Author's Notes: There! I told you this one wouldn't take as long, didn't I? Well, not by comparison, anyway. Don't look at me like that! I was on vacation! Moving sideways, I also made a few changes to the previous chapter. Nothing major, just a few rewordings and fixed typos. I also went into greater detail regarding the Gerudos' sleeping garments. If you care about any of that, go check it out. If not, here we go with chapter eight. Not to sound cliché, but the plot thickens.
Malon's Quest, Chapter 8-By Illjwamh
"What do you mean you can't reach her?" Link demanded. "How is that possible?"
"I don't know," Zelda admitted. She sat down slowly on her bed, looking as if she'd seen a ghost. "It was like she wasn't even there."
"Let me try," said Link. He pulled the Spirit Medallion that Nabooru had given him from its place on the inner side of his belt. Holding it in both hands out in front of him, he concentrated. The medallion began to levitate, as they all did when he used them to talk to the sages. He focused on Nabooru, but he too came up with nothing. It wasn't as if she couldn't hear him, or that she wasn't answering him, it was as if she wasn't there at all.
"I can't reach her either," he told Zelda after he gave up. "You're right. It's as if she just disappeared."
"What should we do?" Zelda asked. "This is serious!"
Link thought for a moment, and then came up with a decision.
"You go down into the archives like you were going to," he said. "I have a feeling this is all connected somehow anyway. I'll talk to Saria, and tell her to gather the other sages. They need to know about this. As for me, I'm going to the Spirit Temple to investigate. I can even look for Malon while I'm there."
"Right. I'll make sure the castle guard is on special alert for anything unusual."
Link chose not to make a comment regarding the competency of the castle guard, but rather wished Zelda luck, and said goodbye to her as she made off down to the archives. He exited her chamber after her, and headed in the opposite direction. He made his way down the main corridor and out the front gate. Once he was outside the castle, he pulled out his ocarina. He'd long since returned the Ocarina of Time to the hands of the royal family, but Saria had given him a new one, imbued with her sage powers. He used it to play her song and speak to her. It was easier and less draining than using the medallion. A few moments after finishing the song, he heard his friend's voice in his mind.
"Link, what is it?" she asked him. It was obvious that she knew something was not right.
"Saria, Nabooru is missing!" he told her right away.
"What!? How?"
"I'm not sure, but both Zelda and myself tried to contact her, and we couldn't even feel her essence!"
"That's bad," Saria said. "Do you know what might have happened to her?"
"Well, there have been a lot of strange things going on lately. I think you should speak with the other sages and see what you all can turn up. You guys could probably observe events in Hyrule a lot better than I could."
"Right! I need to go talk to Rauru right now! And Link…be careful."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I know you're planning on going out to the Desert Colossus. Just watch out for yourself, okay?"
Link smiled. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." With that, the connection was broken, and Link once again raised his ocarina to his lips. This time, he played the Requiem of Spirit.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Malon gulped. A glaive? She'd begun her training only a few minutes ago and they already wanted to give her a weapon? She watched nervously as Deruna ran over to a barrel containing several of the aforementioned long axes, took one out and tossed it to Mara, who then held it out to Malon.
"This will be your standard and most basic weapon," the instructor said. "It is long and can be used for easy defense, is lightweight and easy to maneuver, and is quite effective for offensive movements as well." Malon took the weapon, and noticed that it was indeed much lighter than it looked. Mara explained that the shaft was made from desert wood, which resembled driftwood in that the elements stripped it down to make it very light, but at the same time strengthened its structure, making it very durable; ideal for any weapon.
"Do you know how to hold it properly?" Mara asked. Malon had seen a few of the guards armed with these, and tried to imitate how they held it with both hands, dividing the staff into three sections. Mara only had to make one correction, and that was turning her right hand around so that her palm faced up while her left palm faced down. It took a minute or so before Malon was comfortable holding it, but Mara was patient.
"We'll start easy," Mara said, pulling a normal looking stick out of a crate sitting next to her. "I'm going to hold out this stick in front of me, and I want you to cut it in half. It's just a simple exercise to get you used to swinging the weapon."
"But what if I miss and hit you?" Malon asked worriedly. Mara just grinned.
