Chapter 21

The Silver Pendent

The next morning, I still felt stiff and tired from little sleep. But I shook it off without complaint, and we went through the tunnels again. But the daylight made little difference in our efforts. Again, hours passed, and we hardly made any headway, if we made headway at all.

"This is getting us nowhere!" The prince exclaimed. "We're stuck up here. We can't even get back down if we wanted to!"

His accusations became more serious. I patted the air, gesturing for him to calm down. "We both knew the risks when we came up here! Don't worry, we'll find the way. We just need to keep looking."

"I have memorized all these tunnels, we've taken every road possible! There is no way further." By now, we were exiting a cave back outside. I prayed to the goddesses to please let this be a new area.

But it wasn't.

No, this was the same place we've seen over and over again. This was the same place we slept last night. His Highness took a few more steps forward before giving up and taking a seat on the boulder closest to us. He exhaled and let his head fall into his palms. I respected his choice not to argue further, and sat quietly next to him.

Minutes passed without a word between us. I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds and smells of the mountain. Early birds and late crickets chirped from every corner, and a cool breeze sailed through the copses, making the pines brush up against each other, and giving the critters a soft percussion for their mountain song.

The early morning was a little chilly up here, and the wind that dipped down amongst the edges of hardy grass smelled open, crisp, and clean like freedom. I remembered how much I love the smell of the beautiful air, especially up on mountains. But it didn't give me peace this time. In this situation, it only mocked our inability to move forward.

I briefly heard the prince lament beside me. He still held his head and barely looked at me as he continued speaking. "This was a bad idea. We should have waited for someone to move that roadblock." He chuckled hopelessly. "Not like that changes anything now."

I glanced away from him and flinched. I barely saw a thin silver light running through the grass when His Majesty saw it too. He elbowed me and sat up. "Link, what is this?" But I couldn't believe what I was seeing anymore than he could. But what astounded the most about this was the source.

It shot from the center of the silver pendent given to me by Zelda.

"The pendent..." I whispered, mainly to myself. "Zelda didn't give me a piece of jewelry for my birthday, she gave me a tool for my journeys."

"But where is it going?" The prince asked, standing up.

"Let's find out."

I charged ahead, and he followed close behind. The beautiful light swam across the field and entered a tunnel though a spire of rock. "Why is it taking us here? We've explored this one already." The prince stated, sounding curious, but I trusted what the pendent was doing.

Sure enough, as we followed it a little while longer, it shot straight into a wall, and disappeared past it. "Here!" I exclaimed, running up to the stone and running my hand over it. I didn't see very many cracks, but the wall was indeed weak here. I took out my sword and damaged the wall further until it was too weak to hold itself up anymore. It fell all at once with a loud crumble. If we haven't scoured this cave from top to bottom and routed out the monsters, I would have been worried that the clutter would attract unwanted attention.

"How did we miss this?" His Majesty asked with astonishment in his voice.

I answered with a shrug. "Too focused on the roads I guess." I stepped in the opening, and once I was past the flying dust, my attention was snatched by the sparkling light again. I followed it around a tight corner and was startled by a few skettlars standing just on the other side. They seemed just as surprised as I was, if not more so. Skettlars were large, one-eyed scorpions that dwelled in the deep of caves. The gray armor covering their bodies were a darker shade from the dirt that had settled on them.

They acted like they were offended from my break in, standing there, clicking their pincers again and again, but they made no move to attack until the prince came around the corner. Now they were afraid. Almost at once, they lifted their tails over their heads and the stingers shot bursts of flame! I reacted quickly, darting in front of the prince and holding my shield out in front of me. The flame roared and collided up into the metal barrier, before sizzling out.

Their scaled armor would be too protective to strike through, and so the singular eyes were their only weakness. But most of them knew this, and like the girobokku, they kept the eye closed most of the time. And attacking them will be difficult with a risk of being stabbed by that poisonous stinger. I had to be careful. Watching closely, I edged over to the side, thinking to sneak by them harmlessly. But they weren't allowing it. The two closest to me crawled in my way and flashed the stingers down at my feet. I tried to jump back, and while it was more of a stumble, I avoided the attack.

Somehow, I still had enough time to take the advantage. I dropped to my knees and pierced the red eye glaring at me. The skettlar gave a final squeak before falling limp in a pathetic pile. The others took that as a warning and backed away. Now was our chance for escape! I turned and gestured for the prince to follow closely and I darted down the hall. This time, the creatures didn't try to stop us, but stood back and watched us retreat.

"Thanks for that!" The prince called after me, no sarcasm in his voice this time. I nodded, it was nice to hear a genuine thanks from him for once.


