VI







Navi chose that moment to wake up and start flitting around my head, her glow dancing off the greenery.

"Saria? Are you there?" she called. Her voice rang dead in the heavy air, the reverberations dull and thudding to the grass. Slowly, I took a step forward into the dimly lit clearing. A mournful crow let out its regretful call into the silence. I went forward a few more steps, my leather boots squeaking with each movement, the dirt gritting under my soles.

"Saria?" I whispered in my mind, since the words refused to grace my throat. I reached the stump and stared at it for a long moment, studying numbly the long grass curling around the low edge of its natural seat. An empty chair...

Oh Goddesses, Saria, I thought. A warm tear slid down my cheek, slipping out from reddened eye. The fatigue from before hit me full force and my knees buckled, all energy I possessed draining out into the dark green. I felt as though I was bleeding out my life's essence invisibly, loneliness drinking deep of my soul. I sniffled. Just a sniffle, but something welled in my being, a grief of losing... a mother? A best friend? I had never known a mother, not past Saria. In fact, I knew nothing of that term, "mother," until I visited Hyrule castle town for the first time. All those years of living in the forest, I felt as though I was missing something, lacking a part of my being. When I found out what a mother was, the hole was evident and named. That empty stump was like the final blow to my heart. At least, it seemed that way, at the time...

My lids were weighted with heavy sleep and I felt as though I could no longer hold them open, not for anything. Not even to look for Saria. It was too dark, anyway. As I lied down, I decided I would search for her in the morning. I leaned against the side of the stump, my arms folded and the tears spilling down my cheeks. The rough bark scraped sharply against my elbow as I slowly fell asleep, mourning for the forest child who was my surrogate mother...

"Saria?" I called. The air around me was full of a chill as my eyelids popped open. An owl hooted off in the distance and something rustled in the wild grass of the meadow. There was the sound of someone tuning an ocarina. I sat up and looked about, my eyes adjusting to the dim, blue light. In the misty shadows, someone sat, small and prim, upon Saria's stump.

"Saria?" I said again, then touched my throat, realising that my voice was back. There was the sound of giggling as the figure on the stump jumped up and ran away into the ghostly fog.

"No, please, Saria, come back!" I cried. Clumsily, I got up from my place on the ground and stumbled after the figure. The giggles faded and my foot caught on a root, sending me headlong into the grass, twisting my leg. I cried out in pain.

"Just hold still! It will only take a moment," a voice said. I opened my eyes and the saw that it was morning. There at my feet, rebinding my wounded leg tightly, was the mysterious Sheik. I opened my mouth to protest, but found quickly, to my immense disappointment, that my voice was still gone. I gritted my teeth as he yanked on the bandage, tying it off and ripping the fabric short with a dagger he pulled out of his boot. He looked at me cautiously with his flaming, red eyes and I nodded in thanks. He nodded back. Quickly, Sheik put away the roll of bandage cloth and stood. He rested his hands on his hips, calmly, and his stance seemed similar to that of Impa's, the last time I saw her. I wanted to ask him if he had known her, but I had no way of getting that across and he started talking anyway.

"Do you feel the evil that pervades this place, Hero of Time?"

I nodded and he continued.

"This temple, it used to be a sacred dwelling, a home of innocence and holiness. It was a sanctuary, a place where the forest spirits moved about freely, conversing with chosen Kokiri."

Like Saria... I thought. Sheik continued.

"But now, it is dark, brooding, defiled by the corruption of Ganondorf. It has been taken prisoner by the forces of darkness, held captive by demons, with the sage locked inside. You must save that sage, hero."

Sheik paused for a long, silent moment, then turned to face me and pulled out a harp. He plinked a chord, head bowed, then looked up, his eyes meeting mine in a hard, studying stare.

"I cannot aid you with vanquishing the lightless forces which reside beyond these walls, but I can give you a song to bring you back to this meadow, if need be. Take out your ocarina and I will teach it to you."

I nodded slowly, trying to accept this new bend of my venture in the best mindset possible. I slid a hand into my pocket and pulled out the cold, blue ocarina. It shimmered like a blue pearl, polished in creamy hues of diamond dust.

