nothing I could do in that quick second but allow the strike on my thigh in return for a strike of my own.
I quickly took the arm away, and didn't hesitate to break the monster in complete pieces. Then, I was finally open to reach the prince. Three monsters, a daira and two stalfos, had him surrounded. They were so focused on striking again and again, with the prince only able to parry and dodge, that they didn't see my next move. I completely shattered one of the stalfos, and the other two flinched after turning around. Then, His Highness took the advantage, stabbing the back of the daira. Finally, once those two were down, it wasn't too hard to take out the last skeleton.
The battle was finally done. Blood from the heaps of bodies swirled with the rainwater on the now darker pavement. I replaced my sword and shield back, and sighed, feeling exhausted. His Majesty seemed like he wanted nothing more than to fall on the ground. "I don't know how we did that." He also cleaned and sheathed his sword. "We almost wiped out the entire town! Now we should be able to continue in peace, right? At least for a little while?" But as I began to turn back around to the road, I saw figures of more people standing in the rain.
And started running towards us!
"Maybe not." I answered, and directed His Highness's gaze towards them. The prince lightly smacked my shoulder to turn my attention back to the alleyways. We were both wounded however, and I knew we couldn't run very far, but he wasn't waiting for a response. He ran in between the closely knit houses, and I pursued. With every stride my leg burned with the rush of spilling blood, and I could feel it from my arm as well. True, I had used "shield", but it was an axe that swung down on my unprotected arm. I should be thankful I still had it. I could see now how injured my companion was too. He struggled to keep up the pace, and he had marks and cuts denting his new armor.
I knew our enemies would be soon running around that same corner, and I could only pray to the goddesses that I was quick enough to stay ahead. But my leg continued to burn until I couldn't force it to run anymore. I fell to my knees, overcome with pain and ashamed of my weakness. "What are you doing!?" The prince yelled, turning back to look at me. It was hard for me to tell if he was alarmed or just angry.
"I... I can't." I found it was difficult to breathe enough to even speak a word out. My own sweat stung the gashes all over, and I couldn't steady my gasps for air no matter how hard I tried. I'd wished he didn't turn. I'd wished he never saw me like this, and that hurt me like a dagger in my soul. But yet, I couldn't change it. "You need to go on." I begged him. "I'll only slow you down. We'll hide better if we split up anyway."
"No, are you stupid now too!?" He exclaimed, making fun of me as always. "You have to stand up, or they'll catch you! And that isn't an option." He grabbed my bloody arm and pulled me to my feet.
Shivers ran down every bone in my body when I heard the shouts of our foes coming closer. "If I stay with you, then we will both be caught. Trust me when I say we will survive better if we take different roads right now." Please trust me, I thought. I believed I knew what I was saying. He looked as if he wanted to object, but time has run out.
"All right, but stay safe, Link. Hyrule's counting on you." He looked me in the eye, and I saw his newfound trust and respect. He gave me a gently shove towards an alley passage next to us and he turned back to where he was running in the first place.
I didn't stay and watch to make sure he got away. Once again, I pushed my limits and down a few more passages before I fell back behind some crates and stayed there. Voices and pounding marches chased down the alleys left and right, but soon, everything was quiet where I sat. I wondered, was the prince safe? Did he get away? I worried for him, but I suppose if he was caught, I would hear some sort of commotion.
We weren't even at the river yet. How can we reach the mountain safely now? Both of us were tired and wounded and beyond the bridge was the second part of town. I didn't doubt for a moment that there were enemies there too.