We walked until it was dark out again. But this time we have been following the light of the silver beacon all the rest of the day. We were led in and out of caves, both dangerous and quiet. We walked up and down steep cliffs, fought monsters everywhere we went, but the journey around Death Mountain was finally over.

Once we left the last cave, and was walking down the rocky decline into dark green grass again, we were greeted by a pleasant breeze and a taste of freedom. Even the prince seemed to calm down. The silver beam began to thin until it was no more than a flickering sparkle.

The Triforce hanging around my neck was unaffected by the light it produced. If we become lost again, I wondered if the light will come back? The pendent filled my heart with hope. This whole time, we've been trying to help Zelda, but this time, even though she wasn't with us, she saved us. Where would we have ended up if it wasn't for the pendent she give me? Thank you, Zelda, I thought silently, and prayed to the Goddesses for us to succeed in our journey, that we may save her and bring her back to us.

The cliff trail descended down into the grass, where we stopped for the night. We slept in shifts again, as we were still too close to the mountain to be safe. But the night remained quiet, and even though that made me even more nervous, the night passed uneventful.

The prince woke me up still early in the dawn, and with hardly any time to wake, we were off once more. The further we walked, the more water was standing in between the soft, healthy grass. Soon, the land became like a swamp, although this one was less sticky and miserable. Many mobies lived here. We were never attacked, but we received many warnings. They flapped their large, brown wings threateningly at us. And those wings were gigantic and strong enough to make a senior warrior flinch. Everytime they opened their prey hunting beaks, a shrill screech came out and echoed across the corners of the world!

We left the land as quickly as we were allowed, which was a good thing indeed. Because we have overstayed our visit, and some of the mobies tried to charge us straight out. Luckily, no serious damage was done to either of us.

It took us the better of the day to finally reach the town's graveyard. The day had been full of beasts out for my blood. I was quickly growing tired of, at every turn, seeing monsters turn to greed thinking about their chance for success, and chanting their cause along their members.

For a rumor, there were a lot of believers in Ganon's army. It made me wonder if they had a plan after all. Tog said some wizzrobes may have the power to bring him back, and I knew Ganon had quite a few in his army, but since the start of this quest, I haven't seen any. Perhaps they were hiding away, gathering their resources and studying the spells for my return. I shook the image from my head, if that was true, I hope I never have the see the wizzrobes.

The town's graveyard was the largest of any in Western Hyrule, covering the entire southern span of Mido. But, despite this, being among the tombs gave me a sense of quiet beauty. The late sun began its retreat for the end of its sky, casting a warm yellow down on the smooth graves. The tombs were made out of many different materials, some made with light quartz, others with granite. The old king who set me up to being the chosen one was said to be buried here. His tomb was the biggest of any, and stood in the center of the graveyard. The gray cross right at the top towered high and caught most of the sun's warm light. Flowers of many colors were laid down respectfully on the tall base.

The beach wasn't too far away either. Calm waves lapped over the shore just a few yards away from the border of the graveyard. The soft sounds, collected with the beautiful light and smells of flowers and sea spray, was a fitting resting place. I thought the scene to be very honoring for the passed.

It was hard not to become lost in it all, but we were here with a purpose. Now wasn't the time to visit the fallen. A mile past the rows of tombstones, I can see the harbor town of Mido ahead of us. The buildings were tall and white, making this city feel very different from the others. It was like the city caught what remained of the sun and shot it at every direction so it looked like the centerpiece of the beach. The ships at the end of the dock were magnificent and large from all the way over here. They rocked and creaked with the rolling of the waves, and I heard people shouting, crates thudding, and ship bells being struck.

As we were nearing the town, I felt the prince grasp my arm. "We must be careful," He warned. "The town of Saria was corrupted. What if this town is as well? We'll never know what to expect."

"I know, but if we're to reach the Island Palace, we have to enter town." But I was already nervous about that thought, and the more we neared the streets, the more I glanced around us and tried to keep watch on every passerby.

When no one even bothered to look at us, His Majesty continued. "How are we even supposed to find a ship? Everyone knows the island is unreachable. No sane person will offer a finger to help us."

"The island may be too dangerous to reach by boat, but there has to be another way. The old king of Hyrule wouldn't have made a palace for the chosen one if he can't even reach it. I'm sure this is just another challenge."

But he wasn't convinced. "They're going to make a laughing stock out of us! I can't handle that, not with my reputation."

"Here, you're not a prince." I reminded him, edging closer to him to let him hear the seriousness of my hushed tones. "This is all we have to go on, or this quest stops here."