"Don't worry. That won't be a problem at all."
So Malon took a deep breath, pulled the glaive back and swung it down hard, aiming as best she could for the center of the stick.
* * *
When Link opened his eyes again and found himself facing the daunting Desert Colossus, he was not pleased. Sand was strewn up all around him in a thickness that almost resembled a fog, and a chill wind blew, making sure that sand would not soon return to the ground. It was a rather eerie scene in a place that was usually calm, clear, and bordering on uncomfortably hot. He made up his mind to enter the Spirit Temple immediately, and seek out Nabooru in order to speak with her in person.
The moment his foot left the sacred Triforce pedestal, it began to sink into the sand. He quickly pulled it back out and stood back on the pedestal, resolving to reassess the situation. By now he no longer thought something was wrong. He knew it.
"I'm not liking this one bit," he said to himself. It was a habit that Navi had often chastised him over. "I haven't seen the desert like this since Ganondorf was in power. I really hope something hasn't happened to Nabooru."
He prepared to make for the temple again, only this time he was going to hit it at a dead run. With the help of the light boots, he figured he should have little trouble skirting over the tempestuous sand. He started in the center of the pedestal so as to build up speed, and didn't stop running until he had reached the front entrance steps of the temple.
Taking a moment to take off his boots and remove the sand that had accumulated in them during his brief run, Link looked up at the brilliantly carved sand goddess above him. The enormous idol looked as it always did, but for some reason it felt different to Link this day. It was something he couldn't put his finger on, but it was the same feeling he got from the unnaturally chill air surrounding him.
* * *
"I'm starving!" Malon exclaimed as she and Deruna headed into the fortress common for breakfast. She had spent the past few hours familiarizing herself with the fine art of holding and swinging a glaive. While she at least felt comfortable handling the weapon now, she knew it was going to be quite some time before she was prepared to use it properly.
"I'm not surprised!" Deruna said. "You trained harder than anyone I've ever seen on their first day. And it's only mid-morning!"
"Let's just say I've got a lot of motivation," Malon said as she got her food and moved to sit down. Deruna was right behind her.
"Yes, I've heard the story. I hope you don't think you'll be fit to go help your father after just a few days of training here."
"No, of course not," Malon assured her. 'But I've got to think of something fast. Who knows what those barbarians are going to do to him?'
She hid her worries from Deruna by flashing a bright smile, and commenced eating her somewhat flavorless porridge.
Later that day, Malon was back out in the training area with Mara and Deruna. They had been training for a couple of hours when Mara announced that it was nearing lunchtime.
"This early?" Malon was surprised. Hadn't they just eaten breakfast? However, Mara was as usual one step ahead of her student and let it show with a classic Gerudo smirk.
"You don't understand," she said. "We're going to catch our lunch today. Since you've never done it before, I thought I'd give you a head start so that you can hopefully catch something by the time we sit down to eat."
Malon was a little offended at Mara's assumption that she'd never caught her own food before. She had hunted small game in the field with a bow and arrow many times since she was a child. She was in reality exceptionally good at it. When this dawned on her, her attitude changed to a smug one. She would surprise these two by showing them just how good at this she was. She grinned, but discreetly enough so that the two other Gerudo did not notice. She was so caught up in the idea of showing off that she almost didn't hear what Mara said next. Almost.
"We'll be hunting on the plateau on top of that cliff over there," she said, pointing to a nearly sheer rock face a ways north of the fortress. "And we'll be using glaives, to test how much you've learned today." Malon swallowed hard. Any arrogance she'd worked up had just been utterly and completely smashed. She prepared herself for a long afternoon without food.
* * *
Link entered the Spirit Temple, and the instant he did, his feeling of uneasiness grew rapidly. He felt cold. It wasn't the same cold as the wind outside created, but rather a deep, penetrating iciness felt from the inside out. What was worse, he couldn't sense Nabooru's presence inside the temple at all. Just as he and Zelda had observed at the castle, it was like she didn't even exist.
