Brak fell to ground, unconscious and missing several more teeth than when he first entered the Cage. That left only Avar standing. Seeing his partner lying flat on the ground, he backed away cautiously from his opponent, the man who had dominated the Cage for the past week.
Link heard Avar's shuffling feet as he tried to put some distance between them. Stepping over Brak's prone form, he turned in Avar's direction. The big man was scared; Link could almost hear Avar's teeth chattering. He feigned once to the right, and Avar scrambled to the left. He feigned once to the left, and Avar quickly went right. Suddenly, Link rolled forward, toward Avar, catching him off guard. Getting quickly to his feet, he leapt high into the air, delivering a roundhouse quick roundhouse to Avar's jaw. The big man stumbled but did not fall. Link landed and struck Avar with a vicious head butt, followed by a quick kick to his right knee. Avar's legs buckled and he leaned forward, allowing Link to drive his knee up into Avar's nose.
Avar fell to the ground, several feet from Brak. Link slowed his breathing and straightened his back, ignoring the crude cheers of the crowd. Two men came into the Cage and led him out. Only then did they remove the blindfold from his eyes. His hands, however, remained secure behind his back.
* * *
Link stared out the barred window in his room, watching the setting sun, lost in thought He no longer needed to be strapped down to his bed, now that he was the undefeated King of the Cage; Bones had been making a tidy profit off of Link's four-a-day fights, and had "rewarded" him with a little more freedom than many of the other prisoners. He scratched the rough stubble on his chin; he hadn't seen much need of shaving during his captivity, and the beard was beginning to itch.
He still had a hard time reconciling the Clock Town of his youth with the prison camp it had become. From his window he saw its former inhabitants slouching along down the streets, running errands for their mercenary masters, shoulders stooped, sullen expressions clouding their once cheery faces. Their days had become one long, hellish drudgery through a horrible routine.
His days had become the same, though for the most part infinitely more violent. Every three hours he was led down the street to Barten's old bar, where he engaged in combat with hardened criminals and murderers. After his first battle with Krag, he had realized that resisting was useless, at least for the time being; if he didn't fight back, he would be killed, and then he would be of no help to anyone. Not that he wanted to provide any entertainment, however. After his first fight, he had dispatched his opponents quickly and efficiently. So quickly in fact, that the past couple of days they had been handicapping him with blindfolds and two-on-ones and things like that. But he would not kill them, which often occurred with the other competitors. He refused to sink to their level.
Since being awarded with his new freedoms, Link had been trying to figure out a way to get him and the remaining townsfolk out of this mess, but so far inspiration had eluded him. According to Anju, over half of the populace still remained trapped within the city, held hostage in one of the old storehouses. That left quite a lot of people for Link to rescue, even when he was free and didn't have a city full of mercs to contend with.
So on the whole, Link had very little to look forward to each passing day, with the exception of Anju's visits whenever she brought his meals. She was due any minute now, and this time she was bringing visitors. Bones had allowed it, much to Smitts' chagrin. As if on cue, he heard the locks being released from his door, and a moment later Smitts entered the room, scowling darkly. Anju followed him in, a little brunette girl no older than five clinging to the hem of her dress. Next came Cremia, followed by the three teenagers he had seen at his fight with Krag. Smitts' scowl darkened, and he left the room, muttering under his breath.
When he heard the last lock being sealed, Link smiled at his company, who returned the favor. "How are you today, Anju?"
"As well as can be expected, I guess. This is Kayla, by the way."
She gently nudged the little girl forward, who stared shyly down at the floor. Link smiled at her and crouched down to her level. He was still dressed in his battle gear, a sleeveless leather tunic, pants, and boots, and taped hands, so he supposed he must look a little frightening. She gingerly eyed his tattoos, as if associating him with Bones. "It's nice to meet you, Kayla," he said softly. "Your mom's told me a lot about you. She told me how smart and pretty you are, but it looks like you're even prettier than she said."
Kayla raised her eyes and smiled a little, deciding that this man wasn't like the others in the town. "I'm happy to meet you, Mr. Link. Mommy says that you helped her and daddy get married."