"This is the Minuet of Forest," Sheik said solemnly, and set to playing a tune that was light and airy, yet dutiful in execution. I followed as best I could on my borrowed instrument, a few of my notes sour and shaky. Finally, we finished and the warrior nodded.

"Remember it well. Goddess speed in this quest, and I will see you again." With that, he flicked his wrist and there was a small burst of light. When the resulting smoke cleared, he was gone. I stood there for a moment, collecting myself mentally. The breeze in the meadow moved about restlessly, stirring the dying leaves at my feet. I then turned about, the temple before me, solemn, silent, challenging me to conquer it. Finding a way in was my first task.

With a sense of heroic anticipation, I gathered up my things and headed for the large, dead tree which stood by the decayed stairs. Always the hard way in for me. I can't even take the stairs, I thought to myself, sarcastically. Without much effort, I scaled the rotting trunk and dropped to the platform of the main entryway. The cold, grey, stone door yawned open in my face, a gaping maw. I felt like the fry about to be swallowed by the pike. The strong urge to turn back jumped up in me, again. I wanted to run, to hide, to forget. You know how that feels... That slight, sour fear in your gut; the one that bites right there? Right where you can't get to it... I closed my eyes and thought of Saria. Her emerald hair, deep green eyes, reflective as a pool in a verdant, hidden meadow. I contemplated her sweet face, the very embodiment of the sacred forest spirit. I could not abandon my first love in that temple because of a few butterflies in my stomach. It wasn't right to leave her to the unclean entities which had set to devour her and the world I knew. It was my duty to rescue her. It was my calling, one I was bound to by faithfulness and fate. I would save her, fear or no fear.

"Come on Link! Let's go!" called Navi. She flitted through the opening, her azure glow lighting the way for me. Silently, I followed.

Long, damp vines hung from the ceiling and walls of the passageway. They dangled in my face, serving as an irritant. The entry was short, however, and I was soon in a large room with grass and rocks for a carpet. On the other end was a small, wooden door with stained glass set in the frame. Of course, I headed for it, but I should have remembered to be more cautious. A tell-tale howl erupted from a dark corner, and a wolfos bounded toward me, full speed, tooth and claw beared. I whipped out my sword, the blade singing as it left the hilt, and I slashed the creature across the neck, lopping off its head. Yet, before I had a chance to celebrate my good aim, another came out of the shadows and caught me off-guard. It tackled me from behind and bit my shoulder, its sharp, yellow teeth digging fiercely into my flesh. I screamed out and grabbed a rock. Desperately, I pounded the stone on the wolfos forehead as it relentlessly tore at me. I finally became too much of an annoyance for it to continue, and the hairy beast let up. I took that moment to grab my sword, which I had dropped in the ambush, and set to hacking at the creature as best I could. It put up a fight, but I was so enraged that the outcome was in my favour. Covered in blood and shaken, I sheathed my sword, then continued to the stained-glass door.

As the bolt clicked behind me, I looked ahead into the dim light of the next room. In the center, there were four torches lit, each with a different hued flame: red, green, purple, and orange. I had never seen fire like that in my life, but before I had a chance to inspect this interesting phenomena, there was the sound of cackling. Four shadows swirled about, forming into pear-like shapes with arms, one by each flame. The cackling continued, and the figures began a sort of dance. Then, together, they recited a mocking poem.

Amy, Beth, Meg, and Joelle,

We be the sisters poe!

Run away, if you can

Fear us true, mortal man!

Green, orange, purple, red,

Mix the hues of the dead

Dark, and black here will be

So no light eyes shall see!

They spun about and disappeared with those words, taking almost all the light in the room with them. Navi's glow was all the illumination left. Her light danced weak and red off of the walls.

"The nerve of them!" she cried. "Those poes deserve to be taught a lesson!" I shrugged, not sure what to do. I didn't care about the light in the room. All I wanted was to find Saria. Forget the poes. They weren't my main worry. I motioned for Navi to hover before me as I walked down the steps. She did so, talking all the while.

