Black lagoon

A click? No, I must have been dreaming. Or maybe it was just rain. I snuggled a little more with Zelda, she was sleeping like a baby and I planned to do the same. I buried my nose in her neck and wouldn't move from there until she forced me to get up.

Hell, no. There was noise outside.

I rubbed my eyes because I was unable to open them and sat inside our tent. My dagger had to be somewhere, I rummaged through blankets and rumpled clothes and found it. The third click sounded crisp against the canvas of our tent. I took one last look at Zelda, who was undeterred, pulled on my boots and went outside.

There was still no light, the whole camp was calm, everyone sleeping in the tents. I ordered the boys not to stand guards, we were more than surrounded by Kahen's guard, it was a good opportunity to rest well all night. I yawned and tried to stretch a little, my shoulder still hurt, and my leg, and I wanted to sleep for a whole night under a dry roof and on a feathers bed. With my wife. And of course, after what had happened, I thought I'd do a lot more with my wife besides sleeping. The Nest was still a long way from us, damn it.

I took a few steps around the camp. You could hear the sound of streams, of rare birds and other nocturnal animals, and the song of thousands of insects, frogs and... goddesses, there seemed to be a million lives in the darkness of that strange forest. I wouldn't even call it a forest, it was the strangest forest I had ever seen, dad and the twins would be surprised to see such a place.

"Again with that ridiculous weapon? You don't learn your lesson, Master Link..."

I turned and saw the wolf, docile and sitting on his hind legs, as if he were a dog. Next to him was one of the spirits, the one with the eye patch. I sheathed the dagger and approached them cautiously. They were a bit out of the way, there was no one around.

"I thought I'd never see you again."

"And we thought you'd take part, as you promised. Instead, I've found you sleeping and wasting your time."

"I was going to take part. At dawn, we had a plan."

"You have to be on your own, we told you that. Besides being lazy you're deaf, I've had to throw at least ten stones at your tent," he protested, folding his arms.

"I was sleeping with my wife, I didn't hear you, but I'm here and that's what matters, right?"

"Did you hear that, wolf? He was with his wife. Hardly anyone has made it this far, I suppose there are some luckier than others," he smiled, halfway. The wolf licked his fingers.

Of all the Masters of the Sword, the one I disliked the most (and the one who had been the most vicious to me) was the guy with the patch. I looked around in case I saw the others.

"Where are your friends?"

"It's just the two of us," he smiled, knowing I didn't like him very much, "ready to go?"

"Yes."

"Farore, give me patience. Go and find a more decent weapon if you don't want to keep embarrassing me," he complained.

Careful not to wake anyone, I reached for my sword and also for my leather forearm protectors. It was very hot in that forest, but the idiot with the patch was right, some protection couldn't hurt.

As we walked away I took one last look at the camp. They'd be well protected, wouldn't they? If Kahen lifted a finger against any of them...

"Your little wife will be fine, don't suffer," the guy said, in his mocking tone, "She could defend herself much better than you can imagine."

"As if you knew her at all."

"Deep down they're all the same, aren't they, wolf?" He let out a laugh.

We moved on through the forest and I could no longer see the ground. A sort of mist was covering it, and it grew thicker as we went on. I stopped for a moment.

"What is it now?"

"We shouldn't go on. Kahen's in charge, he forbade us to come. Zelda has the right to disobey him, after all she's his sister and the princess of Hyrule, but I'm not-

"Do you trust that Kahen?"

"I don't."

He squinted his one eye and kept going, with the wolf in the lead. Then they both stopped, just as the mist became almost a wall of smoke in which nothing could be seen, no trees, no path... nothing.

"The trial is obvious. Your eyes are useless. We always face our fears blindly, because blindness is the origin and end of many fears. That's why evil takes refuge in the dark, wraps in it. Do you dare to face this enemy in the dark?"

"I can't move forward if I don't see anything."

"Don't use your eyes, if you do, this enemy will catch you."

He handed me a piece of cloth and stepped aside. Well, I wasn't going to see much in the fog anyway. I blindfolded myself with the cloth and unsheathed my sword to continue on my own to the end.