The hero of time walked forward slowly, one step at a time. He gradually made his way toward the inner steps that would lead the way into the deeper section of the temple interior, and the two giant stone sentinels watching over it with their serpentine eyes. Ever so carefully, Link crept forward, until one step caused something to happen. A low rumbling echoed through the temple causing tiny bits of rock to fall on Link from the ceiling. This was only a minor annoyance. What really caught the young warrior's attention were the eyes of the two cobra statues. They were glowing a bright red, and moments later the ancient scripture written on the large, flat fronts of the statues vanished before his eyes.
* * *
Malon looked up the cliff, and then at the rope in her hand. It had a large metal three-pronged hook at the end, and was quite long. Mara had said this is how they were going to scale the cliff.
"You remember how I showed you to use the rope?" Mara asked.
"Yes," Malon replied hesitantly.
"Great! Then I'll see you at the top!" She took her rope, twirled the end around a few times, and then effortlessly lobbed it upward. The hook landed perfectly on the top of the cliff, and with a single tug to make sure the hold was good, Mara shot up the cliff. She didn't even place her feet on the rock. She climbed using solely her arms, and she seemed to go faster than Malon could walk.
After a few moments of staring at her instructor in awe, Malon decided it was time to try it herself. She took hold of the end of the rope, and was prepared to attempt a throw when Deruna touched her on the shoulder.
"Give a little bit more space between your hand and the hook," she said. "Like this." She demonstrated using her own rope. Malon followed her example, and then Deruna began twirling the hook, motioning for Malon to do the same.
"Don't tense up your wrist, relax," Deruna advised her. "All right, we throw on three. Ready? One… two…three!" They both released their hooks, and Malon closed her eyes tight and made a silent prayer to the three goddesses that her throw would be on target. She was jolted out of this a moment later by Deruna nudging on her shoulder.
"Okay then, let's go!" She began climbing up her rope at a brisk pace, but Malon noticed that unlike Mara, Deruna did use her feet from time to time.
"Are you coming or not?"
Malon shook her head to clear it and looked up at Deruna questioningly.
"C'mon, Mara's probably already up there wondering what's taking us so long! Get a move on, will ya?"
"You mean my rope made it?" Malon asked.
"Don't sound so surprised. We showed you exactly how to do it, and you're not exactly out of shape or anything. You need more confidence in yourself. Now let's get going I'm starting to get a little hungry."
Malon smiled and began the long climb, making sure to test the rope's stability first.
"How high is this cliff?" Malon asked exhaustedly after they'd been climbing for seemingly forever.
"We're nearly there. What's wrong? Are you tired?"
Deruna was joking, but it didn't matter to Malon. In fact, she didn't hear any of what her friend had said at all. Her arms felt as if they were on fire, and her hands were sore from holding onto the rope for so long. She was out of breath, and was beginning to feel quite dizzy. As Deruna had observed, she was not exactly out of shape. All the work she did on the farm kept her in excellent physical condition, and she would normally have been able to handle this rope climb with only moderate difficulty. For some reason however, it now seemed impossible. Apparently the lack of sufficient food and sleep over the past several days was taking its toll on her. She could climb no more, and doubted she had the strength to even cling to the rope for much longer. She tried to call to Deruna for help, but found she hadn't even the strength for that. Malon closed her eyes and began to cry.
* * *
"Hi, my name's Malon. What's yours?" The strange little boy seemed hesitant to answer, but finally spoke in a nervous voice.
"I-I'm Link."
"And he's a little shy. It's almost embarrassing, really." Malon could hear the tiny voice, but couldn't tell where it was coming from. Then, she saw a bright light over the boy's, Link's, head. She knew right away what it was, for her father loved to tell her stories of such magical beings, but she never thought she'd actually get to see one. She was quite overjoyed.
"Wow! You have a fairy! You must be a fairy boy from the woods! Is that right?" The little boy nodded sheepishly, and Malon jumped for joy.
"I bet this is your first time in the city then, right? I thought you looked lost. The city's a big place and it's easy to get lost if you don't know where you're going. I'm waiting for my Papa to come back. He went to the castle to deliver some milk, but that was a long time ago. I was getting kind of lonely here all by myself. Hey! I know! Why don't I show you around town? It'll be fun, and I'll even buy you some lunch! You look really hungry! Come on, Fairy Boy! There's lots of places that…"
- - -
………
"You can't feed them like that, you stupid bitch! We'll run out of corn after only a week!" He hit her across the face again.