"I don't understand the reasoning of those poes! Is there any point to stealing the light in this room? And that poem! Humph! Even Mido's faerie could write something like that! They need to take a class! You know what, Link?" She didn't wait for me to make any sort of gesture and continued. "I bet those creeps are holding Saria prisoner! I bet they took those torches so that you can't find her! I bet she's right in this very room!"

For once, Navi's words actually made me stop. I turned and looked at her, bobbing up and down in the stale, dark air. Why hadn't I thought of that? It was all too blatant. Why else would they take the torch light? Of course they knew who I was. My presence had probably been long-expected, my coming heralded by the traveling, watchful forest shadows. The poes had known all along. They would be prepared. The only trouble was, where were they? I scratched my head, trying to think. Many things crowded my conscience. I needed to save Saria. Malon was alone and afraid on that ranch. Hyrule was counting on me. All of Hyrule. That hit me out of the... dark. (Pardon the pun.) All of Hyrule. Just me? Only me trying my hardest to save it? I felt suddenly like I had bit off much more than I could chew. Not that I would give up. I had Navi... and I seemed to have an ally in Sheik, even though I had only see him twice. Yet I had the feeling I would be seeing a bit more of him throughout things.

"Link! Link! Come on, let's find Saria!" I realised that Navi was yelling in my ear and had been for a few seconds. I looked at her, a blank stare on my face.

"Link! Hello! Wake up!" I waved a hand toward the faerie, sending her into a spiral from the air currents. She momentarily glowed red, then piped up again, her attention turned to one of the off branching halls in the room. "What about that, Link?" she asked. I walked over to it, ready to try anything. It was just a hall. There was a door at the end. Cautiously, I reached out and gripped the knob. Wincing, expecting for something to pop out and bite me, I turned the handle. I braced myself.

Nothing happened.

Nothing? That was odd. I opened my eyes, having shut them in expectancy, and was amazed to see another hall before me. A twisted hall. In the other end, the door was upside down! I scratched my head, glad for the torch light, but more than a little bit confused. "Link, the hall is turned like licorice!" Navi exclaimed. I silently thanked her for pointing out the obvious. Curiously, I slowly walked forward, sure that some trap would spring. But nothing happened. Nothing at all. In fact, as I walked, it was as if the hall wasn't even odd. I felt as though I was walking down a straight way. Upon reaching the end, I turned about, and to my amazement, the end where I had come from was upside down, from my perspective. It was very, very... odd. I shrugged it off, though, and headed on through the door. I found myself in a room with blockish pillars jutting out from the floor, walls, and ceiling at perpendicular angles. And I thought the hall had been strange. As I stood there, taking in this strange area, my guard was momentarily let down. That's when the whooshing sound met my ears. A shadow glided overhead, and stopped above me. I glanced up, one phrase entering my mind before everything went black. What the...?



Malon had watched Link run out of the corral, tears streaming down her face. Then she had stood there, trying to force her anger to ebb. Finally, she had set to work, dragging Ingo inside of the ranch house, up the stairs, and to his room where she lied him on his bed, then made her way to the stables where she cried in the hay, praying to the Goddesses that he wouldn't beat her in the morning. She fell asleep in the itchy straw, her eyes still damp, her hands still clasped in a plea to the divine. A sharp pain in her side served as a rude awakening. "Get up, ungrateful whore!" Malon opened her eyes to the sight of Ingo's leathery face, contorted in a mask of anger. There was a large bottle in his hand, half-emptied already. He kicked her in the side a second time and screamed at her to get up. Malon obliged, scared out of her wits. A barrage of insults hit her first. Words that she would never dare repeat, wished she didn't know. Then the pushing, and the fists. The morning beating had begun. Link, I'm sorry, please come back! she cried in her mind.



But Link couldn't hear her.



He was being strangled to death by a shadow dweller.



To be continued.





Author's Note: Sorry so short you guys! I've been working on this chapter for over a month, since I have been busy. It is very hard for me to write anything now. Most of the stuff I start ends up abandoned. I figured I had better post it short, or I would never post it at all. Hopefully, I will be able to come out with more within the month. ~ Robin W.