It was curious, because I managed to advance quite skilfully despite not knowing the way, despite being blind. I just let my intuition drag me along, as if an invisible thread was pulling me. However, with each step a kind of uneasiness weighed more and more heavily on my stomach and in my mind. "What if this trial ended with me? How was I going to protect Zelda and my family? Maybe I wasn't worthy of trying. I was an outsider, a guy with the best of luck and the worst of luck.

I stopped as my feet began to sink into a bog, a waterlogged, muddy surface. The Spring of Courage. It couldn't be any other way. I heard a noise, as if something was stirring in the mud, and there was a stench that stirred my guts. My heart beat like a drum, and at the first noise I slashed the air with my sword. There was more than one enemy, I could hear and smell their rotting flesh, surrounding me. I couldn't imagine what it would be, from the smell I could only imagine it as death. It smelled like when a deer or a wild boar was gut-wounded in a hunt, it smelled of scattered entrails, of rotting flesh. One of the creatures grazed my back and I scrambled as fast as I could. This time my slash went into something hard, more a mixture of skin and bone than flesh. With my foot I levered it out and managed to wrench the blade away. The creature groaned but kept moving. My legs began to itch, surely it was the poison from the spring, I was dizzy and numb and my strength began to waver. Gods, how could I have listened to these visions, what if I was going mad and they were only in my head? I heard a scream in the distance. It was a woman's scream.

"Zelda!"

"Don't get distracted or the poison will get to her too!"

I gripped the hilt of my sword and screamed, the creatures screamed back with horrendous sounds. I slashed back and forth, I found flesh and bone, if they were animals or monsters I must have been organising a real slaughter. But I couldn't let them reach Zelda or the camp, I had to put an end to it, blindly, any way I could.

"Enough! enough!"

I kept cutting monsters, until I started to feel the tension disappearing.

"Are they gone?" I asked the Master, "you're there?"

I splashed through the spring and over the remains of my massacre. I took a breath, but goddesses, it was a disgusting, suffocating air... I just wanted to climb a mountain to breathe clean air, cool my nose and lungs. I lifted only the edge of the bandage that covered my eyes and saw at my feet a water as black as night.

"By Or and by all the goddesses..."

I was alone and all I saw were pieces of corpse, bones, skin and rotting flesh. What kind of creatures had corrupted the waters? I couldn't stand the disgust any longer and threw up on the side. Then I used the same cloth over my eyes to cover my nose and mouth and began to remove the remains of... hell, of those living dead, in order to allow the waters to begin to clear again. I had to rub my eyes a couple of times, for it seemed to me as if from the stone statue in the centre of the spring a kind of light was emerging. Just at the foot of the statue the water flowed clear, pure, and there I washed my hands and face once I had removed all the corpses. It was almost dawn by the time I'd finished, and I heard drums and shouts again.

I ran towards the camp, I didn't know the way back as I had gone blindfolded, but I knew the camp was to the south, so I ran through the forest trying to get there as quickly as possible.

When I reached the camp, I found a pitched battle. A horde of monsters and wraiths like the ones we'd faced on the border had overrun us. Ardren and Impa were shielding Zelda, who was also defending herself as best she could, there were hundreds of bokoblins and other monsters besieging the camp. I unsheathed my sword and joined the battle, slashing my way to where my friends were.

"Captain! It's about time!" Ardren exclaimed.

"Are you all right? Zelda?"

"Where the hell have you been?", she complained.

Just when we thought the battle was over, dark moblins appeared, carrying heavy weapons, torches... shit, there were hundreds, maybe thousands. Little by little they surrounded us and all of Kahen's men in a circle.

"Things get ugly, Captain," Fridd murmured behind my back.

"Damn it, where were they hiding?"

The pressure was growing, and even though we managed to kill enemies, we were trapped inside a mousetrap. A storm of hot rain unloaded on our heads, the men were tired and their blows were getting weaker and clumsy. I saw them dying like flies. I felt my whole body burning, its tension on the verge of bursting after almost perishing at the Spring of Courage.

"Link..." Zelda's back collided with mine, we were cornered.

I looked over my shoulder and in her eyes I found only terror and helplessness.

"Don't give up yet, we have to get out of here."

The Masters should show up to help us, or they could give me a sign. What was the purpose of facing trials if a horde of monsters were going to end everything right there?

In the midst of the forest a horn boomed. And as if a whirlwind had stirred the leaves of the lush greenery around us, I heard the whistling of spears and swords, and the monsters turned against whatever was attacking them from behind.