Link laughed. "Yes I did. I'll tell you about it sometime, but only if we can be friends. Deal?"
Her smile widened and she nodded her head eagerly, holding out her little hand. "Deal."
Link shook her hand carefully and lifted her up to sit on the bed. He turned back to the others. "It's good to see you again, Cremia," he started, staring at the woman Malon might someday grow into. The resemblance was uncanny, even though Cremia was over ten years older. "You probably don't remember me, but…"
"Of course I remember you," she replied, stepping forward to embrace him. "How could I forget? Romani wouldn't stop talking about you for months after you left, and I'll never forget how you stopped those bandits from ruining our farm. I never got a chance to thank you."
"No thanks is needed," Link told her as they broke the embrace. "I was happy to help. Speaking of which, where is Romani? Was she trapped inside when the Wall went up?"
"She was outside with Boomer," one of the teens answered, a tall, heavy kid. Link looked at them, trying to remember who they were.
"Moe?" he said, as the name came to him.
"Yeah," the kid replied, beaming. "But everybody calls me Blimp now. At least the other B.G. Boys do."
"B.G. Boys…you mean the Bomber Gang?"
"Yeah, that's us." This time it was the tall, skinny one. "We changed the name 'cause it sounded tougher, and we gave each other nick-names. My name's Scot, but you can call me Socks."
"And I'm Wheezy." Wheezy was a short, pale kid with limp black hair and sharp features. "Wil, if you remember."
"Of course I do," Link said, laughing as the memories of his short affiliation with the Bomber Gang surfaced. "You were the one who was always coughing. But what happened to Jim and Rocky?"
"They're outside the Wall," Socks explained. "Jim's called Boomer now, but Rocky's still Rocky…his name was already pretty tough, so we just left it. But anyway, yeah, Boomer and Romani were out on a date, so they both got stuck outside, and Rocky was able to make it out when the attack came. Us, on the other hand…"
"We can talk about that later," Link interrupted, motioning for them to take a seat on either the bed or the chairs that remained in the room. He took a seat on the bed, and Kayla crawled over to sit on his knee. "If I wanted to hear about the invasion, I'm sure that idiot Smitts would tell me all I wanted to know. Right now, all I want to hear about is what my friends have been up to for the past eight years."
* * *
It was dark out by the time Smitts told the visitors that time was up. Thanks to Link, there was no longer any moon, so lamps had been set up all over the streets and buildings. Smitts' face glowed wickedly in the torchlight. "Let's go, townies," he growled. "Visitin' hours is over. The 'King of the Cage' has to rest up for tomorrow's fights."
Link gently patted the sleeping Kayla's head and handed her over to her mother. Anju, Cremia, and the boys said their farewells and filed past Smitts out of the room. The merc lingered for a moment, glaring at Link, who more than met the stare. As usual, Smitts was the first to look away. Mumbling something crude, he turned and shut the door behind him. Link listened at the door until he heard Smitts resume his position at the front desk, and then began counting.
When forty-five minutes had passed, Link went to work. He held up the small object in his hands, checking to see if it would work. It was a hairpin that he had subtly removed from Kayla's head. He glanced at it a moment longer; yes, it would work nicely. He knelt down in front of the door and jammed the pin into the keyhole. After several minutes of fiddling, he heard the tumblers click into place. Slowly turning the knob, he eased the door open, peering into the hallway. Smitts had already made his pass, and wouldn't be returning for another half an hour. More than enough time.
Link left the room and quietly shut the door behind him, locking it. Moving like a shadow, he covered the distance between his room and the stairs and flattened himself against the wall. Turning his head around the corner, he saw that the stairs were clear, and began edging down them. When he reached the bottom, he looked to his right. He could just see Smitts' feet resting on the desk, but he couldn't tell if the merc was sleeping or not. Instead, Link went the other direction, towards the kitchen and the common room. He was just passing by the bathroom when he heard a loud crash. Ducking into the bathroom, he shut the door and waited. Sure enough, he heard Smitts yelling obscenities at the chair that had dropped him. Breathing a sigh of relief, Link grasped the doorknob.
"Excuse me?"