He stood there for a minute, chewing the idea over. When he spoke next, he sounded upset, but willing. "Fine, but this better get us somewhere."

I nodded, and led him through the docks. I was still feeling cautious about the people here, but they seemed pretty normal. Soon, I started to feel more comfortable in town again. The citizens were going about their day like usual. The markets were open, and vendors advertised, greeted, and smiled behind their stalls. The smells of fresh caught fish mingled with warm bread.

The markets by the dock were bustling. A crowd had gathered around us, and chatter settled in the air. Beyond that, I can hear the cries of sea gulls and the commotion by the ships become louder as we neared the work site.

We approached a large ship with pearl white sails. Workers carried crates and barrels aboard the deck, and others were tending to needs to ready the ship to sail out. If anyone here would be capable of helping us, the captain of this ship will be the most likely to.

I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. "Link," His Highness whispered. I turned to him and he gestured towards the deck. I followed his gaze to an older man, dressed of high rank, and calling with leadership and authority. That must be the captain.

He wasn't too far from the edge of the ship. Still trying to stay out of the workers' way, I came to the end of the dock and raised my voice. "Excuse me, Sir! Are you the captain of this ship?"

To my surprise, I had spoke high enough to catch his attention. The man turned and looked at me. His face was weathered and rough from experience on the sea. "I am." He answered in a strong voice. "What is it that you need of me?"

"We wish to talk with you, if you can spare a moment of your time."

He nodded and marched past the rail and to the board leading down onto the dock. As he made his way down to us, he slapped the passing workers on the back and complimented their work so far. Then, he moved out from the board and stood before us. "Now what is it that you want to talk about?" He asked, folding his arms across his burly chest.

"We just came to town and we were wanting to find a ship to sail on."

The captain nodded and stroked the end of his furry white beard. "I suppose... If you can pay the fine, we'll take you with us. We were heading for Eastern Hyrule tomorrow morning as it was anyway."

Then, a pang of nervousness arose in my gut, and I looked to my companion for support, but he remained silent. So I continued. "Well, Sir, we were hoping..." The captain lifted his eyebrows. "You can take us to the Island Palace."

As predicted, he nearly fell over on his face with belly laughter. My companion, His Highness, threw up his arms in frustration and walked a few feet back, staring out to the sea. I didn't say anything further, not with the captain laughing as hard as he was. Passing workers and crewmen glanced back at us, but continued working.

The captain's roar went on for a good while before he finally calmed down and had to catch his breath. That was when I spoke. "Captain, I know the island has always been difficult to reach, but I can tell you are very experienced. If anyone can reach it, I'd bet you can. We can even pay you a lot of money for it."

He exhaled one last time before standing straight, a bright gleam still in his eye. "What? You're telling me you're serious? This isn't some kind of joke?"

"I wish it was."

Suddenly serious, he cleared his throat. "Lad, I hope you trust me when I say there's no way I can help you then."

I started to object, but he spoke above me. "I'm not going to risk the lives of my ship and crew to drop off two young boys," He spat it out like it was an insult, "On an abandoned island that the best sailor can not even reach. Not even for the King's treasures!" He huffed, and turned back to his ship.

But I wasn't done yet, not without a lead of what to do next. "Captain, wait!" To my surprise, he heard me and stopped. His back was still towards me, but he had turned his head. "Please, if you won't do this, then at least point us to someone who will help."

"What you're looking for is not a sailor. No, if there is any way to reach that island, you're going to need a strong wizard." Still not bothering to turn around, he brought up his arm and stuck his thumb pointing across the street. I glanced in his direction. He was pointing an old house just across the stone pathway off the dock. "That's the town elder's house." The captain gave a low growl. "Good luck, you're going to need it. The elder never really liked strangers who wastes his time, especially now that his granddaughter is sick." Then, without bothering to say farewell, he made for his ship again.

"He seems like a charming fellow." The prince said with tough sarcasm after the captain was out of sight. "What do we do now? We're back where we started, even worse now that we can't rely on a ship."

"I don't know," I admitted. "I'm at a loss. But it's too soon to give up yet. I say, let's find an inn and decide what to do in the morning."

"Probably the best we can do now anyways." He agreed. "With rested minds, we might be able to come up with new plans."

I shrugged, picking up the pace back for the street. I was out of ideas, and the last thing I wanted to do was to sleep away at an inn. But if I was determined enough to continue running around, we would be awake all night. And then, everywhere will be closed and people sleeping.

But as our feet met the stone road, I found myself staring up at the elder's home. The captain was most likely being sarcastic when he said the elder might be able to help, but for some reason, I suddenly felt like that may be our strongest lead right now. I wondered if he was still awake this late in the evening.