"A gerudo army!" Zelda exclaimed.

Thousands of amazons appeared out of nowhere, with long spears and curved swords. They skewered monsters, they crushed them. They moved with an agility that made them seem to dance rather than fight, I have never seen anything like it in my life. Little by little they sapped the enemy's strength, until the monsters began to flee. Cowardly rats. The gerudo prince also appeared, with a long sword, leading his army to save us from the siege.

"Captain Link, are you all right?" He asked, approaching us.

"We're fine, but we don't know anything about Prince Kahen, his tent is further away."

"I'm going to get him, don't move from here, this area is safe now."

I nodded and saw him walk away with two of his captains, who were ousting the few monsters that were still around.

I breathed for the first time. I don't know what I had to look like, because Zelda looked at me almost in fear at first, just before sighing and hugging me. She trembled and squeezed me tightly.

"Where's Fridd?" Ardren asked.

"He was close to us," Impa said.

We began to look for him desperately, in the heavy rain and among the mountain of chaos everywhere.

"Captain!"

He was lying on the ground, with a huge black moblin beheaded at his feet.

"You'd frightened us, stone head," I said, kneeling beside him.

Zelda raised his arm to examine him and under the side...

"No, by Or..."

"It's serious, I know" he whispered. His eyes were crying, I'd never seen Fridd cry before.

"No, you'll be cured," I lied. Broken ribs, viscera and... I grabbed Fridd's hand, I was surprised at how cold he was, at his weakness.

"Don't leave me here, I have to go back home."

"Nobody's going to leave you here, damn it," I said, feeling that tears were rolling down my face, too.

"Take me to my mother."

"We'll all come back home together, you with us," I squeezed his hand. That seemed to calm him down a little bit and turned his head back.

"I just want to get some rest..."

"You'll be just fine."

"Link... " whispered Zelda beside me.

"It's going to heal," I insisted, looking her in the eye. Her eyes were from a different green than the forest, and the compassion in them only made me feel even more pain.

"Hard-headed asshole! I told him not to walk away from the circle," Ardren said, kicking in the air.

Gradually I noticed Fridd's hand leaving with him, the tension of his fingers loosening, like the one who falls asleep. Blood was coming out of his mouth and tears of his eyes. He died staring at the leafy roof of Faron.

I cried on his chest. It was my fault, if I hadn't gone after the spirits… I tried to cover his wound, return the blood to his body. He'd never have wanted to die in Hyrule, the land of his enemies, away from his mountains and his mother. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't even breathe. It was Zelda who pulled me back to myself a bit.

"Calm down, breathe," she whispered, and cradled me. She allowed me to cry on top of her.

It was all a little confusing afterwards. The rain ceased and Ardren and I sat silently, around a small fire. I know Impa and Zelda were taking over Fridd. I couldn't even think about it. It wasn't true, in my head Fridd was still alive and he'd cook us something for dinner, to recover from the battle. I don't know how long we were there, but when I raised my eyes from the fire, I saw the gerudo prince approach.

"Captain Link," he said, and offered me a drink of his canteen. I accepted it and gestured for him sit with us.

"You saved us. Thank you for coming with your army," I said, leaving behind all formality.

"When I was returning from the expedition through Gerudo Canyon, we heard something, like a tremor. Thousands of monsters came out of nowhere, from the ground. It seemed to sprout as if there was a volcano of darkness underground. I saw a horde going into Faron, I knew the prince was here."

"Is he okay?" I asked out of courtesy. I didn't care if he was pierced by a spear or not.

"I'm fine."

I looked up and saw Prince Kahen, his face as pale as that of his soldiers.

"What about my sister?"

"She's safe."

"Let her know I came here. I'd like us all to talk later."

Night was falling on the camp as it reached some semblance of normality, so to speak. Normality because the campfires were burning again, some people were having a bite to eat and others were finishing dressing their wounds. We had piled the corpses of the monsters in various mounds with the intention of burning them as soon as they had dried out a bit, it was no longer raining, but it had been raining for most of the day and we were not going to get the flames going properly. It was the same with Fridd. We couldn't take him with us to the West, but that was his only wish, so we would burn him according to the tradition of our people and keep his ashes to give them to his mother.

But before that, we had to put the whole truth in the fire.