"But, Master Ingo, they're starving," she pleaded. He responded by hitting her again.
"Don't talk back to me, you little whore! You will feed the cuccos as I tell you to feed them, is that understood?" He moved to hit her again, but stopped when he heard footsteps coming up the path. The cruel ranch master threw her into the barn instead.
"Don't you make a sound, do you hear me? Or so help you, you'll live to regret it!" He then slammed the door and went out to meet whatever new visitor had arrived.
Malon looked out the window and saw Ingo talking to someone, but to whom she could not see. Whoever it was asked to buy some milk and food, and Ingo showed him inside the house. She then tried to sneak out of the stables so she could peek in the window without being noticed, and find out who their visitor was. No such luck. No sooner had she exited the stables, Ingo came right back out the door. He wasn't happy at all. He raised his arm to strike her, and she cringed for the blow but it never came. She looked back up to find a young man in a green tunic holding Ingo's wrist, a stern expression on his face.
"That's no way to treat a lady," the boy said. Then he looked at her, his expression changed to one of kindness and compassion. His eyes seemed so familiar to her somehow. "Are you all right, Miss?" he asked her.
She nodded weakly in her astonishment and choked out, "Yes, thank you." She couldn't shake the feeling that she'd seen this boy somewhere before. He was stunningly handsome, but in an eerily familiar sort of way. The young man then turned to speak again with Ingo, but not before flashing her a quick smile over his shoulder…
- - -
…Malon waited all day for the young man to return as he had promised. She couldn't imagine what he was bringing for her, but it couldn't be better than saving her from Ingo the previous day. She was proven wrong however, when the young man arrived at about noon with his promised surprise.
"Father!?" Malon ran to her father who jumped down off the horse to greet her. She gave him a huge hug, then turned to the boy. He was leaning against Epona with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
"Thank you so much!" she said to him. "But please, won't you tell me who you are?"
The boy let out a little chuckle to accompany his smirk. "Come on, Malon. Don't tell me you don't recognize me. I even gave you an extra day to think about it."
Her eyes went wide. "Fairy boy!?" He simply nodded and Navi flew out from under his hat. She ran to him and hugged him. "Oh, Link! Where did you go? I thought you were dead!" He laughed at that.
"I can't be gotten rid of that easily."
- - -
"I'm still cold, Link," Malon said as she lay in her bed with a fire going and three blankets on top of her.
"Well, it was a magic arrow, so I imagine the effects will last a while," Link said.
"How long?" she was still shivering, and she felt like crying.
"I don't honestly know," he answered. Then he paused and seemed to be getting an idea. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but the best way to stay warm is from body heat."
She look up at him, and couldn't help but feel on cloud nine at what he was suggesting. She knew how he felt about beds, but he was willing to do this, for her!
"You don't have to," she said. "I know you can't stand beds."
"Nonsense," he replied. "You need to get warm, that's all that matters to me right now. I won't hear another word about it." And with that, he removed his sword, his shield, and his boots, and climbed into bed next to her.
She could tell he was a little bit uncomfortable, and that made the act so much more endearing. She smiled happily to herself and snuggled up to him as best she could. Although she was still very cold, she had never felt more content.
"Link?" she whispered.
"Yes?"
"Thank you for saving me."
- - -
Malon awoke before the sun rose, just as she had planned to. She felt Link still sleeping soundly next to her. She hugged his arms tightly around her one last time, and then eased out of his embrace. She stood up next to the bed and smiled down at him.
"I'm sorry Link," she whispered. "But I have to do this. And after you slept in a bed just for me, too." She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. "Goodbye."
* * *
Malon's dream ended as the last of her memories faded away. She opened her watery eyes to see the rope she could no longer hold just as her strength gave out. She whispered one final farewell as the last of her will power used itself up and her fingers let go of the rope.
"Goodbye, Link…"
* * *
Well, that's over and done with! Sorry abut that, I though I'd be able to finish this one before I went on vacation, but no such luck. Anyway, it's here now. I hope you all enjoyed it, or at the very least weren't repulsed by it. I'll have the next one out soon, I promise.