Link spun at the voice, prepared for an attack. But there was nobody else in the small room but him. Then the voice spoke again, a high, rasping sound. "Sorry to bother you, but people so rarely come in here anymore. Think the toilet's haunted or something. They always run away…sorry, I tend to ramble on, I so rarely have anyone to…I mean, you wouldn't happen to have any paper up there, would you?"
Link's jaw dropped as he walked over and peered into the toilet. "I can't believe it…" he gasped. "You're still alive?"
"Who, me? I suppose so, if you call 'alive' breathing and occasionally eating. That's what I call it anyway, but I guess other people might define it by the way you smell, or the house you live in…"
"I gave you paper years ago," Link interjected, searching the toilet for some sort of secret lever. "I was a kid back then, dressed all in green…"
"Yeah, I remember you!" the voice squealed with glee. "It was nice paper too, some of the finest anyone's ever given me. Then again, I think you might have been the only one who didn't run away screaming the moment I asked…"
"Sorry, to interrupt, but is there a way down there?"
"Hmm? Oh, you mean from up there. Yeah, all you gotta do is lift the seat up. It should be big enough for a man, though I can't say I've tried in a while. And it shouldn't be too dirty, mostly 'cause nobody ever uses it on account of all that 'haunting' nonsense…"
Link had stopped listening and had already lifted the seat and was looking down into the hole. It would be a tight fit, but he would make it. Grasping the edge, he lowered himself feet-first into the hole and let go. The moment he did so, he began sliding down a slick stone pipe. It was a short ride, over almost as soon as it began. Link landed with a splash in a dark sewer tunnel, the only light emanating from a torch carried by a mousy looking man in heavy trench coat. He had a thin face, high cheekbones, and a long nose that gave a decidedly rodent-like appearance. His jacket was heavily padded, with the hood thrown back to display a scraggly mess of tangled gray hair. Currently he was bobbing from one foot to the other, twitching as if he was running on pure adrenaline.
"A visitor!" the man exclaimed. "A visitor! First time that's ever happened, and I can't say that I mind. The rats are good company, but not very good conversationalists, if you get my meaning. All they do is squeak, and even then it's only ever about food…"
Link was beginning to realize that the only way to get two words in was through interruption. "My name's Link. What's yours?"
At this, the man seemed genuinely confused. He skewed his already wrinkled face in concentration and scratched his head. "Name? Name…I know I had one of those before. I really quite liked it, but for the life of me…Pat? Matt? Fat? That couldn't be true, because I'm not…Scrat! That was it! My name is Scrat!"
"Nice to meet you Scrat," Link said and offered his hand, which Scrat eagerly shook. Only then did he realize how cold it was.
Scrat noticed his shivering, and said, "Say, you want to come over to my place for a while? Warm up a bit? I'd really be quite delighted. No one ever comes, but I am very proud of it. Been putting it together for years, and it's finally beginning to look like home, or at least as close to a home as a sewer can be, which again depends on your definition…"
"That'd be great, Scrat. Lead the way."
* * *
Scrat led Link through the sewers, a massive stone network of tunnels and passages. It seemed that the sewers were rarely visited by anyone outside of Scrat, as there were few torches or any other signs of use. Scrat continued to ramble on about whatever came to his mind, and Link politely listened and occasionally offered his own comments. For the most part, though, his mind was elsewhere, already plotting the next step in his plan to rescue the townsfolk from Bones and the other mercenaries. The first thing he would have to do would be to…
"Ah, here we are!"
Link halted behind Scrat, unable to see anything. Noticing his companions confusion, Scrat laughed and the raced around the room, lighting torches and candles, until the whole room was filled with a soft yellow glow. Link stared in awe at the chamber before him. The room was huge, over twenty feet high and at least that much wide. It was jammed full of odds and ends that Scrat had collected over the years. Works of art, broken machinery, old clocks, rusting armor and other weapons, shelves and shelves of books, and nearly anything else a person could imagine.
Scrat stood in the center of the room, wringing his hands, with a proud expression on his face. "It's amazing, Scrat," Link answered truthfully. "One of the nicest homes I've ever seen."