As if it were a kandar, around the bonfire we saw all the faces: Kahen, Zelda, Impa, Ardren, Ganondorf and me.

"Well?" Ganondorf asked Kahen. He had disappeared for most of the day, once we agreed to talk. He returned with a darker complexion and soaked to the waist in water.

"Nothing," he said, waving his head, "the goddesses don't listen to me. We'll have to talk to my father."

"Talk about what?" Zelda intervened.

"We need to use the Triforce to put an end to all this at once. You know that power grants a wish to the possessor."

"We could wake it up and placate the enemy," Ganondorf said, "use that enormous power to lock the monsters into their land forever. The gerudo army will need a recognition of the king for such a feat, I hope..."

" I said yes. Always thinking about the same thing. You and your stupid independence that no one cares about," Kahen protested.

"Wait," Zelda stood up, "have you made a promise to Ganondorf without having Father's consent?"

"He saved our life, Zelda. What else do you want?" Kahen protested.

"What is the origin of all this?" Impa intervened, "it's time to speak plainly."

"We didn't think it would get so out of control...," Kahen said, kicking in the air, "We only intended to set boundaries with enemies to ensure peace. Father has been growing old on that throne for years without lifting a finger, I couldn't stand by and watch how..."

"Watch how..." Zelda repeated, approaching dangerously to face her brother.

"Watch how he gives power to others. Either give it out or do something stupid."

"Goddess... it doesn't make any sense...," she sighed, dropping to sit on the ground.

"I've already told Captain Link that the gerudo people are only chasing one thing," Ganondorf intervened, "and we will never rest until we get it. Once we have controlled the enemy-

"You can't control him," I intervened. Everyone turned around to look at me.

"What does a foreigner know about all this?" Kahen said, with all his disdain.

"Not much," I stood up, "I know that war feeds him, that darkness. War and ambition. And I know that if it wasn't for those mistakes, right now I'd be at my house warming my feet in the chimney with my wife and family. And my friends."

"I'm sorry about your friend, but we're discussing more important things." Kahen said.

"Link, no," Zelda stood between me and her brother just in time.

I had to breathe before I could keep talking.

"Whatever this has started, we can't stop it now. It's written. It always happens, every hundred or thousand years. But there is something that can overcome the darkness, not only the power of your family. There is a magic weapon. Without that, it won't be possible to seal the darkness."

"How do you know that? You're just a foreigner without any knowledge about Hyrule." Kahen again threw his disdain at me.

I kept quiet and decided to sit down, clenching my fists.

"We have to travel to the Spring of Power," I just said.

There was silence on everyone's part.

"I think we should go to that spring, as Captain Link proposes," Ganondorf said, "There it is also possible to awaken the Triforce of the goddesses. My army will travel there."

"It would be easier to tell my father to give it to us once and for all," Kahen grumbled.

I looked at Zelda. Her eyes were nailed to the fire, and her spirit was far away. She was pondering her own ideas, her own plans. We finished the kandar and agreed not to decide anything until the next day.

For our part, we prepared the pyre to goodbye Fridd.

We put it on top of a hill, in an area clear of trees. Ardren gave me a torch. I lit the fire on Fridd's cloak and watched as it spread through the wood and ignited the candle oil we had poured on his body. When I saw that it was burning brightly, I moved away, to watch it burn in the distance, along with the others.

Zelda wept silently, Ardren not so much. I was unable to shed any more tears, I felt a huge anger, a mixture of helplessness and resignation. I just wanted to punch something until my fists bled. My friend burned with Or because one spoilt prince and another, consumed by ambition, had played at wanting to control the uncontrollable.

But he always ends up waking up for one reason or another.

Said the voice of one of the Masters in my head.

"Captain Link," Impa whispered beside me. "I only trust the people in this circle."

"Same here."

"I'll help you. But only your cause and the princess'. You're my only loyalties."

"I appreciate it."

A gust of wind moved the flames of the pyre northward.

Dear Or, take Fridd with you. Invite him to drink in your halls, in a great rhino horn, not in a metal cup of King Rhoam, he wouldn't like that. Let him watch over his mother from afar, let him protect his father at the command of your iron axe. He is a good man, a brother. And when my day comes, if you want to take your anger out on someone, if he has not fulfilled your designs, then take it out on me. I will be ready to give you whatever you ask of me.