Amazingly, Scrat blushed. "Well, it isn't much, but I try. You'd be surprised at what people lose down their drains. All these treasures and odd and ends; someone has to take care of them, so it might as well be me." Then he went scurrying around the room, adjusting things here and there.
Link wandered around the room, admiring the artifacts. "Scrat," he asked, "Did you ever hear of the Great Fairy who lives in the northern part of the city?"
"Great Fairy? Big woman, lots of hair, laughs a lot? Oh yeah, she's still there. I sometimes go up around there, just for fun, and she sometimes talks to me. Says I'm 'the only townie who actually has something interesting to say'. So I think she might be a little crazy, but who am I to…"
"Do you think you can take me there?" Link asked. "I need to talk to her as soon as possible."
"Sure, I can take you right now, if you want. But you better stay a while and get warm. Gets chilly up top at night, especially this time of the year. Just let me get a fire started." He went to work gathering bits of wood and throwing them into a short metal barrel.
"Here, let me help," Link offered, stepping forward. He crouched down and clenched his fist, casting Din's Fire. But when he opened it…
"What?" He stared at his empty fist. Not even a spark. He closed his hand again, concentrating even harder, but when he opened it, still nothing had happened. Worried he began casting other spells, Nayru's Love, Farore's Wind, anything he could think of.
Scrat watched him curiously, as he struggled to cast his spells. After many attempts, the sewer man finally asked, "Hey, Link? What's wrong? Looks like you're having some trouble there…"
Link relaxed, and stared at his empty hands in horror. "My magic…" he stammered. "I…I can't use my magic."
* * *
The stars shed their light over the path guiding Link's way as he made his way along the northern wall of Clock Town, though thankfully not enough to reveal his features. Scrat had given him a spare hooded trench coat, black leather, with metal studs along the shoulders and padded elbows. At his side he wore an old and rusted sword, mostly for decoration, in case he met any of the mercs along the way. The jacket was buttoned up to his throat, and the hood obscured his entire face in darkness. He slouched along with his hands in his pockets, doing his best to look like a sullen mercenary walking his beat.
The effect wasn't entirely an exaggeration.
He reached the western edge of the wall, which came to a halt before a high stone wall that had been there since the city had first been built. Instead of building around it, the workers had simply ended the wall there, though at the time none of them knew exactly why. But the cave at the top of the wall, Link knew, was home to one of the Great Fairies who watched over this world. If anyone could help him with his plan to save the city, she could.
Checking to make sure nobody was watching, Link placed his hands on the wall and began to climb. It was slow work in the dark, as Link had to feel around for secure handholds, but eventually he made it to the top. The cave loomed up before him, the path inwards steadily declining. Taking a deep breath, he began his descent. A short while later, he entered into a softly glowing room, much like Navi's fountain in the Sacred Realm. Glowing balls of light floated above the water. Link drew his hood back and shook out his long blond hair, waiting.
Suddenly, the golden glow flared, and Link had to shield his eyes. The flash was followed by a wild cackling, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a giant, golden haired woman floating lazily above the pool, scantily clad in a circlet of gold leaves, and laughing hysterically.
"As I live and breath!" she laughed, "The Slayer of Moons has returned! You have no idea how long we've been waiting for your return. My sisters thought it wouldn't be for another ten years, but I just had this feeling that the time was fast approaching."
"What do you mean 'waiting'?" Link asked, puzzled. "How could you have been waiting for me to return? My coming here the first time was a fluke…an accident."
This prompted more laughter from the Fairy. "Oh, they're so cute at that age," she said more to herself than to Link. "So innocent. Did you honestly believe that you're coming here to save this world was mere chance? Do you think we don't have our own heroes? No, your destiny in this world was foretold long ago, Hero of Time."
Link's jaw dropped. "How…how do you know…"
"Oh this is a fun game!" she cackled. "Have you never asked yourself why everyone in this world looks so much like someone from your own? Why Darmani, Mikau, and that poor little Deku boy Voot-par were able to join their spirits with yours? Why the most dangerous weapon in existence, the Fierce Deity Mask, resembles your own face?" She paused a moment, waiting for answers that she knew he didn't have. "Our worlds are connected, Link. Deeply connected. And you are the chain that binds them. You and your magic."
"My magic? What does my magic have to do with anything?"
The Fairy appeared genuinely shocked. "You mean my cousins over in your world never explained it to you?" Link shook his head. "How dreadful! I'll have to have a talk with them at the next family reunion. Then you do not know how magic works?"
"I know a little," Link told her. This wasn't the reason he had come, but he felt the compulsion to hear the Fairy out. "Mostly what I've been able to piece together from old records and my own experimentations. Magic is what holds the world together, supplying it with the energy to live and sustain life. Sometimes people can be taught how to manipulate it to cast spells and illusions, and sometimes it's in certain artifacts, like the Master Sword, or the Ocarina of Time."
The Great Fairy laughed again, though this time the sound was warmer, less maniacal. "Considering you have not been properly educated in the matter, that is a very good understanding. But you are wrong on one very important detail. Magic cannot be 'taught' as you understand it. It is not a toy to be given at random to whoever asks for it. And the magic is not in artifacts or trinkets like swords and instruments. The magic is—and has always been—in you."
Link staggered as if struck, though he did not know why. "What…what do you mean?"
All humor was gone from the Fairy's expression. "Magic does not just float around, waiting for someone to use it. It cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. It is born anew within each new life, with varying degrees of power and potential. You and your sister," the laughter returned. "You and your sister…you have more power than any beings ever created. Almost enough to rival the goddesses."
"What do you mean?" Link was becoming frightened, afraid of what this new understanding would mean. "What do you mean the power is in me? That Zelda and I can rival the goddesses? What…"
"It began with your mother," the Fairy continued, as if he hadn't said anything at all. "She was also incredibly strong in the Magic, but that power was latent, unrealized. But the moment that you and your sister were conceived…at that moment, the power passed to you. Not only that, but also the Three saw that the Chosen Ones they had been waiting for since time began had been born, and they reached out with their power and touched you, baptizing you with their own power. In that instant, you became the Magic's Son, a direct descendant of the power used to create all the worlds."
"But the Ocarina…the three great spells…"
"All extensions of you," the Fairy answered. "The Ocarina of Time was created merely to open the Door of Time. Why were you able to play other magical songs on it? Saria's Song allowed you to communicate telepathically with your best friend. Epona's Song called your horse to your side, no matter your location. The Song of Storms gave you control over nature itself! Do you honestly believe that one little wooden instrument could hold enough magic for all that? And why do you think the Triforce chose you and your sister as hosts for its power? Ganon was chosen merely because he was the first to lay his hands on it. You and Zelda…well, power is drawn to power. As for the spells my cousins taught you…those weren't spells on how to create fire and shields out of thin air…they were teaching you how to draw on the power within you! All the magic you can do…fire, storms, telepathy, everything…it's all you Link. They are outward extensions of the power you possess. You have the potential to do anything. All you need is the will and the conviction."
The chamber fell silent. Link's head was lowered, as the gravity of the Fairy's truth sunk in. It couldn't be true! That Zelda could be a goddess. That he could be a god. That all this time, he had had the power to save the world…
"If what you're saying is true," he muttered, still staring at the floor, "Then why can't I feel the magic now? Why can't I call on it?"
"Your full potential can only be released when it is most needed, or when it is destined to do so. Destiny tends to be fickle, however…" she sighed heavily. "Which brings us to the problem at hand: why can't you use your magic now? Do you remember how you got here, back into Termina?"
Link nodded, and proceeded to relate the circumstances of his arrival. The battle with Necron's army. Shumbo and his weapon. His fatal wounds. Teleporting Shumbo a safe distance from his friends.
The explosion.
When he was finished, he waited for the Fairy's response. After a while, she nodded her head in understanding. "Yes, I see what has happened. This was unexpected; even the goddesses could not have foreseen this."
"What?" Link asked eagerly. "What happened?"
The Fairy laughed bitterly. "It's quite simple really. The combined force of your teleportation spell coupled with the magic escaping from the wizard's weapon, opened a doorway from the Sacred Realm to Termina. It would have taken an incredible amount of magic to tear a rift in the Sacred Realm; it's the most secure place in the universe. The sheer effort would have had to have used up all your power, or damaged something within you that would affect your ability to call it."
"But why here? Why was I sent to Termina and not back to Hyrule?"
"That is the unexpected part. In theory, you should have been sent to the Realm of the Dead, thanks to your injuries. You should have died. Instead, you were brought here, the travel between dimensions healing you before you could die. The only reason I can see for that is that destiny's path has been skewed somehow. Things are not progressing as they should. It appears that you have some business to attend to here that was not originally intended. You were supposed to return—that much is true—but not in this manner. Somehow, you've changed destiny's course, prolonging the journey."
Link nodded slowly. "So then I didn't die."
"No, you didn't."
"Then I'm still destined to die this year."
The Great Fairy nodded, all trace of humor gone from her face. "I'm afraid so."
Link nodded again, still staring at the ground. Then, all of a sudden, he lifted his head to face her, his expression firm and resolved. "Then I have a lot of work to do before that happens. I came here to ask you for your help in freeing the townsfolk. Can you?"
"Unfortunately, no. I may be wise, but I'm not smart, and there is little I can do from this cave. I can only leave when my body is split into pieces, like the first time we met, and I'm hardly any use then. I'm afraid you're on your own, kiddo." Then a mischievous smile crept across her face. "However," she said, "However, you may want to ask Scrat. I believe he may have something up one of sleeves."
Link nodded and turned to leave. But before he could, the Fairy's voice stopped him. "Speaking of Scrat, I was wondering if you could give him this." A roll of paper floated into Link's hand. "I know he's always looking, and I've been meaning to give him this roll for quite some time."
"I'll make sure he gets it," Link assured her. "And thanks."
"I wish I could help more. Good luck, Hero of Time, Slayer of Moons, or whatever other fancy names you've picked up over the years," the laughter returned, as she sank back into her pool. "You're going to need it."
* * *
"Wow," Scrat's face was filled with awe as he examined the Great Fairy's gift. "Wow. This has got to be the nicest paper I have ever seen. I'm at a loss for words, which is really funny, because I never seem to run out…"
"What do you use the paper for?" Link asked.
"Oh, I write stuff down. Conversations I hear the people above having. You'd be amazed at how well sound travels down the pipes. Really quite fantastic. Anyway, I write down what they say and fill these books," he gestured the tomes lining his shelves. "I've gotten to now them quite well, in my own way, and I like quite a few of them. I'd like to think we'd be friends if I ever went up top…"
"Why don't you?"
"Hmm?"
"Why don't you ever go up top?"
Scrat laughed nervously. "Don't get me wrong…I love having company and visitors. Always a fun time. But not too often, if you get my meaning. I like my privacy. And it smells weird up there."
Link couldn't help but laugh at this admonition. Suddenly Scrat's face lighted up, as if something had just occurred to him. "Say, you're not planning to help the townies are you? I mean, save them from the bullies up top?"
"That was my plan. Can you help?"
Scrat giggled with glee.
* * *
"Scrat, this is perfect."
"You think so?"
"I do. This is exactly what we need. How long have you been working on them?"
"Ever since the invasion. I don't like these new people…all they do is curse and spit. And I don't like hearing how my friends are being treated up there. No good. Never did like slavery…"
"Will these hold everyone in the town?"
"Almost. I've been working on the last one, and that can be finished by tomorrow. It's been fun…gives me something to do…"
"Perfect. Absolutely perfect. You're a genius Scrat."
"I know, I know. That's what the rats say, but I think it has more to do with this cheese stew I make occasionally…
"Do you have a map of the sewer systems for the entire city?"
"Of course I do. 'Best way to find your way' I always say. Well, not really, but it sounds smart, so…"
"Can I borrow it for a couple days? I need to plan things out."
"Sure, I'll get it for you."
"Excellent. C'mon, I've got to get back up into the inn is this is going to work; I can't draw any suspicion from the mercs. I'll come back down in a two nights when I've figured everything out, and then we can go from there."
"Looking forward to it. Finally going to have an adventure. I've always wanted one, ever since I was a kid, and now, finally…"
"Scrat?"
"Yeah?"
"Let's go."
